Ross

Ok, here is a picture of the upper coolant line (return): http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9799&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 On mine, the temp sensor is tapped into the heater supply hose that comes off the metal line on the intake manifold. I'd be interested to see the end of that metal pipe on yours - to see whether it has a tee coming off it still.

I've been meaning to get some pics of that, ill get some later today for you. The hose on mine is just flexable heater hose.

To start with, get that 98 octane out (unless you got high comp ratio pistons in?), it only needs 91 - anything higher and you will loose power. I can notice a difference between 91 and 95, so i'd say 98 would make quite a difference. Have you checked for old stored error codes as well as current ones?

Look harder...... its in the one with the large text, right at the bottom.

You just use a big allen wrench (most tool shops should have???) and a bit of pipe dont you?

For starters, you'll need the ecu (under the steering wheel) the wiring harness from the ecu to under the bonnet, and the knock control unit (in the left front fender). And the VAF sensor. And the fuel pump. You'll also have to either find the ac compressor and its brackets, or the elusive non ac alternator bracket. (the alternator mounts to the ac comp, and most seem to have had ac). Theres probably more.

We also still get little 4wd suzuki trucks with those tires now - apparently the farmers love 'em.

Sorry to hear that, but if its gonna take $30,000, i cant say i blame you.

Na, its a turbo alright. You can see the hole for the knock sensor, the holes in the heads for injectors and the bracket off the 1-3 head for the turbo.

Nice one! mine is sitting on the garage floor looking a lot like that too.

Doesn't look like there is to much in there - don't worry about it.

When the water cooled turbo was retrofitted to the ea81t, the coolant return was connected to the thermostat housing, where the temp sensor for the dash gauge went (using a banjo fitting) - that might be an option?

Definitely replace those copper washers - they are there as a gasket, and must deform when you torque the fitting, so they cant be reused. They cost almost nothing.

From what i can see on my two different manifolds, the gauge sensor was originally on the thermostat housing, about 50mm above the sensor for the ecu. this hole in the housing was then used for the coolant return for the turbo, so the gauge sensor was moved to the heater hose.

I seem to be having trouble explaining myself........ill try again. I've just reconditioned my ea81t, and its almost ready to go in. It had the vf2 water cooled turbo retrofit done, and the odd plumbing as described below, which may or may not be for a reason. I also have a spare intake manifold off another ea81t that didn't have the water cooled turbo, and didn't have the wierd plumbing. Its easy enough to add the turbo cooling line onto the thermostat housing of this manifold - no problem there. I would rather use the above mentioned spare manifold, since it is already nice and clean, and the coolant fittings are in much better condition. I just want to know if other cars that had the water cooled turbo retrofitted also have this odd plumbing as well. If they do, that would indicate that it was necessary due to the dash gauge temp sensor being moved. If that was the case, i'd have to modify my spare manifold to accept this setup. If they don't, it would indicate that it was simply someone being lazy, and i could leave things as they were from factory (my preferred option). I'm not saying anythings "broke", i just want to know whats going on. What would be perfect, is if i could find a copy of the service bulletin..... Thanks guys.

Yeah, a loose hub nut may cause serious damage to the bearings. Did you have the washer on in the correct direction? Don't trust general mechanics to notice that the washer has to go on a particular way - the one time i have ever used a mechanic, they put it on the wrong way - and they were "subaru specialists".

I got mine a few months ago, and it came straight from subaru japan. Thats an ea81 one, dunno if they're the same...

Na, im putting together the engine that i've reconditioned, and am tossing up between using two intake manifolds - the one that was on there, or one that i bought off a car without the water cooled turbo. Thats why i want to know why this was done- if it was just laziness, ill use the good manifold with the lines the way they were from factory.

Just trying to work out why a modification has been made to the lines between the thermostat housing, the heater core and the throttle body. The coolant line coming out of the left side of the throttle body normally tee's into the metal line coming from the thermostat housing - on mine this tee has been removed, and the line tees into the hose further down the line, near where the temperature sensor (for dash gauge) is (moved from the thermostat housing when water cooled turbo added) - ie near the heater control valve. I'm wondering whether this has been done to ensure the dash temp gauge reads properly (or some other random reason), or simply because the tee on the metal line broke off, and someone was too lazy to re-braze it....

No wheel alignment probs would cause that kind of damage to a wheel bearing. Do you not have a pic of the bearing? I'd say theres a good chance it was a crap bearing, and the cage somehow failed, thats the only way i can see that you'd loose/shatter balls. Dont buy cheap bearings from parts stores/mechanics!!! Either go to subaru for oem ones, or preferably go to somewhere like SKF or Saeco bearings. For SKF, the bearings are 6207 if i remember correctly.

if they fit the ea82t, they also fit the ea81t. Dunno about you, but i think 280z turbo ones will be plenty for mine!

Yeah, i suppose a single belt would do fine since there would be no ac comp to drive. I'd say the only difference between the '83 and '84 alts would be that the '84 has twin pulleys. I'd rather keep the turbo water pump, simply cos its almost brand new! Is the N/A ps pump bracket different to the turbo one? Doesn't seem to be a pic in the fsm excert i have.....

Pics would be great - I'm probably gonna make my own mount, but anything helps. You can email me if you click on my name up there.. Found a pic of the bracket i need in the fsm, although that setup requires an alternator with a double pulley so that it tensions both - mine only has a single pulley, as the other belt had a seperate tensioner.

You'd definitely need to put a lubricator on the inlet - no need to worry about getting rid of the lube on the outlet - most of your tools need lubrication anyway.

Mainly because there is no other car that quite fills the boots of a ea81/ea82 4wd subaru - perfect mix between on road and off raod abilities - without guzzling through the gas. Plus, they have way more character than any new car could have IMO. Personally, i dont see the point in spending heaps on a newer car, when there are plenty of good old beasts with hundreds of thousands of kms left in their life for so cheap!