nvu

sure looks like the weep hole of the water pump. the pump seals are worn most likely

the intake holes were slightly narrower when i put together my ej22 with ej257 block. drilling the intake holes slightly larger got it to fit.

I don't. Turbos have all metal headgaskets and stopleak won't help sealing a leak there. The subaru recommendation for conditioner was for NA cars that came with composite headgaskets.

Switch to screw clamps while you're at it. Silicone hoses will need more clamping pressure to seal. I prefer the wire style clamps on older subaru's vs the band clamps found in auto stores. They don't bite into the hose as much.

Going in is easy, push with your fingers in one hand and wiggle the rod from underneath with the other. It'll slot in once it locates. Getting them out is trickier, I use a long thin screwdriver and tap them out from the opposite side of the block. The screwdriver needs to be thin enough to clear the closer rod.

yes nonsynthetic, get the cheapest oil you can find for the initial startup. when it first fires, check for leaks, check for air in coolant system. all you want to do is make sure everything is in order and let the car warm up, catch it if something's wrong with the coolant bleeding and it starts overheating. coolant routing on a turbo is way more finicky than ej22. when you're sure it can idle and cooling fans cycle on and off say for 20mins.. take it for a short drive the specialty break in oils you see have high zddp content, that's used for breaking in aftermarket cams. pretty much any standard oil is fine, 5-30 is fine. i loosely follow the 5-50-500 rule; change at initial startup-5mi very cautious on everything. change again at 50mi it may have metallic specks depending on machine work. change at 500, should be fairly clean, less specks ok, more specks is problem, engine comes back out. by the 1000mi change it should be broken in and ready for high rpm and boost

no honing needed after the first 50mi change and all looks good, it's a turbo so give it mild boost to seat the rings. lots of engine braking in between. running conventional oil until you hit the 1000mi mark is fine. never heard of subaru rings needing a tool, i've always put them on by hand. do check the ring gaps on the block before putting them on the piston.

For AC ripple testing, 3mV is good, 50-100mV when the car is loaded at 1.5-2k rpm (all lights on, accessories running) is concerning but acceptable. 100mV+ is a failing alternator. I prefer testing ac directly from the alternator red wire and alternator case ground.

It's Mitsuboshi (spelled with an O), they make good timing belts. Spin all the idlers when you take off the belt. Any that freewheel like rollerskates should be replaced; those have no grease left.

Good robot, clicked on its profile, all posts have something to mention about inverters. Google the exact first sentence and look there's an exact match... and the second sentence https://www.google.com/search?q="The+more+expensive+pure+sine+wave+inverters+have+the+same+quality+AC+electricity+that’s+supplied+to+a+home+receptacle." https://www.google.com/search?q=Works+great!+Belkin+AC+Anywhere+power+inverter+exactly+what+i+was+expecting+and+more!+the+only+downfalls+are+that+its+a+bit+pricey+and+it+takes+up+a+lot+of+room%2C+but+its+worth+it. https://www.google.com/search?q="One+way+to+go+is+to+find+an+isolation+transformer+to+go+between+the+inverter" That was fun... Pretty sure familyhandyman, walmart, and okshooters aren't in on this. Not even mad, pretty good programming.

When will it fail? Maybe next month, next year, maybe never. If your conscience making you go through this, why not offer something like $200 towards repair if it fails within a year?

Welp, you're right, just checked on a 4 bolt and felt the nut. I've worked on cars with a pin and a bolt starter and gotten them mixed up; memory's been spotty lately.

4 bolt transmissions used one bolt for starter, other hole was a pin instead of a bolt. for his case, he had a strong bolt and a bolt in a semi stripped hole. about the same as the old 4 bolt design which is good enough

Knob runs into some plastic or rubber funnel, just tighten it until it feels right and align it. If it's really sloppy, like inches wobbly when in gear, likely the shift linkage U joint. Probably the most annoying part you'll run into is tapping out the 2 roll pins, especially with no lift. If you're gonna be working on the floor, it's a good idea to wear a face shield. Keeps dirt and hammers away. This video is pretty complete on what you're planning to do.

Crank pulley needs to come off to get the timing cover off

Too many washers, the bolt was only catching 3-4 threads. Steel bolt wins vs 4 threads of aluminum. If it's any consolation, old subies only used one starter bolt to hold things together. If you still have the other good bolt on it there's no worry.

The fuse box is right there. No need to splice wires, you can use tap fuses to get power for that area. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&q=tap+fuse

Coin thing means the heads were worked on at a machine shop. Likely engine already had a head gasket job in the past.

If you're in this far already, might as well take off the pistons and replace the rings. You don't have to split the block for this. I've used NPR rings in the past since they sell pregapped sets. But seems like prices for EJ22 rings are insane now, 200-400 for a set of rings?! Used to be 50. Dunno who makes quality pregapped sets these days?

Oh wow, now something new to worry about.

Was browsing youtube and came across videos about this. Didn't realize counterfeit ngk plugs were a thing. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=counterfeit+ngk+spark+plugs There's a lot to process but hope it helps someone in the future.

On my 98 impreza outback sport, it came with a "subaru factory alarm" sticker on the window. The keyfob had the subaru logo. But taking things apart it looked like a generic code-alarm unit. It was wiretapped into the harness, no plugs on the car. There was a subaru security booklet that came with the car. I bought the car used sometime in 2017. Guessing subaru rebadged the code-alarm units as a dealer installed option back in the day.

Maybe it's not brakes but balljoints or some other suspension bits? Could be that braking puts load on the suspension and stops the rattling. Oh just saw the part where you found some caliper play by hand. Could be a worn wheel bearing causing pad knockback as the rotor wobbles when you go through bumps.