Subarutex

88RXsedan blew up his center diff lock driving it in rwd I'm pretty sure. I wouldn't do that to a perfectly good RX trans... My buddy dan just did a auto -> manual swap in his turbo wagon. We swapped in a pushbutton 4x4 5spd from an 85 turbo wagon. The car was amazingly hard to drive and not light up the front tires in FWD mode. (upped boost, IC, exhaust done to wagon). Running in 4x4 made the car bind, and was generally a hassle unless travelling straight. We took out one of the front axles, and put in a stub. Ran it in4x4 with just the rear wheels getting power. FUN!!! There is something very unnatural about seeing an EA82 wagon sideways around corners. However, on launchs, wheel hop was horrible in the back. 3 weeks later, spontaneously, the tranny bound up. We couldn't even push the car, it would bind so bad. Last sunday we swapped in a FT4wd 5spd w/ difflock from XSNRG (thanks Mark!). Car feels much better to have all 4 running. In short... If you do the RWD conversion, I would strongly reccomend using a manual selecting S/R or D/R trans. I don't think the "locking" mechanisms can take the abuse.

Splines and length are the same. Or close enough to. Impreza axles are something like 3mm longer than EA axles, but that is all taken up in the CV joints with no problems, i can't imagine legacy's being much different. Legacy tie rod ends might work, would be worth a shot. I just used xt6 ones since I had them around...

There are no seperate part #'s for EA series lower arm bushings. Make your own, or by new arms. You'd be the first. I'm using old rump roast **** ones. Oh, Andy, get outback struts and springs. Max ride height. No idea how it will affect the CV's though.

I would put money on the knuckles being the same, just bigger brakes.

Rotors, axles, knuckles... all must be from the same car. Legacy axles willl work... if you are using legacy knuckles.

No front ebrake on it. If you want to drive without an ebrake, go for it.

THe reason for the xt6 lower arms, as best I know, is the ball joint. It doesn't appear to be any longer than the stock one. The ball joint is larger, and the taper through the arm is larger. As far as I can tell, xt6, legacy, and impreza ball joints are all the same. I've had no problems running the impreza struts on teh front of mine, nor has dan. I think either the impreza or legacy stock struts provide a good match. I don't the difference in weight is really that great over the fronts of the cars.

NOTE: Not all struts, springs, and strut tops are interchangable. For a safe ride, it is imparitive that you match some things. For a front strut there are several pieces: Strut Spring Upper Spring seat Washer Strut top Nut Here is a good diagram of how the whole assembly goes together: http://www.subaruparts.com/subaru.diag/5A/i210-1.gif The spring must seat into the lower perch on the strut. The Upper spring perch must seat onto the spring. The washer is vital, it will allow you to turn your wheels. The strut tops must fit right, otherwise they will clunk, ask Syphon about that.

Brian, for the front struts, use the whole complete legacy unit. Strut top, strut, and spring. If, after you get it in, and you aren't happy with the ride height, try wrx springs. The strut tops will fit in the stock holes. You will need to take a round file or dremel to the holes and make them 1mm or larger out from the center of the strut hole. This will make sense when you go to install. Why not use the legacy front hub (knuckle), axle, and rotor aswell? Then bolt the XT6 caliper to it. Should match up beautifully. If you choose to use the xt6 knuckles, you will need to modify them to fit legacy or impreza struts. The bar that goes between the 2 clamps of the strut needs to be ground down about 1/8. It is possible to just bang them on, but I found that to be difficult. I've swapped 2 vehicles to 5-lug. My RX, and Dan's Turbo wagon. My setup: XT6 lower arms (front) XT6 tie rod ends Impreza knuckle Impreza axle Impreza strut and strut top Ebay coilovers (all 4) Impreza WRX rotors Impreza WRX calipers XT6 rear hubs and rotors, supra backing plates, supra rear brakes Dan's setup: XT6 lower arm (front) XT6 tie rod ends XT6 knuckles (ground to fit impreza/legacy struts) XT6 axles Impreza strut and strut top Impreza spring XT6 rotos and calipers XT6 rear hubs, rotors, and backing plates There are some advantages to using the Impreza/legacy knuckles. First, the bearings inside are a much better design. The top hole of the strut mount is oblong shaped, as is the bolt that goes through it. This is a "cam bolt" and will allow you to set some camber in the front. This is not possible with the XT6.

Looks to be under the the dash, right? Probally between the left side and the steering column. Will probally require unbolting the fuse panel to get to. I'll look when I get home. Although I won't be able to test, as my car doesn't run so well...

As for the market... I don't think you can go wrong placing all your money on things involving boobs.

Corky... Seems like they are on to us.

For all we know, the "new" owner could have promptly wrapped the beast around a tree driving it home from Corky's.

I thought you had a bad taste in your mouth after your experience with copper HG's Will... Also, you can get the set from headgaskets.com for $90. For the pair.

Sure thing! I'll do my best to respond in an informative and timely manner.

I used the Apexi TT. Because its small, and has a A/F meter built in. Dual function! Oh, and I just looked up all the info in my FSMs. In the process of figuring it out, I learned how to hotwire the cars Skip's directions, as always, are pretty dead on.

18's were only on the car for a short time (about a week). At stock spring height it sat too high off the ground, but there wasn't any fender gap. Oh, and rubbed on every bump in the road. I'm now rolling on 16"s. And lowered about an inch... maybe 2 all the way around. Lets just say, that I occasionally have to have someone lift up the front bumper to get the jack past the front dam... 17's will work, but you will need to put a fairly low profile tire on them... 40-45 for them to look decent.

My aunt and uncle live in Farmington, NM. Thought it might be a good "base camp" to explore the region. My Fiance and I have thought about taking a vacation down there sometime...

I will drive my subaru through some Moab trails. I will! I've wanted to forever, I must make it happen. Nice shots! I wonder how far Moab is from Farmington, NM.

My '86 wagon was a tow car for my grandpa (behind his RV) for many years before I got it. It tracks fine. Even with the 28" TSLs on it. It has a custom towbar that attaches to the tow points and a point farther back coming of the inner frame rail (by the enigne crossmember) It seems like it would be hard to make a setup like this for the XT, but not undoable. I doubt it would be a bolt in affair. Also, 2wd you won't have a problem towing on a dolly.

Yes to what?

OK, so you are saying more torque. Can I retorque them with the engine in the car? or should I pull it out and start all over?

yes, i used the manufactures sealant, followed the instructions. Torqued to 48ft/lbs.

Didn't split the shortblock. I bought that remaned block from a subaru shop here for $800. Standard spec pistons, rings, polished crank. I have run less than 500 miles on the short block, before the last gasket let go. I order .043" gaskets... the rings are about as thick as tinfoil.

RX engine, take 3. This weekend I assembled and installed the engine for the RX. This is the reason why i was rebuilding the engine: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=2774&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 The symtoms that this build had (pictured above in disassembly) were: no start, exhaust coming out oil filler neck and pcv breather, water/steam in exhaust, blew radiator cap off radiator. This build consisted of: Same block as before (less than 500miles on it) Same heads as before (bought used, had true'd and tested on last build) Copper HG's from headgaskets.com (with steel cylinder rings and proper dressing) New head bolts (oem from 1stsubaruparts.com, $44) I assembled the engine per the FSM. Used special care with the CU HG's, following the directions given by the manufacturer. I torqued the head bolts to 48ft/lbs. I started the car, let it come up to operating temp and took a test drive (about a mile) to fill the front tire with air. Performance was less than stellar (timing issue probally). Once home, I found oil all over one side of the engine. After some investigation, I reasoned it to have come from the breather on the driver side valve cover. I reworked the PCV system, so that the breather was on the pass. side (where its supposed to ingest air). The center, and driver side pcv hoses are teed together, then they go to the PCV valve on the manifold. Still, when revving the engine, I can see oil rising into the breather, and begining to seep through. Again, i removed the oil filler cap (looking for signs of water) with the engine running, exhaust coming out with some water vapor. Dipstick was normal, a bit low from a good amount of oil being blown out the breather. Continueing inspection, I look at the underside of the block. Traces of oil and coolant on each head by HG joint. What went wrong? What now? Head and block were checked rudamentarly with a straightedge to verify trueness before assembly. Bad heads? Rings gone in the block? What is it?