KZJonny

There are some "no weld" aluminium welding products out there. Could be a good middle ground between JB weld epoxy and proper Tig welding to fill in the holes in prep for re-drilling and tapping. It would probably be worth investigating the heat required for them tho, to make sure you weren't likely to distort anything. I would also think that given the relatively low torque these fasteners are under that with good surface prep, filling them in with ali wire from a Mig spool gun would be sufficient for the task. Probably more people out in the world with a Mig + spool gun than Tig in their garage? Not nearly as nice looking of a final product, usually, but with a little filing at the end, you should be able to make it a nice flat surface for mating up.

The added headache of the JDM things could add some cost, but that seems a little high. For me to do an in person tune on a dyno locally was like $700 CAD, then follow ups were $400? That's in CAD and at a reputable Subaru tuner.

Nope: https://www.cryotuneperformance.com/shop

I really don't think unless you're living your life at the redline, you'd see much of a loss of power withoug exhaust valve phasing being active. Yes, of course it's there for a reason, but in turbo applications, there is also quite a lot of *push* happening to get gasses into and out of the combustion chamber. I don't know anything about the cam timing on a JDM 20x, so perhaps there isn't very much overlap for intake and exhaust being open simultaineously.... My suspicion is that you'll really see the most advantage to the exhaust phasing at high RPM when the time available to clear the chamber is *really* short. The EJ20 should/will spin a little faster more safely than the EJ25, if for no other reason than there is less weight/cylinder.... Still, unless you flog it hard and often. Just suggesting that retarding ex cam timing and getting your car back with the stuff you have is worth a go, for the price. It would give you time to research your options on the JDM engine. Hell, worst case, that is still a good price for a low mile short block. Bolt on the USDM heads, and run it.

Local is always great, but have you reached out to either Cryotune or Tuning Alliance? E-tune, yeah. But I doubt there are too many who've tuned more Subarus over the years. (Undoubtedly there are some, but from reading around here for a few years, they seem to be very widely used, respected and are still in the business of doing older Subies.) Might not work for you, or the answer may be a "no" from them as well, but could be worth the ask?

Any luck dude? I agree that any shop you are leaving your car at for this long should have worked this out pretty quick. These parts are freely available, and relatively inexpensive. I mean, they are small, but this could have been cut and Tig welded as a worst case… Can’t think of any other way to help, sorry mate. I know nothing about where to source parts where you are at. (I assume the UK?)

Metal roofing arrived! The colour isn't quite as light as it looks in the photo, but at the same time isn't as dark as I thought "charcoal" would be based on the 4" square sample there was at the store. It's not going back now, so this is colour, hah! Been far too windy since it arrive to get much of any work done on the roof, despite it being +6 C this past weekend, and +14 C just this week. Nuts for this part of the country even... Can't complain tho, I finished all the sheathing on the building, so now it is just some finishing work, to nice a couple things up, and I can throw on the Tyvek. Excited to hustle on the roof, but there is quite a lot of prep work for that, and much of it is at 15ft+ on a ladder, so it will go slowly as I work very carefully to do it right and safely.

Er, yeah. I don't bust out my inner scientist too often, but there are places where it matters. The distinction between accuracy and precision is important, and not always well understood. For the record, my background is in hard sciences, and while my daily work doesn't require it too often, I find it's a great background to have in term of being able to analytically asses daily stuff and build logical pathways to diagnose stuff, even (especially?) in the DIY automotive realm. I honestly don't know about the oil thing, and in all likelihood, a few rotations of the engine parts with no load to speak of and at low speed is probably not a high wear scenario. BUT if it was my brand new (used) engine, I would probably throw enough oil in to get things lubricated anyway. Probably don't need 5 quarts (whatever a quart is.... ) to have sufficient oil for the pump to pick it up and distribute it to where it needs to be, but again, if you're just using the cheapest possible stuff for the safety margin, then at what cost safety? You can always keep it after you drain it for general garage use in an oiler (putting on bolt threads etc....) probably last you a lifetime. Or, put it in your lawnmower, whatever. If it was a vertically oriented engine, a tablespoon of oil poured into the cylinder before the compression test and allowed to seep down around the rings will help get a more accurate measurement of compression in a cold engine, but I don't know how much that will help in an H4, as the oil would collect at the bottom of the cylinder....

That’s probably just fine. Precision is more important than accuracy for this task, for the DIY user. I’ve been using one like that for years… If I was stepping up to actual engine building, I’d have better tools. If the gauge is repeatable to it’s own measurement, you’re good to go. It’s more important to have balanced compression between cylinders than a perfectly accurate measurement of actual compression. Unless the gauge is *so* in accurate that it indicates crazy low compression when in reality you’re fine, knowing all 4 cylinders are within whatever spec to each other is going to tell you more about engine health. It’ll be hard to get really good compression figures without measuring a warm engine anyway. Before someone yells at me, yes, accuracy is also important!! But for a general health check and further use checking your lawnmower or whatever… just get something that is reasonable, and gives you an indication of health.

I yield to experience here. Really wouldn’t have thought that was a likely outcome, but there you have it. If It can happen, It will eventually happen. All that said, I keep mine fresh too. Cheap insurance.

I have to agree that over 30K miles in a belt is probably too much, and 10 years definitely is. The texture and strength additive package in them is just not designed to last that long. It’ll flash out over time. So they may even look good, but at a molecular level, they’re not the same they once were, regardless of where you live. Under hood temps and heat cycling do nasty things. Would you buy 10 year old unused tires and drive aggressively on them? I assume not. On the other hand, we’re talking about accessory belts. As long as you are using a quality timing belt, and changing that at regular intervals, I don’t think you’ll have that much to worry about. Accessory belts don’t drive the water or oil pump on our cars. So, while I don’t think the $6K for a new engine is relevant to the discussion, losing your power steering sucks, and running out of power caue you didn’t realize you aren’t charging your battery would also suck. If the belt slapped around and damaged other stuff, that could certainly get spendy. (Now I think of it, I can imagine ways it would be possible, if very unlikely to take out your engine, but still….) Now if you live in the world of older school small blocks and the like, different story….

I'll try to call asap and book up a tenting site. Probably way more room than I need for a single tent and a parked car. Anyone else looking to split the space and cost of a basic site? Maybe DM me to figure out a payment split etc... I am kind of assuming that more of the day will be spent socializing/driving about, and perhaps much of the evening would be at a communal fire somewhere, so the site will really be more of the place you just go to sleep and drink coffee in the morning.

I'll yoink the ECU in any case then. Easy enough anyway, and it's small enough it won't kill me having to store it.

I used a process something like this with an old chewed up belt to remove the cam gears as well, found it helpful. https://youtu.be/vd9YeLGABJk I didn't use the vice grip method, but wished I had. I had a picture somewhere of the 3-4 different clamps I had all over the place pinching belts and holding stuff where I needed it. Also saved me the $90 I didn't have to get the Company 23 tool as well. I've also got an '05 LGT in my driveway that is being parted out. I could 100% dig out the ECM if you run into problems with yours being locked. It's from an auto... but I don't know if that matters? I think it's possible to delete/ignore transmission maps if they are there, but not easy to creat them when they are not.

Nah, not really? I can get a set from my local speed shop for like $200/pair. And that is CAD, so, like... pocket change in American pesos.

Leak down test is a very good start. Does the engine importer not provide compression figures, or any info? Not that usually do, or have to, I’ve just head that sometime it’s available. I’ve pulled and re-installed exactly 1 EJ, so I don’t have as much advise as most here, but it’s pretty simple anyway. If you have or can borrow an engine crane, it’ll make life a lot easier, but aside from that there aren’t really any exotic tools required. Getting the engine in one piece means you can adjust the timing belt before if goes in as well, which is nice. (Or replace it with a new one for piece of mind?)

I put a set of DEA/Marmon mounts in the NA Outback, and they were better than the shagged OE ones that were in there, but I have no idea how they would hold up to the extra torque from the turbo EJ. Depends on how much you flog on it? If lots: spend up and get OE (Or Group N) If not so much: try whatever brand is available and see? At least it isn't such a bad job to change them out...

Works fine. Just easier to access the factory oil press pickup point than the one at the back of the block. But, doing that will mean a permanent idiot light. So, just doing it the longer/harder way accessing the rear galley. And I’ll look at that parts, thanks! I’ll have to go back to the pinout diagrams I found somewhere to see if I can make sense of it. I know almost nothing about car stereo, so it isn’t intuitive for me to work out. I pretty much listen to CBC all day (Canadian NPR), so crazy speakers and what have you don’t do much for me. I just want to be able to patch my MP3 player in for longer road trips. (Like driving to Carlisle!!)

Correct. I have one of those adaptors somewhere, waiting to be installed. I think mine is mild steel tho, it was like $6. I’m just hoping I can install it on the rear galley to avoid having the oil light on all the time. I’ll look at the i85 cable again, but I don’t think it is what I need, unfortunately. What I have is the 07’ factory console with an aux port, and an 07? OEM radio with a true aux on mode. The wiring in the car, however is of course, 05… so I need a patch adaptor for the wiring the runs under the console and behind the radio to get the pins right. Koolaid said he didn’t have anything that would do the job. There are no RCA jacks anywhere in the setup, that I am aware of…

I used permatex ultra grey, because I had it, and the packaging said it was suitable for the purpose. I think ultra black may also be fine, but I don’t have one in front of me. If you need to get some from the store, they describe what they can tolerate on the package pretty well. When in doubt, I use Yamabond or Threebond on everything.

I would think a catalogue with AN fitting would have something that is shorter which could be swapped out for that part… maybe something that has a 45* bend to one side would give you the required clearance?

When this happened to me, it was the filler neck rusting out where it curves under the cat to meet the tank. (Also where there is a plastic sheild right next to it, that holds dirts, salt and sand against the metal!!) I always got worse when I filled up, as you describe. Worth a look, just have to take of the r/r wheel and remove the liner to see. https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00GUP0OWI?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title not an awful job, but you have to drop the tank at least a little to do it. I ended up going crazy and replacing th tank + all the evap lines, and made new mounting brackets for all the solenoids, since the old ones were mostly rust. Still only took an afternoon once I had all the parts collected.

That should do it. I did 2 last summer, and don’t recall even doing the DP bracket, just the pitch stop. No gasket to replace either, just rtv on the pan right on to the block. You can buy gaskets that will fit, but there isn’t one in there to start anyway. Not a lot of room no matter how you do it. I also used a jack on trans to raise everything, then put some hardwood spacers between the subframe and engine mounts to give me ~1.5” free space to get everything out and back in. Tight but totally doable.

I think as long as you’re buying decent quality, it’s more time and heat that kills belts than anything else. That is to say, I’ve never seen a seen a well manufactured belt that was properly tensioned just randomly delaminate and explode when it wasnt already ancient, brittle and cracking…. So probably any of the above brands are fine. (I have Conti belts on a stage ~2.5? engine, no problems at all.) I think I’ve seen some colour matched, kevlar-infused stuff, with ribs that are cut like teethe etc… but I don’t know where you’e get them, and I suspect are 3x times the price of a normal one. Probably better to do regular changes 3 times that trust a fancy belt for 100k….

Grimmspeed catted. It has one, but for whatever reason doesn't quite mate properly with where it's meant to attach to the trans case. I forget now what the problem was, but after 2 months of grinding away all my evenings and weekends last summer doing all the install/overhaul work.... it got put on the "F-it, let's go drive" list. Your mentioning it reminded me I either need to bend it, or fix something somewhere under there anyway.