98 Outback Dilema fix and keep or break up?

LIFTED · Post by **LIFTED** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:15 pm

I bought a 92 Liberty yesterday and new struts and springs ($1100)were too expensive for me, to raise it, then on Gumtree I saw this unlicenced 98 Outback and I bought it today with the intention of wrecking it and putting the struts and springs etc on my liberty.
But besides the hail damage the engine just purrs, it drives great, interior imaculate.
The guy was selling it as it keeps over heating.
I took it for a test drive at his place and sure enough after 5 mins driving the temp gauge was almost on high, I opened the cap the water was luke warm but heaps of pressure pushing the water out.
Hmm so do I continue my plans and just take the struts from it. Or look at fixing the overheating, he spent over $600 on the radiator and thermostat etc.
He got it from the hail damage auctions, got it relicenced, said it went ok then started over heating, he didn't want to throw any more money at it.
I got it for $500 plus $100 for towing.
I'm not that mechanically minded. Oh and 208000 on the clock, auto.
Any and all suggestions welcome.

Post by **TOONGA** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:25 pm

First thing I would do is put those rims on the liberty

can you post a picture of the engine?

I was talking to RSR yesterday and if it is the twin cam engine it has a real problem in the head gasket area.this is the model in the leaky headgasket era.

and it really is a golf ball isn't it

TOONGA

woody.t · Post by **woody.t** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:15 pm

yeh as toonga said well known for head gasket issues... and if she's been overheated a few times and for driven like that you'd most likely have some real trouble.. +1 struts springs and rims into the liberty and if you were to part out i have a friend who'll take the front seats off your ands and ill grab the steering wheel

LIFTED · Post by **LIFTED** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:26 pm

Engine pic added
Those Outbacks rims are only 15", the 16" and a lift will look heaps better

Ok so its +1 for part out and 0 to fix and keep.

woody.t · Post by **woody.t** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:02 pm

15's will give you a better choice of tyres ... the 16" gt rims do look prettier though

coupe · Post by **coupe** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:17 am

Good buy mate i missed out on that one lol.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:21 am

Contact Guyph, I've heard he's got some experience in parting subis out - if you're nice to him you might get some tips and tricks in how to go about parting it out

Other than the auto and the hail damage it looks like a sweet deal to me! If it were me and I was to keep it I'd be dropping that auto!

Cheers

Bennie

Post by **TOONGA** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:16 am

mainbreak wrote:Engine pic added
Those Outbacks rims are only 15", the 16" and a lift will look heaps better
Ok so its +1 for part out and 0 to fix and keep.

one inch can be made up in tyre size, play with your tyre calculator you will see

those 15's are way nicer than the ones I still have to give you. and they have legal tread on them.

woody.t wrote:15's will give you a better choice of tyres ... the 16" gt rims do look prettier though

they are 16 inch rims but I don't think they are the GT rims and yes there are way more tyre choices for 15 inch rims.

it is a hard choice wreck it or fix it I would talk to RSR555 aka Paul

TOONGA

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:51 am

I like these motors but they get a bad rep because of the head gaskets. They've got good low down torque (maybe not with the auto?) which makes it a great motor to live with every day. As long as there isn't damage to the motor from overheating i think its reasonable to get the head gaskets fixed. Then you've solved the only thing that really goes wrong with them, timing belts as well of course but that's the same for all the EJs. Its at 200,000 kms so if the timing belts haven't been done recently you will have to do it. I imagine the wallet will get a good solid beating if you have to do head gaskets and timing belts at the same time.

Atleast if you get it on the road the golf ball effect should give you some aerodynamic advantage

If you part it out i want the roof rack cross bars.

ScubyRoo · Post by **ScubyRoo** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:23 am

If you part it out I'll take the driver's side door light cover and interior light cover, so long as the clips aren't broken.

You can certainly feel the difference in the 2.2 to 2.5, the EJ25 just pulls that little bit nicer down low...

stewbaru · Post by **stewbaru** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:36 pm

Thats a bargain, I say wreck it, not just because i'd be interested in the engine, but your liberty will look sweet lifted and thats some fairly serious hail damage.

Cheers,
Nic

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:42 pm

+200 for parting out !! hahaha

I'm interested in the 15"s for my Outback plus a bunch of other parts

LIFTED · Post by **LIFTED** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:38 am

At the moment, I'm thinking I might have a go at taking the motor out of outback and try and fix the overheating, if this works then swap the stuts in both cars so I have a lowered around town Outback and a raised Liberty for trips away. If the motor issue becomes too hard and expensive for me then I will part out the Outback.

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:47 am

You can put the EJ22 manifold and sensors onto the EJ25 and put it in your liberty without changing any of the wiring.

Post by **TOONGA** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 11:14 am

Mainbreak for what you paid for the car and what it will cost to fix it, rego it and swap the parts over, I believe you will have made your money back if you wreck it.

all you need to do is look through this thread at the people who want parts and you will see

PS Im still thinking about that motor, computer and harness

TOONGA

LIFTED · Post by **LIFTED** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:15 pm

Toonga don't make it any harder for me

I'm already struggling with my decision

The engine removal is already daunting for me

but I've got time, patience and the internet on hand.
Hmm I think most of the people suggesting part out are a bit biased

in that they might want some parts.
Venom would the EJ25 fit on to the auto box already in the liberty?
Are any other parts in the outback better performing than the liberty that could be transferred over eg diffs, auto box.
Going off topic a bit, just changing the spark plugs on the OB looks a bit challenging there's hardly any room in there, it's all packed in so tight.

woody.t · Post by **woody.t** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:33 pm

my advice to part out comes from past experiences with putting money into an engine that had been overheated to no avail from what a understand from the composition of the subaru bottom end is they don't take to well to getting hot.. yeh the ej25 would bolt up but what i think venom is talking about is mating the ej25 short block to the ej22 heads and inlet etc etc.. you'd be up for a rewire etc if you were to put the full ej25 into the liberty where as you'll get a high compression ej25 by swapping short blocks without a rewire.. basically a better ej25

LIFTED · Post by **LIFTED** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:36 pm

Ah ha thanks Woody.

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:51 am

There's 3 ways you can do the EJ25 swap. You can swap just the Ej22 manifold onto the Ej25 and use the Ej22 harness and ECU. There's also one sensor on the block you need to swap. This seems like the best way to me.

You can swap the Ej22 heads + manifold on the EJ25 and get a high compression motor and keep the EJ22 harness and ECU. Downside to this is the car isn't optimised for the high compression, it really needs an aftermarket ECU which isn't worth it for this kind of build.

Or swap the entire EJ25 engine in including the wiring and ECU.

If you get seriously interested in doing so then there are threads on NAISOC and ultimate subaru about these swaps.

LIFTED · Post by **LIFTED** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:38 pm

mainbreak wrote: Are any other parts in the outback better performing than the liberty that could be transferred over eg diffs, auto box.

Any suggestions ?