That's the plan, Geners. Just grabbed my tools from the shop and about to drive home. Still waiting to hear from work about whether I need to come in today. I wish they'd hurry up and fire me and be done with it.

Just keep an eye on craigslist at all times, charlie. I got the android app craigsnotification and it hit me whenever there was an update to "subaru" within my price range. I also grabbed the free CriagsPal program for my PC (no mac support currently) as well since it can search multiple areas at once and makes navigating pages much quicker since it does it within the program.

shit.. my outback is probably going to be up for sale in about a month or so.

Yeah, the craigslist app is pretty awesome. I used it to find my moped. Thanks for reminding me of it though. I've really only started browsing around ebay motors and the like. I'm looking in the sub-2k price range because I just want another car I can plow through winter in and park in the really shitty area near my work without worry.

Which probably rules out the Outback, no?

You can find them in that price range, though they're usually worn out or broken. I found a couple that were ok in the ATL area.

Also, is there a timing mark on the crank pulley? I'm having a hard time finding one. There's a little spot on it but I think it's just oxidation. Guess i'll try and line up the cam pulleys FOERST and see if I see anything down below.

Ok, there is definitely some wonky timing going on. I was able to locate the timing mark on the crank and aligned it properly. One cam pulley showed what I believe is the correct orientation (judging from a grainy cell phone pic of a hayne's manual) while the other is I'd say three teeth off.

Crank:



Correct cam pulley:



Incorrect cam pulley:



The angle is kinda tough to tell from those pics, but the incorrect one has the timing mark about 5° lower than the correct one.

Another thing I noticed is that the timing belt seems a bit loose. I wager this is how the timing got off in the FOERST place. What seems odd, though, is that it will get a bit of slack on one end, and be tight on the other, then the slack will go to the other end and be tight on the FOERST side. Dunno if this is normal or not.

Regardless, I guess this means I'm going to be tearing the front of the engine off to get a a better look at things.

http://subaruvanagon.com/tom/Timing%20Belt.htm

this should tell you exactly how to time it..

you see the notches at the top of the cam covers? those are your CDC marks.

also getting the crank pulley off is super easy.. just use a breaker bar with an extension and your driver side frame rail.. bump the motor over just a tad and it breaks the bolt loose.

BTW I think the EJ22 is non-interference..
so if you replace the timing belt and all the rollers and bring it back in time.. you should be good to go.
also.. i'm going to recommend that you do the water pump while you are in there as well.. bc it's the same job.

Yeah, I actually found that site moments after I posted.

Righto, would you recommend doing this operation with the engine in, or out of the car? It looks like pulling the radiator is required to get clearance but I'm wondering if there's any merit to bothering yanking the thing out.

I did mine in the car.. it's easy once you pull the radiator.
There isn't a need to pull the motor as you're making a ton of extra work for yourself.

Coolio. Hopefully I can get that knocked out this week.

get the kit off ebay.. it's everything..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/90-97-SU ... ccessories" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yeah I'm gonna see if resetting the timing allows it to run at all. I haven't attempted to run it yet since I heard they're interference motors, so I'm saving that for when everything is back as it should be.

If I can get it running I'll drop it off by the shop and order the parts to replace everything on it. If I can't get it running I'll tow/haul it to the shop and begin sourcing parts to rebuild the head.

Found the problem. Pulled off the crank pulley and timing cover and was greeted with a small shower of BBs upon the garage floor.



Apparently the tensioner pulley shat itself which is why the timing skipped. Tried to find a replacement one local but the only thing anyone had were the kits which were about $200 more than what they should cost.

Awesome wagon good sir! Hope she purrrs when you put it back together!

Generz wrote:shit.. my outback is probably going to be up for sale in about a month or so.

damn, too many cars? lol

getting rid of some.. replacing others.. thinning the fleet and upping the price per car.