Alright lads finally saved the cash to get a full rebuild done and was just looking around on how to ID the block i noticed on another forum that if theres cross hatches under the alternator pulley its safe to say its a closed deck is this true because i have these on mine, did i stumble upon a little gem for the build or is this untrue??

 

mate this has been covered numerous times. take a look here

 

You do get cross hatching above the oil pump and inside of the bell housing but the only certain way to know is the cross hatching on the oil filter/modine casting on the block





Mick

 

As Mick says - the ONLY way of being 100% sure is the x-hatching around oil filter housing. As also confirmed by Subaru guru, API David... who's opened up more EJ engines than you can shake a shi**y stick at!