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Hey Todd, I was meaning to ask about what oil you used when you serviced your struts - then the forum went down. I have a set of MY front struts that are (were, I pulled them apart!) oil filled. What I didn’t think about was what oil I’d refill them with and that project sat on pause. Keen to hear your thoughts on this and how different weights/viscosity affects handling. My brumby will end up EJ’d with a water to air intercooling and AC if that’ll make a difference. Regards Bennie

G’day @bushytails The L series AWD locking centre diff gearbox came in the RXII coupe, some XT4s and JDM GT wagons. I’m unsure about the XT6 - we didn’t get them here, infact all of these models except the XT4 were personal imports. How to tell them visually apart from the single range PT4wd gearbox with the vacuum actuator to engage the rear drive: this PT4wd single range gearbox’s lever to engage the rear drive is arm above the pivot point. The AWD locking centre diff gearbox is the opposite - the arm is below the pivot point for the locking centre diff engagement. I believe the dual range version will have the rods passing through the rear housing like the DR PT4wd gearbox. The AWD gearbox comes in single and dual range. Pick the one you want as it’s not easy for you to swap it to dual range without another dual range AWD gearbox (EA or EJ). The 3.9 ratio is out there from what I’ve heard, it’s hard to find. Mine was a 3.7 ratio. All of these dual range AWD boxes are 1.19:1 low range. The 1.59:1 transfers in without any issues, it’s a direct swap - need a donor NA dual range PT4wd gearbox. The EJ AWD gearbox pinion shafts are too short. I heard of a bloke that modified two of them to make one pinion shaft for the L AWD locking centre diff gearbox to get 4.44:1 diff ratio - to do this with the good L series low range requires the crown wheel to be shaved to clear the low range selector ring and gearset. I have not seen pics or videos of this done (the double EJ pinion shaft to make one L series AWD pinion shaft). From my understanding, L series PT4wd gearbox internals do not swap over to the AWD version, other than the low range. Everything will physically fit but it’ll become a part time box that requires the part time rear housing as well. My gearbox is made of EJ parts (drive gears and front cases) and the L series AWD bits for the locking centre diff and 1.59:1 low range. Ultimately if you’re on dirt that’s somewhat loose, you want to lock your centre diff, especially if EJ’d as it’s very easy to be spinning the front wheels faster than the rear, over working the centre diff that will lead to its destruction. You could be better off sticking with the PT4wd dual range box, the AWD is only worth it on solid surfaces. ^ PT4wd in the foreground, AWD in the background, you can see the locking lever on the side here with the pivot point above the arm. I don’t have any better pics than the above sorry. I believe the dual range AWD gearbox is fitted with the same rod looking setup in the background of the gearbox as the PT4wd gearbox. My dual range AWD gearbox is built from a single range box originally, so my rear housing lacks the rods that I believe pass through the rear housing for the low range dedents/position retainer setup. Make sure you get the vacuum actuator and it works, plus the matching vacuum switch solenoids too, or have access to them. The single range PT4wd gearbox units work fine with the AWD box ;) I hope this helps.

Rob Allen may offer some insight. Wizard of the RX ;)

Would be for 1975-79 4WD Wagons and 1977-81 Brat 1600 EA71 Top starter location is the give away. They’re fairly plentiful for their age. I scrapped and gave away several and now still have at least two sitting around.

Okay. Sketchy repair maybe (because I don't know 100% what I did) but it is running as well as it ever has. I set out to shoot a short video of the issue last night and decided to check the IAC one more time. It is NOT a b-metal control. It is an on-off solenoid that has the flow metered by a small adjustment screw that is in the throttle body, not in IAC itself. That screw allows minor adjustments to the idle speed while the IAC is active. I turned it in a few revolutions and then backed out to the same spot where it was. I went to start the engine and then do the same adjustment while it was idling but nothing else was required. The engine started as well as ever but never stuttered or bogged down. It idled perfectly and I've now driven it about 45 miles with zero issues. Maybe the port was blocked inside and turning the screw opened up something that has been blocked or too restricted. It runs like a champ now so we'll see if it ever repeats again. The really cool part about all of this is trouble that I figured out a way to use those reversed TPS sensors (SERA484-10) that others have experimented with. I'll detail that in another thread.

There in spirit. Got it. Ordered a timing light gun. Not sure when I'll tackle this.

What you could do is look for options package pamphlets on eBay or the like. They may provide some insight as to what was offered from the factory. Could also get some RX and XT informational pamphlets. Just an idea.

Definitely don't want an auto. lol. 5spd dual range for sure... I'm at the point where the more forum posts I read, the less I know, due to conflicting information...

I'm not here to answer your questions, because I don't have the answers. I know you're in for quite a bit of searching and just as much work, but I can offer some help potentially finding parts. I know for certain my parts guy has a fulltime 4WD Turbo wagon. Problem is that I'm 99% sure it's a 4 speed auto. But the next time I'm over there (probably early June) I can take a look at all the cars he has and see what's available. He's trying to get rid of the parts and would like to know the parts are actually being used. Good luck though, if you can source everything it'd be a trick piece of kit! :]

With the driving I've been doing lately, I've been considering switching to a full-time 4wd with locking center diff. I've been doing a LOT (sometimes 50 miles/day, 5 days a week) of gravel and dirt roads, too loose for 2wd, too solid for 4wd. I've been searching the forums for information about these transmissions, and the posts I've found mostly seem to be from people who have never seen one, as most of the information is directly contradictory... so I'm hoping to get some solid answers. What I want: 5spd full-time 4wd with locking center diff, 1.59:1 low range, 3.9:1 final, widest 1st-5th ratio possible. I'm in the US. Some posts say only the RX had full-time with locking center diff, some say also the XT6, while others say any ea82 turbo might have one. How to identify them is utterly unclear, either from looking at the transmission or at the interior of the vehicle, with no one apparently ever having actually seen one or otherwise giving a useful description. Some posts say they only came with 3.7 final, others say half of them are 3.9. Most say they have a poor (1.19, 1.2, etc) low range, but some say the 1.59 is a direct swap, some day it's not, some say you need au-only gears, and one even says 4spd parts fit, while I'm rather sure they do not. Some posts say that if you get a 3.7 you can swap the 3.9 pinion from an EJ box in, others say you can't, while some say you need XT(6?) parts. Some say it's a mechanical shifter, others say it's electric. el_freddo has a post saying nothing swaps without welding, but his posts are specific to a dual-range EJ tranny that's not available in the US, while I'd be using EA82 parts. Some posts say I'd need three transmissions, an RX, an XT6, and a non-turbo dual range. My current 5spd dual-range is in need of a rebuild (multiple bad bearings, input shaft wobbles an eighth inch, something clunks like a rod knock when in neutral, 5th->R lockout sometimes requires going all the way to the left then back to get to 4th, selector sometimes jams, synchros aren't the greatest, leaks from every single seal top and bottom and back and front...), so I wouldn't feel bad using it as a parts donor for the low range gears. I've tried doing a couple searches, and couldn't find anything available that looked like a full-time box. But, I don't know. car-part.com lists the full-time separately and says there's two available, but I think it's just lumping all ea82 transmissions together. So... What parts do I actually need? How do I identify them, either looking at the transmission or at the car it's in? Are they even available at all?

Tach jumping around could mean the pickup module is going bad or the shaft in the distributor has excessive wobble due to worn bushings. I'd toss my MODIS on it and go for a test drive if it were mine, but that's hard to do over the internet...

I recently acquired this transmission as part of a parts lot. I knew it was older than my scope of interest due to the centrally mounted starter. Does anyone know what this transmission is, what engine it mated to, year range, etc? I believe it's a 4 speed single range due to no external selector shaft exiting the front of the transfer case. P.S. My apologies for the grainy image quality. I had to crop the photo way down to be able to reduce the file size. :]

Yep, will we ever learn? One wonders doesn't one! Bill Rigsby - Florissant, CO - 8,213 feet 1982 Brat

The first thoughts that come to my mind are injector, fuel pressure regulator, or the IAC valve. While I don't think the IAC is the main culprit, those valves can be very tricky. I've heard (and this is conjecture) that they can be bad but still test good. Because they are a heater, their resistance changes between cold and warm. So they could test okay cold but are out of spec when warm. Again, this is conjecture so don't quote me on this, but the IAC isn't just for idle. Allegedly it'll also "catch" to maintain air fuel mixture when the throttle snaps shut. It essentially acts as a buffer to compensate for a rapid change in air entering the intake. I've been chasing a mixture issue myself for months as well so I feel your pain. But if I had to guess, I'd say it's fuel delivery related OR some vacuum issue (be thankful you don't have to mess with the vacuum madness that is the factory carb setup). :]

I definitely don't have any pinging. I do have some dieseling when turning off the car but we made a slight adjustment the other day and it improved some. I still have a bit of a high idle. I do feel the car has way more power when the secondary kicks in. Tach is definitely jumping around a slight amount. I did pull the distributor cap and one of the spark plugs when I got it home and all that looked good to me.

Wish you were closer. I'd pick those up just to have. I'm with you. I sold my 83 BRAT in 08 when I was needing something to commute to college. Now, full circle, I'm back in an EA81 doing the same crap all over again.

I've been working on this problem on and off for almost 4 months and starting to wonder if I am overlooking something obvious because I've been at it too long. It was my daily driver up until this engine issue and honestly, I would rather drive this to work than my 2003 WRX so as much as I hate to ask, I need some help to review my problem. My engine had been running like a champ for well over 2 years since I originally bought this wagon home and repaired a leaking head gasket. I put a least 50 miles on it daily with both freeway and city driving. About 4 months ago, it fired right up as always but then stumbled for a bit and died. What? It has never, ever, done that since the first day I fired up after the rebuild and that was probably 20,000 miles ago. It is the SPFI engine so I never touch the gas pedal when starting. It will restart instantly over and over and runs great for the first 2-3 seconds before the stumbling begins and barely stays running or dies. Sometimes, it will continue to idle very poorly in the stumbling condition for 3-5 minutes, right on the edge of dying. If I step on the gas, it will instantly increase engine speed very quickly and strongly until the desired RPM is reached, but then it begins to stumble again as soon as the RPM is held steady. If I had to guess, I would say it seems to be running very rich during the stumbling phases but I don’t know for sure. It runs fine as long as the engine is increasing in RPM. If I hold the throttle steady at any set RPM, it begins to stumble. I can race the engine over and over by blipping the throttle over and over and it seems okay until I try to let it idle or hold a steady throttle position. I checked and cleaned the MAF. No change. I then replaced the MAF with a known good unit just in case. No change. The MAF was not dirty and I do get a rising and falling voltage signal from the sensor when I back-probe the signal wire at the connector. Wiring harness checks out per the shop manual procedures. I'm working from an 1989 dealer repair manual but pretty sure it's the same for my 87. I don’t have a check engine light and the only code I get from the little red LED hidden inside the ECU is the 5 or 6 short repeating flashes indicating the ECU build series. The 2-wire temp sensor used by the ECU is fairly new and reads the proper resistance range for the engine temp. The IAC seems fine. I took it apart, cleaned it and confirmed it opens and closes when power is applied. When it is closed, it is sealed tightly and flows air easily when it is open. It is a 100% open or 100% shut, although I don’t know if it is modulated by a PWM signal from the ECU. It seems to be active all the time during my testing. It is not a bi-metal heated type valve that closes slowly over a 5-6 minute period after a cold start. If I unplug the IAC connector the engine won’t run at all so it seems to need that bypass air for sure, at least when cold. I thought that maybe I had a large vacuum leak but a smoke machine only showed a very tiny amount of leakage around the throttle shaft at the TPS. The TPS is set correctly with the idle contact switch inside closing only at idle per the FSM. The resistance of the TPS matches the factory manual for all positions. The resistance changes are smooth throughout the rotation from idle to full throttle. Fuel is fresh, filters are clean. Constant 23 PSI measured under the hood with ample flow when I open the line for a test. What causes an SPFI EA82 engine to start perfectly with no issues but then immediately run poorly, except when under acceleration? The fact that the engine starts normally at every attempt but seems to only run well when accelerating makes me think of an ECU that is going in and out of a closed loop/open loop program but I know very little about that possibility with this OBD1 technology. I recently tried a new Bosch 1-wire O2 sensor but it made no difference. Figured that was a long shot but it was cheap and easy to change. At this point, I’m wondering if I can’t see the forest for the trees. Am I missing something obvious? She's to pretty to just be sitting in my driveway.

Bar the engine over until the timing marks are visible in the access hole on the bellhousing, wire brush both the flywheel and the pointer, then use a white paint marker to mark the 8 degrees BTDC line. Set timing at idle with the vacuum hose(s) to the distributor unplugged. Set idle speed before setting timing. If idle speed changes while setting timing, re-adjust, re-set timing, etc. But, a miss isn't usually timing. Too advanced timing causes pinging before it causes misses, and too retarded timing causes power loss without misses. Check plugs, wires, cap, rotor in good condition, then look at mixture. A 'scope on the primary is also a quick check for ignition misses.

The one with the big shoulder was in the left rear. Not sure if we found the same thing on my Impreza.

Thank you, yes I should have never sold the one I had when I first moved to Colorado in the late 90s, been searching ever since for something worthwhile, meaning not a rust bucket. Now I can sell the jump seats I I have had in the shop for several years in case I found one that didn't come with those.

Strange, I just got digging into the catalog. Yea, one of the rear subframe bolts is different. It's drawn in the LR position. But the bushings are all the same. 🤷‍♂️

Next on the agenda is figuring out my idle/mixture issues. I still seem to have a good little miss while driving. I've never used a timing light so I probably need to get one of those on order and con my father-in-law into seeing if he remembers how to use one. I know my distributor has been messed with at one time because it's got the wrong bolt in it. @bushytails , any advice?

Congrats! I saw that on Cars and Bids the other day.

Long time since I have been here, sold my 99 Impreza years ago. Just scored a Brat on BaT yesterday, I know it is a long shot, but I am going to need to find a perfect front bumper! Any leads would be appreciated. Bill Rigsby - Florissant, CO - 8,213 feet 1982 Brat

Coworker gave me a set of skis. I also have a new fuel filter to install at some point.