Leaderboard

BTW, if you have a PepBoys near you, there is currently a full rebate ($29.99 less $30 mail in rebate) on 5 quart jug of Rotella oil. Various grades, its marketed as truck and suv but hey it's oil and spec'd properly. limit 2 per household. That $70 sounds pretty harsh.

I mean installing LED bulbs in the factory housing. Some vehicles (Outback not likely one of them....but I could be wrong about the newer ones) have LED headlight assemblies available for them, aftermarket or OEM, which have considerably different optics to utilize the different light source. HIDs require a Ballast, LEDs require a driver. Frequently, the driver is built into the back of the LED bulb assembly, sometimes it's installed in the wiring a few inches from the bulb. These generate heat, so there's some form of heat sync and frequently a cooling fan on there. The '00-04 Outbacks (I have 6...so this is usually what I'm working on) don't have very much room behind the bulb, so the LEDs with everything built into the bulb assembly don't generally fit, but some use a flexible heat sync braid which are more flexible and can fit into tighter spaces. But basically, a drop-in LED "bulb" isn't much more complicated to install than a replacement halogen. I recommend https://www.gtrlighting.com/ and https://www.diodedynamics.com/ for high quality replacements. Although I've used many cheap alternatives with some success.

@6 Star - you need a new ignition switch. You’ll find it’s not providing power to ignition when in the cranking position. Got a targa tip brat there too? Noice! They’re very sought after down here now. For me, just driving mine. 450km round trip last Saturday from central Vic into Melbs, our the other side then back again. Today headed down south for the Trentham spud fest, across to my old’s about 40km away then back home again. After that it’s back to the weekly duties to and from work. I need to regrease my front CVs. Not looking forward to that. Cheers Bennie

I would suggest buying or renting a cooling system pressure tester if you don't already have one. Pull out all of the spark plugs and fill up the radiator with water. Pressurize the cooling system to about 15 lbs and try to find the leak. I would suggest leaving the car together until you know what's wrong. Once you locate the coolant leak you will know how to fix it.

Inspect the pigtails. Look for signs of loose, overheated or brittle wiring. The pigtails suck in these cars and lead to healight failures. Dont go just by feel of the connection.

Been hard to start the '82 Brat recently. Usually takes a couple pumps of the pedal before it will cough to life. Strange, 9 times out of 10... when turning the engine over for several seconds with the ignition, it will fire AFTER releasing the ignition to the Run position. Only sometimes will it fire before letting go of the "start" position.. Cleaned the plugs, as they appeared to be fouled. Managed to start the Brat with only 3 spark plug wires connected. (D'oh) forgot to reconnect one. However cleaning the plugs did not solve the hard starting issue. Anyway, have been putting her to work hauling fire wood. The engineers made the size of the bed just right for the performance of the EA81... Loaded to the rails, conservatively, with wet firewood; the clutch is able to handle the load without strain or spinning, and the little EA81 torques right along. P.S. Added photos to my previous post.

When I worked at a dealership, that's all we did was throw in a new bulb. Didn't even use OEM ones, as the warranty would pay for aftermarket

Looks pretty cool. A Baja, if Subaru had released it a generation earlier.