edrach

Sorry to hear about your accident. I'm glad you are both okay; cars can be replaced but I know that's small consolation. Tacoma traffic was particularly bad that day....both heading south for the rallycross and coming home. Too bad you didn't make it onto 512; I always take it coming north just to avoid the mess of traffic through the center of Tacoma.

It was another good day for the USMB faction. Complete results will be on the Brooklyn Tavern website in a few days, but qman took first in Open class with his Brat, and I took first in Truck with my son's Brat (mine is still hiding in Bozeman). Charles Morrill from the NASIOC Board took 1st in Production GT in his Legacy GT just edging out XSNRG in his RX. The course was lengthened by adding another field and even the fastest run of the day was over 2:30. A nice course layout which typically flowed nicely from turn to turn with the shifting ground conditions adding to the challenge. The length and apparent roughness of the course made for lots of DNFs for some cars.....there were at least 7 cases of tires being flattened (sometimes lower pressures are not good) and two cars with terminal overheating problems. Weather was phenomenal although a bit hot; the local Grange was out with food and cold pop so it had some of the air of a large family picnic. One of the things I found interesting was the enthusiasm of the spectators hooting and cheering as some of the cars made a spectacular finish or a low time for their run.

You need a vacuum pump and hoses to hook it into the system; hoses preferably with the guages for checking the system. Sorry but I don't know any other way to do that; luckily we do a little bit of refrigeration work in the shop I work in and I have access to the items I need.

Well, here are the directions from the Brooklyn Tavern 'site: 2697 North River Road Brooklyn WA (near the Brooklyn Tavern) Directions: (pavement only): From North of Olympia: Drive South on 1-5 through Olympia, take the Ocean Beaches/Aberdeen Exit, stay on Highway 8 towards Elma. Drive to the Montesano/Raymond exit, (Hwy 107). Turn left. Drive to Hwy 101. Turn left. Pass Artic, watch for “Brooklyn” sign. Turn left on the N. River Rd, drive 17 miles. To travel on the infamous 7 mile “Brooklyn Stage” (gravel), take I-S to Exit 88, head west. Enter Oakville; turn left at the Post Office. Drives SLOWLY through the Indian Reservation, cross the Bridge, turn left. At approximately 3 miles, watch for “Brooklyn” sign to your right. Stay on that road until you come to the gravel, after 7 miles, you will hit pavement again. Drive 3 miles to the Tavern for tech and registration

Pardon me if this sounds stupid, but is Cosmopolis, WA the same location as the Brooklyn Tavern event last month?

System needs to be more than empty; I pulled a vacuum on mine overnight before finally adding the R134a.

Spalding Auto Wrecking in Spokane, WA just sold me a brand new Modine radiator for my '84 Brat (I told them wagon since it's the same). With tax it came to $91 plus change; they will ship via UPS and that's only one day away. The radiator I got had the fittings for the automatic lines. If you want to see it, come by Bothell and you can inspect mine. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=39792&highlight=Spalding

Welcome to the Board. There's lots of help here. If you want the best manual for your son's car, look in the Marketplace forum for the Bentley manual and see if it's still available and snag it....there is no better manual for that car; it's a very competent re-write of the Subaru factory manuals for the early 80's cars up up '84. Best of luck with the new car and you'll find lots of help here. The '84 wagon is just a great car to learn on and have a fun, reliable first car. Two of my sons had a '83 and '84 as they learned to drive and repair their own cars. Loved them.

Two comments now that I've read the entire set of posts. Snowman is correct, if you get a true winter snowtire, NARROW is the way to go. An oversize, wide tire won't help you on snow or ice and will actually hinder you in deeper snow. Look at some of the WRC rally pix for the winter rallies...their tires are positively skinny! Secondly, everyone has theories about how to correct for a skid....steer opposite the rear, steer into the skid....I've always found that advice confusing and if you need to think about, too late. The best advice I've heard is the easiest to remember and the most workable....no matter what your rear end is doing, steer the car where you want to go. Unless you've overcooked it and are about to spin, steer where you want to go and it will go there.

If you have 4WD capabilities with your car, you are not required to mount the chains in the passes even when they are required. But you are required to have them in the car if you get stuck and need them (funny how Washington state law is in this regard). I'm not a fan of studded tires since most of your time will be spent in the Seattle area where studs just eat up the road, are noisy, and actually hurt your stopping distant on dry or wet pavement. I am a great fan of Nokian (Hakkipollitta) studless tires; either the true winter version or the all season version; local Tire Factory chain will carry them....I found the best local price for them is the Kirkland store on 85th. Even in the mountains the Hakkis are excellent and I've never found I needed studs. Good luck finding what's best for you.

Find the closest pull a part wrecking yard; exhaust parts that are usable are cheap. Also the front fenders are easy to replace and are under $30 each at a pull a part yard. You can likely repair both the exhaust and fenders for under $100 and less than three hours time. Good luck with your nice find. If you're needing parts, I can likely pull everything you need and ship it to you, but it'll cost you more. There are others here on the Board that can do the same for you.

What time Sunday; I'll try to arrange my schedule. Will the brat hold the pieces? I could come with the brat or with my Legacy. ---ed---

Nothing personal and I feel your pain and anger. But I never leave the parts store without opening the box and looking inside. It's amazing how often what's in the box is not what I wanted/needed; altho I've never gotten a core axle before. I have to agree with Shawn on the MWE axles and another place which seems to work consistently is www.cvaxles.com.

You can replace the entire transmission with the 5 speed d/r gearbox from an EA82. Search around, lots of conversions have been done like this.

This car belongs to a friend of mine in Denver. I thought about posting in the Marketplace but since it wasn't a Subaru related product, I dumped it here. This is a project car put together by an old school German tool and die maker who will not accept anything less than perfection. After finally finishing it I think he lost interest in it and it's never seen a minute of track time. http://www.angelfire.com/mech/1983golf/

The harmonic balancer and key are usually ruined before the crank's keyway is damaged.

No need to apologize...I was just pulling your chain. A modified version of what Ken has should work for you if that's possible.

Yup, got the emails and replied to all of them I think.

Six feet of clearance; you must get some real snow in Chugiak! Sorry, it's the OCD in my nature! I would imagine that XSNRG or qman would have some thoughts on that. If I remember correctly, Ken's rallycross XT6 is higher than stock.

Stopped in today and pulled the rear disks off that turbo; they were still there since it's a 2WD sedan. While I was there, they dropped a '89 (maybe '87) DL wagon into the yard. I took a look and the car is immaculate inside and out. Car has 108K miles on the odo so if you need a SPFI engine, this is for you. Unfortunately, it's an automatic tranny which might be why it's in the yard. A fair number of EA81 and EA82 cars are in the yard now along with a really ratty/scuzzy looking '91 Legacy wagon. The white XT6 still has two alloy wheels (no hubcaps) available for anyone needing a spare or two. Man, it was hot there today!

Rob, if you still need help on Sunday, let me know; I'm elsewhere on Saturday. ---ed---

Glad you got out of that deal. $1500 sounded too good to be true even for a high miles '93.

I can probably send a good harmonic balancer with a normal size keyway; I haven't got one now but will probably find one in the next few days. Think about a shipping address for it.

I almost got up there yesterday after we got back; but I really needed to help my better half unpack and get settled back in. I may go there today.

No time or desire to look; especially since I'm on a large island surrounded by salt water.....rusted out cars everywhere.