edrach

Skip, glad to see you posting again. I've missed your wisdom on the old school cars. Good luck with the Legacy.

Did they really make turbos back then in the dark ages?

Why yes, I do. However, let me qualify that. I have an '84 Brat which is not my daily driver. When I plan on a long trip with it, I drop my spare alternator in the car. I'm a firm believer in one of Murphy's laws...."it you're carrying a spare part, it will never fail." Besides that, I ALWAYS carry a spare alternator belt. On my daily driver ('91 Legacy) I have a spare alternator (from a junkyard at $20 and checked for proper operation in my car before I put it on the shelf again) sitting on a shelf in my garage. I don't put it in my car for even long trips but that's because it's my daily driver and I think I can anticipate when it might fail (bearings make noise, idiot lights glow). Another item that will cause your alternator to fail prematurely, is oil. Excessive oil in the engine compartment and coating the alternator will cause it to fail in short order.

Most common failure mode is the diode trio which causes all three of the idiot lights to glow dimly. This usually gives you some warning but the main diodes will fail one day to one week later.

Welcome back. Not much to do....and you had to wait until 1:00 AM to post this?!!

Good progress Carl. Slow and steady wins the race as they say. I don't want to scare you but the steering rack is a bit of a chore, but I'm sure you can do it. Worst part of it is that it's usually messy and oily. You'll be pleased with the car when you've accomplished all the repairs needed.

75W90 is what the manual calls for. If you have an older transmission with slightly worn synchros I would suggest the Redline 75W90NS which will help shifting somewhat.

Actually, rusting from the rain is the problem.

Just a guess, since idle is the usual failure that I've seen. Have you checked the vacuum advance on the distributor? Your car is old enough to have the diaphragm bad; no advance would certainly hurt you at cruise.

Ken might be annoyed with you or someone else---probably with good reason if that's the case. But, trust me, there's not a mean bone in his body.

That's what I mean.....and yes, you are in your own class!

For those who are following my learning curve about webers and emissions on my Brat, you might have noticed I'm looking for a way to check mixture on my Brat without paying some emissions shop $$$$$$$$ to sniff while I change idle jets on the weber. Anyway, oddcomp suggested using the existing O2 sensor and making a display/readout to monitor the sensor and have some idea what's happening to the mixture. Anyone here have some idea what the output of the O2 sensor is? I suspect it's resistive; what kind of values could I expect for rich, lean, and in-between. Anyone seen any "homemade" displays that would do what I'm looking for?

Just like rallycross, except there are almost as many classes as contestants!

2nd update. Came home from work today and checked the idle mixture screw on the Brat. Sure enough, only 3/4 turn indicating too rich. Now to find some jets and find which one is ideal to replace the 45 in there now.

As near as I can tell the only difference between the 2WD and 4WD disk setups on the EA82T is the backing plate and hub. Rotor, caliper, and pads are all the same.

Update. Seems Bow-wow had the right idea, but the primary idle jet is an air bleeder jet. To lean out the mixture I need to go up in size (50, 55, 60, etc.) until I get the right mixture; this is from the tech guy at carbs unlimited. I still wish I had a way to tell if the emissions was better or worse.

Congratulations on a milestone. It's a milestone for us on the USMB also for all the help and assistance you've given us everytime we've asked for it. Your unselfish willingness to help and assist is a fine example to others. Here's to another ten years of success for you.

Not you Junkie, another Brian. Actually, I'm kidding about it being the other Brian. A little offbeat edrach humor that really misses the point.

The last time I bought the GR-2s, I got them from Expressauto Parts. www.expressautoparts.com http://www.expressautoparts.com/PartSearch/getpart.cfm?year=1992&make=SU&model=LOY-4WD-001&category=L&part=Shock%20Absorber

Over the last five years we've had 7 older Subarus in the family. Most of them were "beaters" when we got them. So clutches were a common item. We've never had to replace a clutch a second time other than my '84 Brat. I had installed a used but good clutch in it when Jerry did the 5 speed conversion. 3 years later I installed a rebuilt engine and put a new clutch in it; the old clutch didn't look too bad and I might wind up using it on one of my older cars again.

Rick, I think you're correct in your assesment. A smaller primary idle jet. I spoke to one of the guys at the Lynnwood Bow-Wow shop this evening and he gave me a simplified description of what might be happening. Primarily (no pun intended) the weber does almost everything off the primary idle jet and mixture adjustment up to about 3000 rpm. The secondary idle jet is just there to provide a smooth transition for the secondary barrel when it starts to open up at about 3500 rpm. Air corrector jets do not affect things much as long as enough air is getting into the mixture; the main jets only affect things in the upper rpm range. So that leaves me with the choice of just dropping the primary idle jet one or two sizes from the 45 that's in there now. Now if I only had a sniffer to tell whether it made a difference.

The primary difference for the Prestone extended life orange coolent is that it is low phosphate and less prone to corrode aluminum radiators and/or leave deposits that can clog the tubing. I used the orange Prestone (diluted with DISTILLED water for 5 years on my '86 GL without any problems).

I checked what is in mine and I found 45 and 50 idle jets for the primary and secondary; 170 and 160 for the primary and secondary air correctors. I'm still looking for where to find the main jets.

Maybe Brian did it.

Maybe because he just closed on his new house last Monday.