edrach

I've got a '91 Legacy wagon which I'm very fond of. The only thing I don't like about it is the stupid seat belt arrangement that automatically slides into place when the door is closed and the car is started. Has anyone tried to replace that with a later version that is not so cumbersome? Are the belt mounting holes available so I could update it easily?

I helped a friend with this recently. If you know anything about electronics and take the clock apart, you'll see two square pads on the circuit board with nothing between them. The missing part is a fuse/resistor which drops the 13.8V from the car to 5V for the clock. Sometimes it burns out completely and your clock goes dead. My friend replaced it with a resistor and got his clock back. I'll see if he has a value for the resistor he used.

By the way, what are "ed emissions?" Don't tell me the "that's why they call them old farts joke."

Thanks for the link, Rob. The last four times I sold a vehicle I went to the local DOL office and filed the report. It cost me $3.50 to do it but it's worth the piece of mind. I started doing this when I "gave" away an old Mazda GLC instead of sending it to the wrecking yard (it had been in my family for 6 years and all three of my kids learned to drive on it--none of them could seem to break it permanently). I sold it for $1 for a friend of my son's who was desparate for transportation and broke as well. I did mail the report of sale to Olympia, but 3 months later I started getting the parking tickets for it. It seems she had never registered the car in her name and only used it on weekends by buying a temporary 3 day registration every Thursday whenever she needed to use the car!! Anyway, she finally relented and spent $800 to fix the car properly; but still didn't transfer the registration!! Two weeks later, I got a call from the Police since the car had been stolen. It turns out the thief stole it, and was stopped for the expired license tabs and arrested. There is some justice in the world. This girl wouldn't bail the car out of impound so it went up for auction; since I was still the last owner of record the towing company tried to hit me up for towing and storage of over $400. I sent them a copy of my report of sale and never heard from them again. About 3 months later I was driving home from downtown Seattle and saw the car parked on the street--pretty obvious since it was beige in color and had a blue Pull a Part door on one side. I stopped to make sure and met the new owner while I was looking at it. He had picked it up at auction for $20; he said "it was the most reliable car he'd ever driven." For all I know it could still be out there somewhere. Some cars just refuse to die.

Great looking tool, Craig; a fine piece of work. I used to use the nut/washer method also; it's a little slower and sometimes more difficult (depends on the bearings) but it certainly works. I still have the stack of washers that made that method more consistent. Since I picked up the SOA tool off ebay I've been in second heaven. It's so much easier.

See Junkie, another reason to move up North!

EmmCeeBee is correct. Loaded is a nice deal since they come lubed, pre-assembled, and with all the little shim pieces that I always seem to lose when changing pads. Generally, about the same price as calipers and pads separately.

Washington state is much easier on emissions than California. If the car passes the sniffer test, the hood is never raised. However, best of luck anyway. Glad you guys found the problem with the idle.

Look at the lable; if it's lsd, it will say so. Another method is to jack up both rear wheels and put the car on jackstands. Put the car in neutral (engine off of course) and turn one rear wheel in a forward direction. If the other rear turns in the same direction, you have a LSD differential. If it turns in the opposite direction you have a standard open differential.

I'm with GD on the Air Suction Valve. Do a search in the archives; there's lots written about it.

You might be in luck. There are currently two early Legacys at the Lynnwood Pull a Part with straight front ends. It would be a source of straight parts for you if you need them. Rent a portable sawsall and you're good to go.

Found this on the ORG discussion group today. Splendid and exciting news. Permanent land for all kinds of motorsports! Hi All - Please see message below. The full release should be available on oregonscca.com....I thought it was already there, but, I can't seem to find it. Thanks, Holly Remington - Regional Executive, Oregon SCCA ******************************************************************************** Oregon Region Sports Car Club of America For Immediate Release Contact: Jeff Zurschmeide 503-638-7300 email: zursch@oregonscca.com http://www.oregonscca.com Portland, Oregon (March 11, 2004) - The 1500 members of Oregon Region, Sports Car Club of America took the first steps toward building and operating their own racetrack, planned for the rolling hills outside Goldendale, in Klickitat County, Washington. On Thursday, March 4, the board of directors of Oregon Region voted to form a Limited Liability Company to obtain land and construct a multi-purpose, non-spectator motorsports park. The new company will be seeking investors this year and plans to build the track in 2005. The park will initially include facilities for road racing, autocross/skidpad, and performance rally. The club will make a purchase offer on 700 acres of farmland just outside the Eastern Washington farming community. The typically arid land east of the Cascade Mountain Range makes the site an ideal location for a track the club hopes will be in use most of the year. The Goldendale area recently rediscovered its motorsports history. It is just a few miles from the historic Maryhill Loops Road, the first paved road in Washington. That road, now owned by Maryhill Museum, is used for the annual Maryhill Loops Hillclimb for vintage race cars. It also has been used for numerous automobile television commercials. There is also an active motocross facility in operation in the area. "We are still a long way from realizing our dream of actually having a track there," said Holly Remington, Regional Executive for Oregon Region SCCA. "But for us this is an important first step." The Oregon Region is best known for its participation in the annual Rose Cup races held each June at Portland International Raceway. The Rose Cup remains one of the signature events in amateur racing in America and attracts drivers from throughout the western states. Remington said the club intends to continue to use PIR for many events and will continue to provide safety, corner workers and other staffing for events such as Champ Car and American Le Mans. Unlike the Portland road course, the planned race track at Goldendale will be designed for amateur races, not expected to draw the crowds that often attend events at PIR. The plan is for a 3-mile road racing circuit that can be run as two tracks of approximately 1.5 miles each, if desired. "It is important to note that this facility is not designed to accommodate large numbers of spectators and major commercial events, but rather to provide a venue for amateur and club events, similar to Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA.," said Jeff Zurschmeide, chairman of Oregon Region's New Track Committee. Thunderhill was developed by Oregon Region's sister club, San Francisco Region SCCA. The 60-year-old Sports Car Club of America is the nation's oldest and largest amateur motorsports organization, with a national membership of about 65,000. The Oregon Region was established in 1962.

Redhook is just a short drive from my old house; I'll ask if their sampling glasses are for sale or to donate next time I'm there.

Northguy, Who is Nordman? Available through Nokia? I haven't been to their 'site in a while but I'd love to get a set of Hakki 10's. I think they'd be the ideal rallycross tire for my Brat. Got a link for this lazy old guy?

GD, awesome report. Interesting picture of your exhaust pipe. Consider extending it out past the end of the bumper. With the pipe as it appears now you're going to see lots of rust under there soon.

I've got the KYBs on my '91 Legacy wagon and I love them. Not harsh at all and the car tracks like a dream. I don't know what to tell you.

If the temp increases with speed on the highway, you likely need to replace the radiator. Typical symptom with all the EA82 cars, especially the turbo--radiator is marginal and when it gets old it can't dissipate the heat fast enough. As your speed goes up, the temp goes up with it. Double row radiator is best for the Turbo.

Luke Ebert ran a gen1 Brat last year with an LSD installed. I'm not sure of the rear end ratio, but I thought it was a 3.900. Just make sure the LSD you install has the same rear ratio as your current open diff.

Shipping charges: I don't remember actual costs anymore, but the typical axle in a box weighs about 17 lbs. Go to ups.com or fedex.com (ground only) for a cost estimate of shipping. No advantage for you, but I've found that my savings on salestax almost covers a portion of the shipping costs. Last time I received a warranty replacement from cvaxles.com, I paid to ship the bad unit to them and they paid for shipping of the replacement unit back to me. Replacement parts: Cvaxles.com will sell you the individual pieces if you really want to rebuild your own. They might even tell you how to do it properly. Local source for you: Another place I've done business with that is in your back yard-- Oregon Drive Axle Supply 12533 SW Main Tigard, OR 97223 503-639-9476, FAX 503-684-8365 and 1-800-336-2953 I'm not really sure that they are still around. The last time I did business with them was two axles for my wife's Geo Metro. They were the only ones who were able to supply them in a timely fashion (no one up here stocked them and the local price was outrageous-->$200 EACH!). They had two axles back to me in two days at $69 each plus shipping. I put both axles on the car more than three years ago and they are still working just fine.

Odd, I had the sender in my '84 Brat fail recently. Couldn't find an EA81 unit in the yard so I bought one from an EA82. It works; but I have 75 PSI at all times even at idle. Most likely I got a flakey unit because I see no reason for them to be different for the two engine types.

Call CV axles at their 800 #; I think Kevin is the guy you want to talk to. My understanding is that the axles are lifetime warranteed (unless the boot is torn). Price is $55 per axle plus shipping; there's a core charge of $55 but they hold off on billing that providing they get a good core within 30 days.

First time I did this, it took me over 2 hours. 45 min. is after you've done a few and you have absolutely no problems. Did you already know the pin out of the inner joint? If so, you need to put the washers and castle nut back on the outer portion and pull on the hub until the inner joint falls off the stub axle at the tranny end. Once that's free, loosen the castle nut again and using a block of wood to keep from murphing the threads, bang the castle nut in, loosen it some more, bang it some more until the outer portion of the axle is free from the hub and you can remove the old axle. Good luck.

FS: Passenger side visor for '91 Legacy; beige (vinyl material) in color and it DOESN'T FLOP DOWN! $20 plus shipping will take it.

I have never gotten more than 10K out of any axles bought from Schucks, NAPA, or other name chain. I have not had any luck with axles rebuilt by ARI. In all cases, I received a replacement and in half of those, the replacement failed again in a short period of time. I've had my best success (and for the lowest price) with axles pulled from wrecks at a junkyard; I'm very picky about what I pull and haven't had to replace any of those until a boot let go. My personal choice is http://www.cvaxles.com; I've had an occasional axle fail there also, but never a complaint about a replacement; I've replaced two there over the years and one had a slit in the boot and it was replaced without question. Just to get a comparison, I've owned or worked on (for my kids), two Brats, two EA81 wagons, a EA82 wagon, and a Legacy wagon for the last 6 years and have certainly done my share of axles. Best bang for the buck has been my carefully pulled axles from a wreck; but cvaxles.com still gets my vote for a quality rebuilt axle--I would not purchase a rebuild from anyone else.

Eric, if the relay is wired as per McBrat's diagram, terminal 86 goes to your switch. THE OTHER END OF THE SWITCH GOES TO GROUND! Sorry for the caps, but no one so far had answered your question. Although SubSandRail had the correct solution also.