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As to the rear shock bolts, you are wise to be concerned. The bolts go through the body entirely and the exposed portion of the bolt rusts and expands. I've found that I can loosen the bolt but as I remove it, it binds up again. Best technique is to be patient and loosen it a little at a time. Use a quality rust penetrant (Kroil is about as good as you'll get; PB blaster is not sufficient) and soak from the outside and inside for about a week. Loosen the bolt until it binds and then turn it back in about one turn. Soak it with rust penetrant again, give it some time and try it again. A torch will work, maybe, but I've never tried it. First one I did required a 4 foot pipe over the breaker bar to get enough leverage.

Give Jason (in parts) a call at 866-525-5282 (toll free). Even with $5 bucks for shipping he's less than your local $25.

Sorry, I'm late to the party. '85 wagon with likely lots of miles. Potentially your problem is the connector coming from the ignition switch. Remove the plastic under the steering column and maybe the kick plate under the dash. Take a look at the wires coming from the ignition switch (opposite from the ignition key tumbler) and follow them down about 6 inches to the first plastic connector. Plastic will be either pink or white. Examine the connector and look for a brown or black discoloration in the connector; if the plastic is not discolored, put everything back together since your problem is not here. On the other hand, if it is discolored, it's the sign of a bad electrical connection (bad connection overheats the connector and turns the plastic brown or black depending on how bad it is. Fix is easy. Find another ignition switch and harness at a junkyard. Almost all the early '80's and '90's use the same switch/harness. Replace it. If you are electrically adept splice a #12 wire around the one wire/connection that is bad. Somewhere in the USRM is a picture of a bad connector. It is a VERY common problem on the older cars. Edit: I checked the USRM and couldn't find a pic of what I was looking for. It's either lost or somewhere else. Maybe the original poster for that pic knows where it is.

That would be great news if accurate. Looks like I'll be jacking up the rear wheels on our '99 Model S!

I've had good success getting radiators from www.spaldings.com 2210 N. University Road Spokane, WA 99206 (509) 924-3300 It's a wrecking yard but they do sell new radiators. I got one for an Alpha a while back for $105 plus shipping. Since then I've bought one for my Brat and Legacy. Always fit just fine and worked great. At about a $200 saving it's worth a shot. By the way, they have a toll free number also.

Kyb's have proven to be great on my Legacy and Impreza. I can't think of a better bang for the buck.

Durania gave you the correct method of testing....doesn't matter whether it's AWD or not.

'Glad you're up and running again. I wouldn't worry about the extra pulley; you don't need it and it won't hurt anything to have it.

Here's a pic I took of the cupholder out of a '85 (or '86) ford contour. I'm planning to install it in my Brat. It retracts when not in use. If you go to my photo album section and check out the My Cup Holder album, you can see the one I have in my Brat. It works pretty well for the passenger, but is a long reach for the driver. That's why I'm adding the one from the Ford.

Picked this up on the ORG yahoo board. This looks too cool. Wonder if anyone has a $500 Brat or Impreza out there? Greetings Geargrinders and ORGetarians,I bring news of a ground-floor opportunity - a true 1st Opp, if you will.A guy named Can Sheahan is organizing - and I use that term loosely - anew annual event. It is named the Oregon 500/500 and it goes like this:you buy a four-wheeled vehicle for $500 or less, and you rally it for 500kilometers (well, really you rally it for 250 and drive home for 250, but let's not quibble). The date is May 31. Beyond that, details are sketchy.Here, below, is his recent Press Release. Please contact him for details as Iknoweth not more than is explicated herein. I can tell you that Cam is a good guy who owns some GREAT cars and he's active in car shows and selected ralliessuch as the Northwest Classic. His words follow: ---------- For those who have forgotten or never knew, we will proceed down the valley on a specific route with no possibility of getting lost to Corvallis and stay there overnight. The trip down will cover 250 kilometers (155 miles) and the trip back the next day will also cover 250 Kilometers. Hence the first 500 of the title. The second 500 represents the cost of the auto to be procured to make thistrip. It is assumed that this $500 will be the total investment including thecar and any replacement parts.The Date is May 31, 2008 and the motel will be the Salbasgeon althoughyou may stay in your car if you like.We will arrange for a dinner which will be paid for by each person on theoccasion of eating it and the motel will also be your responsibility.Where do you get such a car? Today alone over forty cars with askingprices of less than $501 and that were said to run came onto craigs list and there were a total of 238 such postings. Each posting is on for only one week so over several months there will be many to choose from. Of the forty some that came on today there were two that I would haveused for the event if I had not already procured a $400 one. The bottom line on that is that the acquisition will take some time so start early. We know of five cars that have been acquired for this event so far.When you make the decision to participate, let us know immediately sowe can plan for the dinner, motel, etc. The official entry form willfollow at a later date, but we need a pretty accurate head count beforethat. Also, be sure to budget for the $10 entry fee.---------- So if you have a beater with receipts, or you wish to acquire one, this would be a great opportunityto show off your bargain-car acquisition skills. Perhaps a team effort from CSCC and/or ORG, or any of the existing teams and associations (we would fully expect at least one entry from Team AFRICA, although a name modification to Team AFRI-Can-A might be in order; please don't ask).By the way, I think you can safely leave the Timewises at home on this one. Heck, you can probably leave your speedo, odo and watch at home too.Please don't contact me for details. Cam's email is camsheahan@juno.com. Happy bargain shopping.Reid TrummelEcurie 500

An EJ18 would be cheaper yet and more compatible with slightly less HP. Too many EJ18's on the market since everyone is swapping up to the 2.2 or 2.5. A more reliable engine and less gas consumption.

What do you want to know. I just walk the yard and try to remember how many are there. I couldn't give you years or models or even colors until something struck my fancy.

I think you're correct; that cone filter looks large enough to me.

Hey Skip, when I first saw that pic I thought "I wonder if that's Skip's garage." I'm not surprised. Looks great; I wish I could be that neat and organized.

Typically the stock output for an '86 GL is 60 amps max; the 55 amp earlier version fits also; the 90 amp version for the XT6 works also once you change the alternator pulley. Frankly the 60 amp version should be fine since one normally doesn't run all of those electrical items at the same time. Add up the total current consumption of everything you have in the car; even if it's 80 amps I doubt you'll pull anywhere close to that on a continuous basis. For the short term use at high current, that's what the battery is for.

Walked Lynnwood again today. Three more early legacies and two more EA81 cars. Sorry none of the stuff starkiller is looking for.

And an 8mm to disconnect the postive cable from the alternator.

I can suggest a place in Ballard. The guy is "old school" even though he's much younger than I am. He's the only person I trust to rebuild an alternator. He does great work; now is a good time to get some work done. He specializes in marine electric repairs. As soon as the sailing season is close he's too busy to squeeze auto stuff into his schedule. The wonders of the internet. I know how to get there, but didn't have the address. Google is my friend. Greg's Marine & Auto Electric (206) 706-9048 1149 NW 52nd St Seattle, WA 98107

Well, if it isn't an EA81, I stand corrected. However, it said XT turbo on the rear trunk. Looked to me to be the 4 cylinder wedge. It was also a 2WD automatic gearbox.

If you're looking for an EA81 turbo, check out the Smokey Point Pull a Part. I was there yesterday and they had an XT turbo in the yard (blue 2WD automatic).

Sorry you're having trouble getting a refund. I won't get into that issue here but I have a couple of comments. You say that the AZ alternator started making excessive noise after 8 months of use. This sounds like bad bearings and it's not likely that anything electrical would cause the bearings to wear out. Secondly , I suspect you need a core replacement for the OEM alternator you bought. Check out Pull a Part; you can get any alternator (maybe even a working one) from them for around $10. This will settle the core issue for you with minimal expense. (By the way I could send you a core alternator for the cost of shipping or you can pick it up here in Bothell for free). Lastly, take the failed AZ alternator back to AZ and exchange it for another as per the warranty. Then try to get AZ to take it back for a refund or sell it to someone else (ebay or the USMB) with the lifetime warranty to recover as much of your original investment as possible. Life is too short to lose sleep over something like this. Put it behind you as best as possible, learn from the experience and move on. Good luck.

Skip is correct about disconnecting the battery first. If you are actually as electrically inept as you say, disconnect the negative terminal first; no need to disconnect the positive terminal at that point.

I don't understand what that test is about; here in WA they test the gas cap to insure it doesn't leak.

Two of my three sons delivered pizza for quite a while. '83 and '84 wagons worked great doing it. Why would you think they couldn't handle it?

If you mean the highway number, no, but I can look it up on the map. 172nd is the street that exit 206 dumps you onto; just head east on it through Smokey Point. Look left after the airport and you'll see the huge blue sign in the distance.