DaveT

Here's my thought on cost of cars: Buy new - You take a huge hit in value in 2 years. Buy 2 year old - Not bad, if you keep it for 10 years or more. Buy a $600 no rust EA82 spend a few G's on it. Still cheaper than 2nd choice. Even with spending some $ on repairing things the previous owner let go. Heck, you could replace the entire driveline and still be ahead. Resale value doesn't matter if you drive it into the ground. I have never sold a Subaru. And if you did screw something up while modifing, it's not like you killed a $15,000 car. read this: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.03/drag.html Look here: http://www.nedra.com/

To get at the rod bearings remove the heads. Remove the pistons. You cant get at the nuts from the oil pan.

After checking the flow - you would benefit from adding a switch & solenoid to disable the fresh air intake - it is open except when OFF or A/C Max is selected.

Cool. I have thought about this also. From reading about electric conversions in general, you want 120V and up for good performance. Don't put panels on the car. There isn't enough area to be significant. If you go with 120V, common easy to get batteries: 20) 220AH "golf cart" batteries = 120V @ 200A = 24,000Watt Hours of stored power. (24KWH) Common solar panel about 3x4' = 120Watts. Say you put 2 on the roof. That's 240Watts. For as long as there is direct, straight on sun. So maybe 6 hours. 6x240=1440WH or a little over 1/16th of capacity. And they are big bucks and fragile. Figure on a new set of batteries every 5 years. The batteries need to be secured very well. You don't want the flying around in a crash. You need a circuit interupter (fuse) at each pack. 120V DC is much more dangerous than 120VAC. The arc doesn't go out 120 times per second like AC, so it is much harder to interrupt the current. Those batteries will oblige a 1000Amp discharge current for many seconds. 120KW!! The electric conversion info also talked about upgrading the suspension and brakes to handle the extra weight. So the Honda springs go in:) And at least the rear disc brakes. It would be a fun project.

One winter, I didn't bother plowing the driveway, just run over the snow a bunch of times to pack it down. Well, we got 3-4, good storms, a week apart, no melt between, and built up a good base. The next storm was deep enough to hang up the bottom of the car and the wheels started to slip. Car body now sitting on the hardpack with no weight on the tires. 90 3AT 4WD wagon. Pulled a few feet with friend's small pickup to get free. The only other time was fooling around in a parking lot, got into a plow ridge. The snow was strong enough to support the car with no weight on the tires. A little digging with a scraper and a push from a guy that happened by was all it took to get unstuck. 76 4WD 4 speed wagon. I have only used various all season tires.

Normal operation, steady blink. Trouble code looks like morse code, sort of.

So you want to fix it once. I *might* be able to get at one of my spare heater systems in a few days... Haven't studied the internals, just never had a reason. The liner is probably insulation to prevent the outside of the box from getting wet with condensation. Maybe cork gasket sheet. http://www.mscdirect.com Weather strip sounds fine for the joints and gaps around the cores. The aluminum tape for ductwork should be good for cold and hot. Look at all the types of weather strip at HD or GOOD hardware store. Look for Frost King X-treme rubber weatherseal. http://www.frostking.com/windoorweather.php EDPM seems to last a LONG time. I have some outside, exposed to sun part of the day for about 10 years. It only comes in the smaller sizes. For the doors, I would worry about the adhesive un sticking. Mostly hot summer days when parked. RTV might help. Be sure that the surfaces are *clean*. Use something to prevent sticking to the plastic?

Not enough to worry about. I have always tried to catch the freon, because it is so expensive. So far, no system had a decent charge. Weatherstripping would probably work. The A/C guy might have some better stuff. How long do you want / need it to last? For freon 12, Buna-N. Not sure about the other stuff, as I don't use it. Each fitting has an o-ring. The high pressure side uses smaller ones than the low pressure side. A while back, I bought one of the assortments like they have in the store, so I can just match them up. http://www.mscdirect.com. $20- 30.00 Be careful when loostening the lines. Use penatrating oil, take time. You don't want to break them.

See this thread for a low cost vacuum pump: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=59115&highlight=compressor To be effective, the vacuum has to be strong (hard) enough to boil water at room temperature. An air powered venturi pump won't do this. The receiver / drier could probably be restored by warming it while vacuuming. It would need to be held under those conditions for some time. Not sure how long though. I had one A/C system that ran with air in it, didn't cool as well as it did before, but it did work for a number of years before loosing the freon again. After pulling the vacuum, close the valves, shut of the pump, make sure the system holds the vaccuum for a good while. If it doesn't there is a leak. Cheaper than freon.

I don't see why. The evaporator is the heat exchanger under the dashboard. Vacuum for 30-60 minutes should remove any moisture. The thing to replace is the filter / dryer. Small black cylender in the high pressure line from the compressor.

I re-tap the hole for 1/8" pipe thread and use a 1/8" brass valve. Add a 6" piece of hose on the other side, and you can catch all of the coolant instead of getting half of the frame wet and puddles all over the place.

Any chance significant coolant got down an intake? Water won't compress and stop the piston dead. Turn crank with a wrench to avoid breaking anything. See/feel when it stops. turn the opposite direction. Determine if it is only on the compression stroke or any time the piston is at the top of the bore. Maybe this will give a clue. Remove spark plug/s, try again.

Ah, it becomes more clear now... Since the transmission is not pumping oil, things aren't lubricated as they should be. Even on level ground, the ATF will pour out of the tail of the trnsmission if you pull the driveshaft - with the front up on a dolly, more oil will be back there. At some slow speed, I doubt much would be hurt. At some high speed, maybe bad things could happen. From looking at the drawings in the FSM, I don't see anything more than a bearing and one side of the transfer clutch connected to the driveshaft. Turning in oil, how bad can it be? Maybe someone else has tried it, I haven't. I think we hit 40MPH max a few times. Dropping the driveshaft is 8) 12mm nuts & bolts on the rear piece - behind the center bearing to the diff. Those bolts can be a pain, because one side is hard to get a wrench onto.

I had a friend push my dead 3AT with his truck ~15 miles, no ill effects. No highways:) Don't try this at home. You have to expect the brakes and steering to be heavy & sluggish. If you are going to hire a tow, for $25, I'd just do the flatbed.

Don't know if this will work for ASV, but here is what I do for the EGR and Emissions solenoids: http://home.comcast.net/~davidtief/solenoid.html

With no spark / fuel / etc. it should sound even Rrr Rrr Rrr Rrr. If there is a funny pattern to the cranking, first thought is timing belt - since they aren't broken, check that one or the other didn't skip. Maybe a valve stuck / keeper let go? Smell of antifreez - small leaks from the hoses - there are 6 coolant hoses - dripping or spraying onto the top of the engine. The heat evaporates it, so you don't see any evidence. Also, water pump seal. I'm not a turbo expert - I beleive the block is the same but the heads are different. ECU & harness is different.

Slightly over 2.75. I agree, better to have them running right. The test always seem to be at the least convinient times. There is no way to get out of it around here - except wait for the car to be 25 years old.

Thank you. Yes, I drive (operate) the tractor. And repair it - it isn't needy that way however. We bought the Dynahoe near the end of the project - but by then, I had enough experience to know it was the right machine for my situation. It's a great help disassembling cars also. (I save all the good parts).

It has *major* rot from road salt. Hard parts are all pretty good or better. I have an 87 GL wagon with NO rust. I am adding the 4WD parts to it. That one should be around for 10 years or so. Parts from the 90 will live on in the 87 or the 92. The 92 is near the border line of work to save or forget it and get another no rust to keep nicer longer. Around here, (CT) once you let the rust start, it is near impossible or a ton of work to stop. Since I spent the last 14 years building our house and maintaining the one we were living in I didn't spend as much time on the cars as I should have to keep the going indefinately. The tradeoff: loose the cars to rust and get into the house & loose the mortgage faster. Now debt free, one house, 3 cars, 1 big tractor, 1 car in "restoration". Now that the house (http://home.comcast.net/~davidtief/house.html) is nearing completion, I am starting to deal with cars more. By next winter, the garage will have the radiant floor heat hooked up.

Due to lots of things, I have to keep my very rusty 90 Loyale running a bit longer. Almost 200K miles. Emissions test due. The catalytics burned out a year or so ago, probably by the quart per week oil consumption. (another long story..) So I scrounge up a Y pipe & middle pipe from my stash of spare parts. After vacuuming the mouse nest out of the Y pipe and patching a couple of small holes, bolt everything on. Run the car to get the cats hot, temperature probe shows first cat working, second not. Oh well, I'm out of time. Went to the test place this morning, and PASSED! With wide margin! Now it's good for 2 years, probably fall apart before that.

A - Wrench extender - This is the cylinder from the front strut from a 1976 4WD wagon - the first car I bought. The struts were actually made so that they could be disassembled and rebuilt. B - 1/16" rectangular steel tube - use to keep wheel from spinning while turning axle nuts. Also used for pushing the transverse link down to remove a strut or ball joint. It rests on the back side of the link on the folded edge and touches the leading rod, extending the effective length so that it can easily be pushed down with a foot or knee, leaving both hands free to deal with the strut etc. C & D - Exhaust system pressure drop meter. big end of C goes to tail pipe. Smaller end of C goes to vacuum cleaner. Disconnect Y pipe from engine - (about a 1" gap) Turn on vac, see needle move. Compare to known good system. Made from PVC plumbing and vacuum motor from heater controls. E - Brake piston "screw driver". Swing brake caliper to open position. set the nubs (left end in pic) into the depressions on the piston. Fold a work glove, place between the big bolt head (right end) and body. lean into car. Turn square tube with 1" wrench. The tube spins on the bolt. F - 1/4" thick steel piece used with a gear puller to remove the first bearing in a front hub. G - Dead 6203 bearing - Ground 20 thou under standard OD. Used to install new 6203 bearing into the gear toothed timing belt idler for EA82. H - Modified socket and extension for head bolt on EA82. I - 1/2" drive torque wrench to camshaft pulley adapter. For tensioning EA82 timing belts. Made from 3/8" thick aluminum. J - Aluminum bar for holding EA82 cam gear while turning mounting bolts. K - Crankshaft pulley holder for 2001 Forester. 1/4" steel bar, 7/16 NF bolts w/ heads cut off, tapped into bar, jamb nuts on back so they don't move. Notch allows clearance for socket on crank pulley bolt. L - Contact pin remover. Made from a stainless steel wiper blade edge. One end ground narrower, one end ground thinner. Works on most connectors in EA82 and older subes. Not shown - Piston pin remover - 1/4" carriage bolt with head ground to fit through hole. Use with a nut and a Wonder Bar to pull wrist pins. Not shown - Extra spacer from front wheel bearing assembly, used to pull new CVJ end into hub with the axle nut.

I've wondered when is a thread "too old" to bring back.. I've unwitingly added to a couple of old ones that were resurected by others.. Anyways, No airbags for me. http://www.airbagonoff.com/dr_smock's_research.htm

"Paint" the new ball joint and the socket of the knuckle with anti-seize and you won't have trouble next time. Also the bolts.

Not enough to make these problems. Recently I drove my 90 EA82 SPFI with only the header / y pipe. No preceptible difference in performance. Sure, it was LOUD. (The flange on the 2nd cat rotted off on the way to work)

That's a baby. How rusty is she? CVJ / shaft for the ticking noise. Seals, etc for the leaks. Timing belts & idlers now.