MoscowSubaruDude

Well... the speedometer on my digi-dash is retarded. It reads a range of speeds... for example, at 35 mph, it will read 28, 97, 72, 12, 9, etc, etc. I checked under the car on the tranny, there are two sets of wires coming off of it, both of them seem to be intact... without a manual, I haven't the foggiest notion of where to begin... anyone had this problem before? I want this fixed, had it this way for a month now, it's getting old. Getting pulled over left and right, because this car is faster than it seems... and without the speedo, it takes too much concentration to keep it legal. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ya know... i was thinkin about something today... (dangerous, i know) but the STi comes stock with 300 hp, right? In what, a 3-liter? 2.5? that's 100 hp per liter. Now, there are people having a lotta fun with these motors, and how much are they getting? 400? 500? horses? 500 horses... now how much reliability? anyone have a daily driver that comes even remotely close to those numbers? If i can produce that much, I'll be happy. Just a thought...

Ok then... good to know that it's not feasible. I do know that there are suby engines being built to crank out lots of ponies, just don't know if they're entirely reliable. Thanks!

At the very very least... 500 shp, and roughly the same amount of torque. It's a direct-drive machine, so the motor(s) will be driving the machinery via a system of clutches, shafts, and various linkages. I may have to run two engines in this beast, but hey, I can fit 2 suby motors in the space and weight of 1 caddy big-block, which is their proposed engine. To give ya'll a good idea, I've included this link, the company website: www.mechaps.com It's a rather interesting project, and the reason I'm asking all these questions is because I'm going to try and get on the Jan 07 intern cycle as a mechanic, responsible for the engine. Several people in the company are intrigued by the capabilities of the Suby motor. So.... anyone who has any ideas to crank out more power, do tell. I can build anything, so it's not much of a problem, as far as assembly is concerned. Also... I'm debating whether to used the EJ25 4cyl, or the 3.0 6cyl from the outback... and I seem to remember Subaru making a 3.3 liter 6 as well, which would be awesome... so once again, lets hear it.

Not a motorcycle. biped=legs. Kinda weird, but it *does* work. soo the torque needs to be there because it's pretty heavy.

I am asking around for a friend of mine, can't say too much, but the engine I'd like to build would be going in a rather large custom mechanized type piece of fun. Think some really weird biped stuff. High-power is a must, and well as low-end torque. Somewhere in the 400-ish HP range. So I was thinking perhaps an EJ25T, fitted with a supercharger instead of a turbo for the low-end torque... perhaps a mild hit of nitrous. Reliability is a must, it doesn't sound like this will be an easily removable engine, so it needs to be semi-durable, as in going at least 2-3 months without any kind of overhaul. Budget is not firm yet, so what I'm looking for is some figures, using two basic sets of criteria: 1) low-budget, used engine, junkyard parts, etc etc. belt driven supercharger. 2) hi-priced, brandnew cosworth parts, etc etc. Options for fuel delivery, like MegaSquirt, or whatever... just looking for the basics, and rough dollar figure per engine. Thanks all.

Sweet... thanks for the suggestions... I will say one thing... torque steer... no way. This is way too severe, and way too sensitive, for it to be torque steer. I've had cars with FWD, and the same or more power, and it tracked straight. Here, I barely tap the gas, or let off it just a hair, and I'm swerving hell to breakfast all over the road. Not good on the freeway between two trucks. And yes the CV boot is ripped a bit, just did it, so I'm just gonna grab my reboot kit and redo the boots on that axle. Also, as far as checking the ball joints and tie rods, what's considered an acceptable amount of play? Gonna borrow my buddies jack in the morning, it'll be daylight in 2-3 hours, so I've got all day to play with the car. Also, I will be checking the axle nuts, I had an 83 GL FWD that had a problem with eating the cone washer in there... always was loose, displayed the exact same behaviour... however on that one, I could tighten it a turn with my hand after an hour of highway driving... this one is tight, so I'll check both. Thanks for the help, I'll keep it posted.

I'm up here in Spookaloo, Airway Heights, to be exact... I'm always down for some wheeling, as long as I'm not at work or on a date. Gimme a PM when you're up here sometime, wanna take a look at the sick lift, see what I can do to my car:)

Well... I am now in possession of an 87 GL-10 turbo wagon. 218k miles exactly 2 miles after I bought it, quite nice. Has the 5mtSR... need to change that. Disgustingly fast, as I'm quite used to my EA81 beaters, so this is quite a turn. Have a few questions for anyone who has answers, some things that need to be addressed in order to make it fully servicable. The body is impeccable, very little rust, and only one patch that I need to take care of. No dents, very few dings, etc. The sunroof has come off the track, so if I can't fix it, I'll just take the glass out for the summer, put it back in for the winter. Ok, here's the q's. 1. Smoke coming off the turbo after a hard run. Is this normal? Never dealt with a turbo motor, all I know is to stay on top of it, oil/coolant wise, and that's all gravy. After about half an hour of full throttle running (aka total disregard for speed limits) around the city, there is a bit of wispy smoke coming from the general direction of the turbo. I would assume this is normal, but just wished to check. 2. The front passenger side has a problem. At least I think its just the passenger side. Might be both, or something else entirely. Basic symptoms involve a lot of toe-in when I hit the gas in gear, and a lot of toe-out when I let off/brake. It's bad, almost undriveable. I have to stay on top of it, and time my steering wheel jerking to coincide with my acceleration, or lack thereof, otherwise I'll wind up in the ditch. Now, the dude I bought it from said that a buddy of his diagnosed it as a fubar'd/broken motor/tranny mount. That said, I don't think so. I'd think that if the mounts were busted, the engine would move horribly under revving, even in the driveway... and it doesn't. The other thing I'm thinking of is the trailing arm dealie, goes from the control arm to under the passenger seat. The bushing on that may be worn, which is what I think is causing it. If so, will an EA81 bushing fit in that position? I've got a spare or three for my older wagon, I could just throw it in there and move on with life. I can't think of anything else it could be. Only other symptom I can think of is that when it's on the ground (got my jack stolen, haven't gotten it off the ground yet) and I kick/punch/bang on the tire with a hammer, there is a metal-on-metal banging noise... can't figure out for the life of me where it's coming from. I intend to jack it all up and loosen, then tighten every single bolt under there. 3. How do you align one of these things? In relation to the above question, I'd like to do a backyard alignment, aka measuring tape and some patience. Unfortunately, I don't see anything on the steering rack that could be used to align the damn thing. Any thoughts? I haven't measured toe yet, so it may still be aligned, but I'll check either way. 4. RX trannies. They're 3.7, right? If so... I'd really love to lay hands on one. I'd like to keep this rig with the stock gearing, I'm primarily going to use it as a street car, go the 4wd rally route with it, rather than mudding it. I haven't the foggiest idea how common RX trannies are, but if someone has one just layin around, I'll be looking for one in 2-4 months, in time for winter. 5. The digi-dash is way retarded. Everything works beautifully, loving it, except the damn speedo. It'll jump all over the place when I'm driving, going from reading, at an actual speed of 60 mph, 3, 79, 103, 34, 85, etc... I can tell how fast I'm going, because during the cycling, it will eventually read the right speed, and it's the only one even close to the speed I'm going... however, if there's a way to fix this, it'd make my life easier... Any thoughts? I was thinking perhaps the sending unit is fubar'd. Also, during driving, there is a rythmic clicking noise, just over 1 click per second, coming from behind the instrument cluster. Not very loud, it's drowned out by my engine noise, and it's not a heavy clicking, I can't feel it, but I wonder if that's somehow related to the retardedness? 6. Will wagon wheels off an EA81 fit on one of these rigs? Just wondering, have the set from the other roo, thinkin about usin the M/S's on this car... That's all I can think of for now... thanks all. I'll play with the motor later, after I have everything else peachy.

Then I guess it's time to bust out the hi-lift jack and a whole lotta patience:P because I'm quite sure it's way off. Thanks a ton, I just wanna get this thing running, because I'm snagging an 85 EA82 wagon tomorrow, and I'll be ditching this one... kinda hard to get rid of it when it's dead, though.

Dude... you're my hero. I'll go see what I can do with that. Thanks a ton. One minor question... is there a way to simply rotate the disty head (the bit inside that spins) without having to remove the whole disty? It's jammed so tightly in there I'd need a hi-lift jack and some real creativity to get it out... but if I can rotate the arm independent of the gear, then I'm in business. Thanks a ton.

dude... more pics. I've got a line on an '85 EA82 I may be able to trade my half-baked 83 for... I want an idea of what I'm gonna do. Your suby is exactly what I've been tryin for, if not, yours is smaller than what I wanna do. Extremely awesome, but some pics of the fabbing? Mebbe?

No dice on the disty how-dealie... several hours of nonstop searching.

I got the vaccuum nonsense figured out... used that handy dandy little diagram on the underside of the hood... I had to scrape the mud/road crap off with paint thinner to see it though, no wonder I'd never seen it before. Amazing what a hard thrash off road will put up there. Anyway, yeah, coil/ignition in general would be grand. If anyone knows the firing order, that'd be peachy too. What I'm really after, and would save me a huge amount of hassle at the library, is the whole sequence for getting the disty set. Aka... line this gidget with this gidget, unbolt this, turn, make sure this is that way, etc... keep in mind that disty is not in any way coming out of that block. It's just in there, so I may have to find a way to turn the disty shaft itself without screwing with the gear. That's the only real major thing that I have to do, then the engine will run, and I can't for the life of me figure it out. I can usually redneck most things, but with this, I haven't the foggiest as to where to even begin, other than the timing marks on the flywheel (dead giveaway, huh). Anyway, thanks in advance on the pics.

Well... if you've got a chiltons/hayes and feel like scanning/relating the section on setting up timing... never messed around with it before:P I understand about having the marks on the flywheel lined up properly with the little pointer gidget, and having the disty set a certain way (which, if it's currently in wrong, then I'll have to figure out how to fix it, because that disty is never coming out of the motor. Half an hour with a framing hammer and a great big punch on the tab hanging off the side) but beyond that I haven't the foggiest notion:P Gonna go look for a manual here shortly, but this is a low-budget jobbie. Beyond that... the coil setup, my friend ripped the whole dealie off, haven't the foggiest idea what I'm doin there either. He doesn't remember what went where (a bit dense, I guess). All I need is the 'xxx color wire goes from terminal x to terminal y' etc etc:P anywhere that might be hidden on this board? checking the USRM or whatever it's called right now.

Would you? that'd be kickarse... Particular areas I'm needing are all the various wires floating around behind the carb, and then a small wiring diagram of the whole ignition system, as I didn't handle that, and there are no wires remaining. Not sure how the hell to align the timing, but I'll be looking on here for a how-to dealie. Just need to find the firing order, and then figure out TDC and all that whatnot. Can't be too hard, eh? Anyway, many thanks. Chris

sweet... I like the idea of a weber, however, I'm seriously considering busting out a mig welder and some sheet metal and fabbing an adapter for a holley 450cfm 2barrel... have to do the math of what the engine sucks at 6k rpm, but that seems to be about right. plus rebuilds on em are easy, and they're fairly simple carbs... choke cable, vaccuum secondary, and a throttle cable. None of this evil spaghetti of wire. One last quick question: The disty from the blown motor won't fit in the new one to save my life. I checked it in the old block, it was peachy... but I punched it a few times to get it about an eighth an inch into the new block, and then I couldn't get it out... would it be alright to take some plumbers sandpaper (the cloth-backed flexible strips) and sand a bit off the shaft? be damned if I can see the difference, but it's really small and shouldn't take long. Don't think it should mess anything up, as long as I don't knock it out of true and wear the disty gear out. otherwise I'm gonna take the ol' propane torch and heat the disty bore up a bit to expand it enough to get it in there... then I'll never get the damn thing out. This is a complete redneck engine installation, don't even have a manual, so bear with the seat-of-my-britches flying here:P just wait till i do wheel bearings:)

Oh... hehe:P yeah... 83 GL wagon and EA81. It finally went in, went out at dawn this morning and started playing with it, got it to suck in. I had to pound the motor mounts into place using a long wrench and the BFH, but they went... evidently the rubber was a little bent out of whack for whatever reason, but it's in. So now a new question. All the wires, hookups, and sensors and whatnot on the intake... are those purely necessary? I'm not incredibly worried about gas mileage, I just want a simple hookup. Plus I forgot to label which plug went where when I removed the engine way back when, so it's completely a mess. If I can get away without the majority of them, that'd be great. Thanks a ton. Chris

OK... so maybe I'm an idiot, or maybe my friends are, but here goes... Picked up an engine from Monstaru (many thanks bro, happy as a clam). Got it home, cleaned it a bit, tightened up oilpan bolts, etc, gave it the ol' heave-ho with a few of the boys and got it into the engine bay. I'll be damned if the motor mounts will line up with the crossmember. There's still an inch gap tween the bellhousing and the tranny, and the bolts are already half an inch behind the holes in the 'member... so it adds up to being nowhere in the vicinity of where it needs to be. I've eyeballed the old mounts that came off the old engine, they're the same way, and turning em around won't work either, just won't bolt up right. Any ideas? The tranny crossmember, to the best of my knowledge, so the tranny shouldn't be shoved back at all (not to mention the rear driveshaft is still there). Any ideas? I'm kinda stumped, but if I have to, I'll drill new holes just to get this damn thing in, landlords about ready to have it towed . So anyhow... if anyone's seen weird stuff like this before, advice is greatly welcome. I'll be checkin here in about 5 hours when I get up, and I'll be wrenching on this beast all day sat/sun/monday. If you've the inclination, gimme a holler, 509-244-9816, ask for chris. Thanks. Chris

Well... the primary reason for tearing this one down is A) to determine exactly what happened, and to get a feel for how it all comes apart and whatnot... I plan on rebuilding the new(er) block, and doing a few things to it to snag a bit more power out of it, and I don't want to fubar the new one. so whats this about the wrist pins via access holes? Love to know. Thanks. PS: I did get the bolts from the pushrod section. I've gone over that thing with a fine tooth comb, dish soap, and a hose... can't see any more bolts to save my life. Chris

Okies... I threw a rod coming up I-90 on Sunset hill the other day. Got the engine pulled out, everything torn off it, except, I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to split the case to get the cam/cranks out. The block is shot, a piece of rod was sticking out under the carb, so I don't care how I get it apart, but I need that rotating assy if it's still good. I've tried dropping it off my roof onto a splitting wedge, beating it to death (and myself) with a 10-pound sledge, I've tried every way of beating it apart, and it's still tight. Only problems I can see is that the cam gears are still on there, and theres a little bracket piece that spans the cam and bolts into each half. I've got every last other bolt torn off, except for the crank pulley, because I don't have a socket large enough to get it off. Any ideas? My redneck ways aren't having an effect, so maybe one of you civilized folk have a better idea. My next move is to bust out the oxy cutter, and I don't think the landlord would be too pleased with that. Thanks in advance, I'll check back in a few days.

I torqued em all down using a socket and a 24 inch ratchet, stood on the end and jumped. If that's not enough torque, I haven't the foggiest what is:P So should the axle be fine? It'd be so much simpler to just snag another drum, no biggie really.

Ok... narrowed down the noise, coming from the passenger side wheel bearing/axle nut area. Evidently, the problem is that the splines on both the drum and the half-an-axle (not the axle itself, just the piece that the drum sits on) are moderately worn, as well as the little cone-type spacer/centering ring. What happens is that the drum is moving in relation to the splined shaft, rather than remaining solidly hooked up. Makes a lot of noise, and might kill the shaft. I replaced the centering ring, and it seems to have shut up for now, however, it's only a temporary fix. What causes this? Still running in rwd only, haven't been able to find a decent axle yet, and if that spline gives way, like it did on my last wagon, I'm screwed. I'd prefer to fix the cause, not just the symptom. Any ideas? First thing that comes to mind is to replace the shaft/drum, but if there's an underlying cause, it'll just come back. Thanks in advance for any thoughts. Chris

Good... less electronics to play with

ok... so I've formulated a plan, because I am on a extremely tight budget, aka not much spare. Get 4 junkyard suby rims, mount used tires on em, take em out there. 10 gallons new gas. Spare oil/fuel pumps/filters New/good junkyard calipers/drum cylinders, and pads. Coolant. New fuel/brake lines if the old ones look like crap Now for a bizarre question: Will a carbie intake from an ea81 fit on the ea82 block? I'm not sure if it's MPFI or not, but if it is, i'm counting on the injectors to be wholly shot, so I figure I mount that on there, jerry rig a fuel system up, and it'll get it home. Anything else ya'll can think of, lemme know, I'll be headin out there probably next payday, after I do some work on the current roo (wheel bearings and an axle) Thanks a ton. Chris PS: Also in the plans is a 'bug bomb' intended for house-type infestations... I figure in such a small space, it should kill/drive out anything smaller than a deer, with that concentration.