Subarian

An old-time trick is to block off part of the radiator with a piece of cardboard.

There's no stock intercooler on the EA82T. The water line is for cooling the turbo.

One other possibility I thought of. Does the engine miss at all? A friend of mine put new plugs in her Subaru and it wouldn't run right. After troubleshooting it for a while, I determined that one of the new plugs was bad, but it only missed sporadically.

It has a double pulley, but the pulley is completely backset, in the the mounting area is the front face of the pulley. The fan bolts to the studs, which run through the pulley. I don't think it would be difficult to fab a 5mm spacer and put longer studs in it. When I think about how much work I'd have to go through to replace the pump, that definitely sounds like a better option. BTW, I now have owned 10 Subarus, and this is the first time I ran into this.

I'd check the solenoid. They have a copper contact plate, and over time arcing builds carbon up on them. You can usually just clean them up with a file or some emery cloth and they're good as new.

The O2 sensor is in the Y pipe on the exhaust. But I doubt that's the cause of your problem. If your mileage dropped immediately after the maintenance you described, it's most likely linked to something there. I would look at the following: 1. Are all of the plug wires firmly seated on the plugs and the cap? 2. What plugs did you use? I've seen some cars that would absolutely refuse to run on certain brands of plugs. I like NGK, Denso, or Bosch in my Subaru. 3. It's not really likely you could have done anything in replacing your air filter that would affect mileage, but I would check the hoses on the PCV and make sure they're tight. A vacuum leak can really affect mileage. BTW, at 2000 miles, you're probably changing oil far more often than you need to, unless you're subjecting your car to really extreme conditions.

I've had good luck using a white lithium grease on speedo cables. You have to pull the cable out and clean up as much of the old gunk as you can and then lube the whole length, but it seems to work well.

I spent the day yesterday working on getting my little beast back on the road. I stripped off all the broken parts from the front end (wrecked last week) and stripped the corresponding parts from the donor car. I painted the donor parts to match, and then I set out to do some preventive maintenance. Since the bumper, grill, radiator, condensor, and associated parts were out of the way, I replaced the timing belts, resealed the oil pump, and got a new water pump for it. When I got the pump out of the box, I noticed it wasn't the right one, since it had a pressed-on pulley instead of a fan hub (I think it was for an EA 81.) I went back to Autozone, where I had gotten the pump, and brought my old one with me. They found one that looked like it, and I proceeded with my installation. After getting all the pieces on the engine, I started it up (no accesory belts installed) and it sounded just like it should. I put the radiator, condensor, grill, etc. back on. I installed the belts, fans, hoses, and filled the radiator. Then I started it up again. I was getting a terrible noise from the water pump. I looked closer, and it's about 1/2 inch shorter than the pump I took off, so the belts don't line up. I didn't realize there was more than one option for this pump. So here's what I'm thinking. Instead of draining the coolant, pulling off my A/C compressor, alternator, front timing covers, etc. and then pulling off the water pump, I could put longer studs in the hub and fab a 1/2 spacer to bring the pulley out to where it belongs. I realize it will put a little more strain on the bearing, but since it's a LLT warranty, if it makes it to the next timing belt change, I don't care.

I'd run a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil in it when you add oil the next time. Running it up to the redline occasionally will also help. Some people have found that a different oil filter helps, too.

Depending on how clean your engine runs, you may not need it. If that's the case, you can block it off really easily. Just unbolt the two bolts that hold the tube to the head (next to the exhaust port) and center a nickel in the port. Tighten it up and you're done.

If you think the little red button rules, you should see what the magic shift lever can do!

If what you're talking about is the button on the side of the shifter, it's a safety feature to keep you (or someone else) from accidentally bumping into gear or into reverse.

Besides, it would be something your neighbors would really be unlikely to have. Imagine the envy.

I'm not sure, but I think Subarus have a headlight relay. That's where I would look.

Back in the 80s one of the car mags (I think it was Hot Rod) featured a FWD olds x-body that had been converted by putting a 455 amidship driving a Toronado FWD unit in the rear. It would be a radical conversion, but anything like a SBC in a Soob is going to get radical anyway. I had toyed with the idea of a Mazda rotary in a Subaru wagon. Maybe someday...

Thanks. That's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure before I go to the dealer. The Soob should be back on the road tomorrow night (if not earlier).

The biggest problem I've found with the turbos is head cracking, which was caused by the castings being too thin. I think that Subaru had the problem figured out with thicker castings by the time the 92 was built, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Junkyards in my area quote around 450, but you can find a donor car cheaper than that.

Trans replacement isn't too difficult, but you'd need one out of another turbo. The splines in the CV halfshafts are different, and the drive ratio is 3.7:1 as opposed to 3.9:1 in the non-turbo cars.

I'm personally not a fan of the auto trannies in these cars. Of course, it's hard to know if all the 88 needs is timing belts, but if it is, it would be a good car. Of course, if they don't even know if it's a DL or a GL, how do they know it needs a timing belt.....

Thanks. Both of those are a little expensive, but a lot cheaper than a new headlight.

If I could get an XT6 for a grand in good condition, I think I'd have to jump on it. No offense to the RX guys, but there's an old saying that there's no replacement for displacement.

Well, I've decided that my old Soob needs to live more than the turbo donor car, so I'm going to rebuild the front end tomorrow. However, with the bumper, grill, valance, radiator and A/C condensor all gone, it seems like the perfect time to change the timing belts. I'm also replacing the water pump and resealing the oil pump. I just can't remember what parts I need for the oil pump. It seems that I remember a seal that goes around the housing, an O-ring, and the front seal. Am I missing anything? Thanks.

The head gasket isn't a difficult job, but remember you're working with aluminum heads and block. That means you have to be careful when scraping off the old gasket material, and make sure you follow the factory torque sequence on the head bolts.

Kewl! Nice pic.