Subarian

It sounds like a practical joke a friend of mine played on someone once. I'd just drive it and keep an eye on the oil and coolant levels, and if it doesn't come back, the gremlins have moved on....

There's a wealth of seats available. I know the loyale, gl, gl10 seats are a direct bolt-in replacement. If you get seats from a newer one, you'll have to take the inboard track from your old seats and put it on your new seats, but it's a really easy swap. I got mine from a 92 or 93 loyale wagon, and they're almost a perfect match for my interior.

I've had both, and I prefer the dual range. I like knowing that I can put it in 4hi and drive until I get stuck, and then put it in 4lo and get myself out. It also makes a huge difference if you're climbing. The 1.8 doesn't have a lot of torque, but when you put it in lo range, you can pull stumps (figuratively speaking- you'd probably pull your bumper off).

1.8 carbureted with 5sp dr

How did the bigger tires affect your performance and fuel mileage. I'm thinking of 195/75/14s, which would give me an effective diameter increase of 9.1 percent over stock, and should drop my RPMs by about 300 @ 65MPH.

with any wheel/tire combo

So what's the biggest tire anyone is running on their gl wagon without a lift kit and without using the sawzall or sledge hammer?

I'm running a 32/36DGEV. It works great. I had to do a little bit of fabrication work, but it's been trouble free for the last 60,000 miles or so.

Can you check the link in your earlier post for the wiring harness? I can't get it to work.

If you slowly squeeze the upper radiator hose, you can pump most of the air out of the cooling system. It works even better if the nose of the car is uphill.

I found a site for calculating differences in tire size. I thought it might be helpful to anyone who's interested in changing to bigger rims/tires: http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp BTW, is there any way to change the speedo gearing on the 5sp d/r tranny?

How much do you figure the entire conversion cost you? I've considered doing it to my 86 wagon.

You're not confused, and you can certainly do the job yourself. While you don't HAVE to remove the AC compressor and alternator, it gives you more room to work, and I always do it that way. And you should definitely replace both belts, because the other one isn't going to be far behind.

I went back and checked. I've got NAPA 5/16 fuel line on there, and it's held for a long time.

White smoke usually means coolant, while blue or blue-gray is oil. Had the car been sitting for a while? Also, you say you have a functional hood scoop. Is your car a turbo or is it an aftermarket scoop? If it's still smoking, what color is the smoke, and what does it smell like?

It is a non-interference motor. You might want to remove the skid plate to change oil- it's only four bolts, and it makes it a lot easier and neater.

Check your timing belts before you run the compression test. I bought a Subaru for $100 from a shop that claimed it had no compression. I replaced the timing belts, and the engine was fine. The timing belts determine when the valves open and close- if they're not right, you won't get accurate compression readings.

Aside from the clutch alignment tool, which makes it much easier, I buy two bolts the same diameter as the transmission bolts, but about three or four inches long. I cut off the ends and chamfer the ends, and then cut a slot in the end. I thread them in on opposite sides of the transmission, and use them as guides to get the tranny in place. They make it really easy to get everything lined up, and the slots in the end allow you to remove them easily when you're done.

I think I used 5/16 fuel line, if I remember right.

Ignition timing and valve timing are two different things. The valve timing determines when the valves open and close, and is determined by the timing belts, and unless you really know what you're doing, you should set it to the factory specs. You can advance valve timing to pick up some power, but you also lose top end. What you're talking about is ignition timing, which determines where in a stroke the spark plug will fire. The factory specs are "optimum" for economy and reliability, but you can usually pick up a little power by advancing 2 to 4 degrees (additional) BTDC. Advancing the spark will also help compensate for altitude. If you don't have a timing light and can't get your hands on one, you can get close by timing by ear. Start with the timing mark at the specified advance (probably about 8 degrees BTDC). Note where the number one plug wire is on the distributor cap (you might make a small mark on the side of the distributor base) and remove the cap. Turn the distributor so that the rotor is pointing straight to the mark you made. You should now be close enough for the engine to run for you. If the rotor isn't pointing anywhere near #1 when you remove the cap, you're probably 180 degrees out (which means you're on the exhaust rather than the compression stroke). Just turn the engine one complete revolution (one engine revolution equals 1/2 distributor revolution).

I cleaned out the mounting holes for the original resistor wire and bent the end of the solid-state resistor before soldering, so I had a good mechanical connection. That was over 100,000 miles ago. To get close to the resisitance value, I took the length of the resistor wire that was left and measured the resistance, and extrapolated by multiplying by the total length of the wire.

The clutch-driven fan is there to provide additional cooling for the heat generated by the A/C condensor. On non-A/C cars, only the electric fan is used. Unless you note the temp getting hot, you should be fine.

I thought of doing the same thing with my NA EA82. I think it would work if you didn't turn the boost up too high.

I had the same problem about 100,000 miles ago. I took the resistor pack out, experimented with a couple of solid-state resistors from an electronics supply house, and soldered in the ones that made it run at the right speed. I'm sorry I can't remember the resistance values, because it's been so long ago, but it's still working great.

Definitely check the timing belt. Since the distributor is driven by the drivers-side belt, the passenger side could have slipped and the engine could still run, but it would lose compression. A compression test won't be accurate if the belt is slipped, either, so check that first.