RenaissanceMan

Personally my favorite if I recall is to rip that chinsy gas pedal out of there and have a "gas lever". Every gen 1 subaru gas pedal has been a problem for me. -Mike

Thanks Bosco. I'd stay away from pismo if I were you. ITs a lot of fun but it destroys cars very quickly. I have decided I am not a big sand fan. Gets everywhere and chews up bearings. I know some people out here that got vast open spaces of mountainous property that we can romp around on tho -Mike

ALRIGHT!! count me in of course! Dont know which soob I want to bring this year. It'd be neat to bring the wagon if it is running by then (haha). IF nothing else I'll bring the brat again, THIS time with real offroad tires. Honestly the WCSS is the highlight of my life every year. BTW... Ive been to long beach before... Behold the 8th wonder of the world. YOU TOO can observe the WORLDS LARGEST FRYING PAN!!!! -Mike

JUst got some new sneakers on the turbo brat the other day so I dedided to putz around after work and break them in. 205/75R15 Grabber AT2's Pretty cheap but no complaints! They are actually copies of BFG at's, but I didnt want to go with 215/75R15 (if your wondering its got a SJR 4/4 lift on it for those that didnt see it at the show) The only mod I did was space out my radius rods 1/2 and inch to move the front wheels forward just that much. outside diameter of the tire is 27.2" and through FULL range of motion/jounce there is NO RUBBING whatsoever. -Mike

When I purchased my set of valve springs from Ram, he specifically told me the inner spring is no longer needed for the force rating he designed them at. It is also highly advised to purchase some thin spring shims to keep the springs from digging into the aluminum head. If you notice they are also reverse-wound. I dont know exactly why he did that, but I think he mentioned it has to do with the valves rotating better as they are opened and closed.

Right now I have: Ea81T heads with Ram Springs EA81 solid lifter Block with Ram Forged 9.0:1 Pistons, balanced crank, balanced rods, Delta Camshaft. Extra Pin for the case halfs. ARP head studs (rated to 180,000 psi) What needs to be done: Because of the lift of the cam, the valve guides need to be trimmed a little bit, then just bolt on the heads and everything else.

I can get them from a business down the street from where I work. They use those mirrors on a lot of vintage european spors cars as well. I think they run around $30 a piece. "Jim's Import auto Parts" (which also shares the same building as British Sports cars) (805) 543-6900 Give him a call

That refers to the temperature that the thermostat is designed to function at. They start opening at around 10 degrees cooler than indicated, and are fully open a few degrees above. In theory when the water temperature reaches that rated temperature, then it is flowing through the radiator and cooling off, thus the thermostat opens or closes accordingly to keep the engine temperature close to constant. -Mike

Ive never seen that before rich.. Think it came off a star? -Mike Paul, (if you see this) any ideas?

Keep me posted Bosco. As long as I have headway on what weekend it is, I can plan for it -Mike

Keep in mind the manual cars and automatic cars have completely different transmission crossmembers, as well as on the ea81's, the radius rod mount brackets are different from the factory. The manual ones have the extra tabby deals for the crossmember thats more "up front". I did the swap on mine, it just takes a little creativity. -Mike

Ok there you go, NOW it is calendar material. (thankyou Photochop)

Ok, that thing is THE MOST BAD@$$ gen 1 subaru I have ever seen!!! That first pic is calendar material. I should see if I can get my wagon to look that cool. -Mike

One piece of advice, is that the Idle limit on that car is 1100 rpms. If I were you I would get it up close like around 1000... the car will idle cleaner. When the car is idling, manually push the egr (carefull not to puncture the diaphram) and make sure the egr causes the car to stumble a little. I know I usually rip off my preheater hose and throw it in the garbage cause its in the way, but for the smog its still required. If you feel you have the time, put in an OE-temp. thermostat (192 degree I think), and that will allow the engine to run warmer and cleaner. if the oil hasnt been changed in a long time, it may be saturated with Hydrocarbons, so it is best to change that, and use a thick oil like 20w50 (or 20w50 w/ stabilizer) to prevent oil burning and blowby Its probably a good idea to buy 6 feet of vacuum hose and replace the ones you can. The ones especially that go from that vacuum controller thing on the manifold to the carburetor, as those usually get hard and start to leak air. If you have the time I would recommend checking valve lash, but if you cant get to it, its not the biggest effect on emissions, mainly on power output.

Hey Crabman, just so you know on a non-closed loop vehicle, you will burn up a 3 way cat. I wouldent worry about the emissions. The hardest part for me on these older cars for cali smog testing is making sure everything is there and the engine is mechanically sound. If you need some of the emissions parts let me know, I got some "pieces" lying around from previous subarus. The smog techs have reference to the info on our vehicles and they know they didnt come with any catalitic converter from the factory, so the emissions requirements are a little more leanient. -Mike

on the passenger side behind the panel thats below the glovebox is where you can access the other end of the cable that controls the blend doors (I think)

The step is different on the ea81 & ea82 flywheels. You will need an ea81 flywheel with an ea81 disc & pressure plate. OR you could just keep going and put the ea82 d/r 5speed and clutch in. Its not that bad for the ea81T's. Just have to get a little creative with the exhaust mount. -Mike

Ok, I just learned all about the Trabant on wiki.. 1800 lbs car, 26bhp, 594cc 2 stroke. Kept the same vehicle design from 1963 to 1991!!! Maximum velocity of 90km/h

YOu mean to tell me even back in 1970 they put the tire under the hood?

Leapin Lions Batman!! Now where's the car? -Mike

If its an automatic, check the neutral safety switch. (under center console, 2 large black wires, one with a blue stripe and one with a black stripe if I recall, or maybe one was just solid black)

What?

I have an ea81 y-pipe to a 1987 hatch... I guess if he wants it he can get it from me. No idea if the cat is ok in it or not. -Mike

Stage 1 or stage 2?

did I miss something?