3eyedwagon

I went with pipe, because I had some extra laying around. I works pretty slick.

Nothing but bad things. Very bad things. And by that I mean; If you like originality, and a company willing to take risks like Subaru, it means bad things. I'm not saying anything negative about Toyotas product, I want to make that clear. Heck, it won't be long before they are the largest car company in the world. I'm just saying that I'm into Subarus because I don't want to drive around in another cheese box. The only good thing about the whole deal is that it isn't a controlling share.

Yes, I just quoted myself. Just wanted to let you know, this was written with a very high level of sarcasm. Hence the tone, and little smiley guy, but seriously, it was pretty lame.

Yes. It is very possible to make it too tight. I don't know what it is on the newer cars, but it is 142 ft lbs on the 2nd gens. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. The info should be available in a good shop manual. I'd even call the local Subaru dealership and ask for the service department. They should be able to tell you what the torque spec is. But don't just tighten the bejeebus out of it and call it good.

I think that is the problem. The demand is moderate at most, and the tooling cost to build such things would probably outweigh the immediate return. Any company willing to make these MAY get their money back, and even make money over a long term, but that's a risk most smart companies aren't willing to make. Too bad though. I'd love onboard air, and air lockers on my wagon!

Ummm. You aren't holding it up, they are. I definitely wouldn't be apologetic if I were you. After reading all of this, I'm surprised anyone is even considering another purchase. Not to be a jerk, but seriously, that was all a bit much to get some parts.

Yeah. I can see your point there. The only problem we had with that system was the large companies that show up in the area, and demand a discount because they are so large, IE lots of purchasing power. They usually ended up buying a very small quantity, and a sale usually consisted of 3 times the leg work of any of the rest of our customers. So in many cases; we had put in more work for a smaller profit. Many of the larger companies (especially their employees) acted like they should be babysitted rather than perform their own jobs, and that we should have been greatful they were throwing some scraps our way. In the end they were more of a PIA than it was ever worth.

Just for reference; every Napa is individually owned, and operated. I know this as a former NAPA employee. Each owner and/or manager decides what brand of parts to get from the distributors. Therefor, they can sell cheap crappy parts, middle of the road parts, really good expensive parts, or any combination of these. They can stock, and sell multiple brands of pretty much any automotive part you can imagine, so if the NAPA near you sells only super expensive high end parts, or total junk at reasonable prices; that's because the owner/operator has decided to do so. NAPA acts as a distributor to these stores, something the owners pay dearly for. The most logical choice for our stores was to stock the mid-line parts (unless sales history dictated otherwise), and be ready to order the cheaper, or more expensive stuff if the customer liked. Something that can be done in a rapid manner, thanks to the NAPA distribution system. If you come to my area, NAPA, and Carquest rule the roost, and rightfully so. For the most part, the employees at these stores have been there a long time, know the products (what's good and what isn't), and can find almost anything you could ever imagine. I once located bearings capable of 36,000 rpm to repair rollers in the catapult launch track system of The USS Theodore Roosevelt for the US Navy because The Department of Defense had them on a 6 month back order. I found them. It took me a week, but I found them. As for discounts; we gave discounts to people with accounts based on their sales history, and that's the way I believe it should work. I'm not going to give anyone here a discount because they have the ability to buy alot! That makes no sense. If I went to Subaru, and said: I have the ability to buy 100 STIs, and I may someday do so, so you should give me a discount on this 1. I would hope they would laugh me out the door. If you have a problem with your local parts house, it's because of the management of your local parts house. If you demand high quality parts you are going to pay the price, and if you buy cheap crap, guess what; it isn't going to work that well. And that doesn't really matter where you buy it.

I write this to you because I feel it is my duty to inform you of your incredible injustice to the people of this page. This was probably the worlds worst post, in the history of the world. Not because it involved a lie regarding the injury to your father, but because it was horrible. It was not even in the same realm as funny. It was in a land far, far away from funny. In fact, it was so far from funny; it had almost made it back again. But not quite. This is time these people will never get back. You took it from them, and I hope you are happy.

I'm comparing my 1982 ea81 lifted Subaru station wagon to every other car I have ever owned in the history of my life. That has to be well over 50 vehicles. Everything from a 1929 Ford Tudor, powered by a 301 Chev. To a 74 Dodge Dart, known as "Airborne". To over 16 Chevrolet B Bodies. (Caprice, etc.) To a 86 Nissan 200sx with a vg30de in it. To a couple of Novas (both full 1/4 mile race cars) All the way to a 98 S10, the newest vehicle I've ever owned. I've had more cars than I can remember. Like I said; well over 50. Most of them older than my wagon. I think it is just the nature of the beast, but I have never worked on any vehicle I have ever had more than my lifted Wagon. I love it, but it is a labor intensive little punk.

How much do you want to work on the thing? If you aren't into tinkering; I'd stay away from lifting a Subaru. I have honestly never worked on any vehicle I've ever owned as much as I've worked on my wagon, and I've had it about 1/10th the time of the rest of my vehicles. If you enjoy wrenching, and working to improve your vehicles; then buy a wagon!!!

It all depends on what you mean by efficiency. In the sense of the car not efficiently burning all supplied fuels; yes that may be true. But in the sense of performance; it will actually run better cooler, to a certain extent of course. I realize this is a negligable difference on a car making 120 hp, but it greatly increases with displacement. The reason for 192* thermostats is a compromise between necessitys. The oem's need the car to be reliable, user friendly (heaters), and perform. As technology increases, so does the temperature cars run at. Many newer cars run hotter than ever before, mostly due to better engine materials, and the ability of higher pressures in the cooling systems. My Camaro has a stock thermostat of 205. Try that in an EA81! I used to think that the thermostat temperature would make a huge difference in fuel mileage. That hasn't been my experience. I've tried quite a few different temps in alot of my v8 cars with little difference. Many drag racers run no thermostats at all. I removed the thermostat from my ea81 wagon, because I intended to do alot of slow wheeling, and idling. The aftermarket gauge rarely moves above 130, and my temp gun shows this to be accurate. I recorded my gas mileage before, and after the removal; there was NO change. This is a car that is driven on the street regularly. That is just my experience anyway.

amen.

I think the T-case guys go through diffs as well as axles. At least thats what I've read, heard, and seen on video. Even if you do fix the axle problem, it will just move to the next weakest component, which will probably be the diffs. We are just asking too much of such small components. I've often though about upgrading to I.S. off of a blazer or something, but then the next logical component to go would be the transmissions. Then the next logical step would be a heavier transmission, mounted by adapter plate. Of course, I'm dramatically over simplifying things here, but these are the steps I would take. Weed things out one by one. In the end, you don't have much Subaru left. Mostly just a body, and maybe a motor. PS; I thought about the Ujoint style driveshafts like in a straight axle, or on alot of todays independant suspensions, but again, I think the next thing to break would be the outputs on the diffs. I've already seen some of those twisted off with stock axles, and no transfer case.

I say we send teams out to investigate both North Forks, and see if they are at all passable.

I'm gonna go with a new one. Why don't we just small block it? :banana: Or we could do a 4.3 v6 and save a couple hundred pounds. :banana:

I think we both know what needs to be done here...... I'll go get the cans of flat black spray paint. You and Tami start taking off the hood.

Go easy now, didn't you trade a Dodge in on that Forrester??? Looks good man. Completely different body style from what I had in mind, but it looks cool. PS: You can thank GM for that body styling, they hired the guy who designed it shortly beforing selling to TOYOTA like a bunch of window licking nancy's!!!

You need to excercise your second ammendment rights. Yes ladies, and gentlemen; I am a horrible person. and cats are tasty

PS: I just hit 100 posts. So low, so low.

Just out of curiosity; How long have you stuck with one car? I mean, which car have you had the longest, and how many miles have you accumulated with it? Just wondering, because, in addition to being wheeled; my wagon is constantly being driven on the highway, many, many miles with a welded rear end. I've noticed you go through the cars like we second gen guys go through rear CVs. Pics look good Jeff. Now it just needs bumpers!!!! I'm thinking we need to Frankenstein all the spare steel lying outside my shop...

Did you check the shiny thing on the front. No, the very front. Yeah, it's kinda on the grille, up by the drivers headlight... and usually there's another big one on the tailgate, and sometimes there's a couple of them inside the cab, on the fenders, maybe on the center of the wheels, and one last one right on top of the valve cover. Yup. That's your problem. Sorry, it was just too easy.

Where did you get the info chart for the ammount of ounces for your tire? Was it listed by size, and type/manufacturer of tire, or how? The only reason I ask is that 6 ounces seems to be a bit much for any tire that's going to fit on a Sub. Most every source I have found seems to say 3 ounces for tires around 235/75/15s and under. I could see going more for a tire like a Swamper, or something similar, but 6 ounces seems like alot. Just wanted to let you know, you may want to recheck your information. It may be a simple problem like that, and everyone I know that has used BB's loves it.... and I've seen them used on 38s and bigger with amazing results. Good Luck!!!

Pictures of your rear setup would help to see just how high your rear diff is, and thusly the angle of your rear CVs.

You could keep the AA lift the way it is, and do limiting straps. That way you still get the benefit of ground clearance, and prevent the problem you are having. If you just did simple straps, of chain, HEAVY nylon, etc. that would limit the ammount of articulation for the rear. That should stop your problem. They aren't for every situation, but should work fine on the rear of an EA81 or EA82, as long as they are fabbed with all situations considered.