4x4_Welder

Bumpers are mounted on springs/shock absorbers, there is no frame to speak of, so no. Especially not towing more than the car's own weight. I hauled a 69 F-250 on a dolly behind an 84 F-250 4x4 that outweighed the combo by a good amount, and noticed a major increase in stopping distance. That's with 12" dual piston caliper front brakes, and 12x2.5" drums out back. What are Subarus, 8" single pistons up front and 6"x1" drums in the back?

It's shorted out somewhere, are you sure it's the ground wire that's melted?

The only thing I have ever seen with an add-on axle was a Ranger in Augusta, Maine, and some Dodge in a magazine. I remember the Ranger had custom badges on the sides that said "Long Ranger"...... I've thought of doing that, but it doesn't help offroad, hurts turning radius, and powering the rear axle is a pain. If you don't power it, you loose traction on the middle axle. You usually don't see anything bobbed around here that isn't a Toyota. I thought about doing that with my 72 F-100, but I want it to be an all-around truck, not just a weekend trail warrior. That's what the hatch is rapidly turning into-

I wouldn't worry to much about rebuilding a turbo that's gone bad. Usually the only thing salvaged from a unit is the center housing. Typically, when a bearing goes, the wheel on that side will hit the housing, the shaft will at the very least get burned if not bent, so all has to be replaced and balanced. For most turbos, you can get a rebuilt center section with wheels installed from Napa. Just slap on your old outer housings, and go.

I'd check the fuel pump relay first. Where is it? I'm sure somebody else here can tell you where it's at, I'm still learning the science of Subaru.

I thought I read somewhere that the countergears that run the transmission output have a reduction that pretty much cancels out the overdrive effect of fourth gear, and then some, making the effective range something like 1.05 to 1.

The t-case mod is a lot of work, and you really need at least 6" of lift to make it work. I am working on a way to do it with 5" or less, but it's going to take a custom subframe and new lower control arms. You can run 14" Pug rims, I have the alloys on my car, they were probably the only decent parts on those cars......

They probably didn't turn the flywheel right, there is supposed to be a max of .900" from the outer lip to the friction face. If they didn't turn the outer edge, then it's too loose and will slip.

Couple of points- First off, doing that would set up a resonance in the crank that no balancer would be able to get out. Next, these engine don't have a balancer because they have a very short crank, and in their current configuration the accesory belt or timing belts can absorb the resonance generated. Most v-8 and I-6 engines are counterbalanced, I have a Ford 300-6 and a 390v8 sitting in my garage with massive counterweights on the crank. Neither of those engines uses an offset balance cancellation means, IE both have an overall neutral balance without external counterweights. They do use dampers since the cranks are long enough to set up a natural resonance, without those dampers they would eventually crack the crank from this resonance. IIRC, the Subaru engines use a cast crank as well, which can tolerate far more resonance than a forged crank, and actually is prefered in some high performance applications due to it's ability to flex and return to shape without damage more readily than a harder forged crank.

Most likely- if you put an ohm meter accross the leads, what does it read?

Might be a good thing to do, the electrical system is pretty sub-par.

It sounds like an RF choke, to keep alien........ I mean, stray radio signals from the alternator from making noise on the radio.

The fact that if you pull the front shafts on a hatch and run it around in 4x4, the thing handles like it's on rails, has almost neutral steering, and has no problem with long, controlled power slides. Or the fact that you can drive down any dirt road in Mason county, bounce the rear diff off a couple rocks, and still drive home. Or the fact that you can have the engine out and the clutch off in less than an hour. Or just that it's a compact CAR with better wheeling ability than a stock Jeep Liberty.

For one of my trucks, I used RTV to seal the cap to the dizzy, and ran a vacuum line to an unused port on the air filter housing. You want the cap to be vented, or potentially explosive gasses can build up in there. A splash sheil on it will help to, many Ford Crown Victorias and LTDs (not sure of equivalents there) with the 5.0 engine have a nice rubber splash sheild over the cap and wires to help protect it.

I was given an EA-82 that supposedly had a blown head gasket, tore it down to find that both heads were cracked, each cylinder was cracked from one valve stem to the other, gushing water out. I was told this was a fairly common issue on these when they were overheated.

My problem with aluminum is that most types work harden, that is they become more brittle with each hit they take. If a bolt comes loose, it's a matter of days before that block cracks and gets spat out. Also, the stronger the aluminum, the more brittle it is to begin with. I would use steel square tube, with a re-enforced bolt hole, I use sch. 40 weldable steel pipe on frame penetrations I do on my trucks, and I believe it would work well for the bolt through the square tube. I would also cap the ends, to add to the structural rigidity of the square tube. Use class 8.8 bolts, they are soft enough to take a shear load and not break, anything higher is brittle and can break. It would kinda suck to take a corner and have the subframe drop because of sheared bolts- The weight difference isn't enough to be worth it, I'd concentrate more on reducing inertial weight and unsprung weight, since that's where the performance is.

I don't think those systems would flex enough, though- The real problem comes from the fact that nothing on the rear of these cars was designed to be fixed in the middle of nowhere, and is the only spot I really think they dropped the ball on an otherwise decent 4wd system (other than making it primarily front drive). There really isn't a way to fuse the system without redoing most of the rear end. The only off-hand solution I can give is to figure out how to use a spindle and stubshaft arrangement with outer locking hubs, like on the front of most 4x4 trucks. That way, you can have the hub as the fuse, six small allen bolts and a snap ring, and you're back to wheeling. The other option would be to replace the rear system with a different style, re-worked to provide approriate lift and flex. Kind of an idea to think over. Anybody want to donate a car for experiments?

Actually, as an awd, whatever wheel has the least traction will get the most power, which is why they seem to be front biased- as you launch, the vehicles center of gravity shifts to the rear, weight comes off the front and is added to the rear, and the front tires spin. Kinda crappy concept, IMO.

Sounds about the same as my GL after a few months on the road. Original nickname- Silver Sue Current nickname- Leaky Sue Exhaust leak (massive and multiple) Randomly blows heater hoses Intake gasket leaks Valve covers leak- bad Valve seals leak Oil pump leaks Oil pan leaks Transmission leaks onto cat, stinks. Actually, it sounds like your is in better shape than mine

The only thing I have noticed with my car is that it burns WAY more oil running synthetic blend than straight dino oil. I mean, blue cloud until it warms up, constant oil smell, and burns better than a quart every 100 miles. Only burns about half that on regular oil. Synthetic is ok in older engines, and if you take proper care of your engine you shouldn't worry. When I change my oil, I run Castrol GTX. I have taken apart engines of my own that were run on that exclusively, and the inside was bright and shiney after 30k, absolutely no buildup at all. Don't run Q-state or Penzoil, both will turn the inside of your engine orange with waxy residue.

The cable probably came apart, the wire part still will be in the correct place, but the end of the cable case breaks off at the clamp. On mine, I pulled the heater control panel, pulled the thing into defrost position, and put it all back together. It's ok until you move it off the defrost position.

Man, I haven't seen one of those in years. I remember a friend of mine had this Justy that looked like it had been to hell and back, full of holes, of course with a Rusty Jones sticker. That was a real popular thing up in Maine, you mgiht be able to find one in a junkyard, but I doubt it.

IIRC, it was an option on all the hatches and wagons, from the EA81 up. My 82 DL wagon had a spot for one, and my 81 GL hatch has one.

Who made that flex pipe? I have been looking all around for them, I have been told that the only US based company that made them went under.

Well, I washed my 81 GL hatch for the first time since I got it, and the driver's side shines pretty well. The passenger side, though, is absolutely garbage. The paint is badly faded, it won't buff off almost like a really poor clearcoat job. The odd thing is, my 82 DL wagon was the exact same way. Right down to the hood being divided just to the right of center, nice paint on the driver's side, crap on the passenger's side. Is this a common thing on these cars, or did I just happen to get two near-antiques with bad paint?