Sonicfrog

PS. When I say that someone went all wire crazy, here is a pic of what I'm dealing with... And this is after I've already gotten a lot of the extemporaneous wiring out of the engine bay! ... And yes, that battery terminal IS going to be replaced at the next opportunity!

The dash is apart and can't get a RPM reading at the moment. I'm 91.8 % certain the alt is now functioning properly. I want to get the correct disty / coil set-up before I go any further. I'm hoping that I can get to a bone-yard tomorrow afternoon. If there are no 83's, but a few 87's, would the coil / trans ignitor work from that series? If I can get this bit taken care of, then it's on to the rewiring of the dash..... Which is all mis-wired. The tach didn't work the volt meter didn't ever register the proper voltage. Gas meter also didn't work, and the indicator lights... Well, when you opened the door, the parking brake light would come on instead! All this said, believe it or not, doing this kind of troubleshooting / electrical sleuthing is fun for me! I has to be, or else why would I get myself into this kind of situation!!!!

OK. Made some progress. I tracked the alt circuit problems. there were a couple of wires that were cut. I reconnected them, and now when I take the jumper cables off, the headlights don't dim right away. This would seem to indicate that the charging circuit is now working without having to rev the engine to trigger it. BUT, after a few minutes, the engine starts to sputter and it dies. I'm thinking that. since the coil is an aftermarket replacement, it is not designed to be used with a transistor ignitor. Perhaps the old tran ignirot blew out, and instead of getting the correct replacement, a previous owner got a hotter coil. Since the battery is charging, the slight voltage drop may be causing a drop in the electrical field generated by the coil. causing it to stall. This is all supposition of course. Will get back when I have done more diagnostic.

Nope. It's the Denso set-up, connected right to the coil.

It seems to run fine. We drove it from Sacramento to Fresno, 200 + miles, without any problems. But with the non-charging issue, it makes driving around town impossible.

Yeah... I watched them do it. It was just one speed... Very fast... Which would not reveal the problem in the first place. Didn't get a chance to trace the circuit today. Hope to have time to do it tomorrow.

Bump.

OK... So I FINALLY got the engine back in the 1983 Brat I bought from The Subaru Junkie over two months ago. The wiring has been modified a ton and I'm trying to clean it up and bring it back to speck. Right now, the disty is wired directly to the coil. In the Haynes diagram I have, it shows that it should be wired to the "Full Transistor Ignitor". What is it, what does it look like, where is it (or where should it be)... and since the Haynjes diagram doesn't list the wire color code for this device, what are the wire colors that lead to it? A pic of this would be great. Also, I'm having a problem with the alternator. It won't charge unless I rev the engine past 4000 RPM's. I did find that the small white / red striped wire had been cut and not reconnected. I thought restoring that to its proper connection would fix the problem... But no, twas not to be. I have had the alt checked, but I'll have it checked again just to be on the safe side. I'm in the process of tracing the entire circuit, but I need not mention that, though it is a learning experience, it's tedious! Any thoughts? PS. The coil is an aftermarket coil. I don't know if that would make any difference, but... it is.

Sooooo..... Before I took a hammer to the primary cat, I wanted to check something first. I changed the disty cap and rotor, that seemed to make a difference, so I decided to change the spark plug wires. Well, on Friday, I searched all over for a set of wires but none of the auto stores had a set in stock for the turbo. Well, after going to the fifth store, I remembered that I had a spare coil to disty wire in the storage compartment in the back of the wagon. One of the wire sets I bought some time ago had two in the box for some reason, so I kept the other for a spare... just in case. Well, the "just in case" philosophy paid off. As soon as I started driving with the spare coil wire in place, I noticed there was better acceleration after 3000 RPMs. It's still not perfect, but it is better. Thank GOD I didn't smash up the cat yet! I did find a shop that says they have the correct wires in stock. I'll be heading over there in a bit to pick those up, and then we'll see if the performance is back to normal.... Then, it's time to continue getting the Bratt up and running.... and then put the tranny in Red, the 94 Alpine wagon!

I may very well be interested. I'm just hoping that after I gut the other cat, I find that that was not the problem after all.

Well, I've decided to go ahead and "fix" the other cat. It seems like the turbo is spooling slower than it used to, and since the vac hose that controls turbo boost is now properly connected, I have to think it must be the primary cat just doesn't let enough air through to let the thing run properly.

UPDATE to the UPDATE: Reconnecting the vac hose helped a lot, but i'm still losing guts after 3400 RPM's.

UPDATE: I just discovered the prime suspect. The vac tube on the solenoid that connects to the canister, air intake, and has a check valve on it, was cracked. I think the solenoid is called a duty solenoid. I'm letting the engine cool a bit before I go in and reconnect

I checked that. They are spot on (of course now I'll have to go check them again). Plus, if they were off, you would also get a strange idle. I know, I've done it before! :-)

The car - Murphy, the 87 GL-10 Turbo Wagon (EA-82-T) The latest problem - very poor turbo performance. Four months ago, before I had to change the head gaskets, it seemed to have plenty of power. Since the head gaskets replacement, I have had a general lack of power. From a stand still to about 300 RPM, it seems OK. Not as good as it was, but there is definitely boost. In higher revs, it almost feels like there is either a fuel restriction or air restriction. It is timed properly (w/ green bypass connected and @ 20 btc). Has new distributor cap and rotor. Has new plugs. The spark wires are not new, but they are not old either. Has a new air filter. I did find the rear cat was shot, complete with a ball of cat stuff which formed into a ball and clogged the exhaust at higher speed. Last week I took care of that problem (hint, hint, nudge, nudge), and that helped quite a bit, but not completely. So here is what I'm left with: Did I connect the vac hoses wrong when I put the car back together? Can bad wires cause this problem? How likely is it that the primary cat is also clogging? I'll take car of that temporarily if I have to, but cost is an issue and I would rather not have the replacement of two cats hanging over my head if I can help it. Could the turbo be going bad???? How freely should it spin? The whirring sound does seem louder than before, but that could just be my imagination. Well, maybe I'm just getting lazy, but, as much as I love this car, I'm getting to the point where I just can't justify putting any more $$$$ in the car. PS. And of course I just put brand new tires on it, so I'm out $400 + even before we get to this problem.

Well, I ended up finding them at RockAuto. They were $34 each. I somehow screwed up the search the first time. But thanks for the offers guy. Appreciate it.

Well... So much for that idea!!

Anyone swapped one for the other. One of the mounts on the 83 Brat is hosed, and I'm finding it impossible to find EA 81 mounts. I have found some EA 82s and I've read that they might fit. Anyone had any experience with this problem / solution???

I'm having a hard time finding EA 81 motor mounts and need one. What did you have to do to get the EA 82 one to fit???

Mystery Solved. It's not a main seal... It's an o-ring... An extremely flattened o-ring!

Here's the pic

So, I have the engine out of the 83 Silver Brat. I take off the fiywheel and stare do a double take... Because there are TWO rear main seals nestled on the crankshaft.... What's Up With This????????

If I decide to do that swap, I'll keep you in mind.

I don't know if my last post posted. The USMB has been acting a bit funny as of late. Yes, I'm interested.

I'm missing mine on my 83 Brat. The tranny is a 4 speed hi / lo coupled to an EA 81. Will a mount from a EA 82 5 speed hi / lo work, or fo I need the one specifically for the smaller EA 81 4 speed?