stephenw22

Well, I got back home last night with the Hornet, and I took it in today for the safety inspection. It will need a ball joint, front rotors, a front caliper, and maybe a steering rack, but those are all parts I can steal off one of my old cars. Hopefully by Monday, I'll have the car ready for the re-inspection. Then it'll be ready for plates. BIG THANKS TO: sparkster, qman, turbone, (and edrach) for their hospitality and cheap parts.

I've been looking over my subarus lately, and doing a lot of thinking about the egr system, and there's one part that I don't understand. The egr valve is on the passenger side of the intake. Does the exhaust gas go into the passenger side of the intake, or is there a passage that somehow distibutes it evenly between the cylinders? I was thinking the other day that unless you're able to take the exhaust gas and evenly split it between cylinders, an egr system would actually cause large imbalances in cylinder temperatures. If it went into the passenger side cylinders, they'd always be richer and the drivers' side cylinders would be leaner. Maybe it's more of a problem in warmer climates, but having a bad egr system doesn't seem to affect engines up here. Over 5 years, I put 100k miles on my turbo wagon with a malfunctioning egr system. The only thing that could kill that car was mice that chewed through a ton of my wiring. I'm definitely NOT an expert, but that's my experience up here with my cars.

Wouldn't ringing the block/head just mean that you'd blow the block instead of a head gasket though?

No Les Schwab in Canada (at least none anywhere near me). I'll look into the suggestions. Thanks!

I had 220k miles on my turbo wagon before I parked it. Tranny was still running good.

When I slam into big/tall snow drifts with my car, it jams the engine bay with snow. It's been jammed so bad a couple of times that my engine has been 'snow seized' until I dig out the engine bay (I run without t-belt covers, and the snow packs around every pulley so tight that the engine stalls and won't start). The last time it happened, it actually bulged the hood a little with all of the snow pack. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any modification I could do to prevent this? (some kind of modified skid plate or something) I can't avoid the drifts because they're on the road leading to my house, and I can't go slow because they are too tall/wide. (i.e. 2' high, 40' long, across the entire road) Also, since everything's all white and very flat, it's hard to tell if the snow is 2" deep or 12" deep until you're already there.

Well folks, with my recent acquisition of 'the Hornet' (see sig for details), I'll be looking for some winter tires in a few months. QUESTION: With about 2" of suspension lift on the Hornet, what are the tallest, skinniest 14" winter tires I can fit on the car? BACKGROUND: Winters here are full of deep, drifting snow and lots of icy, rutted streets. 4x4s with big wide tires always end up in the ditch because they are just floating on the road. I'm looking for a tall, skinny studded tire that will dig into packed snow and bite into ice. I tried out some teeny-tiny 155/80R13's last year, and I ended up digging myself out a few times because I didn't have enough ground clearance. The traction was amazing, though. In 2wd, it felt more like 4wd, and in 4wd, it was like driving on velcro! I'm getting a set of 14" pugs with the Hornet, and I'd like to set them up as my winter tire set. I want the tallest, skinniest tire I can fit in there without having to hack or pound too much. I'll have about 2" of lift, front and rear, using rx/accord springs and adjustable struts and shocks. ANY SUGGESTIONS? Thanks, Steve

Up in Canada, Mevotech makes and sells axles with a redesigned outer CV Joint. They are sold at parts stores that are affiliated with 'Auto Parts Plus'. I've never had one go bad yet. One car (the RustBucket) has 40,000km on a 2-year old pair of them, and the New Car has about 20k on its set. Normal axles from them have a 'CVS' prefix, but these ones start with 'CVX'. For my cars, I use a 'CVX 8001' axle. I'd definitely check out all of the suspension components and bushings though. It could be a faulty $5 part that's breaking all of your axles.

My wife was driving our '92 Loyale in town, and she was rear-ended by an SUV. Other than a slightly stiff neck, she's fine, and she says the car looks fine as well. Just to be sure, I'm going to have the SUV owner pay for an inspection of the vehicle. Is there anything in particular that I should have checked? I've never been in an accident myself, so I am a total newbie when it comes to this stuff. Thanks in advance!

don't rally cars have the ability to vary the power distribution, using some cockpit switches or dials? What do they use?

I just went to a commercial bearing supplier in town. They cost me less than any parts place wanted. Also, if it's a bigger supplier, they can get extras like severe-duty grease in your sealed bearing, or other stuff like that.

I had some clunking sounds that went away when I put new front struts in. One sound was a clunk whenever I'd hit the brakes, and another sounded like the axle was bad, and it would go away when I'd let off the gas.

SKF 6207's with side seals. No more worries about crap getting into my wheel bearings, or about the condition of the seals on the steering knuckle. If you still wanted them to be greasable, I think you can get them with single side seals as well.

If you have an original master key with the key code on it (4-digit number), you can go to a reputable locksmith and have a key cut from the number. Last time I needed keys cut, I bought some blanks from the dealership and then took them to the locksmith shop and had them cut the keys. It was amazing how much easier it was to use a key that was in good shape.

When you do the power calculation, you find that... Power = V^2 / R = 12^2 / 33 = 4.36 Watts into a 33 ohm resistor You'd make the little 1/4 watt resistor cry. a 68 Ohm resistor puts the power dissipation at just over 2 watts.

I just picked them up at a local electronic parts place in town. Personally, I loathe RadioShack, and I would never go there for parts. Anyways, the 2W rating seems to be working fine. We'll see over the summer how it holds up. You could go with a 5W-rated resistor if you wanted to be extra safe, or use a style with a better temperature rating (I just went with cheap carbon film resistors). I spent $1 per resistor, instead of $90 per solenoid from the dealer. The wrecking yards around here don't get many Subarus, and even less that have decent parts on them. When we take vacations, I always stop at big wrecking yards to scavenge for parts, and my wife thinks I'm a little weird.

I plugged off my EGR system and replaced the solenoid with a 68 Ohm, 2 Watt resistor. I haven't noticed any change as far as performance, mileage, or engine temperature goes. All I know is that my ECS light is out, and that there isn't an engine code for the EGR solenoid anymore. It was 'fixed' that way about 4-5 months ago. I also replaced my purge control solenoid with another 68 Ohm resistor.

I had it removed on my '88 because it had rusted apart. Replaced it with a section of pipe for $40 at a local shop. Sounds a little louder than my '92, but not much.

What condition are your front struts in? Also, what condition are your ball joints in?

Well, both solenoids on my '92 Loyale are toast. Instead of spending $180 for new ones, or trying to replace them, I just bypassed them. I unplugged them and slippped a 2-watt, 68 ohm resistor into each socket. ECU sees no problem anymore, and gives no error codes. I then went and plugged off the EGR system. I'll remove the purge control hardware later, if I get bored and need something to do. Anyways, that's my solution to this problem.

I've had Accel coils in my cars for several years now without any problems. They're all vertically-mounted (in place of the standard ea-82 coil). I mainly bought it because every parts place wanted double the price for the OEM part.

Seeing as how I didn't read this until April 2, do I get to punch you in the teeth? j/k As I read that, I was totally believing you for a while. Then it dawned on me to check the date of your post. YOU BASTARD!!! lol

I did it on my turbo wagon about 5 years ago. I did it outside in the winter, and I mostly remember hating the car for about a month afterwards. I managed to do it without taking the turbo off, since the nuts were all rusted solid, and I didn't have a decent wrench set. Anyways, it's possible to do the job without taking the turbo off, just be prepared for more frustration.

I had some straight-line noise coming from a couple of new axles last year. It didn't get any better or worse over 6 months of driving, and it went away when I eventually replaced the front struts. I don't know what replacing the front struts has to do with axle noise, but that's what made it finally stop for me.

After trying all kinds of gasket stuff on all of my gaskets, I've gone back to using nothing at all. As long as the gasket surfaces are smooth and clean, a plain paper gasket will work as well as anything else. It also seems to come off easier if I need to change it later. I hate trying to scrape bits of silicone off a gasket surface. EXCEPTIONS: If there is scarring, pitting, or grooving on a gasket surface, I'll use silicone, mostly to fill in a potential source of a leak. I'll also use silicone on the oil pan gasket or the transmission pan gasket, because the pan material is thin.