Wrench Princess

What did you do to poor wagon this time? I guess it's only to be expected that you painted it yellow since I wouldn't let you. I am glad you got it painted finally though since you have been wanting to for quite a while. Wish you had painted it black like you planned but it is your car so I am glad you are happy with it. I actually saw it today, we were driving by Carter when you and Matt were getting ready to leave for your weekend. The pictures do it no justice, it really looks a lot different in person. Wish you would talk to me sometimes, I kind of miss you!

I just changed a fuel pump that is off a similar car and one thing that is good to do is use a "c" clamp on the gas line from the tank so that you don't have gas pouring all over your hands while you work. We tried vice grips first but I don't suggest that method. I agree with Shawn though, first check your filters. Filters are more often the problem than the pumps. Good luck!

When I am trying to make sure there is no air in the cooling system I usually put the front up like what was already suggested but I will put the side with the radiator cap just a little higher because sometimes your air is in the top radiator hose and having it at the same level as the radiator cap sometimes won't get the bubbles out. The cap is where the bubbles will come out so it needs to be the highest point on the car.

Spokane is okay if you like being snowed in in the winter and sunburned in the summer. I like it better here on the west side of Washington. I know someone in Spokane who got a WRX this summer but he isn't on the board so I guess nobody really cares! Anyway, welcome!

I have lifted an EA81 by myself and moved it to a higher bench/table to be worked on. Not completely assembled but not bare either. They are not that heavy if a girl can do it. Pulling them out of the car is a little trickier though cause you have to worry about getting past the motormounts and bellhousing studs. Seen several EA81s pulled out at the junkyard with two people and no jack or hoist, even helped do it once. It was not easy but it was not that bad either. I realize that EA82s are probably heavier though.

Come on now! The Justys may not be all that attractive but they are still Subarus all the same. How can a real Subaru lover say such bad things about a fellow Subaru anyway. Are we to believe that you are not a true Subaru fanatic? Don't pick on the runts, they can't help that they are small. If there is any justice in the world you will be run over by a Justy! Ok, I wouldn't want you to get run over by a Justy, but I might laugh.

Gee, now I know what to look forward to. Austin is only 21 and he is almost that bad already! Luckily for him it will probably be me bringing an intake and carb in the house to rebuild on the kitchen table. I've done it before (though not with Subaru parts). I also helped rebuild a tranny in the livingroom one time! I got used to my ex having stuff like brand new racing cams (still in the box) sitting on top of his dresser and Chevy 350 heads next to the bedroom door (outside the room) and crankshafts next to the bedroom door inside the room. And lets not forget about the Holly 4 barrel sitting under the desk (also brand new and still in the box). I think I can handle Austin when he gets there. Besides, Subaru parts are much smaller than Chevy parts! :-p

Zippy means that it had no problem getting to 80+ mph. And it was smoking Austin's turbo XT (manual).

Ok, he already said NON turbo. Also, I have a friend that pulled an auto XT (also non turbo) out of the bushes after sitting there over a year and that thing was zippy. It was a lot faster than most other Subarus I have seen which are mostly all manual. Auto doesn't mean slow, you just need to get the thing tuned better. I agree that at least cleaning the carb if not rebuilding it would be a good idea though if you are having emissions issues.

I suggest doing both sides since those specific motors tend to have headgasket issues anyway. It most likely couldn't hurt anything. Only replacing part of something is never a good idea because then when the other part goes, you will have to take it all apart again to fix it. It is much easier to just do it all at the same time.

Glad you got it fixed! The first time I took one out of a car it was for a spare for Austin. Well, I had a little help from someone (not Austin by the way) getting it out and they decided that since I was having a little trouble seeing if the tabs were on the top and bottom or on the sides, he would just break the other side of it that holds it tight to the firewall. Now can anyone tell me what good a throttle cable that is broken does someone? Especially since it doesn't hold itself in place with that plastic thing broken. Anyway, I do understand the frustration and at least you know what to do different next time.

Come on GD, just because Matt did his car different than you do yours, doesn't mean he did it wrong. Like Ken said, there are different ways to do it. He is still learning all of this too so he is trying to help from one newbie to another.

Sad!

Glad I could help! I have become the expert at the throttle cable removal lately so I don't mind sharing my help. It feels good to be a girl who tells guys how to fix their cars! I have a lot of respect for the people who will ask for help when they need it though.

I have done many EA81 removals and engine swaps and I have never taken the starter off. I do agree with everything else everyone said though. One other thing VERY IMPORTANT when you go to put the other motor back in, look at where the motor attaches to the tranny on both sides. There should be some alignment pins and you need to make sure that you have a pin on one side and a hole on the other. It really sucks when you forget to check and you go to put a motor in with a pin on both sides. The motor and tranny don't go together well that way! When you take out the radiator don't forget the ground wire on the top. Take all your hoses and wires off at the motor. It is not that hard and it takes no time at all really. I am going to install a motor in Matt's wagon tomorrow! Fun times. Good luck!

Please don't be offended but I am explaining this in a very basic way. Your throttle cable goes through the little square hole on the firewall. On the pedal side of the throttle cable is a square peice of plastic that has two little tab type things on it. You stick that end through the hole in the firewall and the tabs hold it against the firewall. Now I am not clear on whether or not that is all you needed to know. If your cable broke then the plastic end from your old cable is probably still attached to the firewall. There was another post on how to change a throttle cable last week where I gave a detailed description of how to take the old throttle cable out that will tell you how to get the plastic part out of the firewall. Here is a link to that post if you need it. http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12415 Just scroll down to the last post.

Well...... We never did anything else with the wagon really since last week. Yesterday we drove it a little because we needed the extra passenger room (the XT doesn't have enough room for two people who are over 6 feet tall in the back seat). Anyway, the carb was still acting up a little but other than one time idleing at like 100rpms (smoothly too!) it was not so bad. The clutch was still slipping some too. Today me and Austin were warming it up to go somewhere and he was looking under the hood showing someone something. I walked over while Austin was looking at it telling his friend how good it was running at the moment and I saw that it was dripping something. It looked like water (not antifreeze mix, plain water) but when I dipped my finger in it I saw it was oil. We cleaned the oil pan and the underside of the motor so well that the oil still looked like it had never been run yet. So now we have discovered that we need to reseal the oil pump (luckily Austin just had someone give him an oil reseal kit a month or so ago). We drove it anyway to for a short run and the carb seems to have healed along with the clutch so now it is just the oil pump reseal that is needing attention. The exhaust/tranny rattle has actually gotten a lot better too! I think that it is always cool when cars fix themselves!!!! :cool:

I heard about something like this happening to someone else on the board and it turned out to be a bad coil and when they tried another used one, it still didn't work. They finally put a new one on there and it worked. Just a thought cause they were getting spark too but not enough to run the car.

Obviously, first check for obvious vacuum leaks. If you want to check for a vacuum leak on your carb, spray starting fluid at the base on the outside of the carb. If you have a vacuum leak there it will raise your idle. If it doesn't change the idle then it probably is something else.

I know how much it sucks to have a heatercore pee all over you! I have had it happen to me several times before and I don't drive. In Chevys (that is what I am used to) the heater core is on the passanger side. The easiest thing to do is bypass the heater core until you get another one. To do that just connect your two hoses that go from the engine to the firewall to eachother so it is a big loop. The heater core also helps cool your engine too though so watch your temp until you get a new heater core installed. I have never taken a heater core out of an EA82 but if it is the same as an EA81 they are a pain in the rump roast to get to and you need to take the dash apart to even get to it.

I changed a waterpump on a EA82T sedan a few weeks ago. It wasn't too hard, just annoying because of everything being in front of it. Luckily the engine was out of the car at the time. The hardest part is getting the timing belt covers off without breaking the little things that the screws are in. I would be agreeing with Miles Fox though and probably changing everything while you are in there is a good idea because it is a b*t*h to get in there. Good luck with it and be sure not to tighten your timing belt covers too tight when you put it back together!

Looks like we are going to be out too as you may have figured. Other things popping up is about it too. Sorry Matt. I will try to get your car done soon! You know why it may not be possible though. Hope everyone else has fun and I want to see some good pics on monday!

you will need a 10mm wrench to remove the nut to get the cable off the little holder thing. You need to take the little end thing off of the carb, which can be a pain but it isn't that hard to do. Next you take off the little end thingy that is attached to the petal the same way to take it off the carb. You will need a 12mm to get the little tab things from the inside and a flashlight to be able to see up there. If the 12mm doesn't get it try an 11mm (the tabs are worn sometimes and a 12mm doesn't always get it). You will need to look and see if the tabs are on the bottom and top or if they are on the sides because I have taken out several of them and they seem to go either way. All you should need to do is put the wrench around the tabs to push them together and then you should be able to push the cable through the firewall. I have removed several throttle cables by myself and it is not really that hard once you do it a couple of times. I would come over and do it for you but it is quite a way to go just to help you change your throttle cable! I got a lot of practice when Austin's throttle cable broke and every time we went to the junkyard for a week or two I was on throttle cable duty so that he had plenty of spares! It is a pain in the butt but it is not really that hard assuming you can see and get at a good enough angle under the dash. Good luck!

It was pretty close to that for Austin too, I just kept missing him in the deepest parts with the camera. I think the under the hoood shots show best just how deep it really was! The shot of the battery was so gross that I made Austin post it. You can barely tell it was under all of the mud! The really funny thing is that there was no water that got in the car but when we started driving it after the puddle, we could hear water in the doors. It was really funny. When we got to Ken's house we pulled the little drain plug on one of the doors and it started pouring out.

Yes I do!!!