daeron

Okay, so a user here (82GLSW or something like that, sorry, I haven't fully associated your username here with our conversation on AIM ) mailed me three trip computer light bulbs, and BEHOLD! I can actually read the silly thing. As an aside, I have to say that after only one evening using it.. the trip computer was MADE FOR PIZZA DELIVERY!!!!! Anyhow, the post is concerning in-dash grounding points. The trip computer lights up fine. It stays lit adequately in all situations. However, whenever I hit my brake pedal, use a turn signal or hazard flasher, or turn on my running lights, the display dims a little bit. The HEADLIGHTS, however, do not effect it in the slightest. I am presuming that the flashers, brake lights, running lights etc all switch a ground to their respective circuits, and that ground lies somewhere underneath the dash. I would like to find that ground point and clean it up, and possibly replace the wire if needs be. This is not an amperage issue, since I have the 90 amp Nissan Maxima alternator in and it runs great. No problems with slow AC blower fan at low RPM, headlights are good and bright at low RPM... In fact, I have no electrical issues with the car at ALL, except for slow power windows (need to clean the driver's switch, the relay checks out fine.) Really, even this grounding issue is little more than a peeve.. but since this grounding point I seek is likely the same grounding point that my digidash temperature gauge is run off of, I would like it to be top-notch. I need to pull the dash apart to replace the AC vacuum switch, and run some new accessory wiring anyhow, so I figured I would shoot for some help locating the ground, and take care of that while I am in there. Thanks in advance! (BTW Trip Computer FTW!!!! :headbang: )

how cheap is it???? I worked at a place repairing tools for some time, a little while back. I didn't have the job long enough to know model numbers and whatnot off the top of my head, but I know that ALOT of chinese knockoffs (at least air tools) use parts IDENTICAL to the quality versions that they are copied from. I also know that the wire feed motor is VERY VERY easy to replace. It MIGHT be worth it to take the wire feed motor off of the welder, take it in to a local repair shop, and see if they can match it up with something for you. Personally, I used fiberglass to repair my passenger floorboard in my Datsun. There were holes in the floorboard big enough, that a 5 D-cell Mag-Lite just.. disappeared from the car (it lived in the passenger floorboard, so it must have dropped out somewhere. Maybe thats how they filmed that ad of the semi running over the maglite? ) I cut the entire rusty bit out, treated the metal margins that I left, and laid down about three layers of fiberglass cloth. If the car were large enough to stand in, you could jump up and down on my new floor. I can see where many might not care to do this, but it worked great for me, so I thought I would pass the idea on. (oh, and I just meant that I was suggesting an idea, in case you hadn't thought of it NOBODY likes their floorpans flying off when they hit the throttle in a bottle:Flame: )

WOW, I didn't expect to hear that. Obviously things will change with time, but it sounds like they share more in common than I had imagined. Thanks!

What commonality is there between an engine of this vintage and the EA81s and 82s that makes them all EA series? Obviously the 81s were OHV and the 82s OHC... were all the EA series pushrod motors, or are there other secrets lurking in subaru history that I am unaware of? In other words, is the "relationship" between this ea61 and my ea82, being from the same "family" of motors, really at ALL substantial, or are they really two different worlds?

Maybe. If I do, its up at the shop, with the carb, and all the other parts. I did NOT even take a picture of the box, though.. most of the parts posted in my photbucket album, I HAVE pictures of the boxes and part #s.. but the numbers were too blurry to read. Looking back thru all my pictures, I don't SEE the carb box anywhere.. so I might have a number, I might not. Hopefully Monday or Tuesday I can get in touch with someone and get up there to get better photos. In the meantime, I am guessing that moosens and subaru3 are probably right.

Thats all you had to say I was just "throwing it out there" so to speak.

any chance you could jam that engine into a Fuji Rabbit?? sounds sweet

go to thepartsbin.com for the intake manifold gaskets, theyre like $4 apiece and they are OEM brand. Nippon reinz, i think, or Ishino is the brand name. Label all the vacuum hoses that you take off, because that makes re assembly easier. I used some white sticky labels and a colored set of sharpie markers.. each solenoid/component/"thingy" got its own color, I didnt even write part names down. Green hose went back onto the same thingy that the green plug went back onto, and that thingy had a green tag on it You MIGHT want to try spraying the manifold bolts with PB blaster when its cold, take it for a drive, spray it again right after parking the car, THEN try to loosen the manifold bolts while the engine is hot. It might be easier. Check the memory and it should point you towards your CEL culprit component, but I am going to guess EGR solenoid just on a whim.

have you considered pop riveting it in place, and then going back in the future and welding it? or is that just undoable, given the shape of the metal?

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=81436 Thats a thread about a bunch of parts I was trying to identify, one of which was a carburetor. 2-barrel hitachi, looks to be a manual choke but thats pushing the limits of my general knowledge of downdraft carbs. Here are a few pictures: Here I quote something moosens told me in PM, suggesting its a carb for a 70s OHV motor: Whats the story? A few others say in the thread I linked to that its an EA81 carb, and some say its an older carb. Obviously I will measure the dimensions of the stud holes, and check them against what tomrhere provided me as a comparison between the EA81 and 82 manifolds (I highly doubt its an EA82 carb simply from the date of acquisition of these parts) So anyhow, measurements from the carbs moosens mentioned would be appreciated. Bolt spacing, or even bore diameters.. When I get to the shop to investigate Monday or Tuesday, I may be able to find a part number. Thanks in Advance!

first off, that last exchange there is hilarious. Maybe I am a *little* to immature with my sense of humour, but maybe I just find more joy in life than you "normals" :-p Secondly, regarding the carb... Any input? Maybe I should post a pic of the carb in historic gen.....

if its a quick-dry type of electronic cleaner, then its fine. As for the motor.. dive in! electric motors are absurdly simple devices, and easy to figure out once you get inside one. There is a bearing on either end of the axle. I don't know how much good you will do, but it isnt difficult to figure out how to take a motor apart and put it back together.. SOMEtimes there are spring loaded brushes that need four or five hands for you to push them all out of the way, and slip the armature assembly down into it... but I have always managed to do it by myself. There really isn't much explaining to do, IF you can get the motor out and apart. Just dive in.

You CAN just find a way to couple the steering fluid lines coming out of either end of the rack to each other, and remove the rest of the power steering system. The power rack is lubricated by the fluid, so you need to keep the lines there and the fluid sealed in the system, but the pump and parts of the lines could be removed. BUT, you won't gain much power. When the steering wheel is held straight, the power steering pump hardly takes ANYTHING away.. its like an alternator when you have a fully charged battery and no accessories on. Believe it or not, once you turn the headlights and foglights and 47 pairs of driving lights on the roll bar and AC fan and 60,000 watt stereo on, the alternator puts MUCH more load on your engine than it does at a low amperage draw.

Forwarded to the Darwin Awards Committee.

oil leak in no way points towards potential head gasket problems, most of these engines have leaky VC gaskets... pop the rad cap off and let it run for a moment, looking for bubbles. If the oil looks clean, the coolant looks clean, no bubbles and no overheating, then the chances are pretty good that the HGs are OK.. obviously a compression check would be nice, but not always easy to convince someone to let you do. T-belts every 60K, non interference engine though. Lots of us leave the covers off to make it quicker, but that may increase chances of incidental damage; its your call. (if a timing belt snaps in the woods, and you don't have any covers to get in the way... did the timing belt make a noise? ) Clutch job, I dunno, I have an auto.. but I would say for a full kit 150 ballpark? don't hold me to that. This engine will need timing belts, and while youre at it you should do some seals and the water pump. The big thing, is the oil pump. Find out what kind of oil pressure it has from the owner; if its tolerable oil pressure, you can get away with resealing the pump on there. If he has any qualms about oil pressure, or has had any questions, you ought to just get a new pump. Seriously, if you were to get into it so far as to be doing the T-belts, water and oil pump and reseal, PLUS the VC gaskets.. it might be simplest to go ahead and yank the engine, do a COMPLETE reseal, and replace the headgaskets while you have it out, JUST to have a nice 200+K more worry free miles in it.. but that may be a little over the top. Judging just from the info you posted, I would say this is a car worth getting into, if the price is right and the car suits you.

problems you mentioned: Clock pinging/timing cold start No horn no backup lights I do not have a spot to tell you to look for bad connections in particular, outside of recommending new battery cables. Cheap insurance, ten or twelve bucks and you are good to go. Also, make sure that you can have the car running, and jiggle all the wires in your fusible link block without wreaking any havoc.. listen for smooth and uninterrupted engine operation. That being said, I will offer a link to the partial FSM files if you do not already have that, and offer these thoughts on your problems... these clocks are notorious for having crummy solder connections internally. If you have ANY skill with a soldering iron, you may be able to take it apart and repair the janky connection. The bad spot should be apparent; just look for a solder joint that looks browner and fouler than the others. Timing: have you checked the timing with a light, with the green connectors plugged in, and verified that its running at 20*BTDC? you shouldn't need a variable light at all, there are marks centered on 20* on the flywheel. Without a timing light, you cannot get the timing set accurately. Make SURE the green connectors are plugged in. cold start: two places to check here. First off, the IAC (Idle Air controller) It is a cylindrical job, attached to the front side of the throttle body with a large hose feeding into the top of it from the intake snorkus. The IAC is composed of two parts: a cylinder/valve that allows air past the throttle plate and into the intake manifold (or prevents it, depending on position) and a solenoid that operates that valve. You can take the entire affair off the front of the throttle body, disassemble it, clean it, check it for proper sealing, and if you have some extra lengths of wire around connect it to a battery and verify that it is working properly. The computer uses this to control air flow with the throttle closed (in other words, at idle.) Make sure the connections in the plug from the harness are clean and free of corrosion. The second thing to check for the cold start issue, is the CTS. This is a two-wire coolant temperature sensor mounted near the thermostat housing IIRC? I forget exactly where, the FSM will tell you. The CTS itself is usually good, but many fuel injected vehicles develop problems with running too rich from a corroded CTS connection. Again, make sure this is a good clean connection on this plug. There is a good chance that neither of those "cold start" leads will lead you to a solution, but it is DEFINITELY worth looking into. Horn, I have no clue. As for the back up lights, are you sure the switch is plugged in? Mine (3AT, yours may be different) is located on the passenger side, behind the catalytic converter. Again, two wires, one side goes to the vehicle, the other side goes into the tranny. If the switch is plugged in, and you know there are good bulbs in the back, check for voltage at the bulb socket with the car in reverse (obviously use the handbrake, AND chock the wheel, (AT) or just get an assistant that you trust VERY much :-p) and if you don't have it there, check for voltage at the switch. If no voltage at the switch, then the problem is upstream from there.. if there is voltage at the switch, but not at the back of the car, the problem is somewhere in between. Hope this helps.

He who smelt it.........

Really? Don't take this the wrong way, but that seems to me, to be alot to take on faith. We shall see; if my dipstick stops getting blown up now that I've removed and re fitted my PCV then I will gladly eat my words.. but in the meantime, does this sound plausible to anyone else? I didn't look too closely, myself. Hopefully you're right; I didn't check my oil today or yesterday, but I will do so tomorrow. Thanks for the input, I certainly never would have anticipated that simply doing what I already did may have "fixed" the problem.

Isn't that the GREATEST?!!!! My datsun was like that, and I carry a spare key for my soob in my wallet so that at any time I can lock my keys in the car.. MOST of the reason I carry the spare key is because I got in the habit of being able to do that with the datsun; the added security of not needing to call the locksmith is a bonus.

Could someone give me the dimensions on an EA81 radiator, or possibly a subaru part number? as far as the seatbelts go, nice guy that I am, I *might* have to go with best offer on that..

See, I *like* the awkwardness of the dash, and the headlights, and the sunroof line.. but the grille line for some reason makes the car look buck-toothed to me.

You want a wild idea? 280Z and ZXs also used a flapper-type AFM, and that AFM was the single greatest restriction point on the air intake. The throttle body, the manifold runners, and the AFM all were undersized by nissan (for economy and tuning purposes I guess?) In any case, a common upgrade for FI Z cars back in the day (before people really understood much about how to upgrade fuel injectied cars) was to take the AFM body from a toyota cressida, pull the guts out of it (meaning the circuit board) and replace those guts with the guts from the Nissan unit.. so that the larger flapper, in the larger housing, was turning the same potentiometer that came with the car. This was just something that someone figured out one day, and it definitely makes an improvement. You have to properly calibrate the AFM afterwards, but its totally doable.

Oh Dear Fuji No.. I ALWAYS cold start the car and give it a good 30-40 seconds of "oil pump up" time before I put it in gear, and give it another 30-45 seconds of low RPM maneuvering time at LEAST before I start going at any speed.. I am very careful about waking up an engine. Good to point it out, though.

its ALSO why I make a point of flooring the throttle on short drives, and running the car like a bat outta hell.. I plan on installing something soon, I just haven't decided on what.

I would fix the top of the grill so that its a more straight, horizontal line. I dig the whole squiggle-vision aspect in the rest of the design, and all its other little nuances.. but the grill kinda looks awkward. If he can go back and edit that, thats the only thing I see about it that keeps it from REALLY conveying the car.. I REALLY like the photo. How many shirts do you think you're capable of doing?