daeron

The anal retentive part of me HAS to point out that wiring the load of your electric fan directly to a switch in your cabin is just bad wiring.. really, if you want a switch you should be using a relay. Or, simpler yet, just install a jumper wire in place of the thermoswitch. Think of the thermoswitch like a computer program... If temp = hot, then switch = on If temp = cold, then switch = off if wire = going between switch contact point on the wire harness, it thinks switch is on. If, for some reason you need to turn off your fan, pop the hood and pull the wire out. it isnt that hard to access, as long as the engine isnt running (belt hazard, sometimes I brave it but I try not to.) So a switch can work, but isnt ideal and costs money for ~12 feet of wire and a switch.. or, you could use 6" of wire. it IS summertime.

is that what it was growling at me??? sounds about right, maybe the ea8*2* says something a little different with essentially the same meaning.

dont shoot me.... first thing that comes to mind is... weber?

good luck, intrepid wrench warrior! always fun to see people 'sperimentin.

same reason you don't start out with the Kurt Cobain dose of heroin... Power is addictive, but you start out with baby steps before you unleash the monster.

My understanding was that the coolant flow through the engine went driver side first, then over the tranny hump, then into the passenger side in the rear and out the passenger side in the front at the thermostat housing. that being the case, IF one cylinder head were to be warmer than the other, it would be the passenger side cylinder head. Am I wrong? BTW Harbor frieght has two point-and-shoot, non contact thermometers in their catalog.. one is good, and is 40 bucks, the other is a cheapie and is like 15 or 20. A worthy addition to a toolbox, if you are so inclined.

Okay, maybe you just creeped me out the way you were talking about avoiding it getting too hot... if 1/2 way on the gauge is "too hot" and it doesnt really climb above there, then you are fine. However, if it is in good shape the stock cooling system SHOULD be able to handle desert temperatures without a MAJOR increase in heat.. If you see much higher than 1/2 ever, then take my advice I gave before. If it stays around halfway, as a "high point" consistently, then I apologize for the "impending doom message" I am just trying to help you, thoroughly. I remember how frustrating it was when someone answered one post that just left more questions.. cant help you on the liftgate; I assume you mean the handle IN the hatch? my sedan is different for obvious reasons. I re read the whole thread and looked at your pictures again. If you are motivated, you may be lucky with the rust; it looks like most of the REALLY bad stuff IS in the easier areas, and you might just be in time to save the critical windshield mounting area. I will hope for the best for you.

patience in your prep work is key; it shows alot more than spray technique (unless your spray technique is AWFUL, but you can practice on the underside of the hood) Thorough high grit wetsanding when you are done, or in an area where you may have a run, is your best friend. Maybe I am being a windbag and telling you what you already know, so I will cut it short. If you are asking for pointers, i can respond with a few more

Zowie!! THAT is not something you see very often.. a EA subaru piston with valve impact marks.. take lots more pictures, to document this ultra-rare phenomenon. Good to see you took my posts in the right spirit, i was trying to be funny in my obscure way. Good luck with the parts motor. On another note, though, if you were in need, and one head was alot easier to come by than a whole engine, couldnt you just buff that piston damage out?? I mean, use a scotch brite pad until you have eliminated anything but prominent peaks and valleys, then carefully file those down, and scotch pad it again, and re use that bottom end? I cannot imagine it would detract TOO much, although it is super ghetto.. just curious.

depends.. the electric fan was installed in ALL of them, the clutch fan only went into cars with AC. The electric fan is run by a thermoswitch in the radiator that turns it on when the coolant reaches a certain temp, and IIRC it is also turned on automatically by the AC system. If your thermoswitch is crapped out, you can simply rin a wire from one side of the car's thermoswitch plug to the other, essentially "fooling" the fan on whenever the key is in accessories or on. Thats what I did, anyhow.

well, they are standard bosch units, about as common as the NGK BPR 6ES-11 plugs on our cars.. when a german needed a relay, for the last thorty or most likely far more years, he has grabbed one of these... You just need to poke around the foreign cars, with a tendency more towards european than japanese, but even some jap and american cars use them. Very, Very common part.just get a good eyeball look at the pictures I gave you, they pretty well covered the standard modern-day appearance of them. they may be any color plastic, or silver(or)dull grey metal. Now.. Regarding your heat climbing, that is NOT a good thing, my friend. You need to evaluate that problem and remedy it very quickly.heating up is one thing; but run this thing into the red once and it is likely to blow a headgasket. Maybe not immediately, but it is guaranteed in the foreseeable future. If you stay out of the red, you should be okay.. but riding NEAR the red a great deal may well cost you as well. Overheating is the death sentence for this engine (well for the headgaskets... the rest of the motor is usually OK) So, you do not want to overheat your car. Your car for some reason has a tendency to heat up?? Most of us never see the needle past 1/3 of the way up.. almost halfway maybe in certain conditions.. (i have a digidash.. normal is 3 bars out of ten, i sometimes see 4 bars in extreme situations, 9 and 10 bars are red.) "How do I diagnose cooling system problems," you ask? First step is to carefully, while the engine is hot, touch the entire surface of the radiator one hand print at a time, and feel for spots that aren't as hot as the rest.. this indicates that these spots of the radiator are clogged internally; one or two smallish areas arent a huge deal but alot of area makes the radiator no good, time for a replacement. If the rad checks out this way, get a bright light and shine it through the radiator and AC condenser, and see how clear the fins are. They can get clogged up with bugs and road grime and all sorts of lovely stuff; Mud, for instance. This is about the same as putting cardboard in front of your radiator in the winter to help it heat up quicker, or make the heater hotter. If you can, try spraying it with degreaser, let it soak, and blast it off with a garden hose. (remove the radiator first, it makes it alot easier and isnt difficult to do) Also check that your electric and clutch fans are operating properly. The clutch fan should spin freely on the pulley if you spin it by the blade when the engine is off and COLD, (AND turned off) but when the engine is HOT and turned off, the fan should have more resistance to spinning freely on the pulley. I can explain more thoroughly if you like; I am trying not to write a novel here The electric fan should come on when the car reaches a certain temperature, or when the AC is turned on. If the electric fan isnt cutting on, just let me know and I can explain the diagnostics for that. Also, (although I doubt it in your case) you might have a bad thermostat, or possibly a bad heater core.. but those are outside chances. In any case, keep that soobie cool, or else

I think maybe the problem is he needs somebody ELSE to play with his dipstick a little more... ye gads, maybe thats why I kinda understood him better than others!

Well, I would STILL HIGHLY recommend buying the OEM intake gaskets and cam case o rings... along with 99% of this forum. Most people find that even fel pro intake gaskets blow out about three months after doing them; and as I said it will cost you total of fifteen shipped for all four pieces (2 gaskets 2 orings) shipped from thepartsbin.com And, I hate to burst your bubble, but you aren't the first person to do the TOTAL reseal.. I'm not bringing that up to rub your face in it or anything, but rather to tell you that alot of the people who do the "full reseal" seem to wind up blowing intake manifold gaskets again a month or two down the road... because they went with the gaskets in the kit. Honestly, the importance of using a Subaru OEM intake manifold gasket cannot be emphasized enough. You should do that; did i mention they are available from thepartsbin?

well I've been revving it as high as I could all afternoon... haven't heard a beep, but I haven't limited it to second gear, either (its raining REAL bad down here this afternoon) However, i DO have to say that I absolutely LOVE the growl this rinky-dink engine puts out at 5000+ RPMs.. that noise that screams to the uninitiated "Dont you think i am about to fly apart?!?!?!?! HAHAHAHA!!!" but those of us who know realize its just trying to breathe 1.8 liters at 5500 RPM through those tiny tiny siamesed ports

You know... it seems like his gobbledygook is getting worse. I wonder if he has a tumor in his head????

REALLY?!@??!?!? STUPID AUTOMATIC TRANNY! I want my dash to beep at me, imma drop it down into 2nd gear and see this for myself......

My mistake, he does NOT still have the original timing belts on the car. To me, draining the cooling system and removing the radiator is a no-brainer.. the space gained to be able to look at the belt alignment and set the tensioners is MORE than worth the effort of draining and removing the radiator. It certainly CAN be done without taking it out, and I should have said that in the first place.. but IMHO it is MUCH easier to take a couple of extra steps (at most the drainplug four bolts and four hoses on an AT car, two on a manual plus the overflow hose) than to work around the radiator.. and I have small hands and arms; I am usually the one who gets called in for difficult-to-reach jobs.

don't worry *too* much about your english.. technical terms are a common point of difficulty, and your conversational english is fine. We have alot of international members, so we are used to dealing with people who were not born speaking english. We DO have at least one other member from sweden, as well, but his screen name escapes me. You might want to make a "hello from sweden" post to see if he shows up; it might make be easier to overcome any language barrier you may encounter. As for you now knowing the technical terms, we can probably figure out what you mean. So, in short, welcome to the forum, and judging from what I have read so far, don't worry about your english. It is much better than my spanish, and probably much better than most of our foreign language skills

Well, in case you made your "subarus in the JY" comment regarding my relay write up, all my relays were sourced out of mostly european cars.. MOST european cars will have something like the bosch units I showed. I got the plugs and my bracket out of a late 80s BMW 3 series; check under the hood of any BMW and you should find at least one or two of the individual plugs, easily removed.. the handy covered bracket, scalable up to five relays, was in the 3 series i mentioned. NONE of those parts came from a subaru. However, just about any simple realy works the same way.. it would just be a matter of determining for yourself which terminals are which.

LOLOLOLOL this thing is terminal. Sooner or later im gonna treat it with some cheap rust converter paint and stretch some fiberglass cloth over the holes, just to keep it from standing out like a sore thumb at a quarter mile distance but the cancer is too deep into too many place for me to really care. *IF* the car wasnt a 3at 2WD, then MAYBE I might care.. but i dont want to repair all this rust on a car that needs all new interior pieces, AND a transmission swap to FWD 5 speed if not AWD. I am just planning on waiting, and eventually getting a wagon with 4x4 someday. Then, I take my factory cruise, and all the components of my trip computer, and install all that into the new soob. The way i see it, my car's "soul" is it's "brain" as embodied in the trip computer.. so this makes everything OK. IDEALLY, i might even want to install an EA81 with the SPFI, and go for a (mildly) turbocharged, standalone controlled LPG setup. THIS would give me all the power needed to tow around a small boat without blinking, the reliability of the OHV engine, the slightly less explosion prone headgaskets, the traction to cope with boat ramps and summertime Florida monsoons.... e'er thang! but why bother doing ALL THAT on TOP of rust repair?? i cant TAKE enough photos to show all the small spots... and besides, this vehicle has been something of a joke in my family for almost a decade now. My poor brother bought it about eight months after he got outta jail (long story, basically got pwned by a bicycle cop with WAY TOO MUCH ahh,, green stuff on him) It was a beater he got from his future mother in law, and drove it WAY longer than any of us expected him to. Now I have gone and done the same thing... because i fell in love with it mechanically. If I were to start doing anything to this car my family would just laugh at me. they already think im nuts because ive kept the thing on the road this long, instead of "getting started" on my z. Of course, any time I ever mention the idea of getting my Z up to the shop so I can work on it, there are fifteen reasons that I cant really bring it up to the shop right now.....

regular old, snake-oil free, NGK BPR 6ES-11. one point, no splitfire BS.. just good old plain NGKs. ive run racecars on them; "performance" spark plugs are no better than the entire rest of your ignition system.

The biggest point emphasized in any of these "$50 paint jobs" is that, as in any paint job, prep work is key. the cheapness of this paint job adds some to the time it will take an amateur to do it.. Basically, the key in any paint job is getting even, level coats adhering well to each other an the car, right? Build up coats until you have a solid shell around the metal. Professional auto paint is specifically designed to do this easily, in a minimum of coats... and even with top notch paint it takes a good 1200 to 1800 grit wet sanding before final polishing to REALLY make a paint job show quality.. Basically, if you can read between the lines of these rustoleum paint job write-ups, and know a little bit about paints and painting already, the entire theory of it all is laid bare in your lap. Usually once you get into doing it, the job seems to teach you ALOT about painting and paintwork; it is an art for those with patience, but that is about the number one "talent" required.

Is the heater core an integral aspect of the flow of coolant? or is it a parallel flow circuit to other means of coolant circulation? in other words, does ALL the coolant always flow thru the HC? I didn't think so, but i was in a discussion with someone and they tried to tell me i was wrong, and i had no real knowledge to back it up; just my impression that it was a parallel circuit.

stone??? wow!! i have some scrap mahogany that was blown down by one of our recent hurricanes.. and ive been pondering exactly how to make a couple of pipes out of them... thats something I do too. I picked it up from my old man.. we lived in Wilkesboro NC when I was a kid and wood fire was a major source of heat for us. One day he got a dremel. After that, any interesting scrap of wood became a pipe. but stone is even cooler.. do you have any pictures of what you do?

Your car is almost at 100K and its got stock timing belts, right? replace them. they may NOT be skipped at all and may be stretched too far to allow for proper tension. In the meantime, take it all apart and see what things look like.. but leave your covers off. You DO need to replace those belts very very soon; and leaving the covers of for now at least, WILL make that job a great deal easier; all you will need to remove is the radiator, fan, and drivebelts i THINK..