daeron

do you still have stock battery cables? the stockers had these little sheetmetal copper things for battery terminals, bolted onto a cable lug on the end of an insulated cable. The positive cable had a second layer of red insulation on it to make it look thicker These cables, after 20 years, need to be replaced. My old ground cable had a bad connection between the wire and the cable lug; if you wiggled the wire right where it went into the metal it would intermittently make a great connection, and an awful one..... try turning on your headlights, and wiggling your cables where the wire goes into the metal, and see if you get any flickering.. if you get any flickering, replace that cable. ten bucks for the two of them should be more than enough. And, if you replace the cable, you KNOW you have a good battery in there, and you KNOW you have a good starter in there, and you STILL get the click click no start, contact me for info about relaying the circuit... the starter motor gets ITS juice directly through the positive cable... the SOLENOID gets its juice through your keyswitch.. and we can make it so that the SOLENOID get its power through a relay, and that relay is activated by your keyswitch. This is the way a starter circuit should be engineered on a car in the first place, anyhow.

Many a fabricator's first "fabrication" was some sort of gasket or another

Heh, we get alot more smog control equipment installed on US market vehicles, too.. that can rob some engines of power, although from what I hear our subarus werent that badly afflicted.. I know in 1974, when nissan went to 2.6 liters in the Z, the foreign market 2600 engine put out 161HP at the crank, where the american version (different carbs and a smog control system on the US version) only produced 139 (130 and change, i forget whether it was 131 or 139). I can ship you your safety equipment, if you ship me your unsmogged engines :grin:

I had a bad starter, and my car for years had an issue with a click*click*click*start.. I did a redneck rebuild of the starter (disassemble, clean, lube, reassemble with bad brushes ) and it worked for a while.. then it died, and i put a good JY unit in. It worked for like, two days, then the click*click* came back, with a vengeance.. just, no start. My solution was to install a relay into the starter circuit. Much Much better fix than a simple push-button switch, since I had no desire for the extra button, and also, that much current should just be relayed to avoid wiring problems later on. You can PM me for info on the relay circuitry I used, its REALLY simple and I got it all from the JY (bosch components, out of a BMW, for near free, or chinese components, from pep boys, for $30??)

Its just a big nut holding it all on... you can check and see, but I can't tell you for certain. Always a good shot that a trip to the JY with appropriate sized tools can yield you a good sized spacer, too... if you find one, pay attention to what car it came out of. that would be valuable information. Thats how I found the nissan 90 amp alt that fit. I did some research on vehicles with hi output alternators, I knew the datsun and the soob ones had the same casing, I went to the boneyard one day and started pulling alternators out of cars, and fitting them into an EA82 that was there. The nissan one fit Also, dont forget that the high amp alternator is only high AMP, not high volt... it sounds like all you need is a good, strong alternator in there as opposed to the somewhat weak voltage output of the one that IS in there... but there is no guarantee that your XT6 alt has good, strong voltage output at idle, either...

they can always be relocated.

That slit on the bottom left corner, between the stud and that hole about the size of a finger? I couldnt tell which were pushrod channels and which were coolant or oil passages. (terminology?) At first, I had thought it was an OHC motor, thats all...... Gee, who has never had his engine apart (yet)?

My guess is that it would be less difficult to simply find a pair of good SPFI heads in a junkyard, get them spec'd out (you can do it yourself easily enough) and do the headgaskets again. Use Fel-pro perma torque headgaskets, and dealer only intake manifld gaskets and cam case O-rings. I have had the bubbly overflow for six months now, and my engine has finally started to run like crap.. comp numbers are, from front of car, drivers side first, 180, 185; 155, 155.....I have all my parts on order and should have the job done this week. from what I hear pulling the engine is unnecessary, and I have never been this deep into a soob motor before. Honestly, *I* have never been this deep into any car engine before... because I have never blown a headgasket. I have sat in on many complete engine builds, but being the nephew/son/grease monkey doesnt count. That being said, I will let you know in a week how it has gone. hopefully I will even take lots of pictures and do a write up for the USRM.. its shocking that no one has done a walk-through for one of the more common, and more intense (for newbies) procedures on this motor, and if I can rectify that, I would love to.

I say again, you ought to just drive over to west palm. I have NOT had a chance to check the local yards, but i may be able to run over to one of them tomorrow, and If I can I will.

I don't think anyone here really cares that much.... it really is astounding how often people seem to utterly forget to mention that.. and it seems like in the last week or so theres been a rash of it.. Eh. It happens

a nissan maxima alternator works as well, for those who were unaware. like, 86-92 i think??? Try to find a local auto electric shop. they can get the pulley alignment set up just right. Finding the shop is the hard part, nowadays....

I've got four brothers, a father, and an uncle.. all but two of the brothers share the gearhead gene, and of those two one is a professional mechanic (excused, i wouldnt want to work on cars in my off-time either) and the other is aware and handy, just not very interested as a hobby.. anyhow, we grew up fixing our cars in Dad's garage. Dad hasn't HAD a garage for about, oh, ten years now.. so we have basically adopted this "communal garage" concept. My uncle lives in an apt built into the corner of a warehouse shop he has had for years and years, and we rented a two bay warehouse right next to his.. He has a hydraulic press, a drill press, a welder.. we both have compressors, between us we have like 8 wheel dollys (roll the car around on casters with them under the wheels) a million jackstans, an engine hoist, a couple engine stands... etc etc etc.. The whole "community garage" thing can work great; but all users of the garage who do NOT make a direct financial contribution (rent or equipment) should INHERENTLY feel the need to bring along a couple cans of brake cleaner, carb cleaner, PB Blaster, etc etc whenever they come to do some work. Beer/drinks/snacks as well... There is a fine line to walk, but it makes life easier for everyone. The hosts (the money behind the game) want to have a garage anyhow, and this way they never have to pay for the beer and the supplies. Thank god for family... and the USMB

Dang, you beat me to it!!! I was gonna call it a bow-sprit, since I am a nautical nut.. son of a son of a sailor, what can I say....

thats an ea81 block??? where do the pushrods go????

coat the paper material gasket with some fuel-safe sealant before you put it on, and let that dry overminght before installation. Anaerobic sealant is like RTV type stuff that cures without oxygen.. I am not entirely clear on whether it simply requires no oxygen to cure, or if it requires an ABSENCE of oxygen to cure... but the parts store guys can enlighten you on this, if no other board members do... BTW, your avatar is one of the coolest graphics I have ever seen on the internet, bar none.

my stock headlights look just fine, as good as your "after" photo.. I cant believe what I am saying, myself, but thats what the photo makes me think.. I have always wondered, why cant we take a stock headlight setup, and rig the high beams up so that both high and low beams illuminate?? would that drastically shorten bulb life? because the way I have my stock headlights adjusted right now, I couldn't ask for much more than to cruise down the road with both sets on, without having to hold the selector switch halfway between high and low.. I have been meaning to post my own thread about this, but I will steal this one thats already alive to see if i get a bite. There are lots of things that can be done to help dim stock headlights; ditch the entire sotck wiring, for instance, and use the switched wires to switch relays, which supply the headlights with power through nice new wires. Anyone who would like a more detailed description of how to do just that can feel free to PM me.. And I don't want to sound like a schmuck or anything, I just wonder why some cars headlights seem insufficient where others do fine. My car has its fair share of rust and poor electrical connections (the rear windows that could, "i think i can, i think i can..") but the stock units seem A-OK to me. I suppose, for the purposes of scientific clarity, I must add that I spent four years driving a datsun 280Z with a 50 amp alternator and the absolute worst electrical system even seen on a running daily driver.. her headlights were virtually blinding.. meaning that I, the driver, was virtually blind..

I've cleaned my CTS, I have read my codes.. there is a vehicle speed sensor code, a neutral position switch, a park position switch, and an O2 sensor code, in D-check mode, only. Nary a check engine light has been seen on this car. I *did* blow a water pump, and a couple radiator hoses, a while back.. there was some minor overheating involved and I have a digidash, which gives me no faith in my temperature reading (what exactly is 8 out of 10 bars?? why is 9 out of 10 "red?") so I don;t know how hot it got. Ive replaced the radiator, and I have no thermostat (south florida, we just saw 39 degrees for the first time in two years last night) The resistance reading from the CTS at cold temperature is correct, as is the reading at hot temperature. The MAF has been cleaned, although I havent conducted a voltage drop test across it; my IAC has been cleaned, my TPS is a recent JY replacement that I have not (recently) tested. It is not acting anything at ALL like it was before, when my TPS started getting flaky. Don't get me wrong.. I realize a very nonzero chance that I could put all this together and car still may have a problem running.. so keep throwing differential diagnoses at me. I can't say for certain that it still bubbles with the green connectors on... but I think I would have noticed it if it weren't. Jiggling with the CTS connections yields nothing, (they are perfectly clean, and this is a non turbo car BTW) Anyway if I have missed something else it could be, I wanna hear it.. but the more I drive this car (yes I know, I am still driving it but very little right now) the more I become convinced it is the headgasket.

I want that setup!!! a separate switch, both for AC on function, AND recirculate!?!??? thats like, NORMAL!! I had seen this on australian market soobs, IIRC, but nothing LHD before. It might take some doing, but since you have no AC then the AC controls themselves would be ignorable.. as for the fan, make sure you nab the plugs that go to all of that, just to be sure. That way, if you have to do any splicing, at least you will have plugs that fit your new switches.

Dude, drive over here!!!!! I cannot honestly personally guarantee that there are loyales in the boneyards here right now, BUT there usually are, and I can get you the telephone numbers. Ft myers to west palm is a two to three hour drive, TOPS, and you should be able to get it cheap!! clicky for these cats "EXHAUST MANIFOLD (NO SENSORS) $21.99" there you go! Unfortunately, their online inventory isnt showing any ea82s right now.. just the old wagon that was there last time I went, but there is another.. http://www.abcupullit.com/ I dont exactly have a car to go there to look for you.. but seriously, I can usually count on one of the three yards (last company owns two) having what I need, whatever that has been.... PM me if you want more help with this. Two of the yards are dead straight across on palm beach road (we call it southern blvd here, and I live like, <1/2 mile from it ) right before the florida turnpike, so its SUPER easy to find them..

yah, I will follow up all my "warnings" by saying I have never owned one, just read alot of posts on this forum.. and to add that personally, *I* would never hesitate to buy one of these in good running condition. It is simply a matter of keeping it in that good running condition. I wonder if the original poster is even still reading this, though.. no telling, I guess.

Also, how many subarus were produced with the gas tank on the left hand side of the vehicle?

thanks for the feedback, but I've already done a real compression check.. 185, 180 drivers side; 155, 155 passenger.. I am not burning ANY coolant, all its doing is constantly bubbling out the reservoir, without ever ever ever coming close to getting hot. as long as I keep adding water daily, the teps are rock bottom... but its bubbling into the reservoir within a minute of starting. My thoughts are that somehow there is a bit of gasket kinda "flapping;" almost acting like a valve, keeping coolant out of the combustion chamber.. but thats sheer speculation. I don't even know if thats possible. since the thing DOES seem to "catch" and run well when it warms up, this scenario seems to gain likelihood in my eyes. I know that a poor running condition thats more prone to difficulty when cold is more likely to be a FI related issue, but I have also gone through all of those subsystems as well. There are no other leaks, that was all ruled out (or fixed, there WERE leaky hoses) about six months ago. If they were there, i'd have found them by now. Plus, the only place where there is any water staining is around the coolant overflow (it actually blew the reservoir cap off at one point ) See my "eight month compression check" thread for more... and thanks again for the feedback. I had given up on THIS thread for dead

thanks for letting me know that my standard operating procedure should work for me and here is the link to the FSM pdfs so I can download it later at my parent's place

No wholesale for me, the dealer around the corner from me wanted over 30 bucks for two of each.. theres another one about twenty miles south that I can get it all for a little less than thepartsbin can, shipped.. but the dealer might take longer to actually GET the parts, and a forty mile round trip is something of a haul through the urban sprawl that southeast florida has become.... I should have my mind made up and course set within a couple hours. While I'm at it, I was thinking of getting some radiator/block flushing solution and running it through before I tear the engine apart.. I think my heater core may be partially clogged, my old radiator was rather foul, and this water thats been in my radiator has just been NASTY.. Any reason NOT to flush the block before I tear it apart?? I also just ran some seafoam through the oil, fuel, AND intake vacuum, so if I do the block flush, I would anticipate tearing apart a spotless motor.. and another thought, what do I do with my AC compressor? I could have my brother evacuate it, and maybe even con him into pulling a vacuum and refilling it afterwards.. or at least helping me with the equipment to rent a pump from autozone and do it myself.. BUT if others before me have just hung the thing up out of the way somewhere, I will likely just do that (easier) I can't wait to actually turn a wrench..

The partsbin.com claims that this intake gasket and this cam case o-ring are both OEM brands.. anyone care to comment on that? the photos look right...