brianbarber

Good morning, everyone. My '94 daily driver is not long for this world and I'm about to start turning it into my lab. One thing I want to try is to build my own cold air intake. Has anyone tried this? If so, could you point me to a URL or two? I'm starting to gather inspiration. Suggestions for other inexpensive, yet cool, mods are most welcome. Thanks, BB

I'm familiar with the term "mustache bar" with bicycles and motorcycles; it's a style of handlebar. I'm not so sure what you're referring to when it comes to the Subaru. Is there another name for the part you're talking about? Thanks for chiming it. I really appreciate the help. BB

Good evening, folks. I have a hole in my gas tank ('94 Loyale wagon) and plan on replacing it next week. I have a new tank that's identical and just plan to do a re & re. I spoke to a mechanic who put the car up on a hoist and proceeded to explain to me that he will have to drop the rear diff and axles in order to get at the tank. I think he's being a little excessive. Nothing I've read suggests that needs to be done. Is he on the money and am I off base? Second, it's pretty rusty under there. (I live in the east so there should be no surprise, there.) Using heat to loosen the rusted bolts would be detrimental to my health. What do you folks use? I've been using a product called Release All, which has been reasonable successful. I plan on spraying it on liberally over a couple of days and then taking a crack at it. Any other tips or experiences you may have for me are gladly and graciously received. Cheers, Brian

Hi, folks. I thought that I should close the loop on this topic. I bought a water pump and t-stat and so far I've managed the time to replace the t-stat. Heating and cooling is much better, so I think that my issues were just the t-stat. Once I get a couple of hours on an upcoming weekend, I'll throw the new water pump and new timing belts in for good measure. Thanks for you help, everyone. Rusty the Wonder Car is running great. BB

I just came in from replacing the left (passenger) side valve cover on my '94 Loyale. It was relatively straightforward, but there are a few things that the Haynes/Chilton manual leave out that I thought that I'd share with you... 1) Buy a gasket set that includes new grommets and don't attempt to reuse the old ones. The grommets on my car were in only slightly better shape than the gasket, and it was very bad. To be honest, the thought of using the old grommets didn't even cross my mind. 2) Disconnect the lead for the MAF sensor and the hose clamp on the breather, and remove the breather assembly. (You might want to replace the air filter while it's off.) It makes getting to the valve cover easier. 3) Disconnect the hose that connects the valve cover to the breather at both ends before you remove the nuts on the valve cover. If the hose has been connected for many years without being moved, it will be next to impossible to disconnect. With the valve cover bolted in, you may get the extra leverage you need to disconnect it. (I couldn't disconnect the hose on my car and had to remove the valve cover with the hose attached, which meant I had to disconnect some more hose brackets in the area to wiggle the cover out of the engine.) 4) Buy ratcheting box wrenches that are straight, not offset. The clearances are tight. I bought ratcheting box wrenches that have an offset bend in them. They helped by the offset was a bit of a pain. I'm not as accomplished a mechanic as some of my esteemed colleagues, not by a long shot, but I thought there might be someone who may benefit from my experience. All the best, BB PS: A bit of background... My car was leaking serious oil from a cracked valve cover gasket. Once I got the cover off, the gasket was so badly dried out that it came out in about 6 pieces.

I'll start with the the t-stat. I just bought a decent one (the same one that the dealer uses - they buy aftermarket now, apparently). If it is the water pump (a secret dread, lurking in the back of my mind), is it a difficult replacement? BB

I replaced the rad and hoses this past summer (it was totally rotted out) and all of my overheating issues went away until winter arrived. In fact, the needle on the temperature gauge barely climbed off of the bottom in nice weather. Temperature control in the passenger compartment was not an issue. Now that winter is here, I have no heat in the passenger compartment most of the time. When the engine RPMs are low (<2500, i.e. when I'm cruising along or stick in traffic), the needle on the temperature gauge rises, sometimes into the red zone, and I get no heat. When the engine RPMs are high (3000+) heat will come out of the vents and the needle drops to the bottom. It's feast or famine with the heat, except that it's more famine than feast and the feast is pretty meager. I didn't replace the thermostat and I'm thinking it could be the culprit. Perhaps it's sticking or maybe the previous owner installed one that was rated for a lower operating temperature, or something completely unrelated. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks, Brian

When I spray washer fluid on the windshield, the passenger side spray pressure is fine, but the driver side just trickles out. I've replaced the hoses and junctions and cleaned the nozzles. Could it be the pump that's gone? If so, how much am I looking at to replace it and are the parts readily available? I have a '94 Loyale. Thanks, Brian

The easy answer is that the green 4WD indicator will appear on the car shaped symbol in the middle of the dash. My car is selectable 4WD, which means that there is a button on the shifter knob to put it into and out of 4WD. When I bought my car, the two vacuum hoses were disconnected from the switch on the transmission. I reconnected the hoses and 4WD started working. What is your car doing? BB

I would go for it. The spare parts alone make it worthwhile. I have the same car with 220000km on it and have to do some body work, too. (Coincidently, I just did a little bit of exhaust work.) It's fantastic in snow. We get a lot of it where I live. All the best, BB

I have a '94 Loyale and I had the same thing - running hot, but no leaks. My rad was shot and I'm in the process of replacing it. It's a dirt simple replacement in theory as long as everything comes apart OK. The fan shroud is giving me a hard time (see the thread I just started about unplugging the fan). An aftermarket rad was $150.00CDN. BTW, if you go through with replacing the rad, I recommend buying all new bolts for the shroud and coating the threads with grease before installing. My bolts were pretty much shot: one was missing, one's head was almost completely corroded off, the head of the third bolt twisted off in place, and the last one was OK. I'm also going to clean the metal on the fan shroud and paint it with high heat paint. BB

This is going to make me sound like an absolute imbicile, but here goes... I'm replacing the rad in my '94 Loyale and I've disconnected the fan shround and the wires for the sensor. I'm trying to disconnect the lead from the fan where it connects to the wiring harness (white connectors that clip into each other) and I can't separate them. It looks to me like there are three "barbs" (I don't know the exact term) that hold the two connectors together. I dont want to crack the connector, nor am I interested in cutting the wires. Is there some special technique for getting them apart that you Subaru jedis can pass down to me? Thanks, BB

I want to install speakers in the rear doors of my '94 Loyale. I pulled off the trim and I see cones for the speakers already stamped in the metal, which was great news to me. I haven't cut into the vapour barrier yet. Does anyone know if there is any factory wiring in there? There are wires in the factory wiring harness at the head unit. I'm wondering how far back the wires run and where they run to. I just added rear speakers in my '02 Corolla sedan and when I pulled up the rear deck, there were cones stamped in the frame and the speaker wires were already factory installed. I'm wondering if the Subaru is the same. BB

OK, well that explains why I wasn't able to find anything. For those of you EA82 owners with brush guards, how did you accomplish this? BB

I've been calling around town and none of the dealers can source a brush guard for my '94 Loyale, and I haven't seen one at the wreckers. Does anyone know where I can get one of these bad boys. I was looking at the brish guard pics off a link from the "Subaru's of the 80s" page, and the long model with the winch looks great, but I'll settle for just about any one. Thanks, BB PS: I posted a WTB listing on the Wanted page in the marketplace.

Nice looking ride, pal. Where did you get the brushguard? I've been looking for one just like that for my car. Thanks, BB

Thanks, guys. I'll add a bit and hope for cold weather (not) to see if this works for me. BB

The alternator is new, and the car is not showing any other signs of it dying. Twice, I've had alternators die on me on other cars, leaving me stranded; hence, I'm a bit hypersensitive about things electrical. Thanks for the idea. BB

As soon as the cold weather started, the brake fluid light on the dash lit up. The colder it is outside, the longer it stays on, and below -20 it's on all the time. We've been blessed with warm weather this week (i.e. >0) and no brake fluid light. What is happening? The level looks good in the cylinder. Could the previous owner have used the wrong fluid? If so, how would I test it? Thanks, BB

Do you have a URL to the site where you got the LSD? I'd love to give it a try. Second, have you considered producing a repair manual for making the swap? I, for one, would love to see what's involved from beginning to end. Thanks, BB

Where did the front bumper come from? I'd like to get something like that for my car ('94 Loyale). BB

It was really nice out there today (+5C) and I took advantage of the warmth to get at the car a bit. Using 91Loyale's directions, I found the diaphram on the tranny and the one inlet in about 30 seconds. I had to get under the car for see the second one. Knowing where everything hooks up, I connected about 6" of new vacuum tubing to each of the connectors on the diaphram and then used 3/16" couplers to join the new tubing to the old tubing. I tried connecting the old tubing to the diaphram, but the rubber was so hard, even after softening it up with hot water (an old plumbing trick from my renovating days), I was afraid that I would break the connectors off when I forced the tubing onto the them, which would leave me in a bigger pickle. I got 4WD as soon as I turned the car on. Apart from inverting the connections on the first try, it was very easy. The conservative route paid off because all I had to do was disconnect the tubing at the couplers, which are now at a really convenient height, and switch them. To me it looks like a lazy mechanic in this Subaru's history who just wasn't thorough or conscienteous enough to reconnect the hoses. The warm day made for some muddy dirt roads around my place and I did some rally driving to test the 4WD and I was blown away. I was doing 90kph on mud where I would normally do no more than 70kph when it's dry and the car stuck to the road like glue, and I've got pretty mediocre, cheap tires. What an unbelievable feeling and I've got you folks to thank. A big thank you to all who chimed in with information. I hope that there are a whole bunch more who can benefit from this. Take care, BB

Both of your ideas sound great, and either would work for me (because I only have one amp). My plan has been to run the front speakers right off the head unit and the rear speakers out of the amp. If I go with your idea for the amp that's going under your passenger seat, I could remove the amp when its safety is in jeopardy (i.e. small humans with muddy or snowy boots), since it's only velcro'd down. The latter idea (amp in ventilated box on the ceiling) would be a more permanent solution and does everything I need. If you can't figure out how to post the photos, please PM me and I'll give you my e-mail address for you to send me pics. I'd especially like to see the aluminum box prior to installation. Thanks, BB

Oh, man. Thank you, thank you, thank you for responding. This is exactly the kind of information I have been looking for. It was a bit chilly this morning (-15C) so I didn't take the opportunity to look. I'll try to get the car in the garage tonight where I'm somewhat sheltered from the wind. This doesn't sound like a very time consuming job, and I'm hoping I'm right because I don't like getting frostbite before Christmas. Hypothermia, I can handle. The situation right now is that I have connectivity between the cylinder close to the left strut tower and the cylinder on the right side of the cylinder, and IIRC there two hoses about 2' long that look like they are coming off of the cylinder on the right strut tower just dangling there - not capped off, not connected to anything. It was information on the "last mile" that I needed. I couldn't find a connection point for these hoses on or around the tranny. I'll let you know how it turns out. BB

Off the top of my head, it's about 9"wide x 14"long x2"thick. I can't put it under the driver's seator else it will be liquid cooled on wet days (hole in the floorboard in back seat). I suppose that I could try it on the passenger side. It would only stick out from the back of the front seat by around 4", though I forsee a problem with little snowy boots and electrical connections. If I could come up with some sort of screening that will prevent it from being kicked around and slopped on, underneath the passenger seat would be ideal. The car is a daily commuter for me and I'm usually by myself. Besides, everybody in my family is pretty small and the seats don't compress too much. Otherwise, I'll mount it in the back a la RdNkBrt's photo. I want to put speakers back there and in the back doors, which would make it pretty convenient for installation. When I go home tonight I'll grab the model number and actual dimensions. Thanks for your help. Cheers, BB PS: I don't know if I said this earlier, but for you Canadians who may be reading, Princess Auto has a car amp installation kit (wires, looms, connecting hardware and instaructions) for $2.99. The kit plus the gifted amp tell me I've got nothing to lose by trying.