88RxTuner

See, That's the problem with the VF-7... It's a great turbo, if you want factory response, and you never hit redline... I was a believer in keeping it "ALL stock" until it happened upon me to install a TD04, which was free ( cause I'm kind of a money grubbing cheapskate like that) and at that time, with nothing to lose, I did so... along with the top mount intercooler from the same WRX I got the TD04 from. I think the intercooler had a lot to do with the change in powerband, or at least the 'percieved' change. Without the I/C, I used to run into a dead zone after 3rd gear, regardless of what boost psi I was at. Now after intercooling it, I dont have that 'dead' zone after 3rd... it just keeps pulling. When it was all said and done, I could rev to 7000 rpm and not lose boost, in any gear, and not feel like the car was choking out....yeah, it spooled a little slower, but I had an extra 1000 rpm of power band to play with... Tell ya what... Losing 300 rpm on your spool time is well worth being able to push boost till 7000 rpm... the top-end gains of un-choking your intake are well worth it..and the intercooler DOES help tremendously in maintaining that "boost" pull when you really get in it for sustained periods... Just my .02........... 88RxTuner

** With all due respect... : Never claimed to be anywhere except " CONSERVATIVELY ESTIMATED"... this is not a hard number, by any means. I will be the first to state that I 'ave not had the chance to get on an AWD dyno recently, being's me out here in the desert they're hard to come by.... But I was dyno'd at 9lbs, that was what got me 156 hp (flywheel, and corrected for drivetrain...)... Yeah, it's been a while, and a couple mods since, but I'm not gonna blow smoke up at anyone saying "I'm better than you!" What's the point??? I said conservative, and I meant it... But, that's beside the point. It should be more than possible to get a shytelode more than 130 hp out of a 117hp (stock) engine, dontcha think...??? Once again, with all due respect, some of us out here aren't out to make ourselve's look hot...........

First, follow the above advise about using the correct thermostat. This is not to knock the thermostat theory, because it's a good one... Aftermarket T-stats do not work right. This could prevent your cooling system from ever reaching the "Normal" operating temperature. However, assuming your cooling system and t-stat are working correctly, I was thinking perhaps the blend door in the air box may not be opening all the way, or at all for that matter... Do you have good airflow coming out your vents? The seals on your air box may be bad, as above stated.. You mentioned both heater hoses are the same temp, but you did not say if they were almost too hot to touch... This would be the indication that your cooling system is fully warm. If your cooling system is running above 140deg, you should have plenty of warm air coming out the vent if the blend doors on your air box are working correctly. I might suggest that you check the vacuum motors on the air box and see if they are leaking vacuum, and perhaps not pulling all the way to one side... provided your cooling system is warming up to operating temp, that is... EDIT: Gloyale is correct, it's a cable goes from your heater control panel down to your air box, not the vacuum system... (see below for details) My Mistake....Still, definately check the vacuum motors.

I had my boss do this to me once... lol I still got the spoke wheels for free, tho... For 200 Bux I would have jumped on it.. even if I had to beg, borrow or steal the money.

+1 on having them pressure checked... you never do know... I had 2 SPFI engines like this, both ran perfectly after assembled. The MPFI cyl heads do the same thing. I never used a machine shop... We always used to block the heads and sand them with a flatboard using 120 then 200 grit sandpaper. Never had a single problem, and I still know some of my customers that I did the engines 5, 6 years ago...

Not hard to get 150hp out of the EA82t... Address your fuel, up the boost a little... I'm running a TD04 turbo at 12psi, header/up pipes I made, 3" downpipe w/ straight thru exhaust, top mount intercooler, some minor fuel mods, a little bit of backyard 'bubba' engineering and my conservative calculations are around 175-180 hp on 95 octane... I've been running this for over a year now, no problems... I would advise against using N/A pistons in any engine that will see more than 6 lbs of boost.... Been there, done that, with less than ideal results.. tweaked turbo swap on a N/A block sure does go like stink... for about 3 runs... p.s. No Studs, but i DID put steel thread inserts in the block and added 10 lb/ft to the head bolt torque specs...

Okay, guys... Little background. 1988 RX, TD04 swap, TMIC, Went mobbing...in the rain. Came home, no problems, parked and shut 'er down. Went out next morning, no crank, no dash lamps, etc... found the main fusible link blown in the engine comp't. Diagnosed cause, apparently in my 'mobbing' episode I had rubbed that wire through and shorted it out. Repaired wiring as necessary, installed new fuse link, now it cranks all I want but no spark. Here's where I've been already: **Diagnosed dizzy. Both sensors work correctly. I even took the time to swap my spare dizzy in, to no avail. Still doesnt spark. **Replaced coil, just to be safe.. I had a new spare sitting around, and figured it couldn't hurt. **Verified wiring harness, no shorts to ground or power between dizzy and coil. Everything seems to be intact. **Checked and cleaned all engine-bay grounds. One other things, key on code 11 flashes on ECU/ O2sensor LED... I'm no amateur at fixing these things, and this has got me SO FLIPPIN FRAZZLED I just want to sell it... but I know if I sell it I'd have to kick my own arse, cause it took me 5 years to find the thing... Any advise?? 88RxTuner

+1 on the clogged exhaust. +1 on "How to keep your Subaru Alive" IF, after you check the fluid in your radiator, and find it to be full, I would suggest you separate the exhaust under the car ( this is usually fairly easy with basic hand tools - the exhaust is bolted together) and try running it again to see if your power has come back. My thinking is, if smoke/steam is coming out around the wheel well, it may be that your muffler is clogged and is causing the exhaust exhaust to back up, choking your engine. This built up pressure may be causing the exhaust to vent out one of the seams, or you may have a hole in the exhaust pipe around the wheel well... the exhaust is usually supposed to come out the back... Check the above suggestions first, for a possible head gasket failure, then separate the exhaust and see if that fixes it... If it does, see the appropriately qualified person to have new exhaust installed. Good luck! 88RxTuner

Just wanted to pop up a question about strut tower reinforcement. I was racing a couple guys through the desert last weekend (before I grenaded my trans) and hit a wash/ ditch/ pothole in the track pretty hard. Hard enough to dis-mount my tire and send it off into the beanpatch. Initial inspection off road, on an uneven, rutted desert trail, was that perhaps I bent a lower control arm, or a strut slightly. Left front wheel was cambered in at the top. Now, after new tires and a thorough inspection, I found that what happened was that the impact pushed the top of the strut tower (where the strut bolts onto the car) up, broke a couple welds, and deformed it nearly into contact with my hood.. thus reducing my wheel travel, and screwing up my alignment. Has this ever happened to anyone else?? Happened to me... Is there a GOOD solution for preventing this type of damage in the future (of course, without giving up off-road driving...) Im sure I could fabricate something that would work, but I'm looking for ideas from someone who's done it before... Thanks!! 88RxTuner

Okay, guys... it finally happened. I grenaded the trans. BUT, unlike the horror stories about the transfer gears at the back of the trans, 2nd gear came apart. No warning, no whining or noise, and full of oil... I grabbed 2nd coming out of a parking lot, on a right turn, and didnt even get to hit the gas before "BANGBANGscreeee-grinding noise..." First worked fine, 3rd,4th and 5th were fine.. I suspect I sheared the teeth off 2nd gear. That lasted about 2 blocks, as I had to at least get it back to my driveway, and then something else bound up and locked the trans in 1st gear. Thankfully, I have a spare transmission that one of our fantastic members from the Bay Area (Thanks again, by the way..) sold me some time ago.. we'll be getting around to that this weekend. I'm thinking I might actually spring for the front axles too, seeing as being rwd severely hinders my off-road ability... it was fun while it lasted, though!! Now I know, though, and when next year's local RallyX comes up, I'm entering both AWD and RWD classes!! hehehehehe 88RxTuner

Thanks for the tip about wheel hop. I've noticed it has the tendancy to start hopping when coming out of a burnout, and I try my best stop it, just because I figured it would be hard on the drivetrain. Grabbed a look at the pic on "why you dont beat on a RWD subie.." *car thanks me for not powering out of wheel hop...* that's cool stuff. *beats self up* I'm going to stop dumping the clutch now... Also, I'm still on 185/75s and 13" wheels. I figured it would be less strain on the drivetrain and still allow me to drift around and perform impressive burnouts and snakes. I've already got the park brake thing down, that was my first experiment when I went RWD... SOOOOOOO much fun, get lots of funny looks... ("That 20 year old POS is doing WHAT??")*evil giggle* Are those gears interchangeable between the D/R and S/R? I have access to a number of S/R 4WD, and only 1 spare D/R AWD... that I'd rather not have to use. It'd be nice to know they are an easy find. Also, what goes in the rear diff? I thought these LSD 3.7s were one of the strongest gearsets there are for these? (correct me if I'm wrong.) As someone else pointed out in "why you dont...", destructive testing is quite fun. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pics up. >>"A month of smokey burnouts, drifting, and overwhelming awesomeness came shattering to a halt, when the gears engaging the rear output shaft shredded themselves. (yes, we did open up the case to see exactly what went wrong) No, danbob is no longer RWD." << taken to heart!! Wait, I'm just at a month!! AAHHH!! lol Thanks again for the input, guys!! 88RXTuner

Well, it's been a few weeks... I've been driving the RX around in rear wheel drive with the diff locked since I grenaded the front axle, and I have to say, it has been more fun than I thought It would. Originally, I had planned to have front axles back in it by the next week... unfortunately radiator hoses, tstat, rad. cap, etc. became an immediate priority, so I had a little longer to test the RWD 5mt theory. First, my fuel economy over the last 3 weeks has gone from about 24.7 mpg average to about 16.1mpg average..TOOO MUCH FUN with the skinny pedal!! I did cruise about 270 miles and averaged 29.3mpg (give or take a little) with no axles in the front... which is an improvement of almost 3mpg over my AWD hiway average mpg of 26.9mpg. So, a slight loss of weight, drag, etc. on the drivetrain creates a fairly significant increase of economy... Of course, this was averaged over under 300 mi, and is not by any means a true average I guess, with only one tank of fuel through it on the hiway... Second, I have had no problems so far, my rear diff. consistently hooks up and locks in even if just powering out of a stop sign. So far, no issues with the transmission at all, I've kept it locked in for 3 weeks and it doesnt show any signs of binding, no noise, etc... all is good. I've come to the conclusion that the weak point in running the AWD5mtDR in RWD only is going to be the rear axles. I just dont think they are going to hold up to the abuse, long term.. so far so good, but they are starting to make noise at me... lol clickety-pop-clunk-BANG-SCREEEECHHHH of tires... something like that. I'm thinking the noise may be failing U-Joints, but I cant help but think the little skinny rear axles are taking all the abuse of 6700rpm launches... and not liking it at all. Anyway, I said there'd be updates, so here it is after almost a month of abuse, and I mean ABUSE!! I'll be the first to admit, I beat the ever-loving SNOT out of this car.. donuts, burnouts, 7Krpm clutch drops, etc.. the whole shebang, on a regular basis... The trans seems to holds up fine, the rear end seems to be doing very well, I'm thinking the axles are the weak link. I'm just using wagon axles in the rear... I'm surprised they lasted THIS long!!! Cant wait to break something so I can report on it.. not that there are a lot of you out there running RWD setups on the EA82 cars. Peace, guys and gals!! 88RXtuner

Colored pencil, huh? One of those cheap ones with real soft "wood" subsitute/composite crap? Try a knitting needle. (this was my wife's contribution, by the way...) By hand, bar the engine over SLOWLY!!!!! until you can see the piston and hopefully the piece of wood through the spark plug hole. DO NOT crush the wood into the head!! Next, using the piston crown to back it, stick the knitting needle into the wood, and ta-da! out it comes. This theory would also work really well with the above mentioned sticky-tape, blue-tack, chewing gum, duct tape, etc. adhesive idea. Perhaps tape a piece of brake line onto your vacuum, so you could apply vacuum into the cylinder and onto the piece of wood itself, not just around the spark plug hole. You know, like lifting a piece of ice, or strawberry in your milkshake, by sucking it up with the straw. (maybe I'm the only one who does this...lol) Hope this works out for you!! 88RXTuner

Well, you wont pass ANY emission testing with the electronic controls to your carburetor disconnected. You need to isolate which of the three wires are shorted out. It should be visibly obvious where the wires go, one should go to your bowl vent on the top of the carb, one should go to a metering solenoid (Gloyale, correct me if I'm wrong, you're smarter than me) and the choke should have a separate wire. if any of them are shorted to ground, you will have no resistance between that wire and the body of the carburetor.. and this will blow fuses... do you have a multimeter? If you can isolate which component is shorted out, or if you find a visible short in the wires on the carb (rubbed through and touching the body of the carb), you can fix this! Good luck! 88rxtuner

I would have said an OUTER joint was going bad... cause my RX was doing the same thing, until tonight, when the outer joint GRENADED all over the place while I was wheeling it. Not that I wasn't expecting it. Hope your new axles fixed it!! 88RXTuner

Rock on, dude... The switch for the boost lamp is on the right front inner fender, just in front of the strut tower. Ck to see that the vacuum hose is going to it. Just because the lamp doesnt come on, doesnt mean the diff lock doesnt engage. The switch at the trans is most likely at fault. Take it to a parking lot, engage "diff lock" and turn a couple of slow, easy circles.. the tires will stutter and the car will feel like it's binding up a little bit if the diff lock works. I've found most likely the switch is bad and the diff lock works just fine, either that or it needs new vacuum hoses (they sometimes fall off or crack around the solenoid nipples.). Congratulations on a great buy!!! 88RXTuner

I have been wondering for some time how my RX would do with no front axles, and the Center Diff Locked... I got the opportunity today, I blew the right front CV apart while wheeling and dont currently have the funds or motivation to replace an axle... that will come next week, with the paycheck. So, to keep it mobile, I took the ft axles out, removed the outer stubs from the axles, installed the stubs in the hubs to keep the bearings happy, locked it in and took it out for a test drive... WWOOOOOWWWWWIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Holy Smokes, this thing rocks!! With RWD and LSD and nice soft front suspension, drifting around on or off road in rear wheel drive has taken a little bit of getting used to, but it's a lot of fun! Just stomp the gas, wait for the turbo to spool, crank the wheel around a little, and hang the F**ooey on! I know, this defeats the point of Subaru's AWD/4WD powertrain, but just hang on, all you flamers... I'm putting the axles back in next week. In the mean time, I'm gonna see how the transmission handles it... Reports to follow. 88RXTuner

Ideally, if you want to go turbo and stay away from EA82, your only reliable options are an EA81 Turbo (hard to find) or an EJ22 Turbo (Engine Swap). Either way, you're looking to spend money. If I may ask, Why not the EA82T? Personal preference, or power, or reliability? If you take care of them, the EA82's will last a long time, and take plenty of abuse... as long as you watch your temperature and oil pressure. An EJ swap would be the most cost efficient, in the long run, but if you have to run the worry of emissions / smog checking the vehicle, that may be an issue. What is boils down to is what you are looking to get out of upgrading VS. the cost of doing either swap. The EA82 SPFI assembly is fairly friendly to upgrades, as long as fuel management is addressed. As stated above, extra fuel injectors are necessary when putting this system under boost. The Airflow Meter cant really keep up, and the ECM does not like positive pressure (boost). Ultimately, stand-alone fuel management such as Megasquirt or SDS would be necessary, depending on how far you take it. The EJ22T is pretty much set up, lots of power readily available, and plenty of upgrades.. but, you have to find an adaptor plate and modification is necessary to a lot of stuff, including wiring, engine management, cooling system, fuel system (high-pressure VS low pressure), etc. so it's fairly labor intensive... However, the gains are impressive, the reliability goes way up, and there is plenty of advice on EJ swaps in these forums. GD, LOL @ "Want to divorce the world" !! Also, the EA82T pistons are square-dished and centered, and should not care about valve arrangement. I dont suspect you'd have any problem using them in an EA81 application, but I may be wrong. Good luck!! 88RXTuner

Ditto on NOT using easy-out, at least first try. If the bolt broke off, it's usually so stuck in the head that drilling and easy-out will usually result in a broken easy-out, which is a royal PITA to get out. Try this.. if you have the time. Take a good penetrant, like PB Blaster or Knock'er Loose, (WD40 does NOT work as advertised... ) spray it on and whack it with a hammer to shock the corrosion. I know, it sounds abusive, but it works. Use a drift punch or another similar tool to shock the bolt, not the head. Do this a couple times, and using a reverse drill bit it should come right out. I've done this a number of times. IF this does not work, try the welding trick, as described above. Place a nut over the broken bolt, weld the hole of the nut to the bolt, and GENTLY work it out. Remember, a good penetrating oil is INVALUABLE!!! You CAN get away with using only 2 bolts, as GD stated above, use a NEW gasket and if you can, goo both sides of the gasket with "Ultra Gray" Permatex silicone. This will get you by until you have the time to remove the broken bolt. Good luck!! 88RXTuner

Not to hijack the thread, or anything like that... How about keeping the dual range AWD trans in the RX and stuff an EJ20 w/ an adaptor in front of it? I'm contemplating this myself, supposedly the 5spd D/R AWD will take the power.. any real world experience? another thing to consider is fabrication of basically the entire suspension if you put the WRX powertrain into the RX. Never done it, dont know how much effort is involved, but something to consider, will the rear subframe fit, how will the struts bolt up, etc..

Brings to mind, why do you need a backing plate? What catastrophic damage has been done do it? As mentioned, most of them have not ever been off the vehicle, for the simple reason that unless your wheel falls off and you grind it to smithereens, they are just a static part... they dont fail, wear out, etc. As stated, if it's rubbing on the rotor, you should be able to just kind of bend it out so it isnt hitting the rotor.. I have only seen one in my life damaged beyond repair, and yes, his wheel fell off and he ground it to smithereens... The rear backing plates are different, they are what holds the brake shoes(drum brakes only) in place.. rear Disc brakes also use a similar setup, but the plate holds/ is the caliper mount on some models.. And yes, Right and left are different, front and rear are different..

Congrats on becoming a Subie owner.. I think you'll enjoy it. Being that your EA81 doesnt have timing belts or the related hardware to deal with, basic maintenance consists of consistent oil changes (sooner is Always better...), regular ignition tune up, and as mentioned above, CONSISTENT cooling system service!! This is one of the largest Subaru Engine Killers out there.. As mentioned, it is an all-aluminum engine. If your cooling system is not maintained properly, it will lead to electrolysis (basically electricity induced corrosion) of the cooling system, including water pump and radiator.. Oh, yeah.. it also ends up eating the head gaskets and mating surfaces between the head and block.. At my shop we recommend full coolant exchanges every 2 years or 30,000mi. Once again, sooner is better.. I drain and fill my coolant every 10,000 miles, and change my oil every 2,000 miles... but I'm abusive LOL! Good luck with your ventures, I think you will find a wealth of useful information on this forum.

Ummmm... I just did? lol After the fab and retrofit were complete, I found that with my TMIC located where it is, the stock WRX BOV wouldnt bolt on and allow my hood to close, so I blocked off the mounting point on the intercooler.. The BOV doesnt regulate boost, it only bleeds it off under manifold vacuum (closed throttle) conditions... Boost is regulated by the wastegate on the turbo. The BOV is for venting accumulated air charge (boost) when you close the throttle, supposedly to keep your turbo spooled out..I think. This may not be standard issue, but I dont believe that is necessary. You may think differently, it's just my opinion.. As I stated, the EA82 does not have a BOV from the factory... The ECM doesnt know the difference, except for un-compensated airflow between closed throttle and open throttle. As stated, it does play a little bit of hell with your MAF. I was very careful to tune my turbo to 9.5 psi for daily driving, though.. I found that without the BOV the only issue is going rich between shifts, as I mentioned earlier. I am devising a supplemental fuel system so that I can exceed the 10 psi fuel cut, which is calculated by the PCM by MAF reading... currently in the works.

You may look up using Mazda shocks and coilovers, I think from a Miata?? There's a thread on here about converting and lowering.. If I recall correctly, the XT6 uses the same control arm system, the big difference being only in the hub assy. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

+1 on the normal Low reading on oil pressure gauge.. For peace of mind I usually ignore my idle oil pressure because I dont like seeing "0", even though I know it's not... I look at the gauge at over 2000 rpm, and 45psi makes me much happier. +1 on trying ATF in your engine oil, it is a detergent and may help clean up the oil passages/gunk/residue in the lifters themselves.. I guarantee, with over 100k miles the lifters are gunked up on the inside. As G said, not too much though.. +1 on the "mickey mouse" oring thought.. Every single one I've seen has been sucked in, this will lead to aeration of the oil.. being the Dr. Ft is the last lifter to get oil, it sometimes doesnt get enough to pump up. I've noticed the most common reason for these Orings to suck in is due to high rpm of the engine..You mention it just started after a couple 6000 RPM pulls.. Sounds like this could be the issue. I've sucked 2, even after gluing and silicone the stupid things into the groove and everything, but I regularly turn 7000+ rpm.. I advise against this. (do as I say, not as I do type of thing... lol) IF this noise persists after cleaning w/ATF treatment, it may be time to delve into the front of the engine.. +1 on the oil pump being WAY easier(less labor intensive) than the cam carriers, specially in the car. My advice would be to have one of your closer members, who's willing of course, come down and listen first of all.. then maybe help you repair it.. Just about anyone can work on one of these things, with the proper instruction.