s'ko

the looks from jeepers and other offroaders are the best part of the wheeling with a subaru. There are two types of people. The ones that tell you to go back b/c they don't think you can make it or the ones who egg you on b/c they want to see you stuck. On an stock Outback Sport, pick a good line and stay on the skinny pedal. Picking the right line is what is key when you have low ground clearance. Regardless, you will have people with their jaws open and eyes popped out. BW

I was just curious to see if it could be done. I have a fwd 5 spd EA81 and a bad 4spd DR ea81. If was an easy swap just put the 5spd gears into the 4spd. I am going to go forward w/ea82 swaparo and call it a day. BW

Ok lots of info out there regarding 5 lug conversion for an EA82 trannied car. Has anyone done this for an EA81 tranny? Will probably end up using legacy parts b/c there are a ton of them lately in the PAP. Anyone found a way around the use of the XT6 control arms. They seem to be getting rare. What are the reasons the legacy control arms will not work, or why a EA control arm cannot be modified. Thanks for the time BW

Like the title says. Has anyone tried to take the gears from the FWD 5 spd EA81 and replace the 4spd gears on a 4wd D/R tranny? Result would be 5spd d/r ea81 just wondering BW

The radiator can be moved up a bit. Make some brackets that look like this ____ |_____ put the higher side at the bottom of the radiator and the lower side on the beam. This should push it up a bit. atleast until it clears the beam. You can either cut the beam and put in a thinner one or whatever. For the take make another set of bracket and put holes to support the radiator. You will have to put spaces for the hood latch to work. Be careful though, this may compromise your hoods ability to stay latched and it could fly open on the freeway. I can post some picts tomorrow on what I did. BW

Well let’s see…not sure where this goes. I just noticed on my street that a new Subaru just joined my herd. So there is now parked a 82 BRAT, a 92 SVX, a 00 OBS and a 05-06 B9 Tribeca I have to get this guy to park in a row with my cars and we can take a picture. We can call it “The evolution of Subaru” or something like that

I don't seem to be getting any water in the oil or vice versa (but maybe I should check again). You might want to do a search on this problem. If you can’t find anything put up another post with the problem in the title Do you know what the correct torque is on the wheel nut? I think it’s 150 lbs. I usually just get a huge breaker bar and the wheel nut socket and stand on it a bit. I weight about 200 lbs so I figure that does the trick. The knocking is on the drivers side front wheel (I swear!), it does it randomly, mostly when going straight, frequency increases with speed and fades away beyond 25 or 30mph. Dabbing the brake or accelerator puts a stop to the noise... What do you think?! It sounds like it’s related to the axle/hub/rotor assembly. Or maybe even the brake calipers. Might want to jack that side up and shake it a bit and see if any parts are lose. Give me a ring so we can set up a time to take a look at it.

Welcome to the board. Problem w/LA is that people consider old Subaru’s junkyard fodder. I have an 82 BRAT and it’s hard to find someone who is willing to do work on it. There is a guy who advertises that he is a Subaru Mechanic, Raffi Motors in Inglewood. But he recently told a friend of mine that she should replace the engine on her SVX after listening to it for about 5 mins. From what I can tell, there is nothing wrong with the engine. I get the feeling that he doesn’t want to work on it. There maybe some shops in Lakewood/North Long Beach, and possibly East LA that would do the work. Since Older Subaru’s are cheap, a lot of people in low income areas drive them. Re your problems: White smoke out of the tail pipe (Started a week ago and am having to top up the coolant) - Am hoping it's not the head gaskets! Check your oil cap for white milk shaky foam. If it isn’t there then it may not be a HG. Maybe water getting into your exhaust system. Not an EA82 person so I wouldn’t know. Knocking noise from the left side, intermittent (the axle was replaced a while ago, but still have the knocking, it comes and goes!) Does the knocking increase w/speed? Does it occur randomly or are there conditions where is does happen? Can you tell it’s coming from the front or the rear Grinding 'Bearing' sounding noise from the right side - goes away when wheel nut is tightened up, but seems to return after a while (had the right axle and wheel bearings replaced a few months ago) Was the wheel nut torqued to the right spec? I was getting grinding noise in the front wheel when I had a passenger and when I would break. Ended up being a improperly torqued wheel nut. Torqued to tight and pinned up, no more grinding. 4) No idea when the timing belts were last replaced... might as well do it. Not to hard to do and you can replace a bunch on things while you are in there. Ay thoughts on the cost of replacing the head gaskets? Not sure about that. I never had to do this. What should I get done when the engine is out for the head gaskets? You can technically do the HG with the engine still in. There is enough room to get to the bolts and pull off the heads. Get the heads inspected for warping, you can also replace the water pump, the oil pump, main engine seal and timing belts while the heads are off. If you so take the engine out, get the rear engine seal replaced. Is this subie a lost cause?! Nah… but sometimes if you look in Craigslist or the Recycler you can find Subarus for under $1000.00. So it’s up to you. Give me a call if you have any questions or need help. I am in Redondo Beach. Bosco 310-292-5258

Like the title says BRATt turned 222,222. yesterday on the way home. Inspired a song (to the tune of Seasons of Love from the Musical “Rent”) Two hundred twenty two thousand two hundred twenty two miles… how do you measure the life of a BRAT Two hundred twenty two thousand two hundred twenty two miles… How do you measure something like that In oil leaks and torn seat, definitely not horsepower Wheel bearings, dash tearing and wrenching on it for hours Two hundred twenty two thousand two hundred twenty two miles… how do you measure the life of a BRAT How do you measure something like that how do you measure the life of a BRAT How do you measure something like that A seasoned..Subaru…… Seasoned… Subaru…… Later.. BW.

Wow. Looks great We'll have to get together sometime and wheel. I am sure there are plenty of places between LA and San Diego to have some fun. BW

Thanks Here is the list of stuff that needs to be worked on in order of importance 1) driver side shoulder belt carrier does not move back. 2) Airbag light is on 3) fuel gauge does not work 4) there is a clunking on the pass side front wheel area when you turn at low speed. Me thinks ball joint. 5) possible wheel bearing job on the driver side, not sure which wheel 6) above mentioned tranny oil filter 7) gas struts for hood and trunk 8) wash and wax and detail. 9) repeat above.... BW

:banana: Well it's got 125k on the odometer. interior is in good shape for a 13 y/o car. Engine is strong. Oil looks nasty, but I plan to change it out tomorrow. Also plan to do a Seafoam treatment. We've been taking it easy on the tranny b/c of the problems the SVX has. I already looked at Smallcar.com and am planning to get the headlight kit and the Stage1 ECU. Excellent. bw

Well my wife, who basically dislikes my Subarus, just called me and said that she is looking at a 1992 SVX w/160k on the ticker. She is looking for a car b/c she is sick of her current car and doesn't want to make payments. So it's got no signs of a HG problem. Tranny feels like it shifts well. If that blows that it's time for a 5spd swap:headbang: Anywho the SVX is at a tow yard and the dude wants 1500 for it. Even if it turns out to be a basket case it's still worth that in parts. Will keep you posted. BW one more for good measure.

I work near the long beach airport will keep my eyes open for parts falling from the sky BW

Maybe. I'm saving up for an AA lift kit. I will probably do a 5spd swap at that time. Will need to source a good D/R tranny. BW

So I am an IDIOT I found out the cause of all of my shifting wooes. Well while I was changing out my engine, I thought. “hey, let’s try and make a short throw shifter for my EA81.” So I took out the welder and the grinder and modified my shifter. Well… it doesn’t cleanly engage into first b/c the shifter hits up against the shifter hole. In order for a clean shift you need to really bear down on the shifter and force the tranny over a little bit. Put in a new shifter from Monstaru (THANKS) and good shifting. Now if I could only get rid of the long throw and the slop. BW

excellent. This is exactly what is happening. Gee.. I just spent 55 bucks on a EA81 DR tranny. Oh well time to throw that in the spare parts pile. Let's see.. that makes it one 4spd FWD tranny, 1 4wd DR tranny, 12 wheels, etc etc etc. Ohhh btw. I may be moving to NC in the next year. Charlotte to be specific. Will probably be in town Aug 6th to 10th house hunting. Will let you know what it's set in stone.

don't remember, what kind of gear oil. I have problems mostly going into first and second at a stand still. Is that similar to the problems that you had? Thanks for the quick response. bw

Ok here is what happened. I have an EA81 d/r 4 spd Did an engine swap and I had problems with getting the tranny and the engine together. when I finally got it, I filled the gear oil and it was hard to shift into first and second. took the BRAT to a mech thinking it was a clutch problem and he said that there is something wrong with the tranny. I looked at the gear oil level and it was high. Can that the the source of the hard shifting? The reason I ask this is the shifting has gotten easier since the gear oil leak. I went to my car today and I noticed a large pool of gear oil leaking from the tranny. I have yet to determine where it is coming from. Can too much gear oil cause it to spring a leak? Thanks for looking BW

Getting friend to help you push Brat out of the garage:___ zero dollars Changing two flat tires from your stash of wheels: zero dollars Refilling the brake fluid from the bottle under the hood b/c of a constant leak: zero dollars Having the Brat start up after 6 months of hibernation: PRICELESS Let's here some others................

Some people… Recovered a gl-10 from a friend’s yard last night. It’s a GL-10 Turbo w/the full time 4w system and the LSD minus the engine. My friend and I bought it about a year ago to strip for parts. I wanted the LSD and the rear disc brakes and he wanted the struts and the doors b/c he got into an accident. So… It had been sitting for a year and then he gets a letter from the City of Los Angeles that he has to move it b/c you can’t have non-op cars parked in your driveway. Hmmm first time I heard of that one. Anyways the fine is $1000 or 6 months in jail. So his pops tells him move it or I am gonna get someone to take it. Not wanting to lose my LSD and other goodies, I clear out my garage, pull the Brat out of mothballs and drive over to his house to midnight tow it back to my place. We get there and he lost the keys to the car. No big deal, hammer and some elbow grease and I break the lock housing and slide the tumbler out. Then his dad gets on our case about how dangerous it is to tow the car with a tow rope, blah blah blah. So we’re trying to convince him that it’s ok, and that we are only going a few miles. Well he won’t budge. He’s still hemming and hawing and then I guess something broke through the Alzheimer’s and he says “oh… wait a minute I have a tow bar you can use to hook up to my truck”. Ok. Why didn’t he say that to begin with???? “ Anyways car is tucked away in my garage all nice and snug. After looking at it for a little bit, I am considering getting an engine and dropping it in there. Maybe even an EJ. I am sure the full time 4WD can handle the power.

have her call Suby Specialites. They are in Arcadia. Not really close but better than nothing BW

welcome 80's enthusiasts in our area are few in numbers. Too many tuner boys who pay money to play. If you get into an 80s soob, you gotta pay in blood sweat and tears. I am in redondo beach. BW

I had a friend w/an old Integra and his automatic seat belts malfuntioned. Took it to the deal and they said that all seat belts mechanisms are covered b/c they are a safety feature. Call your nearest soob dealer and ask. BW

no the front and rear are not interchangeable. re: the getting stuck in 4th. like Russ said turn the engine off and it should go out easily. Good luck BW