Truckerman666

Has anyone here heard of Mangel wheels? I just bought a set of 4 lug white spoke wheels in a junk yard today. I thought they were genuine Subaru wheels until I got them home They were manufactured in 2001, in Brazil. Is it possible that they still make wheels for old 4 lug cars ?

1. I have had the silverstars in my car for almost 5 years. I drive it everyday, and a lot at night. The secret is to follow the installation instructions to the letter. DO NOT, touch them with your fingers, there is enough oil in you skin to leave some of it on the bulb, this will cause the bulb to overheat, and fail sooner. This applies to any light bulb, but more so to the silverstars because they generate more heat in the first place. 2. If you want more light, then stay away from all "blue bulbs", use a white one, the blue coating just absorbs more light that you need on the road. All the do is increase glare, and it gets worse when the road is wet. Human eyes are designed to work in sunlight, which has a lot of yellow. Try to read a blue lit sign at night, then try to read a yellow or white lit one. Blue is a wavelength that is difficult for humans to see, our eyes are optimized to work in daylight not night where there is a lot of natural blue light. The Sylvania xtra vision is supposed to be the same bulb without the blue coating. This the bulb I will be trying next, if the silverstars ever burn out. 3. Blue bulbs are only good for three things, A. To decrease the usable light you see on the road, please notice that I said USABLE light. How do I know this, I spent over $150.00 to buy them for two vehicles, one of them a Subaru. On the 2001 Dodge truck with clear headlight lenses, they made a little more light, enough to see a miniscule difference, not enough to justify spending over $100.00 on them. On a 1987 Subaru GL, they made almost no difference at all, they are certainly not worth almost $60.00! B. They great if you want to attract attention from cops. Why? Because colored headlights are NOT LEGAL, anywhere that I know of. Sylvania claims that they are 50 state legal, and I am sure that they are. However, try explaining this to a cop who had to put down his doughnut and kick the hooker out of his car, just to pull you over, and walk through a downpour at 3:00 in the morning to check your headlights, because he thought he saw a flash of blue. How do I know this? I went to college to be a cop, and I am a trucker, and an old school hot rodder, so I have a lot of first hand experience with crooked cops and their attitude problems. C. The worst, they make you look like a Ricer. I do not want to look like the last word here, but this a subject that I became interested in a few years ago. I have spent countless hours researching it, I have read hundreds of reports, web sites, forum posts, etc. on this subject. I have spent money out of my own pocket to buy them and try them out on my own cars. I have well over 2,000,000 miles of driving experience in many different types of vehicles, and in some truly horrific weather conditions. I have some real world, hands on experience with vehicle lighting. I am no expert, but I have made valiant effort to learn about this subject, and I have made a small amount of progress. Conclusion? Silverstars or any other type of "blue" bulbs are crap, and a waste of money. In case anyone is wondering why I have left them in my car so long if I dislike them so much? A. I paid a truly idiotic amount for them, and I want to get the usage I paid for. B. I tend to forget about them until I drive at night, then it is not easy to change them. Someday when I remember to change them out, I will be happy to give them away to someone here on the board.

DO not use a grade 8 bolt. They re very hard metal with little shear strength. They are designed to resist stretching force for a clamping type application, something where you to join two parts with enough force that they will never come apart. This is why they are sometimes called aircraft bolts. If you want to use a bolt in this application, use a grade 5, they are softer metal and designed to resist shear, or side to side force. Whatever you do, do not use a hardware store special bolt, you really are better off to just use a roll pin. Matco tools sells a neat little designed for this purpose and it is only about $17.00. I bought one and it makes the job a lot easier.

I want to buy some wheels like that, if anyone here in N. Utah has any for sale.

It sounds like the valves are tired. If it goes away at a higher speed, you will need to consider a valve job.

You should be able to run this kind of wire as long as it does not have to flex constantly. I have used household type wire on cars for many years because auto parts stores don't ever seem to stock the bigger sizes. More strands of wire simply make it more flexible, easier to work with and more expensive. I suppose that it is possible that more strands running in parallel would lower the resistance a tiny bit and in theory at least carry a little more current, you would have to measure it in a lab to tell the difference, and maybe not even then. Make sure you secure it every 2ft or so it does have a chance to flex. Use good wiring practice and keep it out of the weather and you should be fine. I did some wiring like this on a truck back in the 1980's and when I sold the truck over 10 years later the wiring was still good.

Replace anything that is even slightly questionable. Remember, it is easier and cheaper to do it now, than later by the side of the road, in the dark, and in the middle of a blizzard. Keep the old stuff in the care for spares. I still remember being young and broke like a lot of you guys, having some spares and tools in the back saved my rear many times. You can even use them later if you become to broke to fix the car for work.

Yes the mechanic in a can stuff is usually more trouble than it is worth. If you really want to be cheap, you can clean your old PCV valve and reinstall it. If it was me, I would just buy a new one.

My first going this was recently to, and I had the same problem. Here is how I solved it. I installed all belts, idlers, pumps etc, the drivers side was always a tooth or more off no matter how careful I was. So I installed everything, tensioned the belts, made sure the timing marks and the passenger side belt were good, I then loosened the drivers side belt and rotated the sprocket to the proper position with a wrench. I tensioned the belt. check the marks one more time, and proceeded to put the rest off the car together. It started the first time and has run like champ ever since. Mine leaked oil to, because I had the front end up in the air for so long, some came out of the rear main seal. It is a very good idea to replace all of the pumps, idlers etc. at this time. call it cheap insurance.

Pretty much the same thing happened to me at NAPA, we had to count the splines and order the ones for an automatic car. Evidently the rebuilder is getting confused about part numbers.

Are you buying them at NAPA? I just went through this with them. Their database is wrong, I bought the ones for it said my car uses and the were the wrong splines, I had to buy the ones for the automatic car to fit my 5 speed. Count the splines and make sure get the same ones even if the parts guys computer says you are wrong.

Here is the way to do it. You use a single pole double throw switch, or spdt, available at Radio Shack etc. for a few dollars. The power goes to the center terminal, one of the other terminals is wired to the device you want to disable, fuel pump, ecu, coil etc. The other terminal is wired directly to ground, a dead short. You put a well hidden fuse in the power lead BEFORE the switch. Whenever you leave the car, flip the switch to the position that is grounded. That way if the thief tries to start the car, it will blow the fuse. The car will never start now even the scumbag funds the switch and and moves it to the other position, the fuse is already blown and the car will not start. Of course you will know where the hidden fuse is and will have spares. Maybe someone here can draw up a diagram of this and post it, since I do not have the technology to do so.

1/2 can of zinc chromate primer, and 1.5 cans of white paint to do the passenger side door on my 87 wagon. I used real factory type paint I ordered from Paint scratch in San Francisco. It came out very nice, I am happy with it.

Matco tools sells a neat little tool made just for this. A subaru axle pin removal tool !! It is only $17.00, I bought one. Be careful, you can break the tool easily if you try to flex it too much to remove a stuck pin. Do not ask me how i know this.

ok thanks, i will do that.

1987 GL 4wd station wagon. I just finished installing new front axles. When i let the clutch out, the car goes about 3 feet and the roll pin that holds the axle to the half shaft breaks, on the drivers side. The passenger side seems to work fine. There seems to be some extra play between the axle and the half shaft, like the socket part of the new axle is too big, or the splines are not right, I can install the new axle and pin, and rotate it by hand, but it seems looser than the passenger side one. The passenger side one fits nice and tight, but I can rock the other one with my hand. I have taken it back to the parts store and we measured the inner diameter of the two axles and they were the same. The two axles have the same part number, and are supposed to be the same part. I am guessing that the splined part is wrong, probably the wrong piece installed at the factory. The power from the engine is being absorbed by the roll pin and not the splines like it is supposed to. Am I right, do I have a defective or wrong part, or is it some else? Any input will appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Sorry no pics, but I have hauled long 2x4 s and full sheets of plywood in my 87 gl wagon. The guy at he hardware store thought I was crazy, lol. The craziest thing I have done so far is last year I got my full size GMC 4wd truck stuck in a snow drift in front of my house, I pulled it out with my Subaru, I then backed the wagon into the driveway and got it stuck, stock wheels and not much ground clearance, So i had to pull it out with the truck. It was a good thing I own 2 four wheel drive vehicles. The snow piled up to almost the bottom of the drivers window, and the plow had made it worse. I had to shovel a space the size of my car in the front yard so I could park it. I then had to shovel a path to the drivers door, and then put cat litter on the ice so I could get my car without falling down. It was a pretty crazy winter here last year, but it never stopped my Subaru. I have pics of this, if I ever find them I will post them.

Thanks to everyone here for sharing knowledge. What I thought was a spun bearing turned out to be a noisy lifter. I don't have to give up my Subaru after all. Thanks again to everyone. Truckerman666

It sounds like the secondary barrel is open too soon. I am not familiar with Webers, but I have worked on Holley 4 barrels some. I once knew someone with the same problem with a Weber on a Datsun truck, it was simply too much carburation, on a small inch engine. What I think is happening is that when the secondary opens, it flows too much air and overloads the engine temporarily. I realize that a Holley is not Weber, and a GMC is not a Subaru, but the basic principles that carburetors and engines operate on do not change. I learned how to tune Holleys on a 1969 GMC 3/4 ton camper special truck. It weighed 5200 lbs, and I really had to get the secondary opening point perfect, or it would bog down horribly. When I finally got it right, it was like night and day. The smaller displacement of your engine and the heavier your car, the worse this problem gets. Using a manual transmission will make it easier, because you can get the rpm up faster, and get to the point where you actually need the extra airflow sooner. A vacuum operated secondary will be much more forgiving and easier to tune than a manual one. I know that there is a mathematical formula to choose the right size carburetor, but I could not find it on google, Holley prints it in their catalog, in the form of a chart. If I knew how to convert CC's to cubic inches, I would do it for you, sorry about being to much old school here. You answer some basic questions, engine size, rpm, stall speed etc. A typical stock engine is about 80 % efficient concerning airflow, or volumetric efficiency (VE). The chart will tell you how many cubic feet per minute (CFM), your engine can flow. You then choose the next size smaller carburetor, trust me, you will be happier with smaller one instead of the bigger one every time, unless you are building a real fire breathing full race engine. After all of this trivia, I have 2 suggestions: 1. adjust the secondary to open later, keep doing this until you begin to lose top end power, the go back a little. This is not a high precision method, but it will get you reasonably close. Weber probably makes a kit with springs, cams etc. to help you with this. 2. Check the accelerator pump: A: to make sure it is functional. B: to make sure it is injecting enough gas to to keep the mixture richened up until the mains jets start flowing. Based on the symptoms you describe, It is almost certain that #2 is not your problem. After you get the secondary adjusted properly, experiment with jets etc., and have real smooth running Subaru. You will be amazed how well a carbureted car can run. I hope this helps.

They looked my car in a book to determine the bolt pattern, and then looked up some wheels and tires on a computer right there in the store. While most of the 13" tires showed as out of stock, there were some very nice, aggressive looking snow tires for $46.00 ea that were readily available. Big O tires, about a mile from my house.

1987 gl wagon 296,000 miles Previous owner replaced motor with a used one at unknown mileage, because of a broken timing belt.

About 2 weeks ago I was in my local Big O tire store for a tire rotation and asked them about this very thing. They showed my me quite a few new wheels that are available. Also some nice 13" snow tires for $46.00 each.

Would the 4 lug rims from an old ford pinto work? I don't have any or I would measure them myself.

I went to the Subaru dealer yesterday to check on an electric fan for my car. While I was there I decided to look at the new Subarus. A salesman approached and offered to help me. I told what I was doing and about my car. He said " you might have to trade that one in about ten years from now." I could not believe it, $180 for an electric fan. No I did not buy it. I guess that they don't plan to sell very many of these. Are there any good Subaru junkyards here Northern Utah? T man

My 87 still has the original funky plastic hub caps that rattle all of the time. I learned about this from the person I bought it from. A good palce to start looking. Bill the t man.