ferox

Convert your ea81 to SPFI.

The ea81 came with a 1bbl and a 2bbl. The 2bbl is better and more common. You can pull one at a junkyard for $25-$35, and I think you will want to grab the intake manifold as well. It takes switched 12v, but it would be easy to install. It's got lots of vacuum ports, but you could just cap them. So you could get the Carter 1 bbl to work or Get a Hitachi 2bbl and manifold and gaskets ~$100 or Get a Weber conversion ~$200-$300 Based on what you have told us it sounds like you don't want to put much money into it, so I would probably disassemble, clean, and reseal the 1 bbl. Most of us just get rid of the 1bbl, so not many people can tell you much about it, but I bet most if not all of the electric is switched 12v.

On earlier models it connects to the back of the intake manifold near the center. Reading through your original post I did not see where you plugged the vacuum source for the EGR. Based on your description it sounds like it is still connected to a a thermo-valve that opens after warm-up.

I don't know about the vac can for and '88 SPFI, but earlier models have a purge line that goes directly to the intake manifold and has an inline check valve. How many barbs are on your canister?

+1 If you want direct bolt on 14s just keep your eye on the for sale section. They come up all the time. I will be posting a couple sets here soon, but I am not going to ship. Since you only put West in your location description I have no idea if that helps you.

+1 I did it recently with an '84 wagon and passed with flying colors. The car did run really well in the first place, so don't expect to do this with a pos and expect it to pass...though it could happen. I just ran the tank down to about 1/3 and poured in a gallon of denatured alcohol. It definitely affected my fuel filter and vapor separator. I filled the tank immediately afterward and changed out the fuel filter and vapor separator.

'85-'89 EA82 engine...the boxy looking wagons and sedans. Later versions of that car had a single range 5MT. I believe '88-'89 would be easiest. Jerry aka Bratsrus1 sells a kit to make the swap easier in case someone didn't already mention it, at least I hope he still makes them.

Your "speed screw" is not supposed to be screwed in so far. The throttle is that way because of this. You have now bypassed the idle circuit and that is why the engine is not responding to adjustment of the mixture screw. Set you idle mixture screw out 2 turns, then unscrew the air/fuel mixture screw, aka speed screw, some. Start you car and adjust the idle speed using the a/f mixture screw. In the future, adjust your carb with the car running and don't change more than one thing at a time. Read up on setting lean best idle before you try optimizing for fuel economy.

First I would take it to an experienced member on this board to verify what you are really dealing with. GeneralDisorder would be top choice, but there are plenty of other people here that can ID the situation with your Brat. It may be the case that it is not as bad as you think. Since it has a rear disc brake conversion it leads me to believe that the PO had some knowledge about upgrading subies but may have lacked in the execution of detailed installation of things like electrical. If you do keep it, you are in luck that a full engine/transmission transplant is well documented on this site that will greatly improve the power and reliability of the Brat. But as 92_rugby_subie mentioned forget about getting money back from resale, of course this is true of just about any car less than $2,000 unless you buy it for less than $500.

Like you said it is a little difficult to tell whats going on there from the photos, but it looks to me like an automatic to manual transmission conversion or FWD to 4WD conversion. I have honestly never heard of a FWD Brat, so I'll go with auto to manual.

Hence the suggestion to check your alternator. The idea being that your bad ECM is more likely a symptom rather than a cause. A bad regulator in the alternator may make it charge with excessive voltage. A bad rectifier in the alternator may make it charge with a percentage of AC current rather than DC. Both conditions can and will fry components and cause other electical gremlins, and you won't necessarily have a dead battery. You dash gauge should read ~14.7 volts.

If EJing the Loyale is not an option (which is too bad because EJ'd Loyales are badass), then go for option 3. I stage my projects so that I always have at least one solid DD and preferrably two while I am doing major work on another vehicle. One nice thing about having a thrashed car, such as you describe the Lego, is that your not afraid to do major customizations for fear of screwing up the niceness. However, if it's trashed I would go for a lift rather than lowering. The 98-2001 legos look really nice lowered with tint, but that style only looks good when the car is super straight. With major dents and scratches and a thrashed interior you could put on a small lift, cut the fenders, throw on some bigger high traction tires, and have a fun DD rally beast in short order. Any customization to older Subarus in the PNW will only help resale value by a matter of hundreds of dollars at best. I know we are all coming from different financial situations, but I wouldn't bother thinking about resale value but rather, what is the vehicle that you want to be driving at the end of the project. Older subies value are in what they can do for you, not what you can sell them for afterward.

In conjunction with proper heat from a fully functional cooling system they will help quite a bit. It's still a band-aid as others have pointed out, but that is what you were asking for. Without heat you are s.o.l. in the winter. A couple notorious places to check for leaks are the lower corners of the windsheild, of course around the main windows, and sometimes the rubber body plugs in the floor get popped out or pushed in leaving a gaping hole in the floor of the car. If you get your car up on jackstands and see any perfect 1"-1.5" holes in the underside with no plug in them you know you are soaking your carpet and leaving unseen puddles in your car everytime you drive in the rain.

You'll probably have better results with a couple small 12V fans. I have tried the electric heaters that plug into the cigarette lighter socket and they were junk. They draw a lot of power porportional to their meager heat and fan output. A fairly small fan can produce a decent air flow (I am thinking of fans like ones for cooling high power audio equipment or computers). If you mount a fan pointing at the front windshield from the drivers side and one toward the rear window on the passenger side you will create a bit of a circular current too. Just make sure to supply the fans you choose with proper power requirements.

I have used it and it works ok. I think GD mentioned that he used a silver pen and that worked good. I would go for the pen method if I were to do it again.

Very cool, I would like to see the finished bar. Are those slabs worth more than your car?

Fuel economy is going to suck no matter what at 8,500 ft. FI is better, but even that is greatly affected by the elevation. You are going to want the progressive secondary of the Weber to pull up hills at that elevation. I am assuming we are talking about Colorado or somewhere nearby, where there are long steep stretches of road. With the stock set-up your running start will get you about half-way up the hill, then you will have to down-shift and fart your way at half-speed to the top. Meanwhile trucks and other cars will be accumulating behind you. You will get tired of it. Here's a link to the standard 32/36 DGEV. I would recommend going with a manual choke at 8,500 ft rather than the electric, but the electric will work too. If you are not in a hurry you can find used one's cheaper, but for the money I think it's worth buying new. http://www.carburetion.com/after.htm go to conversion carbs you want kit K731 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Subaru-1985-1987-1-8L-OHC-EA82-Weber-Carb-Conversion-/330622469602?hash=item4cfaa285e2&item=330622469602&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr [Of course if you are talking about Tahoe or the Sierra's then I don't think you can run the Weber legally. You will have to keep the Hitachi to pass emissions.]

You can try that, but 8,500 ft is a big jump. You'll have to re-jet the carb to do it right and even then it won't have much power. I'd definitely recommend a manual choke Weber swap jetted for altitude if you can swing the cash.

It's also not uncommon for the heater core coolant control valve to leak by the driver's-side right-foot kick panel...hence the hoses could have been disconnected and capped for that reason as well.

It's doable, but you mention that you want to have some fun. This conversion would not be fun. You purchased a bit of a slug as far as performance is concerned. I would suggest driving it a while, see if you like how it handles and like it's character, and keep an eye out for an '86-'89 5MT 4WD version to buy. Buy it. Then put an EJ22 engine in it and you will have a very nice end product, better than the one you are suggesting building. The 5-lug conversion can be done a few ways, it's probably best if you do some research to decide how you would prefer to do that. If you want AWD instead of 4WD it is probably best to buy a Legacy or Impreza.

In addition to regular maintenance items such as valve lash adjustment, you can do a little Seafoam in the crankcase oil. I don't do this regularly, (In fact the previous time I did it was about 60,000 miles ago), but I did it recently because my engine ('81 ea81) was getting a little noisy. I put about a 1/3 of a can of Seafoam in the crankcase with the oil that was already in there, drove for about 150 miles over several trips, and changed my oil. The engine is very noticeably quieter now. I think the oil passages eventually build up enough sludge resistance to make a weaker oil circuit (even with good pressure) and the metal parts get noiser as a result.

It's happened to me before.

With the key off the fan should not run, regardless of grounding. I should have caught that in your first post; however, it's good to have a new rad fan switch. Since you have several electrical issues that are "developing" simultaneously, I would start looking at places where they all come together such as the ignition switch and connectors and the fuse panel. Both of those areas can get melty over time and with previous owners messing with them.

175s all around This one has a 185 in front and a 175 in back. The camera kind of distorts the sizes making the 185 look a little bigger in relation to the 175 than it looks like in real life (notice the wheel looks bigger too), but you get the idea.

I talked to the wheel adapter builder today. Sounds like the product would be very high quality (6061 T6 billet aluminum). They only build wheel adapters. Their website: http://www.motorsport-tech.com/ The adapters would be convenient, especially if you wanted to swap them to different cars ea81-ea82, but the re-drilled hubs certainly have their advantages. A full set of four hubs at the JY for a core run about $70 here. With new lugs and shipping you can easily add $30 or more. So $100 on top of machining. Skishop69 (5-lug) - $100 + $100 ~ $200 SJR (6-lug) - $155 + $100 ~ $255 Adapter (5-lug) = $300 + shipping Redrilling is definitely cheaper, but they are close enough to be in the ballpark depending on your wants and needs. I am tending toward the re-drill, but I will have to think about it.