Caboobaroo

well I futz around with it some more tonight and rove around the neighborhood with no exhaust, heh. I played with the idle a bit after she warmed up but she doesn't want to idle properly now. She studders and then ends up dying. I did however have one guy in my neighborhood come over and talk to me about it a bit. He had the weirdest look on his face and was like "This sounds awesome! What is it? A Subaru???" Then I told him how much I've spent on it and he about crapped his pants. All in all, it was a good day, she gets up and move very nicely and has lots of power. Now I just need to get my cams put in there, get the fluids changed again, and a few other odds-n-ends done like EBC, etc.

I think I'm wiser not to spend $6k on a junkyard Subaru...:-\

since its an automatic, it could be the vacuum modulator in it, which when they go bad, they'll start to suck up the ATF from the tranny and dump it into the intake of the car, which will burn it out the exhaust. If it was a headgasket, it would slowly get worse and it would smoke consently instead of every now and then. Can you tell us what color the smoke coming from the car is? If it has a blueish tint to it, it'll be oil of some type, either ATF or engine oil. If its white, then it'll be coolant, usually a bad intake gasket, and then the headgasket if its real bad.

Putting a 5-speed into a gen 1 is not really recommended since the trans tunnel would have to be seriously modified for it to fit. For the swap, I've heard about the front axle on the driver side being too close to the sterering box where it comes out of the transmission and can get in the way. No one makes a lift kit that I know of for a gen 1, but I have seen a gen 1 wagon with a gen 2 rear suspension setup that was lifted. The engine setup that I'm putting into my gen 1 Brat is a solid lifter EA81 from a '81 2wd wagon, SPFI from a late 80's EA82, single range 4wd 4-speed from a '83 DL 4wd wagon, and the stock rear diff out back. Why a single range you ask? Because the Brat is a RWD car now, not FWD/4WD. Better burnouts and such. Also, finding upgrade parts for this bodystyle is pretty hard to do. I actually made a set of control arms to fit the EA81 knuckles, brakes and suspension in the front. I'm also going to be doing a rear disc swap as well. But other projects come first so this is kinda getting bumped back to the back burner again...

so why isn't it in the car yet??? Don't post pics until you're done:-p Just kidding, hopefully you'll get it running here soon. I might bring the ole RX down to Red Rocks in a couple weeks:banana:

Wow.... that amazing Tex. For some reason, my spyder intake works without a hitch, I wonder what might have been up with yours? Anyways, congrats on getting rid of it since i know you've been trying to for a little while and hoefully the new owner will be very happy with it. I know I'm happy with mine now that the headaches seem to be over for the most part.

ok on an EA81... The tranny has a 23 spline DOJ whereas the 5-lug conversion axles have a 25 spline. Granted you can change the DOJs for them to work and such, but if you do that, you'll need the DOJ from a 25 spline car (XT6, 4EAT or turbo's EA82), the EA81 axle and the CV to match the hubs you are using (XT6 to XT6, Impreza to Impreza). You might be able to get away with reaming out the control arms on your EA81 to the same sixe as the balljoints for the XT6 setup, then you'll have to modify the strut tower for the 3 studs on the tophat compared to the 2 studs on the EA81 struts. Rears are simple, basically its the same concept as doing the rear disc conversion but with the 5-lug parts instead.

Oh and I forgot to mention... NO CEL!!!!! I think thats the part that makes me the happiest. SHe idles a little high though (about 1200rpm or so) so I think I'm gonna have to play with the timing a bit more to get it spot on. Heh, I also got those cams sitting in my shop for it too...... maybe when I go to change the oil again, I'll put those puppies in there:D

well there are freeze plugs in the heads which could be blown, the plugs in the bottom of the heads which let you drain the coolant from the engine might now be in, and my most favorite, blown intake gaskets... I think those might be the 3 choices for your cam case coolant:D

I know the headgaskets that I pulled out of the engine from my RX were OEM since they still had the Fuji symbol on them...

sounds like the clutch fork must have broken. I had this happen to me on a '87 GL turbowagon. Clutch fork snapped where the pivot is because it wasn't lubed properly. It got worse and worse until I couldn't drive it with a clutch. I had to rpm match with the tranny and stuff like that. Pain in the butt if you ask me...

well I would BUT..... Its a bit of a drive and the RX doesn't get THAT good of gasmilage:D

looks like the headgasket is blown and when that happens, it'll become way out of round. Here's the pics of the old headgaskets from my RX when I tore the original engine down... http://community.webshots.com/photo/302403464/1302422152067339125ZSRPpn

yeah I might have too but I have to start digging into them when I finally get them to see what all they'll need.

FOR FREE! If some of you remember about a year ago, I was with a friend in Casper, WY about 3 hours from here. Across from his ex's house, there was a fellow that had two gen 1 Brats. One was an '80 DL, with low topper and pushbar, and the other was a '81 GL 1800, d/r 4 speed with low rollbar and jumpseats. However, very sadly, the body on the '81 is toast, too much rust to try and revive, BUT the '80, besides a messed up fender, was in pretty good condition. I wanted them but the guy wasn't home when I wsa there. Fast forward to today. My friend has to have someone watch his dog for a few months and his ex said she could. Well aparrently, she had talked to this guy with the Brats for me and he said that he'd just left them go. So when I go up to take my buddy's dog up to her, I'll be bringing back 2 gen 1 Brats. Now I just gotta find a place to put them.....:-\

Sweet! Maybe I'll have to pick that up when I'm down there in a couple weeks. Not gonna be too hard for me to fix:D And yes, thats what I ment was JBP.... where the hell did the OBP come from? I think that was on the Outbacks but I cannot remember:confused:

the JDM exhaust I'm getting, a friend of mine who used to live in Japan, went back to visit for a couple weeks. He is also bringing back an engine for his '86 Corolla GTS twin cam 16 valve, also known as the AE86 in Japan. I'l have to give him a call to see if he was able to get it or not for me.

Now imagine it being RWD... My Brat was all over the road cause it had some power to it. Then I dropped the FE motor into it and there went the tires....

Thanks Jerry, keep me informed in what you find. As far as the paint and whatnot.... I work for the local GM dealership (Laramie GM Auto Center) in the collision shop so I can get pretty good eals on paint. I've been thinking about OPB that the STi's came in for the paint, instead of the regular black. Oh and can't forget the gold stripe and stars!

there is a computer with the feedback carb versions of the EA81s but I dunno what all it intales...

If the bodywork and paint is done before the show, I'll probably drive it out there depending on if I can get the time off, which I don't really see it being a problem. A friend of mine who I used to work with at Wal-Mart just got back from Japan and he said before he left, that he was going to get me a catback for it.. woohoo true JDM exhaust! Now I need to get that on, get an alignment and get one more window for it and she'll be just about set.. oh and find me a STi scoop for it:D I decided to keep the spoiler off of it, I think it gives it a cleaner look myself.

I finally got some more tuning done to it today. I also got the brakes squared away so now I can stop, which is a plus, especially since... THIS THINGS HAULS! Got the timing set up and a few other little things but in 4low and 1st gear, she'll pull some major cookies, 3 wheels spinnin of course with bald 15" tires. Just incredible. Also, I don't have any issues with the way its running except a TOD. Power through the whole RPM range, good boost (10psi) and lots of power. I still have to adjust the clutch some but I got the timing set in good today, along with the AAV plumbed in, even though it looks like crap. I'm just so happy that all my hard work has finally paid off... now just to concentrate on the body some more:banana:

Its going to be just parts for the front end and yes, Legacy GT parts should work. You're ging to need... front knuckles front hubs/rotors front calipers front struts front axles front ball joints You'll need to get the control arms and the tie rod ends from a XT6, there's no other way around it. The rear you need XT6 parts since nothing else will work.

and why our injectors are the same injectors in the 280ZX;)

well you should really use the search function this board has given us. Helps out a lot for newer members like yourself. It has been covered recently by a few people...