Caboobaroo

go ahead and pull the whole strut assembly out and take a look at it. Usually, the metal rod coming out of the strut goes into a piece that is embedded in the rubber in the top hat of the strut (the piece that is currently still attached to where it should be). Sometimes, the rubber will end up breaking due to large amounts of stress. Since you like to wheel the ever living crap out of the Brat, it's probably been heading south for awhile and today was the end of its limit. All you'll probably have to do is replace the top hat with a used one since they can be had for nothing usually

Welcome to being a proud owner of a rapidly decending generation of Subaru! I do have some of the parts you are looking for like the shift knobs but that is all I have currently. If I remember, I have a ok condition shift knob with the shift indicator button still on it and readible, the 4wd shift knob doesn't have the shift indicator unfortunatly. I will have to go through my parts and inventory what I have but should only take me about a week or so to do it. I'll let you know what I come across!

hey now at least I know I'm not the only one who uses a come-along and a rafter to remove/install engines from my Soobs:D Congrats!

After my 5-speed conversion in my RX, I still have a few things to button up on it. The main thing for me right now is the starter. Is there any difference between the auto and the manual starters or can I use my auto starter with the manual? I know EA81s are different (auto vs. manual) and so are the EA71s I believe as well...

Yes there have been a few crazy gen 1s that the Ozzys have done like the forest green gen 1 Brat with the STi drivetrain and suspension in it. I haven't been able to figure out how they did it though but if I had the time/money/proper tools, I could easily do it. I just like the slightly harder route though. Channeling the gen 1 Brat body I have ('78) and removing most of the extra stuff in the engine compartment like the strut towers and parts of the frame rails, and a few other things to put in a Nissan truck frame. Shortened 8" in front of the rear axle, C-notching the frame for the axle to sit up into, making my custom 4-link rear suspension, full air bag setup, chopping part of the bed out to accomidate the C-notch on the frame.... well you get the idea;)

Mmmm I can't WAIT to see some pics of it when its done. My gen 1 Brat on the other hand will have a 6-lug done to it... but also sporting some Nissan Pathfinder rims and some 50 series tires as well:D

Electronic Fuel Injection, or more specifically on Subarus either SPFI or MPFI

WOW!! Yeah now I know why you need the rack from me:lol: Wish I would have been able to do that in my Brat... would be PIMPIN!!!

YEAH!!! Another black RX up and running. Mine should be running again shortly but I'm still waiting on a clutch from WJM that will hold my power... mmmm stage 2 clutch:D Congrats Rob!

Yeah same here but mine will get a slightly different paint scheme. Not a big fan of the gold stripe on the side... maybe white:D Mine is pimpin though, has a white bodykit and a white hood which will soon be sporting a PSM hoodscoop... oh and I have a silver hatch as well:lol:

yeah, just tell them its an '84. My buddy had a '88 hatch and they always gave him stuff for EA82s so finally I told him to ask for parts for an '84...

yeah Andrew got his front setup off of a 2wd XT6 and from what Andy (baccarruda) said, this is on a 4wd since I also got the rear brakes and stuff. I guess I'll have to mod it to fit, nothin I haven't done before:rolleyes: Yes thats the reason I'm going with the 5-lug is for the bigger brake options and front coilovers too. Cause if you've got more go, you've gotta have more woah:D

I would if I was gonna offroad my black RX but sorry, aint that stupid. I'm into street cars, not offroad Soobs... yet. Anyways, I got a few more questions about interchangability. There's a few Legacys here in the yards and I was wondering if they would interchange with Impreza/WRX brakes and suspension. Just so I can upgrade to better performance suspension after I get the car back onto the ground and running deent.

I started the 5-lug on my RX finally (thanks Andy!) and I went to put the front control arms in and the stupid bolt that holds the control arm to the crossmember is too big!!! I ran into the same problem on Andrew's '87 turbowagon when we did the 5-lug on it as well. So I'm going to go the same route as what I did before. I drilled the hole out extra large, welded a washer onto the crossmeber lower and further out then before so the control arm clears the crossmember and be done with it. Now I gotta get some washers and a big enough drill bit and I'll be set. Sorry about the rant, just kinda pisses me off sometimes...

yes, overinflation will cause tire wear on the middle of the tire. Unfortunatly, it sounds like you're suspension will need some things replaced to fix the problem. Nothing expensive, just time consuming. Sounds like the ball joints are going out causing it to camber the tires in just a bit more then usual. Best way to find out is to jack up the car on both sides and start wiggling stuff around like the wheel. Wanna get in a little deeper? Pull the wheel off and start moving stuff around with a prybar just make sure not to bend anything.

my black '89 RX shows 209k and some change on the original odometer. Now its got 190k on the odometer from my manual conversion

so how do you like the way it looks? Seems like people are giving their opinions but we still haven't heard yours yet. Just wanna know if the wagon will be getting a new set of rims or not before WCSS7, even though I won't be attending:rolleyes:

Mine doesn't even start! But it does have a TD04 on it... just waiting for the clutch from Will and she'll be runnin in a matter of a few days:D

Brad, those rims look a lot better them the Rotas you have IMO. Keep the car in a nice, light color but gives it a mean stance as well...

Ok here's a few more things to add: As far as oil leaking, it will be coming from generally 4 different places most likely. #1. The oil pan gaskets will become nonexistant after many thousands of miles. Very easy to replace with the engine out of the car but very difficult with it in. I suggest spending the few hours to learn to pull the engine if you haven't already and replace it. Then drop the motor back in and you're ready to go. #2. Valve covers. Yes these are very easy to get to even with the engine in the car. Driver side is 5 - 10mm bolts and the passenger side is 4 - 10mm bolts. Remove the bolts, clean up the gasket surfaces on both the valve covers and the cam towers, replace the valve cover bolt grommets with new ones, and install the valve covers. #3. The oil pump. Its held on by a few (can't remember how many) 10mm bolts, Easiest thing is to remove the radiator to give you more room, remove the front timing belt covers, and unbolt the oil pump. At this time, you can also check the clearances of the oil pump to determine if you need a new one or just go ahead and replace it for about $90ish. Very good idea when it comes to a motor that has over 200k miles on it, especially when you have no idea if its been replaced or not. This will also help rid your EA82 of the TOD (Tick Of Death). There will be an O-ring and a "Mickey Mouse" gasket. Gets its name from the shape it is compared to Mickey Mouse's head:D Reinstall oil pump in the same way as removal. #4. Cam O-rings. These are the O-rings that go in the front of the cam towers where the timing belt pulleys are bolted to the cams. When these go out, bad day. They will spray oil all over your new timing belts you just replaced thus making the life span of them very short. When you replace the timing belts, make sure to look at them and the slightest bit of oil leak, replace them. They're cheaper then having to go out and buy another set of timing belts after your first new set give way. Here's a couple things to think about on the coolant system. Since you're probably going to be replacing the timing belts, now is a great time to replace the waterpump with a new lifetime warrant one. I replaced mine for a lifetime pump and it cost me about $45 from the parts store. On turbo EA82s or EA82T, make sure you have a good working cooling system or else you will end up A. blowing head gaskets or B. cracking heads. Now the first one sounds bad but really it isn't. Just search around on the board on how to's and secrets people do to fix them. Cracking heads is a little worse. The car will run fine if they're cracked into the exhaust port but it will eat coolant and puff white clouds of smoke out of the exhaust. My advise, check Ebay for remanufactured heads for about $200 or here on the board. Have the heads off? Might as well replace the head gaskets but something to remember. Replace them with OEM Subaru head gaskets or they wil blow again. Cost? About $75 bucks for me from Subaru but people here on the board work at Subaru dealerships across America and can probably get them cheaper. Hope that helps out:D

yeah the clutch or the bearings in the clutch are gone since the pulley wiggles around like it lost all the bearings out of it...

The AC clutch on the compressor in my RX is shot, like almost nonexistant. I have another AC compressor that has a good clutch and worked before it was removed from the car. Now I don't want to disconnect the compressor in my car to replace it with the good one I have since my AC system is currently charged with R12 and it cost a little bit of money to have it discharged correctly. I'm wondering how do I remove the clutches and swap them (the good one onto my car to replace the bad one). I've kinda looked it over a bit and I can't see how they're connected so I can remove them. Does anyone know how they're put on and what kind of special tools would I need?

test the plug wires with an ohm meter to see what kind of resistance they have. If the #3 is bad, the resistance will be a lot more then the others

Mine came with no side skirts or rear skirts... but that has changed MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

over to the lifted Subaru gang!!!! I'm soon to be converting an '81 2wd wagon to a 4wd using parts from an '84 wagon and a 5-speed d/r tranny I got for free. Anyways, yes, I'm coming over to having a lifted Subaru around... I better get my Brat back together so I can drive my lowered Subarus again:D Also in the works might be a lifted '80 Brat with an '81 Brat d/r drivetrain in it. The body on the '81 has been drug into death by rust but the '80 sitting next to it has barely any. Also, the '81 has the jumpseats and the low rollbar and the '80 has the low topper and a bullbar too. Mmmm fun with the gen 1's:clap: