Yo'J

+1^^ do it yerself if you can and use OEM belts with the marks. 4hrs on the side of the road in a gutter chatting with the locals, haynes manual in hand using a stick with bolts sticking out of it for the "Subaru" tentioner.

You can just fine but getting the ej rack into the ea crossmember poses the challenge. The hole for the steering linkages needs to be enlarged a ton and all the lines need to be re routed. Kind of defeats the purpose. I figure I'll still try it, as I have it all as extras, but not as an important part of the swap I'm doing. It might be easy with some 90 deg fittings and new line, it might still render the crossmember useless for holding the motor.

Be careful and modest on the road and carry a spare axle and the tools the do the job! I love my rig in the snow, but the axles don't like the jolt of hard slip and sudden grab. Weberize that thing as fast as you can and you'll never go back. Put a 5spd d/r in that thing and it will be a must on every vehicle you want to own. If your good to it, it will be VERY good to you.

How do you think I feel? Its threatening snow here, tomorrow....and the next day, rain. Its been down to 16f at night but not even a cloud.

This is the same prob I got right now. Funny. So I blind checked by pulling the fuel line off the filter under the hood and watched it while I cranked it over. It shot fuel to my surprise. Still wont start. red 1982 wagon. So I played with the distributor a bit, and found a HUGE wobble......But back to you.....And Welcome!

Fuel filters and maybe a pump, can of seafoam for when its started and starting fluid, if it has sat for a long time. Fuses and some hoses just in case. I got an 87 that looks the same as yours but my tailgate is shot. I'm putting in my ej now with the 5spd d/r! Nice lookin'!

Don't lowball your self, that thing is nice! Push the ball higher! Your work is involved.

http://www.mcmaster.com Like 12 bucks to $215?

^^ The water pump has a little hole in it that should look like nothing has come out of it. If it does look like fluid has come out, replace the pump as well. Best time to fully flush the whole system? Anytime!

....Well 2months ago I touched the moving blade of my table saw with the top of my finger. It trimmed my finger nail and then some. I feel like Im the luckiest guy alive for being able to say so (having 5 fingers still) but its still not all together. The scab is gone.... like the removed part, but it is still so sensitive. It hurts to run my hand through my hair. Just be glad you kept it on your foot with out losing some. All guards in place, me, off to the side, push stick on the wood....I still dont know...tablesaw bushings where getting old, was getting bad on the vibrations, I know it needed a tune..... ...don't rush, focus. Right now (you) is all that is important.

My brand new MWE axles click so bad on a 2/3rds turn that it scares me but the rest of the time they run fine! I find myself turning funny so I don't hear the click. I thought it was the junkyard axle on the other side but no.....brand new(rebuilt). Too late now.. 2yrs. (replace the boot, its so easy you will impress your significant other and still have time to shower before church!)

Dood Leather!!!! Everything is better in leather! PULL IT! ITTAINT HARD! Be the man! While your at the lumber yard just grab the stretchy plastic (and lube) and have(/make) a ball! Just go the right direction so you it doesn't unwind while you drive! "where did it go?":grin:

Close but not a humm, I'l bet an inner tie rod. How do your steering rack booties look. The PO on my car installed one that he/she didn't tighten enough and it warped the retainer ring off of it and destroyed the threads where it attaches, effectively killing the rack. The bootie was fine though. The downward pressure of the car was enough to keep it straight until you got up to speed, then it would start to wobble. If you can un attach the outer tie rod from the knuckle, you can give it a good shake and it shouldn't have any play. Same rig for me, the knuckles weren't tightened to the strut so it would just flop around and the axle castle nut was just hand tight. If you can get under the car and give it a full shake down, you'll find it. Don't forget the back. Be careful. wiggle the wheels - bearings control arms and strut rods or leading rods - bushings tie rods outer and inner - rack struts, knuckle- prolly not Has to be one or more, right?

Makes you run lean, it can fry your plugs and cylinders, warp your heads and do a lot of other damage resulting in total failure of your engine.

ea81 4 5/8ths" 90 leg 5 1/2" Measured to the center of the joint.

But the pictures help, you know, tie rods dont have a bow and to drift something has nothing to do with water!

Check the usrm, There is a great how to. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54

Dood! Score! That looks just like mine! I'm by NSCC, near northgate. I've seen one just like it in Ballard on market st. Possibly the same? Big guy with beard? What year? Wish mine had tailgate trim.

If you tighten a belt up too much you can wear out the bearings in your alt and ac power steering pump or accessories whatever you got. Get a new belt. Fix it in the parts store parking lot. Sometimes they will help too if its a slow day. Don't spray anything on the belts. Those products kill belts. Making them grab better by melting the outer surface.

I didn't go very far because someone might need it if I cant use it. It threads just fine. The flat spots show in the threads. Sorry my camera isnt so fancy there.......

The tips of the "wrench area" are all you get for thread. Check out the pic at top. I ran a die down it to see how well it took the threads. I didn't go very far, to finish, I'd a have ta gone an inch past the wrench spot to use ej outers or just a little further for the ea81 tie rod end. The tie rods make up the difference in rack width for the most part. But do you see about the "captive nut purchace"? Thanks capn'! Its been some ARRRD work! It just looks like too much surgery on the poor girl to give her the modern rudder. I dont have an ea82 rack or the money to grab one till next payday but I got this extra crossmember see. Thats a good thought, I wisk I did. I need an inner tie rod and boots first!:lol I also wonder about the rack changes through out the years. My ej rack is from a 90 leg. I'll bet they changed some by now. I want to get this crossmember back in my brat so I can get this engine and tranny out of my woodshop! Car parts and maintenance make such a mess! And you cant do both woodworking and auto repair at the same time.

Ok the ej and the ea rack are only about an 1.5 to 1.75" different in lenghth, without inner tie rods, not so bad. The outer tie rods both seem to fit the knuckle. I don't have a pic. The ej inner tie rod can be threaded down to fit but your solid thread purchase is only so much, a little good thread in deep or just enough depth, depending on which outer tie rod you use. About 1/2" to 3/4" one way or the other. With the ej outers you would have better captive nut purchase, you would have to thread past the wrenchable section and cut off the rest. I guess one won't really know how much purchase till an alignment. You can see the tapered cut "wrenching section" in the threads. You can see the inners wont interchange. in order to get any PS rack into the manual crossmember you would have to get rid of the plate at the bottom by drilling the welds out or cutting. I'll bet drilling would be best. It would bolt back on. You could just add the 4 holes for the lines of the ea81 ps rack and the grommets though if you didn't have the PS crossmember. I thought that is interesting. The problem is the size and shape of the ej ps rack. The lines would have to be re routed past the carrier bracket and away from crossmember or to new holes, or you could just cut:eek: :[ Speaking of cutting...the top. That might be a little conservative too. You might have to cut more. You can see my drawn line. I'll bet that set of cuts would RUIN the entegrity of the whole crossmember. Then making shims to get the imput shaft to the right angle. If you could shim the whole rack down away from the whole crossmsmber, it would be much more doable with out as much cutting, but that would drop it into the realm of getting to low to be any good ("Road turtle took you out?")and being out of any normal persons fab skills as the brackets would have to be really pretty burly. Might as well make your own crossmember then. With all that to take into consideration, I"ll bet its out of my league. I tried. When I pulled the old manual rack out I noticed a crap tonn of play in a inner tie rod, it was unthreading. So glad I pulled it. I'd been chasing that for a while now. So how loose are these inner tie rods supposed to be? I have two that are easy to swivel around, one that almost fell off on its own and and three that are stiff. When I put on new boots do I grease the gear with anything special?

Did this post? Cool! Auto ea81 crossmember, ea81 manual rack, ea81 power rack, and the 90 leg power rack. I found a few things out. I'll post back after dinner.

Let me post pics tomorrow and I might take you up on the welding. The other thing I was just looking at is the option to just thread the ej inners down a bit and cut off the end and use the ea81 outers. DUH! The only issue I have is the amount of threaded material for the captive nut, being on the area that is flattened for wrenching. I can get a tap tomorrow for like a 5 spot and I'll try to thread it down. The option for a captive nut alternative could exist too I imagine with out too much work like in the thread post you posted there GD. Some bolt down alternative.

Thanks for the info! You make it sound so easy! Wish I had a welder. I'll take pics tomorrow. Do the EJ outer tie rods fit the ea81 knuckle? Will 5/8ths to 3/4" thread into the outer tie rod be enough? I havent pulled it that far apart to know for myself yet, maybe tomorrow after work if I got enough daylight left. I'm hesitant to see the differences in a ea81 manual rack as I don't "have to" pull the booties on it, but I might anyway. I spent all day cleaning the engine bay to get a clean slate for this swap and stopped short of pulling the crossmember.