Numbchux

fair enough. car-part doesn't really show many nearby, except the yard here in town, who I absolutely HATE. I know when I drove this thing right after we got the new gas tank in it ~5 years ago, it didn't have this issue. And it probably has less than 50 miles on it since then, and a few of those would be in a swamp. So I wouldn't be a bit surprised if things got flushed out. I'm going to stuff some lube in there, and hopefully that helps enough that I can wheel it a few times this year. Then I'll just plan on replacing the rack when I do the EJ swap.

nothing wrong with it as a brand....but it worries me that rockauto lists that part number for EA81 and EA82 models. Get the dimensions (specifically the tooth count on the disc).

I think I remember seeing that you could use a nissan throwout bearing so you could use an EA82 pressure plate in front of an EA81 tranny. But, the EA81 transmission only has 21 splines, whereas the EA82 has 23. So the disc will be different, at the very least. If you want this to last, I HIGHLY recommend the Beck/Arnley kit. I've put 3 in 3 different cars (2 of them EJ22 swapped, 3rd was my '88 XT6), and they're very high quality. The one in my loyale has about 50k on it now, and is still going strong. but it sounds like you're looking for cheap and somewhat temporary.....that oreilly one sounds like a decent option. There are a few on rockauto, but the cheapest one that I would use is 130+shipping (2 are FWD, with the 7 7/8" disc. and the sachs one says it's the same part number for EA81 and EA82.....hmmmm).

I've got some nasty binding in the steering rack of the brat. I originally figured that it was a shot u-joint....so I pulled the shaft out, and the joints were fine. So, I decided to move the rack through it's range of motion....and wow. Something is NOT right. It is very difficult to get the steering to move. Can this be lubricated? I was thinking of just pulling back the tie rod bellows and stuffing a bunch of grease back in there. I really hope I can do it with the rack in the car, as I'm pretty sure that the exhaust studs will not be reusable.

Side effect of having my brat stored where it is. 25 mile one-way trip out there, so whatever tools/parts I have with me are pretty much all I have. I would very much like to have a plan of attack before I go out there again on Thursday. The battery in my brat isn't in the greatest shape. I knew this, and since it hasn't really been run for more than a couple minutes since I bought it. So I let it idle for a couple hours while I was working on the front suspension today. I was frequently checking the gauges, temp and voltage both looked excellent. Until, the voltage looked a little low. I hopped in, and gently brought the rpms up a bit, and the voltage fluctuated quite a bit. This seemed odd to me, so I turned the car off. When I turned the ignition back on, nothing. no lights, no nothing. I'm assuming something blew or fried and it was just running off the alternator for a few minutes. So, with mediocre light (no electricity out there), and no volt meter, I set about trying to track it down. The horn and hazards try to work, but not really. so I think some voltage is getting through, but just barely. I checked all the fuses, none blown. fusible links appear to be OK. I removed all 3 and inspected them for any sign of failure. That's all I could think to check without a volt meter. Obviously I will bring one with me when I go back on Thursday. But any insight would be greatly appreciated. I don't know EA81 wiring like I do newer subarus.....

we'll just have to agree to disagree, I guess. The drag link remains parallel to the panhard throughout the steering range. so it wouldn't matter if you're turning. I understand your concern in the liability of building a customer rig. This is why I bring up the examples of numerous major manufacturers building it that way. Anyway, thanks for answering. I love getting technical on suspension setups. But I still think the symptoms you describe would be caused by other factors than just not having a level panhard

um....what? care to offer some reasoning behind your opinion? It's almost exactly how many coil-sprung solid-axle front ends are setup (TJs, XJs, Land rover discos, FJ80s) respectively it's even common to have an angled drag link on a leaf-sprung truck I'm sorry man, I don't claim to be an expert. But I have a pretty good understanding of suspension geometry. And I have driven numerous rigs both on- and off-road that were setup like that, and they drive just fine. In other news....a google image search for "toyota 3-link" comes up with a few pics of Mick's brat! Nice!

I just noticed this post.... I think you're looking at the wrong steering link. The tie rod, that runs horizontally, just keeps the 2 front wheels parallel. The drag link, which connects the steering box to the knuckles, runs parallel to the panhard. This means that those 2 arms travel along the same arc. No bump-steer. From a geometry standpoint, keeping those horizontal is ideal. But in the real world, space doesn't always allow that. And as long as they stay parallel, it's perfectly safe and stable.

They have the resistor required to make the LED work, but not to make the flasher work. There are resistors to mimic the load of a traditional light so your flasher works properly, but that would defeat the purpose of running LEDs (lower draw). Just get a flasher designed for LEDs

don't assume that everything on superbrightleds are actually superbright. I bought the cheapest ones for my celica, and they were not bright enough for primary use. customer service was great, and I was able to return them. I'd buy again, but don't cheap out on your marker lights. I recently bought LED dome lights for my 4runner from autolumination.com. They're site is a little harder to navigate, but a great selection and good prices. and for custom applications, check out oznium.com

If you bolt the loyale shifter to the legacy transmission, it will all line up pretty closely. The transmission is longer, but the shifter hookups are only about an inch further back than the loyale trans, so it's pretty close. I did this in my '88 XT6 when I put an EJ trans in it. I just un-bolted the linkage from the body (so it could move back a bit) and bolted it to the trans. The geometry is a bit different, but it was close enough to work pretty well. Driveshaft will have to be shortened 2". no EJ driveshaft will work. The wheelbase is different between the loyale and legacy/loyale.

This is awesome. While not my exact experience, it perfectly describes how I feel about this project!! Keep at it. Ask any and every car guy you know and trust for recommendations about wiring. They would not have to know anything specific about subarus, as it's just lighting, gauges, and a simple carbed engine. There has to be someone fairly local to you that's got a knack for wiring and a passion for unique projects like this that would come give you a hand. I've said it before, and I'm absolutely serious: If I were local to you, I would do it on my own time. It'd probably only take an afternoon to do. If you'd like, I could probably make up a wiring diagram for it, and point you in the right direction for some quality parts to do it right.

This is not exactly accurate. The center diff case is separate from the front case halves. What you're looking at doing is not possible, but not because of the part-time/full-time/AWD issues. That's just a matter of using the center diff and case that matches the front pinion. For example. The transmission that came in my '88 XT6 had a ruined 3rd gear (might have been 2nd....but whatever). That was a 3.90, full-time 4WD (with diff lock) 5MT. I bought a 4.111 impreza transmission, and dropped the internals in the XT6 case, using the impreza center diff and housing. It was very straightforward, and 100% worth it The issue is, you can't interchange the front case halves between Dual-range and single-range. There are some crude castings for the low range gearset in the early EJ trans, but it would take some serious machining to actually have the bearing surfaces that would work. You would need the front case halves from an EJ D/R transmission, with that, you could assemble the ultimate transmission with all parts available here in the US. You absolutely can put an EJ front ring and pinion in an EA series D/R along with the EJ center diff and housing, but your RX donor needs to be the '87+ FT4WD version. The pinion shaft and transmission output shaft are one piece on the PT4WD version.

It would probably work. The PO of my brat did a 6-lug conversion, but the new studs he used were too long, so the nuts would bottom out on the threads before they touched the wheel. So basically 2 studs per side. That said, I don't think he realized that those 4 studs weren't really doing anything (although, I suppose if the 2 that were working broke, the other 4 would prevent anything catastrophic). I do not intend to drive it, at all, until it's fixed. IMHO, if you've got 4-lug wheels on it anyway, the cost of 4 more studs to bolt them on properly would be some pretty cheap insurance.

pretty cool, not sure I would have done the LED strips....but it's certainly well done. I looked a little into doing something like that on my loyale, but had zero confidence that I could get the lens truly clear. Good work!

Follow-up, finally got around to doing it this week. Turned out the failure last winter wasn't as catastrophic as it sounded. The '94 did not have an EGR (was a 5MT, but I don't think my '92 2.2 had one either, and it was from an AT). I did not have to splice a single wire. 100% plug-n-play, all mechanical modifications. What I did, was pull the accessories off the block (leaving power steering and A/C lines connected, just pulled the pumps out of the way). Pulled the intake manifold. dropped the exhaust. pulled the motor out. Then I swapped the engine harness. There was a little goofy-ness with the purge solenoid, I opted to just swap it over and duplicate the vacuum line layout (including the Ts for the 2 sensors on the strut tower that weren't there on the '94). no EGR...left that plug dangling. Crank and Cam angle sensors are wired different, the '94 runs separate wires back to their own plugs on the back of the motors, '95+ has a plug right on the sensor and the wiring is integrated into the engine harness. I swapped the sensors, totally straightforward. knock sensor plugged right in. TPS sensor was different, still 3 wires, I assume the signal would work, but instead I opted to swap the throttle bodies. Then install just like it was meant to be there. I have not yet swapped the ECUs, but I will. Butt-dyno says it's running excellent on 89 octane, but I would still rather have the ignition maps designed for 87. Power is not bad. Faster than my 1.6 Celica.....Outback gears definitely help!

It's not a signal coming from the ECU. It's just a 12 volt reference for the voltage regulator. It is tied into that circuit to insure that the voltages going into the ECU and ignition coil stay as close to 12v as possible. Neither of the EJ swaps that I did myself had the alternator wiring tied into the engine/ECU wiring. One is close to 100k miles since the swap, the other over 30k.

My brat is reclocked. Not sure how many we skipped, but it was a few. 4" strut extensions in the front, and the eyeball says the back is a bit more. Definitely wasn't just 1 spline though. It's not a small project. Here in the rust belt (this body has over 200k on it, AFAIK all in the midwest), we had a heck of a time getting them out. Also, the rear alignment is definitely not right now.....

Just grab a pair of banjo bolts. IIRC, the threads on EJ banjo bolts are the same as the EA82 rear calipers. That's what I ran on my old lifted wagon.

nah, that would mean it doesn't get used. Sounds like you wheel it quite a bit, yes? Someday, I'm going to "finish" my 4runner.....and I'll make the pilgrimage to come wheeling with ya.

Pretty sure they've said "coming soon" for many many years. If someone makes a locker that would fit in a subaru r180 (I don't know if the subaru version is 8 or 10 bolt RG...), it would be extremely easy to put it in any subaru.

have you used those in a lifted rig? I've always been curious if they would stay in the diff.

2 things. hate to burst your bubble....but take a closer look at your ARB link there. All the R180 applications say "NA" under the part number, with a note to the bottom saying "coming soon". Second, an R180 is bolt-in as far as mounting it to the body in an r160 car. The 4 mounting bolts in the front, and 2 studs in the back are in the same place relative to each other. The bottom of the diff hangs down further, so an r160 skidplate won't fit. This is done all the time. The challenge is axles. If you're doing it in an EA car, you'll have to either have a driveshaft shop put the larger r180 flange on the end of an EA driveshaft, or swap the r160 flange onto the r180 (not ideal...but it works). http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=114926

easiest way, is swap the carrier into the 4.444 housing. Just like the well-documented LSD swap.

this is absolutely false. The alternator only needs a 12v reference signal to maintain proper voltage. On early legacies, it's tapped into the ignition coil power wire. has nothing to do with the ECU you either had it wired wrong, or the regulator in your alternator had failed (happened in my dad's legacy...ruined a battery before we installed a volt gauge and realized what was happening).