Twitch de la Brat

The clicking is most likely the axle. I work for O'Reilly's and we have the same crappy reman brand (A1 Cardone) that everyone else carries. EMPI is better, or MWE over in Colorado. He's on here, or you can contact him through Shawn (Site Admin) as Shawn has his own Suby Shop (Retro-roo). Reman'd axles are infamous for being junk for Subarus. Manual Transmissions typically don't have issues with being overfull, as long as its not excessive (like a full quart+ over). Worst that will probably happen is it'll push some up and out the dipstick if it gets really hot. Twitch

General Disorder is a really good guy and knows most of these EA engines inside and out. He lives in the Portland area, so you might try contacting him and getting directions to his shop. Twitch

Its an 80's German car. A Ford at that. I'm expecting electrical issues If it starts to bug out I'll just rewire the circuits as they fail. Twitch

I was considering upgrading to the T-bird engine components, but that all depends on pricing and availability. It may sound like a good idea, but if it costs me $1500 just in parts, its not worth it. Or if I have to scour the countryside to find anything... I'm sure I can upgrade the rear drums somehow. Maybe retrofit EA front discs on there I'm not concerned about the tranny, I won't be racing it. And if it breaks, UPGRADE! :-p Twitch

I spy a sunshine yellow WRX wagon...

I have read up on these quite a bit. Plans are to put an intercooler in after the initial tune up and first impressions. I know that 2.3 is tough. I know Rousch ran one at 750hp for a racing series, so I have no doubt that sucker'll take a beating. I'm just looking to keep it as my luxury hooning car, if that makes any sense :-p Its a got the full luxury treatment inside, but is RWD and a 5sp If only it had been the Sierra XR4x4 they imported... JK. My AWD craving is solved by my Subarus. Twitch

With a Ford of all things :-/ I'm looking at working off a little Merkur XR4Ti. Its basically Ford's version of an Audi, albeit RWD. 2.3 I4 Turbo, 5 speed, 4 seater coupe, pretty much loaded... Its completely German built and designed. I haven't gotten to drive it, as it needs a tune up, but the previous owner (good friend) said it drives nice. Any opinions? I'll get pics next time I'm up there. It'll be a while since he's vacationing in Florida and its a 2 hour drive from my house. Twitch

Unless of course you use a larger drill bit ad bevel the holes. Then you can use standard self centering, tapered lugnuts. Anyone with a decent drill press skills and the right tools should be able to do it. Twitch

We're all too cheap! :-p Twitch

Just a gentle burble... Twitch

Congrats. Did you top up the system after the initial warmup? As long as the level is within 2 inches of the top I wouldn't worry too much, but it may have had to refill the heate core and a pocket or two, so rechecking your level would be a good idea before you really test it.

As Northguy said, some more details would make it easier to diagnose. Do all of your idiot lights shut off as well when it dies? Does everything just cut and you have nothing until it randomly decides to work again? If that's the case, try looking at your ignition wires under the dash, or your fusible links in the engine bay. either may be failing. The ignition wires run through the under side of the steering column. They should just be hanging after you pull the plasric cover off, make sure not to fubar your turn signal while you're in there. The fusible links are in a little box on the passenger side of the engine bay, right in front of the strut mount. The black one is main power, I think it's a 50 or 60 amp. That one should be your first suspect. The other 2 (or 3 if you have extra accesories) will be green and red. Those should be inspected while you're in there as well. Twitch

If you want to be absolutely sure, pull your thermostat, after installing the lower hose, and fill the block directly. After filling the block, put the thermostat back in, re-affix the housing, and finish filling the system via the radiator. It eliminates the need for any burping and any chance (negating freak occurences) of it air locking. Twitch

Ok, here's a list. My 83 Wagon. Disassembled the air cleaner and all associated vacuum hoses and decided to reorganize some of them. (Got to fix some of that in a dark rainy walmart parking lot after being carded to buy carb cleaner. WTF?) He used/misplaced almost all of the right bolts for the air cleaner assembly. Failed to replace several important vacuum hoses Pulled/cut out the center of the thermostat to hide a leaking HG Somehow killed an HG in an EA81 with less than 200k. I'm sure there's more I haven't discovered yet. Twitch

Not to start any fights here, but there is a drastic difference between theorizing about how something feels and feeling it. I'm just saying it would have been a good idea to do a little more research. Twitch

I want to rant your face off. You should've at least asked GD to test drive his SS. The only real difference I've noticed between the NA and Turbo Legacies is the quantity of power. So it would have given you a decent idea of what a first gen legacy drives like. I'm discovering that I have to build my perfect Subaru. And that doesn't include an EA82. I'm with GD. The EA82 is a dead platform. As for your question, I would just pay attention to GD and nod and go "uh huh." No need to make any more dumb mistakes. He knows what he's doing and will do that engine good. Twitch

Ok, its not the diff. I turns out I wasn't able seeing it right, the outside cup on the driver's side has all the slop. My mistake, found the nasty shake and vibration I was having. Thanks for the suggestion of the freeze plug. I'm thinking it may have had a blown HG wen I bought it, because I never seemed to get hot enough long enough. And the heater would cool off within a couple minutes of turning it on. That leads me to believe somebody pulled the thermostat, or cut out the center. And I expect to see a bunch of muck in the valve covers. I think the gasket has finally let go to the point its leaking into the coolant and the oil, rather than just leaking coolant into the cylinders. Twitch

*sigh* MY 83 Wagon blew chocolate milk out of the PCV valve. I know I need to replace my PCV valve, it has blown oil through before. But now I've got a gnarly mix of oil and water out of it. My dipstick doesn't show any water in the oil, but I haven't checked the rad yet. I'll get the pix uploaded once I find the cord to my camera. Its also been drinking water like a diuretic in the desert. Likelihood of a blown HG is, high? Not to mention there is a horrid vibration coming from somewhere in the car. There is a pretty severe looseness in the front diff. 15-20 degrees of wiggle :-\ So, now I'm debating on replacing the engine or just ditching the car and parting it out. The body is mostly solid, and I'd feel awful for crushing a nice bodied EA81. So, the choice is, do I fix, or do I drop and put that money towards my frankenmotor for my Legacy and repairing my BRAT? Twitch PS:Anybody in the market for an EA81 that needs help?

I have dropped a tranny and pulled an engine. Its faster to partially drop the tranny (it took me 6 hours). I have a write-up in the USRM about it, its under the "Transmission, Axle and Brakes" section, linky. I should revise that to include dropping a carrier bearing in addition to unbolting the driveshaft from the rear diff. You will have limited space to work, but it was more than enough room to pull the pressure plate and disc. I'm sure there will be enough room to pull the flywheel as well. The other items were very easy to get to as well, we just didn't replace them. Twitch

Yes, Josh does. Thank you for the extra info for verification. I just like to be completely sure about something, especially when its as important/expensive as this is. Twitch

This seems slightly odd, as my old 90 4EAT was a 4.111. And my 94 5sp is a 4.111 as well. I'd be more apt to do some more searching to verify that it truly is a 3.9, just in case. This is a different case than yours Autos have a different input shaft than the manuals. The input shaft on an automatic slides into the torque converter, the torque converter bolts to a flexplate, and the flexplate is then bolted to the crank. A manual's input shaft slides into a clutch plate which has friction applied to it from a pressure plate. The pressure plate that is bolted to a weighted flywheel,which, in turn, is bolted to the crank. Now, I believe you're referring to axle shafts, not input shafts. The 93 FWD Impreza was an oddball, in that it has 23 spline axle shafts, while the rest of the EJ transmissions had 25 spline axle shafts. If you are referring to input shafts, I'm not sure there is a difference in spline counts/size in any of the 90's EJ input shafts. Twitch

Don't you love that grunt? My BRAT's EA81 will just about pull through anything. It takes a lot to bog out an EA81. You'll lose some of that low end torque if you go too big with the exhaust. And I've heard the gains for the upper end aren't worth the loss of the lower wend. I think just cutting out the cat and installing a glasspack would suffice to give you a good rumble without losing much if any low end. Twitch

Oh dear god. Please tell me that's conjecture. Because I can tell you, head work will become a severe chore if they have externalized the oil and coolant passages. Ever try to break loose an EGR pipe? (As was 987687 mentioned) I can only imagine 10 years down the road in a rust state those lines are going to breaking and rusting to bits... Twitch

I'm pretty sure unless its a turbo tranny, it has the same spline count as the stock EA71 axles. And since its an EA71, you'll definitely need the EA82 flywheel and clutch assembly, as the EA71 stuff is all smaller diameter. Now for mounting, you will need a custom mount setup as well as some tranny tunnel bashing. The 5 speed is larger than the stock 4, by a decent amount. Twitch

Search the interwebz for the Toyota FT-86. Same car, and they're releasing new specs and info on it fairly often now, so you may be able to find what you're seeking through some search-fu. Also, I was perusing an article on the new Imp, and Subaru has done away with the EJ. So, I'm thinking we may need a new section. A lot of the technologies may transfer, but I'm pretty sure the new engine design is too far off to keep in the same boat as the EJ series. RIP EJ Twitch PS:This does apply, as the 2012 model year is the beginning of a completely new era in Subaru's history.