pwjm

Thanks for the info! It's been my experience with VLSD's that they tend to stop working fairly early in their life and don't take abuse well. At least in my nissan and a buddies miata. For my nissan, it's actually not something you can repair as it's a sealed unit.

When comparing Loyal's (4wd) with legacy and impreza's (awd)... how do the awd systems of the early 90's work. since most models didn't have any special diffs in them, was it pretty much just power to one wheel, but it could go to any wheel. I understand that most 4wd systems guarantee that at least 2 wheels (1 front and 1 back) get power to them. if anyone can help clear this up, it'd be greatly appreciated.

got it all done tonight. Had a lot of little issues and basically redid the same side like 3 times. Lol.. its a learning curve that's for sure. We ended up removing the axles from the car so it was easier to work with. then used the castle nut to pull the axle through the bearings. Re-pressed the outside bearing cause it had moved, and made sure things weren't super tight (they were once). Bolted it all up and drove 15km back home with no more howling front end! yay!

Got the wheel assembly's all apart today to replace the bearings and overlooked the fact that each side has TWO bearings. as well the parts guy didn't give me the right inner(or outers?) grease seals. Two of the 4 fit, the other two did not. That left me with enough parts to assembly one side before getting parts tomorrow. I used the press at the shop but it seems like the outer side bearing didn't press in all the way. the seal sticks out about 1/16'th of an inch. Will this be okay to install like that if that is indeed the case? P.S. anyone know the correct part number for the seals? are they the same for inner and outer? For ref: 87 Gl hatch 4wd.

local shop quoted me over 400 to get the job done... not the worst I've heard but I know I can do it dirt cheap if I do it myself. how hard is it? and will i need any special tools beyond wrenches and sockets? for ref its an 87 ea81 4wd.

EA81 hatch, it's been a little harder on gas lately, and is backfiring between shifts and when decelerating. Usually just a quiet Put put put on decel, and occasionally a moderate POP between shifts... although it can sound like a gun shot If I Floor it from the bottom of the gear. I looked over the vac lines a little bit and they all seem attached properly, didn't look to hard for cracks though. The exhaust smells very rich as well. this is the first carbed vehicle I've ever had, so I just need some advice on where to start looking for problems.

K, thanks Yo'J. Looks like there is indeed some play in the steering rack on the passenger side. Anyone know if it's safe to drive like this for a little while? The noise isn't insanely loud or violent sounding and the car still tracks straight. It's Xmas and I need to go see my family on thursday. Can I tighten something up and fix it in car or am I going to need a new steering rack like Yo'j said. Old suby parts like this are a pain to find here, do other models share the same rack as my GL hatch?

I swear, the deeper the snow gets, the more I love this car. Me trying desperately to pull my buddies toyota up the hill... lol.. right. Worth a shot though. Sorry about the craptastic quality... my cell takes terrible videos. Hmm guess you can't embed youtube videos on these forums??

hmm thanks for the input guys! I forsee myself having some problems already though. The nozzles are in the cowl, not on the hood... time to get dirty and just fix it or break it I guess.

the PS one works pretty good, but the DS one barely makes it over the windshield wiper. Do those nozzles come off or anything so I can replace it? Also when its cold out the squirters tend to barely work at all. they have legit bug wash in them so they shouldn't be freezing, but does the motor that power the nozzles stop working in the cold after a while?

Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough but a lot of stuff I found on google relating to how each of these systems work is a lot of marketing BS. I continually hear conflicting ideas from friends and media about how awd systems work. I understand 4wd systems. Both one front tire and one rear tire have power going to the tire with the least amount of traction... Limited slips and lockers fix this, and that's why people install them. On most AWD cars, isn't it safe to say that unless they have at the very least, a center diff with LSD, only one tire on any given corner of the car will get the power, and it's most likely to be the tire with the least traction. Am I missing something here? Who the hell would buy an AWD car with open diffs all the way around? And yet they are advertised as these very capable vehicles... anyone know a good thorough guide that breaks it all down without the marketing hype?

I'm finally starting to get the hang of pitching my 87 Hatch sideways on the snow, but it's a big adjustment not being able to use the E-brake to do it. I do a bit of a Scandinavian flick and steer the wrong way briefly then crank it hard into the corner. It generally throws the back end out, but on occasion I scare the crap out of myself and briefly under-steer dangerously close to a ditch. How do you other 4wd guys do it? Scandinavian flick? Just turn real hard and wait for the front tires to bite? Clutch kicks?

Just had to share that this 7 dollar part was hands down the best part I've ever put on my EA81!!! Car warms up faster and doesn't run nearly as rough when its cold out! Carb heater hose = win. I finally kind of understand why they run coolant lines through the TB's on EFI cars now.

1987 GL hatch, 4wd EA81 The symptom: over 50kph when going straight or during right turns it sounds like my tires are 33" boggers humming down the highway. SLIGHT vibration like an unbalanced tire, but its good to 120 kph so that's not it. If I get on the brakes, or start turning left at all it goes away. I've only got three guesses and enough money to get one fixed. lol Axle Alignment Wheel bearing I think it might be the alignment because the outside edge of my Front Pass tire is balding but I just thought it was because of he positive camber till now. Also when turning all the way to the left the steering tends to lock itself there like it wants to keep turning left. Not so when turning right. The car also pulls slightly to the left while driving, thought not incredibly bad. anyone have experience with this kind of problem?

what color smoke? It might just be condensation in the exhaust, sometimes you'd be surprised how much can come out once it starts getting warm. If its not condensation I think I've had the same thing happen on my EA81. I was just leaving the movies and let the choke rev the motor up to warm it up and suddenly a cloud of white smoke passes by me... I idled it down immediately and assumed the freshly installed headgasket was a failure, but to my suprise there was no more smoke. Even when revving it, still no smoke... just for that couple of seconds did it smoke and then nothing. And nothing since. I chalked it up to condensation and old coolant that dripped in the exhaust from the HG job. If its not that, it must be an emissions thing... I don't think HG's open up and seal themselves randomly like that.

Spacers are a gimmicky area. In some cases they truly do work. In others it's completely in your head. And almost always, the swirls don't make a single bit of difference. I'm not an engineer or anything, but I've heard that on certain setups they can effect the velocity at which the air charge enters the head... Or rather, it increases the runner length of your intake. Many cars benefit in the low end from longer intake runners. Just look at the ones on the 240sx motors. seen here on the left of the engine bay. It's got something to do with how the air keeps its velocity between intake pulses.

lol, the fram is gone. I heeded the warnings of the subaru gods (this forum). It's some white one now, forget which brand though. 210,000 km's and it still runs like a top despite me having fiddled with it several times!! It's not really surprising though considering how simple the design is. OHV pushrod motors FTW! It's a hell of a lot more simple than the 240sx motor I've got torn down.

First off, many thanks to GD for all his patient help on here! in no particular order: Checking for cracked block (water pouring into oil after a -30 cold start with frozen rad)... lucked out and it was just a HG Went to re-torque head and this happened. Need more clearance....

the rocker arm assembly has worked itself loose on the side with the stripped bolt. Is it possible to remove the head and heli-coil that hole without removing the engine from the car? it looks tight by do-able.

as always GD, you're the man! Good to know. yea, I've had no luck at all with this motor. It's be "worked" on before by previous owners so I'm sure you know how that goes. There were a couple of really new looking studs in the block. I should have replaced all the head studs while it was open but I'm not employed and its only a winter beater... too much rust to bother fixing up properly. More than one heli-coil on any block starts to get a little embarrassing :S The weird thing is that the bolts that hold the rocker arms on (the one that stripped) were the ones that were in the best shape! they had the least signs of corrosion and the threads where the cleanest of the bunch! Go figure!

Bit of bad luck I suppose. I just went to re-torque the head nuts on my hatch tonight and one of the studs that holds the rocker arm assembly on is stripped. It went in fine and torqued up fine, but I guess the heat cycles must have stripped it. I've put about 200km on the motor since I did the Head-gasket this summer and everything seems okay so far. I'm about to take the car 2 hours out of town tomorrow so I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed. anyone else have similar experiences? I know for a fact I drove this car at least 100km last winter with one head nut missing entirely (fell into oil pan) and another on the same side finger tight. PLUS a completely stripped stud on the opposite side. I'm amazed that's even possible. Reminder to self - never buy another "fixer-upper" with an all aluminum engine.

Is it normal for there to be 2-5 degrees of positive camber on the front wheels in a 4wd hatch? (non lifted) \\>----<// The car looks like that from dead on. The guy I bought it off of said it's always been like that. They all just came that way... same as a lot of old ford pick ups. Is there a way to adjust it via the leading arms or something? There doesn't seem to be a way to adjust camber on the EA81's and the positive camber it sits with now is stupid looking. It can't be good for the handling of the car either.

Thanks! I got it all fixed up tonight. Just had to clean up the threads on the strut a tad then use one of my spare lug nuts on the top. All fixed!

I can use a lug nut? really? that sounds too good to be true! anyone know what the specs are on the "correct" nut so I can buy a proper nut. I don't really want to be driving around with a lug nut on there (assuming it works). On a side note: WOW google loves this site. This post is already ranked 3'rd for the search term "subaru strut nut size". And thanks for the input so far guys *edit*... I read the EA81 lugs are M12 x 1.25. can anyone confirm that?

I'm in a real pinch. I was changing the oil on my 87 chaser and long story short, the top nut on my driverside strut stripped and slipped off. I went and rented a spring compressor today so I can at least get the whole assembly out, but I'm having a HELL of a time finding a nut to use as the top nut on the strut. You'd think in a country that uses the metric system, metric bolts and nuts would be readily available at most hardware stores right?? NOPE. Nobody seems to have anything bigger than an M12 and even then the thread pitch options are few (well only course) Does anyone know off hand (or could you check) what nut I need for the top of my strut?? The car is parked at my buddies work, and its fine for the weekend but it's gotta be gone by tomorrow. I can't even get in there till 4:00 pm and that leaves me a VERY small window of time to get the bolt and find the right size at a store (assuming they're open).