BEECHBM69

That's bordering on criminal behavior. Dan

What you consider dumb in one area or instance is survival in another. If you have never lived, or possibly even seen such an area, your opinion of what is dumb or not dumb has no relevance. Dan

I get what you're saying, and thought 100mph was insanely fast for any public road. You hear of celebrities getting pulled doing 100+ and think "What an idiot." I did too. And then I did a stint living outside of Atlanta, using I20 to commute everyday. He is not exaggerating in that 90mph is just keeping up with traffic, and 100+ is not so much out of the realm of normal. I had never seen anything like it before, or since. I'm sure there are other metropolitan places where traffic patterns and road engineering, coupled with an underfunded/ understaffed constabulary make ripe grounds for similar experiences. (Miami comes to mind.) Anyway, the my point was, all things are not as they appear at first blush. Dan

Old school mechanic told me something simple that I never forgot: Hot on the highway = water flow problem, hot in the driveway = airflow problem. Big generality, and there are certainly exceptions, but this idea always gives you a place to start looking. Dan

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but in light of everything you're asking, and some of the things you've said, I'm going to offer you some realistic advice. If you want to restore/upgrade/modify your EA82, buy something else to drive in the meantime. What you are contemplating "in a weekend" is not really realistic. These are fun and easy cars to play and tinker with, but it becomes awfully stressful when it's the only thing you have to drive (I have a fleet of three, so no matter what happens, I can get in something and drive to work.) Just a thought. Good luck in whatever you do. Dan

Ahhh...... I see now why yours rub and mine don't. Those are aftermarket rims, whereas mine are stock steelies. Dan

I'm putting them on my hatchback currently. With no previous bodywork or welding experience, I made them work, and they look almost stock. One word of advice: If the sill directly under the door is still solid, preserve that edge line. I cut the entire rocker and sill out on the passenger side (first side I did) and regretted it later. I had to cut and bend a new piece to fit over the new rocker to recreate the edge under the door. Didn't make the same mistake on the other side and it cut down on a lot of work. Dan

I have those exact rims on my 87 GL wagon, with 195/60/15's. No lift, no rubbing, and they don't stick out. 4x140 is his bolt pattern, and yours. Make sure they are really 15's and not 390's. It will be stamped on the rims. Try to get the lugnuts from him if you can. Dan

Most issues I have seen with leaking resulted from not cleaning the surface properly. Any old material left behind can create issues, especially when dealing with a paper thin gasket such as for the water pump. If it's leaking from the seal (be sure it's not a hose connection running down the side making it look like the seal) your only option is to take it off and do it again. Whereas golucky above says don't use any, I will say if you do us sealant, it only needs to be a film to cover the paper, not a bead. If you left a bead on both sides that was too much, and you may have left a void somewhere. Good luck! Dan

Ah..... I'm not familiar with the aluminums. I had the steel wagon wheel looking variety from the early eighties. That might be the difference. Dan

I have that exact setup on my hatchback and have zero issues with rubbing. Just out of curiosity, have you had the shocks off/ tophats out? When I redid the frontend the new tophats were stamped FWD/4WD, and had to be turned a certain way to reflect the application. Not sure how much difference it made. As to suspension only lift, on an EA81 it's a bad idea, as the axles don't take well to it. Good luck. Dan

I've got 195/60/15s wrapped around pugs on my wagon with no lift, and no issues. Dan

These are horrible, worthless little cars and you need to sell it to me ASAP to relieve yourself of any further pain, anguish, and financial burden................ All kidding aside, the sitting can be problematic in the short term, in that 3 years of maladies that would have been resolved as they came up, are stacked to be resolved as soon as you start driving it again. In my limited experience over the years, rod knock has never been an issue unless the engine has been abused in some fashion, which can happen if you've got a leaker and don't stay on top of the oil. TOD is a much more prevalent malady, possibly exacerbated by a long period of dormancy. Good luck with it! Dan

83 GL Coupe FWD 5spd 87,000 87 EA81 GL Hatch 4WD 4spd 140,000 87 GL Wagon 4WD D/R 5spd 130,000 as of today. 88 GL Wagon 2wd auto parts car 100,000 (soon to be parted out) Dan

Another member did an extensive write-up on the subject here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/123869-cooler-temp-thermoswitch/?p=1063813 Dan

There seems to be another common denominator in your mechanical maladies aside from brand. Since everything else belonged to other family members, the problem may reside with you, and not Subaru.......... Just a thought........ Dan

Hoarders never sell anything, so it's not likely you would help me anyway (this is all in fun ) I'm 5 hours from Baltimore myself, on the wrong side of DC, so it wouldn't be cost effective for me to do it. You could likely have it shipped half way to you for what I would need in diesel fuel to go get it. He might think you're from Nigeria when you started talking about "my agent, acting on my behalf, will come for the car. You can pay him the overage from my cashier's check......" Good luck in any case. Dan

No offense, but I doubt anybody on this coast is going to assist you in relieving us of a rare gem, already brought here from Texas....... Dan

Jerry, aka bratsrus1, makes and sells the 5spd swap kit you referred to. Dan

I just bought one from CFS, I believe it was a 933, but I don't have the paperwork in front of me. If you go this route, you will have to grind the bung down a little for the fan thermoswitch so it seats right. Somebody else posted about it in another thread and saved me the headache of learning the hard way. Dan

Mine ride on the very back edge of the pulley, never thought it was an issue unless it runs off the pulley. I guess that's why it looked normal to me.....lol Dan

GD recently said the EA82 part was discontinued. To the OP: Ebay or Carparts might be a place to get a used one. Might also try the WTB section of the forum. Good luck!

What are we looking for exactly? Forgive me, but I'm missing it. (I hope it's not something obvious and I've reached my idiot quota for the day..... ) Dan

Whereas you are certainly entitled to your opinion, most normal people don't notice mine are drilled until I point it out to them. Dan

Redrilling wheels is the quick and easy answer. Also, a lift is not necessary if you are reasonable in your choices: I have 195/70/14s on my hatch with no lift, and 195/60/15s on my wagon with no lift. Not rock crawlers by any stretch, but a big improvement over the 13s, and they do what I need them to do. Dan