Scoobywagon

To be quite honest, I have no real experience with actual rallyX. I do however, like to get out on the forest roads once in a while and play rally driver just a bit. I have found that a good set of winter tires with the studs removed works REALLY well in almost all conditions. Now, I'm not sure how that'll translate into actual rallyX usage since the speeds I usually play at seldom exceed 45-50 mph. On the legacy wagon, I use 205/70-14 when playing. If you should try this, I think I'd recommend against getting something like a set of Hakka's. Just plain-jane winter tires.

I'll keep working on it. I assume you just want to see what the car would look like murdered out. Here's version 1.

As far as AC goes, its pricey. Most of the time, the add on kit will cost you anywhere from $300 on up just in parts. Finding a proper kit for a vehicle of this age might be difficult. Since you are considering an engine swap anyway, might I recommend that you simply acquire the whole donor car instead of just the engine. That way you'll have all the odds and ends you'll need to complete the EJ swap. Additionally, most EJ cars came with AC, so all the brackets and compressor and such would be there. Then you just have to add the rest of the plumbing, most of which can be had from your donor car anyway. At that point, the only things I can think of that you will need will be the appropriate evaporator and the AC controls. Prices vary by region, but you can get a decent parts car here for a couple of hundred dollars. Maybe the best approach would be to find a car that got rear-ended and buy the whole car. Maybe $1000 tops? That'll get you pretty much everything you need to do an EJ swap with AC. Then you just have to figure out the labor end of it. Are you doing the work yourself or haveing a shop do it?

I've got a parts car in Tacoma that I need to go pick up. Unfortunately, for some reason I cannot seem to make there be both a truck and a trailer in the same place at the same time. So....is there anyone who might have a truck and/or trailer that I could borrow in exchange for...say....beer and/or food? Thanks, Guys/Gals!

If I had to guess, one of the door switches is stuck in the "unlock" position. I'd start with that.

Yes, you can, but you have to go through some STRANGE circumlocutions to make it work. Portals from a VW microbus spring immediately to mind. The problem there is that they provide gear reduction as well as torque reversal. That'd be counterproductive for you. Saw a rock buggy once that had the 5-spd D/R trans. They mounted engine and trans, facing forward, over the back axle and then used a weird sort of chain drive to turn a drive shaft that ran back up to the front. If I was gonna try this, I think I might go with a sort of hybrid AWD system. You'd have to do a bunch of math to make it work right, but I think its probably doable. You'd add a diff to the front end to drive the wheels. Fit up an electric motor to that diff. Add on a secondary alternator and battery just for the front motor. Fab up a speed controller and there you are.

Sounds like the starter isn't getting enough current. I'd meter at the solenoid line on the starter as well as the connection directly from the battery. Make sure that you're getting 12v at the starter at both the primary stud as well as the solenoid connector when the key is in the "start" position. If you get 12v at both positions then odds are you've got a bad starter. If so, pulling the starter isn't terribly hard. I find that its best to pull the fuel lines first. Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery, then the postive run at the starter. Disconnect the solenoid. No you're down to one bolt and one nut. The bolt is on the top and its the easy one. The nut on the bottom is much harder to reach. Once you get it out, though, you can fish the starter out through the top. Sometimes it takes a bit of wrestling. No big deal, though.

Plenty of workarounds are available in the aftermarket. Right down to aftermarket CAN-bus guages. Usually, that's for boats and such, but it'll work. There are bypass interfaces for CAN-bus ignition systems that get around the key, so you can forget the key cylinder. I'd bet it can be done. Hell, if worse comes to worse, you can just MegaSquirt it. Though I admit that a full-on BCM in an EA car would be frickin' awesome.

Just because I'm curious....what forum was this? And for what its worth...It is my firmly held belief that if you want a truck (and I don't mean Brat or Baja), you want a Ford truck. No finer work vehicles on the planet, IMHO.

GD, I'm not arguing against you. Simply relating the facts. I HAVE modded the car in this way. It HAS worked up to this point. And I have transplanted those knuckles into another 88. Argue all you want, but the facts remain.

I have a relay pack that I used in my 83 wagon when the key cylinder died. Basically, it used three microswitches and a push button to imitate the positions of the key. So to start the car, you had to have all three switches on and then push the button to run the starter. Bonus: the relays don't care about extended use. If you want I can tell you how to build one. THe nice thing is that the little switches don't look like they do anything because they are so small. I put mine on the console below the radio, but you could just as easily install them elsewhere.

I've got an 88 wagon that I have done this to. Had to do wheel bearings and decided I don't want to have to do that again...ever. So, I put the knuckle in a vise on the drill press and drilled a hole in it opposite the brake caliper and tapped it. I packed the bearings with Mobile1 synthetic grease and installed them in the knuckle. Then, I pumped the knuckle full of grease until it started oozing out of the bearings. Cleaned up the excess and installed the seals. If I were to do this mod again, I would probably mod up an axle stub so that I could install it in the bearings and use the drill press to spin it so as to mvoe the grease around and build up a little bit of heat while I add grease.

Sorry...totally didn't see that in the OP.

I'll dig through the stack at work and see what I can come up with.

Which PIE part are you looking at?

Just guessing, here....have you checked the oil level in your diff?

Pull your stereo entirely out of the dash and look at it. The Ce-Net connector is square and has 13 pins, 2 of which are larger than the others. Frankly, I'd look for a reputable local stereo shop and make nice with a couple of the sales and install people. Then see if they have any of the Ce-Net accessories available for you to experiment with. Remember, that you will not get any charging for an iPhone. You could reconsider the FM Modulator thing, as GrossGary said. Look for a wired one. the model I sell and install here is the Clarion FM200. We've had good luck with them, so far as it goes. I maintain that FM modulators univerally suck, but this one sucks a bit less than most of the others I've ever had to deal with. I need to get some of the locals to bring some cars into my shop so I can do some plug and play experimenting. Any volunteers?

All US market cars should have the standard Motorola antenna connector. If yours has something different, then either it was not originally sold in the US or someone has changed it. Either way, your local stereo shop very likely has the appropriate adater in stock. If you want to change the whole antenna assembly, that's fine and not too hard, but I have generally found it easier to simply solder (or crimp) on a new tip and add a short extension if necessary.

Congrats on the new ride! As far as iPod goes...well, there's not really anything particularly for that application. Especially the iPhone. Having said that.... Your stereo is actually a Clarion part (Clarion owns MacIntosh). Pull the stereo and look on the back for a little DIN connector. Forgot how many pins on it. But if that DIN connector is back there, you may be able to add a Clarion EA1251B (?). That's one of the CeNet iPod interfaces. It will let you play music and control the iPod from the stereo, but it won't charge. Matter of fact, it won't charge anything newer than a 3G iPod. If that doesn't work, there are several other Clarion parts that might. I know that the EA1251B works on the Suzuki's and a few others that use Clarion OEM head units.

If the parking light relays are going, then the starter relays should go, too. Unless the installer did something stupid like put the starter relays under the hood. Don't know what to tell you at this point. I'd need to see it. Sorry.

Since its a Panasonic, you're unlikely to have much luck getting something to work other than the unit that its supposed to have. Panasonic has traditionally not been real good about setting and keeping standards. They seem to change their standards for things like this with about the same frequency as I change my underwear. It's possible, though. If you can send me a pic of your radio, I'll look through the stack of old OEM radios at work and see if I can find one. I might also have a panasonic changer. I'll see if I can get them to work.

It sounds like you have one of the "Dealer Install" systems in place. At this point, we're getting into an area that I simply cannot troubleshoot over the internet. What I might investigate is whether or not you can hear the starter relays click when it exhibits this behavior. If not, it could be that the relays are getting cold and need more current than the brain can deliver. I'm spit-balling here, but I've seen stranger things.

Being 2 hrs away from the dealership changes your tactic a bit. Tell him "Ya know, I really like that car. In fact, I like it enough that I'm coming in there with 10 G's and a pen. I'm prepared to sign paperwork RIGHT NOW. Pending a test drive and mechanical/safety, of course." You'll be amazed how fast the price comes down. Just make sure he knows how far you're driving. Make a big deal of that.

Rule of thumb....take whatever their initial asking price is and divide by 1.7. That'll put you in the ballpark of what they are into the car. Usually, that's their trade-in cost plus whatever repairs/maintenance they had to put into it before putting it on the lot. So in this case, if their asking price is $12k, they are probably into it around $7k. According to CarFax, it has been on their lot for nearly 90 days. It shows 10-27-98 Vehicle offered for sale. Assuming they have their finances set up much like nearly every other dealer in the world, they are officially losing money on the car at the 90-day mark. so in the next few days, they will be getting desparate to move that car. If it were me, I'd walk in with my cashier's check in my pocket. I'd talk to the sale mgr. Offer him/her....say...$10k and let them move you up a bit.

If it was installed "at the dealer", it is unlikely to be an actual Subaru-branded remote start system. There are some aftermarket systems available that use OEM remote cases, so be sure of what you have. If you still have the Subaru key fob, you probably have an aftermarket remote start that uses the OEM fobs (pretty common). If you have Non-Subaru key fobs, then check to make sure the system is not "Valet" mode.