robaru

Rear main seal leakage is very common. Definitley replace it. I have put in a clutch from Napa and was happy with it. Seems like the price was $150 ish for the kit. Since the motor is out, are you going to replace some of the other seals? Be a good time to do it.

Your right, plate moves, not rotor. Back to the TOD first. From my reading here most people suggest first trying MMO, Marval Mystry Oil or something like that in the oil to try to clean the oil passages. This can work sometimes. If it does'nt solve the ticking then pull the oil pump and check the Micky Mouse seal. If its deformed reseal the oil pump and put it back in. If that does'nt solve it, replace the oil pump. And finally lastly, pull the lifters and clean, replace the bad ones or one. Ive done this on three subs and have had the best luck with replacing the pump. Timing belt covers can be left off to make all this easier. Lots of people on here leave them off. But then there is the chance that the knock isn't the lifters. Lifter knock as far as I know won't make a car stall. I'm not very familiar with the 2 hose disty. Mine has just one. I have read on here about distys that have worn out. Can you bring it back to idle buy pumping the throttle? Could the throttle cable be sticking?

Sounds like your do for a reseal of the oil pump or new oil pump. If you take the oil pump off and the mickey mouse seal is bad, do a reseal of the pump and see if that fixes it. If the seal looks fine then spring for a new oil pump. If your timing belt covers are still on, leave the outer ones off until you get this fixed, or leave them off permanently as many do. It will be tons easier to get back in there. This should fix your ticking. If it does'nt then your stuck with pulling the heads and checking the individual lifters though this is probably the least likely culprit.

Brand new lifters are way expensive. It's pretty easy to check them. Take them out, put them in a bowl of oil making sure that the small oil hole on the side is submerged and pump them a couple times. If they still depress after pumping on them then they are bad. I don't think that good lifters would solve your idle problem though. I think that is something else.

So does the knocking cause the engine to die at idle? If it does then I would'nt think it was lifters. The erratic idle could be caused from a malfuntioning distributer. Make sure the vacume advance on the disty holds vacume. They have a tendency to go bad over time. Pull the cap off and stick a hose on the nipple and suck. You should see the rotor advance and hold. If you replaced the carb with a new one, I would'nt mess with the idle or air screw yet as it should be set from the factory.

There's lots of info on this site on lifter ticking. If it's still apart, you could clean all the oil passages out with carb cleaner and then make sure you prime them all with oil before your re-intall it. The lifters are sometimes hard to get out. I would'nt bother taking them out and cleaning them out unless they tapped before. If your surfaces are nice and clean, you don't need to put RTV on the valve cover gaskets. The rubber ring should seal it up fine. The only place I have found the oil passage O-ring was at the Subaru Dealer. Good Luck.

I don't know what a multi stage thermostat is. Perhaps it just means the higher the temp, the bigger the opening gets. I always throw mine in a pot of water on the stove and watch it open as the water begins to boil. Also when you add new radiator fluid, you can park your car heading up a slight incline and while running keep adding fluid to it until the bubbling goes away and its full. then make sure the overflow is filled to the line and your usually good to go. 180-190 degree would be a good temp thermostat for where you live I would think. Make sure your radiator is in good shape as well.

I think backfiring can also be caused from leaks in your exhaust. I would also look at the timing advance on the distributer.

Have you tried a couple squirts of carb cleaner down the throat of the carb? Other than that It could be a sticky choke, or vacume leak perhaps. How long did the carbs set?

Did you replace the head gasket? If not, do a compression check on the cylinders. You could try parking with the nose of your car up a pretty good hill and making sure you have all the air out of the system. Pockets of air will do some weird stuff. If you do take your thermostat out, put it in a bowl of water and put it on the stove and bring it to a boil. The Thermostat should open just as the water starts to boil. It kind of sounds like you still have air in the system.

Which car is having the problems? What motor is in it?

I have never rebuilt a carb from a ea81, but have done a couple for my ea82's. Seems like a rebuild kit goes for 30 some bucks if I remember right. It is abit time consuming to do it right. If you don't have a mannual, make drawings as you take it apart so everything goes back in the same place. Throw a sheet over your work bench so no dirt gets into the carb as you reassemble it. Use lots of carb cleaner and compressed air in all the passages and jets also. And of course rule out all the possible easier fixes: fuel filter, plugged pcv valve, failing disty. This also assumes that a simple tune up: cap, plugs, rotor, wires, didn't fix the problem.

Compression test it.

Yep, I concure. When cold, pump the throttle once and then start it. If if revs to hi, >2000 rpms give another pump while running and that should bring it down to close to 1500 or so which I think is supposed to be the cold idle rpm.

Your tapping noise on start up is probably the hydraulic lifters not keeping pumped up. Could be time to reseal your oil pump or try some MMO. The clunk when you start your car, that's abit more strange. You might want to look at the teeth on your flywheel or starter.