Tom63050

Thanks for the replies guys.

The EA81 hatch almost certainly had a dual-range trans--the factor that helped it is lower gears. The EA82 wagon might have been single-range, therefore geared higher. Also, the hatch is quite a bit lighter. I've had stock carb, Weber, and SPFI. Like most people who've tried all three, I think SPFI is overall the best way to go. I like the Weber too, for power and gas mileage improvements over the stock carb; but with SPFI you don't have issues with different altitudes, or too much lean angle. I recommend you get your hands on a 5-speed D/R trans, made for the EA82s from 86 to 89 (I think).

Coolant leaks: 1. The little rubber hose you mentioned is probably one of the crossover hoses on the intake manifold. They carry coolant. Replace them both, while you're doing other stuff to the motor. 2. Another coolant leak occurs at the pipe that fits into toe water pump. The other end of this pipe is connected to the lower radiator hose. There is a rubber o-ring that seals the pipe at the water pump. Put a new one on. I used grease to help it slide into the water pump; works better for me than using coolant as a lubricant.

What a coincidence! I just came online to ask a similar question. My Acura used to get 35 mpg highway, now gets 28. Just did a complete tuneup--plugs, cap, rotor, air filter. It has 77K miles on it. I wonder if the oxygen sensor could be why it gets only 80% of the milieage it used to get. It has always run perfectly, by the way, just the mileage got worse. Also, does it matter where you buy the O2 sensor? Should you always go to the dealer or do auto parts stores have good ones?

Bearing in mind that body-style preference plays a part too...I prefer the Loyale for power steering, fuel injection, more power, still easy to work on. Swap in a D/R tranny (I plan to do mine this summer) and convert the rear end to LSD (ditto, this summer).

Also, the belt tensioners are NOT automatic. Supposedly they need to be tightened every 20K, but I did mine at 10K and noticed more power. That's because the driver-side belt also turns the distributor shaft (off the end of the cam). As the belt stretches, the effect on the distributor is to retard it just a little bit, causing a slight loss of power.

Since cyls 1 & 3 are on the same side, I wonder if maybe that timing belt slipped a tooth or two, and that is why you have no compression on that side. That happened to me the first time I did the belts. When I put that belt on right, power and compression came back.

Welcome to the board! I assume it's a Loyale not a GL since it's a 91. (They're basically the same car except for minor items.) Only 111K on it is nice. They're easy to work on, and you can score parts for it through board members if you can't find any in a junkyard. Not to mention all the great advice from professional mechanics and world-class shadetree mechanics. (I am neither.) Just keep an eye on the temp gauge and coolant level. Any problems, you can try changing to fresh coolant, a new thermostat (from the dealership), or a new radiator. All easy jobs. When I buy an older used car, I assume I'll have to put about $100 in parts in it, just so I can establish a baseline for maintenance. Tuneup, belts, hoses, new fluids (esp. oil) and a GOOD oil filter. People here mainly like dealer, Wix, Napa Gold, and Purolator (the one starting with PLxxxxx).

Even before I ditched my ac system, I was running only one belt on it because of the hassle with keeping the other belt tensioned. I put a new belt on it, and for extra safety put a brand-new belt in the trunk as well. I have the AC compressor that's inboard of the alternator. I need to keep the compressor on the car because it's part of the setup that supports the alternator. At least until I come up with a bracket to replace it, which will hold the alternator brackets in place. But I have disconnected the compressor, and thrown away everything else that's ac-related, just for a cleaner engine bay. The ac wasn't working anyway, and I didn't want to put money into it. I have another car with good ac.

I always cover my disty with aluminum foil before cleaning the motor. If you have a carb, cover the air intake too.

Since mid-grade and premium gas are only 10 - 20 cents more expensive than regular, you could get a fairly cheap power increase by advancing the timing a bit. Depending on how far you advance it, you might need at least mid-grade gas to prevent detonation.

I wonder if your ignition timing is off. Since the driver-side timing belt also drives the ignition, if the belt hasn't been adjusted recently your ignition timing might well be a little retarded, which will affect power and gas mileage. I adjust my timing belts every 10K miles and can notice a difference. Also, one of the belts might have slipped a tooth due to looseness (since the adjusters aren't automatic) or been installed off a tooth originally, giving wrong valve timing & less power. To check your odometer, notice the reading (including tenths) when you pass a highway mileage marker. See how many miles more it reads when you pass the marker ten miles down the road. If your odometer reads 8.5 miles more than when you started, for example, your odometer is reading 15% slow because of the taller tires. The speedometer will of course be off by a similar amount.

I got tired of having to tighten two belts, so I took off the inner belt and its tensioner. I bought two new outer belts, one as a backup. No problems so far.

If it checks out OK, this sounds like a good car and a good price. The dual-range 5-speeds are the best transmission on the older cars.

Does anyone know of a company that markets a generic ABS system to retrofit onto cars that don't have ABS? If so, has anyone tried this out and what were your results?

You're right, Webers can be tuned lean to pass emissions. But many states have a visual test also, not just the tailpipe sniffer, so it has to look stock under the hood. One way around this is to put an adaptor on top of a Weber carb that lets you use the stock air filter container. If the tester isn't too observant, he'll just glance at the setup and think it's stock. There is such an adaptor for sale. It is used to put on a snorkel. You can find it at the Pierce Manifolds website--www.webercarburetor.com. Look under Air filters and Air Horns. Call them and maybe they will sell you just the part you need, not the whole snorkel kit.

Putting on the Weber will give you both better power and mileage (depending on how heavy your foot is). The SPFI conversion is much more complicated, since the carbed car's simple wiring will have to be upgraded with wiring from a SPFI car. I recommend the Weber, if pollution regs aren't an issue where you are.

Had a belt break on me at 20K miles. New belts were put on it when I bought the car (86 wagon). I didn't know then about tightening the belts every 20K. When I replaced the belts, I saw the old ones were cheapo no-name belts. Put on factory ones. Now I tighten them every 10K, because even a little stetch retards ignition timing.

A point for you to know is that the big restriction is the EA81 intake manifold, at the base of the carb. Get an EA82 (OHC motor) intake manifold. You will see that it has a much larger carb-base opening, so it flows more air. This alone will make for better power, especially when fitted with a Weber rather than the stock EA82 carb. Someone here will sell you a used Weber for under $100. They are great carbs and parts are available. Jetting info can be found on the Board by doing a search, such as "Weber jetting".

Lots of cars could be retrofitted with the Weber 2-barrel. They are famous for their versatility, so you would have to look under a lot of hoods. Maybe someone at the wreckers would know of a specific car in the yard that has one. Why specifically a DFV? You could also use a DGV, DFEV, DGEV, etc. All are similar two-barrel Webers. Models with the "E" in the name have electric chokes, by the way; the others have manual chokes or water/coolant chokes. They typically come with their own little square air filter, chrome housing. It will say "Weber" on the carb body of course. DFV or other model designations will/should be on there somewhere. I'm a little hazy on that part.

My 84 wagon had your symptoms--coolant bubbling out of the overflow tank--changed the radiator, which was clogged. My 91 Loyale had coolant leakage, resulting in a nearly empty radiator. Changed the o-ring on the metal pipe that fits into the water pump from the top radiator hose; problem fixed. Use a little grease on the new o-ring to get the pipe back in; I didn't find that putting coolant on the o-ring was a good enough lubricant.

That's fantastic that you could tow so much with so little motor. Not to mention that Subaru doesn't recommend towing more than 1000 lbs. Hah! I towed a trailer and car full of stuff, about 2000 lbs, from Oregon to Virginia with my Loyale. Even went over the steepest part of the Rockies at Vail on I-70 (in first gear).

My kit came with a skidplate spacer.

My 27" tires work fine on my 3"/3" Ozified lift. Everything you will need is in the kit, including all bolts and an extended steering u-joint. I found the instructions mostly good but a little unclear in places, but figured it out, with advice from the builder. My kit had all square blocks. I had to file down a corner on a couple of them to make them fit; the builder apologized for that and changed the kit accordingly.