Tom63050

Not trying to set myself up as an "instant expert". Qman, Edrach, Miles and many others know far more than me, for sure. Just wanted to pass on some ideas that worked for me; might help others too. If there's a way to do it with the brakes on, great, but I couldn't get it that way. Upper shock nuts and sway bar mounts are no big deal to loosen/remove; I just did them in case they helped, because I'm new at this.

I just did the passenger side axle today. Found out I didn't have to remove the parking brake cable. I left the brake on to get the old axle out. Still had to take off the brake assembly tho, for the sake of pulling the new axle through. Had to go to the hardware store (twice). First to get some large washers to use as spacers. Then had to go back to get a short piece of PVC to fit over the splines, so I could pull the axle through a little more with the castle nut, before I could fit the hub on to pull the axle all the way through. Didn't have this problem with the left axle.

You will be using the EA82 manifold, I hope?

Finally got up the courage to do my first CV axle change, based on Edrach's excellent writeup. Wanted to stick in a technique I think I invented (haven't seen it on the board). I was working on the front driver's side axle, which had torn boots. It was the original factory axle, with 165K on it; axle was fine, just torn boots. I loosened the three upper strut nuts, and removed one of the steering stabilizer bolts. Then I removed the pivot bolt on the lower control arm (hopefully I have all the terminology right). It was a beotch getting the DOJ off; lotsa muscle and bad language involved. When I finally got the new one on, the splines weren't lined up; I had to take it back off, rotate the DOJ 180 degrees, and put it on again. I'm embarrassed to say how long all this took, so I won't. Anyway, some tips: 1. Not sure the three upper strut mounts need to be loosened, but what the heck, it takes 30 seconds. 2. Take off the sway bar bolt while the tire is still on the ground. That way the bar isn't under tension, so the bolt won't spring at your face. 3. Getting the pivot bolt back in goes a lot easier with a crowbar. 4. Best tip: how to get the DOJ off. Rather than use muscle, I finally figured this out. Chock the opposite wheel (Right rear if you're working on the left front); jack up the car and put it on a jackstand; have the tire for the axle you are working on just barely off the ground. Take two pieces of 4" by 4" wood, about 2 feet long, and place one end of each touching the inside of the tires, under and parallel to the CV axles. The other ends will be facing each other under the transmission. There should be about a 6 - 12" gap between the inside ends. Take your scissors jack and lay it down in the gap between the pieces of wood. Use the jack as a spreader. The tire on the ground will not move, but the tire just off the ground will move outwards (since you removed the pivot bolt). The DOJ then comes off very easily. If the jack handle is too difficult to use under the car, you can use a short adjustable wrench. It'll be easy to turn. Also, this way you don't have to hunt up a friend to pull out on the tire, like the HTKYSA book says to do. 5. Other stuff to take off: a. parking brake cable, where it attaches to the lower arm, and on the end. b. brakes. Tie 'em up out of the way. 6. My axle came out with just two medium taps with one of the four by fours. Got lucky I guess. Comments and corrections are invited.

Might also want to do the oil pan gasket and the rear main seal. And for that matter the front seal of the transmission.

Over in the Marketplace there is a guy selling a used EA82 lift kit.

Turns out I had to actually trim off some of the body metal in front of the shifter to fix this. Works great now. Thanx to all for the advice.

A cat with 50K on it would be a great improvement over one with 150K or more. I used to have an '86 Toyota MR2. Bought it with about 185K on the car, with the original cat. Got 28 MPG highway. Replaced the cat at 205K. Mileage went up to 35 on the highway, and it had noticeably more power. When I looked through the old cat, holding it up to the sun, all I could see was a pinhole of light!

Even if the timing belt isn't broken, it might have stretched to the point that it skipped a tooth or two (or more) on the driver side, which would radically change ignition timing. Been there. The basics, as previously referred to, are air, fuel, spark, and timing. Sufficient air is a given; spark can be easily checked (pull a plug and put the plug cable back on, then put the plug on the engine block and turn the key; should see spark at the plug). Fuel can be easily checked too, and isn't usualy the problem. I'd guess timing, i.e. stretched belt or broken belt adjuster.

OK, thanks, I'll go fool around with it some more.

Not if you have a skid plate. Or you could make a short skid plate that only covered the area where snow/rocks could get in. If you don't have a skid plate, you will see two threaded holes on the body, just behind and under the front bumper, which are the two front mounting points for a skid plate.

The first thing I tried was unhooking the shifter boot from the body. No help. The shifter itself isn't hitting the front of the hole.

As I understand it, the 97s had the DOHC motor, which was prone to headgasket failure. Great price by the way.

I have a 91 Loyale with pushbutton 4WD 5-speed. As soon as I installed my 3" Oz lift, I noticed that the shifter pops out of 1st and 3rd unless I physically hold it in gear (haven't used 5th; it's all city driving & I have 28" tires which change the gearing). 2nd and 4th don't pop out at all. Any ideas why, and how I can fix this?

Yes that is unmanly, but you canceled that out by making them STUDS. Oh yeah, use anti-seize when you reassemble.

Do 'em every 50K miles to play it safe. And adjust them every 10K. Since the driver-side belt also spins the distributor (through the driver-side camshaft), stretching of that belt affects timing. I noticed a difference after I adjusted my Gates belts that had 10K on them. Make sure to use either Subaru belts or Gates. The belts need to be adjusted because the tensioners do not self-adjust automatically like on many other cars. It isn't a big job though. Consider putting on new tensioners as well. Also consider either (1) removing the outer belt covers permanently, (2) removing the center outer cover permanently, (3) cutting the center cover in half. The center cover is the big hassle in this job. You have to undo the crankshaft nut to get it off, and you can't replace the timing belts with the center cover on. Then to get the nut torqued down properly when you put it back on, you have to somehow immobilize the flywheel so the crank won't just spin when you try to torque the nut. That's doable, but why go through all that extra work? In a couple of weeks, I will remove both my inner and outer timing belt covers. Long-time Board members say it doesn't cause belt failure (which makes sense since Harleys are belt-drive to the rear wheel). And when you do have to replace or adjust the belts, it's super easy.

1. If you have the taller air filter, you could buy the short one. Or, 2. Reverse the carb anyway and deal with the throttle cable issue. It is doable.

When is the trip? I will be living in St. Louis starting in mid-August. I couuld help out with the Illinois part. (314) 381-8752 will be my phone number there.

1. Real men don't use timing belt covers. 2. I use a zip tie on mine; I don't screw around with the inserts once they come out. Or just use less screws to hold the cover on; two or three should be fine.

I towed a trailer weighing about 2000 lbs gross from the west coast to the east with my 91 Loyale wagon with manual trans. The company that makes trailier hitches for Loyales is called Dalan.

...check the Subaru Transplants forum on your new Bus.

Great score! By the way, I have some VW Bus parts (salvaged from my '78 Bus) I'd like to give you. I'm moving from N. Va. to St. Louis, and this stuff hs been sitting around here for a few years for no good reason. PM me your address if you want the following: 2 almost-new German axles 1 almost-new Kenwood cassette radio pre-wired for the Bus 2 decent but not great speakers fuel filter for carbed Subarus 1 new ball joint 1 1978 Bus owner's manual I can FedEx this stuff to you from work.

If you're going with the Weber 32/36, you'll have to get a different intake manifold (not to mention a Weber-to-intake-manifold adaptor). The best manifold is the one for the Hitachi two-barrel FOR THE EA82 MOTOR. Bigger opening at the carb base than the EA81 Hitachi manifold, therefore more air flow, therefore more power.

I've seen mechanics do this job, and read the "how-to" posts on the Board, and it seems quite a bit more involved than you describe. Plus I don't have access to a lift.

Anyone know of a good Subaru shop in northern Virginia? Need to get my reman axles put on. Never done it myself and feel more comfortable letting a real mechanic do it (one who knows Subarus well, if at all possible). Meeky Moose perhaps?