Snowman

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/article.php?a=61 That's the link to the link to the SPFI conversion manual, which should answer a lot of your questions. Lots of people on the USMB absolutely love their Weber carbs. That's why I bought one for my car. I had really bad luck with it so I converted to SPFI, which I have been much happier with.

Crikey! Are you gonna cut a hole in the hood?

I'm not entirely sure if that indicates anything specific. I mainly asked because if it happens more when cold, letting it sit with paper towels under the exhaust ports will definitely tell you something.

Pull the Y-pipe and look in the exhaust ports as best you can. If there's a coolant leak in there, it should steam clean the area around the crack. Does it lose coolant when warm or cold? You could also let it sit overnight with the Y-pipe off and a clean paper towel under each exhaust port to see if anything drips out. On carbed cars, there is a coolant passage into the bottom of the carburetor. There is a spacer and two gaskets under the carb, which could potentially leak as well.

Did you inspect the exhaust ports for cracks when you had the heads off? If you needed HG's, it's likely that there are cracks in there as well. Something else I'm curious about: I know that coolant flows into/through the throttle body on FI subarus. Is it at all possible for it to leak into the intake from this point?

Either the rear main seal or pan gasket could leak onto the cat very easily. Pulling the engine is very easy on the older soobs like yours, so even if it's the rear main seal, you could do it in a day without much trouble. With that little mileage on the car (54,000 miles?! Holy crap!!! ), I would guess it has sat for long periods of time, which can dry up the seals. I would not be at all surprised if the rear main is leaking. You should also look at the front crank seal as well as the oil pump and rocker cover gaskets. Oil can actually find its way back to the cat from those places as well.

No biggie, I've made MUCH dumber mistakes:drunk: .

No, that's the pilot bearing. The input shaft bearing is in the front of the transmission and supports the splined shaft that the clutch sits on. I don't know of any other names for it, but maybe there are.

That's rather perplexing. Does it go away when you step on the clutch with the vehicle stopped? (That would indicate input shaft bearing failure.)

The manifolds can be swapped with a little bit of "adjustment" in a few places. Haven't done it myself but have seen working examples, so it can be done.

Even with proper pullers and stuff, it's almost impossible to remove small seals in any sort of condition conducive to reusing them.

MMO is Marvel Mystery Oil, an additive that cleans the hydraulic lifters, which are also known as HVLA's (hydraulic valve lash adjusters).

If it goes away when you press the pedal, it's the input shaft bearing. TO bearing would start to make noise right as you press the pedal, and pilot bearing makes noise with the pedal all the way down.

Man, that sucks that the tranny crapped out. It seemed okay when I last used it, but I guess that's not the case. I feel pretty about that. If you can get the tranny here before I leave, I will make time to do the swap for you (the only thing I'd really need help with is lifting the new one in place). I'll call you tomorrow evening and we can sort it out.

Hmmm, I missed this thread for a while. I'm trying to think of things that could be going on here..... Do you get the weirdness in neutral as well? How about with the clutch disengaged, either in gear or in neutral? Also, does it accompany changes in engine speed, vehicle speed, or both? I suppose the PP could be misaligned on the flywheel...I've done those several times before, but maybe I just got lucky in the past. As far as the tranny itself, I drove the donor car about 30 miles, and didn't really notice anything with the transmission, but I suppose that something could be awry in there. The oil was pretty dark but didn't have any chunks in it. I suppose it's possible that there is some crap in there that's causing problems. You could try draining out a quart of oil and replacing it with ATF for a little while, before changing the oil out again. The #3 and #4 issues are very strange indeed. I'm not really sure what to make of those. Let me know if there's anything I can help out with. I am free this coming weekend and on most weeknights until I leave. If it turns out that the tranny needs to be swapped, I'll help you out with it.

If you've got access to a welder and stuff, make your own skidplate. If not, have a local fabricator do it for you for WAY cheaper than the Primitive ones.

I just ordered the one from Summit. The one in the link from the USRM, with shipping and core charge, would cost about what I just paid for the alternator plus some other stuff I needed (exhaust wrap for my boat) from Summit. I had thought about picking up a used one, but there's no way to test it in the J-Y so it's a hit-or-miss deal there. I'll find out if this is the right alternator, but it looks like it's the same one. If not, no biggie, I'll fab up some brackets.

Thanks for the plug Matt:lol: . You need to clean out the PCV system, which is any and all hoses that attach to the valve covers and/or the PCV valve, which screws into the back of the intake manifold. There is also a little teeny filter inside the regular filter housing that needs to be cleaned. This filter cleans the air that the PCV system sucks into the crankcase. It is located on the right rear of the air filter housing if you are looking at it while standing in front of the car. Also, replace the PCV valve with a genuine subaru one, as others are often problematic. That should help take care of the problem. I'm still working on perfecting the PCV oil separator. Right now I've had a prototype on my car for a few thousand miles and it still sucks oil in when taking sharp corners at 75-plus. I'm going to add a baffle to it and retest as soon as I get the time. If I am able to figure it all out, they will be for sale at WCSS7 (or via mail order).

That's absolutely sick! I also like the, um, "soda" opener key ring.

I'm going to bite the bullet and do the 100 amp GM alternator conversion, and I'm having trouble finding one for a decent price. The link in the USRM goes to one that would cost me at least $150, and NAPA is more expensive than that. I found a couple of alternators at Summitracing.com that look like the same case design, which they call a "GM 10DN". They are rated at 100 amps, and fit a huge number of Chevrolet, Buick, Caddy, etc cars from the 60's through the 80's. Here's a picture of one of them, and I think it looks like the same one that was used in the USRM writeup. Can anybody verify that it's the same design?

I remember reading about that in C&D or PM or something....I think it was 4wd and was powered by a small jet-drive unit.

Are you going to do a complete rebuild while you're in there? (That's what I would recommend). For my EA82, I got rings, bearings, gaskets, and an oil pump for around $600 or $700, I can't remember which, from 1stsubaruparts.com. OEM is the only way to go for most engine parts in my opinion. (People have had BAD luck with NAPA headgaskets, and you can get SOA parts cheaper than NAPA from the place I just mentioned.) Then you could get the heads done up by a machine shop with a resurface and valve grind for about $150. It's up to you, but if I was tearing the motor apart that far, I'd go ahead and replace everything because then you're set for another gajillion miles.

Those numbers really aren't toooo bad. If it's a HG, you'll be losing coolant. If that's not the case, it's probably going to be rings. As far as boring out, it would be really expensive as you'd probably have to get custom pistons made and all sorts of crap since nobody has done much of that sort of thing with these engines. I've had good luck just honing the cylinders and replacing the rings. If you want more power, swap in an EJ motor. That could be done for less than rebuilding your engine even with keeping it stock.

I put the RX front coils that I got from Tex on my wagon last week, and they seem to work pretty well. Raised the front end a little bit and it doesn't bounce as much over bumps. It also sits nearly level now, whereas with the stock front springs and Honda rears, it was raked forward quite noticably. I think I might adjust the preload up a bit since it's still on the lowest setting. I measured the clearance, and it's just over 11" under the front skidplate and the rear differential. Definitely worth the money. Thanks Tex!

Okay, I think I'll look into that. Maybe I can find some urethane replacements that would handle my abuse a bit better.