Snowman

Do a search. It should turn up quite a lot, as this question comes up weekly. Most of the mods for the later engines apply to the EA71 as well. To answer the turbo question, without SERIOUS fabrication, not by a long shot. You could swap in an EA82T or EA81T engine though.

Warping basically makes it so that a new HG will blow again in short order. Below a certain limit there are no ill effects since the gasket can compensate. If it's been overheated a lot, a warped head is possible. The only way to check is to remove the head and stick a straight edge on it.

All of my professors and books have told me over and over again to just replace the brake springs and other hardware at every shoe replacement. The kit with everything for both sides costs like $20 at NAPA and its worth it. Springs wear out and rust. The shoes wear unevenly on most vehicles. This is because they are held in place at the bottom and only pushed out against the drum at the top. Also, Subarus and most other Japanese cars have "leading-trailing" brakes, in which the design puts most of the braking load on the forward shoe. Most American cars use a servo type brake that puts the larger portion of the load on the rear shoe. This is nothing to be concerned about.

The factory gap is .042" or so (I know it's around there somewhere). Most of the people I've talked to run theirs around .050" with a hotter coil. Since you've got more voltage, it can jump a bigger arc without getting blown out. This makes a larger flame, which helps burn the fuel better.

I want one!

I just squeezed the bejeezus out of them with regular pliers and they seem to work fine. Are you running a hotter coil? If not, I'd go grab an MSD Blaster 2 High Vibration coil and put it on while you're working on it. Remember to widen the gap on the plugs too if you run an aftermarket coil.

The disty itself shouldn't be causing spark problems. It either works or it doesn't. The cap and rotor should be replaced, as those do wear out and cause issues. Same thing goes for plug wires, which you already know judging from your other thread. The coil might also be an issue. I don't know enough about them to say much, as I'm not sure if they are something that wears out gradually, or something that either works or doesn't.

It is quite likely that there is still water in the fuel system. If the problem only occurs when it's cold out, I think this is quite likely. Pour in some dry-gas, allow it to mix in and emulsify the water molecules, then drain the tank. Put on a new filter as the old one probably has some water collected in it. Refill with gas and put in one bottle of dry-gas to take care of any residual water. While you're at it, dump in some fuel system cleaner.

Skip's right (as usual) on this one. On 87-94 SPFI cars, the distributor itself has NO control over the advance curve. All it does is set the base timing and give the ECM a "window" in which to provide spark. Does anybody know if the 2wd ECMs have different advance curves? Auto/manual is the same, so I would guess not, but it is a possibility. BTW: Does anybody know which term Subaru uses for the computer? There are several. Engine Control Module is used pretty much exclusively in the diesel world, which is what I'm going to school for right now. Car companies have all sorts of different names. ECM, ECU, PCM....

The EA71 cars are great vehicles, but there are two issues relating to offroading that must be overcome. They have a single range tranny from the factory. That's got to go if you're doing any sort of offroad stuff. Wouldn't be hard if you're doing an engine swap too. Secondly, if you want to lift if you have to fabricate it or send it to Mudrat. No lift kits for that car. EA82 into EA71 has been done a few times now. Garner has an EA82T in his that seems to have worked out fabulously.

I would take a look at why the heater core failed. Most of the time, they fail because of poor cooling system maintenance, which is also going to do a number on the radiator. I would guess that the rad has a bunch of junk in it, which is causing the overheating problems. Does the car overheat during low speed driving or high speed driving? If it's high speed, I would bet money on the radiator needing to be either flushed or replaced.

Who did that drawing? Nice work.

You obviously have a different used car market than where I live. ANY running Subaru here will fetch $1000 easy. I have actually made some pretty good bank buying soobs elsewhere and reselling them here. I paid dearly for mine because it had NO rust, and since it was my first car I had no means to go elsewhere to shop. 85SUB4WD, from what I have heard you are correct about some models coming with coolers from the factory. The rumor is that Euro EA82Ts had coolers, and they had NO head cracking issues. That's why I'm going to look into one very soon. My car's about to turn 180,000, and I figure with all the goodies I'm gonna put on it, 300,000 or 350,000 shouldn't be a problem.

I've worked the past three summers at a fuel/petro company, and the ONLY product for pouring in the tank that we guarantee will do something is Chevron Fuel System Cleaner (Techron Concentrate). I now run the stuff at every oil change. My mom's old wagon was all gummed up after years of around-town driving, so I poured in a bottle of the stuff and the mpg jumped at least 5 just from doing that.

I've just recently started running Subaru factory filters. They are larger in diameter than the NAPA one I had on previously, so a little more oil can fit in there. If you want a meaningful upgrade, I'd grab one of those sandwhich adapters and throw an oil cooler on it. That would get another quart at least of capacity, and it would be much cooler when running, making it easier on everything. That's my plan, but I'm freakin' paranoid about maintenance items (I run nothing but Mobil1 in my car, and right now I've got the master WIX catalog sitting here so I can find a coolant filter, a bypass oil filter, and a fuel filter/water separator to retrofit to my soobie. Yeah, I know it's a $2000 car, but it doesn't think so:burnout: .)

Go to 1stsubaruparts.com and call their toll free number. They've hooked me up with OEM gasket sets CHEAP.

I think my mom's OBW has the same tires on it that Qman mentioned. It now has dedicated winter tires, but we used to run the Toyo's year round and they worked surprisingly well in all conditions and have lasted quite a long time.

Sweet deal:cool: . Generally the only damage that is caused by malfunctioning PCV systems is that the cam seals tend to blow out if the system is blocked off and crankcase pressure gets too high. Since yours was just open for a while, no pressure could have built up and nothing bad should have happened.

I have no way to objectively tell if it's making much of a difference, and I don't do autocross or anything like that, especially since I lifted my car. That said, I think it does make a difference in keeping the chassis more rigid when going over bumps at high speed and cornering. In theory, even with two attachment points, a strut brace will definitely improve the rigidity of the car, which is good for handling and longevity. Also, I just realized that unless you're really romping on the car, a bar with six attachment points will make no difference in comparison to a two-point bar. Since those types have joints at each end, they still can only keep the struts from flexing in and out, which a two-point bar also accomplishes. The only real advantage is that the attachment is probably stronger. For everyday use, I'd go with the type that Skip and I are running.

First, what temp range does the gauge read? Your oil temp is generally 40 degrees more than coolant temp. Second, I tried mounting an oil temp gauge in two locations on my car. Initially, I teed into the oil pressure sending unit port, but since no oil moved past the sender, it never got heated by the oil. I then installed a remote mount dual oil filter system and teed the temp sender into that, which worked well. The filter system turned out to be a piece of crap so I took it off, but the temp gauge worked fine. That's a good option if you want to add an oil cooler. If you don't want to add an oil cooler, you could stick it in the oil pan. Replacing the drain plug is kinda sketchy in my opinion since you would be taking apart those fittings every 3000 miles and slowly wearing them out. I know you can take them apart a few times without any real harm, but they are basically designed to be installed and left there. For a pan install, I would remove the pan for accessability purposes, drill a hole in it and weld on a pipe thread fitting that the sending unit can screw into. Just a few thoughts.

9 times out of 10, large amounts of oil consumption on EA-series engines are caused by PCV problems. Replace the valve with a genuine Subaru one (aftermarket ones have been proven over and over again not to work) and either clean out or replace all the hoses, and you're golden. BTW: I'm currently working on a top secret PCV system mod that should eliminate oil consumption problems. It's about ready to test and I'll reveal it if the system works, but for now it's under wraps!

Only problem there is that somebody could still crank it for quite some time, leaving you with a dead battery. Better than having the car not there, but problematic nonetheless. I'd try to find a dual-circuit switch that can shut off two independant circuits. I'm not sure where you'd find one, but there's got to be one for something. Then run coil power through one and starter control power through the other. That way, they can't do anything (besides vandalize and jack the stereo:rolleyes: .)

Check out www.northerntool.com. They've got pretty good prices on what seem to be generally good quality stuff.

Clean it up before you start working on it. Much more enjoyable that way. Can a dual-carb manifold be attached to that engine? That would be the coolest option for intake as far as historic is concerned.

I think that's the best sleeper I've ever seen. The legacy rims and suspension bits let soobheads know that something's up (without specifying, since those are common legacy rims), but the rest of the world is completely oblivious. Just noticed the tow hitch. That really adds some sleeper points.