Snowman

***-****, mother****ers!!! I'm currently attending an auto-diesel tech program at UAA, and if that kind of thing happened here, s*** would go down! If they broke the thing, they need to fix it. You gave them a simple job and they screwed it up. Find out what the "other" broken parts are. If you can get the car under the supervision of another instructor, that would probably be a safe bet. If you can't do that, get the car the h*** out of there. Sign a waiver or whatever it takes to get the car out of their hands. This kind of thing really pisses me off, as I've seen a few instances of some things getting screwed up due to dumb***** overconfident students here, but nothing on this scale.

Sounds like pcv valve to me. Rings usually last a long time on these engines and don't go out suddenly. PCV failures are EXTREMELY common and would cause all that you say. Make sure you replace it with a genuine subaru valve (they're cheap) because aftermarket ones are crap.

Hmmm.... Garner, do you know which grinds require shims? I had them do my carbed ea82 cams last year with their "RV" grind. I've been fighting carb issues forever so I don't know if the cams are working right or not. They don't click or anything though.

I can't verify this, but I think that the ea81 manifold will bolt right up to the ea82.

I'd give it a shot. Just get some of that detergent stuff, put it in and drive around for a few days, then flush it out and see what happens. I got a car last year that was getting pretty hot and the heater didn't do much. After I flushed it without even using detergent it was like a new cooling system.

I've thought about dual carbs for the ea82 before. It really wouldn't be too hard to fab up some little "mini-manifolds" to bolt 'em up there. Then I asked myself, "Why?" For the time and effort used to make something up and get it to work properly, you could swap in an EA82T or EJ22. I used to be a hardcore carbs-only fanatic, until my carburetor started having problems. That's why I'm going to put SPFI on my car in about a month. If one carb has given me this much trouble, I don't really want to think about two of them:rolleyes: . There is also the issue of intake port size. Those ports are REALLY tiny. Are the factory heads capable of flowing enough air to make this worthwhile?

WOW! 13,000 miles, what a score! Replace anything rubber. Hoses belts and maybe plug wires are probably old and crusty by now, and the CV axle boots may be in similar condition. Flush the cooling system and continue to do so every couple of years and the car will thank you. With turbo soobs, you have to keep the cooling system in PERFECT shape, especially with the earlier models like yours (there were some head design changes later on that made them more resistant to the cracking that plagued the early ones). Also, tell your daughter to watch the temp gauge religiously if she's driving it hard. If it ever gets into the dreaded "Red zone", some bad things will start to happen. Oh, I almost forgot. You absolutely need to flush the brake fluid, either doing it yourself or taking it to somebody. Brake fluid absorbs 2% of its volume in water every year even when the car is not driven, which lowers its boiling point and causes components to rust. Seriously do this, it is truly a safety issue that is often overlooked. Especially in this case, because at 13,000 miles, the car has never had any brake service. Just do that and change the oil every 3000 miles and your grandkids may be driving it. I would highly recommend changing out the transmission and rear differential oil at this time as well, preferably for synthetic. Running synthetic oil in the engine is also a great idea at this point, as in addition to reducing wear, its increased detergent properties will keep the lifters cleaned out and prevent probems down the road (this engine is notorious for developing lifter tick issues). Oh yeah, one last thing. Buy Larry Owens' book "How to Keep Your Subaru Alive." It explains all of the basic maintainence procedures so anybody can understand them.

Glad to hear the issue was solved. That's a weird one.

Setright: I had heard that the legacy has the 100,000k speed record, but nothing beyond that. Where might I find more about this because I think that's the coolest thing ever. Snowstormer: WOW! Subes are usaully great about dealing with low temps, but I am truly impressed!

All I've ever heard is that intake manifold gaskets should be done dry. Are you using subaru factory gaskets? If you feel like trying anything, I have used the spray-on copper stuff with pretty good results on some other gaskets. Definitely no RTV though.

I dunno about a soob engine, but GM recently released a hi-po engine and to test it, they put it on the dyno, ran it up to max power, and let it sit there for four days.

I took the plastic trim piece and trim boot off. I'm going to cut it for clearance but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I had a coworker do the same thing. AWD subarus CANNOT be towed with one axle on the ground without damaging the transmission. I'll try to find out some specifics and get back to you. That sucks:banghead: .

I talked to Torxxx last night on the phone, and since it doesn't change because of the clutch position, the throwout bearing is not too likely. Pilot bearing is my vote.

Awwww yeah!

If you've never done this before, I'd recommend pulling the engine and performing all the maintainence services you've suggested, and check the clutch and rear main seal while you're at it. Oil pan gasket probably needs replacing by now too. After doing this stuff w/engine out, NOW I'm comfortable doing it with the engine in, but not before doing it that first time.

Okay, I'm starting to gain some more respect for on-road soobs now:rolleyes: .

"I think that you should seriously question your boss's sanity at this time." I'll tell him you said that! He's travelled around in northern Canada, but not that far north before that I know of. He always just left his truck (gas-powered F250) running the whole time, and I'd assume he'd do the same thing with a soob. I think the Alcan Winter Rally goes up to Inuvik. If they can do it in similar vehicles, it shouldn't be insurmountable.

Out of the EA-series engines, the EA81 is generally considered the most reliable, and there are a few hop-up parts available for it. Its prevalence off road is also partly because the EA81 body style makes for a better offroader. Out of the EJ-series engines, the EJ22 is considered the most reliable, and the 91 legacy which had that motor was voted the easiest car to work on by some mechanics association. Unlike the EA81, these also make pretty decent power out of the box. The only real downfalls are that it does have a timing belt and the computer stuff needs to be well protected if it's going to be used off road. As far as which to use, a lot depends on your application. If you've got an 80's subaru, the EA81 will be a lot easier to hook up (or keep if that's what you've got). The EJ swap has been done many times, and Mudrat79 recently started production of a kit to use the EA dual range tranny with an EJ motor. If you want to do this swap, the best way is to find a complete wrecked legacy or front clip and swap everything over. It is a substantial amount of work, but if that's what you want, it's worth it.

Thanks Ed. 1stsubaruparts.com ROCKS! I found them last spring and order everything from them if I don't need it immediately. The phone order guy is really nice, and the prices are amazing. Shipping is not bad either. I can't remember what it cost last time, but it wasn't much, and I still saved a bunch over dealer cost here. I'll go check with Continental Subaru here in Anchorage and see if we could get a volume discount. (Attn: northguy, torxxx, and the rest of the AK crowd, talk to me about this.)

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll pass them on. Yes, high quality studded snow tires are a must. I run them on my car and I don't go farther north than Tok. Dual battery setup is a great idea that I didn't even consider and wouldn't be terribly hard to set up. The winch could be useful if there was a way to anchor it, but I think a lot of the terrain is completely treeless, and in places the road is actually a frozen lake. Two spare tires identical to the ones on the car could be a lifesaver. As far as the "flat-spots" mentioned, I think that was a problem with old bias-ply or radials designed for summer use. Something to look into nonetheless. Transmission is kind of tough to decide on. Most people run automatics up there because the oil constantly circulates and is warmed when running, but I think with a proper plug-in heater and thinner synthetic oil a manual would do fine. They're also more dependable than an automatic. Thanks again.

If you do end up resealing the cam tower, make sure you use a sealant like Permatex Anaerobic Gasket Maker or Permatex Ultra Gray. The factory service manual recommends a sealant that is almost impossible to find these days, but the ones that I mentioned are pretty much direct replacements. Many people use RTV silicone to do this, but that has some problems. First, RTV will not last as long without leaking as the anaerobic stuff. And, more importantly, RTV tends to form little globs inside the engine, which can break off in time and clog up oil passages and nasty things like that. The excess anaerobic sealant outside of the actual sealing face remains soft and oil soluble, so it simply washes away and doesn't clog anything up.

Do a search on clutch cable. I haven't experienced this myself, but I've been told that if the clutch cable is not set up EXACTLY like from the factory, the pedal will be really heavy. Correct routing of the cable is very important too.

Hmmm, when I did one it didn't spill more than a cup or so, but I did have the front up on ramps. Oh wait, maybe the fact that the tranny was already at least a quart low had something to do with that?!

Sweet! Sounds like you really scored!