Snowman

I'm not familiar with the term "radiator blind." I assume you're talking about a piece to block off part of the radiator? That's something I hadn't really thought about, but probably a very good idea if he's going to get any heat out the heater.

Hey everybody. I've got an interesting topic here. Surely somebody can provide some insight. My old boss at Delta Western, a petroleum company, needs to get a car to travel around in northern Canada/AK during the winter, including to Inuvik, which is the farthest-north town on the continent. Temperatures can go to 70 below on a regular basis, and villages are hundreds of miles apart with NOTHIHNG in between, and no traffic for days at a time. Emphasis on the fact that if the car breaks down, death is a possibility. My recommendation for a car is a gen-1 legacy wagon. The EJ22 is pretty much bulletproof, even by subaru standards. Right now, we're looking for a car with less than 100k that's in decent shape. Once we find a car, I'm going to go through everything and make sure it's in perfect shape mechanically. I'm going to change all the oil over to synthetic, flush coolant and replace with a 75% mixture, replace all hoses and belts including the timing belt, flush the brake system and thoroughly inspect the hardware, put a skid plate under the oil pan, put on some snow tires, check out the CV axles, install heaters in the block, transmission, and battery, and go through all the electrical. What other things should be addressed when I go through the car? Should I go to the trouble of replacing all the bearing grease with synthetic? Anything else I'm forgetting?

Hey Ed, what do cases of subaru filters cost? I have a hard time finding Purolator filters.

I've never seen a soob head gasket leak oil externally, but stranger things have happened. My money would be on the cam tower/cam case leaking where it joins the head. This is a really common place for leaks on the ea82, and a lot of times the repair is only temporary if it's not done right. It is quite possible that it is leaking out of here and running over by the HG before dripping. If the cam tower needs resealed, you don't have to pull the head, and it can be done in a day pretty easily.

Another EA82 with lifter tap! Everything you need to know is probably contained in the other thread that you found. (Don't be afraid to ask more questions though). Good luck!

That is by far the coolest thing I have seen all week! NICE job cleaning that thing up Tex.

Hmm.... I really am far from an expert on subaru transmissions. I would make the assertion that maybe you've just run into some trannys that were used hard. My d/r 5 speed just turned 175,000 and it doesn't have any issues. I worked on a friend's subaru this summer that is creeping up on 280,000 with the original tranny and still no issues. As far as the durability of the 4 speed, I can't see why it wouldn't hold up with just about any horsepower that could be put out by a subaru motor without insane mods.

Take the factory sending unit out and take it down to Lowe's or Home Depot, and find a fitting that is the same thread type, then find a compression fitting to go on your plastic hose, and then somehow adapt them together. I second the idea of not putting multiple hoses together because it does increase the chance of failure. And it that failed, it could mean catastrophic engine failure.

Just throwing stuff out here: Could the oblong O-ring that seals the water passage between the two block-halves be leaking coolant into the case?

I'd just throw on a new thermostat housing gasket. They're cheap and pretty quick/easy to replace. You might pull the temp sensor and put some sealant on while you're at it. Those don't leak very often, but if it was my car, it would make me feel better;) . Edit: Also, I've had good luck putting the factory subaru gasket on dry (no sealant), but if you want to use any kind of sealant, use Permatex Aviation Gasket Maker. It does a great job sealing and is really easy to clean off if you have to take it apart again for any reason.

I don't want to sound like a naysayer, but for the sake of informedness and since there is the possibility that I could pursue a similar setup in the near future, what is the longest that one of these turbo-on-carb-block engines has held together? The most long-lived one I know of is WJM's, which was good for something like 20k.

Lots of people prefer the ea81 for offroad duty, and I think I would agree for a strictly offroad car. They are lighter, narrower, and have better approach/departure angles, and you don't have to deal with T-belts. That said, I personally am sticking with my ea82 because it is my primary car for both on and offroad duty, and I like/need the extra space, what I think is a nicer ride at least compared to the ea81s I've ridden in, and I also prefer the way they look. The offroad duty mine sees is primarily snow, mud, and trails, where the larger body is rarely problematic. I also just carry extra timing belts to alleviate that concern. In addition, I am attracted to the ea82 because I like to stick with one model for parts interchangability with the other transient cars that I have, which tend to be ea82s. Parts are also generally easier to come by since the ea82 was sold until 94 in the US, whereas the last incarnation of the ea81 was sold in 89. As has been said, it's really up to personal preference.

As northwet said, the most common cause of exhaust smoke on subarus is a bad PCV valve. Something about the way the system was designed makes subarus especially susceptable to this, and this condition is aggravated by using anything besides a genuine subaru PCV valve. Look in the PCV hose and see if it's got a bunch of oil in there. If so, that's probably your culprit. As for a turbo subaru, it's quite possible that the oil seal(s) is leaking and spewing oil either into the intake or the exhaust. Take off the intake plenum and see if it's coated in oil inside. Having very little experience with turbo cars, I'm not sure how you could go about checking the exhaust side seal other than wiggling the shaft to check for excess play, which would indicate a bad turbo.

I assume you are talking about left as viewed from the front of the car. Thermostat housing gasket, intake manifold gasket, the little hoses that connect to the intake manifold, and coolant temperature sensor are all possible places. If it's left as you sit in the drivers seat, then thermostat housing and coolant temp sensor can pretty much be ruled out. Since it is a sizable leak, I would just clean everything off really well, start the car, and see if you can see where its coming from. It should be relatively evident. Best of luck!

The green connectors are on the drivers side right in front of the firewall. It's really odvious which ones they are (heck, I figured it out without looking in the manual). Plugging them together puts the engine at base timing, which is what you want to set it at.

Oh sorry, I forgot about the connectors (still pretty new to spfi).

Got a timing light? If so, just hook up to #1, point and shoot, and you can tell if the ignition timing is correct. If you don't have a light, just loosen the distributor and turn it back and fourth a little at a time and see where it runs better. If the old disty cap and rotor were REALLY old, maybe they weren't making contact soon enough, and rather than replacing them, the timing was just advanced farther. Now with a new set, the timing is way to far advanced? Just a thought.

Hey Torxxx, did haggard survive all of that okay? Are you doing head gaskets soon or just replacing hoses? *If you do have to pull the heads and they are cracked, I've got a set of SPFI heads that should be in good shape (200k, ran fine) back in Haines that I could get for you at Thanksgiving.

Did you get the plug wires back on correctly?

Hi everybody. There was a thread discussing this a while back, but I thought I'd start a new one since the topic has changed a bit. Alaska has no subaru clubs that I or anybody else here has found. That is a problem. I've been putting a lot of thought into this recently, and came up with the following idea for a club: Subaru Klub of Alaska, or SKA. (Other names could be considered, that's just what I've come up with, probably since I am addicted to that genre of music.) No formal positions or official meetings. More of a network of subaru owners in the state. I could distribute by email/USMB complete lists of members and their contact information. Efforts would be made to meet up for offroading trips, drives, work-on-soob parties, etc. This club would be all inclusive as far as interists, not limited by year or use of cars. The primary benefit would be that through membership, members would agree to provide assistance to the best of their abilities to any other members that happen to be in or travelling through their area, whether it's a tow out of a ditch, a floor to sleep on, or a ride to the parts store. In a state like Alaska, that could prove very helpful. Lifetime membership would be the price of buying a club sticker. So, what do you think? I believe that with a decent-size membership, this could be quite helpful to everybody, because even subarus break down and need a tow, and it's always nice to have others to go offroading with or to assist with pulling an engine or something. And we could get cool stickers:grin: .

Yeah, I'm Kelly. Sorry we missed you. Matt told me about your wagon a little. What's the story with this car?

That would be incredibly helpful! I'll try to dig up the part number for the shallower oil pump seal that fixes leaks caused by a worn oil pump shaft.

I'm gonna go clean myself off now.

Thanks Matt. Posting is probably best, since there's a computer in the classroom that I can use. I'll PM you my new phone # for future reference.

If you're installing an aftermarket heater, the way to go is a coolant heater. Just splice it into your lower radiator hose, and it heats the coolant, causing it to circulate throughout the engine. Easy to install, and it's probably time to replace rad. hoses and flush the cooling system anyway. Oh yeah, and though soobs are generally great at starting up when cold, using a heater will reduce engine wear, you don't have to warm it up as long, and the heater will blow warm air sooner.