el_freddo

Correct. Cheers Bennie

Never heard that one @moosens. I’ve always just left the battery disconnected for a half hour or more. The overnight battery dance usually does the trick Cheers Bennie

The problem is 40 year old technology trying to appease the needs of a seasoned WRX driver. The old EA81 isn’t a power house by any means. But it shouldn’t take a calendar year to get up to speed either. I drive mine with the foot in a bit, let it build the revs then go for the next gear. There’s no need to rush it with these! Sit back and enjoy the 80’a charm and the scenery going by between gear changes I’m not sure that really helps you, but going from a WRX to the brat certainly isn’t helping you’re expectations of the little NA carb fed 1.8L donk with the tractor 4 speed gearbox... Cheers Bennie

No starter relay. Your ignition switch could have a dead starter circuit. If you have a spare one available you could diagnose the issue quite easily. Cheers Bennie

Sounds like a missed or dodgy earth somewhere near the transmission, it could be on the intake to as the ECU pulls many of its earth points from this area. The front O2 sensor would be one to look into. Cheers Bennie

I can never remember which plugs they are - black or green. I think it’s green for EA and black for EJ, like I said, I can never remember. Remove the kick panel above the driver’s feet and have a pole around in the wiring. The plug colours are all that matter, from memory the wire colours in the plugs are different for the same plug colour Then ignition ON, engine not running, count the flashes as moosens said. Look up a chart in a gregroies manual or fsm, whatever you have available and go from there. Cheers Bennie

3:1 is insane! Hill climbs in 5th at that ratio Good to hear it’s holding up well and that your planning slight tweaks to it as well. Hopefully these items take off for you and the greater subaru community! Tshirt designs look mint. Only car to finish?? I must’ve missed that detail in your previous posts about the race. That’s an awesome title to hold! Front struts look mint. Cheers Bennie

Hopefully it didn’t stop because it was too hot. I’ve seen an EA81 that ran so hot it melted the bottom edge of the dizzy cap that contacted the metal of the dizzy body! Needless to say it was retired after that. It could be a dead coil or ignition module in the dizzy. I had a coil suddenly die on me and it also killed my ignition coil. Replace both and see if this is the issue. DO NOT just replace the ignition module, if the coil is dead it will kill the ignition module in the blink of an eye. Ask me how I know. $75 down the drain Not much else really stops these engines other than a lack of oil or coolant. Actually there’s a fuel cut module under the dashboard. Six pin plug into a black box that cuts the fuel pump in the event of a crash, no engine revolutions = no pump operation. You should be able to hear your fuel pump prime with the ignition on and run when cranking. Not the easiest thing to work out! What have you tried so far? Fuel down the carb? Investigated the spark situation? Does it crank over or is it seized? Cheers Bennie

If you’ve done several cruises I’d doubt it’s an air pocket in the coolant. Fans not coming on is an issue. Is this an auto? I’m guessing there’s an issue with load and heat generated. The heat exchanger for the auto is on the cold side of the radiator, so if it’s dumping loads of heat into the coolant there’s no way to cool it before the engine gets this coolant. Work out what the issue is and you might find your issue is fixed. Or worst case scenario is your HG job wasn’t performed correctly and you have issues there. Actually, it’s winter over there atm right? The engine isn’t being over cooked is it? When it runs hot what’s the feel of the temp difference at the top rad hose/end/top tank compared to the lower rad hose/end/bottom tank? Is there a significant difference or does it feel the same? Feel the auto fluid hoses too, if they’re piping hot that would point to the auto heating up. I hope this helps. A bit more investigating for more info could sort this one out. Cheers Bennie

It could be a blocked PVC system or engine blow by (expected for an older engine) being pushed into the air filter box. Nothing to stress about unless you’re seeing more oil in your filter than in the sump. Don’t fill up with oil because of low pressure. Always check the oil level when the vehicle is on level ground and the engine off for at least five mins. Low oil could indicate a worn oil pump or a stuck open pressure relief valve. Cheers Bennie

Money pit, yes - unless you ditch the EA82t and drop a wrx conversion into it, then it starts to become somewhat reliable if you don’t go overboard on anything. Slap a 5 stud and brake conversion on it and you’ll be set for that retro look/vibe with some modern day power and reliability while retaining the turbo performance aspect of it. If you keep the EA82t you’ll be forever working on it to make it reliable for a drive let along a trip away. Parts are hard to find and the heads usually have a crack in them between the valves, no a deal breaker unless they extend all the way down the exhaust port where it can crack into the coolant jacket. Don’t expect the 1.8L turbo setup to do anything spectacular other than make some good noises. An EJ turbo can do the same noises but with the Amalie that comes from the rush of turbo performance. If you’re going to do it up as a classic resto, go for it, if you’re not really passionate about the vehicle and (especially the) drive train, either make plans to convert it or walk away. My 20c on that one. Cheers Bennie

I’ve never compared the timing marks to the cam timing before. On the LHS cam wheel is an arrow on one of the arms. When pointing in certain directions it tells you which piston is at TDC for the ignition spark phase of the cycle. You could try using that to see if anything is out, but it’s still a shot in the dark as to whether things have moved or not. You really need to view the crank timing mark alignment. The crank pulley is a 22mm socket Cheers Bennie

Only three weeks, pretty much on time going by some of the decade old thread digs going on at the moment! Cheers Bennie

That certainly helps! If you don’t want to drop the coolant (I avoid it if possible!), you can remove the fans an put a piece of cardboard or a solid board across the radiator to help protect it from damage. Cheers Bennie

This issue points to cam belt timing being misaligned to me. It’s best to check all three marks lining up as you can have botch cams timed correctly together but the crank mark out a tooth or two. Sort this out and the stumbling will go away. If cam timing is out it could possibly affect the manifold vacuum on engine braking too. Cheers Bennie

^ I second these! Typically due to a loose castlated nut. Cheers Bennie

If you find an EA82 AWD gearbox it will bolt in the same as any of the EA82 4wd gearboxes. Grab the solenoids off the LHS strut tower for the locked centre diff actuation. In these the front and rear diff ratios MUST be a match or you’ll stuff the centre diff - and this item is harder to find than one of these AWD gearboxes! Cheers Bennie

If the engine won’t crank it sounds like a starter issue. Check that you can rotate the engine by hand to ensure it’s able to rotate freely. Then look into the cranking issue. If you mean that it won’t fire up, that’s another ball game altogether. When doing the timing, assuming it’s the same as the EA82, did you align and fit the first belt then rotate the crank one turn and fit the second belt? Cheers Bennie

‘84 will be the year many models changed over to the L series platform with exception of the Brumby/brat/MV. Rule of thumb is if it looks the same as your vehicle parts will swap over. I don’t know if yours has round headlights or not, but there are three headlight configurations for the EA81 vehicles that will swap parts over to your vehicle - round (early 80’s models), single square and dual/quad square headlights. Only part really worth modifying into your EA81 vehicle from the L series is the 5spd dual range. The rear diffs swap over too as a straight bolt in. The rest is different. Cheers Bennie

Ah righto! Definitely sounds like there’s something screwy at play. Hopefully it’s an easy/simple fix. Cheers Bennie

All the best with the sale. Cheers Bennie

There is no “reasonable” shipping from Australia. It’s WAY cheaper to send stuff in from overseas, but sending it out/back to the point of origin would cost easily double. It’s a joke. Pack and Send might be the best option but could be quite slow. Someone would have to go and investigate. Cheers Bennie

I found one from another model vehicle. I can’t remember if it was from a Holden (GM) Statesman or a Toyota Camry. I remember it had a long straight section on it with a 90° elbow in the correct diametre. Cut it to what you need and off you go! Sorry I can’t be more specific than that. Cheers Bennie

There’s a switch on top of the steering column, flick this off and it should turn the Parkers off. Cheers Bennie

They also help keep your legs out of things that would severely damage them in a crash, not hugely, but it would help to some degree! Plus it looks better than looking at the wiring nest that can be under there some times... Cheers Bennie