All_talk

223,000 on the '87 GL Wagon, rebuilt heads at 215,000 and "governor hone" on AT3, uses a bit of oil but runs good. 253,000 on the '87 RX, all orginal as far as I know (I just bought it at 251,000), runs strong. Gary

Not to be argumentative but… Glowing exhaust manifold/pipes near the head are a sure sign of an overly rich mixture. While its true that a rich mixture will provide more cooling to the cylinder wall and combustion chamber and the engine will run cooler in most cases. When the unburnt fuel is expelled from the cylinder it burns in the port/manifold and releases far more heat energy than a leaner mixture which is already starting to cool at this point. The surface area of the pipe can’t dissipate the heat quick enough and builds up heat. In fact you could have a situation with a lean burn and very high exhaust gas temps that will show much less pipe heating than the “cooler” rich mixture, because of the total energy released in the manifold. A free flowing exhaust system will show less heating because the gasses/burn are moved along quicker through the pipe and dissipate over a larger surface area. This condition is very common in turbo engines that use rich mixtures at high boost to alleviate detonation, how may pictures of red hot glowing turbos and up pipes have you seen? The heating is only really an issue if the components downstream of the exhaust valve are not designed to deal with it, or there ability to dissipate the heat is hampered, like wrapping them with insulating tape. I suspect that if the mixture were corrected that wrapping a Subie Y-pipe would do little harm, except promoting rust if left wet (as carfreak85 said), but would also yield little (if any) performance gain. Turbo cars insulate the up pipe to conserve energy/flow to the turbine, its also used to reduce under hood temps on many cars. Since the Subarus low mounted Y-pipe I don’t contribute much to the under hood heat, I really don’t see any need to insulate them unless you have an issue with them running to close to a heat sensitive component. Gary

If you're running that hot in the pipe I bet your running very rich and have a lot of fuel burning past the exhaust valve. Carb or FI? It might just be the insulating tape, but there could be more to it. Gary

Not a completely crazy idea, unfortunately it does loose one of the major advantages of the portal idea… extra ground clearance, what your left with is extra gear reduction, so lets take that idea and run with it. A gear driven flywheel would be difficult to engineer and expensive to build, but it has been done. Back in the day Crown Manufacturing made a geared flywheel kit to reverse the rotation of the Chevy Corvair motor and mount it to the VW transaxle, though it was a 1:1 ratio. You get a similar effect with the divorced transfer case mod, but add front drive complications. I bet for the same or less money and effort as the geared flywheel you could manufacture a steeper set of gears for the D/R tranny. Just a few thoughts Gary

I’m hoping to make a few rallyX dates this season and have a whole list of question, some Subaru specific, some more general, so I figured I’d start a thread. I’ve got a good set of Cooper snow tires, they’re a size smaller (175s) and have a very soft grippy design (on snow at least), should I run them (they are within the .225 restriction)? What mods can I perform and still stay in Production GT group (I’ll be driving my ’87 RX)? The rules say “Very limited mods over stock”, that’s pretty vague, I’m specifically wondering about: Gutted cats/big bore exhaust? Hi flow intake? Manual boost controller? Intercooler? Diff lock On or Off? Any advantage to running in low range? Do the courses normally involve a lot of shifting? I'm sure I'll have many more Gary

Custom, as far as I know nobody makes a off the shelf exhaust system for the EA82 Subies. I talked to my local exhaust shop and he quoted me about $200 for 2 ½” from the turbo back with no cats and an open muffler. On the boost gauge, the more you spend the more accuracy you get, but incredible accuracy isn’t really needed, you just need something to tell you where you’re at. Most of the time you are going to tune to detonation anyway. Pick one with the 0-20psi boost range (not the 0-30), the stock turbo isn’t much good above 14psi and you might as well have the larger sweep. Gary

Yes, in fact the exhaust should probably be the first thing on your list. Note: some have noticed boost creep at sustained high RPM with a high flow down pipe (typically cat-less) and the stock wastegate control, so you may want to do the exhaust, boost control and boost gauge as a package. Gary

On the old VW beatle it was remote mounted stock. Early cars had it above (about 10") and foward (20") of the MC under the spare tire, later cars (after switching to dual circuits) in was above (24") and to the right (8") near the hood hindge. Moving it should be fine as long as its done in a way that lets gravity do its job. Gary

Yeah, I’ve seen quite a few Subie conversions EA and EJ, for my (wifes) car the real challenge is the radiator, with the look of the car any openings or lovers would be very out of place (see pics). And taking up any cargo/passenger space is out of the question, this is her summer time kid hauler and grocery getter. I was running a mild 1835cc (cam, dual 40s and such) in it for a while and she was pretty happy with that, I had to pull it due to a case crack across the oil gallery (my fault, head studs got loose). I think the best option for this car is to build another HiPo VW engine. I am currently building a fiberglass dune buggy that will start out with an 1800cc typeIV engine and trans (’74 bus), But a Subie conversion could be in its future. Gary

Hey 88rxsedan That looks like about the biggest IC you can fit in there (thats good ), but is the core width wider than the "hump" on the EA82 hood? I'd like my scoop to get air across the whole face of the IC (when I get to that point ). The plumping line up looks good, especially on the inlet side, I wonder how it would plumb up with the spider intake? Gary

I was doing upper ball joints on her Suburban and she need to take my daughter into town, she asks “should I just take your car”, sure I said. After a bit I hear her pull up and she comes straight into the shop and with a big grin she says, “That car screams to de driven fast, I was like Vroom, Vroom, Vroom” (making shifter moves with her hand). I said, “Its fun isn’t it”. Then as she’s walking out of the shop she says “I want that engine in my Bug”. So anybody got an EA82T laying around for cheap and a good plan to stuff it into a custom ’59 Beatle convertible.:-\ Gary P.S. I'd love to do it if I could get it all under the deck lid and find a place to hide the radiator.

I doubt that the intercooler alone will show much difference, but it should let you run higher boost without increasing intake temps so you can hold stock timing without detonation. OR with stock boost you might be able to run more timing advance (though I don’t think more than stock will gain you much power) or possibly lower octane gas. Gary P.S. just read your sig… the IC may help with any detonation your getting with your boost creep.

TURBO?? Boost, while not the cure all, has been know to do wonders on poor flowing N/A engines. Perhaps adapting the SPFI system with some boost controlled fuel enrichment. Just thinkin out loud Gary

While I don’t have any information specifically relating to the exact solenoid in question, in general it’s a heating issue. The off time gives the coil a chance to cool, if the solenoid isn’t designed to dissipate the heat of 100% on cycle it will burn out. The repeated mechanical cycling is what the solenoid is designed for and should handle it for a reasonable service life. Depending on how the coil is cooled (external-air or internal-oil), environmental and operating conditions could have an effect, which might explain why is has worked for some and others saw failure. Gary

Bratsrus1, If its still unclaimed I’d bet interested in the free 3-door, I need some parts for my RX. Is the rear good, I need tail lights? I’m in Ellensburg and drive to Preston 4 days a week (just east of Issaquah) so if any of the Seattle guys need some parts from it (that I don’t need) I could get them pretty close. Gary Email: bigfoot_man@hotmail.com P.S. Sorry for the highjack

Biggest issue I can see is reverse rotation. If you wanted to go with divorced T-case or solid axels you might have some thing. I have thought about something like this that’s utilizes the reverse rotation… Imagine a VW style dune buggy, rear engine and 4wd Subie power with a 3” lift using old VW bus reduction boxes (they are portal type). Just an idea I’ve been developing since VW Vanogan Syncro gear is so expensive. Gary

You didn’t need that piston anyway, its not like you don’t have 3 more and judging from its disheveled appearance I’m sure it took little pride in its self and was most likely dragging down the morale of the entire engine… you're better off without it. Sure it’ll leak a little oil, just keep a few extra quarts with ya and run it. Gary

Cheap paint guns: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?CategoryID=324&pricetype= Like Hondasucks said, you can do it in the drivway, I’ve seen some outside jobs that looked pretty good. Sweet82, I’ve seen a baja bug done in splatery trunk type paint (white, gray and black speckle), looked good, the texture covers a lot and touch ups blend right in. Gary

Hey Nicky You’ll be buying a LOT of spray cans, for the same or less money I bet you could buy a cheap HVLP gun (harbor freight or the like), 2 quarts of acrylic enamel and rent/borrow a compressor, and you’d end up with a much better job. Plus you’d have the gun for other projects or to sell. OD green wouldn’t be my choice but if you’re into that, cool, and it would work pretty well for an off road rig. BTW, real army OD green is a “self etching” paint designed to go over bare metal and I’m sure a bit more expensive than an AE in a similar color. Gary P.S. To bad your not a bit closer to me I’d make ya a great deal on renting my paint booth and gear.

I received this PM from RenaissanceMan (I sent him a PM asking the Question). “ well, lemmie go take a look.. *walks over into shop* Well after looking at the gears, the answer is yes... As for the low range, yes, those are also interchangable. The basic transmission itself is all setup the same, the differences between the two are in the Tailhousing and countershaft for the most part.” Now I’m wondering what its gonna cost me to go through my tranny (syncros, bearings, seals and gaskets), and where to get the parts. Anybody got a good source? Gary

Yep XSNRG is spot on, a quick search reviles… “Cadillac introduces its 1915 Type 51 line with the world's first mass-produced V8 engine. The Type 51 V8 features a 90-degree layout with three main bearings, L-head combustion chambers and water cooling. With a 3.125-inch bore and 5.125-inch stroke, the engine displaces 314 cubic inches and produces 70 horsepower at 2,400 rpm. Among its innovations is the first use of a thermostatically controlled cooling system, a feature that will soon be adopted universally. The 1915 Cadillacs are the first to come standard with left-hand drive.” Apparently Ford’s clam involved language like “first affordable V8”. Though I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about cars, once again I find that I’m not quite as smart as I though… humble is good. Gary

Hmm, Ford has always laid clam to the first “production” V8, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Cadillac had one first, they were responsible a lot of innovation in the early years. Sounds like I need to do a little more digging (I like to be well informed on such matters ). Gary

Hey Mike, When a torque converter grenades it normally sends shrapnel through the whole tranny and can cause other failures. A new converter along with cleaning out the tranny is really the minimum and you could still have more trouble in the near future. If it were me I’d look for a good used unit. BTW, I've blown a few converters in my old chevy diesel pick-up and never heard a "bang", just a quickly progressing slip to no go, you may have another problem. Hope all turns out well Gary

Corky... you have mail.

No Prob GD, I didn't take it that way, I was just adding info to the mix. :cool: Gary