All_talk

Hey Ted Could be valve cover or maybe left cam seal. Is it coming out of the timing cover? Gary

Hello DL92SW The heat output selection is controlled by vacuum, make sure the vacuum line to the engine, the check valve and accumulator tank are all working correctly. If proper vacuum is being delivered to the “Mode Select Valve” but the controls still do not work then the vale may be the problem. The heater control can be removed by removing the bezel around the gauges and the screws under the heater control buttons. Gary

I'm planing in using aluminum tube just to take advantage of a little more heat transfer, at least for the longer turbo-to-IC pipe (assuming the typical top mount location). Standard neoprene rubber is good to about 300 deg, but if your going to run high boost the silicone is a good plan. Gary

And for those who just have to know (like me )... The first 4WD was designed by Ferdinand Porsche (of Porsche/VW) for the Austrian truck manufacturer Jacob Lohner in 1900. The vehicle had electric hub motors on each wheel - the engine powered a generator for power supply. Porsche was 25 years old when he designed the vehicle. Gary

I don’t know if Zapar was referring to the connection with the mention of the Z car, but Datsun/Nissan is also a division of Fuji Heavy Industries. I have a ’74 260Z (will be for sale soon), and if the Z engine is a copy of the Mercedes then the picked a great model, it’s a great engine. First production V8, Ford 1932, and I believe the first OHV V8 was from Cadillac in 1948. VW had 4WD versions of the Beetle, Kubelwagon, Shwimwagon and others in the mid ‘30s, but not even VW can lay clame to the origin of the “boxer” engine design, it was common in airplanes in the late ‘20s, as it still is today. Gary

I’m with GD on this one (again... I guess great minds think alike and all that ). And, I’m finally down a quart in the RX after about 1500 miles (not bad for a 252,000 mile engine with a weak cylinder), so I found the Amsoil dealer in town and he said $6.50 a quart… I guess that answers the question of if I’m sticking with Amsoil or not… NOT. He also said he would not recommend it for a high mileage older Sube, he said to top it up with any quality conventional, and change it over when its due… sounds like a good plan to me. Gary

I’ve got 5-30 Amsoil in my RX right now, was the choice of the PO, the engine has 252,000 miles on it and the only real leak is the drain plug, which I will rectify at the next oil change. The oil pressure is with in spec by the stock gauge but since the manual doesn’t recommend 5-30 for "sustained high speed” driving, which is just what my commute is, I’ll be switching to 10/15-40. I may not say with Amsoil, I may not even stay with synthetic, after all, the car was designed for conventional oil over 15 years ago and current conventional oils are much better than they were then, seems kinda like running 92 octane gas in a car designed for 87. Gary

Zefy – I believe it was an option on most if not all EA81 and EA82 cars and standard on some like the RX and GL-10. I’m sure one of the more knowledgeable old schoolers will stop by with more info. Gary

Hey RenaissanceMan Since you have them apart… I’m wondering if the 5th gears are interchangeable between the FT and the PT 5 speed D/R trannies? I’m thinking that if I rebuild my RX tranny if might be nice to exchange the higher 0.780 from the PT for the 0.871 in there now. The EA81T easily has the power to pull it and it should be good for 2 or 3mpg out on the freeway. I also assume that the D/R gears are interchangable, if someone wanted a lower "low" in there RX? Gary

I have a 175 mile a day commute, almost all freeway, but over a mountain pass. ’87 GL wagon, carb, AT3 4WD – 22mpg at best, pretty good considering that’s all was rated new. ’87 RX 3door – 26mpg, but I’ve only been driving this one for a few weeks with a lot of around town driving and I’m having a hard time staying off the boost. Once I settle down I think should be good for 28-29 on the freeway runs. Gary

Hey morgantruce I had one of my rears out recently to replace a CV boot. First off, if you can get both CVs to let loose of the splines on the stub axel and diff then you’re one of the lucky few, but if so its easy. Every thing stays in place, you tap out the pins and push to the inside and pull the outer joint off then pull the inner off the diff. If the inner is stuck I would disassemble the inner CV/CVs and get the diff out on the bench and try a puller on them. I haven’t had this problem yet so I cant say for sure. If the outer CV is froze to the spline (this is the one I had to deal with) then get the car up high on you stands, remove the lower shock bolt (as you have). I left the diff up but it might work even better with it loose. Get a long pipe or other suitable lever and use it to pry down the suspension arm far enough to get the inner CV to drop off the diff. Note if you have a rear sway bar this is a little tougher so you might want to unhook it (I did it on the RX with it still on). Then I drove the stub and axel together out of the hub, it went very hard and I was a bit concerned about bearing damage, seems to be all right in the end though. Once you get it out on the bench you can deal with the splines, since I was only doing an inner boot I didn’t fight with mine much, just put it back the way it came out. In hindsight I should have just pulled the inner CV off the spline and re-booted it under the car, but cleaning out the joint under there would have been a real pain. Hope that helps Gary

I’m with 99obw, there is no substitute for a complete set of well honed driving skills. I learned to drive stick in a VW with big carbs and no chokes, you couldn’t get it out of the driveway in the morning without three footin it. Gary

Hey Brat1709 Buy hook or by crook.... dead blow rubber mallet, slide hammer on a head stud (go easy), maybe build a splitter, maybe there are some tips in the FSM. I haven’t had a Subie bottom end apart (yet, RX re-ring coming soon), but I'm very well acquainted with the air-cooled VW. What ever you do DON’T pry against ANY sealing surface (like a screw driver between the case halves), its a guaranteed leak. Gary

Like the old GM stuff, cool, good to know.

Do the newer Subies have separate pads for the E-brake? The older ones don’t. If not, then even the E-brake is clamping the same hot pads to the rotor. Furthermore, how would the hill holder holding the brakes be any different than you holding them with your foot? I read the material on the Stoptech site and while I don’t argue with it as it pertains to hard usage, and I know you said "when hot", but I suspect that under normal street use the brakes rarely reach the temps required to cause the imprinting. And if this were a significant problem I’m sure Subaru would be seeing a lot of warranty brake work. Just some thoughts (not meaning to start a debate) Gary P.S. I have the “hill holder” on my ’87 RX and its adjusted so that it only activates if the clutch is depressed to its most extreme, well past the normal engagement/disengagement. This way I can control its activation by choice. BTW, the hill holder was common on cars more that 50 years ago.

Hmmm, the sticker under my hood and my Chiltons both say 20 deg, maybe their is a early and late spec for the '87? I will make one correction, today leaving work I jumped on it when it was still cold (still on high idle) and got a bit of rattle as it transitioned to full boost, no detonation past that point, maybe the knock sensor did its thing? And still nothing once it warms up, the cold water temp must be leaving more timing in. I know I have to be on the edge running the cheap fuel, I may even have some low level detonation that I’m not hearing, though I’ve always had a very good ear for it. I guess well see later this summer when the temps start to get up there. Gary

Russ, I’d say your pre cooler data matches up pretty well with my second set at similar ambient temp, though your peak boost temp is about 20 F more. Still, lets me know that the data is reasonably accurate and that an IC can be of benefit even on a stock system. With your lower ingested temps I bet you could safely run a bit more timing, where do you have it now? I’m running the stock 20deg on 87 Oct fuel with no audible detonation so I’m sure you could run more advance… or more boost. I can now see the need for the wideband O2 and/or an EGT, so after I install an IC and can sort out high boost fuel supplement. Gary

My Chiltons says 57psi @ 2500RPM for the EA81. Oil recommendation from my ’87 owners manual says, 5-30, 10-40, 20-50 for temps above 0degF and “5-30 is not recommended for sustained high speed driving”. But these numbers are for the EA-82. Gary

Now the Russ mentioned it, I also cleaned and reconnected my main ground cable and body-to-trans ground wire this weekend too. Gary

Hey JWX I checked the codes on my ’87 RX this weekend (found out the “check engine light” was missing and the PO was running with the test mode connectors plugged in ). I got three, O2 sensor, idle switch and neutral switch (does the 5 speed even have one??) I cleared the codes and have been running for 4 day and still no codes. I’d say clear them first, if it’s a real problem it will pop back up soon. The FSM has procedures to check all the components. Gary P.S. I thought the test mode connection was suppose to lock out the timing advance but with the timing light on it, it would still advance from idle (dose it have mechanical advance?), and the car seems to run the same with them disconnected.

Hey tablebreaker If your Loyale is the same as the earlier L series cars the power window relay should be under the passenger side seat, you’ll have to remove the seat and the carpet edge trim and roll the carpet back to get to it. The best way to “manually” move the window would probably be to find the right wires at the plug in the door and apply power directly. Like schreckman, I’m not sure I agree with the original diagnoses, not that it couldn’t happen like that, but it does seem unlikely. And as he said, dirty switch contacts are the more typical source of power window problems on these cars. Do you have a millimeter (anybody who’s going to work on there own car should)? If not or if your not sure just how to use it, find someone local that can help (wiring issues are pretty hard to sort out over the net). Good luck Gary

Hey hops, NAPA quoted me $250 for my EA82T, rings, bearings and gaskets, no oil pump. I think the new oil pump was priced @ about $140. A local shop quoted me $250 for the head work, valve/seat grind, stem hight and seals. I also got a price on a bore/hone, $180, but I wont know if it needs it tell I tear it down. Looks like oversize pistions run about $50 a piece. Gary

Kevin, an EGT gauge uses a thermocouple (most likely “K” type), thermocouples are made up of two different metal wires that meet at one point, they produce a small voltage (mV) that varies with temperature. The thermometer or EGT gauge is really a very sensitive voltmeter. EGT is one of the variables I plan to measure, it can be used to get an idea of fuel mixture. The simple bead type thermocouples I’m running now have Teflon insulation that’s only good to 500 F, I’ll need to get a proper high temp type before I stick it in the exhaust stream, I guess I could steal one off my snowmobile EGT. Russ, my thermometer (fluke 52 http://www.ie2000.com/fluke52.html ) has two channels (T1 and T2) so I can monitor two points and get delta T in real time (well 1.7 sec sample rate in delta mode, 1 sec in straight reading), I can also record MIN and MAX on any one channel or the delta. Back when I was in school I had use of a Fluke data logger call a Hydra, it would monitor 8 inputs of all most any type at high sample rates, store the data and download to a PC spreadsheet for analysis and graphing, I wish I had one now. Gary

O.K. here’s the data from the ride home: Ambient temp (T1) = 85 F (it was a beautiful day in the northwest) Max boost temp (T2) = 208 F Max differential (T2-T1) = 123 F (happened at sustained part throttle pull in 5th gear, up Snoqualmie pass) Cruse boost temp (T2) = 145 F Again noticed the higher boost temp at part throttle, max differential noted on full throttle pull was about 110 F. The accuracy of the thermometer is about +/- 4 F, this should at least offer a good basis for comparison. Here are some pics of the setup.

Russ, yeah I’m using the standard open thermocouples. And yes, the idea will be to add more boost with an IC and achieve the same or lower intake temps. Or just use the IC to lower intake temps to use cheaper fuel or more advanced timing. Either way low temps can mean more power. Myxalpyx, the set up pretty straight forward, just put the leads through the joint so that the thermocouple is in the air flow and clamp it down. I’ll try to take some pics when I get home. MorganM, Whatcha got and how much? Gary