86 Wonder Wedge

Nice job! Sometimes you have to do what you have to do when parts are in short supply... Make sure you look for the mustache bar mount bracket (the triangle piece that mounts to the frame rail) mounting holes in the body. My MY92 Loyale had the holes, but I haven't confirmed if they are tapped yet (there was factory undercoating clogging the holes). But there were not any holes for the drive shaft bearing mount.

I've done this swap, works well, but getting a nice reman is hard. On my 3rd one. If you've got the coin, spring for a brand-new unit. Ask for a '90 Maxima alternator (3.0 V6, SOHC. Be careful as the early 90s maximas had the SOHC and DOHC 3.0 V6. The DOHC is clocked wrong) The plug is different, but if you're careful, you can "backout" the wires from the factory T-plug and they click right into the new maxima plug. The only "modification" you have to do is take the spacer and 1V pulley off the original, shorten the spacer by approx 3mm, then slap it on the Max alternator.

Try reversing the polarity (swapping the ground and 12V) If you apply the voltage to the wrong the terminals, it will "push" the armature in the wrong direction and won't click. If you're getting a resistance reading (meaning the wiring is not broken) then the solenoid will work. You can also remove the round solenoid body from the valve housing and try to move the plunger by hand. Do you have the FSM test-tree for the IAC valve?

Yeah. I code 55 is 5 long pulses with 5 quick ones in succession. 5 quick pulses, continuously is "5" meaning Federal emmission, MT. No troubles.

Bingo. If the heli-coils have pulled out already, then going to something bigger wouldn't be the best idea. Have the metal replaced then drill and tap. Best way to go. Do you still have the bracket welded after the converter that anchors to the transmission?

My spider EA82T had the flywheel marks, but unless you have a mirror, it becomes REALLY difficult to see the timing marks hence the little plate and V notched into the balancer.

The winter will cause the battery to develop less crank amps than warmer temperature, combined with the fact a cold motor is harder to turn than a warm one, it's just the nature of the temperature beast. I thought the same thing in my Loyale over the winter last year (saw some less than zero ambient temps) and it did NOT sound happy. But over the summer, couldn't sound stronger. That was even on a new battery in the winter. TL;DR Only the starter bearings/bushings need a slight coat of grease, could lube the solenoid armature if you wanted, but probably won't help. Also called around for a rio red fender, as the NW seems to be most probable. Everyone wants to ship it freight. $175 total for a $50 fender. Understandable since it'll survive the journey better, but still. Also picked up replacement pin striping, and since the wheels are almost done, probably change the dual silver stripe to a dual gold one. And ordered new window molding chrome for the front and rear windows!

I'd drop the ECU and see if you can see any salvage yard marks on it.. may have been replaced with a Cali ECU. Or could have been a Cali emissions-spec anyway.. Is there a sensor in or near the EGR valve? Would sort of look like a mini O2 sensor.

You could've also had a massive headgasket and/or intake gasket let go, dumping unholy amounts of coolant into one side and not letting the engine run.. I'd pull a plug or two, look at them. Then I'd pull ALL the plugs, rotate it slowly, listening and feeling for any roughness or uneveness.. then grab a compression tester and check the readings for all the cylinders and look for any massive differences or odd readings, then report back.

For the oil pressure, did you check the connection back at the pressure sender? I forget that thing all the time... And when you redid that belt, you used the 3 hash marks, not the timing/TDC marks, yes?

Glad to see someone trying to keep an old girl on the road! Welcome! How about an fuel setup? Carb/SPFI/MFI/Turbo? And while it's difficult to just "shotgun" parts and pray it fixes it, the bottom end on these are VERY difficult to kill. And for the non-turbo setups, rarely blow headgaskets (external leaks, maybe, but not a critical internal failure).. There is hope!

IMO, that 2.5 DOHC isn't a bad motor, but to FI is a good way to turn that motor bad. Without having a turbo subframe, it makes you job VERY difficult (if not impossible) with respect to pipe routing. What you COULD (if you really wanted FI) do is either frankenstein a turbo motor together (WRX heads, low comp pistons) then supercharge it, or find a half cut of a legacy turbo or STi and have it swapped. You might also consider a FrankenStein motor (2.5 bottom with 2.2 heads) that's very popular and well documented. Or strip it down to race weight and go faster.

The FSM (the EA82 one) has a section on it. It is a mfg used technique even thought they acknowledge it's not FULLY adjustable, but it's enough to massage the alignment into a better state. But with those rear toe numbers, I might look into rear control arm bushings if the bolt adjustment doesn't pan out. But my question is, how does he expect YOU to adjust these? The advice for you to do it and "see where it settles" just seems lazy to me... You're not going to eyeball a 0.5 of a degree change.

Oh yeah, very savable. This "foamy" stuff, is it like puke yellow? If you open the oil filler, is it under the cap as well? Are you losing coolant? Shutting off at a stop could be a load/idle problem. I assume it's carb'd? Do you see any evidence of leaks (i.e. wet gaskets or wetness) around the intake or carb base?

Well, info like year/engine/drivetrain will help.

The easy/easier route might be to look at your seat of choice and look at the holes/mounts on the seat bottom itself. From what I've seen, the rail-to-bottom holes are commonly a 4 bolt, fairly square pattern. You might just be able to swap the subaru seat rails onto the new seat. But since you're a welder, find your favorite seat, maybe an extra set of subaru/seat-of-choice rails, and then make the two fit.

Having plenty of time to drool over a new BRZ at the local dealership, I got to thinking... The 200 horse (or even the milder FB/147 hp) FA, mated to the 6 speed from an impreza.... in an EA82 chassis. However, I can't obtain the weight specs on it.. with the plastic intake and smaller bore, I'm thinking it's lighter than the EJ (which was the one downfall of the EJ swap), but Wikipedia says it's marginally heavier. Really? Anyone have detailed specs on the new F series?

Borrowed from Nico, in the B/S/T Forums... These are the 2 piston STi rear setup from a GC8 (same rear spindles). Notice how the bracket mounting holes are in the backing plate? This isn't 18 gauge steel. This is like 1/8 thick stuff. On 4WD rear arms (on the EA82), the bearing housing (the sleeve the bearing sits in) has a smaller diameter than that center hole of the backing plate on the GC platform so you have to do something (making a hub centering ring seems the easiest).

Does it do this hot/cold, under acceleration/stopping, turning left/right.. We need more info. But off the bat, could be the pickup in the distro. Hook a timing light to the coil wire into the distro cap from the coil. Raise the RPM until it starts to give you trouble. Watch the flashing timing light to see if it cuts out, skips, ect.

No, he's talking about the center hole in the backing plate. The GC/GD one is larger... someone (maybe Nico ?) Has done it..

You can even use 89-96 Legacy spindles (with ABS just needs the bigger bracket since the hub was larger and to clear the ABS ring) as long as you get matching brackets and rotors. I only mentioned the impreza since you're much more likely to find non-ABS stuff on them than the Legacies.. Good luck!

IIRC, the studs have a bulge that separates the two halves of the threads. that bulge also acts as a bit of a centering ring in the pulley hole. The pulley should have near zero rotational play when fitted (mine did at least and I used an OEM Atsugi pump) because when the engine slows down and speeds up suddenly, it causes a shock load on the belts and pulleys, and if that pulley is able to "shift" since there is a gap in the stud hole, it will. Over and over and over again...

Could be the ignitor, but I'd make sure you've got 12V at the coil KOEO. Also check the fusible links make sure none of them are popped.

Honestly, the swaybar link bushings ran me $4 each from the dealer and there are still plenty available, according to my dealer as of 6/1/13 (Park Subaru in Akron, OH). (The little barrel shaped ones that press into the end of the link) I'll dig through my paperwork for a part number...

I'd also make sure your injectors aren't stuck or damaged. You could also unplug the MAF and then see if it runs any smoother.. Do you have a timing light? Put the light on each plug wire (closer to the plug the better) and make sure you get a steady, bright flash (the actual timing isn't important in this test) to ensure you are actually getting good spark consistently. You could have a bad/poor CAS...