samneric

Thats a coincidence, I was leafing through my FSM tonight (as you do) in search of a map of all the tubes running around the engine and the PCV system on the 84 EA81's have a Tee joint in the sucking PCV vent pipe that joins it up to the air cleaner thus preventing this oil suck up. So it appears the boffins in white coats had this one sewn up a while ago...... Interesting.

AaaHAA! That just saved me my next job of investigating the EGR system I should imagine mine has been on since the first 60K so I'm gonna havta switch the connectors a few times to make it go out Steve

Ho ok, so where does one buy a Weber and whats the difference between that and the Carter-Weber? I always thought of the Weber as a shortened name for Carter-Weber. As a kid I remember if you wanted an engine beefing up, you add a weber - I guess because its double barrel compared to the single throat of most of the cars of those days... Steve

Update... I swapped in the new carb last night. Hardest part was figuring out the maze of tubes that run off here and there. I tried using my '86 brat as a reference to make sure all was ok but that seemed to have a different make up all together. So I simply put it back together the same as it was before to avoid any confusion. Now at the risk of receiving a hail of "swap out that ************achi for a Carter" I was wondering if anyoue out there still knows a bit about the cold start system of the Hitachi. I probably will swap it out at some point but cant afford one right now so I'm trying to limp along.... The engine still struggles when cold and will stall if I take my foot off the gas. While I had the hood open and the top of the air cleaner off I did some troubleshooting. I hooked up the trigger starter and ran some tests. I could get it to start and stay running if I pressed the choke plate all the way closed. It kept wanting to open slightly (maybe the heater element was warming the bimetal to quickly or there isn't enough vacuum pulling it closed - dunno). The diagrams in the FSM seem to have the choke diaphram hooked up to the intake manifold and also to what it terms as "Thermo Valve 2". I have the intake manifold line plugged in but the other connector on the diaphram has a rubber bung on it and at this point I haven't found out where Thermo Valve 2 is. Could this be the missing element that is allowing the choke plate to open up to quickly??? Curiously, Steve

Ok, it was the roll pin that threw me. I had it down as a spring pin. Punch that out then slide the DOJ off the axle stub... Gotchya.

So go on then GD, you've peaked my interest... How do you get the axle out of the DOJ? Do you take the boot off, remove the snap rings and pull out the inner/outer races and cage? Is there enough leverage to swing the hub/wheel assembly outwards to get the cage out of the DOJ housing? Steve

Hi all, I got a reconditioned hitachi carb along with my Brat when I bought it. I haven't fitted it yet because I haven't had a lot of time and the only symptoms are stalling for the 1st minute or two until it gets warm.... Now with the fall closing in and a period of cooler weather, I'm having to keep my foot in the gas longer in the mornings as it warms up, so on to the carb swap project. Just a couple of questions before I dive in and starting reading the books etc.... Is this a pretty straightforward unbolt old, bolt on new I.E. can it be done in one night? Is there any priming that needs to go on with the new one??? Are there any other issues I need to know about that have cropped up in peoples experience??? Thanks, Steve

I like the nostril

Thanks for the advice all, I was a little concerned there for a moment.... I already have a v8 in pieces because of lubrication issues - did naaaay want my Subie pushrods mixed up with the Chevy rockers I'll take care of the boxer service when I can give it more time. I put Royal in my EA81 also, ran my wrex on it for 5 years too. I even talked the bus driver on my route into going Purple Maybe the Sube was taken aback by the weather change today. Its been in the 90's even up to 110 with the index recently but we've come across a rainy and cooler spell. Steve

Ok, So am I the only one breaking the mold here? I scanned the forum and as expected, all oil pressure issues tend towards the low side. So why did mine sit just under the high red line for the first 15 mins of driving and then slowly fall back to normal???? :-\ I check the oil which was above low on the dipstick. Wierd, is this a natural occurance of these mystical engines? Steve

If the strut still doesn't look straight after you get the leading rod and lower control arm on, take a look at the control arm hinge on the crossmember. My Brat got hit at the front pushing the wheel back so: After changing out just the leading rod, it was surprisingly hard to steer. A closer inspection revealed the control arm to be bent. After switching that out, it was still hard to turn. An even closer inspection revealed this: The right side not looking too pretty. Having swapped in another member and changed a servicable items, the car now turns great

Nice to see another Brat in good shape - the front end looks like new!

Alright, now I have my new balljoints on Had to smite the driver's side tie-rod end with my propane torch for a good coupla minutes before it would twist off. I had the rack off the car, tie-rod in a vice and made unsuccessfull attempts with steel pipe extended wrenches before the flames were unleashed. Did the allignment with my laser measurer (1/4" toe-out with 4wd right?). Steering wheel is now in the middle - hurrah! Still had prior symptoms of wheel shaking at all speeds so I took it to have the wheels balanced (I figured that was all there was left - already changed out both axles). Mechanic suggested that low speed vibes came from a dodgy tyre so he switched out the scuffed up drivers side with my spare and hey-presto - no more wheel shake! :clap: I'm going to have the tyre switched over to the regular rim because its in better shape. Only thing now is - the car pulls to the left a little..... Is this to do with tyre differences (make, age, tread thickness etc) or could the wheels still be out of allignment? How does allignment affect steering? I figure if the gap between wheels at front and back are different, the wheels are going to automatically compensate with motion and naturally want to go straight ahead - even if that causes the wheel to go off-center. Am I totally off base on this? Off now to have the rubber mounted on my normal rim...

Thanks for the advice - I'm not quite sure I understand the process though. If I am reading it right, you say be under the car in the middle and hold the sticks against the front edge of the rim, against the lip on each wheel and bring left and right sticks together in the middle and mark the sticks in the middle of where they overlap each other?. That is good for the front edge of the rim, but as you say, the rear edge is blocked by the exhaust/suspension bits so you can't make a connection all the way across. I tried shining my laser measurer across the back edge, through a gap in the suspension bits and managed to get the dot on the other rim but wasn't sure how accurate it would be to duplicate after adjustment. I spent all night firstly trying to get the steering wheel in the middle of the rack and ended up getting the pinion 180 degress out so the wheel is now upside down . The damn UV joint wouldn't slide up the steering shaft cuz the teeth were damaged so I had to drop the rack (again!) to get the coupler off inorder to swing the torque shaft up allowing the UV joint to slide off. Then I set up my DIY measuring system by tying a piece of string to the handle of two buckets, stretching it the length of the car and setting it about 1 foot away and parallel to the frame by measuring at the front and back. I then measured the gap between the string and the lip of the rim at the front and back edges to take the measurements. All was fine and dandy except it was now midnight and the damn tierod lock nuts wouldn't come undone by using two adjustable wrenches so I called it a night and decided to wait until my new tierod and knuckle balljoints came in from NAPA - which should be this afternoon Needless to say, I'm going to be spending the night under the car getting this done and will probably need to take the rack out again inorder to vice the tierods to get the old ones off Oh and the boot from my swapped in axle split to boot - are the NAPA boot kits any good? Steve

Ok so I had the night off yesturday but I plan on doing this 2-nite. Any suggestions on "non-stretchy" string - I have a roll somewhere but I seem to remember it does flex some. I also remember a technique using pins in the tread although this seems inaccurate - Can you measure from the inside if the rims? Steve

If you have the space to keep it, the 550 car would make a great parts car.... This is my Daily Driver: And this is my parts car (my own personal scrap heap - Robert LLewellyn eat your heart out!)... This one is now on axle stands and would need a substantial amount of parts/work before it could even get towed again

Yeah, Brats are famous for rusting in the rear wheel arches, in fact - there is a section on this website that show you where the water gets to and how to seal up the vulnerability. Something I'm gonna have to do now that I am running it in the almost tropical rains of south Louisana...

While trying to google what the letters "MV" mean, I just stumbled over one in Autotrader going for $1250. That doesn't seem bad if its in good nick. I paid $3000 (1500 quid) for a 22 year old one from Arizona. I'm not kidding there isn't a peep of rust on it except for the odd stone chip. All the bits underneath it are like new. Amazing. Still don't know what "MV" stands for though, do you per chance? Steve

Welcome to the board! I personally wave the Red Rose of Lanceshire and fly the banner of PNE I came over here in '95 (***************, you were 3!) and bought my first Brat 3 years ago. I didn't know they imported them over there under any name cuz I'd never seen one the whole 23 years I was there. Made until '93 huh? Maybe you could pull some parts from a newer one in a scrap yard and I can pick 'em up next time I'm back 'ome! Good luck with your test (2 years time?) - I bet they've gotten worse since I did mine. Steve

So I got task 1 (Control Arm) completed:banana: I whipped on the arm from my spare car and was just about to fix up the balljoint pinch bolt when I took a step back. Argh! the strut is still trailing off vertical Let me crawl under the car, compare and contrast.... Hmmm the pivot bracket on the cross member is bent. Lets see, its 3pm, can I get the cross member out of both cars and back into the DD before (at least!) midnight?!?!? Wack, ratchet, hammer, thump... The cross member is off both cars. 6pm - slight delay due to control arm pivot bolt rusted into bushing. Saw, grind, Simple Green, scrub... The new cross member arm free, clean(ish) and ready to go up onto the car. Lift, Fiddle, Torque, Breather.... The strut sits in the upright position - Hurrah!!!! 11pm - Exhausted, showered and ready to turn key for test drive.... Crank......(LOUD!) Pop Pop Pop Pop... Ut Oh - Not Exhausted at all! - forgot to tighted the manifold bolts. Bugger it, I'll do it in the morning. Birds tweeting, Torque, Torque, Change of clothes and drive to work. Steering seems easier!! Wheel is offset 45 degrees and car pulls violently to the right but hey tracking can be done 2nite... now where is that length of string????? Steve P.S. Daeron, I did check out all the balljoints which have no play. Their boots are cracked but I already have my shopping list of front end pieces... Thanks for the info

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65743&highlight=how+to+keep+your+subaru+alive

I just gave it a ride and found that going left at very low <5 mph the steering is kinda ok going left then actually starts turning itself towards lock. Going right it is harder to turn and gets very hard towards full lock. Now it was hard to turn originally but it was in a front end wreck two days after I got it so I didn't have time to get the symptoms prior. I think I'm going to have to do some more work to get the passenger wheel aligned before I can get accurate symptoms. I did bare minimal work to get the car running after the wreck but while working on it over the last few days I noticed a couple of things I still need to work on. Firstly, upon closer inspection, the control arm is bent backwards slightly - It looked ok when I first fixed the damage. Back then I only replaced the leading arm which was bent into a v shape. Secondly, due to the accident, the strut tower in the frame looks like it was pushed upwards because the mounting plate is higher on the impact side is higher than the one on the good side. I need to see if I can lower it somehow. I'll take measurements when the control arm is swapped in from my parts car. Other than that it must only be the control arm balljoint or the strut bearing seing as those are what the wheel rotate on. Keep ya posted. Steve

I haven't driven a non PS car for a few years but even so it seems excessi vely tight. I need to work on getting the symptoms accurate but as I seem to remember turning onto a street is hard. I think it is worse turning right and turning left is hard at first then gets real easy when you get closer to full lock. I'll go for a drive now and get back with more specifics. Steve

Hi, Since buying my Brat I have had a very hard time turning it at low speeds (getting in and out of parking spaces etc) but had other issues to fix. So now I've got around to fixing this, I noticed that the knuckle balljoint boots, the tie rod end boots and the steering rack boots are split. Figuring that the knuckle ball joints would actually losen up if damaged, I decided my first plan of attach was the steering rack so last night I swapped in the one from my parts car which only has 80k on it. The problem still persists. When I had the two racks side by side, the 80k one did seem easier to move than the existing one so that may be helping out. Before I hooked up the tie rod on the passenger side, I tried turning the hub with my hands and it did seem very tight - Would a bad balljoint cause this or could the problem also come from the joint at the top of the strut tower? I'm not sure the struts are stock because they seem to be adjustable - there are two bolts under the coil that I would guess let you set different levels of compression. Anyone bought the recommended Subaru steering gearbox grease? (FSM calls for "Valiant Grease M2") or is there a substitute? (Edited - found parts!) Steve

I'm British and Jeremely Clarkson is NOOOO authority on the technical jiggery pokery that makes cars go - He is a hilarious presenter who's approach to explaining the techy stuff is simply "mashing" the accelerator, grinning from ear to ear and telling you if the car under or oversteers I hold the same view of torque steer as presented here - as learned from experience driving my first powerful transverse mounted engine car - My dream car of the time - the Vauxhall (Sorry, er, Holden!) Astra GTE. It is to do with this axle length business and stems from the fact that a FWD car with a transverse mounted engine will have the gear box differential on one side of the car or the other. The result of this arrangement is that the driveshaft connected to the wheel on the gearbox side of the car is going to be shorter than the one going to the opposite wheel. The steer effect comes from the fact that the longer driveshaft loses its ability to carry the torque along its length (I believe it actually twists slightly) while the shorter shaft delivers more of the power put out by the diff. So if one wheel has more torque than the other it is going to out-power the other wheel causing the car to turn. You can think of it in a similar way to how tanks steer - by stopping one track as the other keeps going. On low powered vehicles this is not so noticable but when you stuff a monster in there, all the extra horses galloping on one corner will whip the steering wheel right out of your hands! - Alpha's are particularly famous for this - V6 on the front wheels indeed! Steve