NorthWet

Did you actually see this on a vehicle, or just someone wrote them? There was a recent question about this "code", and one of the regulars said that it is not a valid Subaru designation, but rather a "street racer" (well it was really a semi-slur) Nissan-like designation for an EJ20 DOHC twin-turbo. This would be a JDM or right-hand-drive-market engine.

Unless the carb has truly "gone sour", you should still be able to get some decent running out of it. The emissions control is minimal on the carb itself. Depending on the year and the make of the carb (sounds like 2-barrel), the emissions controls consist mostly of 2 "vacuum" lines that went to off-carb venting solenoids. These allowed air to be vented into the lines to lean out the idle and main circuits of the carburetor. Plug those 2 lines and bob's your uncle. Overly rich sounds like choke or float/float-valve issues. Does your carb have a sightglass on the float bowl? Secondary not opening sounds like the engine is running too poorly to develop enough signal to open the secondary (assuming that the throttle shaft is not binding).

I do not know if things are different outside of the USA, but I suspect that the USA automobile market "drives" (controls, influences) many of the procedures of the Japanese manufacturers. Traditionally, the USA domestic manufacturers introduced their new "model year" cars in September (or somtimes August), so July/August manufacture dates became important distinctions. If the car was built in July, it was the old model year, and if it was built in September it was the new model year. As chef_tim wrote, check on the Manufacturer's Plate for the date of manufacture.

Glad that you found and fixed the problem. Having a u-joint fail at highway speeds can be...umm...interesting. Especially if it is the front. Pole vaulting, anyone? On the brighter side, I would imagine that u-joint failure is rather rare on Subarus and similar vehicles. I have over 320k on the 6 u-joints in my Datsun without any sign of binding or looseness, and mine were never babied by me.

(The following is a thought problem, not something that is causing me problems and needs to be resolved.) I had a thought (this one NOT involving monkeys taking over the world ): Is there any correlation between an hydraulic lash adjuster's (HLA) orientation in its bore and the Tick Of Doom? As in, the HLA has an oil hole (2? I forget), and if that oil hole is pointed downwards in its bore will the oil tend to drain while the engine is off? If it does drain, is this a bad thing (air getting in or the whole thing collapsing enough so the the sliding parts stick in a varnished region), a good thing (gets more fresh oil into the HLA to help flush it), or unimportant?

A "flat cam" refers to one or more cam lobes that have been worn down, usually identifiable by the huge score marks across the lobe face. The one lobe that I saw in your picture looked pretty good to me. Not much of an idea about the oil hole "pitting", unless somebody physically abused it earlier. I wouldn't expect to see pitting, as the wear mode should be scratching/scoring, and the oil hole is in a no-/low-load area. The HLAs easily depressing does not seem a good sign for them. Mine didn't really depress noticeably, but then mine were uptight when I tinkered with them. (They can drain some on their sides.)

My local yard wants $50/fender and $50 for a driceshaft... both I would have to pull. Those rims look awful perdy... the ones at the JY look nearly as good?

That is at what percent throttle or manifold vacuum reading? 50-55degrees is not uncommon for full "mechanical advance" with light loading (high manifold vacuum). 70 does seem a little extreme.

Which "vendor"? If this is an auto parts store, they seem to have a universal problem with telling the difference between EA81 and EA82 chassis styles, and the parts for them. If this is the case, then you might see if one of those numbers matches up with an 84 wagon, and then go with the other one.

Ignition timing doesn't cause detonation, it can just set up the conditions for it. I once set up a car with 45 degrees of initial advance (accidentally), and it didn't detonate, was just done a bit on power. Isn't it AMAZING what proper (or close to it) ignition timing can do?

A few points to add to what Cougar has said: Grounding: Traditionally, both the primary and the secondary windings of an ignition coil are both "powered" off of the same primary post (coil +), and the primary is grounded thorugh the points/"ignitor"/ignition-transistor while the secondary is grounded through the park plugs. The coil case should not need to be grounded. Pulling the secondary wire off of an operating coil is tough on everything, because the coil is still trying to send electricity to ground, and will try to find a path to ground. This is why manuals tell you not to crank the car with the ignition "on" and the coil output lead disconnected unless you ground the output lead. Coils are not magic. If you supply power to the "+" terminal, and then ground the "-" terminal, they will produce a spark if they are functioning. You can test a coil by doing so, though you have to decide if the resulting spark is strong or weak.

Let me throw my .02 into this, and maybe clarify what others have said: It matters somewhat which cylinders a used piston goes into... IF you do not put new rings on them. Cylinders and rings are the contact/wear/sealing point, and they take a little bit of a set. If you use new rings, then it doesn't matter at all which exact cylinder the piston goes into. And if you have done even a light cylinder hone (I would recommend doing so) then it also doesn't matter. What DOES matter, and which you brought up but hasn't as yet been addressed is the "UP L" and "UP R" markings. The piston pin bosses have an offset. The UP markings mean just that: That part of the piston is meant to be UP relative to the top of the block. The L and R should refer to left or right bank of cylinders, although without going out to look I couldn't tell you for sure which is left and right by their definition.

I wouldn't expect Goodyear to have any of that woven stuff; really not their style. Its a British/Japanese thing (Britain had a large influence on Japanese Auto companies). I would assume that these hoses are not available through SOA?

Hi, Jack!!! Emily, I lived in the world of computers where nearly everything was TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms), and those that weren't were FLATs (Four Letter Acronyms, Too). Nothing is worse than sitting in a group of computer geeks that don't speak English with each other... ...well, I guess having to watch a chick-flick IS worse.

At the risk of me possibly being wrong: I believe that those are really resistors rather than solenoids. From what I have heard, they put the 4EAT into the same shifting mode as "POWER" mode.

Well, I do have that box of manifolds that you passed on to me. Make you a good deal on your manifold.

I spent over 30 minutes cleaning each block surface and chasing the bolt holes. Should I ask why the engine mounts are out of their holes? I do not know a good way to get the mounts back in without a hoist or two good friends.

Steveman09 did an auto-to-manual tranny swap, and kept the ECU, so he had to do some chassis rewiring. As I mentioned in my edited post, you are just doing a black-box swap, so you should not need to worry about chassis wiring issues. Installation options are set by chassis wiring options.

...Like JL telling me that all tires on a tow vehicle were properly inflated prior to a certain LONG trip. Left rear was around 17PSI...

Me, too!!! Wife's car developed a turning clunk that was the rack mounts/bushings being too sloppy, and the rack was shifting.

The sparkplug tap/chaser that I have is double-ended, with one thread size for standard-size plugs and the other end for smaller plugs (like in my Ferd Aerostar); socket hex midway along its length, black oxide finish. I think that I got it at NAPA.

My first thought was to have you make sure that it wasn't just a loose axle (castle) nut. If the axle has recently been messed with, then it very well could be loose, giving odd moises (though more likely a graunching/grinding noise then a plink) and loose "bearings". Bearing s are not loaded significantly by axle tightnessnut presses agains inside race on outer bearing, which presses against spacer, which presses against inner race on inner bearing, which presses against axle shoulder. Non-tapered bearings, so no axial load. BTW, the inner joint on the axles are technically a double offset joint (DOJ), rather than the CV joint on the outside. The CVs tend to make clicking/plinking noises while turning or otherwise when they have angularity.

By any chance does it have an automatic transmission? White smoke (as opposed to "steam") can be burning ATF, and the vacuum modulator on Subaru automatics is prone to diaphram rupture, letting aTF get sucked into the intake. If it really is steam, there is also the possibility that the intake manifold gaskets are leaking from water jacket to intake passage. Headgaskets aren't too bad, just two of them to do. IMHO, far better to take the engine out and have it totally accessible than to squirm and swear in the engine compartment.

Man! Am I glad that I have mine on an engine stand!!! After doing it outside of the car (after trying disassembly in situ), I can't imagine doing an adequate job of prep with the engine not right in front of me.

My thoughts exactly when I read the thread title.