NorthWet

I was thinking that the idle vacuum reading was rather low, too. I seem to remember 22-24 on the last car that I had a vacuum guage on. 18 in of Hg sounds like something you would see on a car with a lot of valve overlap (aftermarket cams?) or some other significant issue. Is the idle vacuum reading fairly steady, of does the needle bounce around or vary? What kind of max vacuum are you showing on overrun/engine braking?

Mine's stupider: Never stand between the bumpers of two cars. Never stand between the bumpers of two cars with one running. Never stand between the bumpers of two with one running and a funky automatic. Never stand between the bumpers of two cars with one running with a funky automatic while someone puts said auto into gear. Never stand between the bumpers of two cars with one running with a funky automatic while someone puts said auto into gear without his foot on the brake. *** Never let your wife be the one standing between the bumpers!!! ***

If you have already dealt with the following issues, please ignore my ramblings ... By the time that you find a suitable flexplate (not sure if one exists because of the deep setback from crank flange), add the bellhousing from a tranny to support the starter (or at least a significant portion thereof), and add the heavier-than-you-preferred starter (IIRC), might it be easier to do something totally custom? Such as, find an existing flexplate w/ring and matching starter, and either mount it off the back crank flange or, if front power take-off, the front crank nose. As I typed, please ignore my ramblings if not relevant. Regardless, pics when you are done, please!

"Haynes' Syndrome"???

2 would be cool... I know where you might get them, but it probably wouldn't be cheap. There is a dismantler on the Olympic Peninsula that has around a hundred Subarus. You can't wander around and look at them, and his prices are odd and kind of high (often based on how much time it takes him to pull the part).

Do you have an oil pressure gauge? If not, than you should have an idiot light. If so, I am not sure... I will have to check next time I start mine.

All sorts of other possibilities: HG, electric fan not functioning, debris in radiator fins, low colant level, retarded ignition-timing, advanced ignition-timing, lean air/fuel ratio, slipping waterpump belt, t-stat failing oddly, etc. Plugged radiator is the easiest to check: Simply check the temp of the radiator fins top-to-bottom when the car is up to temp and running. Cold regions indicate plugged tubes; they seem to plug in groups..

If it generally behaves well temperature wise, I would consider a partially plugged radiator.

Extractors are all well and good... ... until you break one off. Nothing much left to do then except use a coring bit to cut around the bolt to remove it and the extractor.

There are 2 major engine-series during those years. The EA81 is a pushrod-OHV (with gear driven camshaft) engine, which is renowned for its reliability and durability. The early EA81s used solid valve lifters, while the later (83+???) were available with hydraulic lifters. The EA82 is an OHC engine using timing belts to drive the single-camshaft per bank. These engines use hydraulic valve lash adjusters (aka HVLA, HLA) to maintain zero valve clearance. The timing belts are less durable than the EA81's gear-drive, and are subject to breakage and engine stoppage. The good news is that EA82-series are "non-interference": The valves will not contact the piston crown if/when the t-belt beaks. Both engines were available carbureted, and also turbocharged with MPFI (though EA81 turbos are not common). The EA82 was also available naturally aspirated with MPFI and with SPFI. In general, the EA82 produces more power than the EA81. Both engines are prone to oil leaks (lots of vertical engine joints) and headgasket issues, HGs more so on the EA82s. Neither engine enjoys overheating, so cooling system is important. As prev stated, timing belt breakage can occur on the EA82 (regular maintenenace mitigates this problem). Given good maintenance and avoiding overheating, both engines are durable. It is not uncommon for them to run 200-300k miles before needing major attention, and original honing marks are often/usually visible on cylinder walls after 150-200k miles.

If you broke the bolt installing/tightening the bolt, it shouldn't be too tough to remove. (i.e. - It isn't rust welded to something.) I would locate an extractor set with reverse-twist drill bits (or just the drill bits). When you start drilling as edrach said, it is very likely that the reverse-twist bit will back the broken part right out of the hole. (Do remember to run your drill in reverse, though...)

Since the USA's consumer-hardware market only gives a grudging acknowledgement to metric, I would not swear to the equivalency, and the source of my information is lost in past decades. However, the last time I looked the lowest/only grade of metric bolts that I can get locally are stamped as 8.8. I will gladly defer to someone who's country/industry actually embraces the metric standard. (*muttering to self*: now, did I need a USC or USF thread for that part... or was it pipe...)

My Datsun has a JDM Z20 with 2 sparkplugs per cylinder... and 2 sets of points. Too bad I can't find replacements in this country, as mine have about 75k miles on them. :-\ Business cards are approximately .008", so the standard .015" gap is not too hard to set.

Thank you, Captain Smarty Pants. I agree. It has been 30 years since I last dealt with torsion formulas, so I will leave the proof to the student. But a little practical case might help: Consider torqueing a bolt with a 3/8" torque wrench to, say, 150ft-lbs. (My apologies to my metric friends .) If you place a 2" extension between the torque wrench and the socket, there will very little torsion "windup" of the extension. If, however, you use a 24" extension there will be considerable torsion "windup of the extension. If you keep increasing the length of the extension (without altering cross-section or material), at some point the torsional flex will exceed the torque needed to tighten the bolt. IIRC, the torsional stiffness follows the "inverse square" law: Halve the length and you quadruple the torsional stiffness.

A not-so-obvious possibility for your stumble is ignition issues, particularly plugs and plugwires. I had power holes all over my rev range (i.e power 0-2k ... dead 2k-3.5k...power 4-redline). Replacing my plugs helped; also replacing my wires REALLY helped. It became fun to drive again.

The copper headgaskets and super-strength studs are mostly for those of us who can't keep our headgaskets from blowing every few weeks, or those who wish their engine was powerful enough to blow its HGs every few weeks. OE headgaskets should be good enough, if you want to replace them while you are replacing other gaskets. Headbolts are nothing special; no "torque to yield", no unobtanium alloy. Head studs would be nice, but ARP studs are probably overkill even for those of us that really want them. (For us Yanks, Ross' reference to "Grade 8.8" bolts is equivalent to our "Grade 5", or common hardware-store bolt.) Just replace the gaskets that s'ko and others have mentioned, be meticulous in your cleaning, applying of any sealants, and your removal/replacement of seals, and things should work fine. Excellent time to replace timing-belts, inspect/replace t-belt tensioners, and to consider replacing the waterpump.

Just pull the rear driveshaft segment and you are good. It bolts to flanges on both ends, 12mm (maybe 13mm) wrenches needed. No worry about AWD, fluid leakage, driveshaft falling off, or whatever.

What exactly would you like to end up with? If you don't need either a ring gear or a flywheel mass, you could use an autoamtic transmission flexplate.

Before this thread, I had not heard of any problems with catcons because of eliminating supplimental air. Although I will not dismiss the possibility of this happening, I think that it would be highly unlikely. On my Cal-spec 82, the ASVs are only activeated for the first 2 minutes or so after startup. May be different on other versions of feedback-carb equiped EA81s and probably is different on nonfeedback-carb'd models. This activation is meant to handle the time between startup and the catcons getting warm enough to be effective (and the EGO sensor, too). Supplimental air after this time would screw up the EGO/ECU feedback loop. Supplimental air in a nonfeedback system should only help insure excess O2 in the gas feedstock to the cat so that oxidation can take place. This oxidation will INCREASE the temp of the catcon, so lack of supp-air should tend to keep the catcon temp lower. It is still possible that your catcons are plugged... I have seen some bad cases where the engine burned some oil and the residue plugged the honeycomb. But plinking and clinking from catcons is pretty common, and is often the heatshield expanding/contracting at a different rate than the body of the catcon. My 2 cents.

For neophytes, there is a specified way to remove O2 sensors. I do not remember exactly what it is, but it involves a warm/hot engine, penetrant oil, loosening a partial turn, penetrant, waiting, and then removing. If you do strip the threads, you can chase the bung hole using a spark-plug thread chaser. Not that I have ever had to do so.... well maybe once.

One word: edrach He had a waterpump last week, and I thing that he still has it. The thing that you need to figure out is whether yorus is a short-shaft or a long-shaft (1/4" difference???). Look to see if you have nuts holding on the waterpump pulley or if it uses bolts. Edrach's uses bolts.

Don't know... is there a coolant track around your waterpump weep hole? (I suddenly remembered how to spell weep :-\ ) Big guesses for leaks are any water hose, the thermostat gasket, and the intake manifold gasket. You have it easier than I do, as the turbo/MFPI have hoses all over the place. I have spent months trying to track down leaks on my wife's car (I can't just tear it apart and fix all possibilities, as it can't be "down" for more than 4-6 hours during the day). And all leaks seem to end up on the crossmember and the exhaust pipe.

starkiller has an O2 removal-socket, and it is 4-5 inches long. Guess I should have left him a 22mm wrench . The socket works OK on my turbos, but they sit "high and proud" in the engine compartment. Alan, interested in a light-duty floor jack and some 6-ton jack stands? The jack can often be found for $20-25, and I have a couple pair of stands that I got from Harbor freight for $13/pair. A friendly bump.

Watch out for those assumptions! A leaking water pump is easy to tell on your car, as the weap hole (where the cololant would weap out of the waterpump) is on the top of the waterpump shaft housing. So, if you stare past your AC compressor pulley and look just behind the waterpump pulley, you should see a hole (6-8mm???). Leaking antifreeze will leave a definite trail. I guess the gasket could be bad, but then, any of your gaskets and nose connections could have a problem. The "only leaks when running" could mean that it only leaks when the system pressurizes. No matter when it leaks, though, it should drip on your cardboard, as it takes some time after you shut off for the last drops to work their way down.

I can certainly believe that! I am looking at some dead EA81 digidashes, and there are some definite problems in the power section.