NorthWet

Don't worry about "shiny". The usual death of this gear is to "apple coring", where the gear is visibly worn into the shape of a well eaten apple, and the center of the helical teeth are worn compeltely away. If the gear is reasonably OK, go ahead and disassemble the valve assembly (an internal snap ring removal tool helps) and clean it thoroughly. This valve may look OK, but until you disassemble it you can't really judge how freely it moves... and it needs to move VERY freely. Below is a link to instructions on how to clean the valve. http://web.archive.org/web/20050227203609/http://www.usmb.net/repair/?CurrentDirectory=FOLDER_3f29b58f50d9b8.15492800/&FileType=Article&File=ARTICLE_3f57fdb83de231.34713659.art Good luck! Pat

Approx. 10 inches towards the back from the passenger-side front axle. It is next to and towards back from an electrical solenoid that also screws into the case. Skip and moosens are dead on with their comments about the 3-speed automatic (aka 3AT around here). Keep the fluid clean and filled, and if it looks or smells burnt then replace the fluid. Replace it anyway as insurance. Replace it twice to be nice. BTW, if/when you replace the vacuum modulator it will dump ATF, so be prepared for the stuff coming out. (sorry for stealing your glory, moosens. )

No direct experience, but seems to me if you just unbolt the EFI (I am assuming SPFI/throttle body injection in your case) and move it out of the way you can R&R the engine without messing much with the vacuum/etc hoses.

Any other parts worth pulling? I realize the 1600 pistons are the gem here, but might have other interesting stuff.

I was referring to Ed, not me. I have yet to be to a PAP around here (this needs to change, probably tomorrow), which is sad since I have lived here for almost 20 years... In fact, until I found this board I didn't even know there was a PAP around here. All of my local JYs want to charge me prices 50% of new. Need to find the Tacoma PAP one of these days. Its off of Steele I hear.

Dumb Question #2: Did you use the Haynes manual instructions to time the t-belt? It has been reported that the Haynes instructions neglect to tell you to turn the engine over one revolution before aligning the dots on the passenger side. This would leave the passenger side totally mistimed.

I'll try to beat the "convert it to a manual" crowd... Oh, and the "search first" crowd... The 3-speed automatic (aka 3AT) has a couple of problems, mostly having to do with low, dirty, and/or burnt ATF. Check the fluid for level and color/smell, this will give you a clue. If the fluid isn't burnt looking or smelling but is low, top it up (I'm sure that you have already thought of that one). If the fluid is low, and if after you fill it up you get a white smoke screen behind the car, then it is likely that your vacuum modulator diaphram has ruptured, adn the modulator needs to be replaced ($10-$30). You can check for this by pullin off the vacuum hose where it attaches to the side of the trannyand see if its inside is wet with ATF. The other major, and most likely, problem involves the governor assembly on the passenger side of the tranny, almost directly above the axle shafts. The governor assembly is used to tell the trannywhat your road sed is for automatic shifting. It has a gear that is driven off of the final drive pinion shaft, and this gear sometimes strips. The other trouble spot in this assembly is the valve itself, which the gear and its shaft spins. This valve get gummed up and doesn't move which causes all sorts of shifting issues. There are some excellent writeups on how to clean this up.

About the same advantage as replacing control arm bushings, but since these support the weight of the corner of the car, maybe even more important.

Oh, even more $$$$$!

Oh. The relax suggestion still stands. Do you still have the original parts? Maybe we can come up with a simpler conversion method. For the rear subframe issue (enlarged holes) do you weld or know a person who does (not yet sure if needed). Do you have any remaining budget for completing this?

I really needed to go today, but a late night of work, trying to scrounge up all of my tools (seems I lost a full set of sockets/ratchets somewhere between PA and home ), bank and gas stops, I wasn't ready to leave Bremerton until 2pm. Grrrr... bad planning bites again! Sunday morn for sure...

If it is an Hitachi carb, the only thing the "feedback" loop does is allow air into some of the metering passages (Idle and main?) to give it "variable" air bleeds in those emulsion tubes. What all that means is that if you unplug the connectors from the duty solenoids (just in front of the starter and behind carb, driver's-side of centerline) the car will run at normal-rich setting and will run just fine. The fact that it runs for a while and dies makes me think 2 possibilities: Fuel starvation or ignition failure when it heats up. Fuel would be easy to check: Takeoff the air cleaner top and pump the throttle; if gas squirts out of the acclerator pump discharge then that is OK. I like the ignition as the cause here. Rotor/cap/plugs/wires been changed recently? Is the original coil "known good", as in if you put it in another car does it work OK? Oh, another thought... plugged fuel return line? Might cause it to be too rich. Checking the plugs would likely tell this and maybe even fuel starvation.

So, what *was* their Shop Rate? If you don't know, then find out before you get too upset. It is probably in the $90-100/hr range, about par for any tech service industry. Also what was the time required to do the job? Flat-Rate book might say 5+ hours to do the work... and it might if you do a meticukous job, or take into account that the belt-cover inserts might spin, etc. Yes, it is expensive, which is one reason that I try to do my own work. The heavy sales tactic might be a "CYA": If they let you leave without doing their darndest to get PM done, and your belts failed, a jury might find them liable because they didn't impress upon you the importance of the PM. This way, you have told all of your friends and families, and SOMEONE is likely to tell a jury that you were warned. Or they could be money-grubbing jerks.

Nice. How did he get that mud looking so realistic? My cats do something similar, but it costs me nothing other than washing my car beforehand.

Still off-topic... Yeah, sort of ironic that what we need in the upper atmosphere is deadly/corrosive to life at the bottom. BTW, I suspect that the various electric motors in our cars produce more O3 than the engine itself. Virtually any high-energy electric discharge in the presence of oxygen creates it. ...return on-topic Folks, I think that Moshe was more interested in drag while the A/C is off than what it requires when it is on. Though I personally am interested in the drag while on... 85Sub4WD, where did you get your info comparing the Hitachi to the Panasonic? And what are their respective design types?

Don't forget new hoses on the PCV system... what a pain. Entire new exhaust system? You even got new pipes from head to turbo? I assume not dealer...$$$$$

The venting of R12 releases a persistant ozone-destroying material into the environment. In the grand scheme of things, it is many orders of magnitude (3-5?) worse than driving without exhaust emission controls present and functioning. The personally sad part is that during my 2 years working in a radiator and A/C shop I must have released a hundred pounds or so of R12 into the environment. Fishing boats, at least the larger commercial ones, use ammonia as their refrigerant rather than a freon, and even if they do use a freon it is not R12 but one that is better suited to lower temperatures. Most clorofluorocarbon refrigerants are not normally poisonous, R12 included. To the extent that they replace oxygen they are deadly due to the risk of suffocation. R12 does produces a deadly gas if burned. The greatest direct danger with venting comes from freezing injuries.

You'd be surprised how long gunk can smoke on the turbo. As far as oil on the intake side, it might be from the PCV system... pretty common problem. If you have an automatic transmission it could be ATF. Not too many sources for external oil leaks on the turbo itself. Any noise from the exhaust in the engine compartment? (As in, could the crossover/upipe have done its usual cracking, and you are seeing ingested oil/smoke coming from the exhaust?) Regarding the NASIOC post, after having recently examined the drain path for the turbo oil return and the general oil drainback from the head, if there is enough blowby to effect oil drainback then the engine has greater problems than how the PCV system is plumbed.

Well, I got too late of a start today, so scrubbed my trip. I will try again Sunday, so maybe we will cross paths. And maybe I can draft you guys into helping me drag a tranny (and maybe engine) up to the office. Look for me hanging around the auto Leg. (You know what tom Sellick looks like? I look exactly not like him. 5'11 too-many-lbs brown-brown glasses and greying beard/moustache.) Any idea if they will allow me to bring my own wheelbarrow and they can charge me non-all-you-can-carry prices?

I bet that nice red paint is really just watercolor or poster-paint.

...that, and living not that far from 2 PAPs, with one more down the road.

If it is an LSD, and the price is reasonable, there are plenty of us on the board looking for one. (Can you say resale?) Just a thought.

I'm not sure about Miles being the king (if so, I guess I should have done more bowing and scraping when we met last month), but he DEFINITELY is a resource that you could/should use. Big plus is he is local. I have little doubt that Miles could figure out how to set things straight, which probably would include backing off of all of those EA82 suspension pieces. Sounds like your tech resource had you chasing stuff down rat holes. Continuing to fret over this can't be good for your condition. So, relax, take a breath, forget the Sube ( ) for a while... and then get some help from your local Subaru support group. Your Subaru will drive again.

When the air conditioning is not operating it is just like a belt idler/tensioner; the only resistance is from the bearings. There is no significant power usage. The air conditioning system does have weight, and that will affect your acceleration. If your system still has pressurized refrigerant (R12) be VERY careful working with it so as to avoid eye injury of other freezing injury. It is also illegal in the USA to vent the R12 to the atmosphere. Is your air conditioning currently not working? If it is still working, please consider that the defroster function uses the air conditioner to help remove mist from the windscreen.

Are these piles of engines (used or otherwise) or just pistons (used or otherwise)? If pistons, what would they want for the lot, and how big is the lot?