ebarb

Dangit, I was super pumped about the possibility of towing a GL with a GL until I read through this post. I've come to realize how crazily unsafe that idea is. Bummer.

Dorman OE Solutions. It looks like it is the only one they have listed on their site for the inners. As a sidenote now that I have spent three times the value of the car on replacement parts I think it is going to be up for sale soon. Anyone looking for an 81 wagon in the Midwest? I have literally replaced just about everything you can replace. I have a completely rebuilt engine with about 2000 miles on it, a new weber carburetor and a slew of other items. I doubt that it is even worth 2500 but that's what I have to at least try to ask for it. Plenty of extra parts included (80 & 81 parts cars included for a bit extra) Eli

Just wanted to forewarn anyone that thought about getting CV boots from O'Reilly. I just replaced both of my inner CVs yesterday and I barely went 30 miles and I'm going to have to replace both of them. They both split completely through in under a hundred miles. Wherever they're sourcing these parts from they are crap.

Ok so I found the bushing you guys were talking about. Mine was definitely worn. I had a spare one so I popped it out and put it in along with a new washer set. Here's a few pics of the pieces for anyone that might run into this in the future. Bushings. Mine was so worn when I looked at the housing I couldn't tell there was anything on top. After looking at another one though it stood up quite a bit further from the housing. The new bushing definitely fit a lot tighter than the old one. And the thrust washer set that the diagram depicts. Unfortunately though none of this solved my jumpy tach, but it does seem to have helped with the intermittent miss that I was having.

No way. My dad and I were there too with my 81 Wagon. What did you think of that old 2 stroke Saab? Sounds like a swarm of bees coming down the road.

The thrust washer set is Subaru P/N: 491867401. Was hoping maybe the local dealership still had access to them, but of course they are discontinued. I hit up Regis Philbin there in Portland and they have do have them. I can't imagine it'll be more than a few bucks.

I know this is kind of an old one, but I came across this last night. I've got a Hitachi distributor and have about 1/8inch or slightly more vertical play in the shaft, but no side to side movement that I notice. The stator has slightly more gap on one side of the reluctor than on the other. I tore down the whole thing to regrease it all as well as replace the vacuum controller. It looked like it had chewed through something and had a thin strip of round metal lodged in the bottom of the distributor kind of near the pick-up coil plate. Almost like it had chewed through a bit of one of these washers. When one of you says thrust washer and the other says bushing are you guys talking about the same thing? Or is there a sleeved bushing that would fit over the shaft and slide down into the housing to hold the shaft in place? Either way I think I need to add a couple more thrust washers/bushings to eliminate the up/down play.

I just started having issues related to that fuel pump relay and possibly the voltage regulator too. I think the voltage regulator may have bitten the dust and then effected the fuel pump relay. Car would start for 15 seconds and then die. Somewhere before this all happened every light on my dash came on with key in the ignition and stayed on. I had just re-wrapped the wiring harness with tape in the engine bay so I moved it around a bit and they seem to have cleared up. Maybe a bad ground or loose connection. For the time being until I can get into the dash I've run a wire direct to fuel pump so I can drive it.

I can turn it over by hand as well.

She's turning over and close to starting, but with the starter still engaged it is preventing it from really taking off.

4spd trans

After reading a bit on the forums I think I've found out there is an EA81 flywheel with 105 teeth and another with 115 teeth. Here's the story. I bought an EA81 from someone that was out of a BRAT, unknown year. I took it in and had it rebuilt at the machine shop. I used the flywheel that came with it and installed it all into my 81 GL 4x4 Wagon which supposedly has the tranny out of an 83 Wagon. When I try to start up the engine there is a wicked loud knocking sort of grind when it's trying to start up. What appears to be happening is the starter never disengages and keeps grinding against the flywheel. I've gnarled up the flywheel pretty bad, but I think technically it's probably still fine. I tried shimming the starter out with a couple of thick washers, but that doesn't help even remotely. I'll be counting the teeth tonight on both flywheels I have to see if there's a difference. However I'm a bit at my wits end because I've already had to pull this newly rebuilt engine once to have the engine shop fix something they messed up. A friend mentioned maybe changing out the bendix gear on the starter or getting a starter for the 105 tooth version. However I also read that the 115 tooth version is needed to drive all four wheels. Can anyone provide any more illumination? Thanks. Eli

I've run into a similar issue. How did you end up handling this?

RallyAlex, Curious how this went for you? I've got an 81 as well equipped for optional A/C that I'd like to do this in as well. I'm also in the midwest so parts cars are harder to come by. Eli

Slick little van you've got there!

Welcome from a fellow middle stater. Good luck with your van resto, you'll have to post some progress reports for us on it. Eli

Thanks very much for jumping in to request help. That fixed it. Much appreciated to you and the site admins.

I gave that a shot. Everyone of those fields has a little edit pencil next to it so updates can be made...except location. Something like that showing editable for other users but not for me seems like something to do with permissions in my profile.

I remember seeing a field for Location, but it eludes me even now.

Funny you should say that. I have been looking all over in the user profile options to change my city to a state abbr. I have looked everywhere and can't seem to find it the place I originally added that. Eli

Thanks. The trip was quite an interesting journey that's for sure. Looking forward to upkeeping and improving her for quite some time to come.

@79bratpdx thanks, that was one year of unadulterated beard growth. The odd white strands are starting to grow in too which make it all the better. @98ImprezaWA You look pretty rough and tumble there with your Brat. I'll bet you get in all sorts of rumbles with the local toughs. Do your friends have to post bail for you every weekend or just every other weekend? Seattle just went up a notch in my book if you're out there cruising the streets. Eli

Here I am in WA And again, but in WY on the Oregon Trail.

Hey guys just got my first suby an 81 wagon and wanted to say hello. Don't figure there are probably many members from my neck of the woods since Subarus aren't nearly as popular down here as they are in the NW. Looking forward to taking her out to the Rally America 100 Acre Woods in February to spectate. If you see a guy in a blue wagon with a big red beard it's probably me so give me a shout. Eli SW Missouri