idosubaru

unless you plan on addressing brake calipers, wheel bearings, cv axles, tie rods, ball joints, radiator, etc....basically any car that old will need work at some point. great cars, great motors but after time it is what it is, and older vehicle. getting a newer vehicle might be a good option. but the 82 is probably salvageable if you have the time and patience. when you do a ball joint, replace both. when you replace or repack a wheel bearing do them all. rebuild your brake calipers. do a job a month as preventative mainteance and they are cheap and reliable. and after a few months most major issues are addressed. you can pick up a good used motor for cheap. sounds like an EA81, shouldn't have a problem scoring a decent one on this board i'd imagine. EA82's aren't hard to come by at least. reseal the entire motor, repack any pulley bearings, replace the oil pump seals and water pump and all hoses and clamps and it should be golden. make sure the radiator and thermostat are up to par so it doesn't overheat again. sounds like a lot but isn't that much work for the result - a great motor that will last a long time. always great to have two vehicles though i know in college that isn't such a smooth option. good luck and have fun. keep your head up.

NICE HIT DUDE!!!! that's great news. i have an impreza parts car, so let me know how the impreza goes or i'll try it myself at some point. i have an XT Turbo and XT6 i'd love to swap new impreza seats into. great hit information! thanks!

if it helps at all the FSM testing procedures and values for the TPS of an XT6 are not right. no TPS on an XT6 will be within the specifications of the FSM. i'd expect similar results from late model 87 and up XT's. but that's just a guess. i had a troubling TPS issue once. car had trouble idling and wouldn't start on occassion. replaced the connector to the TPS along with about 6 - 8 inches of wiring behind it and all was well. i located the problem by grabbing the wiring harness connector that plugs into the TPS. i wiggled it, then gradually drifter back bending/ squeezing and rolling the wiring between my fingers. about 3 or 4 inches behind the TPS the car would do all sorts of craziness, stall, run right (for once), RPM's jump, not start, etc. replaced the wiring and all was well. at this point i think i'd swap in another TPS and see if that helped. and the ECU like you mentoined he's going to be doing. good luck.

i'm a moderator of XT6.net and don't recall seeing that post. i guess i missed it, maybe you should make sure it's there though just in case? i've sent parts to the guys in NZ, could do the same for you as well. email or post a picture of what parts you need, i have a couple XT6 parts cars. make sure they are interchangeable between XT Turbo and XT6. i have an XTTurbo 1987.5 so i should be able to look and see. no RHD parts though. but blinkers okay. i'm super freaking busy but i can help you out if you get in touch with me. contact suber dave first if you can.

you need these to pass inspection? i'm with the above comment, get something to work to pass even if it looks terrible. then get the right thing from the junk yard. they are obvious and easy to see from the drivers seat or standing next to the car without doing anything or pushing any buttons !! (good thought though, you never know on these nut case cars!) if you have trouble getting the exact thing i can probably pull one off my parts XT6 and send it to you, hoses and all. if the squirters are attached to the long plastic trim then i won't be able to ship that though, too long. don't know how they are attached, never removed one. i've already sent parts to two people in NZ....one day i'll send myself over there.

you could have damaged head gaskets, but that's all speculation for now. start with what you know: are you loosing coolant? you said you had to add it, so it sounds like you may be. find out where the coolant is going. a leak should be obvious, particularly if it's leaking enough that you have to keep adding. did you add coolant to the radiator or the overflow tank only? any excessive coolant/water out the tailpipe or along any leaks in the exhaust at start up? replace the thermostat. very easy and costs under 10 bucks. test the old one in a pot of boiling water if you suspect it was bad. any leaks from hoses or radiator? maybe the radiator is plugged? if it happened while driving your fans are likely okay. after it heats up (gets too hot), does it bubble in the overflow tank? i may not be back on here for a couple more days, but answer these questions and the knowledgable folks here can help you pinpoint this and hopefully avoid blowing the headgasket.

ha ha, good one! an honest guy...you should go post this at nabisco.

i would just replace the tie rod ends, the steering racks have such a low failure rate it's not worth replacing without reason. that being said you can usually buy steering rack boots if those are broken and just replace them. i believe they are dust shields only and not critical. sounds to me like you only need to replace the tie rod end that will have a new ball joint on it. if there's something i'm missing, let me know. bad tie rod ends can fail and are one of the most dangerous types of failure. not trying to scare you, but i would replace them immediately if they look bad. try advanced auto parts or http://www.thepartsbin.com and check prices. if they are high, find a used unit. there are hunreds of thousands of 20+ year old subaru's with 200,000+ with the original tie rods still on them, used ones that are in good condition are a decent solution to known bad ones. post on here for used ones in the parts wanted forum. i and others have subaru's for parts. and if you can post pictures of the problem areas that's really helpful for the confused folk like me, i get suspension terminology mixed up sometimes.

here's another similar thread ongoing right now: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53225 i made some notes there on this subject. start simple like Nipper said - basic complete tune up first then move on. this site can help you out, one step at a time.

my gas mileage went up a mpg or two in my 97 impreza after i did a break job. all was fine, i was just replacing the pads and wasn't doing the brake job for gas mileage reasons. i assume the caliper slides were a just sticky enough to make the pads ride on the rotors more than necessary. i took all highway trips before and after and noticed the difference as i always keep track of gas mileage on trips. regrease the slides on the calipers to make sure there's as little resistance on the rotors as possible.

at 232,000 the fuel injectors are most likely dripping/leaking or not up to original performance. i'd have them rebuilt. others have posted rebuild results here and i have my sheets. unless they're making the numbers/data up then there is significant improvement after having 200,000 mile injectors cleaned. i send mine to RC Engineering, about $20 - $25 for each injector. there's another company witch...something or another that does them for about half the price. these companies completely rebuild them and give you before and after test results of flow characteristics. fuel injector cleaner might want to try that first if you don't want to spend the time/money on a complete rebuild. also replace the distributor cap/rotor O2 sensor check tire pressure installing new ground wires can be beneficial if the connections are dirty, rusted or corroded at all. do a compression test, at this mileage you could have some loss of compression, though 20 is really low for highway mileage. 20 mpg might be about right for auto, city driving, lower compression due to age, AWD trans....etc. here's another thread on the subject: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53219

make sure the coolant is full and no air in the system. could the radiator be plugged?

there is a company that sells a device to splice in-line with the shift resistor. they market it for the SVX i believe, but it'll work with a wide range of 4EAT's. i think the idea is that it bypasses the resistor at certain times. basically it's a marketing tool that makes money off the option of disconnecting the shift resistor entirely. that device seems more than needed to me. better option is to disconnect the shift resistor and if you don't like the way it shifts, reconnect it and leave it stock. mine are always disconnected, shifts much better. it's harder and firmer shifting but feels much more solid to me. there's even been discussion a long time ago that it's better for the trans because the clutches engage quicker without it. doesn't feel as cushy, but it's quicer and firmer, leaving less time for the clutches to wear. but that effect is certainly minimal whatever it may be. i haven't payed much attention to the newer models though. i don't think my impreza does it as bad as the XT6, i'll try it on my impreza if i remember. we've discussed, posted pictures and stuff at http://www.xt6.net before, i'm guessing there's info on it at usmb as well? this probably isn't the cause of his problems, but something to look at if it is a 2-3 shift issue. if the resistor is bad you can isolate the problem by disconnecting it.

last time i went to NAPA for an XT6 part they handed me a distributor with 4 ignition wire points?? for a 6 cylinder car, he showed the computer and part number and sure enough it was "right". my guess is they've updated that since then, it was many years ago. at least that was easy to tell it wasn't right.

what he said is the way to go. a few slaps with a hammer on the head of the bolt may help as well. but liquid wrench or PB Blaster is the way to go for sure.

these guys sell new (rebuilt) units for $130 to $175. i'd go with them: http://jtwebtech.com/roobuilders/ or get a used one for $25 from someone. post in the parts wanted section of this website, someone probably has one lying around. make sure you get the right one, i think there are variations across year, model, etc.

there's pictures of an XT with this same motor (don't know if it's turbo or not) over at http://www.xt6.net somewhere. looks more like a backyard swap than the huge project listed earlier.

if the plugs match i believe it should work but i have no experience with that swap. i would be surprised if the plugs matched but are not compatible.

yes possible. i posted links to http://www.xt6.net where someone has already done this to an XT6. i posted the links in another thread here on usmb.net. it is some work, but doesn't seem too terrible. use the search function and you should get some good information, enough people have done it.

i wouldn't worry about that small idle difference until after you complete the tune up. a basic tune up may help. while you're doing the tune up keep an eye on the air hoses, vacuum lines and such. introduced air (at cracks and such) will play with the idle.

i thought the title of this thread was someone getting their first subaru XT.

i know the earlier versions have a subtle shifting issue between 2nd and 3rd that's normal, they all do it. 2nd to 3rd kind of takes awhile, that's the best way i can describe it. hard to put in words, it's "soft" so to speak and takes longer than it should. i always disconnect the shift resistor on the passenger side strut tower (could be located differently depending on model) to help it shift a little firmer. the trans shifts all around better that way, a little harder than most are used to but i say it's better. still has the same lag or whatever you want to call it, but it's better. if it's that, then it's normal for the 4EAT. it's bad enough that someone on this board had the transmission valve bodies modified to try and alleviate it and it STILL did it, better but was still there. if it's something else then pardon my rambling.

no problem. definitely good news. i should have it installed by saturday and car running by the end of the weekend. pulled the motor this week and should have another going in it this weekend. i'll post results/details.

shows how good the subaru guys are, he goes to them for answers!

3.3 liter, i don't know anything about corvairs. but it's an all custom job, so i don't think it matters. get the engine, engine cross member, wiring and ECU and go to town on it.