ShawnW

Run the original starter wire AND the legacy one. My 83...it was the bolt on the SMJ plug...that giant grey plug that hooks the whole harness together...it wasnt bolted tight. Mine now runs, the car hasnt run in at least 6 years, got it just after wcss3 from Qman.

Yakima or Thule make gutter mount racks. They can be found at a junkyard on ALOT of older japanese and german cars. Dont mess with drilling into your roof.

Please do not promote illegal activity. Thanks! At most pull a part yards if you walk up to the counter with something that is 1-2 bucks on their price sheet they will just give it to you and tell you to put a buck in their charity wheel borrow, pop machine, etc. Being honest actually pays and if they do charge you 2 bucks, big deal its 2 bucks. thats 2/3 of a gallon of gas for something you need for your car.

The lower hose outlet on my 83's radiator points directly toward the timing belt cover and leaves very little choice on mounting a hose between it and the thermostat housing. What have others done to get around this problem. So far I have come up with: A: 90 degree bend of copper pipe so you have a 2" section of rubber, a 90 degree bend and then a flexhose running from the bend to the thermostat housing. B: Custom radiator...I dont like this idea I have a nearly brand new radiator already. C: 1.8L Impreza radiator? The only advantage I can see on this is the hose outlet is already the same size as the thermostat housing AND the mounts for the impreza radiator fan (nicer fans).

I am absolutely amazed that this thread or problem hasnt been discussed before.

Wasnt MW4 at my house last monday? Almost as many Subaru's!

Clear the codes and see if it comes back. Unplugging things with Ign on is probably a bad idea. Don't get too hung up on the car you are on the right track and you solved the noise issue!

A but no white walls I dont care how date appropriate they are.

A steel ruler isnt going to be precise enough in this case. The tollerance is very low. Snap-On sells a straight edge that would be way overkill for a do it yourselfer but its obviously good enough. I have a feeling that if you put your shortblock in the trunk of a car and took it with you to the place that you have your heads surfaced at they might check the block for you for a few bucks.

They sieze all right! And the worst part is you cant use an air hammer on it because its just aluminum on aluminum and it will take all those little teeth off. You didnt say if it was a manual or automatic. On an automatic you would just replace the front diff and pinion gear, a used trans would provide those parts but they need to be a matched set. It certainly wouldnt be a 10 hour job to replace the seals only though...and on an 03 I dont see how these would be leaking yet.

You probably have a plastic or rubber part rubbing on a cam gear. Oil leaks cause the rubber inserts to "grow" larger and rub alot. The water lubricated the rubbing parts for a while I suppose. Time to take it apart again and you will definately see what is rubbing. If you don't maybe you forgot to force the tensioner left and then bolt it in and then reapply torque to expand it?

I am crossing my fingers for a clean trip thru emissions for ya! This is a pretty nice little RU if you ask me! The CO was 20.6XX out of an allowed 20.000 the first try and nearly double allowable on the 2nd attempt after new plugs, wires, etc. A new 02 sensor and reset of timing should help alot, just a seat of the pants indicator would agree. Timing was about 8 degrees off and the o2 was BLACK soot covered. Seems this car may have spent some time at a lower altitude or somebody didn't plug the test connectors in while setting the timing the last time.

Idle air control valve.. Fancy for automatic choke if you ask me.

Yes, and you wont be too homesick alot of people here are from the East.

30MPG is pretty good!

Fuel lines on backwards?

Excellent point here, on a Vanagon this is a big pain in the butt. Remember you will have to bleed the air out of the system for it to do any cooling/circulating.

The coupler can be changed in the car if necessary and would only cost the part plus a gasket (RTV WORKS) and some fluid (and your time).

Dead reliable and ability for virtually any mechanic along the way to fix it would be a Weber Carburator. Simple, efficient, and lotsa parts availability. 2nd would be SPFI though, and not a great distance behind. Mileage will be better, and of all the late 80's subarus they are the most common. They will also self diagnose many of their own problems and tell you in morse code which is nice. Bring a spare fuel filter and it should be great. The stock hitachi I wouldnt rebuild, not when you can get a weber for 300.

Put a real oil pressure gauge on the engine and go from there. Dummy light comes on at between 3 and 5 PSI (rediculous at any speed other than idle and even then is lower than I prefer (10 @ idle). Are you losing any oil between changes?

PM me with details on how to get it and when I can come.

198 pounds estimated. Thats the DOHC longblock with oil filter, spark plugs and nothing else.

Its not always obvious. Be absolutely sure the head and block surfaces are PERFECTLY flat before reassembly.

Im putting an EJ22 in it with the 88 RX Ft4wd transmission. Im keeping 3.70 gears for gas mileage and the lo range trans should be nice even if its not the super low.

Oh that'd be awesome! Is it bolted to the crossmember still?