GeneralDisorder

I replace a lot of boots and I install a lot of axles - I've used the EMPI boots for years and not had a problem. I also use a lot of the OP-parts axles and I've had a few that had torn boots relatively quickly. I've changed my installation routine to insure I am very careful with the boots durring installation. They are VERY soft and just scraping the boot along a bolt-head will damage them. I didn't think anything of it when I noticed it but sure enough a few months went by and it ripped open in the same spot. This is a lot like the cone washer business - no one notices how bad they are till they have to fight with one that will never tighten down due to being worn out and it results in hub spline failure. GD

Don't worry about clamping the hoses down tight - they are thin but as long as they are round they will not collapse. Essentially they are round arch's and structurally you are evenly applying load to the arch.... it will take a LOT more pressure than you think it will. If it's an EA81 that you are talking about here - the fittings are part of a heater control valve assembly under the dash and could be replaced with some effort from below the dash. If it's an EA82 they are part of the heater core itself and can't be replaced seperately. GD

Get the wheel bearing seals at Discount - $6 each or so. Positive camber differences could be due to incorrect strut or spring parts having been used on one wheel.... that's the usual reason. Or something being bent. Ball joints are cheap - I would replace them. If you can move the joint around by hand - it's old. New one's are very stiff. I've never seen an adjustable leading rod and the picture you posted doesn't look adjustable to me either. The only alignment adjustment in the front of the EA82's is the toe adjustment. You could adjust camber with crash bolts at the lower control arm mount..... cheaper than strut plates. But I would be going for new struts/springs first. Bring the knuckles by after you clean them up and we can drift out the bearings and install the new one's. I have a custom tool for installing the bearings and you can bead-blast the knuckles and paint them before installing them. GD

No - due to the shorter wheelbase only a hatch tank will fit in a hatch body. They are several gallons smaller. GD

Are you *sure* you have fuel? Make sure you have power at the injectors and plug in the green test connectors - the fuel pump and radiator fan should cycle repeatedly with them connected and the ignition on. Make sure you put the timing belt on correctly and that the cam pullies are on the correct side. With EJ's - if you have spark your sensors are working but you may not have spark at the right time. That would be due to cam/crank misalignment which is typically the timing belt. GD

Boot failures immediately following replacement of the axle is *almost always* a result of damage durring installation. GD

The dealer sells reseal kits for all the pumps. About $35. They are readilly available and easy to install. You will also need the front bearing which is a 6202 or 6203 IIRC. The leakage is almost always the rear cover gasket. GD

That light is improperly named - it should be the "You're totally hosed - go directly to used engine dealer - do not pass go, and do not collect $200". Those idiot light sending units only take about 2 to 5 psi of oil pressure to turn the light off. If the engine is running with pressure that low - it's garbage in very short order. And one has to consider that the pressure has probably been dropping for a while before it got low enough for the light to come on. Either that or the wire came off the sending unit and it's grounded to the block or sending unit is bad. You would be the first I've heard of for that happening though. GD

Agreed - same car, same bolts. I've worked on many of both trim levels (brighton, L, Outback, etc) and the build quality is the same in the 95 to 99 years. 90 to 94 is of typically higher build quality - at least when it comes to interior bits and peices. Mechanically they are all pretty much the same. Sounds to me like you are impatient and useing WAY too much force on body capture nut retained bolts. Impacts are good for dissasembly most of the time if you are careful - they are not appropriate for assembly. It is easy to get those x-member bolts, etc started crooked and cross-thread them. You just have to be patient and careful and don't force things. GD

It's probably worth about $300 for scrap metal price. She's nuts. Just walk away. GD

The Justy is technically an old-gen car. Transverse FWD 3 cylinder. NOT a swift/metro. It's a seperate FHI product. Hard to find parts for. They have a flawed oil pump design and tend to throw rods if the oil pump isn't replaced every 100 to 150k or so. Typically not a long-lived engine due to that. Every time I hear about a Justy someone has obtained it's gone through like 3 to 6 engines in recent memory . GD

It's running down to the area you are seeing it from somewhere. You need a cooling system pressure tester and a UV leak detection dye. GD

Sounds like the radiator is partially plugged to me. Only overheats under load = insufficient coolant flow across the radiator or insufficient heat rejection from the radiator. Look for cold spots in the radiator and also check how many leaves and pine needles are between the radiator and the AC core as well as the condition of the fins and tubes. A restricted thermostat is a possibility - one that isn't opening as far as it should..... you should get a replacement from the dealer or one of the Stant Xactstat's as mentioned in my recent thread. GD

Mileage is way too low. Air filter and oil change? Check the CTS against spec for sure. Clean the MAF also. Temp gauge is an unreliable measurement of actual engine temp. But since the CTS has nothing to do with cooling the engine or managing it's temp you need to check the ACTUAL temp with a temp gun ($20 or less from Harbor Frieght, etc) and possible replace the thermostat and insure that you are reaching the proper 190*F operating temp. GD

Replacing the pistons is too much work for too little gain on the EJ22. I'm not sure that high-comp pistons are even availible for that bore size. It would be a waste of time. We don't do it that way. We put small (40cc) combustion chamber heads on the EJ25's which had larger combustion chamber heads from the factory (around 50 to 55cc). This increases the compression without costly piston upgrades. Do a search for "frankenmotor". GD

Technically it's not legal. But if you do it right it will pass a smog shop. It's all about the implementation. Search is your friend. GD

Those are turbo *upgrade* kits for engines that already have a turbo, intercooler, proper exhaust, boost management, etc. Sure you could do it - figure on spending about $3k on used parts and engine management. Then you will be limited to about 200 HP on around 4 to 6 psi of boost. The high-comp. EJ22 turbo builds that people have done on NASIOC haven't proven very reliable. Don't expect it to last more than a few years if it doesn't blow up the first week. Or you could spend less than $1k and do a high compression EJ25 that will drop right in. Last one I built was $700. They make about 190 HP and gobs of torque and have proven quite reliable even up to 12:1 compression. You just get an EJ25 short-block and put your existing heads and manifold on it. Depending on the block you use the compression will be anwhere from 10.5 to 11.7. GD

I understand. I use a guy that's close to me for my EJ25 high-comp. rebuilds and having a resource for that type of work is important. I just don't really see a need for much machine shop work on the older engines. If I do anything it's a shade-tree rebuild but mostly I just get used engines and do a reseal. Cheaper and faster for the sub-$500 units. Anything older than an EJ25 is pretty much too inexpensive to warrant the labor and time involved in a full rebuild unless it's going in an airplane, etc. GD

Well - aside from aquireing the materials and setting it up - it takes less time than driving to/from the machine shop to do the actual surfacing operation. The 251 heads I did a few weeks ago took about 15 minutes each. I don't experience any rounded edges or (apparently) any innacuracies due to pressure. I use gravity - I don't push down on the head I just let it's own weight do the cutting. Also with my method I only remove just enough material to true up the surface and clean it. So it's typically less material removed and thus less potential for innacuracies. EA82's are so primitive and cheap that I wouldn't consider doing a rebuild if machine shop costs were involved. A used, good running engine is only worth about $100 amongst board members around here. GD

Silly. Real boots are $12 per boot so $24 for both and it comes with grease. Pull the axle and do both boots and reinstall. GD

I can try checking with my dealer for you - they have all the manuals going back to the 70's and my parts guy has been there 31 years. I'm sure he would photocopy anything that he had on this lighting fuse kit if he can find it. GD

Last time I bought a block heater from Subaru it was only $35 for the kit. That was for a Legacy but you might check with the dealer. They aren't expensive. They have battery blankets for about $25 also. GD

I just did HG's on an '06 Forester - classic oil weeping from drivers side HG. The issue is the type of sealant they are using on the gasket. These are single layer gaskets that are just a stamped peice of sheet metal. The "glue" they apply to the surface is what holds all the fluids in. That glue breaks down, washes away, and then you have a leak. I really don't know why they don't reinforce the deck and go back to graphite - it's worked well since Subaru started building the all-aluminium boxer engine around 1970. The only reason they went away from it was due to the larger sized, unreinforced bore of the die-cast EJ25 causing fire ring blow-outs. If they would just use the 257 semi-closed deck design for all their engines and go back to the graphite these problems would evaporate. Incidentally - you rarely hear about 255 and 257 HG failures. It seems to be almost exclusively a non-turbo problem. You would think having solved the problem in the turbo engines they would use the same tech on the rest to save themselves from consumer backlash. This HG issue has cost them more customers than any other factor in the last 10 years. GD

I'm telling ya.... Sheet of glass, 220 grit wet/dry and a can of WD-40.... I do it every time I do HG's. Just did an '03 Baja a couple weeks ago and it works great. Much more gentle than the blanchard grind you will get at a machine shop. GD

DL/GL doesn't really apply to first gen's as much as it does second gen's. In the first gen years from 77 to 80 - Brat was just plain Brat. With the introduction of the D/R in 81 they did have GL models of the Brat with the 1.8 and D/R transmission. If your's has a 1.6 and a single range tranny then it's a DL. Good luck on the dash hunt. People have searched for those for decades and not found a single one. You'll have better luck if you start looking at your restoration options. GD