GeneralDisorder

'83 GL would be a 1.8L - the EA81. 5 speed D/R is the standard swap since the 4 speed's are junk. Has to come from an '85 to '89 wagon/sedan/3 door coupe. If it came from CA then it will probably have a feedback carb. Rip that off pronto! GD

Well - no. Stricktly speaking my choice of the manual adjust valves actually opens the possibility of that occuring where it's virtually impossible on a hydro lifter head. But the roller rockers are really nice.... not sure if they would bolt up to the first gen heads. The roller rockers provide just a hint of more power along with the manual valves which don't drag against the cam. So there's slightly more power potential with them. Plus they are newer and the single-port exhaust header has less going on so should be easier to build custom stuff for, etc..... there's many reasons. GD

Quick boots are worthless - get a regular boot. They aren't hard to install. GD

Not on that engine. Typically they weep oil and coolant. The oil doesn't usually get much worse than what you are seeing now. The coolant is another story but if you run the Subaru additive it should take care of most of it. That model engine will not mix coolant and oil and will not overheat unless you let it run low on coolant. GD

I would use the '96 to '98 EJ22 heads (roller rocker/single port) because I like the manual adjust rockers and the rollers, as well as the single port exhaust header/J-pipe fits better into an EA. Harness and ECU need to match the manifold - 90 to 94 EJ22 is the simplest and easiest to use for this. GD

Power steering and manual steering have completely different requirements for shaft extensions. None of those would work for a manual rack. That said - a lifted EA without power steering is lame - and your pictures and ideas are excelent and I completely approve of all of the designs you have come up with there. I hadn't noticed the Legacy double-u-joint units before in relation to a lited EA so that's something I will definitely take note of when I need to do this again. When you have those welded - make sure to wrap the joint in a wet rag to prevent the heat from welding damaging the u-joint rubber boots, etc. GD

ECS light indicates a fault with the feedback carburetor system. It could be any of a number of sensors - O2 sensor is only one of them. It's a very hard system to work on - it is very primitive and if you need a part like a duty solenoid, etc they are hard to find and can be expensive. The best approach is to replace the entire carburetor with a Weber 32/36 DGEV and forget about the feedback system. At this point they aren't worth dealing with unless you have to. GD

The nomenclature deal is troubling - how do you explain an "Outboard motor" for a boat? The term "motor boat", etc. Truth is they are entirely interchangeable and the whole argument is basically superfluous. Everyone knows what you are talking about based on the usage. If I were building for a lifted rig - EJ25 shorty, EJ22 roller rocker heads (single port exhaust), and Delta RV Torque cams. Using the EJ22's manifold from a 92 to 94 Legacy as well as the 90 to 94 EJ22 timing belt and tensioner setup. The torque is amazing due to the high compression and cams, and no turbo lag - easy to adjust valve clearances, etc. Best combo I've seen yet. GD

This one has none of that stuff - it's a Weber swap. Check the fuel lines at the firewall? Maybe a hose clamp is leaking and the fuel is running back into the cabin there? Are you sure it's not an exhaust leak that you smell? Sometimes when running rich (choke on, etc) exhaust can smell of gasoline.... That's weird - if you get a chance to bring it by I can look it over. GD

Stop in at a discount tool shop or hardware store, etc and grab a multi-meter. Check the voltage - should be about 14.5v DC and should NOT increase beyond that with throttle. Then check for AC current off the alt. Should be no more than 0.25v AC (higher indicates rectifier failure). If either of these tests come back higher you risk damage to circuits and devices on the car including the battery. GD

With the Subaru coolant additive I would bet you have more miles left in them. 200k? Maybe..... speculation. Minor is any leak that doesn't form a puddle on the ground overnight. If the leak can be managed - IE: you can drive for days or weeks at a time without having to top off the fluid(s) - then the leak is minor. GD

And then there were some being broken on test drives.... They weren't all bad eggs but the gears weren't shot peened, they were thinner and the quality control was clearly off. Some seem to be a problem right away while other's just last forever. A single instance of lasting reliability here or there is to be expected - it's not a 100% failure rate - if it were they would have had to recall them - the consumer backlash would have been too intense. GD

No issues - excelent engines. Avoid the first two years of production. They required premium fuel. GD

They are known for leaking oil and coolant but that doesn't always mean it's time to change them The oil leaks are usually very minor. GD

Why do you need negative The whole body of the car is negative..... that's how automotive wireing is done. You only insulate and run the positive that way. Anyhing that needs negative just gets screwed to the frame somewhere. GD

It's just a large single terminal. You screw it down to the firewall, etc and run a single big wire to it - then other smaller wires to points on your terminal block or whatever. It's just a place to hang wires that's not cluttered up like the battery terminal. GD

Distributor bushing failure most likely. GD

What I do when there is more than a single device that is needed is to setup a "main junction" with a stud block such as this (and an inline fuse of course): http://order.waytekwire.com/productdetail2/M50/47213/JUNCTION%20BLOCK%20STUD%20TYPE%20RED/ Then from there I shoot over to a terminal block: http://order.waytekwire.com/productdetail2/M50/47355/5%20POSITION%20TERMINAL%20BLOCK/ Where I then distribute power to the various places I need it. This is excelent for having accesible power whenever I need it to run (for example) my wideband O2 setup or whatever. I have taken to using the Painless Wireing relay/fuse panels for lots of my installs. They are awesome - for like $80 you can get them with 3 to 10 circuits in both constant hot and relay controlled configs. Anyway - that's what I do to keep a ton of wires off my battery terminal. This way I only have one large wire to the stud block and then possibly a couple smaller one's to a terminal strip or to a circuit breaker that feeds a painless fuse/relay panel. GD

Yes but it will probably be cheaper to find a 4EAT at the junk yard (look for a car that already has the engine pulled) and then remove the diff and buy that. A diff is probably half the price of a whole tranny. I think my yards charge $45 for diffs vs. probably around $100 to $150 for an automatic tranny. If you haven't got the money then you have to sacrifice the time. My sugestion was simply to save him money on the repair - said he needed to be frugal. GD

Yes - that needed to be said and I overlooked it. The cat does not hurt performance. But I have found that most of them are either clogged, broken up and rattling, or straight burned away leaving on the metal straps and wire mesh (clogging the outlet because it's a jumbled mess). That, in conjunction with not having to test my rigs, has led to them being gutted to regain lost MPG and eliminate rattleing, etc. On my hatch where the contents were gone and the mesh/strapping crammed into the outlet I gained at least 3 mpg after removing the "blockage" from the cat housing. GD

There's only a single cat on Brat's - the other is a resonator. Unless one has been added of course. You can gut them - doesn't affect anything. All mine have been gutted for years. It will not cause backfireing if done correctly. That's generally a symptom of exhaust leaks. GD

Sounds more like someone just filled it with ATF. I would imagine the seals are accesible but I'm not sure on that one. I haven't had to change one. GD

Yep - there's no silver bullet for performance on the EA82's - cams are probably your best bet followed by exhaust to match. In stock form the best intake and exhaust in the world will net you maybe 1% performance increase. Not worth the expenditure for either. I agree with Noah - your car is old, automatic, and only had 90 HP to begin with. It's not a race car. GD

Pretty sure that's the same one in my truck . Super cheap to work on. If it didn't get around 10 mpg I would drive it daily. GD

You don't need a whole transmission - the front diff can be removed and replaced without dissasembling the whole thing. You will have to remove the transmission from the car and then find a good used front diff to put on it. Shouldn't be too hard - they don't fail very often. GD