GeneralDisorder

Oh - yeah that's a different world at the yard. Hammer it up! But it doesn't work when you get back home with the new part . GD

Hhhmmm - maybe it doesn't on the EA82. IIRC they have a two-peice ign. lock that can be unbolted from the column - unlike the EA81's where they have to slide off the end of the column. Yeah now that I think on it you could probably leave the wheel on GD

Yeah - a good idea for sure. But it's his thread so he *could* go edit the title to include transmission Q's. GD

Try a simple flush - drain and refill the tranny twice - driving 10 miles in between. This assures that you get the fluid out of the TC. You will need about 3 gallons of ATF. Cheap stuff is fine for ATF. GD

Just rewire it. Get yourself an ignition switched signal (3M wire-tap the ignition switch harness - on the SWITCH side of the plug) and use it to close a relay. Run a fused line from the battery, through the relay, and to the fan. On the other lead for the fan, run it through the themoswitch on the radiator and then to a body ground. It's a really simple circuit. A new relay and new themoswitch (if you even need it) should run you about $20. GD

+1 - EA82's in particular are a HUGE biotch. Smacking the ends of shafts with hammers is not the approved removal method and while it might work, you can easily swell the end of the shaft, transfer the blow into the rack or steering u-joints, or otherwise F somthing all to hell. Beating on things with hammers is almost never the right answer. Though putting pressure on it with a puller and giving the end of the puller a few love taps may be neccesary to dislodge them. A real man uses his brain *as well* as his braun and gets the job done with the least effort and least collateral damage as possible. EA81 and Justy wheels are not pressed. They just slide right off. Why they didn't do this with EA82 wheels is beyond me - I don't wish to crawl around inside the head of the man that thought up the idea of a press fit splined connection with a steering wheel on a light passenger car that has power steering...... no way that was the right answer but they did it anyway. GD

In case anyone goes searching for the info and finds this thread - the correct tilt column ignition switch part number is 783131020. Got mine today so they are still availible through Subaru. www.1stsubaruparts.com lists them for about $29. I paid a little more but got it next day and no shipping. GD

You need a steering wheel puller to remove the wheel - about $10 to $15 from most auto parts places. Then you can remove the lock, etc. - they unbolt and slide off the column after the wheel is removed. GD

Some after market belts don't come with marks..... and all I have to say about that is if you have done dozens of belts (which I have) it's not a problem. For a first or third-timer I would fork out the extra $10 for the belt with marks already on it. I have never seen one where the marks were wrong and in any case it should be obvious if they were since once you line it all up there will be just enough slack on the tensioner side for the tensioner to take it up and no more..... I guess that's a bit cryptic but that's the mental gauge that I use. GD

Could be part of it, yeah. Those do fail sometimes as well. A simple check with a DMM would rule it out. Cam and crank sensors are pretty common fail's on Impreza's for some reason. I haven't had that failure on a Legacy but I don't see what the difference would be. GD

You can use a cable-clutch tranny - just have to swap over the fork's and hardware, etc. You CANNOT use a turbo transmission unless you also swap over to the turbo clutch system. Just FYI in case you run across a fabulous deal on a Forester XT 4.44 tranny and are thinking about that.... What you want (ideally) is a 97 to 99 OBW transmission. That will be the most direct swap with correct gear ratios and final drive of 4.11. Though a 97/98 will be a 4-bolt bell housing vs. the 8 bolt on the '99. Not a big deal though you just leave the unused 4 out. Also the '99 has a different center diff system. More advanced I beleive. This does not affect the swap but it might affect how it drives (slightly). The other way you could go is with a 90 to 94 Legacy transmission - they were also 4.11 final drive but the gear ratio's will be different due to the smaller wheels/tires. Additionally you would have to either fabricate a center exhaust hanger or swap the rear output housing off your old tranny in order to use the fancy 95+ exhaust hanger that bolts to the side of the tranny. Also on the 90 to 94 transmissions you would have to use some of the linkage parts from your old tranny as they changed ear spacing on the linkage bushings, etc. Notably the shift rod peice that is roll-pinned to the tranny shift rod. I'm about to do the same swap on a '99 OBW I aquired with a blown 5 speed so if there's anything beyond what I just outlined let me know or I'll let you know - depending on who gets there first GD

You didn't, by chance, forget to hookup the tach signal wire did you? It's the yellow one off the negative coil terminal. It also runs the fuel pump control unit - which runs at key-on and would fill the float bowl then cease to run after being started (with no tach signal) and the engine would die after the bowl empties. GD

Holy bed-chrome abuse Batman! GD

Experience with the phase-II EJ25 head gaskets would seem to agree - the stop leak works great on head gaskets that are only leaking externally. I have the Subaru stop leak in a Forester with 238k on it and it stopped the RIVER of coolant that was pouring out of the driver's side head gasket. I just haven't seen an external leak on an EA. I've done plenty of head gaskets on EA's, but it's always been an internal leak with no outward signs. Sadly I don't know of any way to tell. But on the bright side you have to remove the manifold for the head gaskets anyway - so perhaps you get a little surprise and find the manifold gasket didn't seal. Hard to see that happeneing with properly prepped surfaces and bolt torque - the OEM gaskets are really excelent and not known for leaking. GD

I haven't checked to see if an EJ turbo up-pipe would fit the EA81T x-member but it certainly can't hurt matters any . The EA81T x-member is already power steering with the lines on the left so they don't interfere with the turbo. GD

I've bent front strut tubes on my lifted wagon. If you haven't done that yet then you aren't even close to being rough on your car. I don't think there's a part I *haven't* replaced except the body, fuel tank, and welded rear diff (lucky I guess). Engines, transmissions, axles, control arms, struts, wheel bearings, diff hanger, trailing arms.... the list goes on. The stock dampening from the struts just isn't enough. The solotion is to add an extra shock at each wheel with custom brackets. That's the only way you are going to get your rig to catch serious air and not break the struts. GD

It's the short on-ramps to our interstates that are the problem. Built in the days of powerful american cars and with a designed speed of 65 to 75 MPH. The on ramp from my own neighborhood is too short (and uphill) for my EA81 hatch with a Weber. I can barely get up to freeway speed and that's with me taking it right to redline every shift. Now they have installed traffic lights halfway up the ramps to control flow onto the freeways - when those are turned on and traffic is flowing along at 65 I'm totally screwed trying to merge. I nearly get run over by semi's and frankly I can't blame them cause the people who designed this crazy system should have to drive an air-cooled VW in it IMO. See how they like it..... GD

I didn't want to reply and tell you the resistance value that I know work for the EA82's in case the EJ one's were different - I was 99% sure they were the same but I figured someone would tell you for certain. Nice to know they are the same as the one's I've used for the SPFI stuff. GD

Clean the PCV lines, replace the PCV filter inside the air-box and repalce the PCV valve with one from the dealer for good measure. GD

How much play? That could defnitely be causing some of those symptoms. You can find a used one through the "wanted" section of the board and then send it to these guys: www.philbingroup.com They can rebuild and test it out, etc and the price is generally cheaper than a reman from the usual sources. Rockauto has reman housings with vac cans (no module) for $115 if you wanted to swap your module over. The bushings are tricky to install and require that the old one's be machined out I'm told. I wouldn't try that yourself. GD

4WD struts and springs will give you that and it's bolt-on. You don't need a lift kit. A lift kit will make it look silly with those little pizza cutters on it. GD

DOH! Yeah I fogot about the non-tilt cars. I ordered the correct one so now I should be good. GD

Ok - so I've got a Subaru ignition switch for my '83 Hatch. It is part number 783131010. It's got male spade terminals on it (no wires like the stock one) and my assumption is that they intended for the installer to cut the wireing harness away from the old switch, crimp on some female spade's, and slip the wires over the new switch terminals. Unfortunately the new switch doesn't fit inside the column covers as the spade terminals make it thicker than the cover will allow Did they superceed the lower column cover as well to make it fit with the new switch style? I'm doubting that it would be cool for the dealer to cut out a section of the columnn cover and leave the wires exposed Here's the new style: So what gives? GD

What carb are you running? Has it been cleaned/rebuilt ever? Could be igntion related - how's the distributor shaft play? Electronic or point/condensor inside? Check the coil resistance on primary/secondary windings? GD

Typically FWD's are not lifted - due to their obvious innability to make use of the larger, more agressive tires that lifts are done to accomidate. It will also hose your mileage - which is the primary benefit of a FWD Subaru. It would be much easier to just dump it and find a 4WD that's worthy of a lift. At which point there are plenty of people that can do lifts - a couple that even sell kits online that you can install yourself, etc. GD