GeneralDisorder

Yep - pull the #1 plug, feel for comp. stroke, rotate till timing mark comes up on 20* BTDC, and drop it in with the rotor pointing at the plug tower you want to be #1. Then the fireing order is 1,3,2,4 in a counter-clockwise order. GD

Watch for worn throttle shafts. Other than that they are simple and easily rebuilt. I don't know if that's a good price or not- haven't looked up the exchange rates lately..... here you can get a Weber kit for about $325 to $375 depending on where you shop. My rule is that I pay about $100 for a Weber that needs a rebuild but has good throttle shafts. After I rebuild, rejet, add the adaptor and filter I'm usually right around $200. Any more than that and it wouldn't be worth it to buy one used as the cost would be too close to a new one and my time is not worth that little. GD

100k is not many miles by mid to late 80's standards. And I have 115k on my EJ22T in my sport sedan. Even the EA82T can do 200k no problem if you don't mod it and take care of the cooling system. That's part of it. But the real "problem" with them is that you don't need a turbo on a 1.8 to get the amount of *reliable* power the EA82T makes. You can do it without the turbo and the added complexity. Thus makeing it an answer to a question never asked. The other problem with them is their odd design and lack of reasonably priced upgrade paths. To get out from under just the head gasket/head cracking issue would cost thousands more than simply putting in another engine. And that wouldn't even begin to address the poor flowing head design. A used non-turbo 2.2 with cams and tuning can eat a modded EA82T for breakfast 7 days a week and twice on Sunday. And do it for about $1000 or less. The EA82T is a dead platform. The added complexity and age makes them unattractive for plain driving duties when a similarly priced Legacy can out-perform it. And it's obviously dead from a modding point of view. At this point it's a matter of keeping the few out there going for their current owner that can't afford something else. I have no problem with that. But I wouldn't tell anyone to go and actually BUY one . That would simply be a mistake. GD

Ding! Ding! Ding! Rob now has the correct answer to the question "how do I fix my broken EA82T?" GD

Doubtful - if there were a problem of that magnitude inside the diff - you would hear it. Why not? That's like a 30 minute swap job. If you can't handle that..... RUN from the EA82T Could be rust on the rotor's causing the pads to drag.... that doesn't usually happen unless something sits for decades though. What else to check...... Hah! What NOT to check would be the question . Clearly you don't know the reputation of the EA82T. Start hoarding replacement engines - you'll need em. GD

I'm just not a fan of the EA82 if I can get near twice the HP, same economy, and much better appointments for the same or nearly the same money. $1500 to $2000 will buy a NICE 90 to 94 Legacy and they are typically much less troublesome in the long run. I can't reccomend any EA series car as a daily unless someone insists they must have 4WD. But really the AWD is just as good or better if you don't need low range (sounds unlikely). GD

Binding 4WD is normal. These cars ARE 4WD, not AWD. Reverse gear is always noisy - it's a spur gear. $1600 is a lot for an EA82. Look for a 90 to 94 Legacy. Much better cars. GD

There's a coolant hose behind the distributor - it's 5/16" stuff. It goes from the block to the intake manifold. There is another below the base of the carb on the front that runs to the heater core bypass tube. I would replace both of them. They are probably aged. What I do, and have done several times with cars I'm going to daily drive - have the dealership order EVERY SINGLE coolant line in the car. Otherwise you just never know when some rubber will fail. Hoses, belts, and seals - do those and you'll be ahead of the game. GD

The hill holder is entirely mechanical - it operates on one brake circuit of the dual-diagonal system therefore it operates on one front and one rear wheel. There are no sensors - in fact there is nothing even electrical. Just a cable from the clutch fork. GD

I beleive it has to be a feedback carb model. If you have the ECU (at least my '84 Hitachi feedback was this way) then it should only have a single ASV on the driver's side. It is also a vacuum controlled ASV and has a big vac cannistor on the top of it. Of course - all that stuff is long gone so that's all from memory The lack of a passenger side ASV (probably due to more efficient fuel metering of the feedback computer) is what indicates a blank spacer. GD

Certain years of the feedback carb (2WD and CA models) had the blank spacers. I think I had one on the old engine from my wagon since it was 2WD and a CA car - but the original motor threw a rod some years ago and went to the scrap yard. Right now it has the holes blocked with welded up pipe nuts and the last 3/8" of the pipe for it's 60 degree flare. GD

I think you are probably refering to the oil pressure idiot light switch. Hex shaped and with a single spade terminal on top? That would be the one. GD

Look for bad hoses. Might also be the intake manifold gaskets, yes. When you replace them be very careful not to break the bolts getting the manifold off, use OEM gaskets from the dealer ONLY, chase the threads with a tap & die and then torque to 12 ft/lbs. GD

I didn't say any of that stuff was safe or a good idea for long term. But he did say this was an "experiment". And yes - the ATF thing isn't good for the hypoid gear set long-term. But short term I use it to flush and clean out MT's. It's ok for a few hundred miles - especially if you are easy on it and you don't haul a whole bunch of weight around. The Subaru front diffs are built like tanks and frankly they rarely fail even if the gear oil is never changed. Fresh ATF isn't a lot worse than 20 y/o gear oil with 200k on it. And at the end of the day - EA82's are sub-$1000 cars. Hell you can buy one most any day of the week for under $500 anymore around here. So if you ruin one in the name of science then it's not really a big deal. Ultimately there isn't much you can do that won't sacrifice *something*. And I would bet that driven carefully, 60 psi and ATF would actually last a surprisingly long time. GD

Sorry I didn't get a chance to check my selection here. But new with a gaurantee is good and that's not at all a bad price. It's $50 just to have a vacuum pot rebuilt and they can't be sourced anymore through the usual channels so $200 shipped for a disty *and* coil are an excelent deal really. Especially since both are new and it should just be a bolt-on and never worry about it again. The Hitachi's often last twice as long as the ND's. The original ND in my '84 wagon died just shy of 150k and I had it rebuilt. But often the Hitachi's go the life of the car. My '83 hatch w/Hitachi has 260k on it and no signs of failure yet. The Hitachi units really are the better designed of the two. They will accept more wear on the shaft bushings before causing problems and they don't seem to die as easily as the ND's. In fact the only distributor's I've ever had fail on EA engines have been ND's. I've had both bushing and module failure on them while I've not yet had a Hitachi die on me. I'm always wary of the "rebuilt" stuff - here in OR (and since I've been doing Subaru's for a decade now) I haven't had any trouble finding good used distributors so the few failure's I've had haven't caused much issue for me - walk over to electrical parts shelf and grab another one . I have had one ND unit rebushed and the vacuum pot rebuilt about 6 or 7 years ago and the cost was $55 for both services (the price has since doubled or more) and it's been perfect ever since - but I looked the man in the eye that did the rebuild and that gives me more confidence than buying from some unknown "rebuilder" ya know. Hopefully you have no issues. I just had the exact same scenario with an '87 EA82 - also with the ND - it would start and run for a while then all of a sudden it wouldn't take throttle anymore and then shortly after it would die and not restart. Then after 20 minutes or the next day it would fire up again. I replaced it with a used Hitachi and Coil and it's doing fine now. GD

It is generally easier to pull the radiator first - you don't risk damage from the engine smacking into it and it's only two bolts once the coolant is drained. GD

I just remove the threaded end of the pipe's, toss a washer inside them and weld them up. Then just thread them in. Or I cut the pipe so there's about 2", hammer it flat and run a bead across it. Depends on what I want to do that day. GD

Won't do anything unless you turned it on. Otherwise it's just a belt turning a dis-engaged clutch. No load. The water pump driven fan also has basically no load unless things get pretty hot. It's on a thermostatic clutch. The electric fan already is the primary - you can remove the WP fan if you like as it is part of the AC system that you already removed. Don't bother unless it's plugged (if you are getting 32 then it's not). Best mileage is from part-throttle cruise. The cat is designed to flow at WOT - part throttle cruise is only demanding maybe 1/3 or less of the flow capability of the cat. There is no win from removing it unless it's damaged. Nope - won't do anything. That's excelent - get some used cheap tires and inflate them to 60 psi for less rolling resistance, run ATF in the manual transmission for less drag - pull the rear axles if you have a 4WD so that stuff isn't spinning.... Install a vacuum gauge (the original MPG meter) and learn to use it. Yep. GD

The EA82 cat will interfere with the radius rod plate unless you remove the heat sheild and do some grinding. The

What I am considering doing is putting a pit in my garage and then getting something like this: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200320827_200320827 Relatively inexpensive compared to post lifts and I couldn't fit a post lift in my garage anyway. Or even just the pit....as the plastic surgeons like to say..... "It's easier to dig a hole than make a pole." GD

I didn't even worry about the angle - I just offset the bottom plate from the top plate inward as far as what the body would allow and built my stut blocks to allow for camber adjustment. That way I can change control arm lengths and such later on at will and only have to slide the strut top in or out to compensate. They are more work to build, but for a one-off it's not that big of a deal. And it's going to pay off in the end since I'm likely going to use EA82 control arms and axles to get more articulation with flatter angles on the axle joints. And nothing on my lift components has to change. Planning ahead has it's benefits sometimes. As far as the body bolts - you don't need to buy any. Just use the one's that are one the car. For the bottom of the blocks use SAE grade 5 stuff since it's cheaper than metric. Use what size you like - 7/16" or 1/2" are typical here. GD

The 650 looks to be in decent shape for it's age. Isn't that a lot of bike for a new rider though? I don't really know - only what I've been told. Haven't ridden much myself - just some dirt bikes. I might have to pick your brain - I was gifted an '83 VF500 Magna a couple years ago. It's in my shed and hasn't run for probably 8 or 10 years. I have a bunch of new parts for it and some extra carbs, etc. Just haven't had the time to look at it. GD

They do not expose enough of the bottom of the car in my opinion. Too much crap in the way to be useful unless you are a tire/wheel/brake shop. Then they are economical but only for 2nd, 3rd lifts. You still need the primary lift to be a full height unit that exposes the full undercarriage. GD

I prefer the term "Mongoloid" But in general I would tend to agree with you GD

Correct - Any EA81 distributor will work. Just get the matching coil. GD