GeneralDisorder

Regarding the two top-most holes that are so close together - if you make the outer holes a smaller diameter thread than the inner holes, you can fit both of them on the plate with about 1.5 - 2mm of material left between the two. That's how the laser cut plate I have was done. I beleive the inner's are 10mm, and the outer's are 8mm. Being that it's most common to use the EJ22's in combination with the 5 speed D/R, most of the plates disregard the extra holes of the EJ25's and just go for the bottom studs and the top holes with properly located and chamfered holes for the dowel pins. GD

Not to my knowledge. The Weber is not a DOT approved carb and as such is not technically legal to run except for off-road and racing use. They surely are not legal in CA. Now, if one were to modify the Hitachi's airbox to fit a Weber and it was all hidden down under there with all the emissions systems in place and properly working as well as tuned to give good exhaust numbers - I doubt they would catch it. I'm 100% certain I could do it. But I've also installed dozens of Weber's and I know each and every existing system and how to hook it up properly. It's no small job for the uninitiated. GD

Well - as far as anyone knows, they made the STD hatch till '89 and they started using the side-starter EA71's somewhere in there (I have seen these for certain). So out there somewhere, is a side-starter 4 speed 2WD tranmission to go with it unless at that time they also discontinued the 4 speed's..... That would be a pretty rare item though considering it would only be later '80's STD hatch's that got them and they also made a 4 speed, single range 4WD STD hatch as well as some with 5 speed's (I think)..... so who knows. GD

Cut off the muffler and replace it with a straight pipe. Best bang for your buck. There isn't much point in trying to optimize the exhaust flow on a sub-100 HP engine. Just lose the muffler and it will sound plenty beefy. Might even gain 1/2 HP. GD

It's going to be brand/location specific such that you will have to match a curve to very small subsets of cars. And even then there are components of the data that can't be predicted. Say if Chrysler were to declare bankruptcy tomorrow - all the values of those vehicles would immediately plummet like a stone - people don't want to own a car that has no support for parts/service. Or if someone like Audi decides to pull out of the US market - same scenario. Then there's random spikes that throw off all the other data - throw the Subaru Brat into the data points you are matching and you'll toss the whole curve out of balance. An '82 Brat might command $5,000 in good condition and lower mileage while an '82 GL wagon in similar condition is worth less than $1,000 - yet the Brat was probably cheaper when it was sold off the lot in '82...... data like that plain and simply can't be predicted - you come up with a forumla that tells car makers which cars will become a cult-classic and you will have some folks interested I'm sure. It's an interesting excersize to plot out the data and match it to a curve, but it works for only very narrow subsets of cars and only for short spans of time. At some point the value will begin to rise again as the car reaches an age where there are very few remaining and it becomes "collectible", then an "antique", and finally a "museum peice". GD

No problem - always glad to help. Hope you get it all working again or at least save the engine. My experience with EA81 rod bearing failure is that they don't make a lot of noise for long. The one I had blow made a very soft ticking noise under load that turned into a really nasty sounding knock for about half a mile before it threw it out the block under the manifold. Thus I would tend to think that your noise may be valve or exhaust related rather than a true rod knock. They are very rare and seem to be nearly silent right up till they are about to fail. GD

The seals are the same - sometimes you will find that one of them is different. I suspect that when they were built they used two different seals - one with an extended lip and one without. You can cut the lip off the new seal if you really want to. Bearings are 6207's, but it's best if you go to a bearing house and get 6207-2RS-C3's as they are pre-greased and sealed. Better lifespan and more protection for the grease. GD

Look under the hood - look on the passenger side where the battery is located on the driver's side. There you will either find nothing, or you will find a big black thing with lines and wires comming out of it that will say ABS in large white print. As for the bearings - it's a single outer bearing race with two tapered roller bearing inner races - one for the inside and one for the outside. All the parts are pressed together and you will not be able to service it without either a press and the right adaptors, or a hub-tamer or similar tool. These aren't like the EA stuff where you can get by with a drift punch. They are SERIOUSLY pressed into the hub and take quite a bit of force to remove and install - not to mention being very careful not to damage or deform anything when you do it. I use the "FWD bearing service kit" from Harbor Frieght - you have to be a bit creative with it and you need at least a puller to remove the outer bearing race from the hub in addition to the kit and regular hand tools. A 1/2" impact is also a must to operate the bearing tool - as I noted it's pressed together with enough force to deform the housing if you do it wrong so using a threaded puller/pusher, while possible, still requires application of serious force - in this case in the form of a quality impact gun. Not to say you can't do it, but you will need the right tools. If you don't have the bearing kit it's about $80 from HF, and the replacement bearing runs about $35 plus $6 each for the seals (which the bearing tool also has provision for installing). GD

Install a generic rotary style pump - 3 to 5 psi. Carter's are well liked and are often used on newer Subaru's. I have one in my '91 turbo - no complaints. I wouldn't want some reman from Airtex - maybe that's just me though. GD

I did the conversion - you need both electrical schematics (factory service manual), and a lot of time and patience. The fuel level sender is different as well as the coolant temp sender. Both have to be swapped along with the cluster. I went to an '80 cluster because I like the looks of them and had some issues with diodes that didn't exist in the '80 - I had to add 3 or 4 to my "conversion" harness to make it work. I cut out the wireing harness connectors from the digi-dash's circuit board and made up a special harness using the connectors for the '80 cluster that I cut from the donor car. Thus the car *could* be returned to a digi-dash if I ever wanted to do that as I didn't cut or modify the car's harness in any way to make it work. It probably took me the better part of a week (working on weekends) to get it working. There was a lot of testing involved even with the factory service manuals - I built the harness with bullet connectors in the middle of the wires initially so I could proto-type the thing without it being permanent. Then when I was done I removed them and soldered the wires permenent. I did not bother with making the oil pressure gauge work - the factory one's are garbage anyway and mine is an off-road toy. I installed an autometer 3 gauge panel with volts, temp, and pressure for accurate gauge readings. All the dash does is fuel, tach, speedo, and the tell-tale and clock. The voltage gauge works but I don't use it, and the temp gauge did work but I had to disconnect it as I replaced it's sender with the autometer one. Anyway - I never did a complete write up on it and I've surely lost all the conversion wireing charts I made for the job as I did it 5 or 6 years ago. But it's not impossible if you get the factory diagrams and pin-outs. Just time consuming and annoying. GD

It's not worth a lot. If the dealer gives you a couple K then they are adding it back in somewhere else. It's likely worth $1000 or less. They just aren't desireable. It's an 80's, boxy station wagon and that's all that most people see. People in the know avoid that engine - so your market is very limited. A Legacy is nicer, just as powerful, and more reliable - they can be had for under $1000 any day of the week. An EA82T with 92k is about equivelent to an EJ22 with 192k in terms of reliability and desireability. GD

The turbo is an IHI VF7. Lowering is a whole discussion to itself. Check out the retrofitting forum. As mentioned some Miata parts can be used. There are other methods though and the best methods involve using (quality) aftermarket adjustable coil-overs and they aren't cheap. And yes - don't turn up the boost. Just add an intercooler and make sure you go over the cooling system very well. Heat is the primary enemy of your engine. GD

Your best bet is to just do the analog conversion. It's hell, but finding a good EA81 digi-dash is near impossible and even if you do it's only a matter of time before you blow that one as well. GD

I can almost gaurantee - based on your description - you have blown an air suction reed valve, melted the plastic silencer, and sucked it into the carb. Classic symtoms right down the line. Sticking throttle from the melted plastic, strange running conditions, melted plastic smell, etc, etc. I'll bet you $10 if you look down in the carb you will see melted black plastic. You'll want to disable the reed valve and remove the melted silencer as well as block the rubber line going to the air filter box. If you have two reed valves you should probably just disable both of them while you are at it. Obviously you will have to fish out all the peices of plastic from the carb if you can - if not you may have to tear it down to get it all. I don't think they fuel filter is your problem. That's not going to change your idle speed, mess with the throttle linkage, or make any nasty smells. Although - you say you have a Weber so...... depends on how you hooked it up. Generally the ASV's aren't hooked up but they could be. GD

Try replacing the radiator cap. If that doesn't do it then you probably have a blown head gasket. GD

Nope - that's the EGR line. The one you want is to the right of the EGR and also threaded into the manifold. Follow the breather lines from the heads. GD

The first few I did with a hammer and a punch. Just make sure the dress up the area that you mangle with the punch before you put the ring nut back on. Sometimes the bearings will be stuck to the stub shaft and other times they will not. Just depends on the condition. I typically will try to knock the stub shaft out before I remove the ring nut to try and avoid having the bearings stuck to the shaft. GD

Don't forget to replace the PCV filter inside the airbox and make sure the plastic connectors for the lines are clean inside as well. They have a smaller ID than the lines and tend to collect gunk. A small screwdriver can help dislodge the stuff. GD

Yes - the wires behind the strut tower closer to the firewall are the test connectors and the U shaped one's are the fusible links. Check for +12v on both sides of the links. They have constant power supply even with the ignition off. As for where you will find the problem - that's anyone's guess. Your problem is not at all common or typical. My guess is the fusible links are loose or corroded but that's only a guess. One of them is a major power supply to the ECU. But there are half a dozen different power supplies to the ECU so it could be something else. GD

Distributor and coil need to match - 4WD and 2WD used different models of both. Get a matching set - that's probably why the pickup failed. As to why it's not running - check for fuel and spark then go from there. GD

If it indeed goes all the way back to the front of the doors - there's no saving it without a professional frame rack to pull it into submission. Barring that it's no big deal really to weld on another front clip. All that stuff is hidden behind exterior panels that bolt on. So once you paint those and re-hang them the exterior of the car looks no different than it did before the accident. Finding the parts may take a bit of work but such is the fate of anyone on the easy coast that wishes to own older cars. It's not a Subaru specific problem and parts can be had. Personally the satisfaction I would get from repairing it would be worth it. Knowing that I broke it would suck but fixing it would help. It's therapy in a way I suppose - you can throw it away but that won't make you feel any better about wrecking it. It's low mileage, it's rare for where you are located - I say you will be very sorry you ever let it go if you part it out now. You will be kicking yourself for the rest of your days. GD

English..... do you speak it? GD

Line up the marks, paint-pen mark the belt at each mark and the just reinstall it with the marks you have made. I've done that a couple times. GD

Disconnect both the green and black wires behind the strut. Those are for testing and should always be disconnected. That's why your fuel pump cycled with the key on. Now that it doesn't cycle anymore I would say you have a definite electrical problem. Probably a power supply to the ECU is disconnected somewhere. GD

I use a 20oz soda bottle which I have punched a hole in the lid for a length of rubber tubing. Fit the tubing over the bleeder screw and with the tube immersed in brake fluid at the bottom of the bottle start pumping the pedel. Then it's just a matter of filling the reservior after each wheel is done. Make the tubing long enough that you can set the bottle where it can be seen while pumping the brake pedal. I haven't had the need for any other methods though I imagine they have their good points as well. I just can't see the time or money investment building some contraption to pressurize the system and/or avoid filling it after bleeding each wheel...... at the end of it the day someone still has to crawl under the car and loosen/tighten bleeder screws, etc. But if I were going to build something I would just hook it up to shop air like a paint pot. To heck with pumping a garden sprayer! I have a compressor and it does all my pumping In fact an old paint pot would probably be a good starting point. 20 psi is crazy high though. 5 would be more reasonable. You don't want to blow your reservior apart! Get a high quality regulator. Not some cheap Harbor Feight peice of crap either. Something that can measure psi down to 5 and is accurate. And you should put a gauge on the pressure vessel - it may not be the same as the point of use as it is at the reg. GD