GeneralDisorder

Remove the clutch fan for testing - you don't need it anyway. It was only equipped on engines with AC. And with temps in the teens - you can pitch that sucker in the weeds. Once you have the fan off you can check the surface of the radiator to be sure the temp is uniform across it. If you find any cold spots that would indicate poor flow through that section. Just pouring water in one end and seeing it come out the other is not a good indicator of radiator condition. Heater core's are not part of the primary cooling system except to heat the cabin. Even if it's clogged it wouldn't cause overheating. Flow through the heater core by-pass lines is not neccesary for proper cooling system function. Additionally - a leak in the radiator will bleed off system pressure. Pressure is what allows the coolant to rise to temps above the boiling point without flashing off to steam (think pressure cooker). You may have low pressure due to the leaks, causing steam bubbles to form - steam does not circulate and the bubbles will stop the flow of coolant. You need the system to hold pressure or it will boil and not circulate properly. This is particularly critical with EA82 cooling systems. Any air bubbles OR pressure leaks that lead to steam bubble formation WILL cause overheating. It's just the nature of the EA82's - they have very little overhead in terms of cooling capacity. Any small thing that's wrong will expose their weakness. GD

When everything goes electric it's going to be like building PC's or RC cars. You just buy the peices you want and bolt it all together. And people that drive an HP or Dell will get laughed at. GD

You think the EJ22 is worthless, and high maintenance? You're nuts kid. The EJ22 is very little more maintenance than an EA pushrod. Timing belt and associated components every 60k. That's about it. No valve adjustments every 15k, no leaking cork gaskets. And it's worth the 2 hour timing belt job every 60k for TWICE the HP and better mileage. As I pointed out - your EA71 is a very bad place to start. You have no transmission options and it will be almost impossible to find a replacement top-starter 4 speed when you blow the thing up. You need to swap it out to at *least* an EA81 and associated side-mount starter transmission to insure you will have availible parts to keep it on the road. The EA71 is a dead platform as is the top-starter transmission. They are good for Museum restorations - that's about it. Think of it as your first performance upgrade - the EA81 will net you 10 HP instantly. GD

Interesting - I heard that Subaru was supposed to be putting out a gear oil forumation for their race cars to the dealers to sell. I don't know of that ever came to pass - I think it was said that it was only availible in 5 gallon units at a pretty unreasonable price for the average user. They were apparently considering selling it in quarts if there was enough demand..... Never did hear what came of that but then I haven't been looking for it either. So it's just a matter of no one makes a "perfect" gear lube for our transmissions - at least not for the performance minded folks that want to shift them like they are going around a track every day..... GD

My EA81 is very little different from my '69 GMC - except the carb is simpler on the EA81 and the engine is more reliable - good for 3x the mileage. In my world - simpler is better. Seems to work for me anyway. GD

Nothing really - I've used both styles of the NGK's and as long as you gap them per the engine spec there shouldn't be much problem. There *shouldn't* be a problem with the Bosch stuff either - but there seems to be. No one has good luck running them in Subaru's. Don't know what the reason is for this, but a lot of folks have had bad experiences with them. Besides - the NGK's are cheaper anyway. All the EJ's seem to benefit from bi-annual plug/wire changes. Especially the turbo's. GD

Specially forumlated MT fluids and/or ATF (which is now very common in the newer MT's being built) can take advantage of the transmission not having the hypoid diff - it requires a formulation that protects against the heavy loading of the hypoid gear teeth. More sulferizing compounds from what I've read. Anyway - the Hypoid puts a requirement on the gear oil that doesn't jive with the fluids that make for pretty shifting. There is nothing out of the ordinary with the Subaru syncro design. It's about the same thing that you will find in any other transmission. GD

Need pictures. Flat spots aren't neccesarily carb related. Ignition timing, idle speed/mixture, and vacuum leaks all can contribute. 9 out of 10 times replaceing the carb will get you nowhere. GD

You are probably fine in the short term, yes. If you don't have any grinding then you likely aren't shifting hard/fast enough to have a problem with the sythetic you are using. There's nothing about the synthetics that are going to damage the transmission other than their tendancy to cause more grinding. They are expensive and uneccesary and often provide worse performance than the non-sythetics is our point. You'll get much better performance and transmission life from using regular quality gear oil along with a flush/change maintenance schedule. GD

I too have had this happen. Probably due to the orientation of the exhaust - everything wants to flow toward the lowest point with a Subaru engine. I try to stick rags in the y-pipe before I pull the heads or just remove the pipe completely - helps stop fluids (and sockets, tools, etc ) running in there as you dissasemble. GD

My experience has been that it won't make enough of a difference to mean you won't pass. If the cat is working, the AIS gives it about a 10 to 20% boost in efficiency - or so it would seem from my emperical observations. When I went through with my Brat several years ago it wouldn't pass till I replaced the cat - with the AIS working vs. not the numbers only went down maybe 10% at cruise with no change at idle. Once I installed another y-pipe with a better cat the numbers came WAY down. Like half what they were with the old cat. AIS didn't seem to make much difference. Also - if you are installing an aftermarket cat such as from ebay, etc - the newer 3-way catalyst's in them don't require the AIS at all. Since the early 90's smog pumps and AIS systems have not been needed due to better catalyst designs. In fact I would be willing to bet that a y-pipe from an SPFI EA82 would eliminate the need for the AIS on the EA81 as post-carb models have no such system or smog pump of any kind. GD

I always make a bottoming tap by cutting the tapered section off of an inexpensive tap to get at the last few threads in the hole. Not entirely neccesary but every thread you can get adds strength. GD

Yeah - 14 TPI will work as well. GD

GM has a lot of gasket issues in general on their newer stuff. My boss's S-10 blew a head gasket not long ago at around 150k. Not that Subaru seems a whole lot better with some of their engines though GD

You want NGK's - BPRES-6's IIRC. Gap is like .045" - In that neighborhood anyway. GD

Yep - if only we didn't have a differential inside the tranny! The hypoid gear ruins it for us. Otherwise we could all just run ATF And be happy as a clam like every other RWD race car out there. GD

Mine too! Hey - did that carb work out ok for you? GD

EA71 pistons are not better than the EA82 SPFI pistons. They would lower the compression and thus be worse for performance. Besides the ring sizes the EA71 pistons are only about .005" taller than the EA81 pistons makeing for about 9:1 comp. ratio using the EA81/EA82 stroke..... The EA82 SPFI is already 9.5:1. GD

If they syncro's fail to work then you grind the shift dogs on the gears to pulp and all that metal goes into the bearings...... GD

Some of the fittings are BSPT, and some are metric.... depends on EA81/EA82 so I can't recall at the moment which is which. I sometimes cut the threaded end off the stock sender and drill/tap it to 1/8" NPT so I don't have to fiddle with adapters. Plus it's free! GD

You need to install an ammeter so you can see the draw on the alt. And run through the charging circuits and check for abnormal resistances, etc. Resistance in the sensing line for the alt can overwork them and cause premature failure. Sounds like you may be overheating them due to wiring issues. One thing you can do if you need the car right away is to install a 90A maxima alt. It will probably handle the higher draw of your crapped out wireing better than the stock unit's simply because it's designed for higher output. Make SURE your battery is charged fully though as the Maxima alt can push more than the stock wireing can handle if the battery is drained and starts drawing more amps than the 50A charge circuit was designed for. NEVER install an alternator in a car with a dead battery then jump it and let the alt charge it up. You will overheat the alternator (which is not a battery charger) and halve it's life or worse. Charge the battery first if you can. If you can't - leave the jump vehicle attached to the car for 15 or 20 minutes to help charge the dead battery before you disconnect it (or have it hooked up for 15 or 20 minutes before you start it). I know this isn't always possible, and circumstances beyond our control often dictate that you don't have the time, but if you can help it don't do it. And please - put the electrical tape down and walk slowely away from it. e-tape is not the way you repair freyed and damaged wires. Brush up on your soldering skills. Solder and heat shrink is the only type of connection you should be using - and occasionally a crimp connector for a spade terminal or something - NO butt-splices. Do you hear me? NONE! GD

All EA series (except XT6) = 36mm. All EJ series = 32mm. GD

Speaking of tubing - Most of the "kits" don't include a long enough (or good quality) tube in the kit. 6 feet is what you are likely to get which is barely adequate for a Subaru. If you have any decent hot-rod or VW parts shops around that carry VDO gauges you should be able to get a 12' section of higher quality tubing and fittings for like $12 or so. That is THE way to go. The tubing is thicker and you have enough length to run it anywhere you like (VW's with the engine in the rear need the long-rump roast tube - thus why VDO sells them I suppose). Also - it's just 1/8" tubing. You can use copper (or steel) as well. A bit harder to source and more expensive but has it's benefits. When you cut the copper be careful that you don't pinch off the ID of the tubing. And also make sure that you leave a small coil of tubing near the pump for vibration and expansion control. GD

The top-mount starter EA71 is a very poor platform to start with. Not that it's a bad engine per-se, but it's very dated and entirely unsupported. You can't even buy head gaskets for it from Subaru anymore. CCR doesn't rebuild them, and most parts are becomming scarce and/or are out of production. It can't be mated to a transmission that can handle much more power, and additionally the single-range 4 speed that's in there is a worthless POS of a transmission - no low range, very poor gearing for performance, and they suffer from syncro and reverse gear failure - especially if driven hard - even with the stock engine. You are starting out with a 64 HP engine and your expectations are wildly out of line with the platform. The 1980 body will take a lot of modifications to turn into anything decent. They have a bad wireing setup to start from - external VR, and they have an engine bay mounted fuel pump so there is no return line to the tank which makes fitting any form of fuel injection a real nightmare. If you want something decent to start with you need to find an '82 to '84 EA81 powered hatch. Pull the engine and do an EJ22 swap. Instantly doubled performance, availible transmissions to meet any demand you could want. The only way to get the EA71 to a decent power range would be to completely rebuild it with performance components and then turbo it. Even then you *might* not make stock EJ22 power though. I can get an EJ22 - the whole donor car with wireing, etc. for around $250 if you give me about a month to search one out. That might buy a used Weber carb in decent condition for the EA71 . It's just not economically viable. And yes - you can't put EA81 or EA82 heads on the EA71. They aren't even close. Like Bill - I've built and rebuilt my share of EA's. About the only thing that swaps between the 71/81/82 is the pistons and the distributors (some with modification). GD

Correct - you remove the sender, and plumb the line to the gauge in it's place. You can T it if you want and still run the factory gauge as well. Personally I like to put in a 90* brass elbow and run braided stainless line to the fenderwall area and plumb the smaller line or aftermarket sending unit to the gauge from there. Otherwise the vinyl tubing is not well protected hanging under the car like it does. GD