GeneralDisorder

Gotta be something about the location that's causing you such misfortune. There a big tweaker population around there or something? How about an automatic flood-light in front of the garage? Assuming this took place at night.... GD

That's pretty typical of Subaru voltage gauges. They are sensitive to small changes in voltage like that. All of them do it to a degree. It's normal for voltage to drop slightly like that as the VR can't react instantly to changes in load. GD

Subaru Turbo's aren't cheap - not compared to the Loyale anyway. I have a '91 Legacy Sport Sedan with the 2.2 Turbo, factory 5 speed, rear VLSD, etc. It's my toy when I'm not playing with my old EA stuff. GD

If the cotter pin was still in it, then the nut didn't turn. What you have there is classic cone-washer/hub destruction. If you don't address this it will return a couple times then you'll just eat the splines inside the hub. Get a new cone-washer and properly torque the nut to 150 Ft/lbs. GD

Yes. There is no VC or center diff. It will bind on turns. It is 4WD, not AWD. No - just push in the clutch. It's like shifting into a different gear. You don't need the clutch for 4H - just pull up (driving straight). GD

When you jacked up the car to check for wheel bearing play, did you release the parking brake? The parking brake will hold the wheel solid to the knuckle and you won't be able to feel the bearings. Besides that, there are two bearings (6207-C3 ball bearings). If one was bad and not the other it's unlikely you would feel any play in them anyway. That type of test really isn't valid for EA's - well not till the wheel is about to fall off anyway. GD

I have a lot of experience with German engineering. Sadly not much of it's been good. I find the newer VW stuff to be obtusely designed and unreliable. Plus I really dislike transverse engine design's. GD

Yes - don't change the diameter of the tubing from the heads to the collector. After that it doesn't matter but 1-7/8" or 2" would be more than sufficient if you aren't running a cat. Get a muffler that can flow easily. GD

The manual is a CYA. You will not break anything on an unlifted/unwelded rig. I've forgot to put my various D/R's into 2WD hundreds of times before taking a tight turn - I've never broken a single thing doing it (with many of these rigs topping 200k miles or more). What happens is the driveline binds up and either one wheel chirps loose to unbind it or you back up, take it out of 4WD, and continue your turn (such as when parking in a lot). Lifted/welded rigs are another story. I can snap rear axles in my wagon like candy canes if I leave both rear's in while driving on pavement. 28" tires and a Lincoln Locker will break axles every day and twice on Sundays. GD

Most folks have difficulty getting the axle in and out of the bearings. It's an interferance fit with the inner race of the bearings. If you clean the inner races with some scotch brite and make sure there are no high spots on the axle mating surfaces they usually go in with minimal fuss. I use two pry bars first on the nut, then the cone washer turned backwards + the nut, then the hub+cone washer+nut. I use an impact on the last step to pull the axle fully into place. The trick is to prep the axle and bearing surfaces to insure nothing hangs up, and then to make sure you are pulling it through straight - it must be centered as you pull it through or it will hang up on you. Axle replacement on EA's is a bit of art form. Very frustrating the first couple times you do it but after a while it becomes routine and simple. GD

Should be under the dash near your left knee. It's a box about 1"x2"x2.5" or so. Should have a 6 pin connector that plugs directly into the front of it. It's most likely black. Dig around under the dash around the area of the hood release - you should find it near there. GD

Typically it goes into the hub first (and that's where folks have the most trouble), then you attach it to the tansmission, then you reattach the ball joint to the knuckle. GD

How many do you want? I can get tons of them any day of the week. GD

That is true of the 5 speed's, but only some of the 4 speed's. Not all of them were equipped with syncro's for the 4WD engagement. Now if you are going straight and all your tires are the same size it shouldn't matter and you should be able to go in and out of high range without issue at any speed you like (I've done it at well over 80). This is true of ONLY high range. You must use the clutch to shift to low range. GD

The axle is the only thing that the hub attaches to. Without it there is no shaft for the hub to rotate on and the only thing keeping it on the knuckle would be the brake caliper - if you don't have that either then there is nothing holding it on except maybe the wheel bearing lip seal . Trust me - you need the axle. GD

It will not roll without the knuckle, axle, and hub. You don't have to connect the axle to the transmission, but it has to be in the knuckle for the hub to attach. You don't need the brakes, etc, but the without the tie-rod you won't be able to steer it and it might not like to go straight or at all if the wheels turn wrong. GD

It happens - just recently sold my grandmother's '92 Buick - 65k original miles. Could have been an elderly person that got into a wreck..... As for why they want to sell you the same year transmission - it's just good practice from the perspective of the shop that's installing it. While there may be other's that will fit, there are slight changes year-to-year. I just put a' 90 5 speed into a '96. Besides having to change the electrical switches due to different wireing, the transmission doesn't have the bosses for attaching the 96's exhaust bracket. No problem for me as I just fabbed up a new bracket - but stuff like that cuts into the shop's profit as they can't charge you for having to modify things to get something to fit that they claimed *would fit*..... it's just a CYA thing. GD

If you have power at the coil and the coil ohm's out good (both windings), then it's probably the module. Ask in the wanted forum - I'm sure there's a lot of folks with spare's. GD

The ECU is a red herring - they won't prevent the engine from running - they are only there for feedback mixture control. On an EA81, you need a few things: 1. Air 2. Fuel 3. Spark 4. Compression 5. Ignition timing Which one don't you have? GD

Just to follow up on this - the new tranny is in and the Harbor Freight tranny jack was worth EVERY PENNY of the $90 it cost. Worked like a charm frankly. It's the smallest one they sell I think. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39178 You do need to have the car up pretty high. I use the 6 ton jack stands also from Horror Freight and even still - I had to turn the tranny on it's side to get it out from under the car. But with the 'V' shaped groove in the saddle it's easy to rotate the tranny without it falling off. I didn't use the strap to secure it at all. Definitely an excelent purchase for me, and something I'll use enough to own. It's well built enough to last me a lifetime probably. GD

Yeah - sometimes one will spin fast and the other slowely, but don't expect all 4 wheels to spin. The diffs will only allow one front and one rear to have power up in the air like that unless you have a rear LSD and/or some exotic transmission that has a front LSD. All the 4WD transmissions work essencially the same way - the 4WD indicator lamps are either on the linkage AND trans in the manually shifted models or only on the trans as in the case of the push-button models. If you ever push the button and get no light - something is wrong. But when the light comes on you KNOW it's in 4WD because the actuator rod on the transmission has to physically push the lamp switch. I'm pretty sure that's how these work. Perhaps I'm mistaken as I haven't owned a great number of the push-button car's. GD

The 4WD dash indicator is operated by a switch that's on the side of the transmission - the only way the indicator will come on is if the transmission actually shifts into 4WD. Beyond that - if you don't beleive the indicator light, then put it on jack stands and you should see one front and one rear wheel spin when it's in 4WD. Only one front wheel will spin in 2WD. It is perfectly fine to engage 4WD on dry pavement - just make sure you take it out before you make any sharp turns. I run in 4WD on dry pavement all the time. It doesn't hurt the non-lifted rigs in any significant way. You'll lose the syncro's in the transmission long before you cause any damage from 4WD on dry pavement. GD

Yeah - sounds like the belt timing is off. Check and adjust the ignition timing as well. GD

Check the grounds for the dash. This is a common issue with the digi's. GD

It's been said that the Gen 3 heads were only availible after the production of EA82T's stopped as replacement parts. GD