GeneralDisorder

PO just didn't try hard enough. Use the Hitachi plastic spacer under the adaptor plate to gain some height then take a ball-peen hammer and create a dent large enough to clear the choke on the Weber. You will have to HIT it pretty hard. And it takes quite a bit of a dent to get the choke to clear. I degrease them, peen the reservior, then paint the area to prevent rust. This in no way affects the operation of the power steering. It only reduces the reservior volume by a tablespoon or so. The rack is likely fine if the lines aren't contaminated. GD

No idea. Probably not. Nothing that can't be corrected with some brass hose barbs. GD

Most of us use the Fel-Pro's on the EA's. This is primarily due to the fact that the Fel-Pro's don't have to be retorqued like the OEM one's do. And they are $15 each - half the price of the OEM's. They have proven very durrable for the EA's. Like you, I use nothing but OEM on the EJ's. GD

Yes - Nissan 6 lug is the same as Chevy and Toyota. 6 x 5.5 GD

The exhaust is hard-bolted to the transmission. Putting it in 4WD could simply be reducing the vibration or masking a bad u-joint in the rear drive line. GD

I've always had excelent dealings with Quimby Welding Supply. They are a competitor to Airgas I suppose. My former employer used Airgas for our bottle supplier but I never liked them or their product line. They have a lot of "Airgas" house brand stuff and it sucks balls. I bought my first 75/25 gas bottle at Quimby several years ago on a sale price for like $80. Quimby deals in Miller/Hobart and Thermadyne (Thermal Arc). They have a couple locations in the metro area - I frequent their Tualitin location - it's about halfway out Tualitin Sherwood highway from I-5. The guy there that runs the store is knowledgable and laid back. He gave me pretty deep discounts on the stuff I bought - the Welder was $625 - it was their display model - I think they only stock one at a time. They did have a TA 190 there for $500. It was used but their service department went through it and it's got a 90 day warantee. It's got a BIG Tweco gun on it and I didn't want a machine that large nor that large of a gun - mostly I do 1/4" and smaller. The torch setup was $280. The bottles are actually some of the biggest cost. I think one was $170 and the other was right around $200. But I own them and it's like $27 to fill the O2 bottle (big one). Gas is cheap - bottles are not. I feel like I got a good deal. Could I have got stuff cheaper? Probably. But I don't mind supporting my local economy, and they are much more likely to treat me right if I have a problem when I take my business there. The machine has a 5 year warantee on the major components, 3 years on the minor stuff - if I have an issue I can just tool on down to the store and have them make it right as they are the service shop for Thermadyne. Good guys to work with and very helpful. I may have spent a couple hundred more than if I were to buy online, but when you are talking about a purchase of this magnitude - I would rather have the brick & morter location and the face-to-face interaction than the extra $$ in my pocket. Oh - and if you are going to buy bottles - NEVER buy them from any place except the place you will be having fill them. You WILL have a nightmare of a time getting bottles filled by places that didn't get your business for buying/leasing them. I know people that have bottles in their garage that they can't get filled because of stupid purchases like that. Trust me - they would rather turn you out in the street than get the $25 for the gas. These places frown on that big time. GD

You sure it's not an exhaust rattle? Like a loose heat sheild or something? GD

Those are probably the air suction valves - they provide fresh air to the exhaust for the cat to work properly. Best bet is to just add an aftermarket cat to the mid-pipe and toss those valves in the round file. They are WAY more trouble then they are worth and modern cat's don't need them anymore. GD

It really depends on your skill level and attention to detail. I don't want to insult you, but a lot of folks just don't have the attention to detail, clean work environment, and knowledge of what they are looking at in order to properly and effectively rebuild a carb. And as carbs go in general, the Hitachi's are not the most forgiving creatures. The quality of the rebuild kits that are easily obtained these days leaves something to be desired as well. If you aren't afraid of dozens of tiny parts, heavy duty chemicals, and are willing to do the job on your kitchen table (no joke - that's where I do carbs), then go order the kit. Problems are often blamed on the accelerator pump (I suppose because it's one of the few parts on a carb that people can identify and understand) that have nothing to do with it at all. More often than not, off-idle hessitation and poor running are due to vacuum leaks, improper idle speed/mixture, and poor timing. Usually a good cleaning, adjustment, and replacement of the top gasket will do wonders for a carb (Hitachi or Weber). On the other hand you could buy a Weber or do the SPFI swap. The Weber is the "easy" way out. Buy a new one and slap it on - you won't have many issues beyond mounting the throttle cable and clearing out your old carbs paraphenalia from the engine bay. If you go the rebuild route - make sure before you buy the parts and tear into it that it's even worth the effort. Crack open the primary throttle and wiggle the shaft - if you feel any real play in it then the throttle base is worn out and you might as well find another carb. They aren't worth rebushing. GD

I make it a point to do charity work once a decade just to remind myself what being an rump roast is all about. I really don't mind helping folk - it's just that a lot of the noobs around here don't listen to good advice. Can't say as I always listen either, but that's part of being an rump roast. You know what they say..... "Do unto others..... before they do unto you." GD

Most of us go 65 Ft/lbs on the Fel-Pro gaskets. +1 for resurfacing - it's $35 per head or so and takes about an hour. GD

Yeah - he had a bad modulator that burnt up all the ATF. Thermostat was the overheating issue (cheap aftermarket one failed). GD

Yes - that's a low pressure pump. It lists 5 to 9 psi. The EJ engines need about 35 psi. You must use a high-pressure fuel injection pump, not a transfer pump or a carbed pump. GD

Thanks! I'm rather pleased with it so far. I need to stock up on steel now. If you ever move up here we can weld whatever you like. I'm pretty accomplished with a MIG gun and I've done a bit of TIG work. I would really like to build a TIG machine using an alternator and a gas engine. I have an old wood chipper that I've been saving for it's engine and lord knows I have plenty of alternators laying around. Harbor Freight has TIG torches for like $45.... GD

It was no trouble at all. Glad I could get it fixed for you without spending a bunch of money and time on it. GD

Subaru used RTV on the case halves - probably could use anerobic as well. But I've never seen one leak at the case joint so I would probably stick with the OEM equivelent (ultra grey is close) - OEM is some flavor of Three-Bond which is a Japanese brand of sealants. If you want tough sealant - we used some german stuff where I used to work for the C-face mating surfaces of SIHI liquid ring pumps - the tube said "Dichtstoff" on it (which is german for "sealant") but I couldn't pronounce the brand. It's REALLY freakin strong though. Like so strong that sand-blasting and wire-wheels will barely touch the stuff. It hardens underwater even. HARD like a coffin nail that stuff. Makes automotive sealants look like butter. I think you could glue a woman's lips shut with the stuff and be reasonably certain it would hold for a few hours. GD

Correct - older F-Series and Bronco's used frame rail mounted pumps. I don't know the exact years but there are thread's here that detail exactly which one's you are looking for. One of the part numbers mentioned in the old posts is a NAPA #2p74028 which is a frame rail mounted high pressure F-Series pump. Back in the early years they used an in-tank pump to pull the fuel to the high pressure pump mounted on the frame rail - this is one of those. IIRC from old posts it's something like 90 psi capable - which is far more than any Subaru engine needs. GD

Changing the ride height adjuster and changing the "clocking" of the bars are functionally one in the same. The adjustment bolt simple rotates the inner splined connection point that the torsion bar jack's into. You are not changing the spring rate of the torsion bar in either case so neither will make it more/less stiff. To do that you would need a larger/smaller bar or the addition of coil-over's to add additional spring rate. It's like asking if there is a difference between rotating the steering wheel on the shaft or adjusting it straight with the tie rod ends (ignoring the fact that adjusting the rod ends would change the lock-to-lock ratio for left vs. right). You can do either, or both - a combination of the two will produce just about any ride height you could want. GD

Could be a lot of things. Have you adjusted the timing? Cleaned the MAF? Checked the TPS for proper sweep? Could be loose (maybe about to break) timing belts. I've had that problem before - couldn't figure out the hessitation for the life of me. Belt broke on the freeway within a few thousand miles - replaced it and no more hessitation. GD

You don't need the second fan - a good radiator and the single stock fan will do the job just fine. You are just sucking more juice from the already taxed alternator - they only have 50 amps at full speed and at idle it's about 15 or 20 amps - which is generally when you need the fans (car not moving, idleing). GD

You don't have the AC relay's to power the fan. You can wire in a relay from the fan thermo-switch in the radiator. Just wire the relay to trip off the ground signal from the thermo-switch and power the second fan from a fused lead off the battery or the main junction (fusible links). GD

Sounds good - what are we welding?....... Anything we want? I fired up the welder last night for some small stuff. Welds like a dream. I can't wait to go shopping for steel My first project is a welding/shop table. I saved an angle-iron frame from a 1980's refrigerated air-dryer that's the perfect size for a table - about 3' x 4'. I have to reconfigure it's height and add a top. Think I'm going to get some 3/16" plate for the top and add a plywood shelf about 8" off the floor. GD

All the SPFI ECU's are interchangable. Some will recognize the EGR temp sensor and some will not. Doesn't matter for the functionality. GD

One thing I have noticed is that the newer Harbor Freight units have a better designed gun - they have push-lock style connectors for the bits that I have had trouble with. Still have the gas valve in the gun head though. I have done a fair amount of work with mine - besides haveing a lack of penetration on bigger stuff and an insanely short duty cycle, it sticks metal together..... that's about all it does though. It's hard to make "pretty" welds with it. I must say that it doesn't spatter much at all - doesn't really have the power to throw much metal anyway. I let my former boss borrow it for some field work where his 220v machine would not have power - he said that his friend who is an amature welder could not make it work. He could do alright with it (master welder), but was not impressed. I wouldn't say I'm anything like a master welder, but I've got experience with most types of welding and my HF machine did not make learning easy. I just broke down and called HF customer service to order a new torch/cable assembly - $33 shipped - so at least the parts are cheap . Hopefully it's the new style I've seen at the stores with the push-lock connectors. I'm going to relegate the HF to a flux core machine - it will be ok for a portable unit that I can throw in the car and take for small jobs. GD

That's true for the charge indicator, but when the brake fluid and parking brake lamps start comming on it's because the AC output from the bad rectifier is defeating the diode's in their illumination circuit. But everyone here is correct - no need to test anything - when you see voltage fluctuations per RPM's, flickering warning lights, etc - you DO have a bad alternator. No need for a VOM or DMM or anything else really. Just run right out and buy another alternator. It's the ONLY thing that can cause those symptoms. GD