GeneralDisorder

I said *IF* I were going to buy one. I never said when. So far I'm not comfortable that you aren't a scammer - you are new here - 48 posts - and you want LOTS of money and you want it NOW. How do you suppose that looks? I hope that's not the case, but I'm a skeptic and I'll beleive it when I see it. And if it does come to pass, then I'll wait for one of the 10 that you send here to be resold (at least a couple will go unused - people buy stuff all the time and fail to do anything with it). Hell there was one for sale within a few hundered miles of me just a few months back. GD

This is definitely a Phase II - it has single port heads. Build date is 09/05. It doesn't look like it's been replaced - car only has 113k on it. Engine looks original - clean, factory install, bolts unturned, etc. GD

I've never seen one. And I've seen a lot of EA81's. GD

This is a '96 phase II EJ22.... are you saying they *do* have a step after a certain year or is it just the phase II's? GD

I will measure it against a precision ground surface with a digital height gauge for warpage - thanks for the tip. I didn't feel any warpage when I drove the car though so I'm pretty sure it was just a worn down disc that was the problem here. The rivets dug into the pressure plate so I'm going to do a clutch kit on it. GD

That was my thought as well - just wasn't sure how soft the flywheels on these are. Thanks. GD

Not as such - but have you verified that you have 12v to the blower fuse? You can work either way as Gary points out - but I prefer to work forward from the point that I have voltage and then see where I lose it - but both methods are useful at times. GD

Is there supposed to be *any* kind of step in the EJ22 flywheel or are they cut completely smooth on the disc/pressure plate surface? I just pulled one from a 96 Legacy and the flywheel has a small step in it. Otherwise it's undamaged and the disc only went to the rivets on the PP side. I cleaned it up with a 3M pad in the die-grinder and I'm tempted to reuse it as is if that step is supposed to be there.... I looked at some online catalogs and some seem to show a step, while other's look smooth. If it's there it's small though so it's hard to tell from small, grainy pictures.... GD

Have you checked the fuses? Do you have power at the blower fuse? GD

At least I know the noise I was hearing wasn't a front wheel bearing GD

Yeah - it was still going strong and if the clutch hadn't worn down to the rivets - other than there being no 2nd gear I don't see why it wouldn't have "limped" for a long time. GD

I wouldn't be surprised if this were a WRX or something - but a plain-jane L series 2.2? Smells like a really bad driver - the guy said he got it from his sister so who knows. GD

Well - I split the tranny and 2nd gear is wasted. So it's time for a new tranny. Both the drive and driven gears are without nearly all their teeth. Don't know how this happened - the rest of the insides of the tranny look great - I don't see any real wear anywhere. So..... I'm pretty baffled. I can't see any wear to the syncro on 2nd either. Only thing I can figure is that one gear or the other had a factory defect that eventually killed them. Maybe granny drove around everywhere in 2nd gear? Could sustained high speeds in 2nd do something like that? The clutch is fragged also - maybe starting in 2nd all the time? *edit* - now that I look at it more closely I see that the bearing for the driven gear doesn't turn - so effectively it's locked to the shaft. That could easily mean that it tried to run for a short time in multiple gears - that would cause the destruction I'm seeing. I would have to further dissasemble the pinion shaft to see what went wrong in there, but that looks like as likely of a scenario as any. GD

Double Post.

I've never seen one up for sale. Your best bet for a nice wheel is to find or make a momo adaptor. They used to sell them for the EA82's but they are discontinued. Sometimes they come up on eBay. GD

Subaru's don't have filters on the alternator, although it is possible to install one. You should have a noise filtering capacitor on the igntion coil - look for a black wire running to a small metal cylinder - the other end of the cylinder will be another black wire running to a chassis ground. The wires are often broken at the cap, or the entire cap is just missing because people don't know what they do and when the car seemingly has not ill effects from it being broken or disconnected they are tossed. You may want to get a cap filter for the alt as well. GD

Mostly abuse, but EA81's are notorious for electrical gremlins - they were the last generation of Subaru to not use mostly water-tight connections. GD

Wideband - those narrow-band gauges are gimmicks. They won't tell you anything useful for a turbocharged engine. Anytime you are under boost you will be off-the-chart rich on those gauges. They are good only for people that want to try and maximize their mileage by staying in the stoich sweet spot. Do that on your turbo and you'll be looking for a new engine after you head over to the next county to collect your pistons and rods. GD

The way to do this in the future is to take an old axle nut, weld it to the drain plug, and get your 36mm+1/2" breaker bar out. The heat of the welding helps knock it loose and the 36mm nut will give you more purchase than the wimpy 17mm. GD

It's an '88 GL with 90 HP and an automatic. Answer: Whatever brand is cheapest (probably Autozone). At this point they will probably outlast the usable life of the car no matter what brand you buy. Any what makes you think the shocks are bad? Does it bounce? I have yet to find a legitimate "bad" shock on a Subaru (I've owned dozens). My '83 hatch has like 240k on it and the shocks/struts are original. All they do is dampen the springs - so if it doesn't bounce when you push down on each corner - they aren't bad enough to need replacement yet. Maybe if this were a sports car but as noted above..... it's a 90 HP automatic. :-\ GD

You can dip the tap in some motor oil if you wish. Aluminium is so soft that you could easily tap it by hand without any lube. I would use lube though just to keep the tap from getting dull. Work it back and forth - when you feel it start to bind turn it back a couple turns to free the chips from the cutting teeth then start cutting again. I typically run the tap in and out 2 to 4 times, cleaning it each time with WD-40 to insure there are no chips left in the threads. Do likewise with the bottoming tap. You can buy a legitimate can of cutting oil - I like the foaming drill bit lube as it stick to stuff better - good for upside down cutting like this. But an ordinary squirt can or rattle can lid filled with motor oil for dipping the tap in will do just fine for this simple job. GD

It should thread in by hand if you have done your job properly with the tap. If it's difficult, then you take two nuts, lock them together on the end, and use that to thread it in. It's called "double nutting", and is the common way to install/remove studs if you don't have access to a stud remover. That's what the file/grinder is for. You taper the edges of the cut end at about a 45 degree angle to "feather" the threads. Pull the drinking straw from your McD's cup and measure for yourself! (hint - use a sharpie!) Yes - do everything in 7/16x20 (the "20" part is the TPI, or "Threads Per Inch"). This isn't rocket science. GD

Except for everything behind the front seats they are identical. Head room is slightly better if you have a GL with the t-tops. They are a pain in the butt for long distance travel as you cannot lean the seats back for a rest stop, etc. Brats tend to have been more abused through their lifetime and often come quirky with respect to mechanical/electrical issues. Fuel ecomony is slightly better than a Wagon due to the reduced weight and the overall better airflow of the light truck body style (the wind-buffer "vortex" created in the bed). I am 6' 2" and I tend to dislike the stock seats in the EA81's. They are tollerable, but I prefer something that sits lower. There are options out there - I have Isuzu Impulse seats in my '85 Brat, and I have EA82 wagon seats in my '83 Hatch. The problem you run into with the Brat is that you can't get the seat reclined far enough and also back far enough at the same time with the EA81/EA82 seats so while I am comfortable in them on the Hatch, they would not work for the Brat. The Impulse seats are great but very hard to find. But as with any car - seats can be changed and enough room exists in the cab it's just a matter of finding seats that fit your body and the car at the same time. They are great little trucks, but although I love them and am still in the (long) process of restoration on mine, I haven't driven it much in the last couple years. I find the EA81 hatch to be much more to my liking as the wheelbase is smaller (better off-road), it has back seats and enclosed cargo area, and I can recline the seats on long drives. For daily driving I much prefer the Legacy's for comfort, ride, and amenities. They are also cheap and worthless so I don't have to worry about someone bashing into my car, etc. For all around fun, economy, and utility, it's hard to beat the EA81 Hatch body with an EJ22 and a 5 speed D/R installed. That's just about the perfect combination. Light body, lots of HP, good gearing and just the right amount of utility without being a total pain to drive a fair distance. If I absolutely had to only have one car this would probably be it - if I could have two the other would be a Gen 1 Legacy wagon. GD

Bottom front of the carb - look for a mixture adjustment screw blocked by a vertical roll pin. It's probably not the issue if it's still got the pin in it - if not then someone may have mucked with it. It's not the solution for anything other than a rich IDLE. If it's rich at anything other than idle then it's not your problem. GD

Yes - disconnect the fuel pump - it's under the car. Just pull the wire going from the coil to distributor cap. All of them, and crank with the gas pedal fully depressed. Pull the plug and ground the electrode to the block while you have someone crank the engine over. Color should be white with tinges of blue. Orange or red spark = weak spark. You need a timing light to check the ignition timing - get one and follow the directions if you don't have one. #1 cylinder is the closest to the front of the car on the passenger side - that is the one you use for checking/setting the ignition timing. While you are checking the timing, rev the engine and see that the timing increases with increased engine speed. Also check the vacuum advance pot on the distributor by sucking on the line - the advance mechanism inside the distributor should move and stay there till you release the vacuum. GD