GeneralDisorder

You can install the water pump fan - it just bolts on top of the water pump pulley. It would probably help but your overheating is obviously due to something more than just that. I've run plenty of EA82's without the water pump fan and not had an issue. Have you cleaned out the fins on the evap core? It could probably use a good pressure wash - if the evap core isn't flowing air through to the radiator then you would likely overheat easily. It is in front and takes the brunt of the road debris, bugs, pine needles, etc. GD

That's EA82 though. The '83 is an EA81 and as such has a dual-core all-metal radiator. They are generally more expensive. I've bought brand new EA82 radiators for $65 shipped off ebay - the cheapest I've ever paid for an EA81 is about $120. GD

It's really very simple if you follow my directions. Go get a peice of all-thread, cut yourself 4 studs, tap out the holes in the heads and have a nice day. This can all be done with hand tools - hacksaw and a file for the studs and a tap+crescent wrench for the heads. There is no need to get fancy, and there is no need to overthink it. Just DO IT and then have a beer. GD

Get them used from the junk yard. Cost to replace them with new parts will be half your next paycheck (maybe all of it). GD

Discount Import Parts in Milwaukie or Beaverton. Bubbling out the radiator could be simply overheating, head gaskets, or air bubbles in the cooling system. Make sure the front end is higher than the back when filling and burping the cooling system. GD

Is the single fan driven off the water pump or is it electric? Non-AC vehicles typically have only the electric fan on the passenger side. AC equipped cars added a water pump driven fan as well to assist in pulling air through the evap. core. Generally if the cooling system is working well, the water pump fan isn't needed unless the temp gets very high and you aren't moving much (traffic). GD

That sounds more like what you should be seeing. The stock "goo" isn't red so they have definitely been off at some point - probably safe to bet the head gaskets were replaced. I would make absolutely sure you don't have air bubbles in the cooling system - this is an easy and common mistake with the EA82's and results in overheating. Also replace the thermostat with an OEM one and make sure the connections to the fan and fan thermoswitch are clean and working properly. More than one intermittent overheating problem has been due to fans working intermittently. GD

Very nice info - but it makes no difference to this thread as we are talking about EA's and no one makes tuned aftermarket headers for the N/A EA's. You are also talking about an order-of-magnitude more power from the EJ's - 160+ HP engine compared to one making 90 HP stock.... the gains would be so insignificant even if you did build one and flow-test/dyno it that it wouldn't be worth your time. Further, anything that hasn't been dyno'd and tested WILL be a loss. Take your car to Joe's exhaust shop and tell him you want a custom header - you won't get a gain out of it I assure you. GD

I have an advantage as I have both the FSM as well as the 4WD 4 speed transmission service manual.... To get the extention housing off, you have to dissasemble the 4WD engagement linkage under the rectangular plate. The 4 speed dual-range's are stupidly complex devices - getting them apart and back together correctly takes some luck and a lot of patience (and that 35mm socket). The OD of the socket needs to be about 45mm. GD

This is how it's laid out: Valve cover / Cam Carrier / Head / Block / Head / Cam Carrier / Valve cover The head gaskets are between the Block and Head sections only. That clear it up for you? GD

There are sections of FSM's floating around in digital form. The fuel and ignition sections are on my SPFI conversion page as they are applicable to swapping SPFI to the older carbed engines: http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/EA81_SPFI.html I don't have any of the other FSM documents for the EA82's as I rarely work on them anymore. You'll find as you hang out around here that us old-timers skip the EA82 generation vehicles and mosly just rob the good parts off of them for our EA81 gen stuff. That and we drive EJ's for daily's. The EA82's are just a pian in the butt unless you swap the engine out for an EA81 or EJ. GD

CD player options, premium decks, and other optional junk that your car doesn't have. As far as I know the EA82's never came with power antenna's. You will find a lot of optional connectors on Subaru's. This way the dealer can install options if the customer wishes and the factory only has to produce a couple different harnesses. GD

Unfortunately quite a bit. It wasn't so bad till they increased the power of the EJ22 in '96. The older dual-port EJ22's are 135 HP, while the EJ18 is 110 HP. The newer single port EJ22's are 147 HP though so he's going to lose 37 HP out of the deal - but hey there were plenty of EJ18 Imps made and they are great cars with a great engine. Not as much power, but better economy and still just fine for a plain old driver. Hell I'm still rocking a 74 HP EA81 with one low cylinder in my '83 hatch and I do just fine. GD

IIRC, that would be the shift-lock overide - in case you have to get it out of park without the key. GD

Are you sure you are looking at the head gakset and not the cam tower? Those are sealed with RTV and it would be normal to see it there. The cam tower is the last 3" or so on TOP of the head and the valve cover attaches to the cam tower. The block itself is rather small and the head gasket are 6"+ from the valve covers. GD

Contrary to the above, when I do rear axles, I remove the lower shock/coil over-bolt from the trailing arm. Don't have to mess with the diff this way. If you do it with the rear end on jack stands you can then put your jack under the trailing arm and jack it back into place and then reinstall the shock/coil-over bolt. GD

Check that the radius rods are tight to the control arms and check the control arm and radius rod bushings. GD

A leak-down tester threads into the cylinder like a comp. tester. But instead of cranking the engine, you apply compressed air to the cylinder with both valves closed. The rate of leakage and where the air is escaping tells you for certain what is going on - air from the exhaust = exhaust valve(s), air from the intake = intake valve(s), and air from the crankcase = rings. You can also move up and down in the cylinder with the valve closed (power stroke) and see if there are any bad spots in the cylinder walls. WAY more effective than a comp. tester - which really only tells you that you do/do not need to run a leak-down test Harbor Frieght has a LDT kit for like $30. GD

Yeah the GCK stuff seems to have gone away. Can't find them or order them anymore. And there were a lot of complaints about the quality towards the end. Back when I got mine they were fine - still have a set in my lifted wagon that are going strong. I started using the EMPI stuff and the quality seems excelent. I have a set on my DD '83 hatch and it's probably done 10k since I installed them without any issues. Plus they were cheap at about $55 each new with lifetime warrantee. GD

It's totally that easy - If she's getting free labor on the car - well then she has to play within your rules. Illustrate to her how much time and effort has to go into you doing the work to keep her car on the road and that it's ultimately free. She should understand that there are limitations to what you will work on and should she desire to cross that line then she's going to have to find a shop and pay for the work herself. Take her to a flat, open parking lot at night - make her start out in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd without touching the gas. I've done this many times and besides being fun for all involved (parking lot not stressful like streets), it's effective. Been with my GF for 4 years - learned to drive manual on my Brat back when it was the stock 4 speed (3+ years ago) - got rid of that Honda shortly after and now she won't own a car that's not a Manual (and a Subaru). You give in, and you comprimise, and you bend to her will every time.... pretty soon you are the shell of a man that stands for nothing. GD

Teach her to drive a stick. Took me about 2 hours to teach my current GF. I always convert them to manual's because I also hate working on the AT's. GD

Yes - the second O2 was mandated by the OBD-II laws - it's only purpose is to check the efficiency of the cat. Incidentally, if you gut the cat you can cheat the O2 code by installing a spark-plug non-fouler between it and the exhaust - the sensor see's fewer HC's and doesn't set the OBD-II code for a bad cat (yes I've done this) GD

The numbers aren't important - what is important is that all the cylinders at within 10% to 15% of each other. For a variety of reasons, no two engines/testers/people will end up with reading that can effectively be compared. The test is comparitive - you are checking the cylinder's against each other and against the engine as a whole - not other people's engines. The "wet" test trick with oil doesn't really work on Subaru engines - the cylinder being horizontal causes the oil to seal poor valve seats just as easily as it will seal the rings. You need to do a proper leak-down test if you want to know the source of the low number. GD

There is no downstream O2 on a '92. There is only a single O2 for mixture control and I would also sugest you get an OEM one from the dealer. GD

To remove the t-case section you need a 35mm thin-walled socket to remove the 4wd transfer gear. I bought a standard impact rated 35mm axle nut socket and turned down the OD just for this purpose. It is the only way to dissasemble the 4's. GD