GeneralDisorder

There is no drilling required - run a 7/16x20 tap into the holes and be done with it. Yes - tap the ASV spacers as well. GD

For the case halves I would use ultra-grey, and for all the thin paper gaskets I would replace them with Loctite 515 or 518 flange sealant. Hopefully that socket works out for you. Did you verify with them that this will not have an OD greater than 45mm? Might have been easier (depending on your locality) to buy an axle socket and have a local machine shop turn the OD down. That's what I did as it was a sure thing but my boss at the time used to be a machinist and did it on his personal lathe for free. The trick (from what he told me) is that you have to build a center for the bolt end of the socket so it doesn't flop all over in the lathe. GD

Yes - remove the pedal and inspect the pivot & bushings etc. I generally lube them with a bit of moly grease. Replacement may be needed as well. GD

It runs the A/C to dry the air (more effective defrost, and keeps the windows from fogging in the heat/bilev modes) and to keep the AC compressor from sitting idle all winter. There is no reason *not* to run the A/C. It's good for it - ciurculates the oil and keeps the o-rings from drying out, etc. GD

Just leave the gauge installed - zip tie it to something so it doesn't flop around. Even better if you can manage to make it readable while driving. Beyond that - have you cleaned the MAF? How are the shaft bearings in the distributor? How's the spark color? Check the coil resistance values? There's a number of components in the SPFI system - check each one in a systematic way. If the problem is intermittant you may have to hook up some probes in a way that will let you read voltage's and such while driving. GD

Chef Tim had it done to his lifted hatch. Said he would never do it again. Took a ton of body work and he had a good body man out there grinding away body filler with a cheese grater..... GD

The EA82T isn't worth the hassle. For *less* work you can have an EJ22 and get 20 more HP with NO turbo. Buy a donor gen 1 legacy for ~$250 and you get everything you need except the adaptor plate. Either way you are looking at quite a bit of wireing, but with the EJ22 you are actually looking at less mechanical modifications. You see - the turbo would require that you change the engine cross-member, which involves R&R of the entire front suspension and steering rack. Pain in the butt is an understatement. GD

You are correct - they have been made in Mexico for the past few years and the failure rate is excessively high. It has been noted in automotive forums across the internet and discussed at length here a number of times. And even though the older one's seem to work fine - they aren't buying you anything. The stock coil is all that's needed for a stock engine. If you are going high compression or forced induction that's another matter (in which case an MSD system is probably the direction you should go), but to just replace it because the Accel is pretty and yellow and the box says you'll gain 10 to 15 HP..... they lie. GD

If you buy a new, stock Hitachi coil it will outlast the car. There is nothing to be gained by the Accel coil's besides frustration and some under-hood bling. Paint the stocker yellow.... The one and only purpose of the ignition coil is to ignite the fuel - the stock unit performs this function at 99.95%. You will gain zilch from installing a bling yellow coil - but you may end up replacing it from time to time and it doesn't match the ignitor in the distributor so you may burn a few of those out as well. GD

EA81 head gaskets are the simplest things around. Can easily be changed in an afternoon. Get yourself a set of the Fel-Pro perma-torques from Autozone - should be about $30 for the pair. Get a set of intake and exhaust manifold gaskets at the dealership and borrow or rent a 1/2" torque wrench. Pull the heads, have them milled flat ($35 - $40 per head) and reinstall them. Torque them to a final torque of 65 Ft/Lbs and you will never have to do them again. GD

Typically you are left-foot brakeing to transfer the weight of the car to the front wheels (or off the rear wheels) for improved handling or controlled sliding. It's a racing technique. GD

'94 GT (EJ22E/ 5 speed AWD) got about 25 on the commute - just about 30 on freeway trips. '83 Hatch (EA81/4 speed 4WD) is about 26/31 '91 SS (EJ22T/ 5 speed AWD) is 16/22 on Supreme..... :-\ And of course I drive them like I stole them so I prefer the '91 GD

'86 and earlier had a mechanical/vacuum advance distributor (and flapper door MAF, etc). It wasn't till '87 ('86 for SPFI) that the CAS distributor's showed up along with the faster/more complex ECU that can handle the ignition timing. They also switched to hot-wire MAF's. GD

Wow - if only that thing could talk to you eh? My top box is a 1960's Snap-On complete with matching vintage sticker collection. The guy never really worked out of it from what I was told so it's basically mint. I'll have to snap a pic when I get a chance. GD

'81 explains it - they didn't offer power steering till '82 and that valve and it's associated vacuum lines would interfere with the EA81 power steering belt. That valve was probably moved to the manifold. GD

'87 was the last year for carbed EA82's - the non-feedback (or "49 states") models were made right up till the end. The EA81 hatch was still made till '89 in both feedback and non. GD

Which pushrod engine is this and what year? I've never seen a thermo-vacuum valve in that location before.... GD

No and it would kill the performance anyway. GD

91Loyale is correct - I never thought to ask if this was brought on by some sort of service that was performed on the car - you do realize that there are TWO dipsticks for the automatic's yes? GD

There is no hard and fast rule on that. Some were equiped with feedback carbs (with O2) and some were not. The ones that don't will be non-feedback carbed models - which is the majority of 4WD's. Nearly all the 2WD's got the feedback's but most 4WD's did not. There are exceptions though as CA required all vehicles to use them and CA models were sold outside of CA. So there's no way to tell except to look under the hood. GD

My GF's '07 6 disc changer (clarion I was told) did the same thing. Dealer replaced it under warantee. Seems like it's a common failure on these. GD

Pretty much all of them except possibly the coupe's. I know there were D/R's on all the manual GL's from 81 till the hatch was disco'd in '89. The coupe's I don't think came as D/R and only the '83/'84 turbo's were 4WD. So you are looking for manual transmission GL's in the Brat, Hatch, Sedan, or Wagon body from '81 to '89 (Brat till '87 and Hatch till '89 - all other's disco'd after '84). That said, the 5 speed D/R is a much better option - those came in all manual, GL, Non-Turbo's from '85 to '89. The "EA82" bodys which were Wagon's, Sedan's, and 3-Door Coupe's. GD

Is your auto a 2WD or 4WD? I might be pulling out a 2WD Auto from an '87 soon. If anything I'm going to convert the car to 4WD although I might just part it out completely as well. At any rate the tranny will be up for sale cheap as I have no use for it other than a boat anchor. Make me a reasonable offer considering it was recently flushed/new fluid and only has 120k on it. If it's reasonable enough I'll even give you a hand installing it. GD

Put the fuel pressure gauge after the filter - right before it connects to the manifold. You should see a pretty constant 21 psi. If it's low try pinching off the return line (after the regulator) - you should see it spike up to around 50 psi (only do this momentarily to get a reading). Run the engine up to 4 or 5k and see what the pressure does when you do. You also might check the TPS for smooth operation up in the 4/5k range where you are experienceing problems. It could have a dead spot in it resulting in a bad reading to the ECU at the RPM you are having trouble with. It may seem like a "fuel cut" but it probably isn't. GD

Typically in the US it's either plain old PSI(G) or inHg (Inches of Mercury Column). For smaller vacuum measurement it's inH20 (Inches of Water Column). And for even smaller measurement it's Torr and Micron..... but there are a LOT of vacuum measurement scales and different industries and applications neccesarily use different scales But for a gasoline, 4 stroke engine, you would be looking for around 20 to 25 inHG GD