GeneralDisorder

The point (in case you hadn't noticed) is that this thread is about EA81's - not EA82's. The EA82 is not in the same league of reliability nor does it share much in common with regards to the oiling system. And yes - I do know a lot. GD

So you going to make it up for the show you think? GD

On EA82's it is normal for the gauge to read zero at idle when warm. It's in the owners manual. You still had enough pressure. GD

Behind the front bumper - there are two - a high and a low. GD

Low/no oil pressure is the only thing I've found that will actually kill one completely dead. I did-in the first engine in my lifted wagon that way - it was originally a digi-dash car and had no oil pressure gauge. It had an idiot light. After a particularly nasty trip to the power-line/logging roads, I was driving back and at the last few stop lights I noticed the oil pressure idiot light was flickering on at idle. I resealed the pump and the light went away..... About 3,000 miles later I was doing 70 on Hwy 26 between hillsboro and portland - the severe knocking started and within 1/2 mile of the start of the knocking it threw a rod out the top of the block. For the reccord - they will NOT run with a thrown rod . When one lets go at 4,000 RPM it takes out the opposite one as well. Two cylinders down, no oil, and no coolant (it punctures the coolant passage under the manifold). No Es Bueno. Now on every EA81 I get I replace the oil pump and make DAMN sure I have a good oil pressure reading. You have probably never seen my wagon as I haven't posted pics in a long time - here's a shot: GD

I did this a LONG time ago (and looking at it, I was still quite the novice welder ). http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/4speed_mounts.html But they are still in place and despite my ugly welds they have held up without issue. GD

Well - buyer beware I suppose. It's up to you to research your vehicular purchases and test drive any prospective purchases. If you didn't like the way it drove why did you buy it? Since I was 16 - so 14 years this coming September (I'll be 30 - yikes! ). Anyway in that time I've owned more vehicles that I can count - I currently have 6 - 5 Subaru's and a 72 VW Squareback. The Subaru's range from '83 to '94. With the exception of the VW (manual steering that I've never had aligned), they all have a right drift. The worst have always been the Fords I've had. I notice it more on the newer Subaru's I have - probably because they have more sensitive power steering than my older models. GD

Interesting - what are you doing that's blowing them up? GD

That is the evap solenoid. If you don't have a check engine light then don't worry about it. It doesn't do anything critical. GD

Most modern vehicles are designed to pull you AWAY from oncoming traffic (yes - to the right) in case of a driver falling asleep, losing consciousness, etc. The idea is that it is safer to go "out of control" with other cars going the same direction you are going - rather than to risk a head-on collision. It is not a Subaru specific design. The alignment *specs* will put it that way if you align it by the book. It *can*be aligned to perfectly straight but the dealer probably won't do it. You would have to find an independent shop willing to set the alignment to a non-standard adjustment. That is *WHY* Subaru (and many, many other manufacturers) have been setting alignment specs to pull to the right for a LONG time. This is nothing new and has been common practice since before I started driving. Sorry - they won't give you a refund. And even if they did - you aren't likely to find another brand or model that doesn't do the exact same thing to one degree or another. GD

I don't work on automotive professionally, but I do a lot of dissasembly and reassembly (industrial machinery). I prefer an impact with a sensitive trigger than I can use as a power ratchet - never much liked the air ratchets I've used. Not long ago I picked up a Rigid brand cordless drill, impact, flashlight, radio combo on sale for $179 at the depot. I must say that I mostly bought it for the impact and I am totally sold on the cordless option. While it doesn't have the power of my big air guns, it does 90% of what I need and can be used for assembly even around aluminium etc as the trigger is sensitive enough to spin stuff in without actually "impacting" it. I also have some big air guns - a 650 ft/lb gun of my personal collection and then in the shop we have some really huge stuff - 3/4" and 1" drive, and then there's the portable hydralic power packs . It can get rather interesting at times..... we were pulling a gear off a shaft a while back and had the porta-power maxed out putting 20,000 lbs on the thing, we had the biggest rosebud on the oxy-torch and the gear was cherry red - and another co-worker was whailing on it with a 20 lb sledge (babbit head). When it let go it shot off of the shaft and flew about 12 feet - landed on an air hose and melted through that - then rolled over to a wet spot on the floor (oil or grease soaked into the concrete) and lit that on fire :eek:. Huge bang and crash - air hoses swinging about wildly - flames and smoke - people yelling..... oh yeah! Needless to say people came running and for a few moments our whole world turned inside out. We have a good laugh about it now though. GD

I've seen a couple EA82's now where the wiring was bad between the sender and the gauge. On an old sedan I had I ran a new wire and it worked fine. I would ground the wire at the back of the cluster and see if the gauge moves before I went and replaced the cluster or pulled the sender. You can check the leads to the sensor for resistance without pulling it as well. It will be a hunting expedition. GD

Almost all of the Beck-Arnley parts are just repackaged OEM parts. I opened a Beck-Arnley engine mount for an EA81 and they had forgotten to remove it from the Fuji plastic GD

Headlights and turn signals on EA81's are separate switches - there is no "multi-function" switch as there are on 87+ EA82's. GD

There isn't really much build info on it. Although there should be . Without a doubt one of the top 5 EA series builds out there. Maybe someday he'll write more of it down and take more pics. He's (I think) still planning to be at the show and I'll try to get as many pics as I can when it's up here. We used to run some of the trails in my area when it lived here but there's been much done to it since I last saw it. I'll let Ian fill us in on a complete list of the mods..... Care to elaborate for the crowd man? GD

Your alt sounds fine to me - 14.3 is within spec. What you have is wiring problems. The voltage supply to the excitation pin on the alt is missing and the sensor line has high resistance. If you run it like this for long it will probably destroy the alt, but so far 14.3v sounds ok. GD

They may have replaced the alternator thinking it was an internally regulated unit as they were beginning with the '82 model year. As I recall (and it's been a while so I could be way off), the regulator is in a round, blue canistor somewhere on the driver's side of the engine bay.... again I could be way off though. It's been a long time and I avoid pre-'82's as do most other's around this section of the forum - they are "odd" and not too useful for what most of us do with these cars. Nothing wrong with them per-se, but parts are getting troublesome to hunt down for the EA71's and older. GD

Nice - what's going on with that speedo there? Is that using an electronic sending unit or did you hook it into the stock cable? I would really like to see some decent pics of your top-mount setup and how you shortened the front end. I'm seriously thinking about going with a totally custom radiator setup. I would very much like to do stainless braided hoses and hydraulic fittings, etc. GD

Anecdotal at best. What angles are being run? How fast were they going? Were the axles new or already worn out? Etc, etc. I'll state again - the strength of the axle is directly related to the speed and the angle. Run at flat angles and low speeds they are much stronger than the stubs. Axle breakage, in large measure, is a result of people taking "running starts" at obstacles because they don't have the gearing to crawl over slowly. This puts enormous stress on the joints as they flex far beyond their design limits with lift kits of various shapes and sizes, and spin at high speeds with wheels hanging in the air, etc. It's angle AND torque (which can be equated to speed and inertia with formuli) that are important. High angles means the torque at which catastrophic destruction of the joint takes place is lower. I've been there and done that - broken as many axles as anyone in the process. I've also studied the physics and the mechanical engineering aspects of the CV and DOJ joints used in the stock axles. I'm here to tell you it's NOT the axle's fault - it's how most people are using them. Granted there are better and stronger designs out there, but if you work within the limitations of the stock design you will find they are much more capable than they seem to be - only because *most* people are running them incorrectly in rigs that could be made correct with the proper changes to the suspension geometry. GD

The bearings are not accesible with the oil pan removed. Only way to check them is by splitting the block. Just pull a head from this parts car engine and use it. Cracks between the valves are not an issue unless they extend into a water jacket. GD

The axles will handle more than you think at nearly flat angles. They will handle the most load at near flat angles and slow speeds. The strength of the joint is proportional to the speed you run them at and the angle they have to move through. Thus lower gearing will actually save your axles - many people with t-case setups find they break more diff stubs than they do axles because of the torque applied to the stubs. A reduction at the wheels would help by moving some of the load away from the stubs. Different diffs and axles would help as well. And ultimately you would have to run a different transmission as the Subaru transaxles aren't designed to output that much load through the rear output. GD

I just can't see that - not and have it last for thousands of miles before failure. I mean - what could they have "poorly" assembled that would cause that? I tried to wrap my head around that the last time I saw one like this - it just doesn't add up though. If the cam case were loose enough for the rocker to fall out you would have huge issues beyond a rocker falling off. Not to mention a spectacular oil leak. GD

I do see what you are saying - but I just don't think a CNC of any kind is in the cards unless I build the thing myself.... maybe possible but I kind of doubt it. I wonder what a garage sized CNC would run? I would like to have some manual machining equipment first - a mill and a lathe of my very own to start with. I have access to both at work, but that's just not quite the same as I'm not the official operator of said equipment and so accessing and using it is not as easy as I would like it to be. I like the idea - it's the tools that I lack unfortunately. GD

Check the voltage regulator. Part of your problem may be excessive AC current from the regulator. If you find nothing there - make sure the windsheild isn't leaking on the wireing somewhere under the dash. That can also cause strange things. Frankly though - your problem is not a common one and is pretty obscure. GD

Bumpers replacement guards are mounted to the bumper mounts. A-bar style guards are mounted to the engine cross-member mounting points on the frame rail as well as the bottom of the bumper (so also the bumper mounts in a way). GD