GeneralDisorder

I don't know what happened with the GCK stuff - I bought some sets early on - 4 or 5 years back - and haven't had a problem with them. They were tight like you describe, but it never caused me an issue. I have a set still to this day in my lifted wagon and they have been through hell and never given me any issues. Then a friend of mine bought a set, and had the same vibration issues you are experiencing. He took them back and went with another brand. Then a bit later more people on the board here started having issues with them right out of the box. A short time after than the brand dissapeared entirely and hasn't returned. I'm afraid it may never go away. I hope that isn't the case, but I've been around here a long time and no one has ever said anything about them "loosening up". I've started using the EMPI axles and I've had good luck thus far. They are easily as good a quality as the early GCK's were. GD

'84 Flat-Four is pretty accurate. I deal with a lot of bearings as part of my job. I can say a couple things: 1. The most common cause of bearing failure (by a HUGE margin) is OVER greasing. Too much grease creates friction, allows no place for expansion due to heat, and ultimately decreases bearing life by a factor of 4. 2. The second most common cause is contamination - either from the grease breaking down and self-contaminating the bearing, or from seal failure. #1 above is what led to the introduction of sealed and sheilded bearings. If you are going to use the stock style open bearings, then you must use the correct quantity of grease (about 1/4 of the volume of the inside of the bearing chamber). Also there is simply no point in trying to regrease them at any future time - there is no effective way to remove them, flush the old grease and reinstall them without causing unseen damage - plus they are so cheap that it's not worth the effort. All you can do is check and replace the seals if they are bad. Sealed bearings are a good choice. Given the frequency of the bearing housing seal failures it's a no-brainer really. Remember to drive them in using the outer race. As far as brands - F AG (without the space) seems to be as good as any I've found. They are my first choice anyway. GD

Might I recommend you download a browser or browser patch that includes a spell checker. I know FireFox hi-lights my mistakes in red. No one is perfect - we all need a little help with something . GD

Good chance the joint is just dry - remove the axle, grease the piss out of it (clean the old grease out), and reboot it. It will likely last a while yet - till it actually blow apart anyway . At least with the axle in place, once the outer joint lets go for good, you can drive it still with it in 4WD high. The most likely failure is for the joint's inner race to split and allow the splined shaft to just spin inside it. But definately *try* to keep running the axle. When/If it breaks you will be no worse off than if you had broken it yourself and reinstalled just the outer stub. GD

Edited for spelling and grammar, but none-the-less...... +1. GD

AFAIK - they never came in black. At least I've never seen one or a picture of one that I can recall. Coupe's (turbo), Wagon's (black diamond), and Brat's (turbo) I've seen in black but not any Hatchback's that I can remember... It seems like only special editions came in black and there weren't any special edition Hatch's that I've ever seen. GD

Yeah - mirror finish really isn't desirable for heads - not sure what I was thinking when I said that. It's what I use for disc-valves that seal metal-to-metal and need to be air-tight. As stated - start with a lower grit and work up. 120 is good to start, and 220 is probably the minimum you want to finish with. I would probably finish with 600 personally. I HAVE had heads profesionally milled, and when it's done with proper machinery you will be able to see your reflection in them. You can get into all kinds of discussions about surface RA and crap, but really these old composite gaskets on the EA engines will handle just about whatever surface you give them as long as it's flat. GD

The stock skid plate mounts just suck. The front is horrible - I've crushed the lower radiator support on my wagon nearly flat over the years. The rear is no better - that silly plate under the cross-member will end up bent and screwed up in pretty short order. I ended up building a reinforced mounting plate by welding flat bar to it for support. It's not alway about picking the right line or the wrong line - when I wheel I wheel with the INTENT to break my rig. If I'm not wheeling hard enough to break it then I won't know what needs improvement next. That's the whole intention of building a wheeler - to build it, break it, and improve it. GD

My plan is to throw a Samuri t-case in behind the Subaru transaxle, then have the additional 1.6:1 chain reduction hubs at each wheel. The Samuri case can be geared as high as 6:1 in low and also has a certain amount of reduction ability in high. 100:1+ is easily doable. The chain reduction can't be much more than 1.6:1 unless you want a trailer queen - being that you *can't* remove the reduction it has to be able to run at that amount of reduction at all times. GD

I don't know that it really matters much. As long as you get high-quality paper in the desired grit and clean it often..... I'm not an abrasive expert though so perhaps there are advantages of one vs. another that I'm not aware of. But seriously - NOT a Swiss watch here. We aren't regrinding Hubble's mirror guys! GD

1. Chain is reliable *enough* to do the job. Triple or quadruple chain would be used. 2. Automatic chain tensioners that ride directly on the chain are available so no tensioning system is required. 3. Chains will not NOT reverse the rotation of the existing axle shafts - unlike a "simple" gear arrangement would. 4. Sprockets in any size imaginable are readily available off-the-shelf and would only require minimal (if any) modifications if designed right. 5. Chains do not require liquid lubrication. They can run greased for long periods and as such they do not require the same level of sealed housing. 6. Chains are more efficient than gears. 7. I don't own, nor do I plan to own, a gear hobbing machine. Trust me - chains are much better for what I'm planning. I've thought a lot of this through. I'm not kidding myself that it would be a daily driver, or even that it will be able to drive on the freeway.... but I'm willing to try and possibly fail.... but I will have tried! GD

Then I take it you have an SPFI system with no turbo? A 2WD then I'm guessing? In which case ANY 87+ fuel injection distributor will work for you. You *may* have to change the plug but the actual distributor is the same. GD

SPFI or MPFI? '85 2WD's used the (rare) non-turbo MPFI system. With that build date though it could be an early '86 with the SPFI. GD

Sounds like the regulator isn't seeing the reference voltage from the main junction. Check that you have voltage on the sense wire and the voltage warning lamp wire to the back of the alt. GD

Assuming no cracks, you can do it. You need a bit of 1/4" thick glass - large enough for the paper. Make SURE the glass is clean. You will want to start with a 600 grit and work up to a 1200 grit for the best surface finish. Use it like a big sanding block - use a LOT of WD-40 (both to secure the paper to the glass, and as a cutting lubricant), and clean the paper OFTEN with the same WD-40. Solvents can't be used as they will destroy the paper. You need to use wet/dry paper obviously. I can't stress enough how often you need to clean the paper with aluminium heads - every 5 strokes or less. It is critical to the finish that the particulate be washed away frequently. It's labor intensive and takes some skill, and many folks will tell you it can't or shouldn't be done - people these days are very often spoiled by the easy access to machine shops and power tools. There are a LOT of old-world techniques out there that work very well but are not well known and are no longer practiced except by a few old timers that probably shun internet access. Fortunately I work with most of them I think.... I have lapped plenty of valves to a perfectly flat mirror finish using 1200 grit paper - so perfect the valves would hold back solvent with only a metal-to-metal seal and I could see my image in the reflection. The trick is in the application of even pressure, and making sure the cutting surface is clean and well lubed. It would be best if you could get paper large enough to run figure 8's with the head - using the weight of the head to insure even pressure. I have even seen machine shops run heads on a belt sander for a "resurfaceing" operation . Done properly it does work though. You just have to have the right mindset and do some thinking and prep-work to set yourself up for the operation. I think I would probably go buy some sanding belts and cut them so I had a long surface on which to pull the head back and forth and a peice of glass sufficient to run the head at least twice or three times it's own length back and forth. With a good cleaning every 5 strokes and a few hours of labor you should see nice results. Just make sure you don't take off more than .010" off each head. I beleive that's the max to still get a decent fit on the manifold. More could be done but you might have to oval out the manifold bolt holes. GD

'83 - '86 Turbo's use a different, and older style distributor. The ignition advance is still partially mechanically controlled with a vacuum pot and mechanical advance. The '87+ distributor's are 100% electronic with no advance mechanisms at all. So no, they are not compatible. Unless you are refering to the (rare) '86 SPFI used on high-end 2WD's.... in that case it's the same but you will have to change the plug. GD

As with anything, that depends on how they are built and what the gear ratio is. With a 1.6:1 reduction, you would still be able to do 55 MPH at 4,000 RPM in 5th gear on 33's. I've already done all the math. And as stated - H1's run portal hubs as well Unimog's and other's. They are perfectly streetable. GD

Yep - that's classic wheel bearings. There should be no play in the wheel at all that you would be able to notice by hand. Front bearings are easy - go to a bearing house and get sealed unit's. GD

A socket with a wobbly and some extensions.... it's not easy. I moved mine to an easier to access location closer to the bell-housing. It's not *that* critical that it be located in exactly that spot. It's sensing detonation and that's going to be felt more or less the same as long as you are near the center-line of the block. GD

You can move the engine higher than the stock location, but at some point you are going to lose clearance on the hood (more so with a carb than with FI), and the transmission can only go so high before you are seriously in danger of having to cut the unibody out at the spare tire area. I would much rather lift it higher and get the added benefits of being able to run 32's or larger than try and re-engineer the body at great cost of time and effort only to gain virtually nothing from said effort. Lifting it higher and retaining the stock location of the engine and trans is preferable to my way of thinking. I swear - when I get my machine shop set up I'm going to build chain driven portal hubs and eliminate all this foolishness. A 1.6:1 reduction at each wheel would give all the lift you would need, all the gearing you would want, and take much of the stress off the stock drivetrain components. In combination with a bit of suspension rework, and a small body lift it would easily accomidate 33's and still be streetable on stock drivetrain components. GD

Should be okay to drive without it in the short term. I initially tried a used one as well when I had the knock code - didn't work. $53 IIRC from my dealer. Best to get a new one. GD

Even Loyale's aren't a great choice for a daily anymore. Seriously - go for a 93 or 94 Legacy - they are super dependable and easy to find parts for. 135 HP - they will take 5 psi of boost for about 200 HP.... what's not to love? GD

BAH! EA81's are easy! Try a Legacy with every option in the world! And I did in the POURING rain with myself (6' 2") and the dash IN the car while I replaced the heater core. BIG suck. You have the right man on the job though. GD

XT6's have issues with the oil pump shaft seals - check out the XT specific forum site for details. I believe a lot of folks move the location of the seal so it rides in a different location on the shaft as the shafts are often grooved badly resulting in the pump sucking air. Normal XT's are just EA82's with a quite different body. Unfortunately you really have to love the XT6 to actually own one. Parts are difficult to come by and they share almost nothing with any other vehicle. The engine is an EA82 with two extra cylinders (known as the ER27) - they are on par with reliability, but the maintenance parts are extraordinarily expensive being they were only made for three years - electronic components that are near impossible to source for less than your first born, electric power steering for which no fluid exists anymore , and a myriad of other strangeness that makes them undesirable for daily driving. I am personally of the opinion that if I can't throw a rock and hit a spare part for my daily within 10 miles of my house it's not a viable vehicle for me. If I lived in a lot of the locations that some of the poor souls on this board live in I would just drive a Toyota. If you a looking for a collectible and something to restore and drive on weekends - go for it. They are not viable daily drivers in this man's opinion. If you are looking for something for daily travel - get a Gen 1 Legacy. 93 and 94 being the best years. Consider anything older to be a part time job just to keep it on the road. I spend every other weekend keeping my fleet of old junk on the road - but I love it and accept it for what it is. If that's not what you want in life then trust me - XT6's are a poor choice. Along with just about every EA series out there at this point. Just too old and too many miles I'm afraid..... GD