GeneralDisorder

1. Yes your alt is bad. 2. The easiest swap is an early (around 85) 90 amp Nissan Maxima alt. Next easiest is probably the XT6 alt but they are quite expensive, and the GM requires the most mods. 3. All '82 and newer Subaru's are internally regulated, and that includes all gen 2 Brat's. GD

Yes - you have a bad inner Double Offset Joint (DOJ) on one of your front axles. GD

Correct - the switch is just a simple plunger. The plunger is plastic and it rides on a notched shaft inside the transmission. The plastic plunger wears down then will not actuate the contacts in the switch body. I've done that when I needed a neutral switch for fuel injection. It's not hard to fab something up. GD

There's a lot of small differences, but only one major one. Think of the EA82 as an overhead-cam EA81. The EA82 was developed for the 1985 body style change as an interim solution while the EJ engines were being developed (EJ development began in '85 also). It has a primitive timing belt system vs. the well-developed push-rods of the EA81. They reversed the valves in the heads as well. For all that extra complexity it really isn't much benefit. The highest power EA82's were around 175 HP used for racing. The heads and head gaskets can't hold much beyond that. In contrast there's a company here in the US that sells a modified EA81 rated at 200 HP and it's reliable enough for use in aircraft. GD

There are two switches - one is in the tranny and one is on the linkage. I can't recall which is which. The tranny switches cannot be adjusted - they simply get replaced if they are bad. The linkage switch is a micro-switch with an inch-long metal arm that can be bent to adjust the switch. The EA81's are different, but similar in operation. Although I beleive the function of the two switches is opposite. GD

You should get it anyway. My SS was delivered to me on a flat-bed. Covered in dust and leaves, two flat tires, ill-fitting exhaust, and the hood popped up because the engine wasn't in the cross-member. Dead battery and wouldn't run even when I charged it. It sat mocking me from the side of the garage for the last 6 months. I hadn't the time or the resources to tinker just then. It cost more than the car was worth to put it on the road again - the kid I got it from spent over $4,000 on the car, replacement engine, etc. It hundred-dollar billed him into a hole from which I had to rescue him by trading him my (nice) 94 GT wagon for his "project" that he never got to drive. In the end.... TODAY it was all worth it . For the first time in 4 years the car ran like it was meant to when Subaru designed it. It moves with purpose I'm tellin ya! Once I clean some loose ends up and install some safety gauges and meters I'll be ready to put on some of my go-fast parts that my tax return bought GD

It probably should be in the USRM if it isn't. It's a good trick. And if you like that - next time you need to take off a crank pulley or stop the engine from rotating for any reason - thread about 10 feet of nylon rope into cylinder #1 with the engine at TDC on the comp. stroke. GD

Yep - got the copper anti-seize out for this job. Turbo with no intercooler = HOT. The copper has higher heat resistance than the nickle. The two rear plugs were harder to get out but luckily nothing stripped and the new ones went in fine. Also gooped up the boots with a generous amount of silicone electrical grease. Keeps out water and corrosion. GD

Yeah - the kid I got the car from "resealed" the engine before he (half) installed it. I know he did the head gaskets and it just didn't occur to me that he didn't remove the plugs at that time. He was also having a serious no-start issue for about a month before I got it (valve timing), and in the process of trying to fix that he put in a new fuel pump, ect..... I can't beleive that he didn't try to shotgun plugs at the thing to get it started. I'm stuck in that horrible middle ground of an extremely major mechanical overhaul that was done by an amature and I'm trying to figure out what he did right, what he did wrong, and what he didn't do at all. Had I bought the car from anyone else either damaged or in running condition I would have just replaced the plugs and wires on general principle. But I don't want to redo things he already did. Although I'm finding that most of the stuff he did was done so poorly that I'm probably going to be doing it again anyway. At least the head gaskets seem ok - not using coolant and my temp is dead center GD

Ok - I feel like a total noob wasting everyone's time like this. It's fixed. I'm not going to make any excuses because I should have checked these things. It was the plugs and wires after all. Brain - you called it and I shot you down. I will say that I'm learning about forced induction as I go here and I'm surprised at the way it would run fine without boost and then with the higher cylinder pressures the spark would just basically STOP. Amazing. No N/A application that I've ever played with acts anything like that. Bad plugs are pretty apparent in N/A land where they aren't obvious at all in Turbo land. It really felt like a fuel delivery problem - the transition was so sudden and predictable that I didn't think plugs could be the issue. The engine purportedly has just under 105k on it. And I'm almost positive these plugs are orginal or close to it. They are OEM plugs as I just replaced them with a set. (new plug in the middle for comparison). Notice that the groove in the electrode is completely burned away! Thanks for all the sugestions guys. It runs like the beast it is now. Love that power! GD

Dealership is going to be your best bet for the cone washer, and a junk yard would be most adequate for a hub as they aren't typically wear items. www.subarupartsforyou.com is one that I know of. GD

I'm assuming you are trying to install an internally regulated unit? A stock '80 Brat would be externally regulated and I can't remember off the top of my head how those connect through the external regulator.... For the later internal regulated alts ('82 and up): Standard GM remote sensing system. Big wire goes to the battery positive. Next smallest wire goes to the main power junction point - this wire senses the voltage at the junction and allows the alt to regulate power at that point to account for any voltage loss between the alt and the junction. Smallest wire is the field excitation/warning lamp wire. It connects to battery positive and has a dash warning lamp and a diode inline with the wire. Anytime the voltage is higher at the battery than it is at the alt the lamp will glow. When the alt is making power this is not the case so the lamp is dark. This wire is also the field excitation wire that gives the windings their initial magnetic field so the alt can begin producing power. This wire isn't totally necessary as the alt will self-excite once it hits about 2500 RPM or so. Bu it's a pain to wrap the engine up to 3500 every time you start it. GD

So wait - the one the shop put in is loose enough you can move the nut with channel-locks?!?! Take it back to them and make a huge scene. Seriously - you will need to replace the cone washer and possibly the hub at this point as the taper lock will be worn and unusable. They really need to fix it right. The nut HAS to be torqued. The taper lock HAS to be smooth. And the Spring washer HAS to be installed correctly. If they aren't you WILL fight this till the axle tears the hub splines out and you lose front wheel drive. Never go to that shop again. GD

That's classic wheel bearings - did you remove the axle on the other side and check those as well? Because of the double ball bearing arrangement used in the front of the EA's, bearing noises can change with turning and breaking loads as you describe. They generally don't have much slop that you can feel, and remember when checking for slop you have to release the parking brake as it's on the front calipers and will effectively lock the rotor to the knuckle making it impossible to see any play that might be there. GD

Cooler is better for compressors. Many are located outside and they should be. The ones we have problems with the most are indoors in poorly ventilated rooms. Does it? That's a twin cylinder single stage - other than pumping slower you likely wouldn't notice a discharge reed valve failure in a single cylinder. Those valves are rated at about 1000 hours before they need to be replaced. After that it's borrowed time till they snap off and cause all kinds of irreparable cylinder and head damage. I can't even count the number of broken reed valves I've seen. There's plenty of products that are better and just about the same price as that craftsman. Craftsman has the advantage that they are widely available and the only place a lot of people know of to buy stuff like that. But an IR, Champion, or Quincy are all going to be better quality and about the same price. A 2 HP Quincy QT3S on a 12 gallon tank would perform just as well as that Craftsman you have and cost about the same new. One thing that helps is to install a filter and a vapor seperator with an auto-drain. The more water and contaminates you get out of the air BEFORE it gets to the tools, the less oil you need, and the longer your tools will last. Frankly with clean, dry air you don't even need an oiler. Just 5 drops of oil in your tool's air inlet once a week is sufficient. Plus it doesn't contaminate your hoses so you don't need to keep both oil free and oil flooded hoses around GD

Correct. Even more if you can manage it. Old VW's use the same nut and they spec the torque at 250 Ft/lbs. GD

Don't get me wrong - those are fine if you are just running a nail gun or an impact every other saturday. But they wouldn't stand up to even light commercial duty for long. It's the nature of the machine - tiny tank means it runs a lot if you are using needy air tools, no coolers so they get crazy hot on the discharge side, and that's a form-x setup so the first thing that will go is the check valve from the discharge to the receiver - then it won't start again once it's tank is pressurized. 7.7 CFM is *just* enough to run most die grinders and drills. I just see this stuff every day - most people know better than to bring us stuff that cheap (although it does happen).... would cost them more to have us tell them whats wrong and that it's not worth fixing than it would cost for them to buy another one. You can't have enough air on your budget. Buy the QT and you'll have a much easier time doing what you want. GD

That first Quincy you posted for $500 is a good deal. That's a QT-5 and with a single phase motor at that. That's about a $1500 package to buy new. I've seen worse deals. Buy it, love it, and when you have a few bucks handy PM me and have me purchase you a valve rebuild kit so you can prolong the life of the machine. It's always the valves that go on those. The kits are cheap and easy to do but people wait till the reed valves snap off and destroy the cylinders and heads. I get all parts at cost through my work as we are a Quincy distributor/manufacturer. The second one you posted is pure Chinese garbage. That's the high-RPM, loud, poor quality, annoying crap I was referring to. Notice that it's labeled as a 6 HP unit.... yeah right. If you actually read the motor data plate it will list the full load AMPS as "special" or "SPL"... it means the HP rating (which is a mathematical calculation) is taken under very specific conditions. This is often labeled as "peak" HP. It's a total marketing gimick used to sell what amounts to a 2 HP motor as a 6 HP instead. Notice the size of the 5 HP motor on the Quincy is nearly as big as the whole motor/compressor/plastic POS on top of that Craftsman tank? That's because the 5 HP on that Quincy really IS a 5 HP motor. Get the Quincy - you won't be dissapointed, and with that 80 gallon vertical and 5 HP motor you can upgrade to a QR when you find one cheap. Plus I could get you any parts you need at wholesale and I can ship them through my work for peanuts. GD

That's weird about feeling it in the pedal.... the pedal is connected to the engine only by the throttle cable - mostly it's attached to the firewall. Could be engine mounts. There should not be much play at all in the splined stubs on the tranny. What you may be experiencing is tight axle joints exposing a vibration in your loose stubs. That's entirely plausible although I hadn't thought of it till you brought it up. Unfortunately there's no good way to fix that as the rings that set the bearing play also set the ring & pinion gear lash. If you move them without dismantling the tranny and doing it right you risk severe ring & pinion wear and destruction of the front diff. It may be time to start looking for a cheap tranny replacement. One of the stubs on my hatch is like that and leaks around the seal just a bit. But it has 240k on it and I figure when it goes I'll put in a 5 speed. The EMPI axles don't vibrate much but they don't feel quite as tight as the GCK's did from what I remember. GD

I cleaned the bottom of the knock sensor and a spot closer to the tranny on the block and moved it there. No change for me. It's like a rapid pulsation - at 40 MPH in 4th gear I can floor it and the pulsation is like a machine gun - rapid and you can feel/see the shifter shaking from it. It's like the boost is fluttering. It's accompanied by a lack of power. It still accelerates but not like it should under full boost. GD

Yeah - I can never remember exactly. It will be next to the big square brown one then - above the ECU. Most of the relays are around that general area near the drivers kick panel. GD

Hhhmmm - knock sensor was not *just* replaced. That was a whole saga unfortunately. When they blew up the original engine they managed to get the whole thing so hot the knock sensor meleted into a puddle on the original block. Part of the harness melted also. I had to replace a section of harness and I soldered into the wireing back where it was still good. Sadly the RF sheilding was unsalvageable.... I hope that doesn't matter. But where did you end up moving the knock sensor to exactly? Did you tap a new hole or use an existing one? Some place more accesible I hope? I'll definately be checking the fuel pump out closer. I did redo all the wireing top-side where he cut and pasted it. I have no desire to ride the bomb. GD

I replaced the boost control solenoid and it might have helped just a bit, but the problem is still there - especially taking off from a stop. The one I put in was definately the low mileage one from the 93 automatic as it had some gizmo on the back of the bracket that my 91 doesn't have. It also looked cleaner and newer. I think I can safely rule out the BCS. I may break out my DMM and go hunting for MAF and TPS readings tonight when it cools off a bit. Anyone got the MAF and TPS pinouts and ranges? Plugs and wires look good. They were fairly new and such when the engine was installed it looks like - less than 110k on the engine and they look to be quality replacements so they can't have much mileage on them. GD

Just saw the $500 part .......... Basically you're screwed. Even a QT-3, which puts out around 6.5 CFM, will be hard pressed to run a die grinder for more than a few minutes. And most of them come with pretty small tanks. Something like this: http://www.tools-plus.com/quincy-131a30vc3a.html And even that is outside your budget range. I would check out some auctions in your area. If you can find a used QR package (there's lots of them out there) you can buy a 5 HP single phase motor (anything you find will likely be 3 phase) for around $250 and be in business.... with maybe some minor repairs. GD

Also.... in regards to your concern about it running too often..... Bigger air ends can run slower, and this has the benefit that they are *quieter* when in operation so you don't mind them as much. Most people associate compressors with being VERY loud peices of equipment. That is only true of the cheap machines that have to run extremely fast to make decent air. Running them fast wears them out quickly and makes them loud, hot, and annoying. Generally the higher quality the machine, and the larger it is, the quieter and cooler it will run. GD