GeneralDisorder

Should be 50's. Kit contents may change, but jetting wouldn't. GD

I keep saying this but I'll say it again - you DO NOT have to pull the motor. All the seals that you need to replace are accesible without pulling the engine. And if you are doing HG's then that really means just the oil pump and the pan. You don't even have to jack it up to get the pan off. The flywheel and clutch assembly is accesible if you remove the radiator, unbolt the engine and pull it forward and sightly up - you can do it with a 2x4 under the oil pan and a bottle jack. Once it's seperated there is enough room to replace the clutch and R&R the flywheel no problem without removeing the engine. GD

Right on - looks good except your PCV and breather lines aren't routed correctly/at all. You need to T both valve covers and the PCV valve into the white elbow on the bottom of the Weber filter. And you don't need to put vacuum caps on all the old "hardlines". Those go nowhere now as you should have disconnected all of the items they once supplied. They are not attached to the manifold - it's just a big spider-like thing composed of a bunch of steel tubing that's bolted to the underside of the manifold. That's the air suction valve. Look behind the valve itself and you'll see where the tube from the exhaust spacer threads into it. Remove the two 12mm bolts holding the valve to it's bracket and unthread the flare fitting for the tubing. Drop a quarter (yes - $0.25) into the valve and reinstall it. This will effectively "shut it off". You don't need it and it's not doing anything useful for you. If you want more info on them do a search for "ASV" or Air Suction Valve. They supply oxygen-laden air for part of the old-style catalytic converter to function more effeciently. That's a lot better than my kit. Glad they take sugestions on this stuff apparently. Mine was horrible - didn't include any of that linkage stuff, had the 3" filter, and the adaptor plate. And it cost me $399 back in like '03. Oh well - live and learn. My last one cost $190 cause I built it myself . GD

236k on the motor in my hatch - excelent power (Weber right now), doesn't burn much oil, and I fixed all the oil leaks. Really - that's fairly low mileage for an EA81. Listen - I know these engines - inside and out. Take $100 and a weekend and do the head gaskets. Trust me - if it doesn't work you are out a couple days and $100 and you'll already have half the familarity with the process you need to put in the CCR engine. It simply IS NOT worth the investment of a CCR engine. While I understand that you like the car and wish to restore it - it's worth virtually peanuts to all but a very select crew (mostly here). And in the comming years it will actually be worth more if the engine is original. And if, sometime down the road, the thing does blow completely up, you can put in the CCR engine or have them rebuild your's. The head gaskets are done in the car. Let me break it down for you: 1. Drain coolant. 2. Drop y-pipe. Nothing you haven't done before I'm sure. 3. Pull manifold - label everything. I'm assuming you have removed a manifold before right? 6 bolts and a flare fitting for the EGR. Take your time and don't break the bolts, but don't worry too much - the heads are comming off so if you have to have a bolt removed it's cheap - $25 or so. It will have to be done anyway with a CCR engine - or even with a Weber swap as you need the Hitachi manifold for the Weber. 4. Remove valve covers (you have done that before too I'm sure). 4 bolts here. 5. Pull the two head bolts that hold the rocker arms on and remove them (though an access hole in the fender well - you just pop out a rubber plug directly opposite the bolts). Remove the push-rods and label them (4 on each side) for location. 6. Pull the remaining head bolts and seperate the head from the block at the gasket. 7. Inspect everything - post pictures here, ect, ect. 8. Clean, Clean, Clean. Razor blades, degreaser, etc for the mating surfaces. A fine wire wheel chucked into a drill works well for the manifold, block and heads. Just a light hit though - major chunks should be removed with the razor blades. 9. Reinstall the heads with new gaskets - oil the bolts and torque them to 55 Ft/lbs in the correct sequence starting at 20 lbs, then 40, and then 55. A $10 harbor freight torque wrench is all you need. 10. New manifold and y-pipe gaskets and reinstall both. 11. Hoses - anything else you removed. Fill with coolant. 12. Done. Really - this is not the bad job people think it is, and you are more than qualified. You have a socket set right? That's all you need - borrow a torque wrench or buy the $10 HF unit. It works just fine for what you will be doing. You have the tools, and with the board and your manuals you have the knowledge. The difference it will make on your confidence level is worth the investment. You almost can't fail with a job this easy. Remember how easy people told you the rear discs were? It was true wasn't it? With Rob and the rest of us you can easily do HG's. Anything that might come up any of us can solve over the phone - your support network is amazing and you don't have to rely on the car for transportation - there's people out there that would kill for those advantages. Use them - that's all I'm asking. GD

No hoist or stand required. HG's are easily done in the vehicle - especially on EA81's. And with the help of the board and it's members, how could it turn to poo? Collectively we have solved so much worse.... GD

Doing so almost always dooms the bearings in the compressor. You could try it' date=' but you'll likely end up with bearing failure shortly after.

The SPFI wouldn't do that without throwing a code, and I'm pretty sure he knows better than that - it was a "15 MPH" test after all.... GD

EA81 oil pans have no baffle plates like EA82's. There is no need to jack up the engine. It's actually quite easy. I use a large phillips screwdriver for the back bolts. They come out easily. GD

Yes..... but we were talking about tank lines - not vacuum lines. Tank lines are for fuel or fuel vapor - not manifold vacuum. GD

Yes - I understand that. Yes - you are correct. I missed the RPM thing. Up here in OR we test idle and cruise only - not the 15 MPH thing. So when quickly reading his rest results I incorrectly assumed the first set was idle, not 1800 RPM. GD

Sounds like the carb has an intermittant sticking float or something. I had a Hitachi that did that. Unfortunately it could be so many things that you'll have to diagnose further before we can help you over the internet. Shotgunning parts at the thing is just a waste of money. Find a problem before you replace stuff. GD

First - SPFI's don't have air injection - never did, and the ref will correct that for you. EGR does nothing at idle - so don't worry about that. Your problem sounds like a classic "miss" at idle. Lots and lots of unburned fuel is getting through because you have a cylinder or cylinders that are simply not firing at idle. This is almost always a vacuum leak - remember that on SPFI's the crankcase IS part of the manifold vacuum. You make sure that the dipstick tube is sealing? EA82's have an o-ring but EA81's do not - you may need a new stick or to add an o-ring, etc. The engine has to be TIGHT or you WILL have idle misses. Valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket, oil fill tube, oil dipstick tube, etc, etc. These are all places for potential vacuum leaks that will cause a lean condition and a corresponding random cylinder misfire. *edit* - I missed the 1800 RPM "15 MPH" part - we don't do that up here. It could be partially EGR related but I also think you may still have a miss even at part throttle. GD

"Vapor lock" happens (as the name sugests) when fuel lines going TO the fuel pump overheat. This vaporizes the fuel and the pump can't operate (liquid fuel pumps don't pump fuel vapor). This CANNOT happen on a Subaru. Period. The pumps are electric (IE - not mounted on the engine), and the are under the car by the fuel tank. Vapor lock is a literal impossiblity on a Subaru. The pump will ALWAYS have liquid in it and even if a line ahead of the pump in the engine bay should have some vapor in it, the pump will push it out regardless because the pump is primed with cold liquid fuel from the tank. Vapor lock is a thing of the (distant) past. It went the way of the dodo when mechanical fuel pumps did. GD

Turn/cut down a regular socket till it fits. Pictures really aren't helpful since you'll have to test fit it anyway. GD

That's a good question - have you tested your's to be sure it's not working correctly? The only way to tell would be to buy the cheaper one and test it then return it if it's not what you needed. The resistance ranges might be different - you'll have to test the resistance of your's as well as the cheaper new CTS against the book specs and see. They probably are the same, but there's no telling without the specs. GD

They will - and 50 lbs is probably right on the edge where it may still be fireing off and on. 50 lbs at a few hundred RPM turns into a LOT more at actual running/idling speeds. Try pulling a plug wire off a good running engine - it will still run - just idles rough. If one cylinder had very low compression it would actually run better than pulling a single plug on an otherwise good engine - less compression means less resistance for the other three cylinders to overcome. GD

EA81 head gaskets are the easiest head gaskets out there. Really. You can do it. It is, after all, just a gasket. With the EA81 there's no timing belts, no cams, ect. It couldn't be easier. The parts are less than $100 for everything you could potentially need. You can do both, and have it back together in a weekend (I could easily do both in 4 to 5 hours). Ask yourself - what scares you about this job so much? Is it the vacuum lines and the potential to get things hooked up wrong? No problem - spend $30 and get 3M wire number tapes. Label everything, and take digital pictures as you go. Put bolts into ziplock bags labled accordingly. Is it that you are afraid of breaking something or not having the right tool? No problem there either - first this isn't your primary transportation, and second if you need a tool or break something it will still be a lot cheaper than a CCR motor (which you don't need), and you'll learn something, or have a tool you might need another day. So... what is it exactly that makes a simple head gasket replacement so frightful? Is it just the unknown, and that it's been hyped-up so massively by the general public? I mean - at least read through the procedure (I can scan it for you - I think the HTKYSA PDF has an excelent section on it too), and give it an honest assesment. Really there is nothing to be afraid of - and there is almost no potential for you to screw anything up - no engine internals are dealt with besides the rockers and push-rods. It's a LOT easier and less frustrating than the digi-to-analog swap I can tell you that. You are 10 years my senior - you deserve to teach yourself this - it will put your mechanical ability at a whole new level and open doors for you to be comfortable doing much, much more with your cars. Soon you'll be contemplating the SPFI swap.... no joke. You are already comfortable with wireing.... GD

Have you tested your compression? I think you may have low compression and thus it want's the choke on even when warm/hot. IE - not enough vacuum at low RPM to get the fuel in with the choke plates open. Have you thought about installing a manual choke kit? They are about $8 at my local parts store. It's a thought anyway. Glad to hear you didn't have to swap the radius plates. GD

You need the belts and bracket parts from a non-AC GL, DL, or Loyale..... yes they made them. GD

We're just keeping it organized - people do a lot of searching on here - the answers you get may help someone else but they need to be filed correctly. GD

Legacy's are new gen (EJ series). Old gen is from 1980 to 1989 (EA & ER series, and the Justy) - except the Justy and the Loyale which ran till 94 - they are old gen. And the '80/'81 Brat which is "Historic" gen. If you look at the captions below the forums you'll see what each forum covers....... *edit* I guess the captions are gone. Anyway - rejoice! For you have a new gen. :-\ Here's the captions: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=61 GD

Bearings can fail at any time. Low mileage has no effect on the guy that dropped them or got dirt in them at the factory. Bearings are sensitive and aren't always treated the way they should be. GD

You swapped the engine out? It could be anything from mis-connected fuel lines to wireing, to vacuum lines.... etc. GD

You should ask the new gen. forum guys. GD

You ARE going to have to change the front axles - and actually you will have to build custom axles as there aren't any 25 spline front EA81 axles - they never made them. The inner DOJ cup will have to be swapped out for one with a 25 spline cup that is also compatible with the EA81 axles you have (2WD or 4WD). I can't recall just now which one's swap around - early Impreza or Legacy turbo or something like that.... They aren't good for off-road. Both the low range is too high, and the diff is 3.7 - basically giving you no low range at all as compared to a regular 5spd D/R. The 1.19:1 just gives you back what you lose with the 3.7 so you might as well have no low range at all. GD