GeneralDisorder

You and me both. I rarely set foot in an aftermarket store. I buy from a local place called Discount Import Parts that is VERY good (mosly OEM parts - catering to a lot of VW stuff - EMPI, ect.), and online places.... besides my dealer of course. GD

If you like.... you could start a GD fan club if you want. I can't stop you in any case as I'm not a mod around here Glad your problem got solved and I was able to help. I hope things are well with your family. Sounds like life has been hard, and you don't seem like you deserve it, although I don't know you beyond the board or what karma may be following you - hopefully good things. GD

It's probably a negligable difference, but the higher temp thermostat is what the engine was designed for. Likely if you take temp readings with a more reliable gauge you will see that it's just the guage or sender that is reporting high - they are notorious for being incorrect. The temp guage on my Brat reads 3/4 to right below red when the fan cycles on. It's right on the money according to both the NEW fan themo-switch, and my DMM using a k-type thermo-couple. Just the nature of old guages. Also, non-OEM thermostat's don't flow as well. I only buy mine at the dealer now. Take a look (OEM on left): GD

Yes - fixed. GD

EA71 and EA81 bell-housings are not interchangable. The bolt/mating pattern is different. There are 3 different bell-housings from 1980 through 1989 - EA71 top-mount, EA81, and EA71 "fat-case" side-mount (late model STD hatch). In order to use a side-starter transmission with narrow-case EA71 you MUST have the EA71 side-starter "fat-case" bell-housing. The EA81 housing will not work. Thus, the EA71 bell-housing will no more work on the EA81 than the EA81 housing would work on the older EA71. Additionally, the EA71 would not accept the EA81 flyhwheel. There's probably some mish-mash of clutch components that would make it work, but you would be limited to a 200mm clutch disc rather than the desireable 225mm from the 83+ 4WD's as they never made a 225mm flywheel with the EA71 crank pattern. GD

An EA82 two-peice from a yard will be cheaper than a custom single peice. It fits without modification. The carrier bearing is what gives you the added clearance. The front 24" or so of driveline is horizontal off the back of the tranny. there is nothing to hang down. The rest of the driveline tapers down from the carrier bearing to the diff. An extended solid driveshaft (remember - it has to be longer) will hang down farther than your original single peice - noticeably outside of the tunnel. Subaru knew what they were doing when they went to the two-peice. The carrier bearing is easy to mount. It doesn't require specific placement (it's a CV joint), and doesn't need anything robust for it's mounting. Simple sheet metal mounts bolted or welded to the tunnel are all that is required. It doesn't support anything but the weight of the shaft. Take a look a the EA82 mount and you'll see what I mean. It's actually astoundingly thin and wimpy looking. But the truth is they never fail and that's all that's required. The clearance of a two peice is like this: ~~~~~@\ \ \ Where the tild's are the straight section, and the @ is the carrier bearing. While a single peice is like this: \ \ \ \ \ Exagerated of course, but you get the idea. That's why the two peice is superior in my opinion. But do as you like. Edit: Ascii art just doesn't work on this system. But I tried. Take my word for it I guess. Maybe I'll take a pic under my Brat some time. GD

Yep - that is correct. Those hoses often crack due to the crazy bend they make. Put a hose on the actuator and suck on it. GD

Bought an 86 sedan for $100... sat for 3 years with a broken ignition lock. I drove it for 10,000 miles - never bothered to change the belts. I figured since it had a redundant belt setup (double v-belt - same size), everything would be cool if one of the two went. So one day I was idleing in a construction zone. Not just any construction zone - one of the really slow one's where you have to follow a construction worker in a pickup through the zone. Each direction takes a turn.... ect. So while waiting for the other direction of traffic to finish, ALL my indicators light up. Alternator has gone I figure, or the drive belt. Obviously I can't get out to look. Temp starts to climb so I shut it off. Our turn comes and I fire it up and slowely creep through the zone, and about 1/2 mile farther. I pull over as the temp is pegged. What do I find? ONE of the belts broken - a peice of it slipped under the remaining good belt and popped it off the pulley. I have no 12mm - in fact I haven't got a single tool in that car - just my luck. I limp to a muffler shop and borrow a 12mm to put the good belt back on. By this time I have NO coolant. Once you get that hot, it just boils out the overflow bottle. I filled it up with water from the adjacent supermarket and head home. The next weekend I drive 500 miles to the next state, and 35 miles from home on the way back the water pump blows. I call AAA. I replace the water pump. Too late - the head gaskets have had enough. At 220,000 and two severe overheats they are toast. As an experiment (this is a $100 car after all) I try some of the magic head gasket repair in a bottle. What a freakin mess. It doesn't work. I buy a Fel-Pro set and do both HG's one afternoon. Great - perfect running temp. Sadly the magic HG in a bottle has clogged the heater core. I pull the entire dash to replace said heater core, and put it all back together. Awesome. Good heat, good temp. Never better in Sedan land. Traded the car to a friend's kid for an 83 hatch she found but needed too much work for her use. I gave her the 86 sedan, with about 5,000 miles on the new HG's and heater core. She drives it for one week, gets rear ended - car is a total. So - moral of the story: 1. Not replacing old belts is expensive, and time consuming. 2. Just because you have multiple belts, doesn't gaurantee you redundancy. 3. If you want a pretty decent EA81 hatch for your trouble - don't replace and belts GD

You checked all the fuses I'm hoping? Low voltage reading from the guage means nothing. The EA81 guages are notorious for reading incorrectly. Usually it's corrosion on the back of the cluster. If the charge indicator lamp doesn't come on, then you have more voltage comming out of the alternator than the battery has on it's own - which means (assuming a battery with no dead cells) the alternator is putting out at *least* 13 volts. See what I mean about the guage? Did you check for power at the coil? If you aren't getting power to the coil, you'll never get anywhere with throwing parts at it. If you are getting power to the coil, then it's either the pickup/ignitor in the distributor, or it's the coil. Running the nippon disty with the Hitachi coil isn't an excelent idea so you may have run into the failure potential of that combo. If the coil is a new Hitachi branded coil, then I would lay odds you have an ignitor failure on your hands. It's a good thing you ordered in the disty already if that's the case. Don't be too sad - that's a lot better price than I have heard quoted at some places. Warantee is nice too. Next time you'll know to carry a spare disty/coil under the seat eh? That's one of the few things that can really make all the difference if you have an extra that far from home. GD

It's FT4WD, which is different from regular 4WD, and slightly different from AWD as well. If you want to be completely precise about it. GD

That is the usual opinion of someone that is "vehicularly infantile". You have also yet to learn that blanket statements will get you in trouble. The problems with your argument are: 1. You can't compare anything Honda has made to anything Subaru has made since 1996. That's was the last year for 2WD Subaru's. 2. You fail to realize that BOTH Honda and Subaru have produced crap at one time or another. Sometimes simultaneously. Comparing a genuine Honda POS to a Subaru POS won't get you far - won't work the other way either. 3. You clearly haven't learned that brand loyalty is just plain dumb. It's all about picking the right model, made at the right plant, on the right day of the week, and previously owned by someone that cares (should it be used). It's got nothing to do with the brand, and everything to do with the model and year. There are just as many crap Honda's as there are crap Subaru's. 4. Honda and Subaru target different markets. Honda makes very few wagon's for instance. They also churn out gargantuan quantities of cookie-cutter cars for the masses. 5. Even if it were... say.... 50% more reliable. I wouldn't own one because I do my own work. Even doing 50% more repairs, I'll spend less time, and throw fewer tools because Subaru's are NOT transverse. I absolutely abhor the transverse design - most jobs take more than 50% longer to do. So even if I have to do 10 jobs per year instead of 15 - at an average of 30 minutes each for a Subaru or an hour each for a Honda - I still have saved a net of 2.5 hours labor (7.5 for Subaru, 10 for Honda). And this is by no means typical of only Honda - that goes for any transverse design except for VW - add 200% additional in the number of jobs per year column for them 6. Because of the transverse design, Honda's are not symetrical with their 2WD. Subaru's are. Thus Subaru's 2WD system is superior from a weight and power distribution standpoint. My years of experience with automotive in general keeps me on the Subaru side of this argument. Please - present your facts so I can shoot them down. GD

You can only lead a horse to water. My work is done here. GD

The knuckle is what you describe - more technically correct it's a "steering knuckle". It holds the bearings, and connects the steering and suspension to the rotating components. The hub is the splined part the mates to the axle, and bolts to the wheel, and the brake disc (or drum on very old models). The spindle would be the end of the CV shaft on a Subaru (in many vehicles it would be a seperate peice), or in the rear of an EA series you can see what would be refered to as a spindle by itself as the CV is splined and pinned in place to it. GD

Jesus - you people are dangerous. Tell him to think before he does things, and not to do anything to your vehicle till he understands what it is he's doing. That is the air intake for the Air Suction Valve. The plastic peice you are refering to is known as a "silencer" and is a muffler of sorts as it keeps the exhaust noise from getting into the engine bay. If (more likely WHEN) the ASV's reed valve fails, as they are very prone to doing, raw exhaust fumes will be allowed into your engine bay. Although the silencer wouldn't prevent this, it and it's connection the filter box prevents foreign objects from entering the reed valve assembly, and subsequently the exhaust and the catalytic converter. Removing it both opens the possibility of sucking in stuff that will adversely affect the matrix of the cat, and definately shortens the life of the reed valve. If you remove the reed valve assembly, and install a quarter in the valve body then put it back on you will have effectively plugged the system. It can't fail when plugged in that fassion. It doesn't make "cool noises", but if you want those do it right and replace the muffler with a straight pipe. GD

Dealership. And this should be in the "New Generation" forum. Old gen is for pre-1990 and Loyale's. Us old farts don't know from Baja's. GD

Please read my first installment to this Hitachi series here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=86141 When we left our hero in the last episode, he had removed the AAV system, and the thermo-valve that controls the air supply for the mixture ports. Now lets discuss the choke system . This system is just silly. It has: 1. Electric choke heater. 2. Choke idle-up cam system (increases idle speed with the choke on). 3. Mechanical choke pull-off (pulls the choke open with throttle movement). 4. Vacuum choke pull-off (pulls the choke open with manifold vacuum). 5. Vacuum choke pull-off limiter (pulls the choke closed with orificed vacuum). The Weber's seem to do fine with only the first 3. This whole vacuum system is basically unnecessary. Good chance it leaks too. Furthermore, the mechanical choke pull-off is adjustable. This is most excellent because it allows us to compensate for the removal of the vacuum pull-off system. Lets see some pics: In the below pic, #1 is the choke pull-off vacuum pot. Go ahead and disconnect it - there is no need to plug the ports on it. #2 is the manifold vacuum supply port. Plug that sucker. Below you can see under the passenger side of the air cleaner - #4 is the port for filtered air to the thermo-vacuum valve, and #3 is the valve itself. Remove any lines to them, and plug the air cleaner port. There is no need to plug the themo-valve. Remember to make any necessary adjustments to the idle and mixture after doing this. I noticed my idle smoothed out a bit more with the removal of this pot. It probably leaks, or the thermo-valve leaks. Either way I had to adjust my mixture and idle speed again. I've had mine this way for about a week. I did have to adjust the choke a bit, but other than that you really can't tell it's gone. I haven't adjusted the choke pull-off on mine, but I may do that soon. I'll update this with a picture of the pull-off adjustment bolt, and any changes I made to my stock adjustment. The good thing about this mod is that it really only affects your COLD idle. If you get the settings all messed up, once the choke pulls off it will be normal again. Adjusting the choke, and adjusting the mechanical pull-off should be enough to compensate for the removal of this system. Much like a Weber, you may have to re-adjust things seasonally. The complicated thermo-vacuum pull-off system is designed to make seasonal adjustment unnecessary, but at this point the system has leaks, and a questionable thermo-valve. Better to dump it and adjust it to your needs in my opinion. GD

24 isn't bad - but it should be around 27+ with the SPFI. Air filter, tire pressure. Start there. Most find better tire wear and mileage with the front slightly higher than the rear. I run about 38 psi in the front, and about 36 in the back. When was the last time the O2 sensor was replaced? They get slow to respond with age. They are also inexpensive, and if they haven't been done in a long time it's a good idea to replace them if for no other reason than they tend to get really, really stuck in the y-pipe and are a pain to remove. Replaceing them after chasing the threads and applying a sufficient quantity of anti-sieze will help make sure that doesn't happen. I would start there. Unless you are willing to invest in a wide-band O2 sensor, there is no good way to diagnose this stuff without throwing some parts at it. A wideband sure is a nice tool to have. About $250 for a simple setup is more than most people are willing to shell out though. GD

The ECU is possibly getting intermittant signals from the optical pickup. Could be dirty, or it could be the shaft bearings going out. Could last a long time that way but chances are good you'll notice a bit better running if you replace or rebuild it. Pedal to the floor tells the ECU to shut off the injector. It's called "flood clear mode". Sounds like you may have mixture issues or a leaking injector. What's your fuel mileage look like? The SPFI is self-compensating. That's what fuel injection is for. The hot-wire MAF used by the SPFI tells it the mass of the incoming air - this type of air sensor does not require altitude compensation by the very nature of it's design. DO NOT touch your timing other than the verify that it is at 20 degrees BTDC with the test mode connectors plugged in. GD

Not really - it's more like a 2WD Audi than it is a Honda. Subaru's are not transverse. GD

Probably 2WD from the sounds of it. GD

Figured perhaps some of your historic guys might find this useful. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=86901 GD

Won't work as the '80 has the wrong engine/tranny bell-housing. Look at the location of the starter and you'll understand. With the introduction of the EA81 they moved to the side mount starter instead of the top mount with the result that the older transmissions will not bolt up to newer engines. GD

There are baffles inside the valve covers to prevent that. But there's always oil in vapor form that is condensing inside the PCV system. Thus it eventually needs cleaning even if there's nothing wrong with the engine internally. GD

So over a discussion about a better alternative to the 4 speed shifter slop problem with a machinist friend of mine we came up with an extremely simple, yet effective way to permanently rid the 4 speed of the slop. What we noticed was that the original hole for the roll pin is 8mm. That's .3149". One popular method is to drill this out to 3/8 and install a bolt. Now - if you look at a tap/drill chart you will notice that the proper tap drill for 3/8 x 16 is 5/16" (.3125") for 75% thread engagement, or "Q" (.3320") for 50% thread engagement. This makes the original hole only slightly larger than a 75% thread engagement tap drill with 3/8 x 16 thread. So I tapped the shifter and the rod (while still installed in the car) using a 3/8 x 16 tap. I tapped them together from underneath so the threads would perfectly line up. I then installed a grade 5 bolt (100% thread) from the top. You can get a box-end 9/16" wrench on the bolt if you rack the shifter all the way to the drivers side while you do it. I tightened this down, and then installed a 1/2 nut on the remaining bolt thread on the bottom as a locker. I only had to remove the transmission exhaust support bracket to do the whole job. The slop is GONE from that portion of the linkage. I still have some from worn bushings and the bottom pivot bushing as they are shot. But even with those completely shot it's only around 2" of slop while in gear - not the crazy, bowl-of-oatmeal feel it had before. This is a great alternative to the somewhat effective slop-fixes of old. It requires almost no dissasembly, and only a tap and hand tools. No drilling, cutting or other messy practices involved. Took me 30 minutes tops to make it happen. I am fairly certain this will NEVER loosen. The reason is that once it's threaded, the whole mechanism is locked together by thread tension. The reason the original system, and the various "clamp" type systems eventually fail is because there is always a tiny bit of movement - this only gets larger over time. With it threaded it can never start to move, so it will not wear out. There just isn't any way for it to work loose with over 1" of threads holding it together. Try it - you'll like it. Here's a shot of it installed: GD