GeneralDisorder

What's the cost for them to swap the cams? My GF has an '07 OBS with the SOHC 2.5. GD

It will most likely go away. Driving isn't neccesary - just wrap it up to 5,000 RPM or so. If it's going to stop, that will do it. Wait till it's warmed up though. GD

Kids are messy - that's just the nature of the beast. Little one's make messes and are clumsy with their stuff - especially in a car where their already poor hand-eye coordination is made worse by the movement of the vehicle. They can't see where you are going so can't prepare for the clover-leaf off-ramp you just took..... That said, I've found plenty of nasty stuff in vehicles: Spare keys - sometimes originals. Lots of change. Petrified french fries. Drugs. Used condoms. Mice, and their nesting. Etc. This is the new gen forum - you want to see nasty stuff pickup an early 80's soob with leaky windows that has been sitting outside somewhere for years without being driven. It's like a archaeological dig You find the worst stuff in the junk yard cars. And if you want to talk about spills - I had a full gallon of carb cleaner in the bed of the Brat one HOT summer day that tipped over and the lid popped off when I took a corner. Even though I was driving AWAY from the incident, my eyes watered up it was so powerful. Actually etched the plastic of the tail-light. I can't imagine what people behind me must have thought. It was AWEFUL. Really though, I deal with horrible things all day at work. I wrench on machinery of all kinds - pumps that either suck or blow everything you could imagine. Viking and Sihi pumps are one of the worst - tar, sewage, surgical suck, etc. Then there's the chemical duty pumps - I have one in the shop right now that pumps 600 gallons of Hydrochloric Acid Vapor per hour..... GD

They tick - it's typical of HG replacement. It's avoidable if you take a few precautions: 1. Use only OEM seals for the oil pump and the cam towers (metal reinforced). 2. Replace the lifters into the EXACT same locations where they came from. If they ticked before, have them rebuilt. 3. Crank the engine with all the plugs removed till the oil pressure guage registers. It can take several minutes. 4. Wait for any RTV to fully cure before starting the engine to avoid sucking any uncured RTV into the oiling system. It's just a matter of being very careful, and very precise with your work. Label everything you aren't sure of, and take pictures as you go. I have done multiple EA82 head gaskets on engines that never ticked before or after. Most recently I had an 86 with 240k on it - never a tick before or after HG replacement. GD

All Brat's were 4WD (in the US). All 4WD's had Hitachi distributors. Ergo - Your Brat came with a Hitachi distributor. They are interchangable, but it is advisable to use the corresponding coil. The ND coils drive the plugs at a higher voltage and the ND distributor is setup for this. Using an ND distributor with a Hitachi coil risks failure of the solid state ignitor inside the disty. ND coils generally have a blue top. Hitachi's are black. That's not 100% identification though. Aftermarket direct replacement's may not look the same. GD

I agree with Nipper, and will add that fuel may destroy the gauge. Depends on it's construction really. Fuel guages are chemical duty rated where an oxygen gauge would not be. Gasoline will quite possibly turn the insides into goo. GD

1. AWD 5 speeds will not transfer power to the rear if the front axle stubs have no traction. And if you lock the front stubs from moving you will burn up the VC. 2. Auto's can be modified to be RWD.... but it's an auto. You have to change some valving internally. 3. You could use an EA82 5 speed, or FT4WD (locked), but that's a lot of work for a Legacy. 4. It's all acedemic as none of these options will hold RWD power for long. The problem isn't the rear diff or axles (well - that's one problem), but rather the 4WD transfer gearset inside the transmission. You'll blow the transfer gears on any of the tranny's that can be modified to be RWD. In the end Subaru's were not designed with this in mind. You are MUCH better off getting a rig that was designed to be RWD from the start. GD

I don't think he's talking about the same thing. Sounds like he's refering to something with an in-tank pump vs. the EA series remote tank mounting. You would need a pump (carb pump will do) that fills a sealed surge tank (tall and skinny) with a return line at the top to expell excess fuel back to the tank. Then the fuel injection pump feeds from near the bottom on the side of the surge tank cylinder. There should be inline filers for the surge tank pump, and another filter for the FI pump. The injection pump return line then needs to return fuel back to near the top of the surge tank. If it returned it to the tank it would quickly empty the surge tank as the flow is very high. GD

I too prefer the European style embossed worm drive clamps. I get them from my local VW shop, but I would be interested in bulk suppliers if anyone knows of same. These guys: From this site: http://www.murraycorp.com/index.pl/embossed_style_hose_clamp GD

There's more than one type of EA82 rear axle. Some have DOJ's on both ends, and some have CV's on the outboard side. The CV's are not serviceable. The DOJ's are. GD

Sounds good. I've run plenty of stock (carb) pumps without return lines. Both with Weber's and with stock carbs. Never has it been an issue. I've also never had a carb fuel pump fail. They really just don't die unless they get crap in them from a failed/no filter, or they starve for fuel and overheat. The pump's are like 1.5 to 2.5 psi. "filling" of the filter tells you nothing. That's just trapped air that can't get out of the system. In order to fill the filter with fuel the air would have to go somewhere - but it can't once the float needle closes. The pump doesn't have enough pressure to displace the air even with a return line. Without the return it can't pump any volume at all. Pay no attention to the air. You are getting fuel - that's all that matters. I really doubt your problems are fuel pump related. Everything you have told me so far sounds normal to a trained ear. Lean will not hurt it at idle unless you have severe misfiring. WOT is a different animal. Your problem is the idle circuit on the carb (talking fuel flow here, not electricity). Once the choke plates (those flappers you speak of ARE the choke) open, there is less vacuum on the idle circuit, and the mixture changes from very rich, to progressivly leaner. This allows the engine extra fuel durring warm up - fuel is easily condensed to a liquid on the cold cylinder walls of the engine so extra fuel is needed to make sure the final mixture is correct for the engine to idle. Something about your idle circuit is wrong - either it's plugged up, it's jetted wrong, or the mixture screw is way off. When tuning a Weber you NEVER tune cold. You don't even start tuning it till the engine reaches operating temp and the choke is fully pulled off. Then you start by setting the throttle cable posistion, and then the idle speed and mixure - they are a balancing act. The throttle plates should be fully closed and you should only have to adjust the mixture screw. If you have to change the speed screw (IE - lift the throttle plate off it's closed posistion) then you need to go up a size in idle jet. Sadly, 4WD's all have Hitachi distributors, and 2WD's have the ND. Unless they have been swapped, which is possible but probably not likely. At any rate that's a total rip-off. You can have the vac-advance pot rebuilt for half that or less. Lookup Philbin Group. They have done a few for me and are very good at what they do. It should always be plugged for timing checks/adjustments. And no - a malfunctioning vac can will not really do much of anything besides give you a slight hiccup when transitioning from idle to main. GD

Have you checked for spark with an inline spark tester on the #1 lead? Have you ran compression on all the cylinders? GD

It has the pump on it, just not the work end of the deal. Jeff Most EA82's, including virtually all GL's had power steering. My 85 had it, and even my 84 EA81 GL has power steering. It was very uncommon on the EA82's to see manual rack steering. GD

Not only have I seen it, but I have done it myself. So have many others on this board - most of them before you joined. The rod's nearly always break out the top of the block beneath the intake manifold. What's worse is that there is almost no warning. The power is good, and the noises are miniscule till right before it blows. It's similar to a lifter tick noise, but goes away without load. GD

A mapp gas torch will work - heat that sucker up and start whailing on it. BIG hammer, and spray it with a good penetrant while it's hot. GD

It's not specifically an EJ swap problem. My SPFI Brat does it as well. It's the fuel injection system - it must remain pressurized and the tank has no baffles to prevent sloshing. I found some plans for a surge tank searching the internet a while back. The guy made one from a tap water filter housing from home depot. I was thinking along those lines but I'll probably wait till I find something at work that will do the trick. GD

Check your jets - could be way off if you can only get to 42. Also the fuel filters - there's effectively two of them. One near the pump, and one on the firewall. They are different as one is a vapor seperator. Since you are doing the Weber you can eliminate the vapor seperator and replace it with a regular inline filter. GD

If it's lifters, and they have been going at it for 75k, then nothing short of replacing them, and doing a complete lubrication system reseal will stop it. On the other hand they could keep ticking for another 100k.... chances are the bottom end won't last that long though. Most times the EA engines don't get much past 300k without throwing a rod. There are exceptions, but they are comparitively rare. If you get it - figure it's parts, and any miles you get from it are iceing. Don't drive far from home. GD

www.subarupartsforyou.com also has excelent prices. GD

Mileage is too high, and the 86 interior is teh-suck. $200 tops with that kind of mileage and the problems you mentioned. That's a money pit, or a drive-it-till-the-wheels-fall-off kind of Subaru. There's not a single part on it that's desireable - engine and tranny have far, far too many miles to be worth reusing, and the rest is just a carbed shell. Otherwise pass on it and let him stew over haveing $200 or having a worthless beater sitting on the street. In a few days I wager he reconsiders if he turns you down at first. There's way, way too many of those on craigslist and in the paper for that much or less. If a bird shat on that car it would total it out here on the west coast. GD

The lower bell-housing nut on the drivers side you mean? For those, use a u-joint socket and several extensions. I've seen 14mm (gen 1), and 17mm nuts used there. A set of u-joint sockets is wonderful sometimes. If I don't have a u-joint socket, I'll generally just use a box wrench. GD

All EA81 u-joints have Zerks... at least the longer one's do. I would have to look at my hatch to make sure. It's the EA82's that didn't have them and the U's were staked in place. EA81 U's are replaceable and greaseable in stock form. How much did that one cost you anyway? I might be in the market soon. I might also have a buddy of mine weld it up and then take it to them for balancing if I need it. GD

Two-part urethane. Do a google search - there's tons of info on it. GD

First, this post is 4 YEARS OLD. Second, the original poster is WRONG about the EA71 pistons. They are a few thousandths taller pin to top. Third, you can't slot the cam pulleys on an EA81 - it's a PUSHROD engine. It doesn't even have them. Damn it's annoying when people do this GD

Ratcheting 10mm wrench fixes that problem. The only tough part is getting the valve cover off. 10 minutes of frustration and it's done. GD