GeneralDisorder

85 non-turbo GL-10's were not carbed though. They were MPFI non-turbo's. So in any case it's got an engine swap, and the wrong year D/R lever. Both of which point to the engine and tranny being swapped. I suppose they *could* have swapped to the newer D/R lever because the 85 lever's have a tendancy to split, and then they also *could* have swapped to a carbed engine that just happens to have most likely come from a D/R model that had that type of lever.... but how likely is that scenario really? Supposedly a LOT of things could be special ordered. However we don't have documented proof of this sort of thing actually happening. No one has come forth with pictures and scans of orginal sales documents showing things like this. Stories like these tend to circulate about all sorts of things, but they are rarely based in reality. Was it done? Perhaps, but at the time Subaru's were budget, japanese cars - not something people spent the time to special order models of generally speaking. And if they did they probably still own them, and evidently don't frequent internet forums such as ours. GD

Yes - what does the thermostat say on it? Should look like the left one in these pictures: GD

If it's a GL then it has to be a D/R. DL's would be single range. STD would be single range or a 4 speed 2WD. And yes, they did make GL's, DL's and STD's all the way till 89. They never discontinued any of the trim levels. GD

The thing about the SPFI is that it's got specific fuel maps that it adheres to. It will not, under normal circumstances, run rich or lean. It differs from the Weber in that respect as changing the fueling is easy on the Weber, and basically impossible on the SPFI. Now that you understand that, what you have to grasp is that the SPFI is going to correctly fuel for the DEMAND of the engine. That's what it's sensors tell it - demand for air-flow, coolant temp, throttle posistion, and mixture control (O2 sensor). The Weber fuels based on what YOU want the engine to have, not what the engine tells the computer it needs. So you can drive a Weber at a higher fueling rate - gaining performance but decreaseing mileage. The SPFI cannot do that without swapping the ECU for something like MegaSquirt. But the SPFI has other benefits: 1. It's designed to flow for a 90 HP engine - so there's room for improvement. 16 HP over stock for the EA81. 2. It's capable of better mileage than ANY carb. Although this depends on many factors. 3. It runs at any angle allowed by the fuel pickup in the tank. No cornering problems at high speed, and no off-angle power loss when off-roading. 4. Cold starting is always perfect. 5. It adjusts itself to the demands of the engine. If you install a different cam, it's now the cam that tells the fuel system how it wants to perform. There is nothing to "retune" as there would be in a carb. If more demand is present (IE: more air is flowing) then more fuel will be added by the ECU. It's that simple. 6. It can still be retuned for even higher loads by using MegaSquirt and by modifying the fuel pressure, etc. Just like other injection systems. It's up to you though to learn how to do this. It's definately more expensive than tuneing a carb, but also more accurate, and (IMO) more fun. What's not fun about a laptop in the passenger seat? So the question you are asking is very hard to answer. Will the performance improve? To some extent it will. But the performance is more accurately described as "different" rather than "more" or "better". The driveability is much better, but it doesn't have the "snap" of the Weber's progressive linkage, nor does it have the sound of the Weber's air filter. It's comparable, but if you are looking for something that is going to be radically different from the performance of a Weber then you are looking in the wrong place. The performance overall I would characterize as "less torquey on the low end, similar on the high end, and better driveability overall". An SPFI swap has more potential than the Weber, but it quickly becomes more expensive and more time consuming as well. Still I would take it any day over the Weber for both street and off-road. It's quite often I've found that when you NEED the power off-road the Weber is having difficulty with either the angle I'm at or gets contaminated and won't idle right from all the dust and debris. This makes the SPFI superior in any situation where the Weber can't keep itself in-tune due to these non-optimal conditions that don't affect the SPFI at all. I would much rather have the same power consistantly than slightly better power inconsistently. But that's just one man's opinion. GD

Get some forged pistons from RAM. Obviously you need better than stockers if you are grenading them with that turbo setup. That thing is rough, and getting it tuned will be interesting. Best to have the added protection of the forged pistons. Beyond that, if you still want stock pistons, I would just get a used set from a board member or new ones from the dealer. As long as they aren't torn up badly, they need not be new. It's the rings that really matter..... And since I'm on the subject - get regular sintered iron rings - the chrome one's are no good for the EA81's as they take FOREVER to seat in. As in 20,000 miles or more. The EA81's almost never wear their bore's if properly maintained (you can still see cross-hatching after 200,000 miles) so they take forever and a day to seat the rings if they are chrome. You will also eat the liners out of the block with chrome rings and these blocks can't really be sleeved easily. GD

It's all in the Ultimate Subaru Repair Manual (USRM), and there's tons, and tons of threads on it. Use the search feature, and check the USRM (top of the page) for all the info you need. GD

XT's were never SPFI. Exactly how many times do I have to go over this?? You can interchange any of them - all the SPFI systems used a similar enough pinout to run the vehicle. The differences lie only in the transmission type and the types of clutch/neutral/park switches that it understands. Black ECU's were not used after 90.... maybe 91. The silver ECU's have the added clutch switch in addition to the neutral switch - that is the ONLY difference between the manual versions. Automatic versions are the same regardless of black/silver. The gold one is probably a feedback carburetor ECU for a CA 4WD, or a CA/49 states 2WD EA81 Hatchback. Not applicable to your setup at all. Either that or it's some turbo/XT MPFI ECU. Either way it doesn't apply to you. I don't know if I can break it down any more monosyllabically than that. I've given you this information at least three or more times in your conversion thread. It's got to be up to you now to comprehend it. GD

Then there's a hole in your tank because no GL ever came with a tank over 16 gallons. GD

The EA82 low fuel light's often do not work. It's a common issue with them. It's often a grounding issue with the sender. The light is an "interpretation" of the resistance from the sender. If the resistance is off then the light may never come on. GD

Also - if the motor is jammed, then there's a good chance the resistors are shot too. The motor will pull high amps if it's not allowed to turn, and the resistors rely on the airflow from the fan to cool them. High amps + no air flow = blown resistor block. Junk yard, or make your own if that's the case. You can find quite a few threads on it around here. Nichrome wire and the special flux to solder it isn't too expensive so making your own is actually feasible if you can't find a good used one. Or just live with high only. GD

I can't recall any big issues off the top of my head. You'll have to remove the surround to get at it IIRC. The only real trick is taking your time and not going nuts and breaking or cracking the surround when you haven't got all the screws out. Some of them are hard to spot so take your time and loosen slowely. But it's probably not the switch. They really don't fail much. It's more likely the motor, a power supply issue, or mice nest, etc. GD

Hhhhmmm - that begs the question - did they know the gear ratio's were potentially different? Couple points to take note of: 1. It's been converted to a carb - carb's were always 3.9. 2. It's got the wrong 4WD lever. Indicating the tranny is also a swap. 3. Carbs were often D/R, while turbo's were almost never. 4. Ergo - it's got the engine & tranny from an 86 or 87 4WD GL. 5. It's got the wrong rear end for the tranny - possibly one of the reasons it's now a parts car?!? Of course you can spend time verifiying this stuff to be true, but that's the most likely situation. Counting the splines will tell you if it's a turbo tranny or not. I know of no way to find out the ratio's inside the tranny other than that, or doing some on-the-bench turning of the input shaft to see how the output's spin. The rear diff being a 3.7 makes me instantly suspect of the condition of the tranny and/or the rear diff. You are going to need to verify the ratio of the tranny before you can be sure though. GD

Either the motor or the switch. The resistor isn't used in the high posistion so it shouldn't be that. You'll just have to test the motor and see. Its right there under the glove box. A few screws and the glove box comes completely out allowing complete access to it. Jumper 12v to the motor and see if it spins. Might be clogged up with mouse nests, etc. Niether are common failures - in fact usually the resisitors fail. But being you don't have any speeds at all - it's either the switch or the motor.... or a fuse - don't forget those. GD

Wait - I see what you did now. The bottom pic is of the RX.... So no - that was a swapped in tranny because it's got the wrong 4WD shifter. All 85's would be like your RX. GD

That is (in the picture) the correct 85 4WD shifter. They changed them in 86. So it would seem that it was either that way from the factory, or a complete matching 85 donor was used including the console's. 85 was a strange year. 2WD GL's were MPFI, etc.... so it easily could be that the GL10 turbo wagon got the same tranny as the 85 RX. Part time 4WD with the higher 1.2:1 low range. My vote is for stock. GD

Head over to www.rockauto.com They show pictures of many of the parts they sell in their database so their site is useful for identifying stuff at times. From what I can tell, if you drill down to 94, and go to the section for "Legacy Sport" (those are the turbo's) it shows both types, but the distinction is in the wheel size - the 91 to 94 Turbo's came with 15 rims, and it indicates the 15" rims had the two-pot units, and the 14" rims had the single pot units. Perhaps that's the confusion. I'm not near my 91 SS right now, but i can compare them to my 94 L and see if they are indeed the two-pot vs. the single pot. But it sounds right considering the 91 has vented rear discs as well - it would seem silly to upgrade the rear and not the front..... at least to me. GD

Yes - that would be correct. The ignition relay will need power in crank and run. It will work, but it may complain about the park switch. I haven't extensively tried out the auto ECU's. I have a Loyale auto that I've swapped in for testing and it ran. But I didn't test it long enough to see about the park switch. GD

That's an RX coupe. 87 through 89. You just have to look harder. GD

They make some, yes. But most of the gaskets, bearings, rings, etc they would be buying from someone else. There's just not the ability to make those type of parts unless you are willing to invest 10's of thousands into equipment and facilities. Some small casting, machining, welding, and such is what RAM does, and they could of course make cork and paper gaskets fairly easily. But making something like a ring set takes serious production abilities that they simply do not have. One thing that RAM may do is outsource (at great expense, and large volume) some of their "special" parts to suppliers of these components. If you have the specs you can have whatever you like made up, but you might have to order 1000 units to get the cost-per-unit down to an acceptable level. GD

I'm going to take issue with some of this.... You are contradicting yourself. "OEM" stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer". This means that the component was made by the SAME company that made them for the factory. It's all there in the acronym - you aren't telling us anything we don't already know. I have a few points of my own you should take note of: 1. NOT all remans are OEM shafts. There are other companies that make Subaru half shafts. GCK comes to mind off the top of my head. They are NOT an OEM, and their shafts could easily be in the reman world. They are by no means alone. 2. Just being an OEM shaft has been re-manned means NOTHING. Did they replace the joints? What brand did they use? Or did they weld up the worn spots on the old joints and grind them? What kind of boots are they using? Quality or not? The only part of the axle that isn't a wear item is the SHAFT itself - but it's got no moving parts - it's just a machined rod. 3. Different part numbers get all mixed together. For example the EA81's use two different front shafts for 4WD and 2WD. Shaft, and joint diameter is different. But they are 100% interchangeable. The remanufacturers know this and just lump them all together. So it's a crap shoot as to what you get when you open the box. This can be a problem for a lot of us that require the heavier duty 4WD axles but can't guarantee we will get them through these builders. Well - that's not entirely clear cut for Subaru's at least. I've had experience with axles that caused severe vibration but when disassembled they didn't look all that bad. It takes a very trained eye to inspect the components and correctly diagnose failures. There's a lot of folks that have reported bad axles right out of the box. The older Subaru's run their half shafts at a much higher angle than most cars on the road and CV's wear proportionally to their run angle, applied torque, and rotational speed. I'll agree to that to some extent. Someone properly trained in Subaru half shafts would probably see the problem. It would have to be a binding of the DOJ cup, and one would imagine you could feel this if you gave it a careful rotation while sliding the joint in and out of the cup. Depending on the boot, and how tight the thing is, it might be difficult to tell though. There's a grey area in there - at what point do you decide the axle is too tight and is transferring vibration to the cabin? You would think so, but in practice the ancient art of Subaru half-shafts isn't always so simple. I've run into my share of strange effects from half shafts. Both from stuff that has failed, and from brand new parts that appear to cause second-order vibration from other parts of the vehicle that are worn out. Tranny mounts on EA series are a good example - some of the GCK shafts are so tight that they bounce the tranny all over the place if the mounts are squishy (as they very often are). GD

You'll probably have to test it. I don't know that those figures were widely published if at all. I understand the desire for MS, but why not just use the Subaru ECM? It's cheaper, and actually has quite a bit of headroom built into it's simple design. It's already setup for a 90 HP, higher compression engine, and can handle a bit on top of that. Should easily be good to 100 HP, and that's not an easily obtainable figure on the EA81 anyway - not with the stock heads, which is the only thing the SPFI intake will fit on. GD

HEY! I resemble that statement..... sometimes. Mostly I just try to help people. Sometimes setting them straight is what they need, and sometimes they need real technical assistance. I offer both in one convienent package . There are times when you just have to let the dogs out. GD

It's been here for years. I probably took that picture 4 years ago or more. It should already be in the USRM or in the old version - check the links on the home page. GD

The real concern is if the duct tape should get involved with the joint parts inside the axle - grease isn't going to mix well with shredded duct tape. If you must cover it up, use saran wrap. It won't be a big deal of the joint decides to chew some up, and it will probably last far longer than you think it will. GD

Brake cleaner works fine on the EA82 unit's. Newer stuff, or other brands may be more sensitive to such cleaning agents but the EA82 technology is pretty basic. "MAF" cleaner is just diluted brake cleaner anyway. Make sure to clean out the by-pass hole and slot in the MAF housing - that's what allows the MAF to have adequate airflow. Carb cleaner should not be used - WAY too harsh and doesn't evaporate without leaving a residue. GD