GeneralDisorder

I have a nice set of taps, but no set of bottoming taps. I just buy a "cheap" tap for my bottoming tap and cut the end off. Works great and doesn't cost a lot like genuine bottoming taps. GD

Not worth the effort. By the time you were done, to get STi performance from the car (braking, handling, etc) it would cost more than a used STi. If you "cannot" do the wireing, then you "cannot" do the swap. I highly doubt even having someone else "merge" the harnesses would be acceptable unless they had access to both vehicles - essencially "doing the swap for you". The wireing IS the swap - the rest any tractor mechanic with a torch could do....The STi system relies heavily on "fly by wire" technology, and the DCCD 6 speed would be near impossible to swap as it requires input from wheel sensors, etc. You could source a JDM 6 speed, but that's going to run you an additional $3k - $5k or so and they aren't easy to find. This "Armchair" talk is all fun, but if you want to do it then get the parts, learn the wiring and get to work. As has been mentioned you won't get much help here as likely no one here has done such a thing. Once you see the bottom line costs involved you likely won't either. GD

Yeah - tranny from the "u-pull" yards are $80 here - regardless of what they are from. From a "shelf" with a 90 day warrantee.... probably about $250 to $400 depending on the yard. GD

Yes. They are different - 3 pin vs. 4 pin TPS, and other differences. "Normal" MPFI refers to what exactly? 85 2WD GL's? You can do anything you want, but you'll have to be more specific than "GL-10" as that tells us nothing at all about the engine you are thinking of. GL-10's came as turbo's, MPFI, SPFI, etc. GD

Yep -all EA71's made after 82 I think had the offset starter, EA81 bell-housing. They made the EA71 till 89 when the STD Hatch was finally laid to rest. Any of the mid to later 80's EA71's were like this, they are just very rare as they only came in STD Hatchbacks - everything else had the EA81. The "fat case" refers to the later EA71's that had the same case dimensions as the EA81 with regards to the intake manifold. At least that's what I've gleaned on the subject. I think that either of the bell-housings can be bolted to the "fat-case" but it would seem likely that they were side-starter. There were also EA71's made with hydro lifters although I've never been able to confirm if they were imported to the US or not. It's difficult to determine some of this stuff as a single example really doesn't tell much - often the engines have been replaced with the popular "JDM" import engines. I've noticed that the JDM engines have japanese writing on the "do not adjust" valve cover stickers while the USDM ones do not. I've seen an '82 wagon with a hydro lifter engine that had these oddball stickers with the japanese writing, and in smaller english print they said "do not adjust" etc. GD

Yep - and some of them had auto-adjusters too. Weird contraption, and I don't like them since I had one completely eat itself and lock the wheel at freeway speeds. After I beat the drum off with a sledge there were all kinds of little brake "bits" and peices of the adjuster and the master cylinder. It looked like a grenade went off inside there. I have a feeling thats why they stopped using the auto adjusters later in the EA82 line. GD

It's not a warm-up issue at all. It's there to prevent icing of the carb. If the dew point of the air going into the carb is just in the right range the carb will collect moisture from the incomming air and it will form ice on the throttle body and throttle plates due to the "wind chill" effect of air flowing at high speeds through the venturi. This obviously will make it run like complete crap until it shuts down and melts the ice. If you don't live in a really cold, often wet environment you will likely never see a need for the hot air riser. Here in OR it rarely gets below 20 degrees and carb icing isn't really an issue. I've never had a problem with it anyway. I see you are in Nebraska.... might be an issue for you. Just use some bailing wire to hold the hot air riser near the cat till you can have a proper bit of pipe welded to the heat shield. GD

By "bottom end" I suppose I should have said "short block" as I was mostly refering to the pistons and rings - the ring lands have been known to collapse, and holes blown in the piston tops. But yes the bottom end proper is usually fine. GD

Momentary hiss is perfectly normal Loss of power is also normal as most of the settings (defrost especially) run the AC compressor. GD

A 7/16x20 tap will thread right in without drilling and will still allow you to heli-coil or timesert it later. Although I've never had to. The 7/16x20 is larger and so provides better grip than the old 10mm studs did anyway. I've done a number of them this way and never had to go back. I just use regular bolts. The trick is to not allow the weight of the y-pipe to rest on the block threads. As long as you observe this rule carefully the threads should last just fine. Make sure to use a bottoming tap to get the threads all the way to the bottom of the hole. Or you could spend a lot more and get the same results..... at least that's my feeling on it. But I understand the desire to "do it right". I've just never had the money for that route with this particular problem. GD

That grill is from an 83. Probably swapped at some point, but just so you know. Looks hammered - just like the one I have. Better that way IMO as I don't feel bad about hammering it some more. GD

You don't. GD

It's not worth the work involved for 5 HP... unless your plan is to turbo it? Then it's really not worth it - destruction of the bottom end will result in pretty short order with the 9.5:1 comp. You would have to piggy-back the MPFI harness to the existing car's harness, or tear out the dash and frankenstall an XT harness into it. Either way it's a LOT of time and effort for 5 HP. Which is why almost no one has done it. Easier if you start with a turbo car and go *back* to MPFI by installing an SPFI short block and removing the turbo. GD

Coolant runs through the intake, so unless you divert it, thermal coating will just keep the heat IN. A couple machined blocks to divert the coolant flow through a seperate path and to the radiator's upper hose would be cool. GD

Here's the deal: 77 to 85 were imported as "cars" using the bolt-in rear seats as a "loophole" into the passenger car tariff. 86/87 were imported as "trucks". No rear seats. Subaru had a rash of litigation involving the rear seats and fatal roll-over accidents. They removed the seats in 86 and 87 then pulled the Brat from the US market as it was no longer economical for them to sell it here due to the much higher tax on truck imports. They were produced variously in other countries till 94. GD

Older GL/Loyale will fit (85 to 91) but the lower hose will need to be switched to the "old style" hose as they changed the shape of them as well as the radiators lower output pipe. GD

Check your jets to make sure before you buy more. You should have (you'll have to remove the top cover to check them all): 140, 140 Mains (bottom of the float bowl) 160, 170 Air Correctors 45, 50, or 55 idle jet(s). (anywhere in that neighborhood will work once adjusted) The rest don't matter so much. The emulsion tubes are pretty standard as are the accelerator pump jets. Nearly all Weber set ups use similar jets for these. GD

I agree - I'm getting tired of posting it. But for all the knowledge YOU have Ken (and I mean that in the best way possible - you have a lot), I don't see you shareing it. Now I'm in no way judging you, or Mick, or Shawn or any of the others that have been here for ages and know most of this stuff - I'm sure you are busy, busy people with families and other obligations that I don't have, but *someone* needs to set people straight sometimes. I'll tone it down a bit. I often try to make my argument as forceful as possible (within reason, if you can beleive that ) in order to not have to post back and defend a less-forceful argument later. Although - thinking about it that usually just causes more frustration and I have to post anyway explaining myself further..... So it's sort of a lose-lose sitatuion I guess. I just don't want to end up never posting anything like a lot of the "old-timers" around here through total frustration over noobs and "kids" with wild ideas. It will happen eventually anyway I'm sure. GD

The turbo trannies use a 25 spline stub axle, but I think the input shaft splines should be the same. A lot of folks here use the XT6 clutch with their EA82T's, and with lifted rigs running the N/A dual range tranny. There's not been any talk of swapping around the disc's with them so it seems they should be the same. GD

That's debateable. His modifications certainly don't add up to a 75 HP increase on paper. I've seen the engine, and I've seen it perform. It's definately got more than stock, but it's never been dynoed by anything other than the seat of his pants. Ken's a great guy, but I respectfully say that this is not an accurate assesment of that engine. If it were, then RAM's 140 HP engine wouldn't need even 1/4th of the modifications they have done to it, let alone dual port heads. Just compareing the differences, and knowing that the RAM stuff is dynoed, and there's many more than just one person that have run them..... I can't see how Ken's engine could have 10 HP more than it while only requireing unmodified single port heads, some 1600 pistons, and a Delta cam. GD

Didn't ever say there's no reason to build an EA81. I'm working on one myself. I said that it's poor judgement to BUY one from RAM. Their engines and prices are not geared toward the automotive crowd. I love the EA81 and will probably stick with it for my off-roader. Building one is an excelent idea, but can be done MUCH, MUCH cheaper than what RAM does. GD

There is between 2WD and 4WD though. It's mostly in the exhaust "bump"..... which in their picture on that auction looks to be on the wrong side?? GD

If you have replaced the coil with any aftermarket units - there's a potential there for failure. Seems a lot of manufacturing when south of the border for Accell and MSD etc. Quality control is lacking. The higher your RPM goes the faster the coil has to charge so if the coil is weak it can hit an RPM range where it just doesn't have enough kick to jump the gap. Easy test is to make the plug gap smaller or larger and see if the RPM range where it cuts out changes dramatically. If it doesn't it's probably not the coil. You can also test the primary and secondary coil resistances to see if they are within spec and make sure there is a very high resistance between the two. These two test should rule out the coil if it passes both. The fuel filters are sounding like a good check too. Especially since it started cutting out up a hill like that and ran better when you weren't on it as hard. Don't forget the one next to the pump - but I'm sure you know about that Check the spray pattern from the secondary as it opens too - if it's poor you may have something stuck in the jet at the bottom of the float bowl, or you might have sucked something into the air corrector for the secondary. I've noticed the gauze style filters don't always catch stuff and the air correctors are open to the filter element. I've had that happen off-road and it behaves exactly like your description. GD

You have air, and fuel, and spark - so you don't have compression. That seems as fair a guess as any. I would say a head gasket let go, but that's just not common on the EA81's. Weird. Does it even try to fire on two cylinders? I wouldn't think it possible that both would go at once, and if they did it would sound very different cranking without compression in any cylinders. With two pumping it's hard to tell but it will usually try to sputter with only one bank fireing. GD