GeneralDisorder

Cheapest single wire you can get. Set aside at least 6 hours for this job as it's welded itself into the cat, and won't be easy to remove. You'll have to bust the old one off, then go at it with a big socket. Then chase the threads with a spark plug thread chaser. Expect sore arms.... But frankly it won't help that feedback Hitachi. Like as not the manifold pressure sensor is shot (every one I've tested was), and those are more expensive then a Weber. That whole EA82 feedback system was hands down the worst fuel delivery system Subaru ever made. GD

Better to call - they are a small outfit, and the place isn't real tidy so I doubt they check their email too often. They do great work, but the place is old, and in a bad neighborhood GD

Some carbon is normal. You might have a PCV problem that is sucking oil, or you might have bad valve stem seals, etc. Oil can only get in through the intake, rings, or valves. It's up to you to figure out which it is. GD

EA81 Hitachi won't fit an EA82 manifold. Different base pattern. You can trick the smog guys by cutting out a stock airbox and putting it on the Weber. GD

Not really, except for the obvious differences between the Hitachi and Carter/Weber manifolds. If you are using an EA82 manifold, then you will want a Weber so vacuum routing won't matter. The EA82 Hitachi is crap - worse than the EA81 version in several ways. Don't go there. Better yet - go with the SPFI conversion. GD

Driving is part of it, but being prepared, and having the appropriate knowledge and equipment is just as important. As stock Subaru's go, they are all about equal. I can make a single mod to an EA series Subaru an go just about anywhere most mildly lifted Subaru's can go. All you need is appropriate tire pressure, a welded rear diff, and the skill to drive it. The only thing a "lift" gets you is ground clearance, and more agressive tires - both of which help for some types of terrain, but ultimately 90% of what a lifted rig can do you could also do in a stock vehicle with careful driving. Don't offroad your 3AT - you'll blow that tranny. Your's is a street vehicle, or at most a snow vehicle with that transmission. Any severe angles and you'll screw it up. GD

Just call the guys I linked to. They can rebuild it for you by mail. Any used ones are likely not going to last as long anyway. GD

The RX tranny will not transfer power as evenly through the drivetrain as the AWD legacy tranny would. The VC evens out the power flow, while the open center diff does not. An RX with one wheel off a cliff won't move at all without locking the diff. A Legacy will drive away like nothing was wrong because the VC will send power to both the front and rear even if one wheel has no traction at all. Ultimately this means that more HP through the RX transmission stresses components more unevenly than the AWD of the legacy would. It's also old and presumably has a few miles on it. Putting a lot of HP through an aged transmission not designed for it is always a recipe for disaster. Also the EJ22T is going to have a pusher style clutch and won't mate as easily to the RX tranny as it would to a true Turbo tranny. It would require some clutch part swapping. GD

As long as the marks on the belt are lined up it should be good. And as long as it's a 95 or older it's non-interferance anyway so you won't break anything if it's off. GD

You would need to notch the frame rail on the drivers side to clear the valve cover - a notch about 1" deep and 4" long will be enough. You can then box it with steel and paint it. Some claim they don't have to do this - it may depend on your transmission. I used the EA82 5 speed at the same time and with Jerry's kit the transmission is tipped backward slightly so it may have exacerbated the problem in my case. But be aware that the EA82 is a LOT wider, and for SURE if you don't notch it there will be no way to remove the valve covers without pulling the engine back out. Move the hill holder lines to clear the distributor, and then you install the distributor AFTER the engine is in place in the bay. You use a 86-92 lower EA82 radiator hose for the upper hose by cutting it slightly, and notching the fan shroud, and you use a 92-94 lower EA82 hose for the lower hose (fits perfectly). Swap the pitching stopper bracket from the EA81 to the EA82. Clutch bits are mixed and matched depending on transmission. The EA82 produces 11 HP more in carbed form so it's not really worth the hassle. I happened to be also swapping over to SPFI at the same time and decided to rebuild the EA81.... the SPFI EA82 is 16 HP more than the EA81 in stock form and I had one laying around. But the EA81 will go back in soon. GD

Fuel injector cleaner is BUNK. For the most part fuel is a solvent and injectors don't need to be cleaned. Eventually they need to be rebuilt, but cleaning rarely helps an injector that needs rebuilding. You DO NOT need to clean your injectors at 30k miles. That's just sillyness. GD

You might have a peek at the shock towers - I've seen extremely rusty examples such as yours where rear coil-overs end up punching through the wheel well into the cabin (trunk in your case). That's pretty much THE END for an EA82 unfortunately. I've seen pictures of it more than once. GD

I wouldn't be the slightest worried about the 24 and 34. Neither will cause you any real difficulty other than the 24 causing possible erroneous idle speeds when cold. The other two however are quite disturbing. 11 means there is a possibility of the distributor crank angle sensor being intermittant. That might get worse - at any rate there's no chance it will get better. That could indicate distributor shaft bearing failure, or electrical. Either way I would take an extra known good distributor and your timing light with you for your trip. 14 isn't so hot either - this MPFI or SPFI? Either way I would bring along an extra set of MPFI injectors, or an SPFI injector for the road. They aren't hard to swap out. Along with those parts I would take at least another ignition coil and ignitor, a MAF sensor, and a TPS just in case. The MAF, CAS and TPS are the three really critical sensors on the EA82's. It will run without the rest. Don't leave without a set of timing belts, accesory belts, plenty of water, a gallon of coolant, oil, and other fluids. And of course your tools. GD

You are wrong. Hook up a vacuum gauge and see for yourself. "Ported" vacuum means the port is right below the venturi in the carb, thus reversing (basically) the manifold vacuum curve. What you describe is manifold vacuum. This is a common misconception and I've had this argument with others on here before. Take a look at my post count - I know of what I speak with regard to EA series distributors and carbs. Again - ported vacuum (called for by the EA distributor design) rises with engine speed and throttle position. More specifically, and to clarify the distinction, there is a difference between the vacuum produced by the engine, and the ported vacuum SUPPLY on the carb which is entirely artificial in nature. It's produced by the difference in pressure between the two ends of the venturi in the carb. So while you are correct that there is no ENGINE vacuum at full throttle, there is PORTED vacuum at full throttle. Just as there is tons of engine vacuum at closed throttle, and no ported vacuum. It's reversed, and it's designed that way on purpose. GD

Yep - 87 saw a makeover of the EA82 line. 86 was the introduction of the SPFI. As such the high end 2WD GL's (GL-10 included) got it (85's were MPFI non-turbo). 4WD's didn't get SPFI till late 87. The steering wheel changed, and the controls were changed to incorporate the "universal" driving standard using the stalk controls. There was a movement in the later 80's by a community of auto manufacturers to try to make all cars similar with respect to the location of various driving functions. Everything you saw on that 86 was normal for 85/86's - but it's comparitively rare to see the 86 SPFI as it only came on some 2WD GL's. Beware the strange connectors on a lot of the SPFI components. They should be electrically similar though. GD

That's cheap compared to the dealer. Used is the only other option. I looked into this once and even with my wholesale discount the dealer wants about $65 each. I used a universal one from autozone for like $10 or something. GD

A good distributor shop can rebuild you vacuum advance for about $20. These are the guys I use - they are local to me: http://www.philbingroup.com/ That is incorrect. Full advance will never be achieved without the vacuum can. Vacuum supply to the advance pot is "ported" and rises with increased throttle posistion and engine speed. Max advance is split between the vacuum and centrifugal units and will max out around 15 degrees without the vacuum, and around 25 with it. In practice the vacuum can not working will generally not be very noticeable at all. If everything else is in good condition there won't be an off-idle stumble. It just won't advance fully, mileage will take a hit, and max power on the freeway will be reduced by a small, but noticeable amount. The off-idle advance due to the vacuum pot amounts to only a degree or two - not enough to cause any kind of obvious stumble. I've run with plenty of bad vac cans, and you can't really tell. I would estimate that by this point 75% or more of the EA series engines on the road have an innoperable vacuum advance pot. 9 out of 10 of the ones I've tested were shot. GD

I wouldn't run anything other than stock. There's nothing to be gained by an aftermarket coil anyway. They generally aren't as high quality as the originals, and most (including MSD and Mallory) are made in Mexico these days where the quality control stinks. The spark plug does one thing - it ignites the mixture. It's a boolean function - there really isn't a such thing as a "better" spark (talking practical terms - as they relate directly to stock EA series engines). As long as it's igniting the mixture close to 100% of the time that's all that's required of it. The stock ignition system is more than adequate for a non forced-induction engine. If you were running special fuel, or extremely high compression (IE: forced induction) then there might be a need for the spark to jump a higher density air gap, but short of that there is no good reason to "mod" the ignition system. I can think of much better ways to spend $40. GD

Hatch for sure. GD

Hitachi = 4WD ND = 2WD They are interchangeable, but you need to swap to the same brand coil as well so the coil resistance range matches that of the distributors ignitor. If you don't you risk burnout of the ignitor or the coil. GD

It doesn't live up to a lot of the hype, and isn't worth the price they are asking..... that doesn't mean it doesn't "work" for some scenarios. It's a Zinc catalyst and the properties of zinc do work to stabilize the gasoline molecules - it helps to reform the carbon chains into the appropriate configuration - chains of 8. This is a well known property and is used by many good fuel stabilizer treatments. It may be hyped to death, not well understood by the consumer, and entirely outragous in it's pricing - but it does do some of what they claim, and could in specific cases be useful. Basically it's something like the space pen developed by Nasa - needlessly complex and expensive when you consider that the Russians just used pencils. GD

As long as they are tested thoroughly there shouldn't be any problem. At a minimum I would expect to see compression numbers - both wet and dry, check each cylinder with a boroscope, and pull the valve covers and oil pan for inspection. Any lack of maintenance in the engine's past should show up on one of these tests with a skilled technician. I see no reason why there should be anything but a very small percentage of engines sold by a reputable importer that aren't in good condition after a full technical assesment. It all comes down to the reputation/warrantee of the import company and US retailer of the engines. And that's generally not too difficult to asses with a bit of web searching. GD

Sounds like a steal, although I wouldn't call an EA82 "modern". They aren't bad if in good shape though. She's going to regret getting an Audi. Super expensive to maintain. I've worked on a lot of them as I have some crazy friends that keep buying the damn things used because they are so cheap. No resale value at all much like other european luxury brands. People in the market for them almost always buy new ones so there's no market at all. GD

Seems to be some sort of Zinc catalyst. The consensus from reading a few reviews seems to be that it's best used on equipment that might sit for a time period. Gas breaks down over time, and this will assist with reforming the molecular bonds. But it can't help if your gas isn't old or poor quality. I say not worth it for a car that's driven on a regular basis. And it can't possibly give you any better results that fresh gasoline could. Frankly there's many proven, reliable additives for gasoline storage - I don't see the point of spending $180 for the same effect as a $5 bottle of fuel stabilizer. Conclusion: Expensive, and uneccesary. GD

Scotty's Cocktail. It's AWESOME. My 94 GT shifts like new..... maybe better. 1 Qt Redline Lightweight Shockproof 1 Qt Pennzoil Syncromesh 2 Qt Castrol Hypoy-C 75w90 A ton of folks at legacycentral have used it, and I have to say that I'm a convert. I've tried just the plain Redline synthetics, but there is no comparison between them and the shockproof. Before I changed the fluid I was getting some slight grinding after warm-up, and couldn't go into 1st above 5 or 10 MPH. Now I NEVER get a grind, and can hit 1st at over 25 MPH rolling. There's also concern that using plain MT90 will eventually cause front diff damage to the Subaru transaxles. Unlike other manual transmissions, ours have an integrated hypoid differential. MT90 isn't a differential oil, and doesn't contain the required sulfer. Thus the Hypoy-C in the cocktail.... besides this works better than MT90 hands down. The shockproof is some really crazy stuff - it's bright blue in color too! About $10 a quart same as the MT90, but the other components are cheaper - $4.99 for the Castrol, and $6.99 for the syncromesh here. GD