GeneralDisorder

I would try a used one first, as the tranny may be the problem. If the tranny has a bad drive gear it will eat gov. gears like candy. GD

You add exactly 1 inch to the stock 4 speed 4WD shift rod. I just cut 1" from the 4WD shift rod of the 5 speed donor linkage and welded it in. Paint the welds to prevent rust. You use the stock 5 speed gear shift linkage, and push it all the way to the drivers side when you tighten the rear body mounting nut. If you have the tranny properly installed it should not hit anything. GD

There is not a "bolt-in" option for the EA81 body. You will need to modify the drivline, and the transmission cross-member to fit an EA82 (85 to 89) 5 speed D/R. There's a guide on how to do it here in the repair manual on this site. GD

MPFI is the same compression as the SPFI block, but will require your SPFI heads. Carb is only slightly less and will still run fine. Stay away from Turbo's GD

You probably didn't have all the cam tower bolts tight enough, or the valve got stuck in it's guide. This isn't real common, but it does happen. So far I've only had one engine do that, and the owner was helping me assemble it - he did the cam tower bolts and I suspect the one under that rocker arm wasn't tight. Basically toss that engine in the dumpster. Replacing the piston, while possible without splitting the block, is going to be a lot of work for maybe nothing. You have a lot of metal contamination inside the engine, and it's going to be hard to tell if the rod is slightly bent or not. I would use it for parts and find another short block. GD

Could be the tranny won't upshift too. That'd be the dreaded 3AT rearing it's ugly head. Probably just a plain old EA81 sedan it sounds like. I like the sedan body when it's 4WD (and especially lifted), but conversion to 4WD is a pain in the butt. Just put a 2WD 5 speed in it. GD

There's two subaru engines that most consider "indestructible". The EA81, and the EJ22. Of the two the EA81 is lower maintenance, so could probably be considered a bit more reliable than the 22. Both are good for 300,000+ with fairly little maintenance. I had an EA81 with 316k, and it's now up over 370k and still going. The EA82 in your Loyale is a hybrid EA81 with an OHC setup. It's renown for both timing belt failure, lifter ticking, and is usually a bit worse on head gaskets because it uses a bolt setup for the heads instead of studs. The SPFI on your loyale is awesome tho - some of us use it on the EA81's instead of carbs. In my opinion, the most reliable setup possible in a subaru is an EA81 with SPFI. Very easy to maintain too. GD

A stock Brat has as much clearance as a Jeep Cherokee. 7.5" ground clearance. Even stock they do well - especially if you air down. EA82's are less - around 5.5". But with a little bit larger tires they do alright. They do get stuck easier than a stock EA81 though. My lifted wagon with 28's has 14" under the rear diff. Aired down I can easily outwheel an exploder all day long at the "beach". I air down to 7 psi. Beach ruts?? You're joking right? GD

Sounds like the idle circuit on the carb(s) is plugged or sucking air. This is pretty common on the Hitachi. The gasket between the upper and lower section of the carb is usually pretty rotten. GD

I don't know what was in the kits. The mixture is not adjustable - the Hitachi's have jets like most carbs. I would guess it's some sort of device that enriches the mixture by changing the float chamber pressure. But that's just a guess. But I can tell you that 1,100 feet above sea level should not require any compensation. 5,000 and up is usually when you need to start changing things. I would do a full carb rebuild and pay special attention to the float settings. GD

Lucas is bad for anything other than a tractor differential - low speed applications where there isn't likely to be any frothing action it's alright. Bad for just about anything else. Crap - just like most additives. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm Altitude compensation was purchased as a seperate kit. GD

Replace the CTS first. Then retest in D-Check mode. White connectors are "read memory". Green connectors will put you in D-Check. GD

The SPFI EA82 is rated at 90 HP, and is a bit higher reving - it's got a 500 RPM higher redline (on the guage cluster). The 86 engine would have been 82 HP. The main differences are in the valve train and compression ratio. The 90 has a 9.5:1 bottom end and the 86 was 9.0:1. Your increase in torque was all from the engine. The Holley 5200 is fine for a fuel system, and I doubt you would lose more than 1 or 2 HP without the SPFI. The big win with the SPFI is not really power, but fuel econemy, driveability, and easy to work on. GD

Good question. Perhaps consult the stars, or the chicken bones, or the magic 8 ball if your tendancies are toward the somewhat foolish. As it is though, we can only conjecture on the true reason. I'm pulling for alien intervention. Have you lost any long tracts of times lately? GD

Alternator's internal rectifier is fried. Replace your alt. GD

Press the little switch on the pedal by hand and see if it's related to the switch, or the movement of the pedal itself. Probably the switch that turns on the brakelights. The ! thing is the brake lamp warning indicator telling you that a bulb is out back there..... brake lights always have power, so it sounds like there's a problem in the circuit somewhere. Maybe the brake lamp checker is shotsky. GD

Should be all the same in the rear. GD

Yep - I've installed more subaru engines than I can count that way - never used an alignment tool. Just tighten the PP after the engine is mated to the tranny. The few times I have used an alignment tool it's been more difficult because the pilot bearing doesn't always want to line up with the tranny input shaft. GD

Wow - that's the rusty little brother to my 86: (I say "little brother" cause mine is a factory D/R) Come up here for a quick vacation and I'll find you a nice wagon. I can get em all week long for $400 or less (usually less). Rust is not even in our vocabulary up here..... GD

Have to remove the heads. The EA series do eventually suffer from burnt valves and seats, and they lose compression from it. It's not usually all that severe though. Sounds to me like the guy probably means it needs new valve stem seals - those cause oil burning, and are much more likely to be bad enough to warrant fixing. The phrase "needs minor engine work" and "has burnt valve" are diametrically opposed. A valve job is not "minor" by any stretch of the imagination. Water pump is minor - main seals are minor..... valve jobs and ring jobs are far from "minor". Sounds like he has no idea what he's talking about, so I would say it's safe to make your own judgement on the source of the problem. Could be burning oil, and mechanic told him it needs a "valve job" when it could only need stem seals or even just a PCV valve . Shops are not to be trusted when diagnosing old subabu's. GD

And my 84 2WD 5 speed GL came with all those, and the digi-dash :cool: GD

Yep - in Canada it was a Leone. If you want to talk about non-US you can just throw out virtually EVERYTHING that has been said or will be said. Almost anything goes outside the US. Here's a short list: 2WD Brat's Brat's with extended bed lengths (still 2WD) Brat's made till 1994 EA71's, and EA81's (some with fuel injection) in EA82 body's EJ15's EJ18's with carbs, and distributors EA series with leather interior EA headlamp sprayers That's just a small sampleing of what the rest of the world got in various places that I've noticed. GD

Actually they all are Leone's. The entire EA81/EA82 chassis is refered to as the Leone on all parts of the world except the US. There were some "mistakes" early in the EA82 run I think tho - like this one I found once: GD

That's not an easy question. It has to be broken down by year and model as things changed all the time. And even then, badging alone can't give you all the answers. Better to just hang around here, and look at lots of subaru's and you'll get a "feel" for it eventually. The hard and fast "rules" are few and far between as far as badging. The basic rule is that a DL is a lower model than a GL. GL-10's are higher yet. The GLF was an 80/81/82 designation that was dropped after that and applies to specifically the coupe I beleive.... other than that it doesn't seem to mean a lot. I've seen 2WD, 4WD, EA71 and EA81 versions of the GLF. But there's even more badging out there: GL-10 Turbo (EA81) GL-5 DL-5 GFT-5 (JDM) Just a few off the top of my head that I've seen or own. And to all those future posters that *think* they know about such and such *feature* that only came on a specific badging.... think before you speak cause there's MANY, MANY variations out there, and someone will probably shoot you down. Only a few that come to mind are fairly specific - DL's didn't get the intermittant wipers for example, and were never equipped with power windows, etc. They also didn't have a tilt column and some other stuff. DL Brat's never had the Halo-Twin roof. Basically a stripped down model in almost all respects. As far as the GL/GL-10/GLF/etc linup tho - it's all pretty fair game. GD

Clearly you haven't seen very many D/R's. That's a standard 85 RX interrior (for a RHD version), and all 85's had that style lever. GD