GeneralDisorder

I don't think it's all *that* bad, but making the harnesses play nice with each other might suck. Things like the 3 pin vs. 4 pin TPS..... the 4EAT (your AWD slush box) only came with the EA82T, and the legacys (EJ22), so I'm not sure if the TCU will play play friendly with the "plain jane" 3 pin TPS used with the SPFI..... and there's lots more strange things with the 4EAT I understand. It's basically a Legacy transmission with an EA bell-housing and it only came out with the EA82T's and only in the later 80's. But sadly I don't have an FSM that covers the 4EAT so I'm mostly blind on that one...... the fact that it was never coupled to a throttle body engine (and thus I'm assuming never intended to be) might make the TCU very unhappy, and because of it's programming might actually make it impossible for the TCU to run properly. Only careful study of the FSM would answer that question.... and maybe not even then. You should ask over in the new-gen forum. The Leganus nuts over there that deal with the 4EAT all the time might know more. Always seems easy before you start doing it. hehehe. Although I'm sure those yota's were just as painful in the wireing department. GD

Um - BAD idea. Brake fluid destroy's rubber - as in the rubber in your oil pump seals, and the cam tower o-rings to name a few. Brake fluid is nasty, caustic stuff, and shouldn't really be handled without gloves. The reason it feels so disgusting on your hands is because it actually absorbs into the pores of your skin and can poison you if you handle too much of it. GD

Well, to put it bluntly, no. See the problem is that while the engine ECU and the tranny ECU are indeed seperable, they are not seperate harnesses per-se. The tranny ECU relies on some of the engine sensors (IIRC), and the harnesses are all tied in together, wrapped in plastic, taped, tied, and mangled. It's a bit like siamese twins.... could you seperate them? Yes probably. Is it always the wisest plan of action? NO. They share all kinds of grounds and test connectors all through the harness. Just for an example, I spent about 5 hours seperating the SPFI engine control system from a 90 Loyale harness so I could graft it to my Brat.... and that was AFTER I got the thing out of the car, which took an hour at least, and to do it you have to remove the drivers side fender. If you want to go this route, it's best to swap the entire vehicle harnesses wholesale - but that means her learning to drive a stick.... It also means you have to swap the pedal assembly, tranny cross-member, rear driveline, rear diff, dash wireing harness, guage cluster, etc, etc. I'm not even sure *I* know what all would need to be swapped for that to happen. The auto to manual swap I just completed took about 3 weeks of non-full-time work and both cars were already SPFI. I did a complete reseal on the engine and moved engine+tranny from one car to another. But both were Loyales, and both were very similar. I feel ya brother - I wouldn't drive one myself, let alone give it to a spouse that's clueless about automobiles (in my case). Whoa! I mis-judged the size of the valley I guess. I saw Willamette and didn't really think about it. I'm in West Linn, just south of Portland. Still - I could drop down there for some beers some afternoon if you need some skilled advice. GD

Use the Weber - pitch the Holley off a cliff. Now that I see the pics, both are DFV's. That's gonna suck, but I guess you'll figure it out. Better than a Hitachi, but you will wish you had a DGV. GD

HAHAHAHA! You realize that thing is about as heavy as an EA81 engine right? That's a BIG unit, and runs off 115v. At 12v DC, you would need about a 2500 Watt inverter to run that sucker (191.6 amps at 12 volts according to my calcs.... so about 2300 watts, but inverters only run about 90% effeciency). Here's one: http://www.invertersrus.com/2500w-gp01.html Now you need to power that bad boy - figureing 195 amps for the blower, and another 1 amp for the inverter.... plus you need at least around 40-50 amps left over just for the vehicle electrical system..... so you are going to need a 250 amp alternator for all that stuff, and lets figure on at least two MONSTER heavy duty truck batteries. Lets figure out the cost: $500 for the 250 amp alt (hard to find these, and that's a low estimate) $180 for the inverter $200 for batteries $358 for that crazy shop blower thing $1238 for a few peices that can collect dust in the garage till you get the rest of the stuff you need to hook it all up because I didn't figure anything yet for cables, mounting hardware, gigantic relays, fuses, and all the other stuff you would need. Now, besides the fact that this all this stuff would add up to more weight than your wife and kids in the car with you.... you wouldn't gain enough HP with a 500 CFM electric blower to be worth the weight gain, nor enough to counteract the 250 amp draw from the alternator. Lets just assume you did it anyway.... when the inverter overheats and shuts down because you have been using it at max capacity for too long, how are you going to bypass the blower motor? GD

Yeah - they do, but sadly they are out of stock last time I ordered some. I got a call from them and had to change my order. Plus their shipping charges are outragous. GD

Actually, you will spend MORE time trying to graft the SPFI harness into the MPFI Turbo car than it would take to just swap the bottom ends. Although the higher comp. bottom end may not be a good idea for your spouses daily driver. That's not a known reliable combo. Looks like you must be really close to me (I'm in Willamette, near chevron and Albertsons) - I just finished an auto to manual swap, and I've done SPFI conversions too. Maybe I can help you out a bit. GD

EJ series - 22 probably, but could be an 18. Hard to tell (for me anyway). GD

You're better off with the analog. Digi's have no oil pressure guage for one. For another the EA81 digi's are not reliable. Totally not worth the effort because it will all go down the crapper when you can't find a replacement dash (and you WILL need one ) You would also need the digi's wireing harness for the plugs to the back of the cluster - they are different. Fuel sending unit in the tank is different. Nothing is going to work without modification. I went from an 84 digi to an 80 analog, and the car sat for a month while I sorted out the wireing. And I have the FSM for both clusters. Going the other way around would SUCK. You also need a dash from a very similar model or the trip computer won't be calibrated to the right size of fuel tank. GD

90 Loyale was before they fixed the long right-hand (IIRC) turn issue with the PCV system. You need to remove the small hose that goes from the T-fitting with the PCV valve hose over to the small port on the intake bootie, and replace it with a normal sized hose that T's into the passenger side breather hose and the intake boot. Plug the small hole where the little hose went in the rubber intake boot. Does that make sense? It's too late for a picture right now but I can make one tommorow for you.... You need two 5/8" T fittings, about 12" of 5/8" hose, and something to plug off the small port with - a bolt will work. GD

While that is true, it's no different than the existing 4 guage starter wire the runs directly to the starter lug. Should that short it would probably cause a fire also, but Subaru didn't see fit to install a fuse in that one..... Or is your point that the alternator circuitry is more likely to ground out than the starter solenoid? Now that I think on it, that may not be a bad idea really. I have a 60 amp fuse on the 8 guage wire going to my stereo amp, but then it runs through the firewall, and under carpeting, etc. So more likely to accidentally short I would think. GD

Even the carbed block EA82's will not float the valves till over 7,000 RPM. The SPFI engines were even higher - they had a 6500 RPM redline, while the older carbs were 6,000. You would have to hit around 8,000 or higher to float the SPFI valve springs. What you hit (if anything) was the rev limiter in the ECU. It retards the timing automatically as a safeguard. GD

Yep - that will work just fine. GD

I think it was Tim that mentioned about the mirror DFV fitting better. I personally don't like them for EA82's either. I like the DGV all around. I have one on my lifted wagon, and another on my daily EA82 sedan. Both are excelent peices of equipment and quite possibly the most reliable component on the cars. The straight DFV is fine, but the manifold adaptors for the EA81 and EA82 are designed for the DGV so the shape of the port isn't quite right. If you have AC, forget about getting the AC idle-up solenoid to work without major headache on the DFV/5200. The power steering pump reservior fitment is really a non-issue if you just take a ball-peen hammer to it where the choke sits. The Holley/Weber 5200 is a hack-job copy of the Weber (licsenced) but with smaller venturi's, and all the same emmissions ports that the Hitachi has. I don't like them as they are more complex, and not as powerful. If you are going to the trouble, might as well get a proper Weber I say. Once you have done the FI conversion, it's really not hard at all. The parts can be more expensive than a Weber though. GD

I can't even begin to explain how useful the lithium is on my muddy off-road wagon.... reminds me to grab another can actually. WD-40 is great for ignition parts, so I carry it too. Almost totally useless as a lubricant - wasn't even designed for that purpose. GD

What makes you think they are bad? The 5 speed mounts are usually pretty decent. Although maybe NY salt isn't as kind as OR is.... I could get you some nice firm ones from the yards around here if you like - lots of fairly low mileage 90's loyales in my yards - no rust or salt out here. Shouldn't be more than $5 each or so for the tranny mounts, maybe a bit more for the engine mounts and a few bucks for my hour's worth of labor. New ones.... you are looking at just slightly less than an a$$load. The 5 speed mounts aren't cheap - about $65 each, and you need two. Engine mounts are even more. Probably looking at over $200 for all four. GD

It's not the noise - it's the vibration that will suck. Dangerous to other parts of the machine unless you are purpose building it with everything else rubber mounted..... perhaps look into retrofitting some STi urethane units.... GD

+1. If you change your coolant at least bi-annually it *should* never need flushing. The anti-freeze has it's own anti-corrosion properties - it contains zinc and other ingredients to this end. Assuming the system is so bad it actually needs a flush, my experience has been that the heater core hoses should just be replaced as they are probably near failure anyway. $2 for 2' of 5/8" hose is cheaper than the silly flush kit with it's cheap plastic fittings. Also - the subaru heater core's have both the inlet and the outlet on the same side of the core about 2" apart. Flushing them almost never does any good at all - it just forces crud further into the core. GD

It's really very simple - our eyes work best in the spectrum of the sun, which is a white light, but somewhat towards yellow as well. Blue lights look cool, but are definately not better of the human eye. The silverstar's are not all that blue - they have a slight blue tint on the bulb surface, but the light itself is more white. They aren't the rice-tint blue you see on the hondar's. GD

Depends on the tranmission, year, and model. 5 speed mounts are very different from 4 speed, and auto's are yet entirely different from either of those. So we really can't comment without more info. GD

The "just some spray on stuff" is white lithium grease, and it's actually very similar to the original grease used. The spray helps to distribute the grease evenly, and get in spots that fingers can't go. It's actually an excelent product and we use it extensively in the military on all our trucks and equipment. You can get as thick a coating as you want with the spray. Unlike "rattle can" spray paint, grease in a can is not a "cheap solution", and is not frowned upon like you seem to think. GD

52 is solenoid valve 1, which according to my FSM controls the ASV(s). There are either one or two vacuum operated air suction valves comming off the spacers under each head. If you follow the vacuum supply line from one of these it will lead you back to solenoid 1. You can replace it with one from an SPFI soob or I hear the toyota ones are good too. Or a resistor should get the code gone. The ASV's aren't needed for proper operation and they tend to fail and suck junk into the carb anyway. GD

The Holley/Weber 5200 (Weber DFV series) has smaller venturi's in it (same size 32/36 barrels tho). While it will still give you a power increase, it won't be as much as a proper DGV Weber. Also it's more difficult to mount on an EA81 as it's a mirror image of the DGV with the throttle reversed. Fuel line has to be lengthened, and the the throttle cable routed differentely. I have about 3 or 4 of the DFV's and Holley's in a box around here and I don't use them. The SPFI coversion is THE way to go if you can get a cheap parts car. I'll take SPFI over a Weber, but I'll take a Weber over the Hitachi. GD

You can, but you really don't gain much - maybe 5 HP at the most. It's also nigh impossible on an EA81 unless you find EA81 turbo heads and manifold and put them on a non-turbo block. GD

For what exactly? I'm assuming it's probably a subaru?? GD