GeneralDisorder

You can make them stronger, but you'll have to make the diff stubs solid, and then you'll start breaking u-joints in the driveline, and work your way up to blowing gears out of the transmission. The axles are "fuses" - they break when the stresses in the system are too great. It would be MUCH more usefull if you machined bolt flange style axles and joints so they can be changed easily when they break. I've broken axles in H1 hummers - they are the same way. You will not be able to make them unbreakable. Speed breaks axles, and without lower gearing people will continue to demolish them. If you really want to be usefull, and you have the computer CNC machines to make axles, cut us lower gear sets instead. Lower first gear to a crawler gear, lower the low range gear, and turn the remaining 4 gears into a 4 speed ratio set for street travel. GD

Actually - that's exactly what I was planning - but I'll probably use small cut sections of solid steel rod (or small diamter tubing if I can find some I like), and mount them to the side of the shifter - then drill and tap those. Nut's would work too, but I can better control the design with rod. Rather than set screws I may just use bolts, and counter sink some holes into the shift rod to run the bolts into. At any rate, I'll be able to dissasemble if however I do it. Here in the US, Brat's are not a common thing - you have the luxury of 5 extra years of production, and all the parts availibility that comes with it. Of course I may never get around to doing anything about it - 5 speeds are common as dirt here now, so I'll most likely just drop one in. The linkage is far superior. GD

The bearing is a press-fit into the trailing arm. You have to unscrew the big ring nut on the back of the trailing arm, and pound the old bearing and race out. It can be a difficult job - especially if the bearing has overheated, and maybe had some contaminates in it - rust, etc. Getting the new one in can be just as much of a challenge as you have to drift them in carefully with a brass punch to avoid causing any damage. It's a tight fit, and easiest to do it with a press, and the proper adaptors. That's not to say that it can't be done without - I've done it many times. I just don't like doing them. Set aside at least a good two hours for the job - maybe longer. You should replace at a minimum the bearing, and it's inner and outer seal. And make sure to grease them very well. You don't want to have to do the job again anytime soon. Alternatively, you could find a whole trailing arm at the junk yard, and be done in just an hour perhaps - probably cost less too. The bearing is about $50 even from the cheapest supplier, and I know I can get trailing arms (control arms) for about $11 here. Still want to give it a good grease job, and install new seals. Try to find a low mileage one. Anything around 100k is good - I've seen these bearings last well past 200k easily. GD

That distributor looks like it should fit - it's got the right gear (looks ok anyway), and mounting tab (maybe the slot is off, but it's got a single tab like all EA81 disty's).... but I've never seen one with a screw on cap - that's completely weird. EA71/EA81 distys are all the same, and EA82's have two mounting tabs and a different drive gear...... I have a strange suspicion what you have there is actually an EA81 Turbo distributor, which may have the screw on cap I beleive, and also would not work with the carb engine (as the shop informed you) due to the Turbo being a crank angle sensor type distributor for fuel injection. The EA81 engine series cars (including the Brat) came with two distributor types - Nippon-Denso, and Hitachi. 2WD came with ND, and 4WD with Hitachi. However, since ALL Brats were 4WD, it would have been equipped with the Hitachi from the factory. It could have been changed - they are direct bolt it swaps. As to the cap color - it means nothing - I've seen every color under the sun, and a few more. There are about 40 million makers of caps/rotors, and I think they just use whatever color plastic they can get cheap. As a general rule, the ND's seem to be brown/red, and the Hitachi's seem to be black, but I have a Hitachi one that's brown right now :-\. If you want the right part, go to the dealer - they are cheap anyway. GD

That's already been discussed, and as stated we DO NOT want to weld it. I would rather improve on the design, learn something in the process, and have it easily reversible than ghetto weld the thing together. It's the principle of the thing - weld it if you like, but I'll not be having ghetto tractor mechanic garbage on my ride GD

It's more complex than that. (none of what follow applies to NZ or AUS - they got stuff at different times, and were discontinued at different times). 86 Brat will have the hole for the antenna on the passenger side. This did not occur till the 83 model year. Also the front of the fenders on 80/81 models is different where the corner markers mount - such that they will not fit the quad headlight front end of the 86. So your list of donor vehicles for fenders (in the US) are: 83-84 Anything 85-89 Hatchback 85-87 Brat That's for direct fit - if you want to do body work, 82 fenders will work, but the radio hole is on the wrong side. As has been stated, doors are Coupe/Hatchback/Brat doors, with different glass. GD

Vacuum hose hooked to the intake manifold has come loose somewhere - trace the hose and find the leak. GD

Small amount of milkshake out the valve covers can indicate bad intake manifold gaskets. It is VERY common for them to leak. Have you flushed the oil, and filled it a couple times to get all the water out? And have you cleaned out the entire PCV system? The EA81's are extremely rugged - I've done quite a few HG's on them and had nothing but good results. GD

I'm going to say that shop is wrong or looking to make money. Subaru's have VERY tough valves, and you have low mileage. There is almost no way you could have bad valves. Your problem is most likely something to do with the fuel injection - idle air control, mass air sensor, or throttle position sensor come to mind, or some other sensor causing a rough idle. GD

They are very reputable in the Portland area. GD

www.rockauto.com - $19.37 I swear by the Fel-Pro's - no retorque required for one thing, and I would rather have new head gasket technology than 20 year old dealer stock. Even if you get wholesale price from the dealer like I do, the Fel-Pro's are still cheaper. And if you saw what I did to the ones in my Brat just a week after replacing them, you would never go back either. GD

Check the tie rods and rod ends yourself - jack up each wheel, and try to move the tie rod or end in and out. If you can move it (with the steering locked) then they need replaced. Both are easy, but careful attention must be made to get them back where they were before, or you will fubar your alignment and ruin your tires. Easily done with a bottle of white nail polish. Personally, I think they are wrong as I've never seen tie rods or tie rod ends cause brake shudder on a subaru - but check them and if they are worn they should be replaced anyway. Just know that it might not fix your problem. Check your ball joints and all the bushings down there while you are at it. Give it a good inspection, and stop relying on shops to tell you what's wrong. Use your eye, and your noggin. Resurfaced..... well still could be the rotors. Frankly they are cheap, and I never bother resurfacing them. GD

Yeah - I have EA82's too tho (my daily is an 86 sedan, and my woman has an 87 coupe). So it will claim a spot on my shelf of goodies for now. I have a 5 speed swap in store for the coupe in the next few weeks - it may come in handy. GD

I think it was $6 for the whole EA82 cross-member. I wasn't sure exactly what I would do - but I knew I needed to do something. I got the whole cross-member in case I decided to use it somehow. As it happens, it's WAY not the right shape or size for the job. GD

Really? Interesting - all the ones I've taken apart had them.... I'll have to look under the valve covers on the one I put in the wagon - it's an 83 block I think. You know when they started? GD

You don't have hydro lifters - that is a solid lifter pushrod. Hydro's are steel, solid are aluminium with steel caps. GD

Easy fix (and the way all my block are) is to visit your local metal supermarkets (it's a chain) and have 4 blocks cut from 1/4" wall 2x4 channel. Then you can double bolt it with no fear of the block collapsing. Block are about $5 each, and they will cut them for you in about 10 minutes. It actually makes the lift cheaper due to not having the added cost of the super long bolts. Short bolts are a LOT cheaper. The intricate design of the thin-wall tubing, and the center support is fine, but not neccesary for a subaru. It adds to the build labor, and to the cost for the bolts needlessly. The 1/4" wall stuff is so insanely strong.... I have never come even close to bending one, and neither has anyone else I've been out with. Even 5 or 6 inch blocks are solid with 1/4". Even if you did manage to need extra support, there is plenty of room on the blocks to weld sides over the openings and leave a slot in the center to get the bolts in and out. Plus the shorter bolts don't tend to work loose nearly as much. GD

You really should have used the bright green stuff tho GD

Wheel bearing. The "axle" that you grabbed is not - it's the stub shaft, and it's a solid moving part. The axle is splined to this on the back of the trailing arm. Here's the rub - when you removed the hub, you removed the wheel bearing outer support. The hub/drum sits against the back of the outer bearing and by removing it, the bearing will just flop around and slide off the end of the stub shaft. So actually, the stub shaft haveing lots of play like you describe is perfectly normal when dissasembled to that level. That said, your grinding is probably the wheel bearing - when they fail, they usually make quite a racket. Grinding with a lot of heat and smoke is common. GD

How many of you have *actually* expereinced a subaru rod knock? I have, and I'll tell you that it's nothing like that - it's MUCH quieter than lifters till about 30 seconds before it blows through the side of the block. It definately made noise, but it was only under load. At idle with no load you couldn't hear it at all. Ran real pretty - that's why almost without exception rod bearing failure results in the block being destroyed - people don't expect that "little noise" to be so important, and just keep driving till it's too late. I am with the seafoam knocking some junk in the lifter camp - sounds like just a single lifter is really pissed off. If this were a GM forum - rod knock all the way. GD

If the float is off, it won't sputter much at all - the idle circuit is very sensitive, and if you round a sharp corner with the clutch engaged the engine will drop and try to idle - but not have any fuel. It will pretty much just die out. That's what mine would do on hard left turns. If I kept the clutch out it wasn't real noticeable as the wheels drive the engine at a higher speed, and the float level is not as important off-idle. Try taking the corner with the clutch engaged but with your foot reving the engine slightly - use the hand brake if you need to slow down. That will tell you if it's dying because of fuel starvation of the idle circuit, or something completely un-fuel related. GD

I haven't personally done the conversion, but many people have. I would make a new post and see what others have done. You'll probably want at least part of the donor car's wireing harness, and you may need to run a couple wires, but it's not near as complex as the old system you have. GD

Actually I've picked up a number with my wagon - the 5 inches of lift, mud tires, custom bumpers, stickers, dents, mud, etc are what does it, not the wagon. If it were stock...... yeah... the camry would be better just cause it's clean and not old. GD

You won't have nearly as much fun with a 2WD 4 door sedan. Hard to pick up chicks with it too - want to check out the rims on my beige sedan baby? GD

Depends on how it broke - I've had them rip free of the joint (inners and outers) and start flopping around down there. Nasty things can happen including destruction of the brake lines. If you must drive it, take the axle out, remove the outer spindle, and reinstall it without the axle shaft or inner joint. THEN drive it in 4WD. GD