GeneralDisorder

Or ya could just buy brand new rims - my 15" white wagon wheels were $27 each from Tire Factory.... I would imagine they can get 14's too. New rims hold the bead better and almost never leak - very smooth bead surface and powder coated too. Plus they look.... well... new. GD

The tranny will slide off the clutch - you don't have to take the pressure plate and disc off if that's what you mean. Pulling the tranny is a biotch - get the car as high as you can in the air, and start unbolting stuff. As for fixing the shifter slop - it's real freakin hard to get it to go away (I've tried the drill and bolt style - in fact a lot of the pictures out there were from my work on my wagon). I'm pretty much done with 4 speeds, but I had an idea - grind two or four flat spots on the shift rod, and then drill and tap the sides of the shifter sleeve for some 1/4" set screws - you know the kind with the hex drive? You can get them at larger NAPA's and a good hardware store should have a nice selection. This has the advantage that you can use several of them (I was thinking either 4 or 6) which will spread out the load, and the set screws have a dished inset on the bottom that will "bite" into the flat spots on the rod and lock it solid. I may give it a whirl one of these days just to prove the concept, but it should work, and will be a hell of a lot better than a single bolt. GD

I doubt they make a "universal" kit for the weber - just head down to your local VW import shop - I'm sure EMPI makes a kit - just ask around. They are common as dirt. GD

Since the weber isn't technically legal either, they are easy to find - common swap actually. Redline makes a kit for it. But as has been pointed out - you just need fused ignition operated power for the choke housing - little bit of wire, a relay, and a fuse will cost less than the manual kit, and it's nicer to not have to worry about the choke. GD

You do not have a "breakerless" distributor - you have a crank angle sensor distributor - it's just a sensor for the ECU - like the O2 sensor. Other than providing a path for the spark from the coil and ignitor via the cap and rotor, it doesn't directly do any timing or spark. ALL the crank angle sensor distributors are the same internally - some have different connectors, but they are all the same. All the fuel injection cars (ALL of them) use this same unit. The ignitor is a more likely (and cheaper from the junk yard) culprit. Try that first. It's under the coil on the coil bracket. GD

If you have the resources, it's best to pull the engine and do a reseal. For the oil pan at least, use ONLY the dealer gasket - others are vastly inferior - I had one last only a week! You *can* do the pan gasket in the car (have to unbolt the engine mounts, and jack it up), but you can't really do the rear main seal easily, and the valve covers are easier out of the car too. The valve covers you can just RTV and reuse, but the pan gasket should be replaced. The front and rear crank seals, and the cam seals should be replaced as well as the oil pump seals (requires removing the timing belts, and cam sprockets - take the plastic belt covers off and throw them in the trash. Most likely they are all leaking a little. It's a subaru thing - if you can live with it just leave it alone. They mark their territory but it's not usually detrimental - it looks like a lot but it's really not. GD

That is kind of strange..... but here goes. 86 *should* definately be vented. The change was 83.5, so some 83's are vented, some are not. My 84 wagon, and my 85 brat are both vented. I had an 83 turbo wagon a while ago, and it was vented also - later 83 production. You'll have the change the calipers, bracket, and rotors - calipers are wider and bracket is specific. EA82 parts are unfortunately too big - the EA82 front discs are larger. www.rockauto.com has some decent prices on rebuilt calipers, or you could get the $40 (or less on-sale) kit from harbor frieght with the tools to reassemble them, and get a "rebuild" kit from the same site. Are you absolutely certain that someone didn't just put the non-vented rotors in by mistake, and the calipers are just way extended.... I'm not sure that will even work, but maybe they just changed the rotors and used the wrong part number..... GD

I wouldn't worry about the cylinder liner - they can spin if the engine has been bored (more likely if it's been done without a bore plate), but generally they do not. I've seen my share of blown head gaskets, and I've yet to come across a spun sleeve. Usually they blow, and as you are describing they still have about 15 - 30 psi of compression. Likely you'll be fine with just some new gaskets. Take .020" off the heads for a bit more compression (your manifold will still fit fine). I would also reccomend the Fel-Pro perma-torque gaskets. They don't need to be retorqued, and I've personally put mine through a complete coolant loss and severe overheat (I mean SEVERE - a lot like your scenario) with no ill effects. Also - you would benefit in the power and torque department from getting your hands on some 83+ heads. They have larger intake valves (2mm larger in diameter) and are good for several HP. Wouldn't be any more work, just have to get a set. I have a few sets, but shipping might be a little steep. GD

Once again - subaru's are NOT rocket science people - you don't need milling machines, presses, counter-sink's etc. A 1/2" variable speed hand drill, and a die grinder or dremel tool will do all your wheels plus a spare in an hour or less. I've done, and been party to doing, at least 3 sets of steel rims. Not a single balance issue or problem to date. The two stock holes in the rim are sufficient to keep your drilled holes in balance. Basically if you use the two existing holes, the two you drill WILL be balanced or the wheel won't even fit. The pattern (the subaru FACTORY hub) is already balanced, so your holes will be too. Work smarter, not harder guys - and remeber this is not the space shuttle. It's OK to trust your own abilities to line things up and center a drill bit - the holes are too close to the axis of revolution to cause any real imabalance in the assembled system. Be smart - use a center punch, mark where the center of the hole should be, punch it so the drill bit doesn't wander, drill with a smaller pilot bit first, measure again to make sure it's centered and drill the final hole. Bevel the edge a little with a die grinder..... and use a little cutting oil (or even motor oil - just go slow) to keep the bit sharp. Just trying to illustrate that anyone can do this - you don't need to pay a machinist, and you definately don't need a whole mess of tools for it.... GD

You can't fit under a 4WD touring wagon? Dang son - you're a big-un aint ya? Get the wheels off the ground and rotate them - both go the same way on an LSD, and go opposite on open diffs. GD

Not only that, but you don't just have AL in the cooling system - you have brass, steel, aluminium, zinc (in the coolant), plastic, RTV, rubber, etc, etc GD

89, so his ignitor is not in the distributor - it's under the *coil* in a seperate unit. Distributor is just the crank angle sensor, but you may have a problem there too.... although I've only ever seen those fail completely (ie - no spark at all). *edit - I meant to say coil here - not distributor - hehe* GD

I drilled mine by hand, and no balance issues at all. Didn't even have the tires balanced after I drilled them. The drilled holes are close to the axis of revolution compared to the size of the tire/wheel combo as a whole. At extremely high speeds (100+) it might be an issue but for most of us that is not a problem. I've had mine to probably 85 or 90, with no problems. As far as offset, Nissan and Toyota will give you a similar-to-stock offset, while chevy rims will stick out quite a bit, and require more beating and rubbing. I run the Chevy rims as I like the wider offset - it improves the handling on road without the sway bars (better articulation off road), and throws more mud off-road being they are not covered with fenders. And they look nicer IMO. GD

DOH! The cable from the dealer is like $13 - maybe as much as $17 if you have a crappy dealer. It should also be mentioned that this is only a problem on the 80-83 EA81's that have the older style clutch cable mounting. Might be helpful if you posted pictures of the difference.... GD

1 - Are you losing coolant? If so, any evidence on the ground? 2 - If you crank the engine with the radiator cap off (cold) does the coolant boil out? This will indicate cylinder pressure entering the system. You may have to crank for 20 - 30 seconds to get it to bubble out of the radiator cap - depending on how much the head gasket is leaking. If you are losing coolant, it may just be your intake manifold gaskets. I've had to replace them on every EA soob I've ever owned practically. GD

Just need a head gasket - but do them both, and have the heads milled. You almost certainly warped them, and the milling will give you higher comp. anyway. I doubt you did any other damage - unless you lose oil or oil pressure, the insides will be fine. GD

Probably does not apply to the EA81 N/A - the T heads are quite different. For one, they have injector boss's where the NA ones do not. Different casting. GD

Late 80's Izuzu Impulse seats are almost a bolt it - three of the 4 holes line up, and the 4th is easy - I just made a little adaptor with a bit of 1/2" x 1/8" flat bar I had around - the adaptor is about 2" long with two holes drilled in it. They sit lower and provide more leg room, and nicely do away with the crappy vinyl seats that came in the Brat. GD

Yeah - not only do you have to remove the bolts on the valve rockers, but you will also need to remove the rocker assembly, and the pushrods - keep them in order. You will have to remove some rubber covers on the frame rails to get the rocker assembly bolts to come out of the head. And if you haven't done it already - you need to remove the intake manifold, and the exhaust manifold. GD

Should be as they say - 14mm head, and yes it needs a flat washer and a lock washer on it to prevent it from coming out. GD

Yeah - I will. I now have some wire to hold them compressed too! GD

I call NOT photoshop. 1. Paint overspray on the dump bed 2. Transparency on the rear "windowlets" is too good, and the paint matching where it was re-sprayed on the rear quarters is too bad - not to mention they made custom side moldings but didn't paint the silver stripe on them. Clearly someone's attempt at an EA82 Brat, but no one good enough with photo shop to figure out the transparency of the rear windows, and the bed overspray pattern would be bad enough to mis-match the paint color, and not do the silver stripe on the moldings. Definately not a photoshop.... GD

140 is good, but the 180 air corrector is not. Should be 170 on the main, and 160 on the secondary IIRC. But it sounds like that thing is dirty - I bet the accelerator pump diaphram is either shot, or the accelerator pump system is clogged. That would explain your hesitation nicely. GD

Searching the board would yeild a lot of info - best to check it all as I might miss a thing or two. You basically just need the trans, and the driveline (different length). The driveline for the 5 speed is also a two peice, and the center "carrier" bearing affixes to the transmission/driveline tunnel with a couple bolts. The mount obviously isn't present on the EA81 body, so a mount must be created - I've done it simply with a couple of 4" peices of angle iron with holes drilled for the bolts. Then you just need to replace the clutch disc with a 5 speed disc (different spline counts on the trans input shaft), mount the transmission, hook up the 5 speed shift linkage, and use the 5 speed console if you desire a clean look on the interior - or you can just shove the 5 speed linkage into the 4 speed console with a tiny bit of cutting. There is also a board member that makes a "conversion" linkage setup that will make it look completely stock if you are doing a restoration quality setup. It sounds more difficult than it really is, and it's very worth the little extra work for the added reliability, and the smooth shifting 5 speed. As an extra benefit, the low range is lower too. GD

If you really want to do it right, take it to a cylinder head shop and have it TIG welded and tapped, but frankly JB weld would take care of it too. If you need help I have a four day weekend comming.... GD