GeneralDisorder

I've always wondered - 20 or so odd car batteries, and a leaf blower motor..... maybe. Would be a good eppisode of mythbusters - I can only imagine what they would end up using for 15 lbs of boost from something "electric" GD

Is filling the doors and front end with concrete outside the rules too? GD

Drain your alternator, messy up your engine bay..... It will help a lot in the weight department. Of course just carrying plastic instead of cash would help just as much. GD

Yeah - if the bearing gets too bad the whole rear drum assembly will eat itself. Had that happen once to me. Luckily it just locked the wheel up solid. Took it apart to find lots of little mini brakes :-\. It's sort of like mini-wheats, but not as tasty, and no frosting. GD

Those are all good sugestions. Pop the heads off and have a complete valve job done - three angle grind, port & polish the heads, mill 20 thou off em to up your comp a little. I'm sure Delta cam will be able to assist with your cams - just send em in, and they can grind whatever you like. For big tires, you want a torque machine - so go low end. Heavy torque cam. I'm guessing there is a LOT to be gained here for the ER27 being that it was really built for a sports coupe, and had a light flywheel, and such. Change to the "heavy" EA82 flywheel. Bolt pattern is the same. This will give you more rotating mass, and higher torque at lower RPM. Can't "recurve" the disty since it's.... software. But you can do the fuel management and look into fuel maps for low end torque. That will also give you timing control. Seriously - you would rather LOSE some peak HP for more low end - it's going to get you farther off road. On road is going to be fine - 235's are not all that large for the HP the ER27 can put out - even detuned a bit at the peak. Keep in mind that the "perfect" off road engine for a vehicle with the Brat's capabilities would really be a lightweight diesel - you want to try and approximate that model as much as possible. Think of the Hummer H1, and model your mods off it - just that will get you FAR (ex military myself). Realize that here you have a 6,000 lb+ truck (four wheel independant just like a soob) with an AUTOMATIC (yes, they only come as auto's), and only 160 peak HP from a non-turbo V8 diesel (armored ones are different). You want serious grunt, not 200 HP at 10,000 RPM. You'll never see a use for it. I know it's not as "glamorous" as a turbo, but it's what will work - vs. being stuck and blowing your engine to bits. Remember that less is more off road. There's a reason people still drive willy's jeeps, old beater trucks, 60's rovers, samuri's and the like.... they are simple, rugged, and almost always will bring you back. Note how any of the previously mentioned if set up for off-road will do around 50 MPH on the freeway - teeth chattering, bone jarring ride it may be, but those are the ones that get the job done. It really does come down to weight and gearing. A lot of the old rovers made around 50 - 60 HP. They are stump pulling, tree climbing machines. Same for Suzuki's, and old willy's jeeps too. GD

EA81 and Justy have the same splines. Legacy = NO. GD

Could get 5 more HP by swapping to the MPFI heads, intake and wiring from a late model XT. (Rather than a port/polish, which probably wouldn't net you even 5). But that's a ton of work for 5 HP. Better off getting an EJ22. "As good as it gets" about covers it really. In more ways than one. Not just for HP, but for simplicity, and reliability too. GD

I matched mine up with a round file - didn't take long. Dremel would work too. I've ground on some, and not on others - no difference that I could tell. The intake manifold itself is more of a restriction - better to just get an EA82 manifold, and use the EA82 adaptor. Better flow all around. GD

Yeah - I understand what you mean. Some people are just stupid. Personally I drive near the speed limit, and occasionally I get some asshat that thinks it's real fun to tailgate me for miles on a two lane road. Often I just keep slowing down till they get the idea, but someone is going to push me too far one day.... Case in point - on my way home from WA one time - I driving my lifted wagon, and a friend and his wife behind me - he in an RX, and she driving my Brat. I was doing about 65 in the fast lane - it was dark, and I had friends following me. I notice someone close on my tail, so I immediately get over to the center lane (it's late, dark, and I'm in a caravan - the last thing on my mind is messing with other motorists). He gets over as well - and continues to tailgate me. He gets closer and closer till his headlights dissapear from my rear-view. I can't get over another lane because there was a city bus there. That, and the fast lane was COMPLETELY clear. I'm pretty annoyed as there isn't really anything I can do here. So to signal him that I was not intending to speed up, I touched my brake pedal enough to turn the lights on, but not slow me down (28" tires - the brakes don't even work all that well ). Everything sort of became a blur at that point - he whipped into the fast lane, shot in front of me (nearly), and then back into my lane - only he hadn't calculated it quite right, and the left rear quarter panel of his Ford Focus hatchback smashed into my front bumper/brushguard. I pretty much lost my sh!z at that point, and threw it into third and rammed him - left a huge knarly dent in the rear hatch of his Focus. For his part he did nothing - probably paralized with fear by now. I came up next to him in the fast lane and glared over as it to ask "where are we taking this?" but he would not return my stare. I left - never to hear about it again. Moral of the story - don't mess with folks in lifted subaru's - we are a strange bunch - slightly imbalanced already. Only thing I can figure is he was either trying to draft me like a semi, he was totally high on something, or off-chance I picked up a rock and chipped his windsheild or something with my agressive tires and lack of mudflaps.... GD

So let me get this straight... you are putting an ER27 into a Brat? With a turbo? And then lifting it? For a daily driver?!?! Since no one has asked this stuff: 1. Are you aware you will need to relocate the radiator? 2. The ER27 is much too high compressio to run any sort of turbo.... are you putting in EA82T pistons? Even so, the heads are the same design as the EA82 MPFI head, and are most likely not going to handle the added heat of the turbo. If you change the pistons, you might be able to reliably run 5 lbs on it or something. Basically the ER27 is the EA82 with extra cylinders - ask around the board about people that have run even a carb block (9.0:1) with turbo heads - lots of power for about 5,000 miles. The ER27 is going to be 9.5:1 same as the EA82 SPFI and MPFI. Then of course there is the totally seperate issue of the cams.... you'll have to have custom cams done. 3. Fuel management - I hope you have some ideas - megasquirt I guess. Stock ECU isn't going to cut it. Might as well do crank fired ignition and do away with the disty while you are at it - one less thing to get wet. 4. Turbo engines are generally not good for off-road. For one it's difficult to keep them spooled, and at lower non-spooled RPM the turbo is just a big anchor backing up your exhaust flow. Also off-roading in a lifted Brat with 235's (you'll need more than 4" for 235's BTW) is going to be mostly slow crawling and some speedier stuff, but nothing over 20 MPH really. That's going to be rough on the heat situation - turbo's generate a lot, and to get that turbo power you'll need to get it spooled.... even more heat. 5. Daily driver..... . Your mileage with 235's will be worse than most large SUV's. Think 15 MPG with a turbo ER27 and those tires. I get 20 - 22 in my wagon with 215's and an EA81. Turbo's SUCK the fuel. Ask anyone with an EA82T. Mods just make them suck more fuel too. For comparison I get near 30 in my stock Brat. Just some stuff to think about - don't want to discourage you, and the ER27 is a great swap.... I just think the turbo part is a waste of time for what you want. GD

If you don't care about the car, a 2lb copper or brass hammer will do the job - I jacked up the threads something aweful tho (totaled parts car anyway). GD

You won't be able to tell it's bad from the outside - the wear is on the inside of the joint, and likely has been there for a while - the various axle rebuilders don't replace stuff unless it's totally broke. Heat will make it more obvious - especially on the passenger side where the axle is right above the cat. The extra heat will expand the joint, and make it more loose. Also will cook the grease inside and turn it into some nasty goop. You may have good luck with just replaceing the grease and finding out why your cat is getting so hot. Make sure the heat sheild is in place, and check your mixture. Maybe a bad O2 sensor or something. (personally I just gut the cat's on mine so I don't have to worry about heat cooking off my boots) GD

And you have owned this wagon for all of the 275k? It could have been replaced before you got it.... I've owned some that had good oil pressure too. But I also threw a rod because of a bad oil pump. Also the oil change interval has a lot to do with it - if you do the 3k interval it would probably last a lot longer. Subaru says (and still does!) to change the oil every 7500, and the filter every 15k..... GD

Could be a different guage than what I got. And where is this turbo oil light port? I don't have any turbo soobs (right now), so is it somewhere other than on the pump? GD

I swear one of these days when I have an expendable car (it's bound to occur at some point - jeez I get subaru's like crazy), I know it's going to happen. The right time - the right day - maybe I'm not terribly interested in showup up for work on time or whatever. Someone is going to eat a subaru. I'm just going to lock em up with them riding 8 feet off my bumper and let the car go to the crusher. I'm an upstanding citizen, member of the national guard, and I've NEVER had an accident. I'll tell all about the puppies that were in the road in front of me..... oh it will be an awesome day fo-sho. And being an expendable car I'll ask for an unreasonable amount from the insurance, claim injuries - oh joyus day indeed! If I only cure one idiot of tailgating, then I will have contributed a little. I'll try to make sure it's one of those $50k SUV's. My little Subaru will total it. hehehehe. Oh yeah - and I won't lock em up till I see them turn their head to the side to make sure their reaction time is less. GD

Actually that's a fabulous idea Shawn! Grounding that wire will peg the guage.... which is like 75 on the EA81, and 60 or something like that on the EA82. That will tell you if the guage is capable of reading higher numbers or not. It should actually go up above the red mark at the top. The one on my EA82 did that a few times when the wire was flopping around after I installed the mechanical guage.. BTW - the cheap wall mart model has really crappy tubing and tubing fittings. They leak if you leave them loose enough not to damage the tubing, and if you tighten them more they will cut into the tubing and then you have a serious leak. The guage itself is cheap as hell too, but it seems to work ok. It was all an experiment to see what it would take to install one for me - parts list and such. Just a weird thing I do sometimes. The VDO brand guages come with plenty of tube for a soob - they are designed for older VW's with rear engines, so lots of tube (15 feet I think) is included. Only get like 5 or 6 with the silly wally world model. GD

Sure - awesome idea in principle. I have aftermarket guages on my EA82, and on my lifted EA81. Here's the catch - cheapest guage you can get - $10 from wall mart. Then you need to plumb it - it doesn't come with the appropriate adaptor so you are forced to either make one (I made one from an old sender) or buy a whole package of "metric" adaptors which runs about $15. Second cach is that the cheap tubing you get with the guage is too short to reach into the cockpit as the sender is all the way on the front of the engine so you have to buy more tubing. That's a trip to wall mart for the guage and another trip to some other parts store for fittings and tubing..... now your looking at being $40 into this silly aftermarket guage foolishness..... $60 would have got you a new pump and complete peice of mind. As for the dash guages - they aren't bad except they have no markings for accurately telling the pressure. They have 0, a halfway mark, and a top mark. Pretty much 1 step above an idiot light.... GD

They are smaller than my 28's (different brand), so yes very close to 27". Mine are 215/75r15 if that helps. I had to do some serious beating with my original 3" blocks to get them to not rub on turns. I replaced my blocks (4") and have my struts turned up, and no rubbing at all now. GD

Once again - always people trying to save you money at the vast expense of time I guess. That, and there's a few folks on here that haven't played much with EA82's and are basing their opinion on the EA81 - changing the pump on an EA81 is about a 15 minute job.... vs. 2 hours on an EA82. Seriously - the dang pump is $60, and will take you 2 hours minimum to get at. If you pressure is low just do the whole pump and be done with it. They need to be replaced every 100k. New seals, New pump, and possibly a new sending unit if it's leaking at the screw on the bottom. If you don't have pressure after that your engine is seriously fubar inside. GD

There's probably a crapload of ethanol in it too.... And you are forgetting that in the US octane is calculated differently than the rest of the world. GD

Sounds like your cooling system needs an overhaul. I see a new radiator in your future.... GD

Octane is a rateing of the resistance of a fuel to spontaneous detonation - nothing more. 100+ octane on it's own means little other than it can be compressed much more before detonation will occur. With higher octane comes a lowering of BTU's per gallon - the measure of potential energy the fuel contains. For best performance and econemy you should always run the LOWEST octane your engine will stand without detonation. "Race" gas probably contains some very corrosive octane boosting agents that would not contribute to the longevity of your engine. Racing engines are just that - for racing. They are not designed for long life or reliability over a time period. They are designed usually to run at high RPM for sometimes as little as 1 or 2 races before being replaced or rebuilt. This allows the use of corrosive octane boosting agents, as well as the use of oxidizing fuels like NOS. So no - don't run it in a soob engine - unless you built it with 10:1 compression just for racing. Your mileage would decrease, and your power would decrease with 100+ octane in a normal engine. GD

If the Redneck trick worked a little bit, it really might be time for a good rebuild on that carb - a teardown and overnight soak in carb cleaner and all new gaskets should make it right again. Unfortunately this seems to be fairly common with the old Hitachi's. They get awful finicky with age, and the jets are sunk into the "floor" of the float bowl where dirt and debris can just get sucked into them.... or have you put any thought into a Weber conversion? I'm sure there are members in your area that would lend a hand. It's actually quite an easy conversion. They tune well, and your entire driving experience will improve 100%. I recently did the conversion to my 86 sedan, and this time around I went with a used carb from a board member ($80) and after a rebuild, a couple new jets, and changing the choke to an electric style I got the whole job done for just under $200. Daily driving will probably help some, yes. The new gasoline will dissolve some of the old varnish in the carb. Gas treatment works wonders..... at cleaning your wallet. Being that your question is engine related only, this forum is fine - the engine in your Brat (EA71) was availible in the Gen 2 body's till 89, so it's largely a toss up. If you have body or trim or interior questions it will probably best be put in the other forum. Frankly tho, you'll get much better results in this section as most people (like me) don't go over there a lot. GD

What voltage does the injector work at? Maybe someone else on here knows. You should be able to apply whatever voltage it needs directly to the injector wires and get the injector to open and spray.... assuming the fuel pump is running at least that will tell you if the injector is going to spray properly or not. Don't worry - we'll get you to the bottom of this eventually GD

Easy way to keep the tailgaters at bay: In town - large hastily scrawled note in the window: "Learning to drive clutch - stay back!" On the freeway - just scoot way down in your seat or lean over to the passenger side like you are looking for something on the floor - swerve slowly into the breakdown lane and then jerk back into your lane violently - then repete this process with the lane next to you, or into the gravel, etc. They won't be mad - they will think you are nuts and either drop way back or pass you. Yes - I know I'm insane. How many of you have rammed someone on the freeway (on purpose) with your lifted ru? GD