GeneralDisorder

Not entirely true. The old hoses are coated with refrigerant oil, and will not leak the R134a. However - since your system currently does not have a charge, then you ALREADY have a leak that will have to be fixed before you can go charging with R134a. Find the leak, or if the hoses look good then just replace the o-rings in the system. Follow the directions on the R134a TO THE LETTER. You use less of R134a than you do of R12. As long as you have no leaks in the old hoses, you just need to replace the o-rings and you should be able to charge the system with R134a. GD

The 1.6L VW beetle air cooled engine, which is known to go over 1 million miles in some cases, has no oil filter AT ALL. The Subaru engines are direct decendants of this engine - with water cooling and some other added bits. The worst quality oil you could find (used, from a junk yard for example), and no filter at all would probably not hurt a Subaru engine appreciably as long as it was full, and changed once a year. GD

The two goals are at odds. You cannot rally-x a rig that's lifted. They simply will not allow you to. Rules ya know. They are scared you will roll it. EA82's are not good for off-road. The timing belts and especially their tensioners cannot stand the dirt and water. They also tend to have Head Gasket problems, and noisy lifters that can be difficult to get rid of. Breaking a timing belt, or losing a tensioner bearing on the trail would be increddibly bad. I have enough problems with the one bearing I have exposed on my rig - the power steering idler pulley. I've replaced it twice now due to mud and grit from the trail. At least if it goes I can drive with no PS belt and get home..... The EA82 will fit in the 80 - barely. If you lift it tho, the frame rails will need to be cut and reinforced to clear the engine, as it will drop about 3" lower in the bay. The distributor must be removed from the engine for installation as it nearly does not clear the brake components on the firewall. It can be re-installed once the engine is bolted in place. You would be much better off finding an EA81 to install. They are pushrod engines (no timeing belts), and do not have the lifter or head gasket problems that the EA82's have. And if you do that, then the only thing from the wreck you can use is the trans, which is not worth $200. If the transmission is a D/R 5 speed, then that's exactly what you want. You will also need the driveline from the car, or have the one from the 80 lengthened to fit. If you use the one from the 85, it's a two peice affair, and must have the center carrier bearing mount welded to the underside of the car. GD

Here's the reason. My own post actually: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16277&highlight=OEM GD

So do you want to rally-x or off-road? BIG differences. GD

http://www.deltacam.com/ There ya go Jerry! GD

You shouldn't have too much trouble with the swap, but I'm sure something interesting will crop up. For one thing, with a lift you want one of two trannies - thats either the EA82 5 speed D/R, or the 81/82 4 speed D/R. With a lift and big tires the 83+ D/R has horrible gearing for third and fourth gear. The 5 speed's 5th gear is useless as well, but at least you have the other 4 so it's basically a 4 speed. There will be wireing differences, but as long as you keep the EA71's alternator you shouldn't have much trouble. The 80 has an externally regulated Alt, and the 82+ is internally regulated. Other things you might encounter are differences in the oil pressure, and temp sending units. Might have to use the EA71 units for the guage to read correctly, but I would need to check the FSM specs to be sure on that. GD

Did you just buy the one on ebay for $50? Unfortunately, if you want to off-road with it (as in lift it, etc), then you are going to need a dual range transmission. The 1980 came with a 1600 (EA71) and a single range 4 speed. The problem you will encounter is that the 1600 can't bolt to a dual range transmission because of differences with the bell-housing. So you will want the EA81 (1800), and a dual range tranny. Might as well be a 5 speed since you have to go to all that work to do it. Since your in vancouver, you could come along with us sometime - check out our site. We are all in Portland. We off-road at least once a month. www.atlas4x4.com I'm sorry to say that unless you have at least 3" of lift, a dual range trans, and some knarly tires, we won't even consider allowing you to bring your rig out on the nasty trails with us (spending hours pulling unlifted rigs out of the mud is no fun for anyone!). But you are welcome to ride along as a passenger in the mean time, and there are plenty of smaller trails you could go through even without a lift. Low range is a must though unless you like replacing clutches. Contact me, and we can talk about lifts and such - I've got some sources for lifts and parts and such that will give me good deals. And our club has some fabrication ability and what not as well..... The Hatch Patrol is alive and well too - I'm a member up there as well. It's just that they are too far to go play with often. Especially with a lift and mud tires. Hours on the freeway in a lifted EA81 wagon is not cool. GD

Probably wanted to bring back a prime example of east coast rust for his Subaru museum out here. People will walk by and say "look children - that's what real rust looks like - aren't you glad we live in a civilized state that chooses not to prematurely abort young subaru's?" Either that, or he just had to save at least one lucky soob from certain death by a salt induced rust coma. GD

That's what skid plates are for. Don't RX's have skid plates like other 4WD EA82's? GD

Dat's not what he asked for GD

Basically - I think he needs to dismantle the car down to the uni-body and have the whole friggin thing zinc plated. The way he drives, he needs it. GD

Try running the stop sign over - no sign, no problem right? GD

Yeah - we already changed the oil twice - used cheap stuff and Fram filters. hehe. Pulled the valve covers and cleaned those out. The PCV lines were getting clogged with water/oil mix. It runs, but it won't idle. Too many contaminates in ocean water - plus all the sand and what not. Weber rebuild kit is in the mail - we'll have it back on the road shortly. The part that made me laugh was when Nick bent the ignition key because the lock had rusted up. Little graphite and it will be ok, but that's some deep arse water to have rusted the ignition lock..... GD

There's no bend in the wires - There usually isn't on any set I've used. Push the end of the wire out of the boot and insert it into the cap, or onto the plug. Spray the wire and boot with WD40 and slide the boot down over the cap connection or the plug. The WD40 makes it much easier to slide the boot around on the wire. It's also non-conductive, and displaces water. All of us off-roaders use it to dry out our distributors when they get wet. Totally safe to use it on ignition parts. As for the coil - you can test it with a ohmeter. Sounds like carb problems to me - something stuck in the primary jet perhaps. To check spark, remove a wire from a plug and insert a straightened paper clip. hold it near a good ground and crank. A good hot spark will be a bright blue color. A weak spark will generally be orange and not very "thick". If you have a bright blue spark then don't worry about the ignition system. GD

On the bright side, the thermostats are cheap ($12 from the dealer - and you should ONLY buy them from the dealer...), and quick to change. Less than 30 minutes if you are taking your time. That includes draining and putting back the coolant. GD

Then they might sell it real cheap. Especially if they have had it for a long time and haven't been able to move it. Rareity works in your favor sometimes. GD

Yes GD

Yep - those rear axle cups are just a weak design. That's why I'm switching over to U-joints for the short term. Long term solution will probably be a VW vanagon rear end and Porsche CV's - 10"+ of travel!! GD

Depends on the yard, but most yards where you pull them yourself it's $100 for a short block, and $150 for a long block. $50 for a head. If you get one off the "shelf" it's more like $200 and up - depending on what type of engine it is, and what the demand for them is. GD

In some respects, yes. They own a joint manufacturing facility in the midwest that produces both brands. Isuzu makes some good stuff - the old troopers were nearly unkillable, and they make an extremely durable small deisel engine for generators and such. So good in fact that the US military uses them for the newer TQG's (Tactically Quiet Generator) that are replacing the noisy generators they have been using since Korea.... (can you tell I was a generator mechanic in the Army? hehe) GD

No dual range, sorry. Only a push-button 5 speed single range. Not really possible to add a dual range either because the engine is tranversely mounted. They really are unlike any of the subaru's you are familair with..... GD

You *can* lift anything. There was a lifted Dodge Neon on ebay a while back..... was running 38's too. GD

I don't know about the 82 - on my 84 they came on together, but the second fan (thin one) ONLY comes on when the AC is turned on. The other one is controlled by the thermoswitch. Only cars with AC had two fans, so unless your AC is going you should only need one fan anyway. Note however, that the primary fan *could* turn off while the AC fan is still going if the temp was low enough. 82's have some different electrical stuff than other years so it may be different on yours. Also - the fans don't do anything if you are moving more than 25 MPH. So if you still overheat while going down the road - the fans are not your problem. GD

Jeez - $469? I can get them local for $375.... GD