GeneralDisorder

Yeah - the shaft likely got so loose that it impacted the magnetic pickup. Not cool. Glad your back on the road. GD

His problem IS electrical, AND mechanical. The bushings have too much play and affect the air gap of the reluctor. This is the cause of the jumpy tach. Seen it too many times. Depending on the make of disty (Hitachi, or ND), the shaft may have a ton of play and still work (Hitachi), or the play may be very small, and it will fail (ND). Mine was so loud, that you could hear the shaft vibrating in the cabin, and the tach would jump to 7000 RPM's with the engine idling along as if nothing happened. This failure is so common, that one need only observe the tach, pop the cap off the disty, and wiggle the shaft. If it has ANY play, then you have found your problem. GD

The problem is it's just as expensive as a weber, and no adaptor plate exists to mount it. The DGV Weber has a CFM of 330.... GD

Depends on what's wrong with the distributor. The distributor has half a dozen different purposes. It "senses" when to fire the coil, it runs the tach, it's responsible for timing, and it has mechanisms for mehcanical and vacuum timing advance.... sometimes for vacuum timing retard. The effects of bad distributor *components* can range from not running at all, to running very poorly or erratically. Binding or failure of the vacuum advance mechanism is common, although it mostly goes unoticed by most people. Failure of the distributor shaft bushings causeing the shaft to wobble or vibrate when turning causes loss of power, and the tach signal to jump erratically. The last *fairly* common problem is failure of the pickup coil assembly inside the disty. This can be anything from a really weak spark, to no spark at all. The first two are very common, and I've experienced both a number of times. The last one I have never seen personally, but I've heard from CCR that it's not unheard of. GD

The 32/36 DFV series is the same as the holley/weber 5200 series. It also has smaller venturi's than a DGV.... well at least the ford ones do. The Holley 5200 carbs on 70-82 Fords have a 23mm primary venturi. The DGV has 28mm primary venturi's.... CFM of a holley 5200 (DFV): 235 CFM of a 32/36 DGV: 330 P.S. Holley G180 is the Ausie version of the 5200... both are licensed from Weber. GD

You are supposed to use less of 134a than 12. When I have done it, I have filled them in small amounts till it got cold.... GD

You can't. At least I have never been able to totally eliminate it. Mine still does it on occasion - mostly in warm weather. Properly adjusting the timing and the idle mixture and speed are the key. 10-12 degrees, and an idle of 750 or so seem to reduce it quite a bit. Make sure you make ALL adjustments to the carb with the engine fully warmed and the choke pulled off. The reason I say you can't eliminate it, is simply because Subaru didn't either. The Hitachi has an anti-deisel solenoid, and the weber's have this option as well - at least the DGV's do. They cost about $20 or so. You can reduce it with proper adjustment tho. GD

Sure - you can order the bushings I believe. Unfortunately, the old one has to be reemed out VERY accurately, and the new one pressed in. I was told by someone experienced in subaru distributors that he ruined about 10 of them before he learned to do it right. Not something I have the tools for or the inclination to learn. Especially when the cost to have it done is less than $50. GD

Yep - that's what I ordered.... GD

Now I wouldn't say that :cool:, it's just that this particular topic has come up once or twice a month for the entire time I've been on the board, and it's happened to me personally on two seperate occasions. I've used Philbin both times and have been VERY impressed with their work. Both in speed (24 hr turn around), and in quality. They even shined the disty casting, and painted the vacuum advance canistor (had that rebuilt too). Really knowledagble fellows. While I have not experienced a bad coil personally, I can't see how that could make the tach jump to 7000 while idleing..... but hey - as with any ign. problem, it's always a good idea to check the whole system out. Take a reading with the multi-meter on it. GD

Well - the last Fel-Pro kit I saw was last time I was at Qman's place.... looked good, and I think that's what he's used on his EA81's..... GD

Ah! Drum brakes.... GD

It's a FT4WD with a build date of 8/86, which *should* make it an 86 model... but the FT4WD wasn't out in 86 was it? GD

Hard to tell. Test it. Any good manual will give you a resistance value to check it against. GD

Oh yeah - forgot to mention - New instake gaskets too. Just did those a few weeks ago. Same problems as before I did them. (I suspected a vacuum leak from one of them, so I did em to be sure - turned out to be something else). Also - there's no way I can see for intake gaskets to cause this - except for the carb base gasket...... I should check that out tho. I've had that carb on and off so many damn times it's certainly possible.... but the thing has had this problem since before I started messing with the carb. Yeah - I might just go buy a damn compression guage. I need one anyway. hehe Shadow - you read my mine on that too. I can't see real good, but feeling around I didn't see anything that looked "leaky" in the freeze plug department. Might have to take the head off after all if that's the case. Just in case, I've already ordered a Fel-Pro HG kit. That will cover me for gaskets in this job. GD

4 psi is too high - stock should be around 1-2 psi. GD

Your distributor bushings are bad. Same thing happened to me. When they get REALLY bad like mine, and apparently yours, the car does lose a LOT of power. The tach jumping with no noticeable change in engine speed is a dead giveaway. These guys will rebush it for like $35 or so: www.philbingroup.com GD

If the oil isn't in the coolant, or on the ground, then it's being burnt, or going into the exhaust at the turbo. You don't lose a quart of oil in 450 miles and not know about it unless it's going out the exhaust. Your engine would be an oily mess after a bath like that. I say turbo, or valves, or rings. It's got to be getting into the exhaust stream somehow - I can't think of any other ways.... GD

Well - I thought the Brat had a bad Head Gasket, but now I'm not so sure. The engine runs fine - no evidence of white smoke, but I'm losing coolant, and the rate seems to be increasing. It's very hard to tell, but the oil might have a small quantity in it, but the most disturbing evidence is this: What could cause the oil+water to mix in such a way, and to collect on the underside of the top of the valve cover? (yes - it's so thick, it's defying gravity, and this was after sitting without running for over two weeks). The rocker arm assembly shows NO signs of this mixture - in fact I can't see any around the head at all - just on the inside of the valve cover. This is the drivers side, so the PCV valve connects to the valve cover, and that tube is also full of this stuff.... any ideas would be appreciated. I don't want to do a HG if I don't have to. The PCV valve is a BRAND NEW SOA part. As is the thermostat. She only overheats after the coolant level has dropped about a gallon, so the cooling system is working fine. GD

Feedback carb models have ECU's. They can be black or gold, and are under the steering column. The ECU in no way effects the timing on these cars. It's not capable of such a thing. It controls fuel delivery only using a coolant temp sensor, and an O2 sensor. GD

Less prone than an EA81 wagon - same stance, and less sheet metal on top, thus a slightly lower center of gravity. I've had my lifted wagon on some pretty steep stuff, and I conclude that the only way to roll a stock EA81 would be to push it off a cliff, or have the rim grab something hard in a high speed corner. However the rear seats were discontinued in 86 due to roll-over death lawsuits. The seats were only on US models anyway to get around import tarrifs on trucks. That's why the US didn't get Brat's after 87 - the tarrif was too high, and dropping sales made them not profitable to sell here. Other countries continued to get Brats through 94. GD

The DFV has smaller venturi's than the DGV.... GD

That's the 84+ grill that Qman shows above, cut to fit the 82 center lamp. Pretty sure he did it himself.... might ask him what he used to cut it tho.... GD

WHOA! I am running EA81's, so have never had this problem..... keep me out of the EA82 scene man. Hehe. GD

You mean the high-top console? Those came in Turbo Brats, and cars with power windows. They didn't come in all EA81 turbo's tho. Only Brats, and those turbo's with power windows. They don't lock either. GD