GeneralDisorder

I think you are noticing the different brands of distributors rather than a difference between the auto vs. manual. In fact the 2WD's had a different distibutor than the 4WD's..... I can't tell you why. But it is a very good question. The advance curves are the same according to the FSM's I've read, so I really don't know why they would have done that. The NipponDenso unit is found on the 2WD, and the Hitachi unit is found on the 4WD's. The Hitachi unit seems to be better able to handle wear. The shafts in both units tend to wear over time, and eventually will result in a "jumpy" tach. But the Hitachi design can handle a lot more play in the shaft before the "jumping" starts. The ND will start to jump with just a little play in the shaft. My ND from my wagon (formely a 2WD) became astonishingly jumpy within only a couple hundred miles after reaching 150k on the odo. I've seen Hitachi's with over 200k that were just barely startin to jump, and they had a LOT more play in the shaft than my ND had when I had it rebushed. The ND went from working perfect, to almost undriveable in the space of 200 miles, but I have seen Hitachi's that were "jumpy" for years. GD

You need a 1/4" drive E10 torx socket. I bought mine from Matco for $8.25. Snap-On sells them for $13.50. The matco one is impact rated, and cheaper. Plus their shipping was cheaper too. Matco part#A10XRA Snap-On part #STLE100 GD

Check out my post on the thermostat subject: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16277 If they rodded it, I would hope they would have told you if the fins were too rotten to mess with. I'm sure they would have liked to sell you a new radiator if that was the case. Funny how a different area of the country can make such a huge difference. I have never seen a rotten radiator like those pics - hell, I've never even seen a bad EA81 radiator here. All the cars I've bought were fine - even ones with 300k miles or more. GD

Strangely enough, Brats were only rated at 24-28 MPG. I have been on the high end of that lately after some carb rebuilding. I suspect that close to 30 might be possible with a light foot, and some more tweaking. My whole ign. system is 140k miles old, and my idle is a bit rough from that. And I have some strange "goo" in the drivers side valve cover that looks like water+oil, but hasn't effected the engine much other than a really, really slow loss of coolant. GD

Yeah - might want to remove the disty, and dissasemble it for inspection. Could have some corrosion on the mechanical advance too. Also - when using the timing light, disconnect the disty vac advance, and plug the port for it. GD

The axle shafts are different, and the hub's are different depth. You can do it if you swap out the front suspension to an EA82 style. But you have to use the knuckles, lower control arms, and axles from an EA82 (maybe some other stuff??), and weld the correct mounting points to the cross member for the control arms. Miles Fox has done it - I would ask him about it. GD

There's only 2 fuel lines going to the carb itself. A supply and a return. Both eminate from the little forked hose barb at the float bowl inlet on the Hitachi. Many people remove that barb and install it to the weber. I personally just capped off the return line. Either way seems to work fine as far as I can tell. The rest of the lines on the carb are vacuum lines of one sort or another. EGR, disty, and various emmissions related stuff like evap and purge lines. GD

I'm in no way implying that you are uneducated. Education is a broad term that encompases many types of knowledge on many different subjects. I was simply saying that a review of some applicable physics material would be helpful in explaining some of this. I don't wish to offend, just to debunk this myth which is so prevelent.... it's just like recycling - costs more and bad for the environment - but it does make the pleebs FEEL GOOD. And certainly if adding the coil improves the quality of your idle, and the throttle response from a dead stop at idle, I could see where someone might consider that a performance boost. But I also know that a properly functioning stock system can do the same thing. The EA81 is an 8.7:1 compression N/A engine in stock form - it does not have the ability to pull in enough mixture to need a huge hot spark for ignition. The spark is just what starts the controlled burn of the fuel-air mixture. The flame front travels downward from the point of ignition until it contacts the head of the piston, forcing it downward. It matters very little how big this spark is, or how far it jumps. Just so long as it's enough to light off the burn. The problems come when the spark is too weak to light the mixture at all - causing a misfire, and loss of power, rought running ect. It is VERY difficult to notice a misfire that occurs only 2% of the time, so if adding the accel coil reduces that to .1%, then a "magical" performance boost will be seen. However, this is not because the coil is "hotter" but simply because you have reduced the frequency of misfire's in the system. A properly functioning stock system should not have any misfires to speak of anyway, and thus a hot coil should not have any real effect. As for multi-spark situations, I can see how multiple flame fronts traveling from different angles would cause some interesting interactions.... I would have to see some data to know more about how that interaction affects performance. I can conjecture that two flame fronts (if properly aligned in both time and space) could cause the burn to occur faster, and thus you could change the timing of the engine over the entire RPM range.... an interesting concept indeed. GD

Lots of people belive in lots of stuff that isn't true. Take some physics classes, such as I have done, and I'm sure shadow has too. Really there is almost nothing to be had from installing a high power coil. Other than you may avoid the occasional misfire, and it may help to band-aid an already failing ignition system. It's mostly bunk guys. Everyone wants a free lunch, and I'm sorry to say that there isn't one here to be had. GD

You did not say you had a modified engine. If you are going to modify things, then a different thermostat *could* be a part of that modification. My personal take on these issues is that the engine was not properly designed, and thus is not a good candidate for "mods" anyway. But do as you like. As for coolant mix - I sugest a good book on the subject, but suffice to say that more water will cool your engine better. Try it. It's a balancing act tho - as the "anti-freeze" is also technically an "anti-boil" too. Lowering the amount of anti-freeze will lower the boiling point, and raise the freezing point. But WATER tranfers heat more efficiently, so more water will make your cooling system more effiecient.... to a point. That point is where the boiling point is too low, and you get steam (which BTW - doesn't tranfer heat AT ALL for our purposes. NOT good).... which blows the radiator cap. I sugest a 25/75 mix. That's what I run in oregon. 50/50 is good to like -30 degrees or some silly thing. A temp that I have never seen here on the coldest winter day. I'm sure in CA you would probably be in a world of hurt if it ever got that cold.... GD

Set your choke. Sounds like your idle up isn't functioning well. GD

RTV is your friend for sealing a lot of those oil leaks. I've used it with much success on intake manifolds, valve covers, and oil pans. It will make even the cheapest gasket take notice. GD

Yeah - we had campers here - at least 3 or 4 different styles too. Probably very similar to what you had, but you're correct that they were made in the states, and not by Subaru.... although I'm pretty sure you could buy them at the dealerships. GD

YES! Just like that. Interesting that you also got the weird bumperlets..... I wouldn't mind aquireing a set of those as they were not produced for the US market. Probably some silly law that they had to come with a bumper to pass inspection here. We have strange laws - for example you can drive with no windsheild, but you must have wipers.... What do you mean by "closed in the back"..... I'm not getting a mental image of what you're describing - do you mean it has a camper top on the back? Commonly refered to as a "topper" or "camper shell" or just "truck cap" here in the US. Confusing isn't it? If you would like to host some bigger images of your Brat, and other interesting subaru's from Isreal, you should get an account with the USMB photo gallery. That would allow you to do what I did above, and post bigger pictures etc. Besides that, you will soon run out of attachments as the board only allows a certain quantity for non-donor's. The gallery logins are free - you just have to contact SubaruJunkie for a login, and then you can post pics there, and also link them to your posts here.... GD

There's no plate that designates it - it's just stamped (in ink more or less) on the float bowl in the back. That would be the idle mixture adjustment screw. 4 turns out is where it should be set initially before finer adjustement while running. GD

YEAH! What he said.... darn you guys for making me rethink my post! I restate my former analysis - remove the head. GD

Oh - it's not stuck. I just drove down the hill actually..... Here's some video of it that Nick shot: http://members.dsl-only.net/~sawlid/atlas/atlas0003.wmv http://members.dsl-only.net/~sawlid/atlas/atlas0004.wmv As for putting the image in the post, you have to first host the picture somewhere on a server that the board can access. Then you just hit the little "picture" icon on the post form and give it the address of the image. That picture above was taken by Nicky Nighteyes (another board member), and he posted it to his web page. I just went there, right clicked on the image and selected properties - grabbed the address, and stuck that in my post so it would resolve to the image you see above. GD

Nice bike Hehe. Too bad your don't have a Brat in the US - a Brat driving female type would be quite popular around these parts.... (well - at least among board members). Since we're posting pics, here my latest: GD

More spark doesn't increase power. It just assures that the mixture will be ignited more frequently. If you want more power, then you need more fuel, and more air. GD

DOH! I had you figured for a guy! Hehe. Funny how that seems to happen on the internet. Not many women on the board that want to know about tach's and such. A few, but percentage wise we have them out-numbered. GD

www.thepartsbin.com has them. They come individually tho (it says it's a pair, but it's not), so you need to buy two. $3 - $4 each I think..... The "ring" you describe sounds like the one used between the y-pipe and the rest of the exhaust back to the muffler.... GD

Actually - that's pretty easy. Any aftermarket one from your local parts store, or www.summitracing.com etc should work. You'll just have to figure out where to mount it. They run off the coil signal from the distributor, so a bit of wireing will be needed, but nothing difficult. Do any Brat's over there have a tachometer (english word for RPM guage)? Our GL model's had them here, but since you don't have the T-tops, it makes me think that all you got was the DL model's. DL's don't have a tach, or an oil pressure guage either. You should install both while your in there. The oil pressure guage sending unit screws into the bottom of the pump. There's a plug in there right now - all you have to do it remove it and install an aftermarket sending unit for whatever guage you buy..... GD

That's cool - we love having people around that are into soobs in other countries. I see questions all the time that go unanswered because we don't have enough people hanging around from places other than the US. It's difficult for us to find information on anything that Subaru did outside the US. Basically we have to talk with people like yourself. Also - I have to say that your english is quite good for a non native speaker. Better in fact, than some US citizens I have met GD

This is true - leaking manifold gaskets could be the culprit. Jack up the rear end and see if leaks into #2 instead. And if you do have to redo the manifold gaskets, use a proper amount of RTV on them. A nice thin bead will do the job nicely, and PLEASE use anti-seize on the manifold bolts in case someone ever has to remove it again.... GD

Yeah - tailgates are expensive here too - that's what you mean by "rear door" right? Man - if shipping on smaller items isn't too bad...... GD