GeneralDisorder

My EA81 wagon has a trip computer. It's carbed. So yes, it's possible. I don't know if it was done on the EA82's or not. Someone else will have to answer that. GD

Don't fix it. That's a nice battle scar - keep it. GD

Do a search. Mark, drill, grind flat if you like, pound in studs. Done. GD

Remove it. With the lift, and (for me) toyota rims, I don't notice any difference with vs. without it. The wider (by a good 6" or so) stance of the car makes up for it quite a bit. I routinely do 80 MPH down the freeway, and body roll really isn't all that noticeable. I haven't even come close to rolling my wagon - either on or off-road. But I wouldn't really-x it either. That's just not what a lifted rig like ours was built for. But for off-road, removing it allows better articulation. Also - consider that the bar was designed for a car with 185's.... with the 215's I'm running, and the height of my rig, the bar is WAY to small to have any real impact that I noticed. Body roll was the same before I took it off as it was after. The only reason I removed it at all was because it was just in the way, and it prevents good articulation at low speeds. GD

The rear wheel bearings are held in by a big threaded ring on the backside of the trailing arm. It's got notches in it to turn it by - the outer part of the trailing arm has a thin metal ring that acts as a lock, by bending a portion of it into the notches in the threaded ring. This prevents it from unthreading itself, and loosening the bearing. I would start with that - make sure it is TIGHT, and also has a couple of those notches bent down to hold it in place. Edit - I just saw you have a Gen 1 - so what I just said may or may not apply. If it does, great. Otherwise, you'll need assistance from a Gen 1 person..... hehe GD

It's important to note that the article also points out that the disty mechanical advance is designed hand-in-hand with how the vacuum advance will be connected. Application of vacuum advance where it was not designed, could cause an over-advance situation due to the mechanical advance not being calibrated for that application. If I were to change how my vacuum advance was connected, I would have a good look at the mechanical advance, and probably have it re-calibrated for proper running under full-manifold connected vacuum advance. GD

Loop a rope around the output at the rear of the tranny, and lift it up a little - not all the way, just so it will be slanted about the right angle to slide onto the tranny. The rope can go up through the cab, over the drivers seat, and just slam it in the car door..... then get under there, and position yourself under the tranny with your head toward the rear of the car. Manhandle the thing onto the engine, and with a bit of patience, and a breaker bar on the crank pully that you can operate with your foot, you should be able to slide it on.... I've done this before. It wasn't easy, but I did the job. No jack used at all. Car was on jack stands of course. As for removal. I try to make the "landing" area soft under the car. If your working by yourself, it's going to DROP out, and as long as I put down some padding, I've never had a problem there. GD

Other senders are also different - the fuel level sender inside the tank for example..... it's no easy swap. Look up all the specs in the FSM.... there's a lot more to it than figureing out the wireing (not that that is particularly easy either). GD

Yeah - There was a recall in like 82 for the vacuum operated AIS valve's (used on the feedback carb models). The reed portion of the valve is the same as the non-vacuum operated type. Because of the recall, I think they are like $25 or something. You can then replace the parts in your old one that are bad using the parts from the new one as Ed sugested. Also - since you only need these to pass emmissions, and since the quarters are easy to remove and install, I just leave them in all the time unless I'm getting tested. This way the valve is not functioning, and thus will basically never fail again. GD

Leave the EGR too. Also there is at least one vac line to the heater control's on your dash, and others if you have anything like cruise control, etc. Be careful - remove it ONLY if you know what it does. GD

On the contrary - your information is very informative, and goes against some of what I was tought back in school. I shall look into it further. My point was simply that the systems (including the advance mechanisms inside the disty) were designed to work as a team. The carb provides ported vacuum because the disty accepts ported vacuum. Any change in this configuration needs to be dealt with on both ends. Simply plugging the disty into a source of vacuum for which it was not designed is just as bad as putting an improperly jetted carb on the same engine. It may work quite well, or it may not run at all. It would be interesting to see what effect it has, and also what effect it has on emmissions, but I wouldn't want to sugest to others on the board who are not experienced mechanics to go and experiment with a system that they don't understand in the first place. But I do see your point, and I think I may do a little experimenting myself. I would also like to add that a lot of the disty vacuum advance "cans" are in need of testing.... the one on my 84 wagon was toast when I bought the car. Still ran fine - passed emmissions even. But wouldn't hold vacuum at all. They can be rebuilt by a good distributor shop. They are rubber impregnated cloth on the inside, so they do break down..... and they're all nearly 20 years old here in states.... GD

The engine in question is the EA81, not the EA82. He drives a Brumby - Aus version of the Brat. And the fact remains that the engine WAS designed to use ported vacuum. Be it crude or not. GD

Beleive whatever you like - it will not run as it was designed without ported vacuum. There is not supposed to be any advance to speak of at idle. If you are running higher octane fuel, then more advance is possible, and having the vac advance unit running at idle might be alright. It could, however, cause pinging and therefore is not reccomended. Go read a book on engine theory if you like. It's nothing new, or Subaru specific - been that way on most cars since shortly after the beggining of time. GD

Use the EA82 driveshaft - you just have to weld the carrier bearing in place since it's a 2 peice shaft. But it is the right size. GD

You shouldn't have to trim the front at all really - but it looks better if you cut the fenders up a ways. With 27's, you will have to BEAT, not trim inside the wheel well where the body seam is on the inside rear. Remove the plastic liner, and you will see. You may have to trim a bit too in order to clear them for turning, but it won't be much with 27's. I had to trim a little to clear 28's on 15" rims, but mosty I had to beat the hell out of the front wheel wells. I had to beat so much that when I was done, the front doors didn't close right anymore. I had to put a jack under them and straighten em out again. GD

It gives "ported" vacuum to the disty. This is basically a hole into the carb that is ABOVE the throttle plate. Thus it only receives vacuum when the throttle plate is open past the idle position. That was the vacuum advance on the disty doesn't come into play till the engine is running faster than idle. It is just fine to run a line directly from the "ported" vacuum port on the carb directly to the disty. It is NOT ok to run a full time vacuum line (from the manifold, etc) to it, as this will throw off your timing in big way. GD

The diff's are not different, unless you are talking about the fairly rare, RX full-time 4WD dual range. But it's low range is only 1.2:1, and it has a 3.7 diff..... which makes it useless for off-roading. GD

That's just weird. I can't imagine what might be different??? GD

The adaptor works just fine - file on it a bit if you like, but from what I've seen it doesn't matter. Works great for me. But yes, I agree in principle that the design could use refinement. Just keep telling yourself that you won't be able to see it once it's installed. It DOES do the job. BTW - they are ALL DGAV's. Never seen one stamped DGEV. Mine is stamped DGAV, and it's electric. Probably wasn't "substituted" - it's stock. GD

If you can find one cheap, with good syncro's, then yes. But that's hard to find, and the 4 speeds eat syncro's like crazy. 3rd gear mostly. Mine is on the way out in fact. And 2nd gear on my Brat is too. 82 and older 4WD's used the same clutch/flywheel as the 2WD's. 83+ went to a 25mm larger clutch, and thus a lighter flywheel. But the two are NOT interchageable. You want the 83+ one. Without the larger clutch, big tires will NOT BE GOOD. Been there, done that too. My wagon was 2WD when I started, and I didn't know the clutch was different..... yeah.... bad times. GD

Maybe you had a different adaptor, or bad motor mounts or something. Also - the DFV carb, and possibly that "28/36" may be a different height. I'm talking about a DGEV 32/36...... talk to Caboobaroo - he can elucidate the differences that we noticed comparing the Holley 5220 to my DGV sitting here. BIG differences. MY experience is with THE OFFICIAL kit from Redline on my 84 wagon (VERY good motor mounts), and when I closed the hood, it bent the filter frame. You could tell where it hit, and driving like that would be BAD. I'm guessing you would need another 1/2" or so to be safe from it hitting on vibration. You say you got it from a JY - what is it? If it's a Holley 5200 (DFV), you'll be dissapointed with it compared to a true DGV..... The venturi's are tiny in comparison. In fact, it only widens out to the same "32/36" as the DGV at the bottom of the carb. Pretty silly really. GD

You have failed to mention the shorter 3rd and 4th gears for the 81/82 4 speed's. Specifically, Eric ONLY uses these (me too, although a 5 speed would be fine in my opinion, but the direct bolt-up of the 82 4 speed is very nice, and I can see his point there). The rest of the 4 speeds everyone agrees are bad. Beleive me, the gearing for 3 and 4 (on a post 82 4 speed) is NOT COOL with big tires. You will be THE slowest thing on the road, with the possible exception of a 360. GD

No - it's simpler than that. Just did this the other day on my Brat. Took 30 minutes to swap everything. The glass is bolted to the regulator with two bolts - you'll see them at the bottom of the metal plates that are bolted to the glass itself. Remove them. Then at the top of the door are two "stops" - basically a right angle bit of metal with one end dipped in rubber to prevent you from cranking the window up too high - you'll notice they are adjustable by loosening the bolt. Remove them, and the glass with now slide right out the top of the door. Do the same to the other door, and installation is the reverse. The lock is as stated above - very easy. Assuming your new doors have working handles and latches etc. For the installation of the new door DO NOT remove the hinges from the car. If you do you may never get it aligned properly again (PITA). Remove the bolts that hold the hinges to the door itself, and bolt the new door to the old hinges with them still on the car. This method is also nice because you don't have to remove the fender this way..... GD

No - it won't. Been there, done that. And your right - the low-pro doesn't breathe as well, but there are bigger low-pro's availible around on the internet. The 1.75" one will run alright - the difference isn't that noticeable really. Really irk's me that the stupid redline kit comes with the tall filter - makes you spend another $10 on a filter, that your supposed to get with the Kit. I personally reccomend against the Kit. There was a post a while back from a place in Canada that will do a "custom" kit for $325 shipped. Including the linkage kit (doesn't come with the redline kits), the air filter of your choice, and a brand new carb. Pretty good deal if you ask me. GD

Sounds like you could use a bigger alternator. GD