GeneralDisorder

This is about an hour and a half from WCSS6 - but only about 30 minutes from I-5, so pretty close if you have to go down I-5 anyway.... which I'm guessing most people will. There's some narly mud holes that might swallow a lifted soob whole..... like that one we were perilously close to when we got stuck. It looks to be about 4 feet deep in places by what we guaged with our shovels - once I get my floor herculined, and a snorkel, I'll take it on. No alcohol involved - I was just trying to stay away from the soob-swallowing abyss on either side, and I got a little too close to the bank side, and leaned over against that tree. I just stopped at that point cause I didn't want to rip the whole side of the car off on that tree.... GD

Bugaru and I both live in the Portland area, and found some great off-roading in our own backyard - just 45 minutes away in Scapoose. We found a couple pretty narly trails, and Bugaru got his stock hatch stuck first thing. I had already gone through that part, but had to turn around and come back to the rescue.... a couple kids in a Ford truck showed up and helped, as well as a guy on an ATV out for a day of drinking and shooting :cool: We got the hatch back up on the trail from where it had slid off to the side into a tree with the use of a come-along, and when that got old, we just picked up the back end, and moved it about 5 feet onto the trail! He was able to drive forward out of the hole, and then we got out the shovels and filled it in a bit for him to get back out of the obsticle.... that went fine, but then as I tried to cross back, I spun the wheels a bit too much, and slid into the same tree Mine proved much easier to extract with a come-along, and I was on my way in about 20 minutes. We found a lot more good trails and had some fun removeing fallen trees from the last snow storm. You can check out the carnage inflicted on Bugaru's hatch here: http://web.pdx.edu/~whirl/scapp_vern_021504.html He managed to rip off the front bumper, dent the passenger side rear quarter, and flood the car with muddy water all in one day! All told, we had a great time, and if some other Portland guys want to come along next time..... GD

you have just discovered the reason we run the 81/82 4 speed D/R with big tires - or 4th gear of a 5 speed D/R. The gearing on the 81/82 is such that 4th is actually usable with my 28's..... GD

It's not a straight bolt on - you need to take an EA82 disty, and swap the drive gear from and EA81 disty onto it. That and cut one of the mounting tabs off the side of the EA82 disty for it to fit on the EA81 block. Then you need the entire wireing harness / computer, and everything from the intake manifold up. All the sensors and such. It's been done tho. Cost depends on a lot of factors - some yards are cheap, others are not. A whole donor car would be good. Oh - and the disty needs to be from an 85 or 86 SPFI as I recall.... GD

Beg to differ..... 84 Automatics have hydro lifters, and ALL EA81's made from 85 to 89 have them as well - auto or stick, doesn't matter. 83 and older will all be solid lifters.... ALSO - EA81T's had hydro lifters And yes - they have bigger valves, so these are desireable. GD (not sure if 83 auto's had hydro lifters.... maybe. I can't remember)

Check your computer codes again... GD

It's been on the board several times - he was asking like $2000 for it. Eric went and checked it out - the swampers it's got are nearly done, and it's not really pretty.... I would probably say $1000, to $1200. But that is just my opinion from what has been described here - I haven't seen it in person. GD

84 lifted wagon - yes 85 Brat - no 78 wagon (parts) - no 79 Brat - no GD

Hey Tony - just so you know, the 2WD knuckles are the same as the 4WD ones, so you can swap one in off one of your 2WD's..... Sounds like that one has seen better days if someone beat on it and the bearing wouldn't fit.... NAPA has front wheel bearings for about $12 (2 needed per side).... ask for the "cheaper" brand. Their gold brand ones are like $24 or something... Just to add to the wheel bearing pricing info.... the rear EA81 4WD bearings (1 per side) are EXPENSIVE. Cheapest I've found is $49.99 each from Autozone... GD

Yeah - too bad.... it's got potential, but a few problems too..... and his price seems a bit high..... GD

Plenty of those in the JY's around you I'm sure. Talk to Qman - he may know the latest on what cars are in the yards around the area..... that part isn't desireable, and should be there even on a stripped car. Should be a couple bucks if that.... GD

The AIS is what you are looking at - blocking it off is good if you don't have to pass emissions because they can fail, and dump a whole load of plastic from the "silencer" into your carb.... not cool. Also - I ran through emissions with it both on and off, and I actually got higher readings with it enabled. You can easily disable it by disconecting the valve, and putting a quarter down in the outlet, and threading the pipe back on. It will still *look* stock too - just won't work at all. And it can't fail this way either..... Also - if you have a small exhaust leak somewhere in the Y pipe, the ASV will bring in enough extra air to cause really horrible backfireing.... something I have personally expereinced, and fixed using the quarters (thanks to Qman's advise....). GD

Depends on if you have a feedback carb or not. Removal of just about anything from the feedback system will result in terrible fuel econemy. Non feedback systems are much easier to disable. Power gain? None. But blocking off the AIS system will prevent it from failing and dropping a load of molten plastic into the carb..... Really - the emissions system on an EA81 is very rudimentary, and does not impact power in the slightest. GD

As for how much it would cost to repair here - not much if you got one from a Junk Yard, and installed it yourself (pretty easy). Maybe $20 worth of parts. If you got the stuff new and had a mechanic do it.... hundreds for sure. GD

If you have a decent wire set, this isn't generally a problem on the older soobs. I wouldn't worry about it at all. The voltages that we operate at aren't enough to arc across a decent wire set. GD

Look for rust mostly. And body damage from the top of the cab, back to the tailgate. The front end and the doors are easy to find since they are the same as the cars. 82 is an odd year - only one with chrome bumpers, antenna on the drivers side, red gauges, different grill and headlights, and the only year with the third eye. There's not a lot of info on off-road mods to be found out there - stick around here long enough, and you'll get the idea. Lift kits are availible, but unless you can do some fabrication, or know someone who can, there's not much else that can be done easily. Installation of a 5 speed D/R from a newer soob can be done - bigger tires / rims, etc. If you can fabricate, or know someone who can, the possibilities are endless. No lockers are availible - you can weld the rear, and pull an axle when you take it off-road, or LSD's can be had for a price, or sometimes at the JY - they are pretty rare tho. There's really nothing that can be done with the front diff without dissasembling the transmission (it's inside), but it's possible that a LSD could be installed - although I have yet to see or hear of one. Overheating isn't a problem with the EA81's in Brats - they are as much oil-cooled as they are water cooled, so even without coolant at all, they are difficult to overheat. If it's real hot outside, you might blow a headgasket, but that's about it. With a good working radiator, you shouldn't have any problems at all. GD

Sometimes an exhaust leak can sound like a rod knock... something to look for anyway. GD

Try another autozone man - that bytes. Either that, or replace the cup with one from another bad axle........ just a thought. GD

Answer: No - you cannot get Subaru OEM new axles - except now and then one may show up on ebay..... Many people have good luck with http://www.cvaxles.com Only $55 - good deal. GD

Don't bother - the cable is only $18 or so from the dealer, and only takes 1/2 hour to change. Most likely, the cable is starting to wear out, and fray on the pedal end where it makes a sharp bend into the engine compartment. If allowed to continue, the cable will snap sometime when you push it in. The lubricant used in the cable is a dry wax-like lubricant, and I doubt anything else will work properly. If the washing of the engine compartment made it worse, than I would hazzard a guess that the cable's outer covering has already broken either at the firewall where it makes that sharp bend, or the cable was improperly run over the steering shaft instead of under it wearing a hole in the rubber cover and allowing water and stuff into the cable. Normally a washing of the engine compartment would have no effect on a good cable, thus it should be replaced. Re-lubing isn't really possible, or worth the effort for a cheap part like that. GD

I've never seen one with this "washer" problem you speak of scooby.... maybe that's an EA82 thing? I've seen MANY bad EA81 distys, but all were bad from bushings - lots of side play, but never one that hit anything.... curious GD

You need one from the EXACT year and model to meet CA requirements I'm sure..... the main problem with rebuild kits, is they do not address throttle shaft wear. You could just get a throttle base from roobuilders for around $40 after your core, and then rebuild your existing carb yourself, or locally.... the disty shaft can be rebushed locally I'm sure - you just need to find a disty shop like this one: http://www.philbingroup.com These guys have done several for me at $35 for a rebush. Real quality work. They are in Portland OR, so a bit closer than CCR to you.... The hesitation you speak up is most likely vacuum leak from worn throttle shafts. Very common on Hitachi's GD

The shaft of the disty needs to be rebushed..... is this a 2WD or a 4WD? The 2WD disty is made by nippondenso, and these wear out much faster. Well - not really, actually they wear at about the same rate, but the ND mechanicals can't stand nearly as much wear as the Hitachi internals. The problem comes from the variation in the air gap of the rotor inside the disty. The Hitachi design can withstand a LOT of play. I've seen some that were so bad you could move the shaft side to side about 1/8"! The ND will exhibit rapid decay, and almost no noticeable shaft play. Mine went bad in the space of 1 week. It went from perfect, to jumping to 7000 RPM at idle, with a very loud buzzing noise comming from the disty itself (you could actually feel it). It was my only car at the time, and after checking into many options, I found a local shop that will rebush any disty for $35. Their site is here: http://www.philbingroup.com Thet did an awesome job for me - 24 hour turn around. Just pop the cap off your disty, and try to move the shaft - if you notice ANY (and I do mean ANY) play on a ND, then it's shot. I was very sceptical when I first took my disty apart to look, as the play was hardly noticeable, but it was there. When I got it back from the shop, it was solid as a rock - no play AT ALL. Almost 100% positive this is your problem - the disty is the only thing on your car that can cause this. A bad coil won't do this - as the tach signal (and what fires the coil), has to come from the disty. The cheapest I found rebuilt distys, was from roobuilders in Denver - $145 for a complete Hitachi setup.... not cheap. Especially when I just needed a $35 rebush. GD

I think he said .015 was ok, and the intake still bolted down. Might have to enlarge the holes if you take off more. GD

Lot's of drum brakes are self adjusting - all of the Ford Aerostars for example.... I happen to know because my parents own two of them. Most any newer car with rear drums are self adjusting - makes for a bigger pain when changing them. Your right about the easy disc swap - that is nice. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but I suspect that there was probably some japanese EA81 with rear discs from the factory.... GD