GeneralDisorder

It's the early 83 and 84's that have the problems - the 85 and up are much more reliable from what I understand. Also not terribly difficult to find compared to the 83 and 84 style. GD

20w50 Castrol GTX. I usually alternate between a quart of Rislone and half a quart of MMO with my oil changes. I make it a habit of changing the oil every 2k or so..... GD

You should have a talk with Mudrat79 - he's the one to talk to about the nissan T-case swap. He reccomends 8" of lift for that since if you only go 6" you will have to cut part of the tranny tunnel out to fit the T-case under the car. With 8", there's no cutting neccesary. I was talking to him about that just the other day.... He's done at least two of these now - and there's of course unhatched - Lumpycam, the man who started it all by designing the first Subaru with the nissan T-case swap. There's a lot of fab work involved in that, but no one on the board except Mudrat79 can really tell you what all it involves, since I believe he's the only one on here that has done it (correct me if I'm wrong guys....). Lumpycam of course knows - but he's not seen on this board often, and lately not at all that I can tell.... The lift itself is actually pretty straighforward - you just unbolt the engine and drivetrain from the vehicle, and lift the body up - putting blocks in-between. On the 6", there's usually some x-braces involved to stiffen up the lift peices. The lift itself has been discussed many times - do a search for it. Subarubrat's web site has good info on it as well.... look him up in the member directory. If you go with 31's, you'll probably want a little extra power - either an EJ engine transplant, or a H.O. EA81 would be in order probably. Just a heads up. GD

You can frankenstien together a turbo from parts of your existing turbo and parts of a legacy turbo to get a larger turbo that will bolt in. There may be a few modifications neccesary other than that to the pipeing. There's others of the board that know more than I - but I remember hearing about it here. Do some searching of old posts and I bet you'll find what I talking about. The larger injector thing has also been discussed in the past - not sure about that, but I'm sure you can find that in old posts as well. Also - you have to realize that a larger turbo is not neccesarily a good thing. It will take longer to spool, and probably give you worse off the line performance. There's a lot more that goes into a proper turbo setup that just "bigger is better". This is why many high performance cars have gone to twin turbo's - one small one, and one larger one - to get the spooling effect more even, and a flatter torque curve. GD

I'm thinking of getting it tattoed on my arm..... Anyone got a nice one they could scan - with color and all that? GD

That makes sense actually - they "gave away" 50, but of course since they were producing them anyway - they would have taken orders for more since the more you make, the cheaper they become.... thus Subaru made more profit if they produced more of them (or less loss depending on how you look at it). Certainly he must be correct that you could pay for em. The promotion was for 50 give aways - they just neglected to mention that you could also buy em..... GD

The last runner I got was my 84 parts wagon - $390 - had a bad axle (not that bad - drove it 100 miles home, and another 2,000 on it before replaceing), and the driveline from it has bad U-joints. Still rusn strong, and the car has no rust. Had 316k on it when I drove it home - few dents. I switched it over to 2WD after converting my wagon using it's 4WD parts, and it lives on as a daily driver with a friend of mine who I sold it to for $300. (Now has 320k on it). My wagon - which was probably one of the MOST pristene examples of an 84 wagon I have ever seen (not anymore since the lift and some off-roading), was bought at a dealer auction for $405. Only had 144k on it, and runs like a top. Of course - it was a 2WD which I converted to 4WD. Definately would be cheaper to get one with a blown engine, and have Qman give you some pointers on putting a used engine in. finding anything from 83 or 84 that you could call "dependable" is not very reasonable. Likely it will need some attention - probably consistent attention thoughout it's lifetime now. Unless a complete restoration is performed. These cars are old - most have over 100k miles, and even if they don't, the parts start to break down from age. Expect to do quite a number of axles, and a lot of other little things. It's not that Subaru's are not dependable - they are VERY dependable if the little signs they give off are not ignored. But it's not reasonable to expect a 20+ year old car to be perfectly dependable as a "turn key" solution. Get a legacy wagon if you want that. GD

Your syncro's are dieing. They are a wear item. Replacement or rebuild of the trans is really the only permanent fix. You can try Redline brand gear oil - it will help some. GD

All over the place - you just have to look. They come up here on the board - craigslist - newspapers - just everywhere. These are just *some* of the ones I've found in the last couple weeks while looking for a parts car: 84 wagon 4WD - white - engine knock - $150 82 wagon 4WD - brown - blown head gasket - $200 (gone - got there 15 minutes too late) 83 Wagon 4WD - needs trans work - $125 All were nice looking, and you can get a running EA81 for $100 and slap in there - or in many cases there really isn't anything wrong with them except owner ignorance. Don't settle for something you have to pay a fortune for - wait for that deal to come along - wagons are all over the place, and not worth anything really. Hatches and Brats you have to pay up for usually - they are getting harder to find. GD

84 DL 4WD Wagon - 320k - original engine - different trans tho. Was my parts car and was converted to 2WD. The original drive train went into my wagon and is still running. The 4WD trans that was in it was a replacement from the JY as the original single range gave out at about 220k (syncro problems). This car belongs to a friend of mine (he's on the board - just doesn't post at all), and is still a daily driver making a 70 mile commute 5 days a week. GD

Don't think so Miles - diesel needs around 20:1 compression. As I recall diesel engines run anywhere from 20:1 to 100:1 compression. I don't think a stock EA81 block would handle that kind of pressure without some serious work. My guess is that if an EA81 diesel did exist, it wasn't really an EA81 - would need a complete redesign to last any legth of time. Diesel runs hot and high pressure. That is the cost of sponteaneous combustion. But it's also why they are so efficient... GD

The rears do last a long time. I've never replaced a set because of failure that did not result from some other problem. I had a set go bad because the little washer with the tab you bend down had sheared it's key off, and allowed the nut to spin off. (this was a 2WD rear bearing). On the 4WD this is much less likely to happen because of the design of the spindle. GD

Well - the way I figure your at least diluting the contaminates with more clean grease Also - if the bearings are cared for properly, and the car was designed with bearings that could hold it's weight, they should never fail. The metal never actually touches - the bearings ride on a thin coating of grease - the only way a bearing can wear out is it's it's got too much weight on it (thus sqeezing out all the grease), or if it's running dry, or with contaminated grease. So saying that they shouldn't need regreasing till they fail if properly installed doesn't make sense - if they were properly installed, they should never fail. Of course this isn't a perfect world, and they do indeed fail because of either improper installation, or seal failure, which lets in contaminates, and water (even clean water will ruin the grease), and lets the grease leak out. For these reasons I like the idea of a grease fitting - it would allow you to just replace the seals without having to remove the hub and pound the bearings out of it. Just remove the seals from either side, and pump in new grease till it runs clean from either side - new seals, and put it back together. This way you could prevent failure of the bearings for a long time I think. GD

Yeah - I have to dissagree junkie - water and other contiminates from the abuse that us off-roaders do to our bearings is going to make them fail prematurely. A good regreasing via a zirk fitting on the hub after every couple runs would help to keep them from running dry and failing prematurely. I don't think that drilling a small hole for a fitting would weaken the hub. If the hole is drilled properly, it shouldn't be a problem. GD

If the car your looking at is in this area of the country (OR, WA, CA), and has been for a while, then there isn't going to be much in the way of rust on the car. I hardly ever see a rusty one in the JY even. They are either hit, or they have little simple problems that cause them to end up at the JY. I've seen a couple that just had bad distributors. Someone who isn't knowledgable about Subaru's would take it to the shop, and the shop would quote them probably a couple hours of shop time at $70 an hour, and $300 for a rebuilt disty. The car isn't worth $440, so off to the JY it goes..... If it was ever on the east coast, or in the midwest or something, then it might have a bunch of rust. I would stay away from ANY amount of rust out here in the west coast - there's too many around with no rust at all to even bother with a rusty wagon..... now a Brat with a little bit is a different story. Wagons are easy to come by, and dirt cheap. If you pay over $200, your really paying too much unless it's something very special. GD

First one into the US was the 360. Oldest one I've seen in person would probably have to be a 75 or 76 4WD wagon.... Seen pictures of just about everything else...... including a Japanese '80 or '81 "1600 GFT-5" coupe..... weird. And a Subaru outboard boat motor (here in the states somewhere - it even ran!). GD

He doesn't know subaru's is all. The 86 model year did include a 1.6L model - the STD Hatchback. But it's not a Wagon, not turbo, not a GL-10, and not even close to looking the same. He was just repeating what was on his screen in the computer I suppose. Can't blame him really - I would probably do the same thing when confronted with a GM or Ford question. The 1.6L engine is the EA71. The EA81 is the Overhead Valve version of the 1.8, and yours is the Overhead Cam 1.8 with turbo. GD

Could be I think - but it's not usually done that way. The main problem is the 4 spd D/R is very (VERY) long and would hang up on everything. Would be messier than splitting them. It's only 2 bolts and 2 nuts to split them apart. You would have to disconnect all the linkage, and drop the cross member for the tranny - remove the radiator and disconnect everything from the engine.... you would lose all the tranny fluid out the back of the tranny as soon as the driveline pulled free too - messy. GD

Gearing really depends on what tranny you use. The 81 and 82 4 speeds have a lower 3rd and 4th gear - easier to drive on the freeway. That's what I'm running right now with 28" tires and it drives great. Or you can do the 5 speed like Qman has - basically the same effect - more gears is better. The 83 and up 4 speeds are gutless on the freeway since 3 and 4 are too high. GD

You have an EA82T ('T' designates "turbo"). All EA82's are 1.8's. Verry important that you remember the turbo part - the belts are different. "EA82" is just the name given to the engine by Subaru. It has no meaning beyond that as far as I know. As long as you specify an 86 GL-10 Turbo when buying parts, you'll get what you need. There's no such thing as a 1.6L on the EA82 cars, so that shouldn't be a problem. GD

Actually - sounds like either a bad axle, or ball joints or something. There's not really any way that putting the vehicle in 4WD can do what you are describing - the 4WD engages the rear wheels, not the front, so it would be rather difficult for it to pull just to one side like that. If you lost traction in the front, it might push you sideways much like a rear wheel drive car would. I don't know - just sounds odd to me. I would be checking front suspension parts myself - and listening for the signs of a bad axle. I could be wrong tho - it's happened before. GD

Sounds like maybe the clutch fork broke. This does happen sometimes. Certainly worth fixing if your into pulling the engine to get to it....... GD

The EA81 and EA82 starters are identical as far as I can tell - having had both of them apart, and having an EA82 one in my Brat right now.... I think someone said even the EJ starters are the same....... don't quote me on that one tho. GD

Skip - you rock! :lol: GD

Hatch is smaller inside. Also has the big camaro doors like the Brat - kind of a pain. I'm willing to live with it tho. The hatch is prefered for off-roading because of it's superior departure angle - having very little sheet metal behind the rear wheel. Also has a shorter wheelbase. The EA82 is a good engine - you should know that they blow timing belts like clockwork every 60k miles or so.... stay away from the older turbo's - they aren't as reliable. Tend to blow headgaskets more than the NA ones. They will all blow tho if you overheat them. The EA81 in the 84 and older doesn't have the timing belt, so no problem there. There was a turbo version of this as well - rare and hard to find parts for. EA81's can go well over 300k miles. My friend has a daily driver that's at 320k right now..... The EA82 is a good engine too - probably just as reliable with the exception of that timing belt issue.... not quite as easy to work on, but still fairly easy. $990 sounds a bit high for an 85 - it would have to be in very nice shape I would say. Talk to Qman - he probably knows of something for sale up there. GD