GeneralDisorder

Oh yeah - they totally want you to keep them if you think you'll need it again - you did pay for it after all. It's great cause I didn't know which type of puller would work best on ball joints, so I just tried one. Found out that it wasn't the best choice, but I'm only 10 minutes from them, and I had the right one 30 minutes later. GD

Kindof like the DL 4WD's, but with ROUND lights instead of semi square ones. To my knowledge, this ONLY came on STD's Like this 1980 for instance: http://usmb.net/gallery/album72/1980_c Huh - guess they WERE 4WD - cool. GD

Yeah - hehe - the Chaser. I don't think the Chaser was a STD tho. But who freakin knows anyway. I REALLY don't want to get into that again. The STD, from what I can tell was the 2 round headlight model, with no options of any kind, and it had the 4 speed 2WD tranny. I would love to have one just for that grill and headlight setup. I would make it 4WD of course.... GD

Well - I'm just an idea man, and not much for actually fabbing things (yet), but I don't see why you couldn't get some round stock, and bolt it in where the stubs are on the diff (may have to have it turned down to be the right diameter). Now obviously it wouldn't have splines on it - well screw the whole spline business, and cut the DOJ houseing back to where there is no more splines, and weld a four bolt flange onto that - same with the new stub. Now you have a four bolt flange mounting for the inner joint - just like a hummer! Have to be really careful on the welding part so as not to make them just as weak as the hollow stubs were - might be done tho. GD

Your not lifting the thing so much as you are DROPPING the trans 1". Hard to tell if this will be enough or not. You may still need to do some minimal beating. Austins idea to use an air chisel is a good one. That ought to teach it a lesson I would think. Also - I wouldn't personally use a whole 1" of washers as a long term soloution to the problem. Yes - it worked for me, and I did drive it some, but I am not comfortable reccomending you do this for a long term solution. Maybe it would work - maybe it wouldn't. I did it knowing that it would come back out shortly when the lift went in. The problem I see with the washers is there is no shear strength to them. They have no sideways rigidity, and you could potentially shear off one of those bolts pretty easy. Also - DO NOT use the stock bolts if you go a whole inch with washers on the radius plates - there not long enough, and you won't engage enough thread. If you want it for long term use, I say get some 1" square iron, and drill some holes in 1"x1" blocks of the stuff, and get some longer bolts. Basically make yourself 6 miniature lift blocks. GD

There's some debate as to weather the Hatch came in a STD in '88 and '89. At least as far as anyone can tell on the board, no one has come up with a STD from those years I think. Also - a bit confusing there - the hatch did make use of the EA71 technically till 89, but it ALSO used the EA81 - just depends on the model. The 4WD's all had EA81's, unless you go back to the early 80's. I think the GL 2WD's did too. The DL 2WD's might have had either one I suspect. And the STD 4 speed 2WD's definately had the EA71 in them. Who knows how correct I am - it's very confusing for those later Gen 2's where they were being phased out. GD

Ya know - with the tach jumping you describe, and the lack of power, and the backfireing - it really sounds like your distributor is starting to go. Wiggle the shaft - there should be almost no play if it's good. Possibility anyway. If that is the case - there should be someone in a close LARGE town that could do the shaft bushing for you. Cost around here is about $35 These guys can do it: http://www.philbingroup.com/ GD

The later EA71's had the same water pump as the EA81. I've pulled them from 1980 1600 cars in the JY that had the EA81 water pump..... but that could have been a replacement engine too. Hard to tell. Does it really matter? The engine should still work - hey maybe it has the hydro lifters too? That would be cool if it did. GD

Probably just some nylon bushings on the shifter - get em from the dealer. Shouldn't cost more than a couple bucks. Do you rest your hand on the shifter while it's in gear? That is one cause of premature failure on these parts. Pressure from you hand causes the vibration to wear the parts quicker - just like pushing harder on a palm sander. It also wears out the syncro's in your tranny. Very bad habit if you do that. GD

You might ask in the legacy forum.... I know your not looking to spend a lot, but these guys make probably some of the best all-season tires in the world. You probably don't want to spend $180+ per tire, but they are cool to drool over (the company is in Iceland): http://www.nokiantyres.com/ Oh - and don't forget to watch their commercials: http://nokian.verstas.com/index.php?page=imagebank.php?keywords=spot%20mainos%20englanti They are awsome in the snow - they were designed for it. And are in the top 10% of the best dry pavement summer tires too. Really amazing. GD

That's a nice pic Man. Hey - if you want a calendar pic - check this out: http://usmb.net/gallery/albup19/puddle_run I thought it was cool anyway. I've got a bigger version if you did by chance want to use it. GD

This rear fog light - it could be integrated into the tail lights. I know on newer cars, they have began adopting the european style of having the "rear fog light" just turn on the drivers side brake light solid. Maybe it's supposed to do that. Although the US models did not have that feature to my knowledge. Common in europe tho. GD

Sounds like you may have a vacuum leak - what is your idle at without the AC? Vacuum leak can cause high idle. GD

Chances are - something like this would end up being more expensive than a used STi. hehe GD

BMW - hehe. Audi has a similar setup, except theirs uses TWO clutches that switch off between themselves, so it can switch gears without removing power to the wheels EVER. pretty slick. Also drives like a manual - 6 speeds etc. Also - I have driven my friends 98 A6 quatro, and I can say that it's tiptronic auto really does work quite well. Doesn't shift for you until slightly past redline (I can understand that since many people would toast the engines if allowed to go as far as they want). And it shifts fast enough. With an ECU upgrade, he could get it to shift faster, but it's already just a little over 1 second. Don't think I could shift faster than it by hand anyway... Incidentally, I did waste him in my Volvo 850 turbo. He just couldn't hang with the inline 5 turbo. That car was a peice of crap tho, and I got rid of it. GD

I don't know - but maybe just have a look at the thing - there's got to be something amiss if it's going that high. I've never heard of one doing that. Just take a look and see if there's some screw somewhere or something. That's what I would do anyway. GD

Well - it's hard to describe - I'll take a picture of mine that failed because of this tomorrow. GD

Hate to break it to you, but POR15 is really the only thing for rust. I've tried lots of stuff over the years - rust always comes back. GD

No - I'm contemplating doing it. Although it does seem possible. Have it on good authority from Adam (see above), that it would work using the EA81 release bearing..... however, I have no idea how long that would last, as it's not really the right size for the application. GD

Expensive! http://www.centerforce.com Also - watch out for pressure plates that can hold dirt against the spring fingers. This can be VERY bad off-road. I notice that looking at the "high performance" clutches for WRX's and such, that this design is common. REALLY BAD TIMES if you get enough dirt in there to cause the clutch to not engage - belive me, I had 12" of water under my front seats to prove it. GD

There's a LOT of junk that goes to that system - piles and piles of it. I just got done gutting the system from my wagon. Besides the evaperator, the compressor, the recevier/drier, and the condensor (under passenger side dash), the system has a bunch of electrical doo-dads that I don't even know what they do. There's a whole stack of relays on the passenger strut tower, and there's the whole idle-up system for the carb down on the manifold. About 100 miles of vacuum hose to make it all go together. And we haven't even gone into the electrical harness for all of this (which on my car was part of the car's harness cause it was factory equipped).... I say get an FSM if you are really serious about this, or talk to the dealer and see if they can get you a part list for the "dealer installed" AC kit for your model year..... Maybe buy one of those window style AC units for your house, and cut a hole in the rear hatch window. Get a generator and...... Similar to Skip's fix for a bad heater core..... set the passenger seat on fire:headbang: Or you could just open the windows..... GD

There is even yet another method. If you lift the body 6" or so, you can shove in a nissan transfer case. With a little tweaking of the EJ automatic tranny, you can get it to lockup 100% power to the rear driveshaft output. You then run that into a nissan 4WD transfer case, and from there to front and rear subaru diffs. This has the added coolness that the engine goes up 6", getting it up there with the body, and out from under the car. Sounds like you want you lo-range - if so, that really is the best way to go. John (Mudrat79 can do the lift for you. He's done several now.....) As far as the axle thing, John is NOT talking about the EA81T axles, as they are the same as any other EA81 axle - I know that for a fact. Therefore I conclude that he is talking about the EA82 turbo coupe's (ie: 3 door) axles. Which makes sense - the EA82 turbo axles do have a weird spline count, that very well could match up to the spline count of the EJ tranny. GD

I will be at the Xmas tree run - so will your laptop. Worry not my friend. I intended to call you, but got hung up in Lincoln City for most of the day working on a server down there. Got back late, and figured you were gone by then (10 PM or so). GD

If you have an 82 wagon with an EA82, then it didn't come that way stock. The EA82 was not put into any car until 85. Likely that the engine was still under development, if even that, in '82. Your car is a Gen 2 with a Gen 3 engine. Possible to build, but never done from the factory. GD

Philbin Manufacturing: http://www.philbingroup.com/ I beleive it was I who introduced the board to them a while back. They did a great job for me. Rebuild is $35 if you dissasemble it for them. They do vac advance units too - another $25 or something I think. They also do recurves - was thinking about having that done for lower end torque. GD