Syonyk

More info would be very useful. What *exactly* does it do when you try to start it? Does the horn work? The ECU is on a fuse with the horn, and if that fuse is blown, the car won't run. To make an engine run, you need fuel, you need compression, and you need spark. Generally an engine sitting won't kill compression (and if it does, you can hear it - it sounds "odd" when cranking). That leaves fuel and spark. You can pull a plug and crank the engine with the plug grounded, looking for spark. You can also throw a timing light on a wire & see if it's getting power. With fuel, you need fuel pressure & something to open the injectors. It's probably not something terribly difficult. Give us some good info on what exactly it does/doesn't do, and we'll go from there. -=Russ=-

It depends. It will dramatically increase the airflow through the system, and if it's minorly flooded, could clear it. A fuel injection start system will inject a small amount of fuel when you turn the key to 'start' to start the engine, and once it catches it will be sucking enough air for the airflow meter to provide reasonable data. The trick is that if it's flooded, and you keep cranking it with the pedal down, you'll be injecting *more* fuel, and... it gets worse. The real fix with a FI car is to disable the injector/injectors, or the fuel pump. But most piston engine cars won't flood this bad. The other possibility is a weak battery. If the voltage drops enough when the engine is turning over that the electronics can't get enough power to fire the injectors/ignition, it won't start. -=Russ=-

Check the plug wires again. I've swapped plug wires, and it will sound like it's trying to start, then quit. Also, if you've tried to start it a number of times and it doesn't catch, it may be flooded. I had this problem with my GL last night (after replacing the distributor and not having the connections solidly made). If you're SURE the plug wires are right, and all connected, crank it, and put your foot on the floor for a few seconds to help it clear the excess fuel out. If it's really badly flooded, you might have to disconnect the fuel pump for a bit (though I don't think Subarus are as bad as RX-7s when it comes to flooding). -=Russ=-

Silly/stupid/impressive things you've done in your old gens that many or most other cars/trucks wouldn't be able to do. Or that are just amusing. A few of mine: I picked up my '87 GL from a local junkyard. I swapped a new fuel pump in it, and drove it home. After changing the rear wheel cylinder that was leaking & bleeding the brakes, it was in good shape. A week later, I took it & 3 other people (plus tools/spare battery/etc) out to West Virginia (from Iowa) to look at an RX-7 that needed some work. The plan was to drive both back... didn't happen, but the Subaru made it without a problem over 1600 miles round trip. Some highlights included, "Uh... is there anything special about driving up the mountains?" "No, just keep your foot on the floor & downshift to 4th if needed." "Oh." Literally minutes on end of wide open throttle climbing the hills, and it didn't complain a bit. One of the guys riding asked if I knew of any other old gens for sale, he was so impressed. The same 'GL, about a year later. I went down to play on some fun winding park roads with a friend after about 6" of snow. I had street tires that were pretty darn bald - I shouldn't have been able to drive with them in the snow, but 4WD and Subaru... it was impressive. He has his old pickup, and we're drifting through the corners. He was 10-15 degrees off-angle, and where I could get it sideways I was 50-60 degrees off-angle. Well, I miscalculated a corner when following, and slid off the edge of the road into a 3' ditch. Sam begins to slow down, thinking he's going to have to give me a ride and we'll have to tow the Subaru out when the snow melts. I just throw it into 4LO & gun it. By the time he's managed to stop his truck & get out, I'm back on the road behind it, idling away. He comes over, shakes his head, and says, "I can't believe you just did that." Your stories? -=Russ=-

That's not normal. You've got air in the system somewhere. -=Russ=-

The old gen Subies surprise a lot of people. I autocrossed my 4WD Loyale last weekend, and got a LOT of odd looks. And it gripped a lot better than I was expecting. -=Russ=-

Wow. I was actually appending a comment to my "you can sleep in the back" statement, but 12 people in a Subie is just nuts. "Zero to 60... sometimes." -=Russ=-

Awesome. I love my wagon (currently a '92 Loyale) too. It's practical, it's cheap to fix, cheap to run, cheap to ensure, has enough grip to be a lot of fun, can haul a lot of stuff, doesn't attract police attention, and can be slept in if needed (and I understand you can fit two in the back if needed... ). -=Russ=-

Oh. I pulled the radiator when I changed the timing belts on my old 'DL. I have big hands. I suppose I'll figure out how to do it without pulling the radiator, then. -=Russ=-

I know how to do front end engine work without AC... pull the radiator. If I have AC, how do I do the same? Does the AC condenser pull away from the front like the radiator does (without opening the AC system)? Or should I just leave it there & work from the top? Also, how do I remove the belt from the AC compressor loop? I think I see the idler pulley I can loosen, but I want to make sure before I go disconnecting things. -=Russ=-

That was a blast. Four runs, roughed up the tires a good bit, and plastered a grin from ear to ear for the better part of the day. Some comments/suggestions for anyone else planning to do something like this: I didn't get a chance to switch to the disks in the rear, so I was running with the drums. They weren't great, but they slowed me down. And, honestly, I wasn't using the brakes a whole lot. Not like I had a lot of speed to scrub... I would strongly suggest bleeding your brakes, though. I bled them after my 1st run, and it made a noticeable difference. I still need to flush the brake system out, but just doing a quick bleed at the ends helped noticeably in pedal feel. I'm planning to get SS lines, though. I ran the front tires at 45psi, and the rears at 40. This worked fairly well, with the handling being almost neutral, with a slight understeer. I was quite impressed with how well I could throw it into corners, sometimes using a bit of a flick to get the rear to rotate. I did get mild oversteer at multiple points, usually when trail braking to induce it. However, it wasn't anything excessive, and was very controllable. Power... what can I say? It's an EA82 Subaru. Fortunately, I was coming out of most of the corners in 2nd gear at 3000 RPM... right where my power band hits. I was spinning the inside tire coming out of some of the corners. I never thought I'd say that about an EA82 Subaru when discussing dry pavement, but... I am. Suspension. *laughs* Yea. It needs work. The struts are too soft (just old), the spring rate is WAY too low, and if I was driving a car with normal suspension travel I'd have been tripoding. As I have absurd amounts of rear suspension travel, I just got comments like, "So... I think I could have fit a bowling ball in the gap between the wheel & the fender." I think I'm going to be upgrading the suspension (not just for autocross, but because it will ride better). However, the flip side is that my ride is *comfortable* on the highway - a friend had a Honda CRX there with 500 pound springs in the front & 700 pound springs in the back (REALLY STIFF), and following him after the autocross for food, he'd hit a bump, I'd watch his head almost hit the roof, and I'd barely feel it. Tires: Agh, the rollover! I wasn't getting a lot of sidewall scuffing (only 1/2 to 3/4"), but apparently I had over half of the sidewall rolled under, and the handling tended to agree. Very vague in the corners, and some truly odd feelings from the tires. Again, 185/75/13 is probably not the best autocross tire size, but it works for a daily driver just fine. Amazingly, I wasn't the slowest car there. I was in the slowest 5 or 6 cars, but definitely not the slowest. Fastest time of day was a 1:18.5, and my best was a 1:38.5 - with my best in the RX-7 being in the low 1:30s. A Mini that was there ran a 1:33 quite consistantly. Pretty much, if you're considering autocrossing an EA82 of any form, make sure your wheels are on tight, add some air, bleed your brakes, and go for it. It's definitely a fun car to throw around, and you'll be lighter than most other cars there. -=Russ=-

While you're at it, I'd strongly suggest replacing your thermostat as well. A bad radiator (overheating coolant system) will often push an old thermostat over the edge. -=Russ=-

Oh, I'm prepared. My RX-7 with old suspension & not that much power is one of the slowest cars around the track. I'm racing mostly against Mustang guys with race tires & suspension work. I don't do it to be competative, I do it for fun. Pretty much, some of my friends & I go to have fun, and sort of race amongst each other (the "low power street tire" crew). It's nice to be able to go out & drive a car hard without worrying about cops. -=Russ=-

Well, the RX-7 is out with bad wheel bearings. There's an autocross this weekend on a gokart track. I'm planning to take the Loyale. Suggestions on the best way to get them around a track quickly would be appreciated. I'm planning to swap my rear disks on before I go, empty it out, and... then, pretty much, just give it hell. Suspension is soft, there's no rear swaybar, cheap street tires, it should be fun. A few questions: 1. Will a stock Loyale on regular pavement with cheap tires slide, or roll? It seems pretty stable, I just don't want to find out the hard way that it rolls. :-) 2. Would I gain any power running a tank of premium & advancing the timing to 24-25deg BTDC? 3. I'm pretty sure 4WD would be bad for the drivetrain & bad for handling on dry pavement, right? 4. What's the quickest way to chuck an old wagon around a track? 5. Any other thoughts? Thanks! I'll post pics from the event when I run. -=Russ=-

They're absolute junk. Total worthless piles of metal. You should tell me where to get it instead. :-) I'd love a clean GL-10 Turbowagon. They're about as good as you can get in the old gen Subaru line. This forum will be your friend. They're simple to work on, reliable if taken care of, light, and a blast to drive. -=Russ=-

Possible, and it depends on how you want to do it. If you simply remove the front CV shafts (you'll need to keep the end stubs to hold the wheels on) and leave the car in 4WD mode, it'll be RWD. There are probably more complex ways to do it, but this just involves what you have. Not easily. -=Russ=-

For some of the trips that people take with their Subies... through the middle of NOWHERE... that wouldn't be a bad idea. Set up a system to transfer fuel from the trailer into the car (hose through the fuel filler cap on the side of the road would probably be the easiest, but you could rig an on-the-fly system if you wanted), and you'd have a quite long range. -=Russ=-

Ok. So nothing's wrong with my car, it's just being an EA82 Subaru with AC. Hopefully getting the cats out of the exhaust system will help some, though. I plan to replace them with a presilencer when I do the exhaust work. My '87 GL feels like it has more power, but it just comes off the y-pipe into a glasspack, then exits. -=Russ=-

It's around 22-24deg initial advance. Even at that advance, it seemed like I was getting pinging on 87 - no complaints, because 89 is cheaper here in Iowa. I'm actually planning to retard the timing some in an attempt to gain back fuel economy. -=Russ=-

Basically, I'm wondering if this is just normal behavior, or if I'm short on power somehow. 1992 Loyale wagon, 5 speed, EA82. 100F weather, 700# of driver/passengers/cargo AC on max, blower on 4. Running down the highway, I couldn't get much past 80mph - I was just running most of the trip with my foot on the floor, turning the AC down if I was going up a hill. Cooler weather seems to be fine, especially with the AC off. Low power, but much better than it was. Is this typical under load in the hot, or am I short on power somewhere? -=Russ=-

And no turbo whine! What would fuel efficiency of a 2.2/2.5 be on the highway as compared to a turboed 1.8? -=Russ=-

Can you mount EA82 accessories (AC, power steering) on an EJ22 without too many issues? I don't want to be welding up my own mounts for absolutely everything. -=Russ=-

Can I use an EJ22 or such with the EA82 transmission, or will I need to do a full drivetrain swap? I'm not opposed to a drivetrain swap if needed... I've pondered a WRX drivetrain swap in the long future, but it'd be more trouble than just an engine swap, especially with the different clutch actuation & such. -=Russ=-

I'm thinking pretty strongly of selling my RX-7 & letting my Loyale be my daily driver/weekend warrior in one. It's lighter, more practical, and with boost, would be quicker. And still a sane daily driver. Towards that end, I need a good powerplant. Right now, I don't want to do a full EJ swap, so I want to stick with the EA82 (also, just because I think it's a neat engine). But, I need boost to do what I want. My plan is to build a more or less zero mile EA82T, with high compression pistons, MPFI, a standalone ECU, and a custom exhaust system. I'd like to see around 180 at the crank if possible. The turbo longblock is MPFI, correct? The exhaust I'm planning to run would come off the turbo, have an EGT probe, back to a presilencer (glasspack or such), and then back to a large, fairly free flowing muffler. This should be quiet, with a minimum of backpressure - at least 2" pipe behind the turbo. Any problems there? I'd like to have wideband O2 sensor bungs welded into both downpipes, for proper tuning of each side. Do MPFI systems have 2 or 4 injectors to control? And, finally, with a Megasquirt, full timing control, and premium fuel, do I have a good shot at reliably & safely making 180 or so to the crank? I expect I'd need to run 15lbs or so of boost, intercooled, to do this (roughly doubling stock output). -=Russ=-

Because the cross sectional area of a pipe (the area the flow has) is pi*r*r Or, pi * 1/2 * d * 1/2 * d Or, 1/4 * pi * d^2 Comparing areas, you can drop the constants of 1/4*pi, and just compare r^2 or d^2 robm is right, a 1" pipe has a LOT less cross sectional area than a 2" pipe. -=Russ=-