TheWanderer

I've held off on commenting on this thread for now, but I have to agree with you and others for the most part. An EJ swap is a good option, considering there are tons of them out there. Not so much so with the EA's. Although I do disagree with you on getting good parts for the EA, I have yet to have problems sourcing parts for my 88... Anywho, back on topic: Sure, the EA is underpowered with its measly 90hp (in N/A form), and sure its not the most technologically advanced powerplant. But it does have a certain flair for reliability that can't be overlooked. Its the ford escort of Subaru's, not meant for frills and not meant to be pretty, its meant to be basic transportation As far as an EJ swap goes, I do agree that the weight increase is negligible and should not require suspension, brakes, etc upgrades. The parts are readily available, the aftermarket is bigger, and the MPG definitely better. I personally look at it as this: IF the EA in my car ever goes south, then I will swap to a more modern (EJ22 sohc) setup. The extra 30-40 hp and more torque would be nice for stoplight to stoplight (i.e., non highway rolling start) get up and go. That is really where I see my car lacking in power is the low end (I can floor it and it takes forever to get up to speed, but on the highway when I'm at speed it goes like stink between 65-90) However, given that I still have only 93k original miles on my driveline, its not a project that I should need to take on anytime in the near future (<5 years). And realistically if I still have the car at that point, I probably won't, unless she becomes a winter time only D/R swapped car or an RX clone for rally/autoX purposes only (which is highly unlikely). Again, its the Escort of the Subaru world, not meant to be pretty, but meant to be reliable basic transportation. Honestly, if I wanted to mod any subaru, it'd be a 92 SVX or a mid 90's OBDII Impreza Outback wagon with an EJ22

Just a little update on my part. I just picked up 2 of those Falken Sincera SN828's to my door from Discount Tire Direct for $99.50 (instead of the normal $112 shipped). Since they price match, and I found that Tires-easy.com was selling each tire for $40.40 instead of $56 each (as listed at discount tire), I contacted DTD and they gave me the cheaper price, plus shipped it from a closer warehouse and got them in the mail today I've always heard good things about DTD, and now I'm sold. They will be getting more of my business, and if these tires are as good as the reviews I've read and they will honor this price again, I'll be getting a pair for the front in 2 weeks Give Wyatt a call at DTD, tell him Brian from North Platte sent ya due to his excellent assistance. His contact info: Wyatt Trottier Retail Sales Agent Discount Tire Direct 800-589-6789 ext 51871

I've honestly never had any luck with Kuhmo's...every time I've had them they wore super fast and didn't last compared to their mileage warranty. Best I've ever gotten from them has been 15k miles on a brand new set of Ecstas. Could just have been me, who knows. Falken's I've had much better luck with, especially the Ziex 912's (excellent tire). The Kuhmo's also seemed a bit soft and the ride wasn't always the best. But again, could just be me

Bad reviews? 8.4 out of 10 average rating....(with other sites giving them 4 out of 5 stars). There's always going to be a few that are nitpicky about the little things, don't let that fool ya Its impossible to please some people. And even out of all the reviews I've read on these tires, the few that are bad are complaining about tread wear. Fact is, tires wear and need replaced. Some faster than others due to how one drives their vehicle Dollars to donuts, the ones complaining about the fast wear beat the tar out of their vehicles and are the type of people that check their oil once every 3 years and change it once every 10 years http://www.discounttiredirect.com/directReviews/ReadReviews?rbqs.rd=13&rbqs.cs=175&rbqs.ra=tires%2Ffalken%2Fhome.do&rbqs.pc=18000&drb.brand=Falken&drb.productCode=18000&rbqs.ar=70 Personally I'd rather have a well known tire from a manufacturer I've heard of...Not familiar with Doral/Aspen Touring, but I suspect its yet another low budget chinese made tire. Primewells get a bad rap, but for the price they are quite a decent tire in my experience (plenty of them I've seen have lasted much longer than their treadwear warranty of 40k miles). They are very similar to Firestone FR380s, which cost about double, and last just as long. Granted, I'm talking more about the primewell 830/850 line, so I can't really speak to the epic tours. YMMV of course, best of luck

I'm in the same boat currently, looking at 175/60-13. Not a lot of choices available, and I've got it currently narrowed down to Falken Sinceras. Ebay shows them for $116 a pair, and Discount Tire Direct has them available for $112 a pair with free shipping. Its a 50k mile rated all season and from all the reviews I've seen they are decent tires. Not much else that isn't chinese made in our sizes it seems The other option I've found is the General Altimax RT, roughly $208 for a set of 4 from tirerack.com. Or if you are looking for dirt cheap, just to get you by for now, check a firestone/bridgestone/tires plus garage and look into their Primewell line of tires. Usually can get a set of 4 for around $100, and for store brand/budget tires they are pretty decent. If I could get them locally without having to drive to Lincoln (3 hours away) I would go with them. $38 a tire with free mount and balance, and when they run their buy 3 get 1 free deal on them, all the better

If ya decide you want to order a set, let me know and I can get em made up for ya to work on the ground switched setup. Its pretty much just a matter of switching that one wire around on the H4 side. I can talk to my wiring guy in the morning if ya want and see what he says (he's the one who makes them)

We make adapters at the shop that plug directly into your factory terminals to make this work I'm assuming you are talking about the 4 lamp 165mm sealed beams, which you replaced with H4 housings. HERE is the link to our adapters Built in house with top quality East Penn/Deka US made wire and Hella H4 connectors

Nope Still doing that, but its more of a second job and has been since I moved west here. I'm the Midwest sales rep (more like outside of PA/online forum sales rep lol) still for the shop, just working outside sales instead of dealing with customers through the office. But I still gotta have a day job, and the one I currently have sucks something fierce.

you got it John I suspect if they can take on the project, I'd have to send them my carpet from my car, and then perhaps a group buy could be in order. Their kits are usually around $200 for semi molded fit. It may be a week or so though before I can get in touch with them. Some things came up and I'm moving out of my place on Sunday, then up to Kearney in the not so distant future for a better job. They are at 2% unemployment rate out there, and there are jobs everywhere starting minimum of $10 an hour Baldwin Filters is hiring 400 people right now at $12-$14 an hour, with benefits and overtime available. Same thing with Eaton and Hornady

Speaking of carpet, I looked into that website I mentioned to ya John. Looks like they don't make anything for our cars :-/ (yet lol). Or at least there is nothing listed on the site. I'm going to try and give them a call and see if perhaps I could get them to produce something for and see if perhaps there is any more interest in the forum for replacement Their carpet is usually semi molded, and they have a lot of different color options.

Honestly I think the gloss makes it look better myself

Wow, that looks awesome Much better than I expected it would when you mentioned going this route the other day lol. I may consider this route myself, suspect its a lot more durable than just rattlecan paint job on the panels. Back in my Fiero days, one of the forum members did his interior with a textured paint formulated specifically for plastic. It looked good, and at $3.50 a can one can't argue. Seemed to hold up well, but I'm not sure I'd want to go that route myself. I did my trim in the Fiero with plain old matte black spraypaint but it didn't seem to be very durable. It scratched off very easily, even after 3-4 medium coats...Turned into a lost cause when I tried to reinstall it and did more damage to the new paint than anything else...

A day (or 2) late and a dollar short, but I managed to finally mount up my XT mirrors on the 3 door DL. Hit em with some Krylon white paint/primer from wal mart for $4, didn't turn out too bad. Bit of orange peel to fix, only because I was a cheap lazy arse and didn't sand/scotchbrite them between coats. Still need to wire them up for power, and I'm going to have to pull them off and ream out one of the mounting holes on the inside of the door frame (bottom hole had to be reamed out/slotted on the outside about 1/4") and put a bolt in, but I dropped the bolts into the inside of the door panel lol. I must say though, they look phenomenal, really moderns up the car a bit more and flows with the body lines better than those ugly black blocky things they call mirrors from the factory. Also put some new NGK v power's in, and she runs much better. Old ones were still ok, but way over gapped at 0.48" and the insulator was glazed yellow on bank 3 and 4 (probably explains why the car has been running like spoob, and may have also fixed my cold idle issue once and for all). While I had them out, I ran a compression test. Cyl 1 and 2 gauged in at ~120, and Cyl 3 and 4 came in around 130 psi. All cylinders held pressure though Took her for a highway run yesterday and brought her back today. 335 miles on just under a full tank of fuel at an average of 75 mph for 275 miles. If it weren't for the vibration that starts at 60 mph and gets worse, finally vibrating my eyeballs at 80 mph I'd have pushed her a bit harder lol. Next on the list is to replace the O2 sensor, get new tires and an alignment, and throw the new tail light lenses on once they show up

Welcome to the world of Subaru They are engineered to leak oil lol Out of all the Subies I've owned, and all the ones my friends own, I've come to the conclusion that its usually valve cover gaskets and rear main seals that tend to leak most often. Also the drain plugs. When I worked for Firestone, they told us that we had to replace the drain plug crush washer on every Subaru during an oil change, or else it would come back to the shop leaking. Even if they exaggerated, a 3 pack of em is $2. Not much for a little extra piece of mind

Same thing with my 88. Any time I turn on the wipers or blower at idle, I can here the idle change and watch the lights dim. I also have the fluctuating idle, more so when its cold though and has been sitting overnight. But it comes and goes and I still get fluctuation and a bit of a stumble occasionally when its warm out.

pic of that center console please? how much shipped to 69101?

Pardon my threadjack Tom, but this brings up my question that I posed to you in PM as well Does anyone know if its possible to swap early EJ belts into a 3rd gen EA? I want to switch the interior over to black or grey, and since I am picking up the EJ belt receivers from Tom here, I'm wondering what the differences are between my factory belts and the EJ belts (mainly if I can swap the entire setup, retractors and all in or if I will have to swap the EJ belts into my EA retractors). My 3rd gen has manual belts from factory and I plan to keep them that way. Is it possible?

The biggest thing I'm trying to overcome is the use of the GL switch. If I counted the wires on the back correctly, it should work properly (4 wires to each mirror, one for power, and one for ground). I have a basic idea of how I can do this, but nor sure if there are any other components involved in the factory harness (resistors, diodes, etc)... Do you have a link to it? And do I have to be a member there to download it?

Title says it all. I need a wiring diagram so i can wire up the XT mirrors in my DL using a GL power mirror switch. The car does not have the wiring harness already built in, and i did not get the full harness (each mirror has about 1.5 feet of wiring coming off of it, 4 wires iirc, and the power mirror switch has 10 wires about 8" coming off the back). I know it has to run into the switch then to the fuse box under the dash, just don't know what wires operate which mirror on the back of the switch, and which wire on each mirror operates the up/down or left/right function of the motor A link to a PDF service manual download for 3rd gens would be even better Thanks!

The 3at isnt a bad transmission. Ford ran a similar one in the late 80s/early 90s Escorts. IIRC they are made by Jatco. I've seen them go over 200k miles in the escort behind the 1.9l and still run like the day they came off the line, with no maintenance other than filling with fluid every 5 years or so... The last Escort I bought here in Nebraska had 275k miles on it (93 LX) and I ran it back and forth to PA 5 times in a year with no problem at all If you want to do an auto swap John, let me know I may be interested in trading ya for your 5 speed setup if its FWD

I've blown one. Never. Again. lol 2000 Hyundai Elantra wagon. At 30 mph. Car didn't survive, but the Lincoln Navigator that it hit walked away without a scratch and the 2 older ladies in it had no idea what happened lol.

I'm in the same boat John. my drivers side handle just kinda spins on the shaft half the time. I think Advance Auto has some cranks in their "Help" parts section made by Dorman that would work. I considered the power option as well, but if I were to do it I'd say finding power doors and swapping them would be the best bet personally...

Picked up a set of XT door mirrors from a forum member to replace my broken drivers side (and non existant passenger side) mirrors. Does anyone have a link to a write up on how to install these? The seller said they will work but I need to remove one of the mounting points (the XT mirrors use 2 mounting points instead of 3 like my DL mirrors do from what he said). Which mounting point needs removed? And do the XT mirrors use studs instead of 3 screws like my DL mirrors?

Meds brand has a product called Renu Pro. I've used this on multiple vehicles (mostly subarus), and had a guy in one of my other car forums use it, and we both agree its the best out there on the market currently.

My plans with these dont stop at just installing the housings And it doesn't involve the cheap aftermarket HID kits. I will be upgrading the alternator and installing a custom relay'd harness to operate higher watt bulbs. The main reason for this is I hate the look of the 4 lamp setup, and I despise sealed beam lamps. Couple that with the fact that I'm too cheap to install 4 Hella 165mm lamps (even with my shop discount), and ya have a recipe for a project lol. I like the look of the 2 lamp setup better, looks more modern, and I think it flows better with the body lines of the car (flush with the hood/bumper instead of recessed like the 4 lamp..looks too much like a bastardized 80s honda ) I'm also planning to supplement these lamps with Hella Micro DE fogs and driving lamps run off of the same relay'd harness, so even with the "downgrade" to Osram Hyper 85w/80w bulbs in these housings, I'll still get much better light than the sealed beams. At the very least the cutoff will be much better. This may be put on hold though...good chance I might be picking up an almost pristine 86 GL 4wd wagon for next to nothing if all goes accordingly