labman

Hi All! McBrat sez: >ball seat adapters are available.... (scroll down) >$1.00 each. lets you use acorn nuts with them.... > >https://www.hi-jumper.com/SubCategor...ID=37&catID=11 > >I called them, and they had 'em in stock. got 'em today. they look good. Just ordered a set myself. Thanx so for the link, and kudos to USMB for the fine service. ByeBye! S.

Hi Benebob! Thanx for the re, just the kinda stuff I am looking for. FWIW, I've been campaining an '85 MR2 in CSP the last few seasons; looking to go with something Subaru, as I will be getting major support from my buddies "Subaru only" salvage business. (Plus maybe then he'll come out and play with us; he's just too darn big to fit into my little Toyota.) "Street legal" is kind of a gray area; nice, but not strictly necessary. We have numerous *SP cars in the region that don't wear license plates, and since the intake and exhaust is open for mods (right up to the port window on the head, I think), that is why I mentioned individual throttle bodies or (more likely) carbs, and the straight pipes. Don't know how much difference it'll make on the 2.2l motor, but it seems to be a popular mod for the ea81/82 engines. I plan individual pipes for each side, terminating in Supertrapps to keep the sound patrol happy (93dB for some venues we use), and to tune back pressure. Most of this stuff is already in the junk box; just needs to be properly applied. Light wheels, and type R tires for sure; as small in diameter as possible w/o forcing a shift to 3rd on faster parts of the course. Probably V700 Kumhos on 13in alloys if I can find a set that'll fit. The 4 door is really lighter, huh? That's counterintuitive; the 2 door version just looks _smaller_ somehow. Finest kind; there's a bent-but-probably-fixable '94 car gathering dust in the yard right now. Mine! I was planning a real stiff (500+lb) coil-over kit, but as you note, the stock struts certainly aren't going to be able to control anything very much heavier than the OEM springs (150-160lb?), and they don't really do a "sporty" job with those. I had thought to dissect the stock cartridge and try to fit a Tokico Illumina insert (I have a spare set from my MR2) into it. Or maybe modify a (Shhhh!!) Toyota strut housing to bolt up to the Subaru hub, they're reasonably similar. Then use the coil-over to lower the car as far as practical, and more or less balance the corners. What about camber? Any idea if the camber plates available for the WRX cars will fit the earlier Imprezas? Guess I'll take a tape measure to someones Rex and find out. Crash bolts will probably serve in back. And the stiffest bars I can find to fit, seems like WhiteLine lists bars for these cars, and they're not too expensive. What do you do for the SVX? Also, do you retain the power steering, or have you swapped in an armstrong rack? Proper autocross alignment is a given, as is stripping any and all excess weight. Probably will fit a simple roll bar so we can use a real 5 point harness, and install a light weight aluminum seat. Or seats; I think you have to retain the passenger seat in FSP. Don't know for sure about the back seats, but they're not too heavy, and I can probably chop most of the steel out of the rear seat back, as no one will be riding back there anyway. We _have_ an LSD rear diff that'll work, so might as well use it, but a _front_ limited slip??? I thought that was a no-no; causes severe steering issues. Any details on accomplishing this? Guess my main concern is squeezing some extra from the motor; the 2.2 is a torque monster, but flattens out pretty quickly. I can burn off clutch facing to get around lack of bottom end (I _did_ mention that I race an MR2? ;-), but that flat response curve above ~4K has me concerned. And I'm not convinced that shifting buys much time on course, especially back and forth across the 2nd-3rd gate. "Nice" would be a snappy pull to a 65-70MPH redline in 2nd. "Really nice" would be also figuring a way around the OEM 6500 RPM (I'm guessing) rev-limiter w/o buying aftermarket ECU parts. These are things dreams are made of . . . BTW, your link didn't make it onto the posting. Give it another shot; I'd love to check out your car. ByeBye! S. -- Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Hi All! My friend and I are thinking about building an earlier Impreza Sedan into an FSP autocross toy. Why the 2.2? We have several engines available, and much practice keeping them running. We have not selected a starter car as yet, but are leaning toward one of the early ('95ish ?) 2 doors. In the end, however, it will be whatever we can get into cheaply. Whatever, I wonder if someone on the list has been over this ground already, and would share their hard earned knowledge. Note that this will be a dedicated autocross car, so we can do things like individual throttle bodies, or carbs, straight pipes for the exhaust, LSD rear end, and pretty much whatever we want with the suspension, wheels, and tires. What we do _not_ want to do is spend a whole lotta money on the project; if it gets too spendy, it's not gonna happen at all . . . What we do want is a fun car that is at least reasonably competitive at the regional level. (The drivers are going to be the limiting factor here, alas ;-) Any thoughts (even if they're negative) greatly appreciated. ByeBye! S.

Hi Buddy, All! Buddy asks: Well! The original plan was to use the ultra-clean chassis as a starting point to build a rallycross car; I have an '85 GL-RX with a hot motor that is a killer-diller on dirt roads and such. Alas, the RX has been thru a severe hail storm, and kinda resembles a golf ball. This project was side-lined when I had a chance to get a screamin' deal on a lo-miles '96 Legacy; the Ms. informed me that if I brought another car home, she was gonna stick it up . . . well, never mind, but it _would_ have solved the problem of where to park it ;-) Some fire in alla the smoke. We have way too many vehicles sitting around the homestead; 2 '84 GL wagons (offroad car + parts car), the two '85 GL sedans, an '02 Forester (the spousal carrage), 2 '85 MR2s (one a dedicated CSP autocross car, one the teenaged girl-child drives), an '89 MR2 (My daily driver unless the weather's bad), a beat-up old Ford truck, and an antique Bobcat. Enter the Legacy . . . something had to go; the obvious choice was the clean GL, as I don't particularly care for the 3spd automatic in it. If it had come with a 5spd manual box, I would have fought a bit harder to keep it in the stable. <http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12938> We do what we can . . . ByeBye! S. -- Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Me again! I notice my sig. isn't getting posted. Pretty sure I selected the "show signature" box; it is there in the "preview post" window, but doesn't seem to make it onto the board. ByeBye! S. - Steve Jernigan Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101 (entered manually; watch, it'll work as advertized this time. Darned computers, anyway ;-)

Hi Ross, All! Ross asks: Nope. Drove it into work this morning. It idles nice -n- smooth from cold start (started at first bump of the starter, air temp. this morning ~30'F) til it's pretty much at operating temperature. Runs great goin' down the highway. The problem is most evident while sitting at a traffic light with the tranny in "drive"; if you slip it into neutral, it smoothes out quite a bit. One of my students is interested in it. Sure would be nice to get that damned idle fixed first, but I guess for a 20yo car, it's really not all that bad . . . And thanx for the suggestions guys; pretty much the order I had planned to start swapping parts (mostly based on ease of implementation): air-flow meter, O2 sensor (whole down-pipe assy, actually), throttle body/TPS. Anyone know if the ECU will swap AT vs MT (same year car, '85)? What about that anti-knock thingie? Any easy way to tell if it's working correctly? Can I just pull the plug to disable it? Timing at idle set per specification (20' BTDC IIRC), + a couple degrees to compensate for my 7200ft elevation. See any problems with that? Thanx again. ByeBye! S.

Hi again! Caught an "oops" _after_ hitting the send button . . . Bye Again! S.

Hi All! I have an '85 GL turbo that I just got running after a loooong (14yr) rest . . . Runs great, passed emissions just fine, but it has a stubborn miss at idle. I have replaced _all_ of the fuel hardware; gas tank, fuel pump, injectors, injector rail (whatever ya call it), pressure regulator, filter, etc. (Had to; worst case of "varnish" I've ever seen . . .) Also replaced the plugs, plug wires, cap, and rotor. As such, I have had the engine down to basically a long block and back; The intake plumbing is intact and tightened, and all of the vacuum lines are good, and presumably in the correct locations. But the roughness at idle remains. The emissions tech (surprised that it passed) said that he thought it was a "lean mis-fire", caused by the ECU trying to minimize CO (O2) readings at the oxygen sensor. While I've never heard of this before, it seems at least possible; certainly it gets _worse_ as the engine warms, which would seem consistent with his diagnosis. BTW, this car has an automatic tranny. I have another EA81T car (MT) that doesn't have the rough idle issue, and am planning on swapping parts in an effort to isolate the problem. Before I do, tho, I thought I'd ask to see if anyone in the group has experienced this sort of problem, and if there is an easy fix. Any thoughts on this greatly appreciated. TIA! PS: The AT car only has 67,000 miles on it. 4sale if anyones interested; $1000, $1200 after I (hopefully) fix the idle and replace the windshield. Very clean little car; the missus sez it has to go :-( ByeBye! S.

Hi jmr, All! jmr052 asks: >Does anyone know if the arms are driven directly off of the motor or if there are gears to drive the arms? The wiper motor has a gear-box, but it is integral to the motor assembly. Pretty unlikely that you will be able to change the "gearing", at least not casually. Measure the voltage at the wiper motor while it's running on HI; if it is significantly less than 12V, you can probably get more speed by either cleaning contacts and such in the wiper circuit, or perhaps by cleaning/lubricating the wiper arm pivots. Also, you may be able to dis-assemble the wiper motor/gear-box, clean the armature brushes and internal contacts, and re-lube the gear assembly. None of these will net huge gains, unless things are _really_ dirty, but unfortunately, this is probably about the limit of what you can do without re-engineering the wiper system. ByeBye! S.

Hi All! I recently picked up an '85 GL 4X4 sedan with only 66K miles on it. Other than a little bit of faded paint, it is super clean and nice. It has the EA82T (turbo) motor, power everything including the sunroof, and alas, an automatic tranny. The factory AM/FM/Cassette and speakers even sound good still! I'm trying to decide if I want to sell the car as-is, or use it as a platform for my next "project" car. Any idea if an immaculately clean and very lo-miles GL is worth substantially more than the $500-$700 that run-of-the-mill GLs of that vintage seem to bring? If I could reasonably expect to get $1500-$2000 for it (from someone who collects old Soobies?), I would definitely sell it; much less than that, and it's worth more to me as a clean chassis. Any thoughts on the matter greatly appreciated. TIA! ByeBye! S.

Hi WJM! You write: > Get these, they are FSP legal: Well, they're cheap enough, anyway; these say for Acura, I'm assuming you've checked for seat ID, spring free length, etc? Write back and let us know how they work when you get 'em on. Why not mod the stock springs? This is typically a cheap and easy way to drop ride height and firm up the spring rate at the same time, plus I have a spare set of struts to play with (makes it even cheaper yet ;-) Congrats on the excellent finish at that autoX. I did poorly last weekend; running my MR2 on street tires I managed to spin on 2 of my 4 runs (cold concrete + crappy street rubber + aggressive suspension = inevitable), and cowardace hampered my times thereafter. Shoulda taken the time to put the new Kumhos on, but I hate to waste hi-dollar tires on off-season (no points) events. We have another event scheduled in a couple weekends. I'll put the old (and well-used) V700s on the RX and see if I can generate a few laughs from our HS contingent. D'ya know right offhand if the RX has camber adjusters like the newer Soobies, or do you use "crash bolts"? Are you running with your car in FWD or 4WD? ByeBye! S.

Hi Carfreak, All! The dash speakers are a horrible PITA to get to as well as being odd-sized. Pretty unlikely that you will find decent replacements to fit in the stock locations. The doors don't lend themselves well to speaker installation, either. I built a box to fit into the space between the rear wheels, and put in 2X 8" woofers, 4" mids, 2" dome tweeters. The woofers fire forward (against the back of the rear seat), and the mid/tweets fire backward. Not the ultimate in HiFi, but easily implemented, easily removable when hauling cargo, and plenty loud so you can still hear music above the usual Subaru sounds at 65 on the highway. Aluminum mesh grilles protect the drivers from my dogs. ByeBye! S.

Hi All! I just got an '85 RX, and fully intend to take it to the autoX from time to time; I usually run an MR2 in CSP, but variety is the spice . . . Looks to me to be a HS car, or perhaps FSP if one could stack on enuf worthwhile mods. Mudrat79 suggests: >With some spring Mods you can make an EA-82 car very capable on an AutoX course.... I would brave FSP if the RX was lowered an inch or two. Does one simply take the torch to the stock springs, or are more elegant solutions available? I have a spare set of 215/50/13 Kumho Ecsta V700s; how d'ya suppose they'd fit on the stock alloys? WJM, what are you using? Any additional pointers on this subject greatly appreciated. ByeBye! S.

Hi Sheppie! You ask: >Does the car need the switch on to run? Nope. I can't tell any difference with it on or off; can't hear any fans start or relays click; doesn't seem to affect when the "boost" lite comes on; doesn't affect the 2wd/4wd selection; doesn't turn on any lights (at least not that I can tell). If the switch had powered accessory lighting (my first guess), I would have expected to find additional wiring, but no; one splice into the relay wiring, and a connection to ground, that's it. Guess I could pull out that relay and see what stops working . . . Alas, no NSP option either. Probably a good thing it _didn't_ fire the ejector seat, eh ;-) ByeBye! S.

Hi All! First off, let me introduce myself. Name is Steve. From Palmer Lake CO. Long time Subaru fan (since mid 70s), mostly DL/GL 4X4 wagons, used for mild off-road, snow days, beater car. Presently have an '84 GL wagon, built upon the previous '83s components, but with a mostly ding and rust-free chassis. Works great; my baby. Just recently got an '85 RX sedan for embarassingly little coin ($300); was supposed to have a bad clutch. Bad clutch _adjustment_, I'd say; now works fine, runs super. Driving it today. The RX is cool; EA82T, 5spd hi/lo (sorta lo, anyway), rear LSD, 4 wheel discs, nice alloy wheels (with near-new tires), sporty suspension, room for a decent stereo, etc. At some point, a previous owner added a switch to the dash, and, alas, I can't figure what it does. It is an SPST switch that in the "ON" position connects a small white/red (red/white? symptom of brain fade) wire coming from a relay tucked up behind the instrument panel to ground. I have _part_ of the factory service manual for the '85 cars, but not the electrical section, and diagrams in the the Haynes book didn't help. Can anyone provide me with a copy of the pertinent parts of the factory manual, or even provide a guess as to what the switch is for? I have also observed that the engine surges a bit under low speed/constant throttle (ie 30mph, 4th gear, residential street) operation. It passed CO emissions just fine, so no major problem with the fuel system, but at least a minor annoyance. Any suggestions as to where to start looking? The car has 117K on it, if it matters. Last (and unrelated) question: I also have an '86 (?) XT that someone gave me, has a bad motor, and is missing some interior trim; probably not worth the effort to fix. Does anyone know if the front seats will fit into my '84 w/o major surgery? (I know, I know . . . try and see . . . I'm just lazy ;-) Many thanx in advance! ByeBye! S.