Subaru_dude

Just got my car out of the shop, they fixed the heater hose, a broken engine mount, put an accelerator pump in, flushed the coolant system, and gave me the anti-backfire valve to put on the car. It needs new sparkplugs and sparkplug wires, rotor button, disty cap. They told me it's only running on 3 cylinders, and I believe them cuz it runs like absolute crap. I'm gonna put a new fuel pump in cuz I KNOW that's about to go out, and fuel filter as well. Why would I not be getting a fire out of the first cylinder? That's the one they said had no spark. They also said the disty needed replaced, but I didn't think distys ever really needed replaced... do I smell BS? lol. Thanks to anybody who can come up with any ideas on anything else I should try to take care of.

I know of just one brat here in Tenn.... an early 80's model... and an 82 DL 2 door in good coindition and nearly 300,000 miles.

alrighty... Thanks. just making sure I wasn't buying something that could screw up faster than usual.

should I get the OEM brake cyilinders or just go to Autozone and pick some up? and what parts on my car should I always get OEM for and which parts don't matter so much. Thanks

That's what I did. Works great.

That's depressing... if only they knew what they were destroying... what a cruel cruel world.

I think the EA82 is safe enough. I don't fear for my life everytime I get in it, but I do feel safer in it than in my sisters Honda. Her car sits so low that it seems like I'm starring straight at every suv's oil pan. It's a *************** to drive at night, lol. My dad's.. i think his 4th Subaru, a 1984 2 door hatch 2 wheel drive 4 speed... ended up skipping off the side of a semi and hitting a tree and flipping end over end twice. Johnny (the driver) was fine, pissed as hell though.. the car had 280,000 miles on it and ran like a top. But he could have been pretty seriously injured by the toolbox of wrenches he had in the back that flew through the front windshield.. but other than that the car held up alright. The reason he skipped off the side of the semi: he fell asleep, no cupholders for coffee.

I don't have enough mechanical experience, and he said the carb was fine I think.... I think I'll let him do it and just hassle him a little..... lol. He got his education from Subaru so I can pretty much say with confidence that the job will be done better than I could do it.

I need a heater hose (apparently an internal component), anti back fire valve, accelerator valve, basic tune-up, coolant system flush, carburetor adjustment, transmission crossmember braces or something... all for $1,050. How much if this can I do myself within an hour or 2? I'm running out of money.... lol.

I did a search but didn't really find anything... what's the biggest size tires I can fit on a stock GL without having to do any modifications? won't be able to afford a lift for a while, and I don't even know if I want one cuz after thinking a while..... I do a fair amount of highway driving and I don't want my already boxy wagon to catch anymore air.. so I thought a viable alternative would be to get bigger wheels and/or tires. and I may be willing to do a few mods..... like maybe some cutting around the fenderwells... I want at least 8 inches of clearance with the suspension adjusted all the way up. Thanks in advance... sorry if a similar thread has already been posted elsewhere.

I had an idea like that once..... I thought about somehow creating an axle that could be very easily disconnected from the diff without having to worry about taking everything apart. Maybe an axle that had a clip in the middle of it and could be removed..... DAMN it.. if only I would have patented it, I could be one rich son of a b!tch by now... lol. If such a product becomes available for Subarus, it's mine.

Thanks guys. I won't worry about the dist then.... i'll just change the other stuff.

Was the EA82 the last of the non-interference engines? And what makes it non-interference? Maybe it's a dumb question...... but that's been bugging me since I heard they were non-interference. How can I tell if a dist. is new? Mine's pretty dirty.... but i haven't even taken the cap off to check it on the inside, but once I do I'd like to know what I'm looking for. Is it okay to mix synthetic and non-synthetic oils? I added a little synthetic gear oil to my diff cuz it was a little low... I don't really see how it would be a problem but I wanna be sure. I'll ask some more questions later, I'm gonna go to bed now... lol. Thanks to anybody who can answer my dumb questions.. lol

one dash is digital... which one is yours? That's basically the only difference in the 2.

Thanks, I'll definitely check into that before thinking about replacing it.

This morning, my car started runing crappy. Taking off in first... it just died and i had to restart it. After that, it would jump alot when accelerating and backfired quite a bit... there's usually just a puut puut when changing gears, but when it's cold it does it throughout most of the rev range. Constantly feels like it's gonna die... idles a little rough too. Not REALLY rough, it just sorda floats around 900 rpm more than it usually does. It almost feels like it's not running on every cylinder... but I dunno. It runs just fine once it's warmed up, but it has to be completely warmed up for all the symptoms to disappear. I'm thinking bad carb. Any of you guys have any idea what the hell is going on? I have an off road video I need to make this weekend..... I don't want to put my car in the shop. Thanks guys.

let's say you find a good 88 gl, not much rust... $1500, if even that. Plus $500-$600 in mods, if even that... I'd say it could range from $1400-$2000 total cost. And yeah, they're a very practical daily driver as well. Better on gas than the Tacoma, but it's no Honda Civic. It's no big deal if the timing belt breaks either, as the EA82 engines are non-interference. Jut put another one one and set the timing. Try to find a fuel injected one too... the carburetors get annoying. good luck finding one!! You might need it... lol.

the axle definitely shouldn't be loose..... I have a feeling whoever put your axle in definitely didn't know what they were doing.. or just didn't care. I'm not sure about the vibration though, but it does seem like a loose axle would do that. Get somebody who you know for a fact can do the job to replace it for you.

Go with a mid to late 80's Subaru GL. You could find one without too much rust and put about $600-$700 of extras into it, (3 inch lift, bigger rims and tires, skid plates) and you would have an extremely capable off-road vehicle. Mine averages around 29 mpg... but I've heard most average around the low 20's. They are very VERY slow... but the versatility, capability, and handling will make up for it. I think you'd be happier with the Subaru if you just modify it a bit... but I think you can still make it stock through the kind of terrain you described. You'd beat the hell out of the undercarriage, but it would still make it:grin: . -Jordan

That is the most awesome station wagon I have ever seen in my life. The ULTIMATE sleeper. My car's slow..... lol. but it's good on gas..... If I still had my 1993 Loyale.... you would have some major air footage, lol.

Update: Put a new bulb in right front turn signal, still didn't work. Turned on the parking lights on to see if the light on the side of the headlight worked on that same side, it didn't work either. That leaves me with basically one option left.... wiring. I checked all the wiring just behind the headlight next to the evaporative emissions canister, and it all looks okay... but I only looked at it for about 5 mins. Can I find the problem by simply following the wiring until I find a chewed-threw spot? Thanks in advance.

I have the same problem with my 87 GL... I have no idea why it does that though, sorry I can't help.

I'll check it as soon as it stops raining, lol. One more question, my lights that are supposed to come on in the rear when I have my headlights on don't come on. I checked all the fuses and they were all fine. My right front turn signal doesn't have a bulb though... do you think that might be the problem? Thanks for the info about the MAF.

You were referring to the throttle body, but it's carbureted. Is it only the fuel injected versions that have this MAF sensor? I'll look for it anyway and if I can't find it I'll assume it doesn't have one I guess, lol. And I only thrashed it around that once, lol... now I try to stick with just mud and not so much seriously gnarly terrain. Thanks for the info.

Mounts look just fine. The car still does that little stop-go thingy at least once every couple days... other than that running GREAT. Still thinking it's the MAF sensor.... and oh yeah, I got pulled over by a cop a little while ago, I had no night-light tail lights. Just the brake lights. It turns out it was the same cop that harassed my friend (who was riding with me) on his 18th birthday for being out past "curfew" which is bs cuz he's 18 and can do whatever he pleases as long as it doesn't break the law... and I'm pretty sure walking home from work doesn't break the law. The cop had a fellow officer sitting in the passenger seat in the car with him, my friend talked to him about cerfew and the officer told him that it doesn't apply to him because he's 18 and the cop that did that was just harassing him. He gave the other cop a very cold look and got in the car, obviously very VERY pissed or acting so to intimidate the cop. they left and we went home with our emergency flashers on. They said that would be a good idea. Wierd thing is, I had a big time tendancy to speed in my sisters Honda cuz that was just about all it was good for, yet I never got pulled over. I've had 2 Subarus, just about the slowest cars on the road, and I've gotten pulled over in both of them. At least the 2nd time wasn't a ticket or anything.