Indrid cold

Hey Soobienewbie... I live close but not a turbo man so not sure I can be much good for you and sounds like youre good on your own except the stupid learning curve when diving into new territory. I feel your pain. On my first major repair I went to our local Subaru dealer in Pasco for parts and remembered about the not "O" rings seal and asked for a couple.. they did a search and swore that there weren't any in my EA-82... remembering the coments from others I pressed on.. "double, double check".. "no sir"-the dealer confirmed.. not in a EA-82 non-Turbo. So on a Sat. morn when dealer was closed and Felpro head gasket in hand I tore in after the head gasket and sure enough as I was taking cam-towers off Sat. morn.. The, not "O" rings, rings, so I did what any upset shade tree would do... buy a freaking gasket set from auto parts store for that stupid little, not "O" ring.. ring thingy. I laugh now.. HAHAHAHAHAHAH. All better now.

ummmm? I thought a D/R was 4-hi only and the GL was 4-Hi and 4-Low? My 88 DL wagon, (with push button on shifter) was only Hi, but the Transmission that came out of my 88 Gl into my brat was HI/Low with center lever to pull up on. ? ahh. my bad I miss read post...

I know at one time there was talk of taking a dremel tool, cutting the end off the housing that holds the core and sliding out sideways.... I am not sure if it was different model that they did it on or how it looked when done... There were some controls that had to be moved out of way first but done alot quicker??? and then epoxied end back on etc.. possibly a search or input from others.... sorry not much help..

+1 for Subaru clutch cable... you will be sorry for getting the other as it will only last a year or two... my experience.

Mine fits a Generation-2 Brat, a bit more available in WA state do to the West side of state being Subaru Meca and I have seen the price around $150 + - ? ..... but like you say ...supply vrs demand. Craigslist can be tweeked to search the whole list, just not local area & theres Ebay search.. Gen-1 or Gen-2 top? All I am familiar with is the Gen-2 top and they are more common. The ones I have seen on Gen-1 Brats where modified pick-up shells, but possibly they made a shell to fit them or one size fits all but I think there is a bed difference... $500. seems steep, but how bad do you want one, how far do you want to drive, how long do you want to wait..? Oh, I have a beautiful Fiberglas top for a Gen-2 Brat for sale $499. Pick up only.

very nice... and the dist. cover.. that is the 2nd one I have ever seen installed. The spare tire is the original spare. Find a full size rim with good tire and replace. The full size fits into my 84's and can only assume a full size spare would fit under newer Hatch's too. The baby in back must come on later models as I havn't seen that in any of my 84 roo's...

Find an 88 GL wagon, rip off roof behind the front main piller taking with it the glass, rear seats and rear hatch, reinforce cabin area behind seats with channel steel, you now have an open bed with a roll bar just behind the front seats, tarp off behind the seats (add plastic viewing window in the middle) or better and more commonly done is to take previously removed rear wagon hatch and weld it in right behind the drivers/passengers seats, fill gaps by trimming thin sheets of metal and welding in, weld back door gap closed and blend in (don't need back doors anymore) weld new supports for rear tail lights, lay down aluminum diamond platting on bed floor, smooth all the sharp edges, coat exposed surfaces with Rhino-in-a-can bed liner or what ever, paint exterior with 7 cans of black rattle can paint and add painted flames around hood... shoot twice with shot gun for that special (keep your freaking hands off my ride) and put some tow hooks in open bed area with some ugly welds, throw boards in back for a ramp and tie down bike, .... $1,100. and that is probably a bit high if you find one that... kind of runs. A lift would be that much cooler but not required... You need to see Subaruguru or The beast I drive ... it seemed to work fine for them.

Did you bring enough to share with the rest of the class??? :-p VERY, VERY, Nice looking Hatch!!!!!! ... I love my 84 Hatch... it is stock carb and 4 speed and we have bonded well and nothing wrong with just loving the roo in its natural state. Perhaps mods after your wife is out of school. I would have driven up from here to look at that one.. you got a find with that. Great to hear your story and thanks for the pics.. I love that color. Snow is coming tonight and you will get to play a bit! Enjoy the ride.

Look at the number on the engine again.. that should be an EA-81, it is on top/front of motor, just to the left and under the distributor on the block.... I could be wrong but ... possibly they wrote it down wrong or told you wrong. I would love an 86... You didn't say price.. but off a lot I bet you are lookeing around $1,200 to $1,800 ?????? could be as much as $2,000. but more than I would spend.... unless I had the money.. If you are going to own one of these YOU have to learn to work on them. Not haveing a place to work on them sucks but sounds like you have a friend that can give you a little space. The great thing is ...... everything... I love my Hatch and wait for the snow!!! You have some Subaru diehards in the area, this site and some reference books (How to keep your subaru alive) will keep the car on the road if you know how to do the basics, you can learn to work on these and they are not that hard to work on. Depending on your local mechanic isn't the best way to run these as it just adds needles costs as these are older cars and do need their love and attention, but there is a reason they are still on the road... the just go and go the more you love them...

if cranking an engine with plugs out... assure you prevent spark (disconnect coil)... it is possible and I have personally proven that plug wires dangling in an engine bay where flammable fluid is ejected from a piston (while a spark jumps from the boot to a metal ground with flammable mix in the air) can induce... ahhh... good times...

What a great post... never thought about dishwasher and G.D. is always informative regarding + or - of products. I like the Citrus cleaner, Price wasn't bad, did a good job and did rinse parts with water when clean enough for me. I put in squirt bottle and used elbow grease rinsing down after cleaning and wore proper hand gloves that resisted break-through of chemicals and changed often. But, since we all live up stream of a river a concern I had was what to do with the remaining fluid? To safely get rid of the buckets I put a metal screen over the top and assured no animal couldn't pry off and let it evaperate. It didn't take long in our summer sun I put remaining grease sludge in a bag with kitty litter and deposited as grease waste.

These aren't problems.. these are learning opportunities! You got the rig at the right price FREE! Now you just sprinkle in the experience end of this and learning to fix it and you will have a dependable work and play car. After a few more trials and "learning opportunities" you will go from a Jed to a Jedi on these rigs!

I think that would be leaning towards the "NO" side...

I read donneru's post... at first I didn't understand but now clearly it is a smart way of aligning to the number one plug if you think your distributer is not on the right tooth or ?. Read it slowly (I had to read it twice), think about it.. follow the steps if you believe your distributor isn't aligned to the number one plug at the top of the compression stroke (this is what he is trying to have you assure.) If you set it as he discribed, that being the left cam pulley (passenger side) with the hole at about the 10'clock position/timing set at 20 deg. then lift your rotor cap it should be pointing exactly at a plug wire post in the distributor cap that you will call #1 that will run to the #1 cylinder, perferably in corralation to the cylinder and distributor locations as seen in chiltons/repair books. Your dealing with an engine that sounds like several people have probed and tweeked and he is trying to get you to confirm that the distributor is set correctly. As for understanding what he wrote it helps to stand back, sleep on the issue and start fresh... and read again. Although I don't like the shot gun method of replacing parts and sounds like you have begun where I excell (sometimes it works) but all it takes is $ , you must be gettin close... some say spark issue which could include weak coil, bad spark wires, no power to carb/distributer, crossed plug wires or some say timing that could include dist. one tooth off etc ... so keeping working on those issues. Keep us posted on this... would like to know what is making it sickly. What I do like is after I get done chasing something like this I am that much more familiar with the engine when done, so all this is a good thing in that it is your turn and not mine!

If it is backfiring then here are some ideas: you have plug wires are crossed to wrong plugs (double, double check), timing is off so one cam is off a tooth so the holes on the cam pullies arn't exactly 180 out from each other.. if they are then back to setting to hash marks, or loose rotor under the distributor so remove distributor cap and give the rotor a firm twist.. it shouldn't. Highly unlikely but I have seen the rotor pin on the bottom of the distributor shear so it kind of turned which messed up the firing sequence evertime it would skip and bind back up.. just tossing ideas here..

very nice older wagon... clean! I like the use of the plastic to cover holes... I use the peal and stick seran wrap as a just in case I drop something .. or gloves etc.. I love that plastic lid idea and will use that next time, also nice garage warm, enjoyed the pics.

As someone once told me when I joined this site, These little engines are "Bullet proof", so don't write off the sad looking little engine just yet... Once you know them they aren't that bad but it will take time but well worth the effort. Start with the basics, figure out what is wrong, see if there are other memebers in your area etc... or just read topics here in the search, bond with your little roo and once it starts to click you will be a Jedi! with a great running little car that will go like no others! If you want to learn you came to the right spot... your in the learning curve and that suck but it is a learning process... good luck oh.. couldn't get pics to come up?

doesn't chocholet milk shake lean toward leaking intake gaskets or... dare I say.. Head gasket? (either intake gaskets or head gaskets are not that hard to do on these great little engines.) I would look at the intake gaskets ... (look at chiltons etc for exploded views, names of parts etc.. to familiarize yourself)... and then you may have to do compression check on each cylinder. Do a search on the topic in the "search" area... read up... and tell us more... Or it sat for a long time?

weak radiator cap? or am I missing something here?

I am sure the younger crowd knows where to go for some off roading locations, I do alot of back road exploring where I wouldn't take the family car etc... that is a problem around here is everything is farmed up so limited spots but I am sure they are out there. I have ran around out at Hover past Finley and some of the farm roads to the towers and smaller towers South of Jump Off Joe... but that is just exploring the roads more than digging in mud etc.. Hover has some small area's. but what I enjoy is I can run all night on half a tank where my truck used to suck that down in hours... and I have more fun! sorry I don't have any hot spots but you will find them I am sure. Hopefully I will be doing the lift thing this summer... I keep saying that hoping I get to.

Hey busterH, is that Pasco, WA ? good to see another local although they seem to come and go... Is that the 83 recently on Craigslist? I think I looked at that one a year ago before prev. owner bought if that is it... nice older rig. Possibly more snow coming ... play time!

I figure you have all ready pulled the motor or what ever... but if not here are some ideas. On your EA-81 flywheel you would have to determine 0-deg timing mark and the center dash mark for the Timing belt mark, while flywheel is in place and all through a 2x3" view port. Possible??? If you had an EA-82 flywheel that you could work with and could determine the relationship (degrees) between the o-timing mark (TDC) to the degree of angle to the center dash (timing belt alignment mark) of the three dashes this info can be used on your EA-81 flywheel. Set the ea-82 flywheel on a large piece of paper, draw an outline, mark the o-deg timing mark and center dash mark tothe paper, figure out the exact center of the circle, draw a line from your timing mark to center and center dash mark to center on paper. This is the degree of angle between the two. Lets say 37.5 degrees counter clockwise from 0-timing mark gives you one mark. Now make a circle of the ea-81 flywheel (I believe the ea-81 is small o.d. so you will have to know the radius or circumferance, so make that circle and or calculate out the small o.d. of travel to equal the circumferance of the 37.5 deg from the 0-timing mark. Your degree won't change, but your distance from zero will as your fly wheel I believe has changed size so from 0 to center dash mark may have been 9" on your ea-82, the distance on an ea-81 mayb be 8.35 inches and that distance will have to be transfered to the installed flywheel. Now you would have to determin what your zero degree timing mark is on your installed EA-81 flywheel as your currnet marks mean nothing. By positioning your engine to where the engine is exactly at TDC so it will be firing on the number one cylinder that will give you 0-deg for timing mark, mark that with white paint, your B.T.D.C. (Before top dead center) marks for running can be marked later. Now you would have to rotate the engine (flywheel o.d.) as specific distance to the timing belt mark. To put an engine at the exact TDC at 0 deg will be an approximate, possibly at the timing marks any slight movement of the main crank could play out at + or - an inch or two at the fly wheel? and if you set the timing mark off an inch or two then that will set the Timing Belt mark off as you are using your TDC mark as a reference point. So on the number one cylinder you would have to come up with a way to determine T.D.C. of number one piston on the compression stroke and get it very close. Possibly slide a stick to the head on the compression stroke and see if you can move the engine where the stick stops moving at the top of the compression storke, note possibly the key slot on the main cranke, probably no visible difference but that may give you a reference, find the center of the slopp as you slowly pull the motor through the top of the compression stroke to where the piston begins its down stroke, find the center slopp betwee that movement and call that center....tricky and sloppy at best.. and how accurate is that to the actual 0-degree, 1/4" off is probably a tooth on the timing belt which means it may not fire if the timing itself is off... So, find o-deg, TDC Top Dead Center on number one piston. Mark flywheel. Rotate a specific distance to that determined by the layout and make your timing belt mark. put timing belts on to that mark and turn the key. doesn't fire, move belts one tooth one way, no fire, move belts back one tooth past the original the other... starts to fire.. your getting close... General Disorder has given you the best advice and probably rolling eyes at this reply but I am just sitting back thinking... how could a person do this if he had too... and just tossing out ideas. Once you have it running you could take a center punch and make your own marks permenant and there you go...

General Disorder confirmed what I was thinking.... that with out the proper dash marks where you would align motor as seen through the view port to install timing belts then how do you set timing belts? and timing would be? But lets say the timing belts were never adjusted... so they should still be in time! Right? so the only thing that should be out is the timing itself and if the distributor was never changed then possibly it could fire as long as nothing was changed...Right? So if nothing was messed with than it could fire... so possibly you are using the wrong coil, or plug wires crossed or now you have to twist the distributor verious degrees to find where it will start... but you open a can of worms should you want to change belts or use a timing light.... you can time by feeling power and listening to the engine but how would you determine the exact point on the flywheel to set the timing belts by... hmmmm..... just tossing out ideas here...

Possibly what General Disorder is driving at is the flywheel your using.. the timing marks may be no good to you? (he is all wise on this stuff so I am only guessing.) Here is some basic info from chiltins. Cylinder location on the engine: 3 4 1 2 .X X= fan, .................................. Distributor roation (counter Clockwise) on Over Head Cam engine: 1-3-2-4 when facing engine. 3 .1 .0 2 .4 The zero represents the coil wire to the center of the distributor and and the number one plug wire is the back right on the distributor. the distributor plug wire location as seen in chilton book. Although I don't believe it matters which one is the #1 post on the distributor as long as the sequence is, 1-3-2-4 feeding the cylinder plug. When I had my EA-82 I just made it look like the layout in the book as described. Find the compression stroke on cylinder #1, pull the plugs, crank by hand (socket on end of front crank nut) with thumb over cylinder hole and assure you get the compression stroke.. not exhaust and on the compression stroke bring that to top dead center, look at the rotor under the distributor cap to see distributor cap post and see which one rotor is pointed at. Call that number one distributor and run that wire to number one plug. Also now look at the flywheel through the access hole and see if your igniton timing marks align... If you had taken the timing belts off then they may have been put on wrong by you or previous owner etc.. No fire with out of sequenced belts. Look at the front cam pulleys, (it has been awhile for me) but there should be a hole on the front edge, rotate cam till it points up, the other cam hole should be pointed down and on the fly wheel there should be 3-dashes and the center dash should align to the ponter on the bellhouseing at the access hole. This is possibly why General Disorder is questioning flywheel.. as different flywheel could make your marks meaning less.. but not sure on this. I know this is all rather basic info and you probably know alot of this but sometimes it helps just to stand back, take a break and clear your mind before you dive back in. Hope any of this is helpfull.

Welcome, I had a red, 88-DL, some put them down for only being a push button with out the low but I had so much fun with mine! Suspect you will do the same. $400 sounds good but I am sure there will be a couple... oh.. yea forgot about that's...but those things will get you to aquaint yourself with the new roo, at $400 you got room to fix any rut-roes and make it a great runner. don't be in such a hurry to EJ... that's what I had planned to do but I live around alot of flat area so no need for up-hill power so I left it alone although I do have an 82 wagon wanting an EJ... soon? Welcome and enjoyed your post, it's a great bit of history and yes, understand the temptation of taking it for a spin. also, I gave my 88-DL to a family relation, year later it was totalled and the insurane gave him $1,100 for the car. I paid $160. for the car and $140. for a engine. so your price sounds good for being in one piece.