TomRhere

My money is on a bad alt. The "Christmas tree dash" isn't the only sign of one being bad. They have other ways of failing, like the voltage regulator can fail causing a drain on the battery.

Just to add to what Nug wrote... 1st step is to rotate engine to TDC #1 cylinder and check that all of the timing marks align. There's a rubber plug in the belt cover for checking the cam position. All marks should be at their position and disty pointing to #1. It's been a long time since I've done one of these engines. I'm not real sure on how you see the marks for the auxilary shaft, and the book doesn't say. Remove the spark plugs to make it easier to rotate the engine, and never turn one of them backwards as that can cause belt to slip. If the belt has slipped, get a new one. Never use one that has jumped as it won't hold and will do it again.

Wondering if that flexhose isn't getting somewhat pinched when hood is closed. Ifso, the pinch could be causing some of your issue. Also may have just enough flex left to be pulled closed more at the pinch when you go WOT. Just a thought....

Holey casting defect, Batman!!!!! Never would've guessed that to happen. I was thinking of the crack the EA-82 heads get up there near the divider between the ports.

Scot (subarubrat) had the 4 speed behind his built ER-27 (XT6 engine) running over 200 HP. He fragged reverse trying to rock the BRAT out of a hang-up, do belive he replaced it with another 4 speed though

I wouldn't "splice", (tee) into the original sensor location, as it would put both the stock and the new one out of the flow of coolant. I have had good luck on some other makes of drill/tapping into the T-stat housing. You have to pay attention to the length of the sensors probe to make sure it doesn't interfer with the T-stat operation. I know of people that have cut the upper radiator hose and put in a short section of tube with proper threaded port for the sender. Don't know if it would be the best idea, but there's the drain plug on the bottom of the head. One could possibly re-tap those threads for the sensor. (Don't think that would be possible on a Turbo motor though, I don't have a Turbo engine here, but believe that's where the coolant return line attaches).

You did what??? We still had open water on 3 of the small lakes near me this past Saturday. Didn't look at Baw Beese Lake, it's a fairly good size lake. The '85 doesn't get driven that much, so I can't really say how the cold bothers it but it is cold blooded, and doesn't like to start if temp gets below 35*.. The '86 likes to do the spit,sputter,cough,choke,gag,puke thing when 1st started if temps are below 30*. Altenator likes to sing for a few minutes if temps get below 25*. Engine runs to cold for any real heat out of the heater when temps get below 25* too. I can watch the T-stat open/close by looking at the temp gauge while driving down the road at 55 MPH. It has a newish radiator, heater core, and Subaru T-stat. Running around town the heat is good, but get over 45 MPH, and the engine cools down.

Another cause of "seat vibrations" is u-joints going out. Drop the rear driveshaft and check u-joints for any binding and/or sloppiness. By sloppiness, you'll be looking for movement of the cross in any of the bearing caps. Just went thru this with both the '85 and '86 BRATs. The '86 had siezed a rear u-joint bearing, and the '85 had way worn bearings in one cap. Not sure on the shifter jump issue. At first I was thinking bad tranny mount, but if that was the cause, it would do it more often than just at low speed.

Totally enjoy all 3 of my BRATs. A gal I used to work with called the '84 I had, "a baby El Camino". I traded that one to 86subaru for the '88 XT6 I have here. The '86 is my DD, 64 mile round trip for work. Kinda beat up and rusty, but it can be fixed. Has an older solid lifter motor with a Weber sitting ontop of an EA-82 intake. Basically stock otherwise. Not fast by any means, but she goes pretty good. The '85 was purchased for the Wife. Bone stock except for the 2" front lift and 13" American Racing rims, and a rear-disc swap. Needs some TLC, but it's in great shape. The '82 sits in the garage on jackstands, undergoing some surgery, mainly for rust issues. It used to be my DD, and had an EA-82 engiine in it when I bought it. Haven't totally made up my mind as to restore or major mod... Del says "no more". But I want to own one of every year made, just 'cause....

Got a box sitting here with your name on it. I'll drop it in the mail tomorrow.

No, I don't have any experience with using either "Rust-Mort" or "Por-15" myself, but read of good things about them on here. All 3 of my BRAT's have some rust on them, so this Spring, I'll be getting some experience with one of them. The body part you're talking about crushing with the jack is the rocker panel. I think you can find replacements at rustrepair.com, but I can't say for sure without going there myself. Worth a look anyways.... Alternatives would be to get some from a scrapped vehicle, or cut-out and replace the bad section(s) with some sheetmetal. Welding is involved, regardless of method used, be it new, used or home-made. I use either the engine cradle or rear diff to jack my vehicles up with, placing jack-stands under the main frame rails, usually right in my way..... :-\

Nice looking Hatch!!!!! The Wagon looks like a typical "20 something" Michigan vehicle. You should be able to find some rust-free doors and such for it. Get after the body rust before it really eats into the metal and you should be good.

Nice looking ride you got there..... Just looked you up on map search, you're about 2 hours from me.

Thanks for the info..... Guess I'll get a new hose, trim the one that's on there so it fits, then match-trim the new one.

'85 BRAT has a 2" lift on the front only. I had to replace the waterpump due to bad bearing(s) in it, Really surprized that it didn't leak with all of the movement in the shaft....... Question is about lower radiator hose. How do you lifted EA-81 owners deal with the lower hose? The hose on mine looks to be of the original shape as far as bends go, but it wants to kink slightly in the lower bend when I put it on the pump. I thought of trimming it some, but haven't yet as I don't want to make it un-usable. This kink has been there since I bought the BRAT back in August '07, and I've put around 1000 miles on it since with no cooling issues other than the waterpump getting noisy here in the last 100 miles. I'd like to get rid of the kink, just for peace of mind really..

Hard to beat "Free"......

Nice looking ride......

1. The locking mechanism might be a little sticky due to non-use. Remove the trim pieces and have a go at it with some lubricant. 2. You can't really re-mount the seat to the floor, but you could use some flat metal strips to reposition the seat on the tracks. I have done that on a few vehicles, but not on a subaru, yet....

I have 2 or 3 of those laying out in the garage, I could send one or two your way...

WOW!!! I could spend some time (and money) there......

I've just added an extra flat washer or two on the mount stud if/when needed.

Local tire guy I deal with told me that 13" tires will be a thing of the past by the end of this decade, if that long. Rick has something like 20 suppliers that he gets tires from, 13"s are hard to come by, and can take up to 2 -3 weeks to get in. Makes it real difficult to keep an old vehicle at basically "Factory Stock" if you can't get original size tires anymore. And it is just what I was wanting to do now with the '82 BRAT instead of making a "Monster BRAT" like Scot did with his. What's a person to do???????????????????????

In 1973, I was stationed at the Naval Air Station outside Memphis. Had 3" of white stuff fall overnight. Was "fun" to watch the locals try to drive on that stuff. We got a good 10" of snow out of that New Years Eve storm, and it appears like we got another inch last night, (just from looking out the window this morning). I am so glad I bought a snow blower last year...

Oh Sure!!! Go and take all our fun away.............

Bars Leak may fix the leak but I wouldn't use it. You'll be wanting your heater sooner or later, so you'd have to drain the system to re-plumb the core in. Once you take the system down, you'll loose any seal that the stuff formed. The stuff is for temporary fixes only. From the sound of it, you have a cracked head. Very rare on an EA-81 from what I understand from reading on here. I can't picture any other way for coolant to drip from exhaust port like you describe.