Hey guys,

 

So, I've finally got around to trying to get my Subaru road worthy. It's an EA81 with 4sp dr. When I bought it the transaxle was messed up so I got another one and it and some clutch pieces which were installed by the person who sold me the car. I've played around with the adjusting nuts and the hill holder but the clutch has never really felt right.

 

Right now, while the car is off, the clutch is kinda hard to press and after it is depressed the pedal sort of dangles there. I can get the pedal back to the original position by manually pulling the clutch fork towards the front of the vehicle.

 

I was able to drive the car but I made a few more adjustments to the cable and now the car is difficult to get in and out of gear without using some force.

 

Since I'm not really experienced in this I would like to get some input on how to go about troubleshooting this in a more methodical way to prevent accidental damage to the components.

 

Any ideas for what potential problems could be occuring that I could research?

 

Thanks-

Toshi

By just guessing i would say that the shaft on the front of the tranny that the throwout bearing is on is gummed up and won't let it slide back and forth.I have put a return spring on the shifting fork so that the clutch would return and that helped alot.You can disconect the hill holder so you know that that is not the problem.Just be sure its in the off postion. Follow the cable from the shifting fork to the other end,by the clutch linkage and you will see the on/off thing..Anyway try a return spring.I can't think of a way to lubracate the throw out bearing shaft without pulling the engine but mabey the return spring will loosin things up??? Mabey ????,I am the hopeless optimust...Take care and good luck OSF

Worn or misrouted clutch cable could be issue also.

 

Clutch cable should run under the steering column and heater hoses once it passes into the engine compartment.

Amen !!...and sometimes the cable frays and digs into the outside caseing,mabey at a slight bend..or not..making it stick...hey we'll get it figured out...

Worst case scenario is that you need a new clutch pressure plate - a kit will come with a new throw out bearing too.

 

The other thing it could be is a very low/worn clutch disc, less meat makes the clutch pressure plate move in further to provide the clamping force - thus less movement on the fork and ultimately the clutch pedal.

 

All the best with it

 

Cheers

 

Bennie

From what I can tell the cable is routed correctly under the heater hoses and the steering column. There is no visible signs of fraying.

 

Some additional background information that I probably should have mentioned earlier...

 

I bought a Sachs clutch kit from O'Reilly's and my friend that installed it said that it wasn't the correct one. So then I did some research on the forum and bought the Exedy 15008 clutch kit. What's inside is some combination of the two kits and from looking at my spare parts it looks like what's in there is the Exedy pressure plate w/ the Sachs clutch disc. Not sure what throw out bearing is in it. It's been a few months and I can't remember the exact reason why it's like this.

 

So I would think that the clutch/pressure plate are okay unless you can't mix and match the kits.

 

I can give the return spring a try. I'm temped to attempt to remove it to see what's going on.

The clutch cable would be worn inside the sheath, you won't really be able to see that.

 

I have had issues working on other vehicles, and using a mix of clutch components.

Throw-out bearing could be hanging on the trans sleeve,

clutch disc could be hanging on the splines of the input shaft.

Just ordered a new clutch cable from the Subaru dealership.

Hope thats it.I ahve seen cables that could not be pulled with your hand.Had to use plyers to move it back and forth.Yea the fraying happens on the inside of the cable. Hope thats it and your on the road again.worse case...open her up and see whats wrong.Happy trails OSF

Is there a trick to remove the bolt that attaches the cable to the pedal? I removed the retaining clip but it seems like it won't slide out all the way without hitting that metal plate.

I think maybe someone put it in backwards. I just took off the pedal.

I finally finished installing the cable. I put a return spring on the clutch fork as well. Unless I don't have it adjusted correctly I'm still having issues getting it in gear. I guess the next step is removing the transmission and looking inside.

 

-Toshi

I bought a Sachs clutch kit from O'Reilly's and my friend that installed it said that it wasn't the correct one. So then I did some research on the forum and bought the Exedy 15008 clutch kit.

 

15008 is an EA82 5spd kit.

 

The PP will bolt to the flywheel, but the EA81 step is not the same, so that may be the disengagement issue.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Duralast-Clutch-Set/1984-Subaru-Brat-GL/_/N-ikfkyZ6o243?itemIdentifier=245006_448605_4121_

 

That's the kit you need.

 

Careful though.....I looked this up as an '83 or '84 Brat to find it. Looking it up as an 85,86, or 87 Brat yielded an EA82 clutch set.

Edited January 2, 201313 yr by Gloyale

I just found my receipt for the Sachs kit I bought.

 

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/SAC0/KF59901/01351.oap

 

-Toshi

Kit is listed as fitting both EA81's and EA82's. Can't happen. You need to get a proper Exedy Japanese kit not that O'Reilly's garbage.

 

GD

I've done a little more searching and I think the Exedy 15001 is going to work. I'll order that when I get back home.

Got the transmission removed enough to get at all the pieces. Hopefully I can find some time in the evening tomorrow to put the right kit in and get some reassembling done.

Weird. So I have the parts out now. It looks like the 15001 kit matches with the Sachs kit.

 

It's an '86 hatch with an EA81. The transmission I believe came off a brat. It's a 4sp d/r.

 

Hmm.. Did later model EA81s ever come with larger flywheels? I guess I can put it back together with the clutch from the 15001 kit and the pressure plate from the 15008.. Although that's similar to how it was before. Will that work?

 

I have a picture below of the different kits.

 

For the pressure plates from left to right.

Sach, FJC504 (15001), FJC513 (15008)

 

and the clutches from left to right.

Sach, FJD001U (15001), FJD006U (15008)

 

No you can't do that.

 

You have a serious mix of 2WD and 4WD clutch parts there. '86 should have the 225mm clutch set but you can't use the 15008 disc because that's a 5MT spline. You need a 225mm 4MT spline disc.

 

GD

I can't seem to find it in the Exedy catalog. I searched for all Subarus for various years but was only able to come up with 15001 and 15008. I also looked through their pdf and searched for the specific metrics 225m, spline dia. 7/8 and # of splines 21 and was unable to find any.

 

I was able to find a couple of sites that listed 15003 that had the correct clutch size but they did not have them available. I'll continue searching at lunch time.

 

Thanks.

I can't seem to find a Exedy kit for later EA81 225mm. I've since found all the Sachs/Duralast other kits. So I think I'm going to try to call the parts department at the local dealership.

I'm sure you can get an OEM one from Subaru.

 

It appears as though Exedy has abandoned that product.

 

GD

FYI, Here's the email from the guy from Exedy.

 

Toshi,

Thank you for your interest in Exedy products. The 15003 clutch kit has the disc that you would need (21Tx7/8” and 225mm OD) and the pressure plate shares the same bolt circle pattern of the FJC513, unfortunately that kit has been discontinued and we have 0 kits left in stock. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me.

 

Sincerely,

Steve Kaminski

 

Technical Coordinator

http://www.Exedyusa.com

And there you have it.

 

Yet one more reason to upgrade to the 5 D/R. As if the 4 speed alone wasn't enough

 

GD