k I just bought a 81 hatch 2wd with ea81 for $50 the other day. was told it had a broken baseplate on the carb, so I replaced it and cleaned the carb out while I was at it. then I tried to start it, nothing, then I went through and checked plugs (bought new ones), coil wire(new one too), put on a new cap n rotor. tried again, nothing. so i hooked up my lil trigger started deal so I can watch the engine bay while starting it. pulled the #1 plug wire off of the spark plug and with a screwdriver in the end of the plug wire cranked the engine over with the key in ON position. and got no spark with it close to a good ground area. so i tried it with the coil wire and nothing. went and checked all the fuses, was told to check fusible links, but the hatch actually has none. so then I checked for voltage on the coil +, and there is power to it and its close to 12V.

I have the feedback carb with the ecm under the steering wheel, there is a ballast resistor and an igniter. im told that it may be the distributor.

is the little light on the ecm supposed to light up when the ignition is in the ON position?

is there anyway I can get around having to use the igniter without having to change out carb, which is the 2bbl hitachi feedack carb. The disty is not a points style and has one vacuum port on it, Ive also followed the wiring to the carb and disty and coil/igniter/resistor, all of it is fine as in good grounds, no shorts or burnt wiring.

dont have a manual yet so I dont know what to look for like resistance/voltage/amps of any of the circuitry.

Im going to put the coil in my brothers (SOOBOUTLAW) brat tomorrow to see if thats the culprit.

any ideas? or is there any gurus out around the everett, wa area that wouldnt mind stoppin over to try n help me out.

is there any way that i can get my disty tested out?

or could any of the electronics on the feedback carb may have crapped out?

 

I may just end up doing an SPFI swap if possible if I cant figure this out within the week.

ok plz if PM send it to this name, this is my account, my brother(SOOBOUTLAW) somehow has it set up if I refresh this page it automatically logs me out and logs him in. Ive tried clearing cookies and everything but it still does it. thanks

oh and i got a ND disty n coil

The ECU can be completely removed and the engine will still run - your problem is likely a bad coil - check the resistance of the two windings in the coil.

 

There is no ballast resistor on Subarus.

 

The ignitor is in the distributor - if the coil tests good then likely you need a new ignitor. Being a 2WD you would have a ND coil and distributor. You can swap them out with the Hitachi gear if you swap both.

 

GD

well, i must have a freak of a subaru...here are two pics

 

first, this shows an external ingiter and ballast resistor(15ohms)

 

this one is just a shot of the battery area, and my lack of fusible links

one thing I noticed, my brothers brat and my buddies hatch do not have the relay setup where I have one.

^

in the last pic, battery terminal is not connected correctly:grin:

 

 

okay, yeah that is strange no fusible link box.

hmm.

 

my bet is the coil no go. plus it looks like a wrong coil? never seen one like that

yea, i disconnected the battery because I was cleaning the interior out. actually hosing it out is more like it. Im about to check the coil in the brat to see if it works there or not.

I'm not as familiar with 80/81 models (in general, they suck) - that probably is stock. But you can eliminate all that if you simply install an 82+ distributor and coil. The 82+ coils are designed to work at full alternator output and do not require the ballast resistor. The ignitor is inside the distributor so you also eliminate that. You can then eliminate the external VR and install the 82+ internally regulated alt and put the fuel pump under the car near the tank where it rightfully belongs.

 

Too much work though unless you can't find an 82+. There's just too many issues with the first two years of the gen II models - the only cool thing is the gauge cluster but it's a whole lot easier to swap an 80 cluster into an 82+ than to fix all the minor issues associated with the early years.

 

GD

coil works fine in the brat without the resistor and igniter. still no spark in my car though, switchin disty now to see if that may remedy my situation...

ok heres a couple more pics.

 

1st is of disty that came with the car

 

2nd is one i got from the junkyard, was curious if it would work at all

 

the second one looks a little under the weather. the junker car had the exact same coil but lacked the external igniter and resistor. If it doesnt work im going to have to wait til thursday or friday before I can go back to the junkyard. Ill try one last time with a matching coil and disty from a ccar at the junkyard.and if that dont work then I may just go and pull an SPFI setup and swap that in instead.

 

one more question...does anyone know what those three relays control from the pic a few posts back

You can use that distributor - but you have to remove the ignitor and use just the coil by itself.

 

Just ditch the ignitor and the resistor - you don't need them with that distributor.

 

If you go SPFI, you will HAVE to add a fuel return line. The SPFI cannot function without it.

 

GD

Im pretty sure those relays are for AC. I know my car is wired for ac but dosn't have the rest of it.

Im pretty sure those relays are for AC.

 

That's correct - they are for AC.

 

GD

well just beofre I read your post GD, i had taken off the external igniter and resistor and popped that other disty in (it came off a ea81 hatch that was modified for high altitude use, as thats what the sticker under the hood said)

got it running finally, now to chase down a possible vacuum leak. on the new distributor i have one of the vacuum hookups plugged up and the other plugged in to the proper location, I dont know if or think I need them both hooked up since its a different carb than the car it came off of.

 

it will not stay running at all unless I play with the gas pedal (which is stiff as hell) and I adjusted the idle screw so for a minute it stays around 1k-1.4k rpms beofre it dies and the idle is rough.

 

it does have more get up and go than I expected, which is nice only if the car will stay running. I just drove around the block and I had to pop the clutch after every turn and at every california stop i did.

Im betting the idle circuit in the carb is gummed up. Slap a weber on it. Did you set the timing?