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If ypu never had the intake off, or it wasn't put together with anti seize, run it till it's up to temperature before loosening the bolts. Saves snapped bolts.

Hi all, this is my first post on this forum despite making an account some years ago so thought I would show off my project of 8 years which is on the road at last as of this week. I've been a member on the Aussie Ausubaru forum for many years, there's not so much activity over there these days but it is good to see so much activity on this forum To start with a little backstory; This is a 1981 GL wagon that my parents bought new in 1981. It was originally dual range 4 speed, EA81 of course. It used to be silver hence my user name and the name of the car (it used to be jokingly referred to as the silver bullet in my family because it was so slow) Even though it is blue now I don't think I can shake the name. It was also my brothers first car, and then my first car. By the time I got it there was a few rust holes and the engine was very tired, everything was very tired. I decided to take it off the road completely and do a ground up restoration with mods...I parked it for the last time towards the end of 2012! So this is the 9th year currently, but there has been a few years of accumulative hiatus in that time for various reasons. There is too much information to put into one post, I had/have 3 threads on Ausubaru detailing all the work that has been done on the engine, suspension, bodywork, interior. So I will just put a list of mods and a couple of collages so maybe you can get an idea of how much work has gone into this car. It is on the road at last and I'm currently breaking in the engine. All going pretty well so far, it gets better and better with each passing kilometre. I plan to do lots of camping and road trips in this car, with some light 4WD'ing as well. Mods: - EA81 twin carb (true twin carb engine with the larger swapped valves) fully rebuilt - Megajolt EDIS programmable ignition, distributor deleted - Custom made (by me) stainless exhaust, 2 1/4" mandrel bends and V band clamps, purge welded with TIG - A/C, power steering - L series 5 speed - L series complete front suspension, brakes, hubs, axles with slightly modified control arms, custom chromoly adjustable radius rods - Disc brake rear end, braided brake lines all round - 2 inch lift kit - 6 Gauge "tacho dash" instrument cluster, had to make a custom PCB to drive the tacho off the EDIS. Used the tried and true 555 timer tacho circuit - Full custom re-wire front to back, all designed by me, using a Liberty/legacy fuse box in the engine bay - LED lighting throughout - 90 amp Nissan alternator - CB radio mounted in a center roof console along with L series room light and map lights - Outback front seats, extensively modified mounting points on the seats so I could use the Outback seat rails. - Double DIN touch screen head unit with Android auto, 4 speaker sound system with amplifier and a slim sub in the boot inside a custom fiberglass sub box. - "cyclops light" passing light which wasn't a factory option hear in Australia - 4 x 114.3 stud pattern - this wasn't done by me but the previous owner of all the hubs and L series gear I bought. I'm wishing they hadn't done it now because ironically getting the wheels I want is easier for 4 x 140 now. I'm having to buy new steel wheels and get them extensively modified to change the offset and rim width. The alloys in the pics aren't right for this car in more ways than one. -Alloy front and rear bars with a rear spare tire carrier - Air adjustable rear shockers That will do for a start, I think that is most of it but I feel like I'm missing something. Of course something that isn't really a mod is all the rust repairs and body work that were done way back at the start. I cut all the rusty steel out and welded new metal in. Thankfully in this part of the world the rust wasn't too bad, I've seen the same car at wreckers that look like they've been stored under water. The paint job is something I got done professionally since I didn't want to compromise on the result and hate painting of any description. I think it was worth the money to get it done properly. I also got the rear seat re-upholstered professionally, and this was the second most expensive thing in this car after the paint job! Also worth it though. Well done if you read through that novel, here's a few pics. I need to take some more updated/recent pictures of it though, and shoot a decent video so you can hear what it sounds like. Feel free to ask any questions on any of the mods I've done.

I remembered you saying this many times over the years, and was going to put it into practice this go round. Thanks for the reminder! Dan

Yeah, I've always assumed it was a dodgy commutator when it did the intermittent-a-little-worse-when-cold thing - you're actually spinning a roulette wheel and instead of red+black it's landing on start and no-start, then the temperature just adds a dollop of chaos. So I replace it with a boneyard pull and don't wongleflute ("wongleflute"? What I really meant was "kerfspluddle".) around with rebuilding.

That new shouldnt have internal degradation. Is that from the bulbs failing/overheating/exploding? Or do the headlight assemblies/wiring have some other issue that’s causing bulbs to blow and internal lens oxidation/coating damage? Moisture, aftermarket, wiring, previous work....? I don’t trust those LED fans for longevity. Moving parts on high heat light bulbs. Nope I’ll lean towards passive heat sink if they work. Pigtails doubtful. 90s pigtails were bad over the long term - worse than 80s and newer stuff. On a 2012 it would be caused by rodents, accident or hack job which you haven’t seen and said isn’t the case.

I mean installing LED bulbs in the factory housing. Some vehicles (Outback not likely one of them....but I could be wrong about the newer ones) have LED headlight assemblies available for them, aftermarket or OEM, which have considerably different optics to utilize the different light source. HIDs require a Ballast, LEDs require a driver. Frequently, the driver is built into the back of the LED bulb assembly, sometimes it's installed in the wiring a few inches from the bulb. These generate heat, so there's some form of heat sync and frequently a cooling fan on there. The '00-04 Outbacks (I have 6...so this is usually what I'm working on) don't have very much room behind the bulb, so the LEDs with everything built into the bulb assembly don't generally fit, but some use a flexible heat sync braid which are more flexible and can fit into tighter spaces. But basically, a drop-in LED "bulb" isn't much more complicated to install than a replacement halogen. I recommend https://www.gtrlighting.com/ and https://www.diodedynamics.com/ for high quality replacements. Although I've used many cheap alternatives with some success.

That would explain a lot... Thanks for the tip Bennie. Will have to dig through the parts bin... Yup, she's no beauty queen, but she loves to do work and outdoor activities. Washing the '82 Brat is something I have NOT done to it recently, or EVER for that matter. Found her in the woods down by Tacoma, she had been sitting a good 8 years or more. All that was needed was a carburetor, as it was missing. After getting her home, installed a Weber 32/36, and flushed the fuel tank, she started right up. Couldn't bring myself to remove the patina... And the 3rd eye still works... She came with a 3" Lift Kit installed. The Trans Spacers are only 2", so the trans sits up slightly higher. No markings on any of the lift components... but the huge sticker on the back window is for Tough Country... possibly a custom order through them at the time of the build, whenever that was... 14" Pug Steels with Cooper Discoverer STT's And, she has the "Super Coil" that has the bonus techno box on top that somehow reads the position of the distributor and (recurves?) for the situation at hand. She just keeps on going... have lost track of all the things hauled and jobs done over the 5 years I've owned her. Regreasing CV's... something I should probably do to a few of the Subes...

headlights? yeah,no ballasts. Some are designed to be rotated for best cut-off line then locked-down with an allen screw or ??? Others may require some creativity on the back side for heatsink or fan clearance. Turn signals may require a load resister or replacement flasher unit. Other installations are polarized I think. it is HIDs that need ballasts.

Good idea! I forgot that I've got that very problem right now on my 98 Forester, left side. I bought a new set of pigtails and haven't gotten around to installing them yet. Thanks for reminding me.