edrach

From Travis's website: http://shutterdriven.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=14376&g2_navId=x1172b9fa

+! on Smart Service, but for Tacoma area Pacific Import Auto works for me.

Post it in the USRM too. Good job!

Coming as soon as Travis posts a link.

Second event of the season on April 5th. www.oregonrally.com For those weather-watchers among us: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Hillsboro,%20OR&wuSelect=WEATHER A Primitive Racing Rally School on the same weekend. Fun for all! http://www.writerguy.com/primitive/

You'll have another opportunity on April 5th which is the next scheduled RallyX from ORG.

Leaving for Oregon shortly.

If Fuji Industries is happy with the smaller filter on their WRX and STi models, I'm content to use it on my '97 Impreza.

Due to the difficulty of finding hard data on sales of the Brats for my fight with the insurance company, I started keeping hard copy evidence of every sale for all the gen2 Brats that I could find. Ebay stuff is nice since it shows a final price, but craigslist and other sources always show the asking price and I never know if it really sold for that price or what price it actually sold for. If you sell a Brat (or know somewhat who did) could you please send me an email with year, VIN#, miles, general condition, actual selling price, location (state or province is enough unless you want to add the city), and the date of sale. Add a link to ebay, craigslist or other on-line selling agency if you think it will help the database, send it to me at edrach at spamcop dot net. I would make it available to USMB members who are having a similar time convincing an insurance company of what the "real" value of their Brat is. Thanks. If someone wants to start a database for other models, feel free, I'm limiting myself to gen2 brats only. Perhaps this could be stickied.

I feel your pain. I grew up in NJ (Irvington, Union, Rockaway) and learned to love the state when I took up rallying. I moved here in 1988 via a small detour in Delaware. Outside of moving away from friends I had known for 25+ years, I never regretted the move. I've made new friends, found a new interest (rallyX), and love having cars where the hazards of old age are engine or transmission failure and not rust. I wish you success in finding a decent shop "back home".

Cool, see you there.

That is a mighty fine Impreza wagon.

You might get your wish. Shows rain until Thursday and then it might clear up for the weekend.

Finally, a rallycross event. It's been a long winter. www.oregonrally.com For those weather-watchers among us: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Hillsboro,%20OR&wuSelect=WEATHER Results can be found at http://www.oregonrally.com/files/RX_3_22_2009.pdf I should have run M4! Congrats to eurowrx for winning the M4 class. Also to cfwdfw for taking 3rd in class in the morning and best time of day running Time Only in the afternoon.

EA series front axle replacement Remove the cotter pin in the axle nut while the car is still on the ground and "break" the nut loose with the 36mm socket and a long breaker bar. Remove the wheel after jacking the car up (wheel chocks and jackstands are VERY important here). Knock out the pin on the DOJ with a drift-tool from the UNBEVELED hole and remove the pivot bolt from the lower arm. I don't remove the sway bar mount (never had to). Pull the DOJ away from the transmission; it should move freely now but won't quite come off. Tug on the wheel hub and pull on the DOJ and often it will pop off the stub axle. If not, loosen the nuts at the top of the strut tower a bit (don't take them off!) and/or pry the lower pivot arm away from its support with a crowbar or large screwdriver. This should allow you to get the DOJ off the stub axle. Now remove the castle nut, and both washers (tapping the hub smartly with a small hammer will help get the spring washer out). Now the trick is to get the spindle out of the hub. Either get a large gear puller (6 or 7 inch version) or a sledge hammer and a block of wood. You can push the spindle out with the gear puller or smack the spindle with the sledge (MAKE SURE THE BLOCK OF WOOD IS THERE to prevent damaging the threads--hard to get your core charge back if the threads are bunged). You might need to use your drift and a smaller sledge and pound the spindle out the last inch or so via the small hole in the end. Now carefully remove the axle from the car. Installation is the reverse of removal. Feed the spindle into the hub first; once you get the nut started on the spindle you can use two screwdrivers to pry the spindle out of the hub. I have a number of large washers that I use for spacers to help that along. In really difficult cases I remove the four bolts holding the outer portion of the hub and put the hub aside to give me more purchase on the end of the spindle. Once you have the spindle through the hub reinstall the washers and castle nut and tighten (not completely yet). Now re-install the DOJ (line up the splines first and note that the splines only line up one way--one hole has a tooth in the center and the other has a groove in the center). Tugging on the hub you should be able to slide the DOJ back onto the stub axle again. Line up the holes and knock the spring pin back into the BEVELLED hole. Put the pivot bolt back into the lower arm and snug it up, but DO NOT TIGHTEN. Tighten the nuts at the top of the strut, replace the wheel and drop the car back on the ground and tighten the castle nut to 145 ft-lbs of torque (or more--more is better and won't hurt anything). Torque the wheel lugs to 75 ft-lbs replace the cotter pin in the castle nut. Now that the car is back on the ground, tighten the pivot bolt with the suspension under load. I got that info from the Subaru Guru and it makes sense to take some pressure off the rubber bushing. Re-torque the lug nuts after 300 miles again and check the castle nut for tightness (yes they can loosen up--I'll explain the mystery of that some other time if you ask nicely). Start to finish takes less than 45 minutes unless you run into a snag. Thanks to Andy and Skip, the trick of removing the swaybar clamp is definitely less work than loosening the strut tower nuts and certainly is easier to remove the DOJ from the stub axle this way. Some people have suggested removing the ball joint to move the hub away from the tranny and get the axle off. I've found that removing the ball joint is often more destructive than releasing the sway bar or loosening the upper strut nuts (nut loosening not needed if you release the sway bar). You can save the threads on the axles if you need to drive it out with a sledge hammer (many axles require that) if you put a block of wood between the sledge and the axle. Once you get the axle to move inwards about an inch for more, you can use the drift tool on the axle end (it'll clear the small hole) and drive it out the rest of the way. I've no problem with those of you that remove the ball joint end to free up the strut enough to get the DOJ off the stub axle. Whatever works for you will do the trick. New versus re-manned versus used axles: You know, I've not had much success with re-manned axles (with the exception of www.cvaxles.com/ and I haven't bought enough from them as yet to have a good statistical base. I've had my best success looking at the axles of cars in the yard at the local Pull a Part yards. One can usually tell from the condition of the boots how old the axles are and when I find one that looks good I usually pull it so I have spare axles for emergencies. When I use one of my emergency spares, I usually think about ordering a remanned unit from Florida as soon as the used one starts to make noise. I'm still waiting for the last one I installed to start making noise. While we're talking about replacements, MWE in Denver has been very reliable in the rebuilt axles they are making and would be a fine addition to cvaxles.com. Not sure if anyone else repaired the hard to read black on grey, but I thought I'd do it now. Amazing that this thread is still active.

Returning home from Portland and I stopped at the Olympia PAP yard. '90 XT6 is still there altho lots of good parts are gone now. Also saw a '97 Legacy Outback wagon; quite a few earlier Legacy models as well as one Impreza. There were two Imprezas waiting to go into the yard unless they sell intact. Here's the craigslist ad: http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/cto/1074762935.html

To the OP: Don't let the big-mouthed braggerts get to you. Usually the people that really know this stuff don't need to remind the world of what they know by shouting before putting their brains in gear.

It's your choice what to drive. You can probably sell your Brat for a significant amount since they are valued quite highly since they are so scarce. An equivalent EA81 wagon in almost perfect condition would cost you much less than what your Brat should get and you'd have money left over. I personally was never very fond of the EA82 wagons because the engine design was less reliable than the EA81. Just my personal opinion. Best of luck with your choice.

What wheels are these? If they are OEM Subaru alloys, offset is stamped on the inside, usually 50 to 55 mm. Size is also located there.

Excellent. Best of luck with that beauty.

Actually, in a late afternoon and evening. You don't like my plates?

I was wondering when someone would pick up on that. You have sharp eyes, kid (and too much spare time:)). Previous owner has a small blemish on the fender and tried to make it better; he made it worse. I couldn't find an original Brat fender and used one from an '84 wagon. I'm working on making both fenders match.

Thanks Rob, but I need to eliminate the slow leak first.