zyewdall

Yeah, check the intake manifold and carb gaskets first -- I think that it's quite possible, looking back on it, that that's what my EA82 had wrong with it all along --- I redid the head gaskets on both sides and it was all better, but it always ran fine, no mixing of coolant and oil and no pressurized coolant system. Probably not necessary to do the bores and main bearings even if you do the head gaskets -- subaru's don't tend to wear the bores much. Mine, with 220k, I could still see the original hatch marks on the bore.... Z

Also....... I'm going to put a winch on the Justy -- just a little 3,000lb ATV winch, but it'll be cool (and should be strong enough to pull that light little car out of stuckageness)

Uh... not everything. But I keep adding more to most of them. I just got one of the orange xenon strobe lights that construction trucks have for the suby (okay.. there's really only about twice a year that I could legitimately use that.. when I have to pull over on the road up the canyon and remove a fallen tree from it... but it's fun :-p I'll get a pic of it in the snow this weekend and post it. Anyway, yeah, I see other members cars quite often here in Boulder -- usually only recognize the lifted ones, but I'm sure there's others that I see but don't know are members. And, there are three people in my town of 200 that have Justy's.... what are the chances of that?

Yup -- these quad systems aren't a low beam and a high beam light -- it's a combo lo/hi light, and a hi only light. Took me a while to figure that out too.... Z

I just wanted to update this with my experience... I switched my Justy to the Silverstars 9003 bulbs... and the light was whiter and brighter than the halogens. But, the low beam on one burned out in about 2,000 miles, and the other after about 3,000. I drive with my low beams on all the time. So... not too excited about that... Z

I had posted this while the main board was down, so here's an update so people can find it on the main board. 1991 4 door 4wd fuel injected Justy. This summer I was running Michelin Harmony all season tires, 175/70/R13 (a tad oversized from the stock 155/70R13 for that car). Running at 45psi. About a month ago I switched to Hankook W409 Ipike studded snow tires, same size, 40psi. With the summer tires, the best tank was 41mpg. Worst was 32.4mpg. With the snowtires, the best tank was 38.5mpg. Worst was 31mpg. I haven't gotten any of the drift bashing conditions yet -- my old GL dropped from aroudn 26 average to around 22 doing drift bashing.... The best tanks were on road trips -- mostly highway driving. The worst ones were commuting (20 miles each way, floored in 3rd or 4th on the way up, coasting in 5th most the way down). I could probably improve it around town by not accelerating so fast -- but it's got enough extra pep over my old GL that it's hard to resist the temptation. The studded tires sure are nice (our first real snow of the year today, finally). Way better grip than the all season's had -- I was playing around with skidding this morning, and it tends to skid in a very straight line if you hit the brakes hard enough to lock the wheels -- pretty nice. I wasn't doing any of the tail wagging or such that alot of cars were... I floored it once in 2nd gear and didn't spin out or anything (an advantage of a 75 horsepower engine

My truck came with 78 series tires on 14" rims... I upgraded to 15" rims with 205/75R15's -- which are just a tad smaller diameter than the old 14's were....

All else being equal... whichever is narrower. But snow tires are also generally made out of a different compound that grips better in cold conditions. The reason so many SUV's slide around and flip over when it snows in Colorado isn't that they are so much worse than my old subaru per se.... but most of them have wide, summer tires, that just get very slippery when it gets cold and icy -- my pickup truck was kind of sketchy in the snow till I put snow tires on it even though it had nice all season tires with kind of agressive tread.

I've never had trouble getting good tires in the 13" size here in CO either. However... if you lift it, you can fit 14" tires... that's really when you want to go to 14's or 15's, in my mind, to go with the lift. Z

Should be a bit faster than an impreza with that engine, because a brat weights less.

I know they say you need a special tool, but I've always just used a pair of needle nose pliers to crank it down -- a little time consuming, but I didn't think it was that hard. BTW, a '82GL was the first vehicle I ever did a brake change on.

Yeah... I know some people really like ABS, but I drove a newer Baja with ABS in the ice and snow, and actually felt like I had less control than my old GL -- for people who just tend to jam the brakes on while trying to turn -- probably good to have ABS, but those of us who learned to drive on snow on old vehicles -- I'll control it myself, thankyou very much... Z

Those look like a stock 8 spoke white steel wheel used by lots of manufactures -- the bolt pattern is the 6 bolt that Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, and Chevy use. Toyota wheels are common ones to use, but you can also buy them aftermarket for around $30 each. Those have been redrilled to match the 4 bolt subaru pattern -- two of the normal holes work, then two are drilled between the normal 6 pattern. Z

Yeah -- measure your voltage -- if it's below 13.5 or so replace the alt -- I bet the alternator is not charging for some reason, as this is the classic display you see when it fails. For some reason...

It's an EA81 brat, right? Sounds like a bad pickup in the disty.... I just went through this on my '82 DL, and I have heard of similar tales of other EA81 distributors when they are failing -- run fine, then suddently not. It also sounds like a bad condensor -- if it had points and condensor ignition, but it doesn't. Intermittent coil could cause that too, I guess, and is alot cheaper thing to try than the distributor if you don't have a spare on hand. I found a new distributor (cheaper than a new pickup module, oddly) from Rockauto -- $122, instead of $388 that Napa wanted for a new pickup module.

I've done brakes on these a few times, and don't recall any particular difficulty getting them bled afterwards -- bunch of repitiion, and I've generally used the tube from the bleeder valve submerged in the cub of fluid method. Hillholders, or not. I have noticed however that most of them have a little mushy brakes... so maybe I'm not getting them fully bled -- my '82 GL for some reason has much stiffer brakes than any other old subaru I've owned... who knows.... and yes, it does have the hillholder still, though some of the ones with spongy brakes have not had it any more... ?????

Ummm -- don't most EA82's oil the underbody by by leaking out of the cam and rear seals and blowing back over the bottom of the car while you drive?

I assume it's a Loyale? Not sure how to do a cold air intake on that, because I think it actually draws from inside the fender or something. I've made cold air intakes for other cars (that have an easily accessible snout coming off the air cleaner) with PVC pipe or large pool suction hose. Dryer vent is not really stout enough for long term. On some cars (my diesel rabbit) it made a very noticeable difference... Z

Even if the guage is bad, if you take it off of the clear line, oil should start pumping out of it (ask me how I know ) If it doesn't... very odd. I've never had to prime the oil pump on a subaru, but then again, I've only replaced one once. I just dunked it in oil before installing it -- and the assembly lube should be the same as that, I would think? Z

I'm guessing the bearings on the water pump failed after it went dry, so it was a secondary failure, not the cause. I had massive coolant leaks into the block on my '85 wagon (20 miles per gallon... of coolant), and it didn't hurt it at all. Once I put new head gaskets in it, it was all good again, or at least the engine was. Z

I've got a '82 2wd wagon... motor would swap right in. If I was closer, or if there was some way to get it there, I'd give it to you.... (the wagon is kind of rusted out, unlike your coupe)

I am again in possession of the bright blue '82 DL 2wd wagon... the one that I rescued from one my friends this spring and fixed up again. Then it had stopped running for the last friend I gave it to this summer, and he kind of abandoned it another friend's house. So, I went over and swapped a new distributor in there, timed it by ear, and drove it home tonight. Exhaust is shot too -- sounds like an old john deere tractor. But she runs. I had forgotten how fun the 2wd wagons were. Now... what do with her. The 4th subaru in the yard right now ('89 GL wagon, '82 GL wagon, 91 Justy GL, and the '82 DL wagon). The latest idea is to get the exhaust welded back on and use her as a test bed for some research on a gassification fuel system (running the car on woody debris like this http://freeweb.deltha.hu/zastava.in.hu/wood-gas.htm) Z

Nice Car!! None of my subies are nearly that old (or nice), but I've got a mint '74 ford courier and '76 ford sasquatch pickups and I've always liked the 70's imports, especially when you can find them without rust and dents

True... that's what happens with my GTI when I take it off road (doesn't everyone take their VW GTI offroad?). It'll lift wheels up (hopefully not the front... cause then it stops But... too soft can also be bad offroad, at higher speeds, because you start bottoming out going over bumps. This is what the legacies seem to do more than the GL's... either they are softer, or heavier, so they tend to have problems bottoming out if you go over bumps too fast. If you've ever ridden in an old landrover... they have really really hard suspension, and do okay. Parabolic springs there do increase both the ride and the travel compared to stock.

I think that 155 width may have been standard on the 2wd EA81's. A little lighter car. If the load rating is up to it, the narrower tire would be alot better in the snow.... Most OEM tires are not designed for good snow performance, as they are way too wide (but then again, most people spend most their time on pavement... where wide tires are better...)