bushbasher

ShawnW I think you are confusing rear engine with mid engine. theres no way to make the subaru transaxle work for rear engine as in behind the rear wheels. In vw rear-engine transmissions the pinion is centered and the diff can be simply flipped around to run in the opposite direction. Not possible in sube trannys. Rotating the engine upside down wouldnt change anything, think about it Rotating the whole tranny upside down would change the direction, but look at the shape of a subaru tranny and you'll see that youd be dragging the top of the tranny on the ground. Maybe you could find a porsche carrera 4wd tranny or vw synchro van running gear. Perhaps you could figure out how to run the subaru engine in reverse rotation, but then you would be running on the coast side of the ring and pinion which may or may not be an issue.

There are plenty of ways to rig it to dump some more fuel in. for example you could rig up a vw CIS cold start injector to a pressure switch to start when you hit say 5psi. Quick and easy, and wont give you the perfect mixture but will keep it rich and stop it from blowing up. Is your car EFI or carburated, and what is your goal? Do you really care about longevity, or are you approaching this as a fun way to blow up a beater and scare some ricers in the process? On the subject of van pistons, IMO not worth it for your situation. Plenty of cars (justys and others) have been successfully turbo'd on 9.0:1 compression. Unless you want to run really high boost its not worth it.

yes all NA market justys are designed and made by subaru. The biggest problem to look for is the motors oil pump. If the oil light comes on, or if you think the car hasnt had its oil changed regularly then run away. For some reason the oil pumps self destruct, leading to the destruction of the rest of the motor. The other issue is that the CVT automatic transmissions dont last. Only buy a 5spd justy.

watch out for oil pumps. If the oil light comes on at any time with adequate oil in the pan, run away. The oil pumps are notoriously weak.

I dont see the point in this. Exhaust can run under water just fine! The only thing you have to worry about is the intake.

justys have a major oil pump wear problem. Pull the oil pump out (its just 3 10mm bolts to undo the cover beside the crank pulley) and check for wear on the rotor shaft. If its scored up a little bit, your motor may still be in good shape internally, and you can simply throw in a new oil pump rotor. If the rotor shaft is severely gouged then your rod and main bearings are probably scored, and your motor wont last long at all under boost. Either run it into the ground or rebuild the bottom end before you turbo. I can almost gaurantee that the oil pump will have some damage. I just looked at a justy with only 126k kms and the motor was trashed, even though the glovebox was full of receipts for oil changes and dealer services. Fuel management is the trickiest thing to get right, especially on a college budget. I plan to turbo my justy and will probably go straight to Megasquirt (DIY fuel and spark controller) If you have an EFI motor, you could do a piggyback system. If you have a carb youll have to swap an EFI intake and head along with the other little bits. Or make something completely custom. I plan on making a custom intake manifold.

The justy is 4wd. Now that I've wheeled my justy a bit I would say that its unlikely that it would rollover backwards. However, it still cant hold a candle to a stock ea81/ea82 offroad. It makes almost no low end torque, and first gear is too tall. Even with the stock tires I was burning the clutch trying to get up things. It would not survive the terrain we have on the island, but it would be okay in mud or sand were the objective is to keep speed. Out here its all about crawling and really tight, steep off camber trails.

Thats the ratio for the RX 5spd D/R tranny. The standard DR 5spd in GLs/Dls is 1.59 (or very close to).

I bashed the case on a rock which could have been avoided, but the mounting system is garbage anyways.

I have a turbo crossover on mine. When I put it on I noticed better low end torque than the previous straight pipes.

I had one in my wagon and broke it. im probably going to try out a zuk or nissan case next. If I were to come across another lada one for cheap or free I would stick it in my wagon 'cause its already modified for it. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone else. ratios are 1.2:1 reduction high range, ~2:1 low range

I've ended up buying another motor to throw in, but if you have any numbers for flywheel surface depth that would be great cause I think my flywheel surface has been machined. Thanks alot!

uh, thats what diffs are designed to do LSDs will have a problem but open diffs can spin round and round all day long. I would run with what youve got. Ive run slightly different size tires in other 4wd (locked center) vehicles in gravel and snow and the difference was barely perceptible. On pavement its not a good thing as others have said.

i have a few early mazda 2wd truck rims lying around, so they are out there, and fit on subarus. I stuck them on my sube to test once.

If your car has equal length front halfshafts, any block from a justy with equal length halfshafts will work. That 89 may be a good donor if it has equal length halfshafts. Early justys (88 for sure) had unequal length shafts, and so didnt have the right bosses in the side of the block. The switch was made in 89 or 90, Im not sure. I should add that I still believe it could be a rod knock, since that is a common problem. And if it has a rod knock, chances are the oil pump is bad.

If its a fairly tinny sounding noise it could be the chain that runs the balancer shaft and oil pump in the bottom-front of the motor. If it breaks the oil pump would stop working which would kill the motor. Mine was making a racket but it was too light sounding to be a connecting rod. Connecting rod noise isnt usually constant, it only happens at a short moment when the throttle is lifted. At first mine would only happen at a certain rpm with no throttle but soon it started happening constantly at idle. I have the motor apart now and the chain is really loose. There is no tensioner to take up the slack as the chain wears out.

Ok I can do that, but what are the main and rod cap torque specs? like I said no manual.

The oil pump is in mint shape, rod bearings are still good, and its got 180,000km on it. The chain is just making a racket, its really loose. I guess I'll have to find a puller, these sprockets wont come off easily. The chain guide cant come off until the sprockets come off, it has prongs that sit behind the sprockets. Thanks for the part#s

The other day the bottom end started making a terrible racket. It ended up being the chain that drives the balancer shaft and oil pump. It is very loose. I now have the engine pulled and am going to inspect it and fix things as necessary. I can't figure out how to get this chain off. I think I may have to use a puller on the sprockets, but if someone has done this before I'd like to know how they did it. I have no manual of any kind for this car. Other than the FSMs, is there any good resource out there that people have used? Detail of engine and transmission is the most important to me.

Why are you putting a 15" rim on a justy? Off-road or street? 15 seems a little bit ridiculous for a car this small. No justy is 4x100mm ea82 is 4x140mm

Wow, I had a feeling the justy flywheels were heavy. Thats almost insane for such a small engine.

If you drive straight for a while or dip a tire into a loose surface then the bind is released and you can shift fine. Forcing it is a bad idea. I use 4wd on the pavement in my justy on occasion, on the highway, in the city even on sharp turns, have noticed no ill effects yet, and its locked front to rear just like an ea81/82. The force of the binding cannot be any more than the force it takes to spin a tire, which, if you are like me, the car will see regularly anyways.

i need to finish my subaru wagon. If you guys know of any nissan 720 or samurai t-cases lying around let me know

you will have to cut up the firewall for the sube transmission, but I think the engine bay is big (wide) enough. Do you want awd? cause the vw is fwd and has no provisions for a rear diff or driveshaft. If I were to do this I would use subaru xt6 front and rear suspension and graft it into the vw.

take a bolt with a head that fits in the hole, then tighten 2 nuts against each other on the threads of the bolt, use a wrench on the nuts. Thats my solution.