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I just recently replaced the heads, new plugs, new cap, new rotor, wires etc. I pulled the plugs today to see how the motor was doing and the #3 and 4 plugs are black. Not wet oily black but exhaust/carbon black. The other plugs are fine looking. I'm wondering what would cause this on just the two plugs? Rotor and inside of the cap look fine also. EA82, auto

Didn't mean to be redundant, I was replying just as you submitted your reply. So, the bottom line is, it will (slash) may affect handling, on the snow I should be okay as far as transfer case damage (or whatever may occur). I guess what I want to hear is, "Don't let it stop you from enjoying some freshies tomorrow!".

But the "70" is a percentage of the tires width right? So the percentage can be the same but if width changes it will affect the ratio thus affecting the height... Or am I completely off base here. Just by looking at the tires, the rears are clearly smaller than the fronts (by maybe an inch or more).

So I've got 175/70/R13's in the rear and 185/70/R13's up front. I'm wondering how this will affect 4WD in the snow, because I'm probably going to Mt.Baker tomorrow (and they are getting snow!).

Sounds like there's some hot upgrades, but to be honest, it looks like someone put a helluva lot of time into bondo-ing a bunch of junkyard parts that fit a coupe then rolled it down to Earl Scheib auto paint for the $44.99 "Tuesday Special". The on the way home stopped by Schucks auto supply (aka Checker / Parts America) and bought $350.00 in chorme and flair. I think it's gawdy looking and a waste of money. Are those 16" Spinners? Thats just IMHO.

And not to say that a retorque isn't a good thing either! In a perfect world we should retorque all our engine components, but because the soob's head bolts are not the easiest thing in the world to access... if you don't mind going through the extra effort do to the job right, by all means, go for it! And props to who does.

If you really want a science to what a bolt is actually doing during and after you torque it here goes. This is actual data taken from a test I did a while back at work. We strain gaged a set of transmission bellhousing bolt heads and torqued them to 28lbs/ft. As you can see there is an immediate load placed on the bolt the second we begin to tighten it. Keep in mind the gages were placed on the head of the bolt not the shank; so if you can imagine, the shank of the bolt is wanting to pull through the head. In essence, the fastener is in tension, or stretched, when it’s installed. This stretch is called its “preload”, ...but everyone knows this much. What you don’t see is once we’ve reached out desired torque value (in our case it was 28lbs/ft) there is a “yield”. This is shown in the data curve. 28lbs/ft was achieved just under 1100uS (microstrain), then immediately yields to 850uS. Also what you don’t see (and is not shown in this particular data file) is the “relaxation” that occurs over a period of time, in my case I recorded data on this load for 24 hrs and saw a relaxation of about 10-20uS (negligible in most all cases). You can see a little relaxation in the image below but not much, the time history on this data file is just over 8 min. So, what’s proven is there is a yield, and a relaxation that occurs after the fastener has reached its torque value (commonly referred to as “bolt stretch”). This is the reason for re-torque. However, does this mean it’s really necessary to pull your motor, remove the camblocks and retorque your heads? I don’t really think so. Here’s why. Regardless of bolt stretch or yield or whatever you want to call it, we've subjected the fastener and joint (gasket) to an excess clamping force, this “clamping force” is the torque value (determined by some engineer somewhere). In theory, the fastener will not see any additional load or yield as long as the force pulling the joint apart is less than the preload, not gunna see it by “warming up the motor”.You may however, see it by "NOT" warming up the motor! Like when the engine's cold and you peel away from your house late for work at 7:00am (but those are expansion-rate issues which cause warpage, not really where we're going here). Along with the test we did, we also recorded a series of warm-up and cool down sessions; what we found was rock-solid strains across the board (no change among 12 gaged bolts). We then took the vehicle on the track to record durability events and found no change in bolt strains. When we did see strains from the track show through the bolt heads, were when we loosened them up to 12lbs/ft. But by then the transmission, in effect, was “dangling” from the fasteners. Add to this, the composition in today’s gaskets have improved dramatically since the mid 80’s. …plus, just to be ultra sure, I emailed FelPro and asked and they said their gaskets do NOT require a retorque LOL, I guess I could've just said that and saved you all from that bit of bolt-load theory.

...I'm not looking to get anything for them. Just a thanks and some good Karma is all I need.

I knew that was coming . I bought a set of reman'd heads so I didn't need the valve stem seals. Anyone that's interested in anything, PM me with your addy and I'll have them out sooner than later.

These are left over from a Head Job. Of course I used all the gaskets I need out of the kit, but there's some useful stuff in here still if anyone needs them. I'd hate to throw these away if they can go someplace useful. BTW, there out of a FelPro kit. First come first serve.

So the ATF thing. I've done ATF "flushes" but are you suggesting I add a 1/2 quart to my oil and drive like that till the next oil change? I always thought that was bad for long-term conditions.

I double checked everything when the enginne went back together, rotating it periodically. I'll pull the cover anyway and have a look this weekend. I'm not familiar with HLA's or thieir noises. What's HLA stand for? Hydraulic Lifter ___ ??? I would say it's a "lifter" thing if you can call it that with soobs. Except usually lifter noise goes away under accelleration or once the lifter builds pressure. This is a constant knocking. Imagine knocking on the valve cover with the handle of a wooden handle; that's what it sounds like.

If this makes any sense; just before leaving work I started the car and listened (it's getting slightly worse with each cold start). It's definately coming from the passenger side head. In fact while the engine was idling I pulled the oil filler cap and, *Whoa!* sounds like some demonic breeding-pit in there. Loud, gurgle-knocking noises. Plus it's "Pushing" air pressure out of the filler neck, is this normal? I would think it'd be sucking because of vacuum.

Been driving my car for about a week after slapping on new heads and new gaskets. Car drives great except, I'm starting to notice a "noise" coming from the passenger side head. Really hard to tell where exactly it's coming from, from inside the car it sounds like the pass side. When I open the hood, I cannot hear it as much, but there is a slight "knocking" coming from the passenger-side cam cover. From inside it sounds a bit like a diesel VW Rabbit engine; a very low, hollow, knocking or drumming noise. It's really prominent during hard accelleration (freeway onramps) between 25 & 3500 RPM. Even when I say "prominent", I still have to strain to hear it. It is there though, I've been driving all week without my stereo on so I could hear what my engine is doing. I've become hyper-sensitive to noises, and this one is developing. Gauges all read norm, get 85psi driving and 45psi at stop lights, temps are okay. So again, if I had to discribe the noise, it sounds like a Diesel Rabbit (just a little bit).

Yeah, I've got a fan clutch on my radiator fan. It's siezed for sure, if I turn the fan blades, the pully turns even under tension of the belts. So I go to the local parts store and they don't show a listing for a fan clutch for that year vehicle. They say I can bring the clutch in and they can "size match" it for me, but do I even WANT a clutch since this is obviously aftermarket if not a JY part? My car has "luke-warm" heat during freezing temps and I'm thinking it's overcooling my system. I want to know if I should go with another clutch or find something stock before I go changing to hotter T-stats. 85GL EA82 carbed auto

Kay, bare with me, what's the AIR and what is it's primary purpose? Will I notice any positive affects if I plug it off? Also, as far as vacuum lines and anti-backfire valves; can you be a little more specific? If I were to stretch the vac lines from this car end to end, I could reach the Subaru Manufacturer from here (it's a rat nest). Is the valve part of the manifold or connect to the manifold in anyway? You said pass side, in front of the wheel well. That's not the big black plasic canister next to the radiator with 3 or 4 hoses coming out the top is it?

So after getting my motor back together I decided to hit it with a timing light. According to the book it should be 8* BTDC @ 800 RPM (or something like that). My idle was already high (1100) so I turned it down to spec which is 800-900. Also, my timing was sitting at about 12* BTDC. So now with my timing set to 8* (+/- 2*), I notice it backfires just slightly. Only happens when I "stab" the throttle and coast for a bit. Doesn't sound loud at all, in fact it's a really quiet, almost rattling tone; sounds a bit like when you kick up road sand and it bounces off your wheel well. Regardless it's backfiring now and it didn't so much before. Does it make sense that it'd backfire being 4 degrees advanced? Or is this now a carbeurator thing now that the timing is "correct". 160k mi (almost), I always thought you were allowed a few degrees advancement with higermileage vehicles to compensate for wear and timing belt stretch, things like that.

I'm flippin stoked! If anyone remembers any of my (many) posts, I started on a head gasket venture that turned ugly. Turned out heads were shot, ordered some reman'd ones, got them in, installed, dropped in the motor, hooked everything up and turned the key... started on the first crank, ran like a kitty. This is my first ever subaru head gasket repair (first subaru ANYTHING repair) and it turned out textbook! I want to thank everyone who's replied to my posts since the start of this mission. You and this forum has proven to be the most invaluable tool in this whole project! Thank you UltimateSubarians...

right on! Got it...

Sometimes I just hate Chilton's manuals! Can someone give me their own procedure for installing this distributor with an "engine disturbed" scenario? I think I have the Hitachi Dist. It has the hold-down "clips" (like older VW's). EA82, carbed, singleport, dist in the left cam block. Thanks; I'll be in the garage if you need me!

Yes, EA82. I got them from J&C Machine in W.Virginia. They do TONS of soob work. Machine oil huh? In that case won't regular motor oil work (obviously not glopped on).

Oh yeah! Resurfaced, Valve Grind, Cleaned and SHIPPED for $199.00, WITH a 1-year warranty Question: When I install the head bolts, should I coat the threads? Usually I use HighTack gasket sealant (GM applications). What would you recommend?

So I got talking to some of the Mechanics here at work and the consensus is it is definately a oil and water thing. Evidently the reaction the glycol has to oil is it turns it into a... guess what, "Jelly". Glad I left a 0.1% margin of error in my estimate earlier. So, I'm thinking the Radiator Flush is the way to go.

Whoa dude, are we mixing a chemistry project or cleaning out an engine block!?! Do you have any "suggested" ratios? "all together" sounds pretty subjective, I'd hate to eat a hole in my aluminum block.

Still waiting on a set of heads for my EA8T. But in the meanwhile, I've noticed this Craaaap inside the water passages in the block. It looks like gravy after it's been in the fridge, or the jellatin stuff you scrape off the leftover potroast from Mom's house. It's light brown, thick, and has the consistancy of... well, cold gravy; not sure how else to describe it :-\ Anyhow, I'm 99.9% sure it's radiator stopleak that someone previously had put in. Which makes sense since there's a new radiator in the car. Question is, how can I get that crap out of there? I'm sure it's not good for the heat transffer; I mean it's THICK! Will radiator "flush" work? I work at a place that does R&D for semi trucks and what Caterpillar does with it's engines after an oil/coolant crossover is put a half a bottle of Cascade automatic dishwasher detergent in the radiator and take it out for a few laps... Don't see why this wouldn't work, but I just want to get some opinions first.