RenaissanceMan

My advice would be to return whatever it is you bought.. Ignition amplifier? honestly I havent heard that term before. And go for a new destributor, the sensors on those optical distys can be sensitive. I had a friend with the exact same problem for a turbo model. If it were me, just go spend $25 at the junkyard for a distributor, from any old subaru from 1985 to 1990ish. All you need to do, is make sure it has the same connector on it. for the EA82 engine they had a couple different types of distributor connectors in the late models of the loyale that I have seen. They all should be optical though, it was the earlier subarus 83-84 that had a reluctor (couple different models too), and points before that. Welcome to the forum btw.

Was the coil out of an 82 hatch a 1.6L (EA71)?? I recall those coils being smaller, or shorter or something than a 1.8 EA81.. or is it the other way around? does your 81 wagon have a 1.6, where as the hatch had the 1.8? well, either way, make sure the coil you got came from the right engine... As far as your electrical, it sounds like when you sparked your alternator, and replaced the link, that you might have busted a diode in the alternator, or perhaps a voltage regulator. if autozone wont warranty it anymore, just go to the scrap yard and pull the diodes and regulator out of another alternator, put them in yours and see if that makes a difference. Sounds like your having a tough time with your electrical stuff. most importantly, ALWAYS disconnect the battery, when even doing anything remotely related to electrical, and always make sure the ground cable is the first one removed, and the last one installed. Another thing to look for, is when you burned a fuse link, you might have fried the wiring for the alternator. take apart the harness and make sure they are separate wires, and not a melted blob.

Ok, I am in with the following if IF I: replace my struts with superbeetle ones rebuild my calipers replace the wheelbearings and seals get my kumhos and install them fix the driverside tier od replace the missing axle boot clamp fix the front unibody crossmember And after all that, can afford the trip, then count me in... Lets see if it can be done... Mike out

did you re-weld it back together or something? How did you do that without burning the seals in the strut?

so I got this all dissassembled; car parts, grease, and blood all over the garage floor. So let me get this straight, to get out the non-servicable subaru "cartrige" for the strut, and replace it with the superbeetle ones (that I have on order) I cut off the bottom where the weld mess is, and that holds the cartrige in?

Actually, for halfshafts all together, I wanted to make sure they NEVER broke, so I got brand new GCK offroading axles, that were about $220 for the pair, about 3 years ago. However, they are stronger by far, and have a lifetime warranty.

2 years ago around this time we had snow up on hwy 35 going thru the coastal range, (altitude about 1500 ft.) for about 6 hours one day, but that was the best of it. it was all melted by noon the next day.

those trannys are usually bulletproof, though it is possible to strip the differential gear.... perhaps you might want to look into an inner CV joint for the driverside first? Thats another possibility. -Mike

well, it looks like I get to do some inventing again... after my last great creation with the holley manifold, I wonder what I can come up with next...

thanks, thats exactly what I needed to know, do you have a part number for the cartige?, our featured brand of shocks at grand auto is KYB. Is there a part number for the rancho's also?

Subarubrat, do you have a better picture, of what your talking about with the struts? did you just put it along side the strut? or did you actually replace the strut cartrige?

Thanks Scrub2k, thats the kind of stuff I am looking for, does anyone else out there have any further knowledge?

Ok fellow subaru enthusiasts, can we get some info on shocks, and what to use? Most importantly, what can I replace, front struts or rear shocks with, to get more suspension travel? What Ive got is an EA81 wagon, and this has been mind boggling, trying to look into what can replace the stock shocks & struts, for something other than stock, and I work at an auto parts store! Does anyone out there have any knowledge of what will fit? even with a little bit of modification? any part numbers to go with? Thanks guys!

At the auto parts store that I work at, we sell federated brand products, their premium line "Hastings" is also really good, and is as cheap as a regular fram filter at kragens. I would have to also concur that WIX is another good brand. However, just change your oil every 3 months or when its dirty, and I dont think it matters at all what you use... Its the people that keep the same oil in their car for 2 years *shudder* that need those high performance oil filters...

Hey guys, I saw this thead and just wanted to give my 2 cents. a bad oxygen sensor will not keep a vehicle from idling, you could actually unplug the O2 sensor, and it will run... when the O2 sensor goes out you mainly notice a loss of power on acceleration and at higher speeds (aka surging on the freeway). Since it starts up fine cold, and then dies after its warm, then its definetly related to the computer running open loop. My advice is to checkout perhaps the knock sensor, or the Mass air flow sensor. the sensor probably isnt giving a worth didily reading unless you open the throttle body to move the vane back far enough to where it gives SOME kind of reading again. on the other hand if the knock sensor is messed up, that can also cause it to starve itself of fuel. Its highly unlikely that an o2 sensor or a water temp sensor will cause the engine to stop running all together.

well, you dont HAVE to drain the coolant... much.. What I have done for my EA-81, is just take off the top radiator hose with a bucket underneath, you drain out about 8-10oz of coolant out of the hose, and then from there you can just take off the thermostat housing... I mean its a little bit messy, but whatever... just hose it off when your done No matter how much you drain the coolant, theres always some left in the block unless you take off the water pump. BTW, if you want to drain all the coolant, in my opinion its better to take off the lower radiator hose, than to use that little plug thing.

*shrugs* whenever... I have school off for the month of january, so anything works really, I just work weekends (saturdays at least, sundays are only sometimes)

Well after january would work too.. do you mean like no time until february? or like no time till after new years? Cause for me as long as its not a weekend, I am free after New Years as well.

correct me if I am wrong on this, but arent they hollow all the way thru? so couldent you theoretically take out the stub on the other side, then hammer it out with like a 1/2 inch drive socket extention or something? Just some 2 cents

I'll have some free time between christmas and new years, and around that time in general, plus I'll be back up in san jose then too, so if we can get something going then, count me in. I just need to buy I replacement tire, one of them exploded on the freeway- -Renaissance Man

frag, wasnt my welder, in the welding shop at school, they have like, big, BIG welders, the powersupply kinds that can do stick, mig, tig, and carbon-arc gouging, and they have up to 18 of these operating at time, its crazy! The mill just happened to also be in the weld shop, all I can say is that its really big and precise Mike W, my first idea was the adaptor plate, but when I saw how small the opening was for the original hitachi, compared to the holley, I wouldent be able to live with myself putting a restriction on like that Sorry no pics right now of the carb off, because I dont want to risk getting an air leak when I put it back together (the rear bolt holes go into the manifold, so to seal them I wrapped the threads in teflon tape) It wasnt really a school project, more like something I was working on at school, because I had to get my car running to drive home for thanksgiving and such tomorrow. (cutting the deadline close) From start to finish the project only took me about 10 days.

due to protests of the guy who gave me the carburetor, I mention to you guys that this came off an old volkswagon type 1 setup btw..

Hey brian, this is Mike my man... remember I moved down here? :cool: If ya dont remember my subi was that blue 84 wagon, with the pugs and the nicely cutout fenders? Dood IM me sometime when you wanna come down to do some 4wheelin at oceano dunes, you can crash at my place, if you dont mind my other obnoxious college roomates. Mr. Carb, as far as the differences between a weber and a holley, I actually used a Wber 32/36 rebuild kit for it, its not much any different.

I havent gotten around to the A/C stuff yet, I am gonna take it into a teachers auto shop and he will drain the R-12 and store it for me at no cost. The clearance is so close I actually had to grind the top off the wingnut cause it was scratching the paint on the hood. BTW, also I used the EA82 manifold because its larger diameter than the EA81, which in my mind equals less flow restriction.

EGR valve got in the way, cause its over to the side on the EA82 manifold