CIS Subaru

Moreover, our owner's manuals refer only to Research Method (RON) ratings. Here in the USA, we rate gasoline by (R+M)/2 which is the average of the figures achieved by the Research and Motor Methods. The Research Method usually results in a higher number than the Motor Method, so the 90 octane recommended in our owner's manuals actually equates roughly to our 87 octane gas.

I've put over 10,000 miles on my wagon with no covers. I've never had any trouble. It seems to me that if you drive mostly on pavement, it is very unlikely that any large debris could get past the radiator and interfere with the belts. Still, I keep my old belts and an extra 12mm wrench tucked away in the back in case of emergency.

John, Craig is absolutely right about the cracks in the exhaust runners. The heads on my CIS wagon had these, and I only found them because my friend was "porting" the heads for me. When he hit the cracks with the die-grinder, you could instantly smell coolant even though the heads were totally dry. Thankfully, his cousin is a welder and agreed to patch them for me. So far his welds are holding fine.

I seem to remember some minor differences, but they are definitely cast from the same mold. I too believe that they are swappable.

I got my LSD from a car exactly like what is described here. According to my '85 owner's manual, there were both RX sedans and Turbo 4wd D/R sedans. From what I've seen, the plain turbos had neither RX nor GL badging, but simply said SUBARU on the back like a Loyale. All GL-10s were non-turbo in '85 (hence the Turbo-Traction Wagons), so this vehicle filled the turbo GL-10 niche. I believe these Turbo sedans had the digital dash and other "luxury" options that the '85 RX did not, but were otherwise very similar to the RX. My '85 owner's manual indicates that the '85 RX did not come standard with power steering!? Can anyone confirm this? If so, then that would be another difference between the Turbo sedans and RXs.

Yes, any straight manifold vacuum will do. I don't know if it really matters, but my 3spd has a special vacuum line connecting it to the manifold. It looks normal on the outside, but if you look into the end it is very small inside. I think it acts as some sort of bottleneck to limit sudden airflow. It may also just be a spring liner to keep the hose from collapsing.

Last year, I looked into making an adapter almost exactly like what you made. I stopped when I realized that the EA flywheel wouldn't just bolt-up to the EJ engine. I had considered elongating the holes, but I didn't think I could do it myself and feared that they needed to be backfilled and be round again for strength. The bottom studs were in the correct location, right? It sure looked that way as I was attempting this. I was actually using an EA82 engine bellhousing with an EJ tranny just to make my measurements since the EA82 bellhousing is very open and allows you to see inside well. How did you conquer the upper bolt problem? I had planned to bolt my adapter to the tranny first, then bolt the engine onto that assembly. I had also planned to use steel for the adapter, as I wasn't sure if aluminum could handle the stresses of the offset upper bolts. Also, there is an industrial saw blade manufacturer near me that has been known to make an occasional custom auto part, and I thought they might be able to make a run of these adapters from their steel stock pretty easily (using an automated laser cutter). I don't think they have anything thick enough, so I was planning a sort of laminate sandwich setup. Never checked the price though, since I gave up on it. Probably would be too expensive. Did you lighten the flywheel, or use an XT6 flywheel, or is it just a stock EA82 flywheel? This has all renewed my interest in completing "Chemical X", my '81 DL Hardtop with '97 Impreza engine.

I just wanted to second the fact that the timing belt idler pulley bearing is a standard bearing so it is readily available. I got mine at NAPA.

Here are the directions I emailed to someone back when I found it. I don't think they ever looked for it. It was on Hocking County Road 116 off SR 33, near Clear Creek Metro Park outside Logan, Ohio. http://www.hockinghills.com/clearcreek/ After turning onto County Road 116 (off of US Route 33), drive exactly 6 miles. This will get you through Clearcreek Park, and there will be a few houses on your left. It's at the second house in the row. The van is very hard to see. I couldn't find the address of that house, but I think the next house past it is 1235 Clearcreek Rd. Sw. Lancaster, OH 43130 You might try mailing a letter? I would go look for it for you, but I doubt I'll have time anytime soon. It's about 2hrs from my house.

I saw 360 Van in someone's yard a couple years ago in Southeast Ohio. It didn't look like it had moved in a long time, so I bet it's still there. I'll try to find out where it was for you. Email me to remind me if you don't hear back soon.

The absolute most common reason for a Check Engine light on an SPFI car (when operation is barely affected) is the EGR Solenoid Valve. Find yourself a nice clean one at a junk yard, and it'll likely fix the light. I had this happen on my '88 Wagon, and have seen several other guys here with the same issue. You can try cleaning your old one, but I had no luck with that. To find the EGR Solenoid Valve, follow the vacuum line from the EGR Valve. The Solenoid Valve is on top of the intake manifold, on the passenger side, under the intake boot. It looks like a little box with two vacuum lines and tiny air filter attached. (this is all just from memory, so I might be slightly off, but I think it's enough for you to find it)

Good, I've been putting them on correctly.

I had this happen too. Once again, it was the cone piece. I just grabbed a couple "no charge" from the junkyard, and they solved my problem. Which way is the flat spring washer supposed to be installed?? If you look at them from the side, they are slightly cone shaped too. I always put them on with the larger side out. Is that correct?

I've never heard of any EA81 car that came with an overflow tank. There's a tab inside the radiator that marks the MAX fill level. If you fill past that tab, then coolant will likely drain out onto the ground.

I looked into using an SPFI manifold to mount a carb. It could be done, but you'd have to fabricate an adapter. The throttle body mounting surface is heavily tilted toward the front of the car, and carbs like to be level most of the time. On the other hand, the SPFI manifold does look to me like it might be slightly better flowing than the carb one, but who knows just by eyeballing it. I'm surprised I don't see more people here using EA82 carbs/manifolds on their EA81s. They are bigger carbs, and the 4wd versions still didn't have computers. For that matter, I believe Isuzu trucks had even larger carbs that bolt-up to EA82 carb manifolds. I always wanted to try one of these, but then I found an EA81T and my carb plans all went out the window.

You can order the Grant ones from Autozone, and I believe they're only $35.99. I'm holding out for a 6-bolt, Momo style adapter. I've seen these on the web, but they're more expensive. Mind you, both styles only seem to be offered for EA81 cars. (might also fit '85-'86 EA82 cars, but certainly won't fit '87+ EA82 cars)

TURBO Brats have MPFI engines, so just find a pic of one if you want to see a MPFI Brat.

I had an '85 Sedan that did the exact same thing. I never figured it out, so I just ran a new wire for the cruise control and left it hornless.

One of my wife's co-workers has been borrowing my '83 2wd 5spd Sedan that I bought at auction for $75. I didn't realize that it had an oil leak, so she hadn't been checking the oil and it ran very low early last week. Friday it blasted a rod through the top of the engine. I'm not sure if I'm going to fix it or part it out, but I'll post pics of the carnage when I get a chance to take some.

My N/A spider intake has no EGR, and it's not a CA model. I've never seen a spider intake with an EGR. I've only seen 3 or 4, and they were all N/A, but none had one. Maybe it has something to do with model year? Mine is an '89.

I once considered putting VW Scirocco tail lights onto my Hatchback, but I like this better since it uses Subie parts.

Take a look at the amount of surface area that the front belt has in contact with the A/C pulley. The belt would just slip on that pulley when the A/C kicked on if you didn't have the rear one to help it. Another advantage of this setup is that you end up with redundant belts on your water pump, which is a nice safety feature.

I'd check http://www.expressautoparts.com/ I've ordered alot of VW parts from them, and they seem to have a good selection of Subaru parts too. Their prices are pretty good, and they have free shipping on orders over $50. Best of all, their parts generally seem to be better quality than what you'd get at Autozone or PepBoys.

Actually... the rare, non-US model Dual-Carb EA81s had dual exhaust ports. They were side-by-side, but they were actually separated. I have a picture of a header made for one of these engines somewhere. That engine was really strange, as the intake and exhaust valves were in the EA82 positions (ei-ie) instead of the normal EA81 positions (ie-ei).

I can only think of one special tool I use that no one has mentioned yet. The Subaru factory spark plug socket. The one that came in the toolkit that came with the car. I always use it to change my plugs because my other spark plug sockets don't have thin enough walls to properly reach the plug when it's fully installed in the head.