86BRATMAN

What caused the other failures? Any upgrades, upped boost, and what fuel grade are you running?

With the exception of the ej25 hg issues, I'm going to say they are right on par with each other.

I must look into this for the XT, the d/s retractor is failed.

Grossgary has suggested removing the knock sensor and wrapping a few good layers of pipe tape around the threads. This will help reduce an over sensitive knock sensor.

Is the 88 parts car a hatch? If so the ignition will work, if not then no go.

The stops are stationary. And should be mounted to the door itslef. I haven't had a door panel off a gen2 legacy in a while so I am of little help as to where they are.

They were such an awesome car that the name had to live on... I too think it a radiator issue, I've read somewhere of hg issues on the non turbo cars in 05 as well.

In all reality, if you keep up with the maintainence schedule you can indeed have many years of trouble free service. My dad once bought an 84 GL wagon with I think with around 30K on it back in 86/87. He ran it untill 97 with no problems, We sold it with 248K on the clock. Rusting away but it was still one of the best running ea81's I've been in.

Inspect the timing idlers, if they are rough spinning or make noise replace them. If they are still free and noise free you can regrease them, grossgary has a writeup somewhere of this procedure. The biggest and most important factor to consider in the idlers is that this IS an interference engine. Old worn out idlers can cause premature t-belt failure and in most cases(especially dohc ej's) will lead to significant engine damage ie: bend valves, and or holes in pistons.

This is true, but if you are changing interior colors then it doesn't need to match factory codes. I'm not 100% sure if there is a specific color code availible for the older subes. But newer models have the code somewhere on the ID tag in the door jamb IIRC. They dye you would get if you special order will be the same formula as the VHT product. It is not paint, it is true vynal/plastic dye.

I would say that the noises are normal. My maroon Brat had no cat, just an empty shell(unknown to me, swear on my life) and 2"ish exhaust back to an el cheapo muffler. It would pop and crackel when I let off the gas. Its just an open exhausted subaru thing.

I beg to differ. One such example would be the "comparison" of the Chevy Cobalt SS/SC model, the Acura RSX base model, and the Scion TC of a couple years back. They clearly "compared" the top of the line SS/SC Cobalt to the lowest model RSX. If it was a fair comparison they would have put the Cobalt up against the comparably equiped and comparably powered RSX Type S. I wonder which car won the "comparison".

Remove the knock sensor and clean the contact points on it and the block. Chances are there is corrosion between the two and it is not recieving signal as it should. My mom's 98 legacy ej22 was doing the same thing, intermitant code and cleaning it up has made a difference. No code for the last month, it had been on solid for about a year or more.

I would say that something is bent, or they didn't properly align the rear. They already have cam bolts on the rear lca's to do the alignment.

Ok, I was just looking for other experiance with it. I did the same with my hatchback and didn't notice any substancial differences. But he didn't make new holes, there are four in the head from the factory. Two to hold the bolts for the asv plates, and the two where the studs for the manifold go.

Yeah I'll agree on the ej25 clutch kit. It will work fine with the cable clutch, both are the push style activation, the only side effect may be more pedal feel(not that I consider that a bad thing). And all ej's have the same spline count on the tranny. I would recomend something designed for the 2.5RS myself. As for a lightweight flywheel, I don't know if I would go that route as it will reduce overall drivability. And put more shock on the transmission during "spirited driving". But, they do make them for the RS cars I know, and it will bolt up perfectly to the ej22. I've heard it said you can use a flywheel for a wrx too, but I cannot confirm.

Timeserts are a longer lasting fix than helicoils. I've seen helicoils come back out the next time the bolt is removed. From what I hear timeserts are permanent and stronger than factory threads. Looks like you removed the ASV ports fom the heads, did you notice any effects after this?

The ea81 and ea82 wagon wheels are different because the ea82 has slightly bigger brakes. The ea81 wagon wheels won't clear the ea82 calipers. I've had the 85+ premiers on one of my past Brats and they sat exactly as the stock wagon wheels did. Ea81's are designed with positive camber from the factory, not a lot, but the wheels sit\ / ever so slightly stock.

Your RX isn't an ea81 car... Ea81's have bad camber and wear patterns sitting at stock height, and raising the front up will only make it worse. \ / ok not that drastic but you get the point of how the tires will sit. If you want it to sit more level, adjust the rear torsion bar down one spline. And then you can fine tune its level with the adjuster on the back. And its not that the alloys have the wrong offset, its that ea81's wheels sit a little further in the wells in stock form that ea82's. But thats a darn good lookin Brat you've got there. I hope it treats you well.

You'll have to have ea82 flywheel/clutch, and a custom length driveshaft of 48 inches, or an ea82 driveshaft shortened by 3 inches and weld the mount for the carrier bearing.

I don't have any pictures of the ones I've done personally, sold the car earlier this year. Here is an example of before and after pics of a Brat interior recolor done by a board member. http://www.northursalia.com/brat/interior/recon.html

The ea81's are different so I didn't bother with pics of them. I couldn't get a very good angle on these, but I hope it helps. The line closest to you in the last pictures runs to the HH unit, and then the line coming from the unit goes to the DS front brake. The others go to the passengers side front, and to the rear.

I absolutely hate the duplicolor interior paints. I have had nothing but bad luck with them in trying to paint large-ish items like the dashboard. It will do fine for some of the smaller stuff. IMHO and experiance, VHT vinal dye is the way to go. Costs about $8 a can and the results are unmatched from my own eyes.

Doesn't look too bad man. Reminds me of mine, in a way. BTW... They made the ea81 hatchback untill 89.

Chux, I can snap a pic or two of the setup on the Xt in the daylight tomorrow, if it will help. And some of the 86 brat with HH and 84 wagon w/o HH.