discopotato03

Thanks all , The go ended up being working them in and out until they came all the way out . And yes I was using two long and one short 1/2 drive extensions to get outside the wheel arch . I also used Never Seize when I refitted them . I am 98% sure the thread is M14 x 1.25 (the bottom eye bolt is) and bought an intermediate tap so I can chase these captive nut threads in future . The struts will be removed in the near future for the Koni Coilover units I hope to have soon , this was just a trial of higher rated wagon springs ie 180 in/lb for 196 in/lb . Its works and increases roll stiffness but increases the ride height which I was expecting . BTW , plastic covers on the ends of the top bolts ? New one to me . I might dig around and see if I can rat up suitable high tensile bolts that are the correct length so that there are no exposed threads to corrode or get covered in dirt etc . Cheers A .

Hi all , had a mongrel of a time yesterday removing the two body mount bolts to get one rear strut out . Breaking them lose wasn't the problem but obviously the bolts threaded sections are longer than the body's captive nuts and the exposed bit gets corrosion or dust/dirt on them . Can anyone please tell me if its possible to get at the exposed end of the bolts in situ to clean and lubricate them before removal . I'm concerned about breaking the bolts off part way out because the remains would not be easy to remove and you can't drive around on just one bolt . Even damaging the internal threads is not nice to contemplate . I still have one more side to go and don't want to screw it up . Any tricks here ? Cheers A .

In the Subaru WSM that "thingy" is called an FICD or fast idle control devise . Its just an on/off solenoid that opens a small passage to pass extra air when the air con is running . The engine has to power the AC comp and blower fan so it needs a little more air at idle so as not to run at 400 rpm . I tend to think that a larger throttle valve would let in a LOT more air than the std EA82 throttle (spider and L MPFI throttles are the same size) when opened suddenly . Now the airflow meter will measure how much air is going in but the computer won't know to dump ALL in the extra fuel when the throttle is opened quickly at low revs - big transient . Remember it can't tell what size throttle the engine has - all it see's is the TPS idle on/off and potentiometer voltage out put . Often the potentiometer won't move as far or as fast because a larger throttle passes more air for per degree of rotation than a smaller one . Cheers A .

Steep learning curve , I think RHB52 VF2's and VF4's are what EA82T's got std . Cheers A .

If your thinking of hanging a turbo off each head just remember this . You need to have two cylinders exhausting into each turbine housing but they need to be the front and back two pairs not the ones on each bank . The factory solution is one twin scroll turbocharger and the TS manifold from the factory is quite good . The TS system is a lot less complex and lighter overall than twins . The hardest part is getting a turbo with a twin scroll twin integral gate turbine housing so you can avoid the agro and expense of one or two external wastegates . A couple used on Subaru EJ20's are VF36 and VF38 and if there was ways of grafting reverse rotation TS Evo Lancer turbos on then these can support healthy numbers . Your call .

I look at these things a bit differently but firstly my plan with the Spider on an EA82T in an RX L series . I have three spiders which is minor miracle in Australia where very few were sold . The XT4 TB and TPS is a PITA in an L series mainly because its designed to work with the Vortex engine bay and throttle cable set up . My plan is to cut or mill the back face of the plenum so that garden variety L series TB's can be fitted with an adapter plate . I think it will have to be spaced out from the plenum casting because the throttle quadrant wants to foul on it . Once this is done either the L 3 plug or 4 plug type TB/TPS can be fitted and used . There is a direct relationship between throttle size , plenum volume and power characteristics . Firstly the plenum chamber needs to have enough reserve capacity to not suffer major pressure drops as the cylinders and manifold runners demand air from it . Each cylinder is an on and off situation where the throtlebody becomes a constant flow device . In a perfect world there wouldn't be a single throttle plenum manifold , it would have individual throttles bolted on above the injector mount stub pipes and so achieve almost no flow loss throttling . This would make for razor sharp throttle response and a higher dynamic or effective compression ratio . Restrictive inlet systems limit how completely the cylinders are filled/charged , less filling means less to compress so less power into the crankshaft . I personally think the spider manifold could use a slightly larger TB though it would help if its runners were ported out a bit too . One of the stumbling blocks would be getting the std computer to cope with the sudden extra airflow potential if a larger throttle was opened suddenly . Some examples of multi throttle production turbo engines are the Nissan Skyline GTR RB26DETT and the Pulsar GTiR SR20DET . I've seen picks of EJ turbo engines with 4 throttles as well . Gas speeds into the ports is less important with flap/hotwire AFM EFI systems because its the AFM measuring the airflow and fueling accordingly . With "wet" manifold systems like a single carb or SPFI rough castings and sharp angles do help keep the fuel in suspension in the inlet air . With EA82 MPFI , and specifically the Spider inlet manifold , the injectors are pretty close to the heads a spray a fine mist virtually strait down the ports necks . Most of the "bridge" section of its plenum is above the injector boss stub pipes so its mostly only ducting air . Enough for now , cheers A .

Hi all , my Spider XT4 EA82T engine should be assembled in the near future and will have a real header fabricated for it . I want to use the EJ style flange and a factory style turbo with a "little" more potential . I'd like about 150 odd honest Hp from this engine so a turbo a little more modern and slightly larger than the dinky RHB 52 VF11 would be good . In Australia we got things like VF12's on Liberty RS Turbos / TD04's on early WRX's / and TF035's on basic Forester's . It sounds like the TF035 could be a responsive upgrade on an EA82T . Just for the record my 82T will be 8.6:1 CR , ported heads and a header possibly a bit like early EJ20 turbo collector and pipe size wise . And arachnid inlet manifold . Can anyone who's used these or similar turbochargers on EA82T's pass on their results/opinions please . Cheers A .

From what I remember Gee telling me he had one made so that Crossbred could modify L series arms . I seem to remember him saying that the taper is a common one for automotive ball joints . If really interested I can ask him about it in the next few days . Cheers A .

Thermoststs for Nissan L Series engines ie L16 L18 L20B L24/26/28 fit and work as well . A .

Well in single scroll format FP's "green" style turbos would be very convenient . Lots of discussion about them at NASIOC . Cheers A .

Actually the goal posts moved yesterday . The dual range converted XT4 box is now going in with std ratios and the spare one is going to the gearbox surgeons for the close ratio gearset change and possibly the L wagon shorter low range gears . Cheers A ...

I'll reserve judgement on T3/04 hybrids - lots of things fit together that don't work too well . If in the US you could have a good look at what Forced Performance are doing with turbos for Subaru's . Robert Young does some very effective turbos in bolt on type turbine housings which makes fitting much easier . Ask him about the Trust spec TD05SL2 turbines and a suitable compressor for your power requirements . Or from the factory have a look at some of the twin scroll STi Impreza bits . Cheers A .

No No No , please don't attach my handle to the sleeved L ball joint method . My control arms were reamed out L Series ones with a purpose made reamer (part of the Australian Crossbred kit) . XT6 arms have the exact same tapered hole As L series arms , they're just machined further into the arm to give more load bearing area for heavier cars such as XT6's . I reckon the ball and seat in the later XT6/Legacy joint is probably larger and well worth having . Cheers A .

The situation in Australia is different to that in North America , here garden variety L series and 1st gen Liberty parts have very little perceived value so 2nd hand bits are cheap . Here Nissan parts off S14 and S15 200SX's (ours all got SR20DET's) are dear and not nearly as common . Also S13's are all grey imports in Australia . It doesn't matter to me anyway because I don't want to re-route the cables to the back its as simple as that . I also don't want to run larger and heavier front brakes than necessary either . If I wanted to do repeated 100 mph stops then yes 11 inch rotors and twin or four piston calipers would be good . Here the national speed limit is 110 km/h or ~ 70 mph , most of the time its used at 60-80 km/h so 260 or 277 mm discs with L series calipers would be fine . Remember - it only weighs 1070 Kg or roughtly 2400 imp pounds . Cheers A .

All sorts of reasons . It keeps the thing conventional (for an L Series) and cheap common locally available parts such as L/RX pads and Liberty disc rotors fall in . Anyone could service the thing provided they realised which disc rotors it had . Also keeps a lightweight car light , if your into suspension and handling low unsprung mass is very important . Also the conversion process is so simple , down the back merely remove the wheel/hub/disc/backplate and bolt on the new set . Drop it on the deck and pump the anchors pedal - done . The front is a little more involved because you're changing everything - except the hose/caliper bridge/park brake cable . If you didn't have to seperate the hoses to get them off the original L strut bracket you could do the whole conversion in theory without having to bleed the hydraulic system . Even the std master cylinder can stay . Overall there's also a challenge in achieving slightly better than XT6 brakes without using ANY XT6 parts - which are virtually unobtaenium here because they were not sold locally by Subaru . As I see it the only potential problem is getting the front to rear brake bias right and from what I have discovered now there are 3 not 2 choices of proportioning valve that should fit . Basically L 4WD sedan's is 640 psi , L 2WD sedan's 569 psi and non ABS 1st gen Liberty's are all 533 psi rated pressure limiting valves . They all appear to be Subaru's weird 4 line type valve which means externally they should all be the same and interchange easily . I want to get this past an engineers beak and with 85% of the parts Subaru (only custom bits are rear caliper mounting plates and Crossbred hubs) and modified from L XT6 control arms it should pass with flying colours . Cheers A .

I've PM'd baccaruda as its been suggested he did something similar with XT6 front floating sections on Liberty/Legacy caliper brackets . Cheers A .

Hi , I did ask about this once before and couldn't find the responses given . I'd like to know if anyones tried fitting the L front caliper floating section and slides into the Legacy brackets so as to keep the park brake up front on a 5 stud L series swap . We want to keep the rear simple by using Legacy solid rear discs and L calipers mounted on custom backplates . Thoughts ? Cheers A .

The usual combination here in Australia to 5 stud an RX turbo is to use the std RX 25 spline half shafts with 2WD early Liberty CV joints . The only XT6 type bit needed is the front control arms because they suit the Liberty type ball joint . Actually ours are modified L series arms as we didn't get XT6's . The tie rod ends used are MY ones . I'd worry about sleeving a Liberty knuckle down to take an L or MY ball joint because I'm not sure if the crab bolt retains the joint if it comes loose . I'm told that to copy the XT6 arms taper you need to ream the same taper deeper into the arms outer end . BTW , what are you doing for a park brake ? Cheers A .

From the Australian 86 Subaru L Series FSM . Before I quote figures it seems that Subaru speced the L series rear brake proportioning valve and caliper piston size according to the rear end mass of these cars . As is obvious the 4WD cars are heavier at the back than 2WD ones . The proportioning valves limit rear line pressure at either 569 or 640 psi and the rear caliper piston alternatives are 30.23 or 33.96mm . Model ................................ Piston size in mm ... Rear line limited to in PSI . 4 Door Sedan 2WD ............... 30.23 .................. 569 4 Door Sedan 4WD ............... 30.23 .................. 640 4 Door Sedan 4WD Sweden .... 33.96 .................. 569 3 Door Coupe 2WD ............... 30.23 ................... 569 3 Door Coupe 4WD ............... 33.96 ................... 640 4 door wagon ALL ................ 33.96 ................... 640 2 Door XT4 .. 2WD ............... 30.23 ................... 569 2 Door XT4 .. 4WD ............... 30.23 ................... 640 So in theory my car being a 4WD RX sedan should have the smaller 30.23mm rear caliper pistons and the higher 640 psi rear line pressure limit . If caliper mounting plates were made to mount the rear calipers out for a 266mm Liberty/Legacy rear disc then there's always the lower 569 psi proportioning valve to fall back to if it started locking the rear brakes . A .

I guess we must agree to differ then , can't to me means not physically possible . The financial aspect is a different matter entirely . If it makes you feel any better my locking box started out as a single range Vortex XT4 one that was converted to dual range then freighted to me . Its going back to the gearbox doctor to have its gearset changed to 92 Legacy DR closer ratios and will owe me 3/4 of what my RX cost to buy . A .

No not true , both L/XT and EJ gearboxes can use either set of main box gears because the hollow countershaft and its gears is interchangeable - provided you set the diff pinions height shimming correctly . The top shaft SR or DR is interchangeable but needs the matching cases . Its the pinion shaft that's different so it has to be in a matching set of either L/XT lockable or EJ viscous meaning pinion/center diff/extension/shift rods . As I mentioned before we have in Australia a mob who can separate the pinion shaft from its gear and weld it back together with any sized pinion gear you like . The fabrication is done properly and they DON'T break , they are X rayed re heat treated etc . This is what it takes to have a lockable box with 4.1 and 4.44 final drives and some have done this here in Aus . They even relieve the crown wheel so they can run the shorter L series low range gears if needed . So for ~$400 AUD you can do this or even the never made std 3.7 ratio viscous type pinion . About the only combination no one's ever come up with is a viscous center diff with a dog clutch lock , that would please everyone . Cheers A .

My RX Sedan is 85/86 and the spare rear calipers I have are off an early XT4 that had the flap AFM and non Spider manifold EA82T . I'll have to measure them both . Can anyone tell or show the difference with XT6 calipers and pads ?

Righto , thanks all . Cheers A .

Hi all , from the WSM's the XT6 rear disc caliper pistons appear to be smaller than those in RX Turbo L series sedans ie 30.23mm vs 33.96mm . Can anyone confirm this as we didn't get XT6's in Australia only RX Turbo sedans and XT4 4WD and 2WD Turbos . Cheers A .

Subarutex , from the pic above and FSM's the XT6 ones seem to have a rolled lip on the outer edge facing outwards towards the disc rotor where the XT4 and L series ones are laid back at their outer edge (like a big shallow cone) towards the diff side (inner side) . Also the stiffening "troughs" pressed into the outer stone guard section of the plate seem a lot deeper on XT6's than the 4 cylinder ones which are very shallow I think these may be the way to tell the difference at a glance . Can you let me know which you have please and do you use Paypal ? Someone I know here gets bits sent in from the US for his V8 Dodge so should not be too difficult . Cheers and thanks , Adrian .