SmashedGlass

Wheel hubs in the back don't get warm at all (to the touch); check that regularly, after what I went through immediately after purchasing the Roo with the front bearings. And it's not a growl or a rasping sound, just a straight rhythmic tick. So I don't really suspect them. I will get back under her today or tomorrow and dig deeper, maybe drop the drive shaft and inspect those U-joints, that sounds like a plausible cause too. Like I said though it's perplexing that I cannot get the sound to repeat once I have it up in the air and spin things by hand

Can't post the OT (I'm on my phone atm) but basically: over the last two months I've been experiencing an ever increasing ticking sound from the rear of the wagon. I can only hear it at low speeds (i.e. Reversing or cominng to a stop) and it is there at the same level whether I apply brake or coast. Inspected everything with the drums, drained refilled diff (no chunks/excessively bad oil), and shake tested the axles. Can't figure it out. It sounds like when you have something stuck in your bicycle rim. Odd things is I can't replicate the sound with rear jacked up and spinning the tires by hand. Baffled and concerned.

I talked to an older friend of mine yesterday, who purports to have experience with old Subaru's, and explained the noise I'm getting from the back end (posted awhile back on here). He says it's definitely the rear CV joints; his reasoning is that when they dry out or the grease gets old, the cage and bearings in the CV wear and start to make a ticking sound. Does this sound plausible? I have no tears in the boots, no notable play in the shafts, the diff has been drained/filled and no chunks came out, and the drums and shoes have been replaced and work fine. Putting it in 4wd makes no difference to the noise either; it's just a steady tick-tick-tick that I hear at low speeds whether the brakes are applied or not, fwd or 4wd. His advice was to take the CV's apart and "reverse" the cages...which is more work than it's worth as opposed to just being safe and buying new ones, if they actually are the problem.

That interior is amazingly clean for that car. If the cancer is insurmountable, at least you have that to swap into another early '80's roo

Not that I notice. I checked the cv shafts themselves with it up in the air and they seem perfectly fine-no unusual play or torn boots. I really only hear it when I'm going very slow, like coming to a stop, but I've coasted it to a stop with the brakes not applied and still hear it so that rules them out. It seems more pronounced to me when I back up, too. I rotated each tire with my hand while the back end was up on jackstands and couldn't get it to repeat the sound, but I think I noticed a rub noise at certain points of the rotation from either along the cv shaft body or the diff itself?

Will a low gear oil level in the rear diff cause clicking sound at low speeds? Been experiencing that sound the last few days and it's independent of braking action, so when the weather got good enough yesterday I went underneath with it jacked up to check it over. Diff output seals are weeping badly and the 80/90 in the diff is old and low, couldn't find any other possible causes for the noise. Also....isn't there supposed to be quite a bit of rubber in the rear diff mount hangar? Mine DOESN'T have much left there lol, which could be adding to the clunking sounds over bumps in addition to needing new mustache bar bushes.

Buy a honey badger, and leave him in the car when you're away No one messes with honey badger....

Like he said, it would probably be more economical to just source an entire hatch from a yard. My local p'n'p has over a dozen wagons in it on any given weekend, and the whole hatch would be $45.

Trying decide on the low-end for my low-buck sound system in my '88 EA82 D/R Wagon. Having never had anything other than sedans or coupes, I have no idea what works better with all the open space in the wagon. So, questions: -Ported or Sealed enclosures? -single 12" or twin 10"? All I'll be running aside from the sub(s) is a decent pair of 6.5" components in the front powered from a 2ch amp, and a Sony mechless head (like I said, low-buck and simple). I listen mostly to dub, drum and bass, other electronica, and occasionally 80's throwback music, and I'm not trying to rattle anyone elses ears besides my own, in the car, with the windows up

Makes me miss.........SNOW. We've been hit with a real snow storm just once this winter. And me with my brand spanking new iPikes

It's everywhere, man. My other (deceased) project was an '80 Corolla Sport Coupe in rust-free condition. A friend and I had towed an '81 Corolla Wagon that was given to me for free so I could swap it's 5sp into the AT coupe and have a good extra 3TC motor to build for power. Had the engine with trans still mounted to it chained and locked to the 5000lbs cherry picker we used, and scrap thieves lifted the whole shebang a day later. Boy was I pissed. At least I wasn't out any money on the deal.

I'm with you on that bet. I'm wagering he doesn't make it even an hour east of Grand Junction.

My '88 is equipped with the (currently non-working) Hitachi a/c compressor that is mounted outboard of the alternator, and the bearings in it are starting to develop a minor squeal. Is there a good way of bypassing the compressor until I can afford to repair/replace the a/c system? Short of removing the comp and rigging some belts?

Heh, I might just go that route, and while I'm at it hit just about all of the plastic and vinyl in my wagon.

People in this town can't drive in snow because most of them aren't from here and are from places where it doesn't snows alot or at all. They truly do suck at winter driving (a thank you to my childhood in lake-effect snow Ohio!). Come to think of it, for some reason they all suck at driving year round :-\

:-\ I have the wonderful combination of a shiite ton of time off from work (while still getting paid lol) but too great of a distance away and no $$$ to travel that far. Why doesn't this happen here in Colorado? For that matter, where are all the old Subaru-heads IN Colorado? For so many of them on the road (and in the p'n'p) here, I'd have figured I'd run into more people from the boards in my neck of the woods. Sometimes I think I'm the only person in my town who bought an ea82 wagon for more than a-to-b transport....

Just a quick question: will the front and rear struts from the older ea82 wagons with the adjustable perch/'pre-load' bolt into the newer wagons that (for some silly reason) Subaru decided to stop putting them in? Looking for a cheap way to add a little lift alá raiding the p'n'p until I can afford an SJR 4" kit. Got to thinking about it after somebody parked their wagon near mine and they had the rear jacked up on the third notch.

We finally got a real snow here along the Front Range the last two days, so I was finally able to get out and actually use the 4hi (didn't hit anything needing lo) and my new rubber. So I took a little trip West of town and up into the Garden of the Gods with the subie, and took a few pics along the way. I know, nothing too exciting, but it was fun for me--had absolutely no problems going anywhere in the sube while watching other people still in town on surface roads sliding everywhere and driving like grandmas :-p Still down in town on the way to the GOG First pull off @ Balancing Rock And over the rail into the valley (note the dinner-on-the-hoof munching grass) Long shot of the center of the park and driving along that Finally, obligatory "Soobs in the Wild" shot Today @ 38 degress people in my neighborhood with fwd cars are still stuck unable to back out of their street parking lol. Gonna have to remember to throw the tow rope in the back so I can pull people out. It's all gonna melt by Sunday, I'm waiting for the next good pile to head our way.

I'll have to try some of that octane booster crap, as I JUST filled up the day before my jaunt up the trail and have barely used any gas since then.

....perhaps she's too large for the jump seat?

FNG, I did just get a new Y-pipe/cat installed recently, but I would assume being new the shield would be very secure??? As far as pre-det, I've been advised by others on the board that at my altitude (6000ft+ down in the city, obviously higher once up in the mountains) I should run with the lowest octane. I had asked once about running our, to me, crappy 85 in the sube....

"Whaddya mean, it says right in the manual 'children under 2 years of age shall be secured in rear-facing' child seats!"

Hey all, heard a strange noise the other evening while tooling up the Gold Camp Road up in the mountain. It was a strange rattling sound while under load going uphill, and seemed to be rpm independent, meaning I could just slightly ease off the pedal (not really dropping rpms much) and it would diminish; it didn't speed up or slow down in rate of sound, just fade out in volume. Wouldn't do it if I dropped a gear and romped it up the road. Any clues? Could it be something bad with the engine, or should I start trying to find something loose in the engine bay? FYI, noticed it mostly while cruising uphill in 3d gear at around 3k rpm, and by "rattling" just that--sounded like loose metal or rocks in a can....

You've got to read this. The first line of it is a killer. http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/2752997986.html

Fully functional exhaust now in, no more fear of CO2 poisoning or being mistaken for a rampaging lawn mower. New Magnaflow front section/cat, and had the exhaust shop correct the one-piece system chop the PO had done; John re-flanged the section where the second cat (or resonator?) had been replaced with a welded in pipe and he also tweaked it a bit so that it wasn't damn near rubbing on the drive shaft tunnel like before. Sounds nice, a little bit of the boxer burble under load but not annoying whatsoever. For now it's just Y-pipe/cat then all pipe until it hits the stock muffler in the back. I may chop the muffler off in the spring and try a Thrush, Dynomax, or Magnaflow for more sound, or even glasspack it with a straight pipe. Dunno.