robm

If I understand what you are describing, that "resonator" is your front catalytic converter. Removng it may play havoc with your ability to pass emissions testing. If that is not an issue, then you have a lot more options. My research on this site and other places indicates that a big chamber right at the Y-pipe is a good idea, it makes for about as good an exhaust system as one can get for this engine with the crappy siamesed exhaust ports. A BIG glass pack might work. Rob.

That drawing wouldn't have been one of Sir Harry Ricardo's inventions, was it? It shows some exotic stuff on it, like the dual stage exhaust turbines connected to one of the crank shafts. Or maybe it is a dual stage super charger? Rob.

Well, it was the motor. The output shaft to the wiper arm was pretty much seized, or bent or something, so it can't turn. Removal of this device in one piece is nearly impossible in Canadian conditons. The plastic jobby that is supposed to keep the mud and crap out of the output shaft traps water and salt, so the 17 mm nut freezes to the threaded aluminum housing that extends thorugh the body to support the output shaft. The aluminum shears before the nut comes loose. If you are forewarned of this, a good blast of spritz lube may help. In the end, I used a grinder and zipcut to remove it. Not recommended, I now have (more) body work to do. It is possible to remove a tiny circlip on the output shaft instead of grinding, but this is not apparent when the whole thing is covered in crud and rust. Of course, all the wiper motors at the wrecker were in a similar state. Spritz lube did not help. A new motor from the dealer was only $225, but it took 2 weeks to get here. They send out the parts order on Wednesday, and get it back a week later. I ordered it on Thursday, so had to wait 13 days....

In my limiited experience, the overspeed cut-out doesn't act fast enough to do you any good when hittign the slippery stuff. In this part of the world, the police recommend that you ignore the cruise control until spring. It is much safer. My after-market cruise control uses a wire to the coil to measure. This has a small advantage, that it can work in 4th as well as 5th, but it allows you to go slower without changing the setting. In all, I find it preferable to the few built-in CC's I have used. Rob.

Cold air, cold wheel bearing grease, tranny oil, and other lubricants, winter tires, winter gas, longer warm-up time (even if you just drive away cold, it still takes longer to heat up), snow and water on the roads, these all combine to lower fuel economy substantially. I get as much as 15 km/l in summer, but have a hard time breaking 12 km/l in the winter. Rob.

If you are careful with the bleeding, and don't suck the reservoir dry and have to start over, a liter of fluid should do. I don't know any part numbers for caliper rebuild kits. In North America, we usually just buy a rebuilt caliper.

Try pulling the spark plugs. Can't hurt, and if there is any liquid in there, it will have somewhere to go.

I have a set on my '93 Loyale. They wear very quickly. I have less than 30,000 km on them, and there is only 3-4 mm of tread left. They wear more like bias plies than radials. I am not happy with them. When they die, in the next 10,000 km or so, I will replace either with cheapies from Canadian Tire, or go for the gusto and get Toyo 800 Ultras, which is what I wanted when I got these. Moral of that story is, never be in a hurry to buy tires. Rob Terrace, B.C.

I have had very poor luck with breaker bars. I have broken two 3/8" ones, on little 17 mm nuts! One was a no-name cheapy, but one was a Bluepoint from the 1940's. Once I saw a 1/2" one break on a VW Rabbit lug bolt. That one was a cheapie, though. For 1/2" I have a sliding t-bar that seems to be able to take a 3 ft pipe. Neversieze when reassembling makes the next time so much easier...

I thought stock tires on the wagon were 165/80-R13? That would give you a stock dia. of 23.4". The 195's aren't that much bigger than the 175/80-13's that came on my car. Less than 5% from stock.

I tried to use the rear wiper to clear way too much snow the other day, and it went half way across and stopped. I finished the job with the snow brush, and it worked OK after that, but slooowly. After a couple of days, it quit completely, stuck half way. The fuse is good (front wipers work fine, so does the rear washer), there is 12 V at the connector, and the motor reads 150 ohms or so with the meter. It doesn't look bad, but it won't work. I tried to remove it, but no luck. The 2 bolts inside the hatch come out nicely, but the mechanism that sticks through to the outside world won't budge. My Haynes has disappeared ( I think it went into the recycling by accident!), so can anyone tell me how to get this thing off the car? And maybe shed a little light on what might be wrong with it? Thanks.

Actually, the "flat" washer has to be curved OUT. If you look really carefully, you might even see that the washer has "OUT" stamped on the side that is supposed to be out.

That graph is good science, but the terms used to describe the effects are not quite right. In material science, "yield" means the object being stretched doesn't come back to the original length. The effect noted on the graph is due to the torque being released. The strain (the amount the bolt stretches or deforms) is due to torsion (twisting) and overall elastic stretching of the bolt. Once the twist is removed, all that is left is the stretch. I would expect the remaining "relaxation" that occurs over the next few hours to be due to further release of torsion effects, as the bolt head adjusts itself. Well lubricated bolts show less of the torsion effect, and reach their final elongation quicker. Well lubed head bolts, with modern gaskets, will probably not need to be retorqued. True "stretch" bolts that cannot be reused actually do yield as they are torqued. They will be longer when removed. Most bolts are not "stretch" bolts, and will be the same length when removed as when they started.

Could it be carburettor icing? Does it clear up by itself, after waiting a few minutes at the side of the road? Check that the hot air "stove" is connected to the air filter. If not, hook it up, and see if that helps.

I sewed on a button, but it didn't last. Fortunately, the mass of thread that held the button on does the trick to stop the buckle fromn sliding! Originally, there was a small rectangular button there. Cheap round ones off an old shirt don't hold up.

I If there is any part of the bolt sticking THROUGH the nut, you are OK. Even one thread is enough. If it isn't long enough to stick through, then you might have a problem. But this thing is loaded in shear anyway, so it might do for a while. I would worry about it working loose, either way. Blue Loctite would hold it nicely.

http://www.chevron.com/products/prodserv/fuels/bulletin/motorgas/gallery.asp?img=46 Great little piece on carb icing. It flat-out states that it doesn't happen below freezing, the air is to dry. Can happen as warm as 55 deg. F, which is like 12 deg. C!

Great article! They mention outside air temp. as a factor as well . I never thought about evaporation as part of the problem, and I didn't realize the flow over the throttle was a source of Joule-Thomson either. Good discussion on the effect of carb heating, too. Adding heat to the air results in a richer mixture, which is a good thing in a lean-burn carb. It is curious that the SPFI's don't ever seem to ice up. They have evaporation, they are throttled, and they don't get heated air. Or is the throttle body connected to the cooling system, to provide heat?

Old Datsuns used to have a summer/winter valve on the air cleaner inlet. Winter took the air off the stove, summer took it "straight". Early 80's, this feature was automated, due to emission controls. Maybe old Subarus had a similar rig? Or the valve from another vehicle could be scabbed onto your intake.

Can you define "within 2 points"? Wet bulb/dry bulb temperatures, in deg F or what? There has to be a dry bulb temperature where this occurs, as well. I can't see it happening at 90 deg. F, no matter how moist the air is! Temp.drop through the carb can't be much more than a few degrees. It is pretty common in low lying areas, where the cool wet air collects. You can be running along just fine, then the road drops into a bit of a valley, and the car craps out. Once you are through the valley, the air warms a bit and dries a bit, and all is good again.

May years back, I got a 1-7/8" custom exhaust, with a large muffler, but no intermediate "resonator" muffler, put on a Datsun 510. No cats on that car. The cost was CHEAPER than a stock system. The guy told me it would "wake up the engine pretty good", but I figured he was BS'ing me. That car had 115k on it, in the days when anything over 100K was a bonus, and I figured nitrous oxide couldn't wake it up. I was very wrong! It went from 60 HP at the wheels to 70, as measured on my favourite long, steady, 10% grade (Max. speed at the top, plus a few assumptions, gave a reasonable and repeatable HP estimate.) In real world terms, it went from doing 65 MPH in 3rd at the top of the hill to doing 75, and the fuel consumption dropped too. So, I would say go for it. Try to find a sympathetic muffler guy, who can make you a custom system for a good price, and not charge you the earth for it. Don't get too carried away designing for the future. If the pipe is in good shape, they can adapt a new set of headers to it without too much trouble - if you have the right shop! Of course, things may be very different now. Labour has gone up, while parts have not, so the stock system may be cheaper now. But how available are parts for a 26 year old car? You may not have much choice about getting a custom system. Might as well make it a good one.

Carburettor icing occurs when the air is very damp (saturated), and fairly cool. Around 40 deg. F is where I have encountered it. What happens, the air going through the carb venturi actually drops in temperature. This is a weird effect, has to do with the flow of compressible fluids (air) near sonic velocity. This causes the moisture in the air to condense out. If the temp. drop gets to the freezing point of water, ice forms in the carb throat, restricting the air flow and killing the engine power. The car stops, you wait 5 minutes, and drive away, as the engine heat melts the ice, and all is good again. Until it happens again, 5 miles down the road.... It rarely happens below freezing, as there is very little moisture in the air anyway. It doesn't have to be heated up very much, and it is no longer saturated. It is just above freezing where it is a problem, as that is where there is lots of moisture in the air, and the temp. drop through the carb can cause it to condense and change to ice. No air stove may give you driveability problems, as some of the ultra-lean carbs from the mid 80's were really fussy about the air temperature. My sister's Civic wouldn't run worth a darn when the hot/cold air mixing valve fell apart. It liked the air at a nice steady 100 deg. F. I don't have any experience with carbed Subarus, so they may be different.

I kind of like the random body panel look. It is different, a bit like wearing brightly coloured odd socks!

Half shafts from NAPA in Canada are a slip fit, easy to get in/out. I don't know if the axles NAPA sells in the US are the same or not. This is for EA-82 axles, yours may be different. The job is a little bit more involved than Mr. Boucher describes. It is also necessary to undo the pivot bolt that holds the A arm on the front, also the link to teh anit-roll bar, so the hub will swing outwards. Doing this will provide the clearance to pull the halfshaft off the splines at the tranny. Then, hammer the axle out of the bearings. Use a block of wood so the threads don't get beaten to bits. Usually, it just has to be hit hard to start, then a steady tap-tap-tap will push it out the rest of the way. I haven't done the back axles. I hear they get rusted onto the splines. It is a good idea to grease all splines when reassembling. Crack the axle nut while the wheels are on the ground, with the hand brake on. Use the breaker bar and pipe, the 4 T jack won't be required. If the hand brake is wimpy, get someone to stand on the brake pedal while you do this. Retorque to 140 lb-ft, then a little more to line up the castle nut for the cotter pin.

Cutting coils off the spring will lower it, but increase the stiffness. If it is too hard now, don't!