ferox

That's really sad. Ed helped me out with advice a lot here. I only met him once in person. I think I sold him a set of rear disc brakes. He picked them up at my place, and we ended up talking in the driveway for a couple hours. Super great guy. Sometimes I think cancer is attracted to goodness.

Yeah, there is no reason it can't be done, but it's a major project for sure. My plan is a 4 " lift, and it's all in my mind at the moment. Unfortunately the first two things on my Hatch build project list are to sell current house and buy a smaller house with a bigger better shop. Fortunately I can justify buying a new welder to complete steps 1 & 2 in my car project since I need to do some welding to get the house ready to sell. I am interested to see what you come up with. A clean '84 wagon sitting on an EJ equipment would be absolutely wicked.

If you have original Subaru axles then definitely keep them to rebuild while you are running the ones you purchased. They are better quality than aftermarket and can be cleaned and repacked. Chances are though that your Brat already has aftermarket axles in the front, so I think you are looking for NTN as a hallmark for OEM. You are going to want to swap out the Carter carb for a Weber or Hitachi. That requires a new intake manifold. I just scrapped an EA81, so I have a manifold and oil pan with plug if you want it. I do not have a female threaded plug however.

Same thing happened to me. One of the old solenoid wires that I had cut wiggled free and the end was making contact with the block. The short blew the fuse and the car died instantly. Every fuse after that blew instantly until I traced the simple problem.

Daaaaaamn

Was the replacement transmission also a '96? I would tend to agree with John in KY. I am still working my way out of the '80s as far as cars are concerned but the first place I would look after the appropriate fuses is the neutral safety switch. If I recall correctly, there were subtle changes in the wire color coding and attachment orientation of the neutral safety switch between some of the years, and it could be hooked up with the incorrect wires going to the contacts on the trans. I could totally be mis-remembering that, but I think it's a good place to check anyway.

I have a '92 Legacy that I am going to use for the engine, trans, and suspension for my '81 Hatch. I have been planning it in my mind for years now. In order to make the necessary modifications and fabrications you will need a welder. You can figure out multiple ways of doing everything else, but a decent welder is essential. If you have that, then you can do this. I am essentially going to chop up the Legacy but keep the portions of the body/frame intact where the suspension attaches to the car so I can retain the factory orientation. From that I will either build a custom sub-frame with the same orientation or weld a frame to the actual pieces of the Legacy and use the factory mounting points. It's going to be a huge project. In fact the reason I haven't done it yet is that I need a better shop for such a substantial project. It will be absolutely worthy when it's done, but it's a massive undertaking. I know you guys in Bulgaria are very capable problem solvers and can do this, it's more of a personal benefit/cost decision based on time, interest/dedication, and resources. If you do it, make sure you have a second car to drive while you work on the Hatch. Here's Pooparu's EJ'd Hatch: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2954641/1982-subaru-gl/

Like Gloyale always says: pop the top off the carb, pull the emulsion tubes, wear safety goggles, and use compressed air to blow out the tubes and circuits in the carb [mind the ball in the bottom of the accel pump]. Get a rebuild kit, at a minimum replace the venturi o-rings and accel pump. It's really best to just clean the holy living crap out of the carb inside and out and rebuild it ~$30. It's not that difficult if you can follow instructions and it's not as hard as people say to get a Hitachi to run well. If you clean it out really good and go through the step-by-step instructions to rebuild it, it will run great for years. All you will have to do is clean it occasionally and replace the accel pump. Def +1 on checking fuel filter and vapor separator, also choke and timing. When the carb is dialed in correctly it will respond well to the idle mix screw. If the rpms and idle quality do not respond to the mix screw, then the idle circuit has been bypassed. It's well worth it to redo everything from the base gaskets on up. I would recommend removing, inspecting, and cleaning the anti-dieseling valve, but before removing it I recommend cutting the power supply wire running to it and attaching spade or bullet connectors. This allows you to disconnect the wire while unscrewing the valve, otherwise the wire twists up and the old insulation cannot prevent the wire from twisting off completely. It also makes it easier to jump it to a 12v source to check for function. In fact many anti-dieseling valve malfunctions are caused by the wire becoming frayed where it meets the valve from repeated removals and installations.

The tri-barb filter is actually a vapor separator. The top barb separates fuel vapor that comes through the fuel supply. The actual filter is on the underside of the vehicle in front of the driver's side rear wheel.

If you are not familiar with carbs it would be worth it to investigate doing the SPFI swap. You take an SPFI set-up from a later 80s model Subaru an install it on your ea81. It's not as simple as that, but that is essentially what you do. Many members here have done it and there is a write that member GeneralDisorder put together (hopefully that's still available). The problem with taking a carbed car to a mechanic is that most of them don't know anything about carbs and half the ones that say they do, don't actually know what they are talking about. FI will be WAAAY better at altitude also, and you don't have to do anything like change jets.

Nice catch, I thought he was talking about hubs too.

If you have a HAC Hitachi and it pulls really good and runs absolutely perfect, then maybe consider running that, but otherwise the Weber is a definite must or an SPFI swap. Not sure how much time you are going to have to get a Weber tuned in, but you will definitely want some time to tune whatever you are running. If you go with the Weber it should have 50s for primary and secondary idle jets. I would probably carry a pair of 45s and even 40s, though I think the 45s would be enough. Of course you realize we are all now waiting for your documentary

You can get bits in 32nds and 64ths that would not require welding the stud. Measure the stud diameter and the diameter of the "knurled" shoulder part and pick a couple bit diameters in between. Start small and work your way up like Prwa101 mentioned. You can get a bit set from HF that has 32nds and 64ths. The bit set also comes in handy when tapping and helicoiling. Maybe someone will tell you the exact bit diameter, but it's kind of an easily determined trade secret for the people that sell 6-lug conversions.

You will notice a loss in power and fuel efficiency, but it's not like you won't be able to drive through...although, you do have an ea81 automatic sooo I recommend a running start on the hills and enjoy the scenery at a walking pace at the top of any pass in Colorado. You will get props for driving such a sweet wagon, so people will probably be a little more understanding if they are stuck behind you. And seriously watch out for deer and elk. There is a lot more big game on the roads there than the west coast...which is saying something. If you had a Weber I would say take an extra idle jet or two because you can easily access them from the outside of the carb, but I would not bother switching jets on a Hitachi.

Vinyl caps last a lot longer.

I know I sound like a broken record about this, but you should always verify your jetting especially if you are pulling a carb off a different application. There is no excuse for not checking your primary and secondary idle jets since they are easily accessible from the exterior of the carb with just a standard screwdriver. Your primary idle jet is going to have a much bigger impact on idle quality versus the mains.

The throttle return spring is not really optional. If you had installed one, then you would not have had to manually manipulate the linkage. Absolutely install a real throttle return spring before you take it for a drive.

Not normal. You are going to have to post some pictures or a diagram of how you have the PCV system set-up.

When you say wide open are you describing what the carb physically does or do you mean the revs shoot to redline? What rpms does it go up to? What is your choke doing? Have you checked for vacuum leaks? What kind of throttle return spring set-up do you have?

The vent has a pretty large bore so it's actually unlikely that it is clogged, but it's easy access. I am not entirely familiar with the ea82 layout but you could have some kind of obstruction between the carb vent and charcoal canister. Assuming you have a canister. So you just start from the carb vent and pull hoses checking until you get to the canister. It could also be canister valve failure for that matter that isn't purging the canister, or none of that at all. I would definitely change the filter. The resetting effect is what makes me question the vent. I had a van years and years ago that did the same thing, and if I remember correctly it was from the carb not venting and building up pressure in the fuel bowl. That's my $0.02 but it could be other things.

Just off-hand I would say maybe check to make sure the fuel bowl is venting properly.

+2 verify timing What are your idle mixture and idle speed screws set at? Jetting? What's the background on the carb?

+1 I am guessing the tune up did not include carb work, as in a rebuild of some kind. Assuming we're talking about a Hitachi, the main jets are on the passenger side of the fuel bowl or right side as I think you are referring. If the fuel level in the bowl is low (float adjustment), then when you take a right turn the fuel gets "pushed" so to speak, to the left side of the bowl. This can cause momentary fuel starvation because there isn't enough fuel over the jets. $30 for a Hitachi rebuild kit, $20 for a Haynes manual that will take you through the procedure.

Yeah Justy distributor wire insulation is prone to cracking. As you have surmised, you're going to have to inspect every wire individually. What is your timing set at? When the engine was rebuilt, was anything done to rehab the crackcase plate? Were new oil pump internals installed? You should have an o2 sensor on the pre-cat. I suggest disconnecting the pre-cat from the exhaust manifold to inspect the top of the matrix. If it doesn't looked clogged, leave it be. Direct replacement pre-cats are $300+ and the universal ones require modding the stock exhaust to fit. Do not ream out the pre-cat or the car won't run correctly. The pre-cat volume is sufficiently large to cause the velocity of the exhaust to slow down a lot right off of the manifold, so it acts like a substantial exhaust leak, which incidentally will make your fuel mileage go down dramatically. If you pull the pre-cat and the metal matrix is damaged, that might be a large part of your Justy performance problem. I would also recommend pulling any and all FI sensors and cleaning them, along with the O2 sensor replacement. and replace the fuel filter anyway.

An unresponsive idle mix screw is often from the idle circuit being clogged and then the carb gets tuned to by-pass it. This results in a rich running condition. How did you clean the carb? Tools, solvents, etc...Did you use a carb rebuild kit or just clean up the carb and reassemble? Does your carb have a throttle return spring? What reference did you use to set the float level? I would also suggest adjusting your valve lash. It takes a while for it to get so far out of spec that it causes problems, but it is also a maintenance item that routinely gets ignored for decades.