Numbchux

yea yea, I know, I gotta start cuttin!

yea, we understand the lack of power as a result of oversized tires...my wheels are 2" taller than stock, and my tires are total 6" taller than stock! take our word, a solid running EA81 will be able to get you up those hills fine (not alot of power to spare...but you'll make it fine), some performance upgrades, or even an EA82, and you'll be set! <still one vote for you keeping this beauty!

w00t!!!! that's EXACTLY what I want! I'm thinking 2" would be perfect! then I could leave my 1" blocks on the mustache bar, and be a ton better! keep me in mind when you get it figured out!

sounds to me like it's just downshifting to 2nd...

well, I was asking myself the same thing, except in my car it's 70mph, full throttle in 5th, or 1/2-3/4 in 4th, don't remember rpm's but 1000-1500 difference... anyway, my dad brought up a good point, cars with taller gear ratios, tend to get better gas mileage...our 3AT loyale got horrible mileage, considering it's a 4-cyl, FWD car... the latest issue of Road & Track has a full-mile acceleration test of a number of sports cars. In it, they dest a Viper SRT-10, and note that it's top speed is in 5th gear, and that "6th gear must be geared for about 300mph," the reasoning behind this is it's "overdrive 6th gear is indeed a fuel economy ratio that bumps the EPA highway mileage figure up to a surprisingly good 20 mpg." soooo, the assumption gathered from that, is a higher gear = lower rpm = less fuel consumption...right?

my '92 loyale, on BOTH trannies :-\, shifted early, and SUPER slow, dragged alot, I think that was a result of the torque converter though...I'm not sure

I used better switches with no light, and that mount in holes...that I drilled in the radio adapter plate...they work great, and I've got a bunch of things running on 'em.

well, the front ones that were in it had been driven on for a couple thousand miles with torn boots, so they failed pre-lift, but post-abuse...but not including those, 1 on each side on the front, and 2 in the back on the same side, the second was the only oem subaru axle that I had problems with, and it turned out the ball's and cage had slipped off the inner race and fallen into the boot, I reassembled it at camp in about 3 minutes... so 4 total, not including the origional 2. and now I have another oem one in the front that's working much better.

come on man, a stock EA81 isn't going to have alot of poop, but there are things that can be done to make it better if you want a bit more power, drop an EA82 in it and do some mods to it too (also a 1.8L, but newer and a little more powerful) my EA82 pushes 28" tall tires pretty well, it's not fast, in fact it's probably the slowest car on the street I've ever ridden in, but in lo range 4WD, it'll walk through anything, and still cruises at 75mph pretty comfortably you're '2.1L'...probably mean a 2.0 or 2.2, is an EJ series motor...and won't bolt right up to your transmission. so it will be a very expensive swap, if you can find somewhere to do it. but if you want to, the guy for the job is mudrat79 (board name here), he's on the west coast (oregon somewhere I think...), and does great work, as long as you're patient... I say, put in a replacement motor (if you must, I bet you're motor is saveable, and cheaper to pay someone than any swap), and do some exhaust work, a weber carb...a few other things, and it'll have plenty of poop for the road. besides, if it didn't quite make it home, it probably wasn't running right before anyway...

that's how I pulled my engine and tranny out of the parts car today! it's being scrapped in a couple weeks, so I had fenders, bumper, headlights, grill, radiator, A/C everything out already...but I lowered the front onto a board, unbolted the four crossmember nuts (after everything else was already disconnected), then literally just lifted the shell up off it (no hood either, balancing on tires under the b pillar). Then I just dragged the whole thing out from under it. worked awesome!

unfortunately, I don't have any specific help, but I can point you in the right direction. first off, here, your legacy is in the newer generation.... second, for raising it, check out the off road forum for lots of info regarding that, check out the FAQ link at the top for some info, than search around for more, you're not the only one with these questions!

pretty safe bet that I won't be there, I'll be a last-minute add-on if anything! sorry...

the leading rod? I've done that...oops

really? I've had them awhile, and no problems...though before they were above my bumper, and they're still up pretty far from the ground, maybe that helps...mayb I'll look into that too.

not as cheap as pk/byb...but didn't I hear that he's not making them anymore? ask me (someone who's had, and tested, to some extent, the kit in question), it's worth it, We'll be buying one for my gf's car when I get around to building it...

just have arch weld something on to it and pull it out that way :-p I've had to do some pretty gnarly prying to get an old balljoing out of a knuckle...or you could come help me pull my motor and I'll give you a knuckle that's already free of it's balljoint, unfortunately, it's still stuck to the tie rod end....but....close enough right?

wow, I wish I had that kind of money to put in my wagon! there's probably more $$$ in that stack of boxes than I put in my whole car!!! not my cup of tea, but cool nonetheless, nice work.

well, the shafts cannot be reversed, the inner joint is technically a DOJ, or double offset joint, this allows for some 'telescoping' in the joing, but not enough flex for turning...since it clicks only when you turn, it has to be the outer (true CV). a torn boot can be replaced, no need to replace the whole axle, especially if it was a good subaru axle (much higher quality than reman'd) a cv with torn boot will last much longer than a clicking one!! go back and tell him that very thing, you want a SUBARU axle with a new boot (about $15 each, have to do both for an outer). you paid for one axle, tell him to replace the one that's actually failing, and if he put a reman'd axle in the other side, to put a subaru axle in it (whether yours with new boots, or a new one if he must), and no more than ~$30 for it! (if all that doesn't work....make sure you make it very clear you're not coming back) is it 4WD, if so, don't worry about the axle failing, if it does, put it in 4WD and it'll send the power to the rear. great fix (but don't drive like this for too terribly long, especially if it's push button 4WD)

well, I'm not an EA81 expert, but I've heard of some subies having a short somewhere in the system and not getting power to the starter, but this sounds like you have a mechanical click, not an electrical click, right? as for the black thing...it looks like a vacuum device of some sort, alot like the cruise mechanism on my loyale...then again, maybe it's just a result of the power cut while the starter is engaged...I'm pretty much just guessing here.

carbed loyale??? are you sure? I'm pretty sure that after '87 all ea82's were FI... anyway, as long as there's no noise, and all the fluids are fine, and there aren't any other related symptoms (loss of power, bogging, etc.), I wouldn't worry about it a bit!

well...my haynes/chiltons manual said use a 'gasket remover tool' (or something like that) to take off the gasket, and RTV... I used a big flat chisel and some block cleaner, let it dry, and put RTV on it, and I think it leaks a bunch, but I'm too lazy to really do anything about it, I just keep adding coolant, and it keeps cooling...

as long as it's not pushbutton, you should be fine, I've heard a couple of the turbo guys screw things up, but as long as you're not doing any big powerslides on pavement or anything, it'll be fine. I do it quite frequently (#%^&$#$ reman'd axles...)

the 3AT's aren't horrible, as long as you don't mind the high rpm's at freeway speed, and the crappy mileage as a result...and don't even think about towing anything! we towed our little utility trailer up and back to our lake cabin (about 2.5 hours, one way) 3 or 4 times with a good load on it, and the last time, it burned up 3rd gear, 120,xxx miles, and time for a new tranny... well, I'm converting it to a 5speed, and D/R 4wd, sometime... and the other maintenence stuff....well, it's pretty well covered.

hehee, nice work! have I told you that I love your wagon?!? cause I do!

OK, just checking in. so I've been driving the heck out of my '88 wagon with the 4" AA kit in it. unfortunately I've only had it offroad a few times, couple of my local watering holes, and one trip to the iron range offroad park (see crawl 4 cure thread) where, as most of you know, I gnarled 2 rear axles... well, as most of you have figured out, the rear lift design is tough on the rear axles, it really pushes them to the limit, and at the time, I had my suspension adjusted up almost another full inch (big no-no!) and many reman'd axles. I've been in touch with shadyirishmen (a great businessman, contrary to popular beleif) about reengineering the rear design some to drop the diff more. I love the clearance I get from leaving the suspension arms up tight against the body, but the diff needs to come down more. I'd really like to get a block for the front bracket of the diff, but we'll see how that pans out. he's suggesting 1" blocks under the suspension arm mounts, and 2" at the mustache bar (as apposed to 0 and 1 respectively). and I hear they've now unified the leading rod/tranny mount blocks into one beefy block! and something about a skidplate, but I haven't heard about that in awhile either, I'll let him comment on that as much as he'd like. well, the biggest problem I have with axles is CVJ/DOJ boots tearing, losing grease, then ball bearings fall out, then joint no worky...but the 2 napa reman'd axles' (the other predated my owning the 2 parts cars from which the other axles came) cages broke. making for an explosive failure, rather then it just not working anymore...well, JcWhitney has a 'stronger' 'more durable' etc. universal CV boot, that was about the same price as a boot kit from napa, and since I was ordering some other things from them, shipping wasn't that much more. so I'll be trying that too. anyway, I go to college in Duluth, my girlfriend lives in Duluth, and my parents live in the Twin Cities, so I make the 3 hour 'commute' from the cities to duluth every couple weeks, plus a trip to Des Moines for Midwest 3, so I've put on about 5000 miles (well, the dash says about 3500....but...) so it's about time to change the oil, and check for bent/twisted/loose/busted.... anything. the only problem I found was I had a mustach bar bolt fall out, but I blame this solely on myself, I stripped one of the 2 in the installation, and instead of drilling/tapping, I had my buddy weld the mount onto the block, and the bolt onto the mount and only used the other bolt. this has worked fine, except the one bolt in there likes to work itself loose, it fell out in the campground at midwest 3....oops! anyway, time for an oil change and new valve cover gaskets (they leak like sivs), and try to track down the source of my coolant leak (I think my water pump install is leaking too....crap)