skishop69

I wouldn't convert to the new coolant. Older Subies tend to seep and spring leaks if you don't stay on top of them. If enough air enters the system over a period of time, the orange coolant will slowly turn to mud. Granted I haven't seen this happen in some time, but we used to call it Mississippi mud when we'd flush a cooling system this happened to. There really isn't much of a benefit in changing on the older cars. Use distilled water with your green coolant and you're fine. Don't feel too bad about the battery. Hell, I did it to my daughters XT. lol Those fusible links can be replaced with the correctly rated, tall, square GM Mega-fuses used in trucks from like 05-10. They slide right in. So, there's your current replacement option. Glad you got her running.

If you bought a 'performance' air filter that requires oiling, DO IT VERY LIGHTLY or you will ruin your MAF when the oil gets sucked through and hits the hot wires. Glad you got her back!

I would normally agree, but since engines with a faulty temp sensor tend to run better when it's cold out, I don't think so. And by better, I mean less crappy than when it's warm. Generally, when the temp sensor dies, the computer thinks it's -30 F so it starts dumping fuel in. In cold temps, you get a denser air charge meaning same volume, but more O2 molecules which allows the excess fuel being added to burn more completely. With warm or hot air, the charge is less dense, less O2. That's why an engine tend to start and run ok when it's cold until it warms up, then run like crapola. lol Don't get me wrong, the engine is going to run like crap with a bad temp sensor, but there are varying degrees based on ambient temps.

MAF cleaner is only ever a temporary fix. The hot wires in your MAF are going bye-bye. IE: They're getting weak and can't heat as well anymore. Any crud on them makes it worse and so does a big ambient temp drop. The wires heat to a specific point and at that point, they have a specific resistance. Incoming air causes them to cool and the resistance changes. This is how the ECU reads the airflow. Crud burned onto the surface changes their ability to react to the incoming air and skews the reading which in turn screws up your AF mixture because the ECU is getting erroneous information and basing calculations off of the bad data.

I doubt it was the fusible link unless you hooked the battery up backwards or tried to jump start it backwards. What you most likely have is fretting corrosion on the starter solenoid contacts from sitting. Smack the solenoid with a small hammer or prybar while someone tries to start it. If that doesn't work, use a large screwdriver to jumper the positive cable at the starter to the power cable into the starter at the solenoid. Jumper it across the two biggest terminals. Unless the starter motor is bad, this will start it so you can at least get it out of there. UNLESS.... You have a bad ground or battery cable(s) end.

What you need is a combo bubble,cable tool that will allow you to do camber and toe. Unfortunately, they have not been available for many years. You'll need to search Evilbay for something.

The are becoming collector cars. I saw a restored Gen1 go for over $10k on Ebay. That, however, is not the point. These particular people are on crack. At top price, given the issues it has and the overall condition, they'll be lucky to get $1500-$2000. Of course, Canadians do tend to drink a LOT of beer, so....

That is a great build but holy crap that's a LOT of caster. I still hold that that amount is going to cause steering issues. They may not be as bad as they were with our full size, solid axle rigs, but the physics of it says it will. Would still like his input on how it changed steering response. Hell of a lift. Hat's off.

I agree it can be done so I guess I shouldn't have said can't, but the safety and handling issue is still there. In your case, everything was moved forward so it works well. I don't know about the Lego, though. I'd be interested to hear from him to see exactly what he did and what he noticed in the way of steering issues. I messed with a lot of steering configurations and axle rotation when I was building wheelers and always ended up putting things back as close to stock as I could to get rid of steering issues.

+1 and thank you Scott. Again, no it won't without moving the struts forward. They already have more positive caster than almost every vehicle of that era and pushing it forward without relocating the struts is going to cause serious steering issues. You'll be tilting the steering axis backwards essentially using the 'back side' of the tire to turn. What this means is that instead of the tire turning left to right, it would be tilting in and out top to bottom. Granted it would still be turning right to left as well, but not nearly as much. This reduces your effective turning radius and speed of steering response left to right making it UNSAFE to drive on the streets and almost utterly useless wheeling unless the turn you're making has a 20' radius. Let's say you're driving down the road behind someone and for whatever reason they dynamite their brakes. Your normal 45 degree steering jerk to swerve around them is now 2-3 times more making it 90-180 degrees. You cannot make that same turn in the same amount of time and you've just rear ended them. Add to that, the steering is no longer going to return to center automatically now. Why? I'm glad I asked. Let's say you're turning left. With the axis tilted back, the tires will tilt and turn. The tilt will cause the inside edge of the left tire and the outside edge of the right tire to catch the pavement and essentially get 'hooked' in place. You will have to physically turn the steering wheel to bring it back to center. There is a reason steering gear ratios and caster settings are so close from manufacturer to manufacturer and in such a small window. You CANNOT push only the lower portion of the suspension and steering forward without creating safety and handing issues. Not to mention the stress you'd be putting on the top hat (upper strut mount) by changing the angle. Can we say disintegrate in short order? There is NO safe way to do it without relocating the top of the struts.

You're still going to end up with too much positive caster and you'd have to make sure the engine stayed level or you're going to tip the tailshaft into the ground. The only way to maintain useable caster and steering geometry is to move the strut towers as well.

Considering you would have to move the entire suspension assembly forward, I'd say no. It's not like you can easily cut out the strut towers and relocate them forward. You couldn't just move the control arm and knuckle forward either as your caster angle would be so positive your steering response would be worthless. You'd need a 10 point turn just to make a street corner. lol Most of the lifts I've seen with the T-case mod were 6" and they used 31" tires and trimmed up the fenders which pretty much gives you a zero approach angle. So I guess what I'm saying is no, you can't just move the subframe forward. You'd never be able to correct the steering geometry without moving the strut towers forward as well.

Are you talking metal moonroof or glass sunroof? Subaru never offered a glass sunroof, and if it's metal, technically it's a moonroof. There are, to my knowledge and searching, no factory seals left for the moonroofs. So yeah, you're stuck with searching all types of aftermarket seals to see what you come up with.

It's not even a close call. You're safer in the Impreza. It's built with crumple zones so it will absorb impact and it is built to take more damage in a collision. Of course, you can argue/discuss what you mean by safer as in what type of collision. I'm sure the 89 has a couple areas in which it might be superior in a crash, but overall, the Impreza would be better. Search NHSTA crash results or safety ratings for both and I'm sure you'll find all kinds of info.

The first pic is factory AC, the second is dealer or aftermarket installed. Yes, you can swap them. All the brackets hoses and bits. You may run into an issue with the rotational sensor on the factory set up, but IIRC, there is a way to bypass it. Someone here will chime in with more knowledge than me on that.

+1 for Jonas. If you're running the Hitachi, it's probably got some crap in the float bowl or something is leaking. It's going to be fuel related, not spark. You might have bad windings in the fuel pump as well. Keep it moving and you're all good. Shut her down and let her heat soak and the pump goes crap til it cools down. Seen that before too though not on a Subie.

+1 for Numbchux idea! When I put the adjustable strut rods in my Brat, I shortened the inner spacer between the bushings to suck it up and really hold the bushings. Got rid of most of my front end shudder when cornering, but you'll never get rid of all of it running bushings. Now why didn't I think of that!? lol

Good lord don't I look like an idiot. I kept thinking the little frame extension was the skid pan/engine mount. Ooops....

Yeah, after looking closer, I can see that he used the rear torsion bar set up in the front. Still a d*mn good idea! I'm not any closer to my off road build. I have everything except the EZ30 I want to use for it, but it seems like one thing or another comes up that I have to deal with that steals time from this.

I am ill... simply ill... Hat's off to you sir! I have no idea how I missed this from the start. Took a while to catch up on all of it, but it was well worth the time! Absolutely frickin' incredible! I've always wanted to do something like this to one of my Brat's but two things have stopped me. Money and that I just can't (yet) bring myself to 'bastardize' a Brat. This thread, however, has just about pushed that over the edge. I think my near pristine '87 Brat that was slated for full resto will be going a slightly different direction. Since it didn't have factory jump seats, which is a big deal to me, I bought it strictly as a money maker. Stole it in a barter deal, no cash. Sure don't need them for this type of build as there's no way in HELL it will be going off road. You sir, are an artist, a visionary and an inspiration to us with EA Subarus!!! On a side note: Love the bonus pics of the other cars! We have a '74 MG Midget. Last year of the chrome bumpers. Complete with a brand new engine, all suspension and bushings. New top, no rust, never wrecked and snagged it for a grand on a labor trade! It gets stripped to a rolling chassis this summer for new paint and possibly a new harness. Gotta get rid of that crappy English wiring. You know why the English don't build computers? They haven't found a way to give them an oil leak!!! LMAO

Direct fit, no. Will it fit? Yes. You have to grind the bottom of the block side of the bell housing, use the flywheel and clutch from the 5spd, modify the cross member and build shift linkages. You'll also have to mod your wiring for the hi/lo 4wd lights on the dash. Search 5spd swap. There are some good write ups on it. Jerry sells a kit for it. Way easier if you don't have a welder, proper tools and fabbing skills.

Yeah, they're going to be on any time the ignition is on, but if you wanted to add some more wiring and move the relays to the front fender corners and tap the wiring there, then the fronts would only be on with the lights on and flash with the signals. In this case, you would need a 4 pin, normally CLOSED relay.

So here's how you'd hook it up. One relay per side, under the column will work. Cross reference an Omron 7866 relay to find one that has a mounting tab on it. As long as it's 5 pin, normally OPEN and you hook it up as shown, you're golden.

4 pin relays are numbered 85,56,87 & 30. 5 pin relays have the 87a, just to clarify. You couldn't run the relay in parallel with the rear blinkers or the power would just bypass the relay. I did error in my post. You would need to wire the relay into the front turn signal wires only (not under the column as I stated) to avoid having the rears on. Just get a mountable relay and screw it to the inside fender up in the front corner and splice into the turn signal wire from there. DO NOT use scotch locks to do this. They are not weatherproof and the wires will corrode over time and become inoperative. Use shrink butt connectors and twist wire pairs together where necessary then heat them and they will seal. I'll draw you a schematic today. And, I had a chance to ponder this on my ride to work. It can be done with two relays at the column so long as you use a 5 pin relay. Been swamped with BS work this morning, but I'll get that schematic drawn for the 5 pin st up.

You would use switched ignition power to the lights like they are now, but you would run it through a 12v normally CLOSED relay. Ground one side of the relays trigger circuit and hook the 12v side of the trigger to your turn signal output. When you turn the blinkers on, the flasher will act like it normally does but it will trigger the relay, which will turn it off and on. You will need a solid state flasher to work correctly, not an electro-mechanical type. Solid state flashers are not resistance dependent like EM flashers are. Bob's your uncle! You've got blinker/markers! Addendum... This requires one relay per side.