skishop69

Good catch! I was so focused on the crappy paint job, I didn't notice. If you're that close, I'd be interested to hear what they say when you start to question, point things out and pick it apart. Politely, of course. Perhaps use the voice recorder or video on your cell? I normally don't think things similar to this are a big deal, but there are just too many things wrong that people have found just in the pics.

+1 The car has clearly been repainted and not well. The color on the invoice does not match it or the color code so I doubt seriously that is the invoice for that car. I do believe the color on the car is original. Having repainted a few cars and some of those being complete color changes, I can tell you red is one of the worst colors to cover and the cost to strip the entire car and repaint would have been close to $6k at that time. The tenths wheel on the odometer was white. The color it is now is yellowing caused by UV damage from sitting in the sun. Cali, remember? I think the car sat outside the whole time and the paint was shot, hence the repaint and plastic fading. That's not grease on the under carriage. That is a rust inhibitor common to aftermarket application companies of that time period. Valves 'frozen' in place? Uhhhh.... Again, Cali. Very unlikely. I've bought cars that sat in a field for 20 years in Montana and fired them up after about an hour of tinkering. So why did they replace them? The gaskets issue has already been brought up. I can almost guarantee that car will need a complete reseal within a few hundred miles of driving. One of two things come to mind. Either they didn't get the real story hear, or they are FOS. Maybe both. I would be leery of this car and certainly wouldn't pay more than $5k IF everything else checked out pristine. IE: Look for rust under the dash, under the seats, pull back carpet in the trunk and look there. Was this thing in a flood or storm of some sort? Don't get me wrong, it's a clean, beautiful car but too many things don't add up here.

Wait!!! You towed it without the axles??? Ummmm... Yeah, can't do that with these older cars as the have an inner and outer wheel bearing. Newer ones with one piece hub bearings you can. As Gloyale pointed out, the brakes were the only things holding the spindles on the car. Yep, calipers, lines, pads, rotors, wheel bearings and seals,,,,

Why on God's green Earth would you want to go power to manual!? I mean even if you are having issues, there's snake oil for that. Yes, you can bypass it, but as previously stated, it's still going to be harder to turn than manual.

If that's what you've got and you don't care about thrashing it into oblivion, then go for it. At the very least, brace the upper strut towers across the engine compartment and have extra struts on hand!

Messing with the grind on an EA81T cam is asking for trouble. The valve train geometry is very temperamental and the lift and overlap have to be figured precisely for a turbo motor or any low end or mid range torque you had will be non-existent. Boost pressure and head flow have to be taken into account as well. No, the ratio is not 2:1. I don't know what it is exactly as I haven't spec'd it yet, but almost all production vehicles lie in the range of 1.5-1.7:1. The lift is .210 and I would figure the ratio would be 1.5:1. Changing the ratio of the exhaust rocker and a slightly more aggressive lift and duration on the intake will net you better power without sacrificing too much low end to mid range torque. Yes, you can change out the rockers in the EA81 for Chevy SB roller rockers and change the ratio. It's been done. You have to stud the rockers and make your own valve covers to do it. If you're doing a full power build, address the cam and valves. Bigger valves will fir with some head work. If you're rebuilding and looking to gain power cheaply, I'd look at VERY mild porting, turning up the boost, getting a bigger down pipe and opening the intake.

Well, let's see.... First mod is a major one. Turn it into a Chevy, Ford, Nissan or Toyota. Next, build up from there. Seriously, I wouldn't even try. I ran both my 3/4 ton Chev and my heavily modded Jeep J10 pickup in tough truck rounds and still broke stuff. Granted my foot tends to rest on the accelerator like a 100lb lead brick... I have driven all of my Brats hard. Done things to them I should be ashamed of. Mostly, they hold up. The biggest problem you're going to have is the unibody. It is not designed to, nor will it take the abuse of tough truck. My second Brat we ran mercilessly in the dunes. Jumping off dunes, taking whoops and doubles. It caved in the strut towers and bent the struts. The control arm bushings ceased to exist and the tie rods liked to bend when coming down hard on a hard surface with the wheels turned. I'm not saying it can't be done. It would be cool to see a Subie run tough truck, but you will all but destroy it in short order without bracing the unibody, using poly bushings, shoring up the strut towers, finding larger struts to fit, and addressing tie rod issues. The amount of time and money you'd put into getting it up to snuff to make one round just wouldn't be worth it IMO. Of course, I'm finally starting to tone down my off road thrashing of vehicles.

ooops....

Two words: Castrol Superclean! Spray it down, let it sit 5 minutes, spray it again, wait 5 minutes and go. You don't even need a pressure washer, just a good garden nozzle for most crud. I do almost every engine and compartment on cars I work on. Great stuff.

If I had the cash, I'd be in. Of course, I already have 3, but it's not the getting, it's the having.

He's fine. just talked to him the other day. Just busy.

Yeah, they're worth about $100 bucks and someone will want them since so many jacka**es cut them out of the bed.

I'm all for trying new things, but what you are looking into has many drawbacks. The vehicles were not designed to be RWD. Your aforementioned rear diff concern (which probably isn't an issue), weight distribution and handling characteristics. FWD is superior which is why RWD has gone away save for trucks. Now to the mechanics of the matter. To really do it right, you will have to build an entire new front hub from scratch, steering knuckles, suspension and axles. If you're going to try and do this with just a hub, you're going to end up pushing the width of the front end out at least 2-3" on each side which changes your suspension loading points and now your steering rack is too short so you'll have to build knuckles or try to retrofit a different rack. Now you have a track width difference front to rear that is going to cause handling problems at higher speeds on just about any road that has ruts, which is darn near all of them. It's going to wander like a drunk sailor on shore leave. Just out of curiosity, why would you want to sacrifice FWD superiority for RWD?

Never seen it done. You would have to fabricate an entire new window frame system and the topper would need to be a lot more rigid than they were.

Thanks guys I'll remember that! I just buttoned her up and we're all good for now. She knows to check the oil and coolant weekly as well as change oils every 3k and she is diligent about it as I gave her the worst case horror story and told her you only get one free car.

Thank you for correcting me. Shouldn't have said tbi. Force of habit. Both my EA82's have spider manifolds so just plain tb. My bad.

Sweet. Yeah, I don't wanna go that way, but her and her boyfriend only have this car and he is working so I've got to get it up fast. Add to that, the left t-belt tensioner let loose when she left last night. At least I have that covered. PM sent...

Upper left is a Hitachi carb base gasket and the upper right is a tbi gasket. No clue on top center or bottom two.

That's it in a nutshell. Daughters 88 XT has got one or two bad HLA's on the left bank and she's out of work. I'd just pick up the new ones, but we're down to a one income household and I can't spare $70 for two. Anyone got two spare ones they'd be willing to part with cheap to free? Thanks.

Does the throttle body point up or to the back of the engine on the engine you are installing?

I will have to go through my stash. I cut up an 86 turbo but I don't remember if I kept the harness. I take it you do not have the spider intake?

I believe you mean dissimilar. Disseminate means to spread information.

You know why there are no British computer companies? Because they haven't figured out how to give a computer an oil leak! Hahahaha Strange they would use the ultra copper since it was originally designed for dry, high temp applications. Not saying it doesn't work, but the ultra grey is specific for wet applications and heat. The electrolysis issue you spoke of really only happens between the heads and blocks and more so when it is aluminum to cast iron. Water pumps are another place unless it's aluminum to aluminum. Never seen it happen on a valve cover or oil pan.

I could be wrong, but if you're swapping an EJ in, you use all the EA clutch components, You re-drill the flywheel and use an adapter from SJR to mount the engine and tranny. I have everything to do mine, but I just haven't had time to do it.

+1 Ultra grey is used in many factory applications for sealing oil pans, valve covers and timing covers. Every Subaru I have ever sealed with it (oil pan wise) has never leaked, though I eliminate the gasket entirely. Ultra copper is designed for high heat dry applications and works great for those if you have a leak you can't stop.