Subaru Scott

If you don't need it immediately, you can find great Japanese bearings online for 10 bucks or so.

This also reminds me of a time while I was still in a dealership, a Leone 4WD auto came in on a tow truck. It had been towed with the rear wheels down, and the transmission and engine was all wet with water. I puzzled over this for a few minutes before realizing that the tow truck driver must have stopped at the car wash down the street to cool off the smoking transmission. It was, of course, destroyed, and the towing company had to buy a new one.

Bork had revived the thread because he had similar questions. Lucky for you, that you left the key on in your Ford, otherwise, you would have roasted the transmission. Sloppy shifter would have had nothing to do with it because without the pump turning, there can be no fluid pressure to engage drive. The only reason it was able to start turning the engine was from the friction of un-lubricated internals starting to seize up. A C-4 could take this once and still survive. A Subaru trans, not so much. A scant few cars from the 50s and 60s actually had a rear pump, and so could be towed, or even push/pull started without damage. The earlier "Ford-O-Matic" 2 speed did have a rear pump, but not the C-4. So yes, If you are flat towing (no dolly if 4wd) a car that runs fine, you can do so in neutral with the engine running. Done it many times.

I always tie the driveshaft up away from the diff when I'm dollying. But I've always had this theory, which I've never tried, of flat towing one after filling the trans slam full of ATF, till it is running out the vent. Pretty sure that would work

Well, I finally took the plunge after limping my 13" maypop baldies with belts showing along as long as I could, till one did pop. Just didn't want to buy any more 13s. So after many hours of reading about 6-lug swaps here, I decided that would be the cheapest, easiest route. The problem with most of the threads here is they are all about off-roading with lifted cars. There was very, very, little I could find about doing this swap on a stock height car with low-profile tires. What little there was had no pictures anymore because of photosucket. So I took a trip to the only pick-n-pull in the area. Really, a terrible yard, with absolutely no organization whatsoever. You have to go over the whole yard usually, just to start and see what's available. And many of the cars are so packed together, you can't even walk between them. I found one set of 15" steel Isusu 6-lugs in the offset I figured I would need. 60 bucks for the set... pretty happy about that. And they were actually going to charge me extra for the mixmatched, flat, half-bald tires that were on there (??) but they removed them for free. Now, these wheels are well made, but HEAVY!! The center flange that I had to drill was 3/8" steel and the rest of the center was a healthy 1/4". I was gonna weigh them before I got them on the car, but I was too excited to stop and do so. Really, part of me just didn't want to know. I was gonna hit up someone here to send me a front hub, maybe one with stripped splines, to use as a template, but I ended up just taking one of mine off, and bopping two of the studs out. I then made a drill bushing with a nut by first drilling out the threads with my pilot drill bit, and then, with the nut spinning on the pilot bit, I dressed down the OD with a right-angle grinder (shadetree lathe), till it just pushed inside the stud holes. Bolted the hub to the wheels, drilled the pilot through the bushing, then drilled to 1/2", Bob's your uncle. After hours of brooding over tire size, I finally settled on 205/50R15s, which are ever so slightly taller than stock, and filled out beautifully on the 7 inch rims. Wallyworld got me Hankooks for 50 bucks each, and they really look like great tires. Took hardly any weight to balance, which is a good sign for the rims and tires. Fit without issue on the front, but it gets close in a couple of spots. The rear... was going to rub the inner fender lip under compression. I've never rolled any fenders, but I remember an old hot rodder telling me about using a baseball bat to do so. I couldn't find a full-size wooden bat anywhere locally, but I did have a piece of 2" PVC electrical conduit. Started out driving the car forward with the conduit rolling between the tire and body. With a stick and a string on the loose end of the conduit, so I could guide it (would work better with 2 people). Then finished by letting the car roll back down the driveway while levering the conduit down to push the flange up. Worked great. Then, after some cleaning and Krylon, I can't stop looking at it!! Now, I have yet to try and drill a chamfer on the new holes so it will accept a traditional lug nut. For now, I just have regular nuts and lockwashers on the drilled holes, and center the wheels on the car with the factory holes. It's smooth as glass at 80 mph, so I think I can go back now and chamfer the drilled holes, as long as they are perfectly centered around the stud. Or, I could just get some flat-bottom chrome acorn nuts, and leave well enough alone.

Nice score! Keep the oil clean and the rust at bay and it will run indefinitely. Yes, they love to rev. Really don't start to turn on till around 3500.

If the gauge stays solid where it should be, and the heat blows hot air, and the radiator does not boil over, then I don't think it is overheating. Many times, an oil leak, especially when it gets on the exhaust, will give an impression of "hot" because of the smoke and smell. I would get an infrared tester or even a cooking thermometer stuck down in the radiator for a second opinion.

Amazon is getting a little too big for it's britches, IMO. I've noticed the prices shifting a lot too, and shipping time has been increasing over the last couple years. I had a couple packages that arrived well beyond the estimated max date. I've been getting much better, faster service from independent eBay sellers.

This^ I've had a small 2T, Chinese bottle jack for over 30 years now that has straightened out more wrecks than I can count (I don't wreck them, I just buy them that way). That, and some 2x4 blocking will do just about anything. Just keep the pump side of the jack facing down when you're using it sideways, so you don't run out of oil. If you can find, or make a concrete or ground anchor, then use a chain to hold a frame rail down, you can jack up at the bend to straighten, or the opposite side to get rid of twist. A come-along is also invaluable, as is a BFH!

Really though, if you have until June... it's not too late to find an early 90's Legacy... just slap on a fresh timing belt for good measure, and put the pedal to the metal!

I added a brake spring on the wastegate of my EA82T and it gave me a reliable 12 psi. Ran with that for many years. Those things had head cracking issues. An 89 should have the last version, identifiable by an embossed box around the "EA82" cast on the bottom of the heads. Like others have pointed out, make sure cooling system is solid. That is the main thing that will stop those cars. I wouldn't get crazy with any performance mods. You will probably have an edge on the competition with stock power anyway, and reliability is more important than a few horsepower.

I had some leaking like that, and it was just the o-rings. Make sure to pull the plugs and spin any gas out when you're done. First one I did, replaced the o-rings, put the injector back, knew gas had leaked into the cylinder, thought, "Ah, I'll try to crank it. If it's too full, it just won't crank." But it did. And instantly fired up, bending the connecting rod of the cylinder with fuel in it... bad day.

Kind of going through the same issue with my 83. Starving for gas during high demand. Changing filter and vapor separator didn't help, so last weekend I rigged up a flushing system with a high flow pump. Pushed a hose down the fill tube and hooked to a marine filter/water separator with a clear bowl, then to the intake of the pump. Then I ran the output to the tanks pickup tube, so it would backflush the sock. Let that run for about an hour, shaking the back of the car up and down to slosh things around. Got quite a bit of crap out of it. Most just looked like crystalized fuel/additives that dried out during periods of non-use, a few pieces of petrified leaves, (don't ask me how) probably enough to block the sock. It did seem to help, but still runs out if you go WOT through 4th gear, so I'm suspecting the pump now, which is aftermarket, and have another on the way.

That's a fine little beast you got there! I'm curious about your fuel setup there. Can't quite tell from the pics. Do you have a pump in the rear also? Or is there a pump in a reservoir I see there in the corner?

Yes^. And doing a google search will usually provide much better results than an internal search on this site, or other Subaru sites, sadly.

I worked at Ziebart many years ago. That stuff worked pretty good if it was applied correctly to brand-new American cars. European, and especially Japanese cars that spent an ocean voyage through salty sea air, not so much. If you cover any active corrosion with a "barrier" type coating, it usually just makes it worse. I used to do the used oil spray with an old fire extinguisher that I installed a tire valve on, and used a long piece of brake tubing with a pinched end that made a fan-spray. I drilled holes into the rockers, door bottoms, and other closed areas, and kept Ziebart plugs in. Tried to get a spray in once a year when I lived in the salt belt. But the used oil is pretty stinky... even though it's a fine way to recycle, I just started using cheap, new oil. Now that I've been working on boats for awhile, I've been turned on to CRC 6-56. Guys have been using it for years here in the saltwater environment to keep corrosion down on marine engines and metals. It is available in spray and gallon cans. Does a great job! I can spray it on the tilt-trim mechanisms on my outboards, (a sensitive area prone to corrosion because of all the small parts/edges that are constantly exposed to turbulent saltwater) and the water will bead on it for months! And it smells way better than used oil.

DITCH that Nippondenso distributor, and get a Hitachi. That is what all the later 4WD models would have anyway. The Nippondensos will leave you walking, ask me how I know! The Hitachis did have issues with the shaft bushing wearing out, if the oil wasn't changed regularly, but the electronics are bulletproof. Excellent work by the way, superb job!!

Wow. That sure looks like a nice, rust free body. Somebody really needs to save this. If I was a couple thousand miles closer, I would. Could you possibly figure out an alternative to crushing it if no one will take it right now? Like maybe putting it back in the field it came from?

Mark the bearing with a sharpie if that helps, to get it lined up close. Then turn the bearing till you feel it clunk down. I made new bushings for my cross joint with some nylon tubing from the hardware store. You will have to grind off the end of one of the pins to get it out, then drill and tap a hole in the end of the pin to install a small bolt to hold it back in. I did have to ream the ID of the tubing a little with a drill bit to get perfect fit. It's amazing the difference it makes in shifting!

Rock auto has harmonic balancers for 40 bucks.

Sounds like ignition timing may be retarded.

Yes, the one in your link is right. And just to elaborate on the differences, The Hitachi only had a vacuum advance. The ND had a vacuum advance/retard. Either manufacturer could have provided both. That was the only practical difference between the two, and either will work with just a difference in advance curve.

If you think that's dumb, do some research on GM...

Yeah man, after something like that, you're gonna need to go over that trans with a magnifying glass, looking for cracks, warping, etc. Manual trannys are pretty forgiving, but there are limits. When I saw you shimming under the nosecone, I knew that box wasn't right. Of course, if it wasn't D/R, I'd say start over. The pinion bearing should be the same as most. My JDM D/R came from a 98 Forester, if that helps. Good luck, leave no stone unturned!

The Hitachi is the one you want. For some reason, the EA81s came with two different distributors. Hitachi on the 4WD and Nippondenso on the 2WD. Don't ask me why, I think it was political. The Hitachi's had a problem with bushing wear, mostly attributed to the oil grooves in the shafts gumming up from neglected oil. I used to rebuild these myself, and had a machine shop making the bushings. The Hitachi electronics are extremely robust, and I have yet to see one fail. The Nippondenso's had no bushing problem, but the electronics would wink-out with no warning and leave you walking.