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Not really an update on the car, but this IS subaru related... I checked out some factory service manuals at work today, I see why people say they are the way to go. SOOO much more clear than Haynes or Chilton. The diagrams are much more straightforward. Each procedure is explained in detail, yet simply. All part numbers included, etc... No comparison really.

Guess I should have checked out the USRM first... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=112986

Nice work on the pics kerandt, I'm sure it will help save others some confusion. Mine had dog hair too, as well as a couple pennies resting on it. The design seems weird to me, I don't understand why the resistors have to be exposed to the moving air within the blower ducting. Maybe it has something to do with temp control as well?

Betsy went on her first big adventure today! The dog and I hopped in and headed 200 miles west to Missoula, MT where we met a fellow board member. Sold him my EA81, had some pizza, good times.. Heading over the continental divide. Scout says, "Let's go man, I'm drivin!" On the way home, trying to get to the pass before dark. (didn't quite make it) oh well, PIAAs and 4WD FTW. The roads were decent, for my car anyway:-p there were tons of people spun out in the ditch on the way. Woulda pulled them out but I had business to attend to, also no tow ropes. Stats for the trip: On the way there- with engine in back, 4wd on half of trip, avg speed 60. Took her real easy and stuck to about 35mph on the passes. 25MPG On the way back- empty cargo area(obviously), 4wd about a 1/4 of the way, avg speed 66, gave her some juice on the passes (50mph) 25MPG..:-\ Conclusions: Go easy on the passes, unless you want to burn your clutch out early. Mine is now slipping, it was gettin there before the trip though. And in the interest of saving $$ keep her at 55! Overall it was great trip. It felt good to get on the road, and out of my valley. The more I drive this car the more I love it. It's hard to believe it's 25 years old!

Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but I believe when they were referring to the engine year the conditions were specifically pertaining to intake manifold and wiring harness/ecu system. Seems you would only have to search out those things 95+ and throw them on your existing 2.2 block.

Thanks Bill, that helps fill a lot of gaps in my understanding. Will be PMing you about these soon hopefully!!

Awesome pics, glad to see she's staying so clean! I guess taking the time to do it right is quite worth it indeed. Very nice wagon, I always enjoy seeing the updates on this thread.

I finally fixed my heater blower level problem tonight in my 87 GL wagon. I have seen talk of many others on the board with this problem. Decided to make an official fix it thread since I haven't seen one. Not only do the internal connections of the switch wear out, but there is another assembly completely separate from this one that affects heater function. There is a resistor assembly just above the passengers feet held on by three screws which consists of a small circuit board, with rows of spiral wire resistors. This is what actually controls the speed of the fan. There are three coils, which progressively grow in size. The smaller one is fan setting one, the medium, setting two, large, 3, and number 4 is full power, no resistor. As these get old, the thin wire breaks, much like a filament in a light bulb, as these resistors are lost, so are their appointed speeds. This is why many of you have the number 4 as the only working setting. Now I just replaced this with a spare resistor assembly from an 89 DL. Expose the assembly by removing the three plastic pressure fit screws in the panel below the glove compartment. Remove panel and look under. A 3x1 inch black plastic component with an angled arm and a set of wires running from it is what you are looking for, it's fairly obvious. Remove these screws and unplug the unit. Swap in the new one and do everything in reverse. Voila! All 4 heater settings:headbang: If you don't have an extra resistor assembly, you may very likely be able to fix your existing unit by resoldering the resistor wire to its original state. It is likely soldering some modern resistors to the circuit board would provide for a longer lasting fix to the problem. If this doesn't entirely fix the problem, it is likely your actual switch mechanism is the culprit. Hope this was helpful!

Thanks launchpad, I hadn't considered it that way. Was looking at it as more of a "who can build the coolest car" sorta thing. Typical male response I suppose, always making things a competition.. DT, yeah ej22 would. But that's a few months and $$ down the road. Going to just get her running nicely the way she is now before I go breaking things while beating on her with all those horses! Made a lot of progress on Betsy(newly named as of tonight in the shop) Updates for today: Figured out what was wrong with the Weber! Choke was working perfectly, the problem was the "accelerator pump" The mechanism that runs from the throttle assembly wasn't making contact with the accelerator pump lever due to it being bent out(possibly during PO's initial installation?) So gas was not being squirted into the chamber when given throttle. A simple bending of the lever back into place, and she runs like a true webered engine should. Having somewhat of a throttle response is wonderful! As well as it no longer dragging at low rpms in 1st or reverse.. Addressed noise in front end(harmonic pulsating sort of humm at 30MPH+ speeds. Ruled out both front bearings. Ruled out rear bearings as well. I'm thinking maybe carrier bearing or something in the tranny or diff? That's really all that's left. Installed a radiator fan and shroud. Mine had the single electric, but didn't come with the one attached to the pulley on the engine. Not too much gain for winter, but I'm sure it will help on those treks into the mountains in the summer. Replaced the front grille insert with the all black one I got at work, looks pretty cool I suppose. Realized it's cracked, may just spray paint original one black.. Fixed the heater speed problem(No blowing in 1 or 2). Will go into more detail in another thread for those who aren't aware of how to fix this problem. Finally put a spare tire back on the rack, bought the car without one. That's all for today. More updates to follow.

Click this. Scroll down. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69741&page=4

Click this. Scroll down. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69741&page=4

Picked up some more fun stuff today at work: Heater switch assembly, as well as the resistor assembly which regulates the speed of the fan. My current one only works on 3, and 4 is on its way out. Spare rear wiper switch- just in case. Overhead driver and passenger light assembly- my current ones are very touchy, and don't like to stay on. More to come, I'm sure. Sorry for the boring updates, this is more of a build journal than an exciting, crazy build thread. Someday maybe it will turn into that..

Just trying to picture this all in my head still... When the entire suspension is lowered that much, what happens to the shift assembly/linkage? Does that need to be adjusted/modified?

Again, it's been awhile. My big dreams of swapping and lifting this car have been put on hold to address the mechanical soundness of the vehicle first. I'll be getting it a little prettier too, before I put all my time and money into it. Some updates: Finally got the weber on it decently tuned. In addition to changing plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor. The next focus is finding and fixing the culprit of my front end noise, and possibly a bad carrier bearing as well. I finally got a job working in a subaru shop today:banana: Looking forward to making quicker progress on the vehicle now, as well as learning about these things at a much faster rate. Not to mention in a hands-on way as opposed to reading countless threads trying to teach myself these things. Grabbed a black grille insert from work today from a 89 DL Wagon we were parting out. Will be installing it tomorrow.

Thanks for the info. I currently a driveway mechanic with no real means to fabricate or heavily modify things. I may look into swapping the seats though, mine are shot. I'll do some searching as well as asking now, how tricky is it to make those fit?

Found a 97 OBS Impreza on Craigslist in a town I'll be passing through this weekend. I did some searching to see if there is anything I could grab off of it for future mods on my wagon, wasn't able to find much. Other than the engine, ecu and wiring harness of course, is there anything else I should be looking into? Thanks folks. Also, if anyone wants anything off of this, I can get price quotes + shipping.

I know the cap and rotor are worn, just waiting on the parts to get in. The plug wires come apart every time I take them off the plug(the clip stays on the plug) So yeah, I'll be retuning after, just thought I would try to get it somewhat correct beforehand. I am not entirely educated on timing, so I am unsure how to check what it is set at. Will do some reading. It feels pretty good on both ends actually, compared to what it was.. Looking forward to getting the new ignition parts in and really dialing it in.

I checked the radius rod bushings as MilesFox and others suggested. They are definitely getting worn out. There are "spiderwebby" cracks all the way around. Will be replacing them soon! Hopefully that is the clunk I sometimes hear going over bumps at low speeds.

So I still have to work on the choke, but I think these settings are about right? I took it for a spin and noticed a drastic improvement. Not as sluggish as it used to be. Not that I do this often, but when accelerating say in 3rd, but starting at only 1500RPM it doesn't sputter and kick like it wants to die(it used to). I put in new spark plugs yesterday, it no longer diesels on shutoff. I know that my cap and rotor are fairly worn, as well as the spark plug cables being very old, so that might have something to do with the rough exhaust? New parts should be here on tomorrow. Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA7gv8POHMU&feature=youtu.be

Sweet wagon man. Can't wait for more updates.

Alright, I believe I'm beginning to see the picture here. Thanks for all the help djellum and loyale!

Sounds like I should look into getting a manual choke... I did the quick tune today, got it running as well as I am able. The throttle butterfly is no longer slightly open at idle, only problem is that it idles at about 450-550 when warm. I can't adjust idle screw because that just opens the throttle and kills my mileage, and the mixture screw can't be changed from 2 1/4 turns out because it either slows the idle or begins to run rough. NOW do I look into changing jets? Or is there something I'm still missing?