ebarb

Right on man! Hope the re-assembly goes well.

The coolant had pooled and rusted a bit on the passenger side and so the bore there is a little bit rougher. I tried sanding a little with some super fine grain paper, but it didn't really make a dent. I'm assuming just running it should cause the rings to wear that back down and smooth it out. I don't really want to strip it out and re-hone right now. If I go down that route I'd want to do the bearings and rings, etc. After pulling the engine and taking everything apart, I found that the coolant system overall had failed tremendously. The water pump had failed and was bleeding out the pinhole on the bottom side, the thermostat area was really gunked up, but overall the HG on the passenger side was my culprit. Some HG material had even sucked up against the strainer for the oil pump. I took a wire brush to the studs and cleaned up the threads and hopefully later tonight I'll be able to start putting it back together. I'm still eyeballing the EA81 in Penn, but this will at least get me back on the road.

I got it pulled out and if I can clean up some of the rust goop pooled at the bottom then the bores really don't look too bad. On the driver side I can still see a decent cross hatch pattern. I may be able to pull of just cleaning it up a bit and putting in the new gasket.

Well I finally got everything pulled apart last night. I drained the oil and at first thought, maybe it's not too bad. I pulled the passenger side head and it looks pretty gross and like it's not a problem that developed recently. If this thing had 77K miles on it then it was rough. Each stud into the block looks rusted and with the block still in the car there's more rust than I'd hoped pooled up at the bottom. What I thought might be a top end job looks like it'll be at least a rehone before cleaning up and piecing back together. At that point I may as well replace the bearings and rings too. Finally someone had cross threaded the spark plug in the passenger front cylinder (1 right). I haven't looked too close, but what are my options to fix that? Rethread for a slightly larger plug or is repair of the thread possible? That's not like the most exciting thing if it means I need a new head.

great to have you here! You've found the right place for enthusiastic Subaru owners.

Where abouts in Missouri? I'm in the SW corner near Springfield.

So this Sb9003hd is EA81 compatible? The only difference I can see in the specs is that the inboard joint diameter is 1.5mm smaller than their SB8003. Everything else looks to match up; length, inner and outer spline count, joint diameter. The last time I replaced half shafts my bigger problem was with boots tearing. I didn't really notice any cv joint or axle issues as much as I did the boots wearing exceedingly quickly. http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=6586008&jsn=3 http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3854313&cc=1268568&jsn=404

those are some pretty rad pictures!

Thanks for the follow up GD. I was able to search that day off the p/n and found the dealer in Wichita has this in stock.

I had some fluid going into the valve cover gasket and getting sucked up into the breather through the air recirculation hose. Mine is a head gasket that needs replaced. If you take off the valve covers do you see anything in them?

If I recall 4WD EA81 models had hitachi and 2wd something else. Do you know if your donor car was 4wd?

Thanks for the Intake Manifold Part number TomRhere. Called the local dealership today and the guy was kinda stumped. Been noticing some of the Subaru dealer sites no longer list parts for anything older than 85. I know technically the 85/86 Brats/hatches should be the same, but they can't seem to search with anything but the VIN when I've called.

On the way back I had to fill the radiator a number of times and just figured it had an air bubble causing the coolant to continuously overflow. So a couple days ago I pulled it up on to an incline and ran through the coolant burping procedure. Unfortunately I'm still having to continuously refill it. So I took a closer look last night and much to my dismay I found a slurry of coolant/oil under the valve cover and noticed the passenger side HG has white residue all over the outside. Pretty shocked for 80K on an EA81 to have to do a head gasket. Getting the gaskets ordered today, I think maybe the last 100 miles were the worst as far as needing to refill coolant. Do I need to be overly concerned with checking the bottom end or just slap in fresh gaskets for the top end and call it good?

Welcome aboard. I'm in the same boat with my Fiats and 13" tires too. Kumho used to have some decent 13" still. And bump to ironworkerboomer, let's see some pictures of the new ride!

I too can understand the justifications for the wife. Welcome aboard, there should be plenty of info/expertise here for whatever project you want to undertake and probably any number of listings in the marketplace that would be a good deal.

Welcome Jake, Do you already have your dream car or still looking? What year are you after?

That's great news! Maybe they'll leave some robbery cash under the floormats for your trouble

Any updates?

Catbus, nice wagon! I just picked up an 82 recently as well. Do you have a build thread anywhere? I'm "sorta" nearby in SW Missouri. Mine is either the same gold or the poop beige color.

Welcome! I know it's a bit like asking which is your favorite child, but which of your Subys has been your favorite?

Dude you are in Subaru Mecca, I'll bet there's a slew of guys near you.

Unique, indestructibly utilitarian, good gas mileage, 4x4, go anywhere, take a lot of knocks and keep on going, and lots of cool things can be done with them. Die hard, helpful, one of a kind enthusiast community. They're your paintbrush for the canvas of adventure.

Since the honeymoon fiasco a few years back I've kept my eyes peeled across country for a suitable gen2 wagon replacement. In a matter of 48 hours I found this gem on CL east of San Bernadino in the mountains, talked with the owner, booked a cheap flight and started the journey back to Missouri. She comes with the original bill of sale and shipping manifest from 81. Plus a stack full of service records. Only 50K miles put on it up to 2002 and only 79k currently. Motor runs great, interior is a six or seven out of ten, but the body is a solid 8. Not much rust and she's sealed up tighter and quieter than my 2003 Outback. Now to just undue some of the "fixes" that were applied by the last two owners. Plenty of things that need fixed or tended to; a beer tap shifter that snapped off on the way back, a cut up console, driver seat is totally broken down, could use a weber, a new thermostat, rewire rad fan to heat switch, fix heater blower, fix/recharge the AC, replace rear drums with discs, upgrade alternator, properly mount the brushbar, non-snow tires, and hatch area carpet needs replaced. All of that and I'm still crazy excited to have another proper Subaru.

Hey Greasemonk37 welcome to USMB. If you'll do a few searches through the forums I think you'll find the information you're after. This question comes up pretty frequently and quite a few members have contributed a great deal of information on the EA81/82 swap to the EJ22.

Welcome, welcome. Can't wait to see the new iteration of Subaru that you undertake. Do you have any direction in mind for your project? Eli