GeneralDisorder

The EJ timing belts proved to be so reliable that non-interferance wasn't a priority anymore. When was the last time you heard of one breaking? It's just not something that's a huge problem. The new belts are rated at 105k miles and would likely not be in any danger of breaking till over 150k. They are just that strong. Thus it's just not an issue in practice and there are good reasons to want an interference design from an engineering standpoint. Effeciency and power can both be improved. That said - 188k is still a baby by comparison. These engines typically last well over 300k. GD

They are all EA81 or EA71 (1.6). Only the STD model hatch would have the EA71 or possibly an '80 or '81 GL/DL. You should stick to '82 though '89 GL's and DL's (they will all be EA81 engines). You likely don't want a STD model as they are totally stripped down. And in any case they are fairly rare. You don't want a "three door coupe" which is what they called the EA82 hatchback. It's not the same animal and you don't want one of those. GD

They are great - the best of the EA81 body cars IMO. I will probably own one or two for as long as I can keep them on the road. Your best bet is to buy one from around here (good knews is that they are often very cheap - got mine for $250 needing a clutch cable. NO rust at all). Then just arrange to ship it to you. Should be less than $1k for shipping. Well worth it to have one without any rust at all and still cheap as cars go. GD

The rear suspension isn't that great but no - the car is ok if you just replace everything that totally sucks *most* people will spend more money doing this than they can buy a WRX for. That's just the nature of the RX and other EA82T cars. Can it be done? Sure. But generally speaking if you don't have access to a whole lot of parts and peices and knowledge it's going to take a pretty penny to do it. GD

Have the transmission flushed by a reputable shop first thing - cheap insurance with the 3AT's. The biggest potential for failure on that car is that auto tranny. Flushing it every 30k is a very good idea. Otherwise - about the only thing you have to worry about on the EA81's is the carbs and oil leaks. Wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the pan and valve cover gaskets (only buy them from the dealer), and do the water pump, radiator and heater core hoses. Age is the real factor here not the mileage. 27 years will take it's toll on the rubber stuff and the water pump seals. When (not if) you have carb issues - replace the carb with a Weber 32/36 DGEV. You can get the kits to retro-fit these from Redline (the US distributor of Weber products) for about $300. It will help the performance a *little* and will solve all the stock carb issues that these have. GD

If the ECU is detecting a problem then it's electrical in nature so no amount of cleaning will fix the IAC now. Should be fine till you get back here or just post on the wanted section for a good one. The IAC really only is needed when the engine is cold. GD

Yes - I do own a 22T. And I've owned, wrenched on, or at least driven nearly every Subaru ever made.....I have other qualifications too and I'm pretty handy with electrons. Good luck *building* a FWD transmission. It can be done, but I doubt you will like the price since it's not done in the Subaru community so there's not much (if any) support for such an endevour. I never said it can't be done - I said it's pointless with that much power on a light frame - it can't effectively transmit the power to the ground. Even the Honda guys will tell you that over 250 HP is nearly worthless with FWD. You can't move the power to the ground to benfit from it. It's great that you are enthusiastic and have this ambition, etc - but you would do well to learn from some of us that have been wrenching, modifying, and driving Subaru's since you were gnawing on a fudge-cicle and watching sponge bob. GD

Yeah - pretty much the pedal pivot point is all that's accesible. The cable is dry-lubed and if that is comprimised the best solution is just to replace it for $25 GD

No need - just go get an "inline fuse holder" from the auto parts store - attach one end to the battery and the other to the wire running to the contact in the relay. GD

The stock 22T ECU is garbage if you are going to be modding the engine like that. Just go with a stand alone setup. And if the engine is truely a 91, then you will need a '91 ECU. They changed some stuff in '92 and up 22T's. How are you managing all the electrical if you don't know "crap" about it? A 22T swap has a fair bit of electical - especially going from an OBD-II car to an OBD-I engine and ECU.... just curious. Oh - and you won't be keeping it FWD for long. Properly tuned and with the mods you sugest you could easily be putting down 300 HP - no FWD transmission can handle that nor can it's clutch. You will need to be looking at an AWD turbo transmission swap to get that much power down reliably. GD

They made a lot more than 2600 of these. Don't know where you got that figure.... The RX has the EA82T. The only cure for that weapon of mass destruction is to yank it and put in an EJ. Performance parts? . You're a funny man. Performance parts for that car come in the form of a complete drivetrain swap to EJ series stuff. Pretty much a dead platform. By the time you build it up you might as well have just bought a WRX in the first place. Put the 5k toward a WRX and forget the RX. GD

It's just black Moly grease. A tube should run about $4 or less. GD

It certainly doesn't strike me as the gigantic change these articles report it to be - VVT, a serp-belt, some strange water pump jigery-pokery, a timing chain..... and they stroked it..... big fat deal. This is nothing like the change from EA to EJ. . Reporters and marketing types. They would like you to beleive the whole world was "new and improved" on a yearly basis. I'm sure the same evil marketing tactics were used from EA81 to EA82. Even though we all know the EA82 is just an EA81 with some OHC's clabbered onto the top of the heads in some engineer's spare time. Looks like a whole bunch of extra crap to fail - all for no increase in HP, a slight increase in torque, and a whopping 1 MPG increase. Smoke and mirrors for the masses. And us poor mechanics have to deal with all that electro-mechanical VVT garbage when it fails. Joe public will not like the price of those parts...... GD

The last one I did was an EJ22 ('97 single port) and all EJ22's are SOHC. This new one is an EJ25D which is DOHC. It doesn't seem to make a bit of difference as to DOHC vs. SOHC. *something* is making this happen with #4 and not the other's though. I find it very strange that it's so consistent. Something about that cylinder runs hotter. It's not the heads because the same basic casting is used for both sides so if it were a coolant flow issue it should show up on #1 and #4..... but it doesn't. Obviously when I say "consistent" I mean *when* this problem crops up. There are thousands..... nay - tens of thousands - of these engines on the road that this never occurs on. It's still an unusual failure in the scheme of things but when it *does* happen it seems to be always the #4. Neither of the one's I've seen have had a single head gasket failure. Both have known history from the original owner and in the case of the EJ25D I have here now I can see they are original. The EJ22 also had it's original gaskets in place and they were not blown. GD

Ohm out the CTS and compare to book specs. No reason to throw parts at the problem - just test it first. GD

An interesting narative - however there is no "air pump" on an EA81 so I'm not sure what you are talking about.... if you are talking about the Air Injection System then replacing the reed valve assembly and the silencer would cost a considerably larger amount than $12 unless you got the parts used.... So what is it you are talking about? GD

As mentioned you risk massive damage to a turbo engine if you try some kind of stop leak additive. The passages inside the turbo are small, as are the piston oil squirters, etc. That stuff might treat those like a leak and just stop them from working. Possible severe damage could result. She needs to find a turbo-charged friendly mechanic that knows this stuff. GD

No special tools required. You have compressed and pinned the tensioner right? Leave the bolts loose that hold it to it's bracket. Line up everything but leave OFF the cogged idler and the bottom smooth idler. Install the belt and hold tension on it where the cogged idler would be. Once you get it on and it's all lined up install the cogged idler and then the bottom smooth idler. Push the tensioner over to the right with a flat-blade screwdriver and tighten the bolts. Then pull the pin. Rotated the engine two revs by hand and check that the marks align again on the pulley's. Whole process takes about 45 seconds. GD

Yeah I would really like to figure out what's up with that..... You never replaced any injectors, etc? How long did you track these repairs afterwards - I'm curious to know if you are aware of the mileage on them since the repair..... Would you replace the injectors? Anyone else? I don't want to replace the injectors if I don't have to - I guess it comes down to checking the clearance and seeing if the lash has closed up and is holding them open. If that's the case then I can probably be safe to assume it's not the injectors.... GD

Are you sure it wasn't not hitting the throttle stop because the fast-idle cam on the choke is engaged? (was it still cold when you checked this?)..... Because it doesn't make sense for it to be completely closed, have the idle mixture screw run all the way in till it seats and still have it run at 800 RPM. It should die when it's setup like that unless there is SERIOUS problems with the throttle shaft/butterfly adjustment, etc. GD

You can removal all the Purge and EGR hardware and it will not affect engine operation even if you don't add the resistor to take care of the code. Your problem is associated with your idle air controller (IAC) and you should replace that with one from a junk yard car - should take care of the idling issues. 200k is really not that high for an EA82..... sadly with regular oil changes the long block on these engines is typically good for 300k or more. Other stuff may cause you problems and you might need a head gasket replaced along the way (typical) but they are stubbornly difficult to outright kill. Thus why so many are still on the road. GD

You should always include a fuse when you run anything off the positive battery terminal. It's just a fire-hazard precaution in case of a short. GD

You have serious tuning problems if the idle mixture screw was all the way in and it was still running. That means the idle circuit was completely shut off and the throttle stop has been turned up to compensate. You need to back off the throttle stop, get it running on the idle circuit, and adjust the timing and idle speed till you get it to about 700 RPM on the idle circuit. Fix any vacuum leaks, insure the EGR is working, go through the ignition system, etc..... Then you will likely have to replace the cat - it's probably not even there anymore. Pretty common for them to break up and end up as chunks or just dust. GD

First you need to verify your temp gauge is even accurate. They are notoriously not. You know nothing yet and jumping right to replacing the radiator is a huge mistake. GD