GeneralDisorder

Upgrading the igntion coil will do nothing for your extra electrical accesories and the simple fact that you think it would leads me to the conclusion that *you* should not touch your electrical system. Just put down the wire-strippers and walk slowely away from the engine bay :-\. And in any case, if you don't like being stranded on the side of the road, you should not touch your ignition coil. Aftermarket coil's are notorious for being junk. The stock coil will last forever. Don't touch it. If you want to run more stuff, you need to upgrade the alternator (Nissan Maxima 90A) and it needs to be done right - with an upgraded wire size from the output lug of the alt to the main junction and an additional fuse panel installed to run the additional accesories. You should probably have someone experienced with such things do it for you. I have a couple Maxima alts already built for sale - $100 plus shipping. They bolt straight in with no modifications. GD

Ticking lifters by themselves will not cause ANY damage to the engine - ever. You just aren't fully opening the valves when they are actuated. If your oil pressure stinks and the pump is shot you will eventually blow the #3 rod bearing. And yes - higher RPM will kill it faster. Won't hurt the valves any though Do yourself a favor and remove/inspect the oil pump, reseal it, replace the cam tower o-rings and then do what you like with the lifters. If they still tick after that it's because they are worn, dirty, or the banjo-bolt relief spring is out of spec. GD

Glad it was the simple fix - that's always a plus. GD

Right on - glad you got it fixed. GD

Wait a sec - you have an EA81T with serpentine belts? I know they never made such a thing so if what you say is true then it's been modified and we'll need at least pictures to help you...... GD

If nothing else, you can remove the windsheild, weld a 1/2" strip to the exsiting pinch-weld on the body (using your mad welding skills and your pimp gas-shielded setup ) and then they will have plenty of overhang to float it on top of. GD

Talk to another shop. Flowmaster87GL (Mike) had one done that way on a Brat - the frame was too rusty to try replacing the seal (came from a beach-side town) - they floated it in and while it wasn't the prettiest job ever (they were sloppy with the urethane), it was solid and didn't leak. So it can and has been done - you just have to find someone willing I suspect. GD

Also might be a wheel balance issue or a bent rim. Have your tire shop do a free rotation and balance and see if it changes anything. GD

I think it may be coupe specific. Check with the dealer - I know they can still get the EA81 windsheild gaskets for the wagon's, etc. If that doesn't pan out I would talk to the most reputable glass shop in your area. There are options if the seal isn't availible anymore - they can "float" the glass in like newer cars are done and if they know what they are doing they should be able to make it look decent and replace the chrome strips over the tops of the hot urethane. GD

Dieing when cold on EA81's is because the fast-idle cam mechanism driven by the choke isn't working or is not adjusted properly. That's very common. If the accelerator pump weren't working there would be a huge dead spot off-idle even when warmed up. They don't usually fail, but are included in the rebuild kits. Sounds like the carb needs a once over - at least a good cleaning and inspection if not torn down and rebuilt. You best bet to solve all these problems and more is to install a Weber 32/36 DGV. GD

I never torque them - just tight with a 3/8" ratchet is fine. I use blue loctite on them as well. GD

Well done. Excelent information to add to the torque bind repair catalogue. GD

No. The bearing clearances are not appreciably different at your mileage. In fact they never really change much unless one is about to give out. The oil viscosity called for is based on the oil pump and gallery sizes more than anything. You will cause more problems than you will solve with heavy oil. While it may cause less oil burning - that effect is less about the rings not passing the heavier oil and more about the cylinder walls not getting as much lubrication as they did before - the cylinders are lubricated via "sling" from the rod bearings - heavier oil doesn't sling as far or as much. 147k is nothing - I've torn down Subaru engines with 250k that still have the factory cross-hatch in the cylinders and no appreciable wear to the bearing inserts. I would not go to synthetic at your mileage. Not unless the engine has been meticulously maintained. And even then I would flush it out first. GD

You could possibly get an "exhaust pipe expander" from like Harbor Frieght and expand the ends of the flexible section then slip it over and clamp it on the existing exhaust. GD

And he's probably right. That's a bad year for engine's, early EJ trannies were not real strong, and the interior, etc is cheap as hell on those Gen II's. I only buy them for resale myself - people are morons and pay more for the things just because the body looks cooler . If it were me - I would fix whatever it needs *right now* - as cheaply as possible (himself if he can) and get a 90 to 94 Legacy, or something in the '00 range and up with the phase II engines. There's about 6 years in there that you want to totally avoid unless it's a model with the EJ18/EJ22. And even those can only claim a decent engine by way of the ancestory of the EJ. They screwed up the EJ25's something aweful and even the '95+ EJ22's got some cheap plastic junk swapped on in place of the rugged components they had in 90-94 years (Plastic A/C tensioner nut.... WTF!?!?). GD

That's a great idea. The proper way to weld cast iron like that without it cracking is to pre-heat it in an oven or with an oxy torch prior to welding. The way you prepped it is excelent and it looks like you did a fine job. As a precaution I would anneal the whole area that you welded to prevent stress fractures from forming in the future. Just heat the whole thing to cherry red and as long as it's not cracked - after it cools (just let it air cool) it should have no remaining stress in it for cracks to form. Still - having it magnafluxed afterward is not a bad idea for a street rig. Otherwise - an excelent job and a great idea. GD

100% correct. The bearing in question is deep inside the transmission. You have to completely dissasemble it. And the cost of the parts to rebuild one is usually several times the cost of a good used one. Some go half a million miles without issue. Other's die quickly. Don't know exactly the cause - probably maintenance of the gear oil. Most people never change it and that's pretty rough on the bearings. GD

Yeah - you *could* uncrimp them and take them apart but they are plentiful and cheap in the yards around here. I probably have a few extra laying around. PM me if you want a good one that you don't have to mess with. GD

The electrical portion of the switch is not serviceable - I do agree that is your problem though. You will need to replace the switch. GD

There are no books that will cover the question you just asked nor will any of them cover the important points of owning an old turbo-charged Subaru. There is a book called "How to keep your Subaru alive" - it's out of print but some members here have PDF coppies and they can be found on ebay and Amazon at times. It's only somewhat applicable to your model though as it only covered the non-turbo models and only through your generation via the 2nd edition. I would highly reccomend getting a factory service manual set for your year. They come up from time to time on ebay and you can check the for-sale section here or post a wanted add. For aftermarket manual's I prefer the Haynes over the Chilton's. You want a "1600 and 1800" manual that cover's GL's through '89 and Loyale's through 94. Though again these are of only general use for the owner of a turbo equipped model as many things are different and not covered in these aftermarket manuals. Thus the Factory Service Set is much prefered. Even the FSM will not cover the question you just asked about the ignition system though. That is general mechanical knowledge and troubleshooting and is expected to already be known by the reader of such books. The Subaru experts here on this board know such things but you will not find them in any book. Experience and this board are your best bet for keeping that car on the road. I'm sorry to say that you have a steep learning curve for that model and most member's here end up learning by mistake - they don't heed the warnings about the EA82T and end up either blowing the engine and looking for another (or maybe half a dozen ) or they give up on them as they can be quite troublesome, complex, and they are not user friendly owing to the primitive fuel injection and their overall age. If I were going to attempt to daily drive an EA82T (mileage is of little concern here - as I mentioned, the age of the car dictates a NECCESITY to change certain parts and do some preventative maintenance) I would pull the engine out, replace all the seals and gaskets and my first stop would be the dealer - I would have them pull up the diagrams for the engine and order EVERY SINGLE cooling system hose in the car. As well as the oil return line from the turbo, and some other bits and peices - such as manifold gaskets, thermostat & gasket, etc. I would order up a Fel-Pro head gasket set and replace those as well - mill the heads and lap the valves while you are in there. I would expect to spend a pretty penny for all that but it's really the only sure way to know you are in good shape with that engine. It's a time bomb - the worst engine Subaru ever put to market unfortunately. GD

It's just like bleeding a brake caliper - loosen the bleeder screw and have someone pump the clutch pedal. If the slave cylinder is leaking it may need to be replaced - that's not an uncommon problem with those years of hydraulic clutch slave's. GD

Sounds like the clutch either has air in the slave cylinder or a bad cable..... don't know which style it has. If it moves fine when you start the car in gear then the problem is that the clutch isn't releaseing - not that the clutch is worn out. The good news is that all of that is external (unless the fork is bent/cracked or the pressure plate is seriously damaged). The metal-on-metal while in gear is disturbing - that could either be the aforementioned pressure plate damage, or - more likely - a bad rear input shaft bearing. That's not uncommon on the EJ 5 speed's it seems. I've replaced a couple for that now and I know of other's. See if you can fix the clutch by bleeding the air from the slave or by replacing the cable. GD

It's a common problem with EA82's. The first step is to inspect the entire crank circuit. Battery terminals, battery cables, starter solenoid contacts, etc. If all of those check out and the problem still returns..... The most likely scenario is that you will need to install a relay between the original starter solenoid wire and the solenoid. This will supply full battery current to the solenoid and give it enough kick to close the contacts properly. It's a pretty simple circuit - you need a relay, a fuse holder to protect the power lead from the battery, some wire (14 AWG will do), and some spade terminals. Just hook up the relay so that the contacts are closed by the original solenoid wire on the back of the starter and from the positive battery terminal you run through the fuse holder, through the relay contacts, and to the solenoid. Works every time. I've probably done a dozen of these by now. GD

This is my latest fix. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=846007&postcount=3 My '83 hatch which is a daily has just the primary bolt and lock nut and it's still great - about 2" of play while in gear but I have never got around to replaceing the rubber bushings, etc on it. It's been that way for a couple years now. I've done one other for a member here and it worked great till he ripped out the 4 speed for a 5. My lifted wagon with the above referenced fix - where I tapped not only the primary hole but also a second locking bolt at an angle to the primary - it is amazing - it feels like I would imagine they must have felt when still new off the lot GD

If the cap doesn't hold to the specified system pressure of 13 lbs it would open and dump pressureized coolant into the overflow bottle. The loss of system pressure and the loss of coolant causes overheating as the coolant boils - creating steam bubbles that escape into the overflow (the bubbles you are seeing). Steam doesn't transfer heat and at some point you lose flow through the system as there is not enough left for the water pump to push it through the block and back to the radiator inlet..... And yes 0.9 Bar, or 13 psi is the rating for the cap. GD