GeneralDisorder

Depends on the tranny in question. If it's half shot already then no amount of designer lube will help it. Best thing is to open it up and change the naughty bits out. If it's brand new..... maybe but why? Subaru manual transaxles tend to last a good long time anyway and frankly are simple to rebuild. Most never have the gear oil changed once and last 200k+ without incident even. If it were me - I would use a quality name brand gear lube (not Amsoil) and change it every 30k. You are going to get more benefit from changing the oil and running a few hundered miles with ATF to flush it between changes than you would ever get from dumping in Amsoil and leaving it for the life of the trans. There is no substitute for regular maintenance, and anyone representing a bottle of fluid that purports to be the last oil you will ever buy is selling you a bill of goods. I beleive in synthetics - for the right application. A Subaru passenger car transaxle isn't the right application. Unless you are towing or severely abusing the thing in some other way that will apply great amounts of heat or shearing forces to the lube you don't need them. The fact of the matter is that 95% of these transmissions will outlast the engine by a good stretch. GD

When a head gasket fails - where the coolant goes depends on where and how the failure has occured. This is true of all engines. Some have "typical" failure modes that always do the same thing - a "weak spot" if you will. Even with Subaru's there are typical failure modes for specific engines - EA81's and older pushrod engines tend to blow the gaskets into the oil passages and you get that mixing effect. EA82's seem to like to burn the coolant or leak it into the exhaust. EJ25 Ph. 1 pressurize the coolant and EJ25 Ph. 2 leak on the ground. There are many, many possiblitilies - I'm not in any way familar with that 4.3 Chev motor, but it's entirely possible that it could be leaking coolant into the exhaust port of the head though a crack to a coolant jacket. I would think that it would be a crack rather than a head gasket as otherwise in order to get from the head gasket to the exhaust it would have to first enter the combustion chamber and go through a burn cycle - that would likely flash it off to steam rather than expel liquid coolant through the exhaust valve. But that's just a guess. At any rate it doesn't sound like a good sign to me and I would be scheduling some serious down-time for that unit ASAP. Check some Blazer forums if you can find some good one's - I bet it's not an uncommon issue and someone will have posted about it already. Amazing what you can find with a search or two. GD

Probably not unless the tach is jumping without the RPM changing. Your hessitation and rough idle is a vacuum leak/tuning issue most likely. GD

Buy a turbo car first. A lot less work that way. Start by stripping the car to the chassis and seam welding/gusseting it. That should take you a while. Remove and discard the entire interior except parts of the dash. Weld the rear doors shut, pull the glass/regulators and install plexi. Install a full cage and either a single bucket seat for the driver or a pair for driver and co-driver. Replace every rubber drivetrain mount with hard mounts or urethane, and replace the suspension with aftermarket adjustable. Install a 2.0 turbo built for about 300 to 320 HP along with a dog-box transmission to handle the abuse. That should leave you pretty close. GD

The hole was drilled too far and is peircing the water jacket. You can likely epoxy that and save the head. Either that or it's got a major crack - though I've never seen one crack like that. I have seen pictures of similar problems with other Subaru engines though - it's not unheard of for a water jacket to get too close to a bolt hole and get missed durring inspection. Something may have shifted when it was cast and they just didn't catch it when they machined the head. GD

There are no length differences in any Subaru axles across the EA81 line. All axles are the same and all are interchangeable. The 2WD axles have smaller diameter joints but it does not affect their installation or operation. GD

It's probably just used to sense engine temp - maybe a high temp cut-out for the AC. I don't know enough about the first gen AC systems to tell you for sure what it is but I bet it's related. GD

Get a thermostat gasket from the dealer - they are MUCH superior to the cheap cardboard one's and you should also get a thermostat from the dealer as well - much higher quality. Whoever told you they don't make them is clearly a moron. I've got them from Napa before right off the shelf along with the thermostat - they are nothing unusual. Besides that he should have at least directed you to the gasket paper so you could make your own..... kids these days! The PCV filter is in the upper right hand corner of the airbox - it's a peice of foam about 1" x 2.5" x 1/4" thick. I have no idea what the cannister you are refering to is - maybe a picture would help. GD

I'm working on this '69 GMC Custom Camper - I'm buying it from a friend and fellow Subaruphile but we need to get it running first so it can make the trip to my place from it's home some 40 miles away. Anyway - it's a 350 SB with a Q-jet - apparently the engine is from a '77 GMC van, and the carb is from yet something else - the date code says it was made in '80 . That's really all the info we have as it was bought this way with some plug wires crossed and a lot of loose bolts from some idiot that didn't know which end of the ratchet was up. We have it running, but it's rich. Black smoke rich. My friend rebuilt the carb and he's got experience with older Q-jets and with Holley's so I have no reason to doubt his rebuild. He's clueless when it comes to the jetting sizes and he has no internet access so I'm starting with what I know - and that's the members of this board I have searched the internet and all I can seem to find is discussion of what jetting people are using on performance built 350's - nothing about what a stock 350 should have.... ballpark. The engine is used - runs good and apparently ran good when they pulled it from the van - we don't have any idea if the carb was on it at that time or not though and we can't go back to the last owner for info as it was bought several years ago and he's lost the contact info. Anyone have a clue as to what I should see (approximate) for a stock 350 SB main jets, metering rods, etc? If nobody knows, where should I ask? Anyone know of some friendly forums catering to general SB Chev stuff? I'm sure I'll have other questions about the truck anyway as it's going to need some other repairs once it gets here - not to mention a front disc brake conversion . GD

Yeah - they are REALLY tight in there. My 1/2" impact was straining and probably took 5 minutes to get it out. New one didn't go in a lot easier either. Not a job I would want to do without air tools or a press. If I had to use the manual tool with a breaker bar....... GD

The bearing service set from HF is pretty useful - it can be used on other brands/models, and it's cheap enough to own even for an occasional use. Plus the fact that not removing the knuckle means no screwing with the alignment which is a plus in my book. I know you can mark it, etc - but I would just rather not mess with it if I don't have to. I also feel that I have more control over the "manual" puller/pusher system than with a press. That is - there is almost no possibility of deforming the knuckle and I can feel how much pressure is being put on things a little easier. Although a manuallly operated press would probably be alright as well - I'm used to the big, powered hydraulic machines that put down 150 tons at the pull of a lever - probably a case of using the right tool for the job and that's not the right tool GD

Yeah - prior to '82 there were still top-mount starter engines being used. Though the '81 2WD w/EA81 might be a side-mount as well. '80 definitely is not. GD

I use the control arm pivot as well - works good for the EA's. EJ's are another story. I can see how it would be a pain in the rust belt to use the pivot bolt - that's probably a rusty mess on most of them. But so is the ball joint area. It's a toss up on cars like that - you go with whatever looks like it will come off with less of a fight. Even out here I've run across a control arm pivot bolt that was impossible to remove. I had to cut it with a die grinder and the control arm was pretty much a loss. Car probably spent some time on the coast or in the rust belt by the looks of it. If there's no rust - hands down the control arm/sway bar link is the best approach. If there's rust then you have to choose what's going to be easier, and if they all look equally bad then choose the one that application of the blue wrench will cause the least damage to - probably the pinch bolt on the ball joint since the ball joint itself can be replaced cheaply. GD

Looks like a thermo-switch to me. Does your car have dealer installed air conditioning? Could be related. For example (and this is just one of many brands/types) http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350114184737&crlp=1_263602_263622&ff4=263602_263622&viewitem=&guid=6702a1ea1250a0437a53abb3ffd0f6fc&rvr_id=&ua=%3F*I7&itemid=350114184737 GD

Discount Import Parts - unfortunately they don't sell online: http://www.discountimportparts.com/ GD

Fixing the tower blocks and correcting the camber can only help matters for sure, but if you want to use stock axles then you are going to have to retain (more or less) the original relationship between the transmission and the knuckle. So I would climb under it and start checking some dimentions to see what, if anything, has been changed as the body was raised up off the suspension and drivetrain. In essence it's a body lift - you just need to keep the relationship between the trans and knuckle reasonable as you lift the body up. GD

Well - they get boxed wrong sometimes, and then there's the problem of having both types used in different models durring the same years. 1985 to 1989 saw both bodies (EA81 and EA82) in production so parts listings are very often wrong for those years. '84 was the last year of EA81 full line production so if you ask for an '84 wagon axle they should only list the one you need - eliminating potential confusion. Unfortunately - as you found out - they are interchangable except for the inner wheel bearing seal ID and the length of the shaft. This happens to people all the time. GD

All EA series 2WD 5 speed transmissions are the same from 1982 on. You don't need an EA81 specific tranny as the EA82 version is the same unit. GD

Manual steering isn't hard to swap - but you have to find a rack. Not as easy as you might think. It was very *uncommon* to see manual steering in the EA82 models and was not even an option on anything newer. A later 80's DL would be the most likely to have manual steering but that's by no means a gaurantee - I've only seen a handful and I've been at this Subaru game for a long time now. GD

All after-market radiators have the tranny fluid cooling tube in the driver's side tank - you won't find one without it unless you go to the dealer and pay $300 for one. Where I buy mine, they run about $120 for a new EA81 radiator. Shop around. Get an Atsugi water pump - that's the OEM brand. Should run about $35 in the aftermarket. They are about a 15 minute job to replace. Thin coating of RTV in place of a gasket. Be careful removing the old pump bolts - they are small and long and can be easily broken if you force them. As for the oil - you need to clean your PCV lines and plastic fittings and replace your PCV filter in the airbox. GD

Yep - dealer should stock them. They are the same right up through the EJ stuff. GD

I don't use gaskets on the EA water pumps - just a thin coating of RTV. Put it back together with blue loctite on the bolts. Sounds like they just weren't put on tight enough. I've never heard of this before - you are the first to have one fall off that I know of. GD

It's cheaper to buy a rebuilt distributor than just the pickup. You should ONLY buy a Hitachi/ND branded coil. They are about $45 for the Hitachi's where I buy them. It needs to match the pickup coil resistance. GD

They gave you an EA82 axle. Order one for an '84 GL wagon. GD

The SPFI pumps seem fine to regulate down to Weber pressure. For one the pump is capable of 50 psi and is regulated to 21 psi on the stock SPFI system. For another my ex-boss is running one on his blow-through turbo Samuri with a Weber and a RRFPR similar to those used on the Masarati Biturbo's. It runs anywhere from 4 to 9 psi depending on the boost pressure. Been running like that for about the last two years without any noticeable issues. They are rugged little pumps to withstand being dead-headed at relatively low pressure like that - I wasn't sure it would handle it either but they are cheap and plentiful so we figured we would try. GD