GeneralDisorder

My preference for such occasions that I need a goo to make things stick in place is to use engine assembly lube. There are various types but they all have the feature of being fully miscible in the engine oil. I also use Dow Corning valve sealant. The stuff is amazing for sealing o-rings and rubber gaskets such as troublesome oil filter gaskets (non Subaru of course). It also is miscible in oil - thicker and stickeir but likely harder to find than the assembly lube. RTV is a poor choice - when hard it can clog small oil passages and reak havoc with lifters, etc. Personally I keep it a LONG way from oil systems in general. I really don't like RTV for many jobs. EA series oil pan and EA pushrod valve cover gaskets - that's about it. GD

The read plugs should be near the green plugs - they are white. GD

Bad idea. You won't get the oil hot enough to lubricate properly. And it won't burn off moisture it collects from condensation. Cooler is NOT better on a daily driver. For the strip or the race track it's fine but all you are doing is shortening the life of your lubricants and your engine. GD

Yes - you need to pull the system into a vacuum before charging. Should pull down to around 1000 micron at least. Then it's best to charge it with nitrogen and check for leaks. There are now substitites for R12 that are better than R134 and require no changes to the system. Do a google search for R12A. They are cheap, legal, better performing, and have a larger molecule size so they don't leak as easily. GD

You don't need new heads. They don't crack severely enough to replace them except on the turbo versions. They may need to be resurfaced (about $35 - $40 each). Let me lay it out for you: 1. The engine has close to 200k. At the least we can assume it's been overheated and generally neglected maintenance wise. The lady obviously didn't have the cooling system addressed in a timely manner so we can assume that other mechanical maintenance has probably not been done either. Anyway you can't be sure it has been. With that kind of mileage the bottom end may have very little life left in it. With PROPER maintenence the EA82's sometimes make it to 300k but it's the exception. Most that I see in the yards are shy of it by a fair amount. 2. It's more than just the head gaskets. The EA82's have troublesome cooling systems, poor oil seals, and a tendacy to make gnarly noises from their valve trains. With that kind of mileage it's just not worth the gamble to have a bunch of work done to it only to find that you have to repair something else soon after. Chances are VERY good that you will. 3. These engines are 1980's technology. The Loyale line was a continuation of the GL/DL line made from '85 through '89. It was a stripped down cheaper model for the inexpensive 4WD car segment - the Legacy line was introduced in 1990 as well and was the flagship model line with all the bells and whistles. They are also twice as powerfull, twice as reliable, and about the same price on the used market - hell someone just gave me one for free a few months ago. 4. The EA82, unless you are familair with working on them, or have a specific shop in mind that has a lot of experience with them, are frustrating and can be difficult to work on. The timing belt arrangement particularly is very unusual and throws a lot of uninitiated people for a loop the first time through. 5. Really, unless you are going to do the work yourself, you are MUCH better off finding a nice, running and driving legacy. The shortcuts that most shops take WILL come back to bite you on the EA82. I wouldn't trust anyone outside of a dedicated few on this board to properly maintain one. They are by far the most troublesome model Subaru has ever made. It is in your best intrest to back out of this deal and find a Legacy. If nothing else trust that I have nothing to gain by telling you to buy something else other than I don't want to see you have a bad first experience with a Subaru. I love them all, but a broken EA82 is not the answer for someone that can't do their own repair work and that has never owned a Subaru before. GD

An understatement to be sure! I build compressors and compressed air packages and the rule is that you get about 4 CFM per 1 HP of electric motor @ 100 psi. Most "garage" air compressors are woefully inadequate for anything but infating tires IMO but that's beside the point..... To flow 350 CFM at 12 psi from lets say a Roots style blower you would need an electric motor putting out around 40 HP at 1800 RPM. 40 HP is getting really big to be running even on 230v three phase, and single phase? Forget it - the largest commonly availible single phase 230v motor's are 7.5 and 10 HP. Anything bigger and you are in the realm of three phase power. For reference, most 230v "garage" compressors (home depot, sears, etc) put out less than 10 CFM @ 100 psi. Even my 5 HP Quincy QR-325 only puts out about 22 CFM and it's a full industrial machine costing around $4,000 retail. That's about the most you are ever going to see in someone's garage. At work we have a sandblast cabinet that USES 45 CFM for it's nozzle! I couldn't come close to running that in my garage even with a 10 HP machine. I would need two 10 HP machines and about a 200 gallon receiver. That's a lot of juice to be sucking from a residential drop. Blowers are cool, but best left to crank driven or exhaust driven (turbines). Besides - installing a REAL exhaust driven turbo isn't that difficult. GD

The EA81 body (Brat's included) are narrower than EA82's and up by several inches. The cross-member's are similarly narrower. It has been done in conjunction with a lift for off-roading but making it work on an unlifted rig would be difficult due to the inability to move the strut tops without reworking the entire front end of the car. Thus you would have to shorten the control arms or (better) move the mounts inward. It would seem much better to install an EJ power steering rack into an EA81 cross-member (from an EA81 with power steering of course). The sway bar is no problem as there are plenty of random sway bars around that can be made to fit - Rguyver used one for a 60's cuda. The Brat benefits most from a rear sway bar which it doesn't have stock but one from an EA82 turbo or XT6 can easily be modified to work by welding on the brackets from a set of EA82 turbo trailing arms or just making new one's. Same goes for the dash. And EA82 dashes (RX's included) are nothing to write home about. If I were going to do it I would put in something truely newer. EA82's are pretty dated. GD

That's really a mistake - you will be into it more than the car is worth. You could buy a clean runner for just as much or less and have to put almost nothing into it. You should be aware that the EA82 engine in that Loyale does not like being overheated and it's very probable that it was - thus the head gasket problem. Even with the engine fixed it may still need a radiator and who knows - if the guy works at autozone and can't fix the thing himself he may have tried a bottle of that head gasket repair stuff.... you don't want to do a heater core on that thing - trust me. Especially if you can't do it yourself. The cost to do a heater core replacement is as much as the entire engine reseal and head gasket job because of the 6+ hours of labor to pull the whole dash out. Go find a nice 90 to 94 legacy. The Loyale line isn't what you want if you have around $1000 to spend. The difference is enormous. GD

No problem. See - it's all about the warm and fuzzy feeling. You feel W&F, and so do the bunney huggers and the guy that tests your car. It's all about perception and when you are dealing with these type of people you just have to cater to what they want - they want the *appearance* of cleanliness and functionality. I feel for you man - if I lived in CA, I could easily see myself yarding out my "modified" engine every time I had to run through the test station and installing the stock plant. GD

Plug in the green connectors and read the flashing codes from the LED on the front panel of the ECU. You have to remove the panel from under the dash on the drivers side to see it. It will flash in the standard long/short code sequence indicating first and last number's of the two digit code. Then you just reference them to a code table such as the one in the PDF copy of the fuel section out of the FSM at the bottom of my SPFI conversion write up: http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/EA81_SPFI.html GD

Actually they made the same power as an EA71 and SOA built a destroked (1.0 liter using a JDM crank) version of that little guy with 120 HP. Still holds the bonneville reccord in the 1.0 liter class..... three 40mm mikuni's and a really hot cam. GD

So rewire the bulb to come on with the oil pressure idiot lamp. They will both come on with the bulb check and assuming you have oil pressure they will both go out when the engine starts I agree with you - if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Make a mental note of it and make the wiring connections easily accessible so you can change it back from under the dash but don't needlessly spend time and money fixing a problem that's essentially a technicality - especially if it's not bothering you. GD

I mean that the problem was solved because I installed a new belt and it never came back. When I got the car it had 114k on it. Belt snapped at 118k. I had tried everything I could think of - even checked the timing at idle. Flushed the tranny, etc. It was the belt on it's way out that was causing it and I had no way to know that till it snapped being I didn't know the vehicle history. GD

It's 4WD not AWD - you should not engage it on hard surfaces. There is no place to get the parts you need other that the dealer or the junk yard. As far as the head gasket you should do that along with the timing belt, water pump, and all the hoses, seals and gaskets on the front of the engine. Look to spend about $250 in parts if you do it yourself or around $750 to $1000 for a shop. GD

They won't fit. But you could install turbo pistons, lowering the comp. ratio to 7.7.... that would likely get it down to 60 hp. GD

Perhaps you haven't used "Yeild" yet. I am contemplating a group buy at some point - it's availible through my shop to me at our cost but it's $160 a case (12 cans). Amazing stuff though - can't buy it on the consumer market because of the MSDS ratings. GD

We can't help you till you pull the ECU codes. The system has self-diagnostic abilities. Use them. Hessitation on take off with the 3AT automatic could be almost anything - last one I had that did this was a stretched timing belt. The problem was solved when it snapped. GD

It only goes on one way - match the new seal up to the groove in the oil pump.... GD

If you bought one for a '79 EA71 then it's not going to have an internal regulator. 1982 was the first year for internally regulated alternators. GD

Loyale's did not come with MPFI except for the 1990 turbo model. GD

I replaced every single coolant line on the thing right after I got it installed. The coolant use is likely a slight head gasket leak. I have never overheated it of course - I know better. And even in this 90 degree weather it's rock solid on it's temp. You know me - I won't take the chance. I have only lost one engine and that was many years ago now. Due to bad oil pressure from a worn out pump of all things! Oh I know - you have more experience than anyone has a right to have with the blighted things. You have more patience for them than anyone I know. Knowing the beutifully designed engines that came before them and after them ruins the experience for me I'm afraid. With 183k, it's very probable that it needs a whole new pump. The EA series Georotor pumps are prone to wear if maintenenace isn't kept up on religiously. Also, looking at his mickey-mouse o-ring it doesn't look to be hard, nor is it sucked in. It's flat but they do that after only a few thousand miles - the heat and pressure makes them stay that way after being removed. I don't see any clear evidence that this is his problem. He claims that the cam-case o-rings *must* surely have been replaced when the head gaskets were done. I would agree if the dealer did them - but I wouldn't trust any other shop to do them, nor would I trust that if they did they didn't just grab a properly sized o-ring from their shop supply. It wouldn't be the first time. The fact that there is a clear oil pressure problem with his engine seems to indicate that something was not done properly at the head gasket replacement. I don't beleive for a second that the oil pump mickey is original to the engine in the condition it's in - not at 183k on a turbo. The oil temps are too high - it would be hard as a rock by now. GD

Right on - always good to hear that another person has been succesful. When I wrote it there was almost no one that would try it out - been about 4 years now and there's a lot more people converting. I'm glad it's been helpful to so many. GD

I'm 6' 2", and headroom is at a premium for me in the EA81's. If you could give me an idea if the headroom increased or decreased at the lowest setting of the height adjusters that would be super. There are a lot of us with this problem and it's always good to know what works and what doesn't. I snagged a set of the Isuzu Impulse seats years ago as they are super thin and yeild around 2" of extra headroom. It's quite noticeable. GD

There isn't any difference, for the purposes of this discussion, between the turbo and non turbo. Both have the same oiling system and lifters. I know you have more experience (and some strange love affair ) with the EA82T, but I've owned my share of EA82's, done more reseals than I can count on one hand, and fixed my share of TOD too. The variety of opinions is what people come here for. It's just been my experience that oil pump seals are rarely a lasting fix - often the problem returns in only a few thousand miles. It's so invasive to do the oil pump seals on an EA82 that I feel it is warranted to purchase remanufactured lifters, a new pump, and do the cam case o-rings as well. It's just good insurance against having to tear into the thing again. I do understand the money aspect of it, but if money is a problem then just keep adding oil and drive it. TOD is not terminal and the same parts will still need replacing in another 50k miles. Well - you have the weight advantage so if you can get up around 175 HP you could probably take me. I have no mods on the thing outside of the 3" exhaust. It used a little less than a qaurt of coolant over the last 3k - so I'm looking at pulling it and doing a reseal and cylinder inspection before I install the TD05. I'm not taking any chances - the engine is supposedly low mileage (110k) and too diifficult to find a replacement for. GD