Ross

Heat sheilding is all there, but there is realy no way to tie it out of the heat, as there is so little room. I have run the cable in some shiney 40mm aluminium flexible ducting, so i will see how that goes. At the moment, i only have the exhaust mount that attaches to the rear of the gearbox.

is there really no one out there with a right hand drive ea81t with manual transmission?

I have been busy all weekend with the manual conversion, and all has gone well apart from one thing: The clutch cable is resting against the turbo! I presume most of you that have done this conversion were working with left hand drive vehicles, and would not have run into this. Has anyone done the conversion on a RHD vehicle? The only thing i can think of to do is tie the cable as far away from the turbo as possible, and wrap some lagging around it. Any other solutions? Also, have those of you that have done the conversion made brackets for both of the factory exhaust mounts to the gearbox, or will just one do?

Not that i've ever taken a d/r apart, but this sounds a little odd to me..... I would think that there would be a 2 speed g/box attached to the output of the main g/box.

I read in an old thread that nissan 300zx injectors can be used on the ea81/82s. Is anyone using them, or seen them used? Are there any other options for injector upgrades?

I'm not sure i understand what you are saying completely, but: The lower ball joint is removed from the knuckle, not the arm: just undo the clamp bolt and pry it out. To remove the knuckle from the strut, you can swing teh whole knuckle/ strut assy. foraward or back slightly, so as to clear the control arm. Some prying will be necissary, and it can be a prick the first time you do it. If having probs, pry the knuckle aapart around the strut with a flathead screwdriver.

Resonably straight forward, have done this on an ea82t car before. hardest part is changing the pedal box, but it just requires some patience. Do a search - many people have done this before.

if it is the axle, the locking up will be accompanied by a very disturbing noise.......

Fun either way! I have refrained from lifting mine, as i like the way it corners in the gravel too much, and i find it has enough ground clearance to get through most tracks i come across.

I have just been offered an intercooler off a legacy (water to air). have any of you intercooled an ea81t, and if so, how much effect did it have on performance? I would normally just try it and see, but installing a water to air intercooler will probably mean sacrificing the air conditioning, and repositioning the spare wheel, so i don;t want to go ahead if it will make little difference with stock boost. comments?

Just wondering really, as most people around here are more likely to laugh at my cars than actually be interested......... Do i have to move to a different country to find subie (pre 1990's) entusiasts?

Don't bother repacking the old ones. Bearings are so cheap (especially the front deep groove balls) its simply not worth it. These subies can go through front wheel bearings faster than most other cars. While the bearings are out, check for wear on the spacer between the two bearings. This wears when a bearing gets worn out and heats up more than usual. THe resulting expansion of the bearing causes it to lock itself to the knuckle (The beairng should usualy be able to 'creep' around the knuckle, to give uniform wear over the outer race), while at the same time loosening around the axle. Because of this, and the increassed rolling resistance of the worn bearing, one bearing can spin on the axle, while the other does not. this results in wear on the spacer. This is by no means a common occurence, but it is worth checking anyway, as significant wear on the spacer will cause the bearings to wear out very prematurely. You can tell if the spacer is worn by looking at the faces, there should not be 'rings' worn into it.

Thanks all, I think i will go with the 81 4spd for the moment, seeing as i already have one. Might just have to fix a few leaks in it first!

Jack up all wheels & check wheel bearings for excessive play or roughness. Just because the noise goes away when turning right doesn't mean the left beairng is at fault. The right bearing will be under less total load, but the load will change direction, which could make the noise quieter or louder.

Just been reading an old thread on this, as i'm about to do so on the 83 wagon. It mentions that you need an '82-'84 4spd gearbox, what is the difference between the '81 & '82 4 speeds? Is it possible to use the '81 g'box?

Anyone ever tried this? I'm just thinking about buying an ea82t rear swaybar for the 83 turbowagon, i'm thinking it might improve the handling on the tarmac somewhat.

anyone else got any info on ea82 front disks on an ea81?

This is only applicable if you do not torque the bolts properly. If torqued properly, grade 8 bolts do not take ANY of the shear load. The shear load is taken by the friction in the joint itself, caused by the axial tension in the bolt. In a properly designed joint, the bolt stress will not change at all with any changing joint loading. THis is why joints using grade 8 or higher bolts are refered to as "friction joints". The proper torque for these bolts is generally enough to stress the bolt to around 0.8 of it's yeild stress.

yes, reduction gearbox.

Yeah, the old subies are great for hill climbing! My wagon cruised up a muddy hill no probs at all (with road tyres) that my friend had been trying to get up for 10 mins in his 4x4 with expensive 33" mud terrain tyres! He never did get up the hill! Needless to say, he was pretty gutted!

The bracket in the pedal box seems to make this problem worse by not holding the bracket tightly enough. This is the case in my subaru, im not sure if the brackets are always crap or if mine had been damaged previosly. I ended up welding up a new bracket, that holds the cable much tighter, so it cannot move. This seems to have drastically increased the life of hte cable.

I'm not sure about any bellhousing variations. I also have an '81 gl wagon (poo brown by the way), and it has always had very little travel in the clutch. This was with both the clutch that was in it when i bought it, as well as with the replacement clutch i put in. There was so little travel, other people used to tell me the clutch was nacked when they drove it. I just got used to it, and it hasn't caused any probs..... have you still got the old gearbox?

Yes, i am sure. Did the ea81t's come with vent. fronts in the US?? our ones in new zealand didn't.

FYI: subaru conrods (the first thing to break due to over-reving) are good for 10,000rpm. Some people using the engines in aeroplanes have verified this. all you need is new valve springs & re-ground cam and your off!

Ok, i know that the rear disks from later turbos bolt on, but what about the fronts?? some ventilated disks sure would be nice! also, how about installing a rear sway bar from a later turbo?