85Sub4WD

I think that wheel bearing wear has something to do with it too.

he he - you have a brat dont you? - gonna have to see that - the Charlotte Pull-A-Part is GREAT too - not for selection per say, but for prices ~$50 per tranny, ~$11 per rear drive axle..... wish I could help you with the real estate around here - I can tell you that I would not particularly recomend the area immediately around the university (super low-rent district.... and some of the issues that aridse with that), but other than that, I dont have any tips - I'm new to Charlotte myself!!! Good Luck!!!

hmm - have you checked the inner bushing on your front transverse link (sometimes called wishbone, control arm.....) - what goes from the engine pan to the ball joint - those will die over time, and cause issues - the pics of the frame are not great, but not terribly bad either - I wouldnt write it off for the junkers yet - did you mention front CV problems? - from experience, Ive found a bad front CV will clunk on occasion if you go from braking to accelerating, or vice-versa

is everything with the belt protection system working properly? there should be a coil pickup on the front of the compressor - if it is not close to the tines that spin, the compressor will automatically be disengaged after a few seconds of running

not too hard to replace - just jack it up, and pull the front wheel off - and you can access it without problem I would not recommend going JY on it tho, as it is a steering component that tends to get a lot of wear (particularly the outer part, the inner doesnt get nearly as much wear) - probably would run less than $10 if you get it at a JY

For SPFI, you will have to use an O2 sensor - I think the Loyale/GL/DL Y-pipe will work - dunno about the high-flow cat you're talking about - I am guessing Flowmaster?? - if so, you weld it in place further down the exaust system, and gut your old cat CV's are a good question, I just use the junky ones from Napa/Autozone & all - they are junky - there is a place in florida that a lot of people seem to like - dunno the name tho - make SHURE you get 4WD axles - the 2WD ones are not nearly as strong, but will fit good luck!!

actually, when I overfilled, I had trouble going from first to second in all conditions - and going from 2nd to first (which is almost impossible in best conditions) - not to be confused with the condition where it is hard to engage due to old oil - mine is a 5-speed D/R, but I think they are similar enough you will want to use Mobil 1 75w90, or Redline NS (non-slip) because the synchros in the tranny are funny - if you use strait 80-weight or 90-weight, you may have problems engaging gears - for whatever reason, going from 1st to 2nd, or back seems tho be the hardest thing for these trannies - dunno why if you look on search, you will probably find a plethora of info on what is the best oil to use - first step, drain the excess - then go from there Good Luck!!!

yes, too high gear oil level can cause hard shifting - been there personally and yes, it can leak all over the place if the level is too high remove the excess, and you should be fine - BTW - what gear oil did you use?

IT MOUNTS ONLY ONE WAY - the bolts are spaced in such a way that is IMPOSSIBLE to install the flywheel off by a bit, if you are off, you dont have all the bolts in

yes, it would be noticeable in the shifter, but it would be noticeable under ALL conditions, and you would have a LOT of power loss too - the engine itself would be doing a lot of vibrating - and for info on how to check to be shure t-belts are lined up properly, check in the repair manual section (USRM)

true - but I was refering to the different terminology Subaru uses - "Subaru AWD" indicated a system that can porportion itself out, IE it is more complex than the regular open center differntial (like what you are looking at) - and it uses ATF for the gearcase (seperate diff oil) - the Full-Time 4WD is the system you would be looking at it is true about being careful when you use the diff lock - and I have seen some members complain about the diff lock mechanism not being as rugged as a 4WD mechanism - problem being, the locking mechanism is a sleeve, versus two full gears meshing - all said tho, it would only be an issue if it was abused, or was used for extensive off-roading (or possibly if you swap an Ej22 in), so you're probably fine either way

yep - all should be 23 splines, with the proper diameter - only exception is if the 5-speed came from a turbo vehicle - then its 25 splines

is your car turbo? - look at the rear diff, there will be a ratio on a tag on the back of it - if it is 3.7:1 (turbo), then the dual-range full-time 4WD will bolt right in (mind you it is NOT AWD - you have to manually lock the center diff) and you will notice no difference in drive ratios - you will have to swap the diff for it to work if yours is a 3.9, or if you want to go with a 4WD dual range tranny however, if it is 3.9:1, you will find that the 4wd d/r tranny will bolt in the 3.9 ratios are better for grunt work, and the 4WD tranny has a lower low range thant the Full-Time-4WD tranny - the 4WD tranny also has a higher final drive when in top gear, so you will cruise better one the highway with it versus the 4WD tranny of course, you will have to swap linkage, and consol pieces, but it isnt that hard to do

he he - but whats the gas mileage of the Legacy vs. Bucky - still, I would have one if I could......

if you have a pull-a-part nearby, you can get a used engine pretty cheap - the one in Charlotte, NC is around $140 for a 4-banger - regardless of make/model - and the EA82 is VERY light too - you may even find a rusted-out parts car if yours is a SPFI car, then any SPFI engine will work like stock - carb engines will work too, but they have a slightly different compression ratio, and all I've seen redline at 6k (87+ may redline at 6500) if yours is a carb, the SPFI block will be a minor upgrade be careful that you keep track of all the vacuum lines - they can cause issues if not connected properly

I fail to see most of the points you are trying to make - look at your crankshaft alone - ALL of you mass is moving in the same left-right-left-right fashion - that WILL create SERIOUS vibration problems - its simply the law of inertia, and there is nothing more to it - the smoothness of your engine is dermined more by the movement of the masses inside it than the actual combustion cycle itself - if you do some basic research on internal combustion engine design, or you start to work out force diagrams for the engine, you will see exactally what we are talking about one of the things I think you fail to realize, is that one of the beautiful things about flat fours, is that they are ALREADY balanced - regardless of scale of the engine, a flat-4 is one of the few inhereltly stable engine designs - in fact, that is why it is consitered to be so advantageous over I4's, which are not inherently balanced - strait 6 engines, and V-12 engines are also naturally balanced, but for different reasons

what happened to your oil pressure? - sounds like you had an oil pump fail on you - that would explain the ticking prior to death - sorry to hear about it

EVERYTHING - or to break it down Drivetrain - H-4 engine - easy to work on, and inherently balanced - light, powerful, torquy, fuel efficent - handles WOT with absolutely no problem, even for extended periods - it never complains One of the best drivetrains any auto manufacturer has come up with - rugged, reliable, simple, light, and low center of gravity Body - Headlights off with key - gotta love it - frameless windows - 4-wheel independent suspension - no spring compressors needed to get the struts off - parts are cheap too (same for drivetrain) - balance and handling of body - can hold 80mph easily (EA82 5-speed) and be as smooth as a billiard table, its very predictable - something VERY important in a car it can do everything - it can go places many SUV's cant (4WD), and it has fuel mileage comporable to an economy car of the same vintage - all while providing a reasonable amount of comfort - why would I want something else?

It probably is possible, but the trick would be to figure out the linkage, and you HAVE to have the clutch depressed to go from hi-lo or back - I dont see an advantage to it tho, as the vacuum actuators for the pushbutton 4WD are sometimes hairy at best what WOULD have the potiential to be advantageous, would be to seperate the linkages entirely (the gear reduction for low range is mechanically independent of the 4WD) - so that you could do 2hi, 2lo, 4hi, 4lo - not shure what it would be good for, but it would be an awesome thing to play with

check the vacuum advance mechanism on the disty - they tend to get stuck, and if it is stuck, it will cause problems when the engine is under load

I agree, but I found out from a SOA person that the HG failure rate was ~10% for those engines - and given the cost & all of a HG - people will make a LOT of noise about them a standard SOHC EJ22 will work fine - you're going from ~90hp to ~140hp - that's a pretty big jump - and given how light the EA82 body is, you should be able to do some pretty insane stuff with the EJ22 BTW - are EJ series heads interhangeable??? and if so, which can be swapped??

sorry, misread your post edited um - best suggestion would be to look at a yardsale/flea market - i think advance wants $30+ for them

to prevent future amp failures, make sure the speaker impedence (in ohms) is within the amp's spec - if you use too low an impedence speaker, say 4-ohm on a set designed for 8-ohm or 16-ohm speakers, you will blow the amp on the otherhand, it is OK to use 8 or 16 ohm speakers on an amp designed for 4-ohm, but 4-ohm speakers will give you better performance

if it's an '86 nonturbo carb, you need mid-test (89 octane) gasoline - the spec is "90 or higher" but 89 does fine ALL 85 MY are supposed to use 90, and I am sure that's the case for 86 carb, probably turbo too - they don't have as a good a timing control system as the newer cars (SPFI/87+ turbo) the best thing you can do is give it a tuneup, and live with it - these cars were designed for economy, and extreme conditions not a great 0-60 (newer soobs focus on that) - SPFI coversion is a good idea, it will net you more hp, and it is a more reliable system - not as easy to do as a weber carb, but it does give you better performance - standard NGK plugs will give you the best performance - at ~$2 each, I'd say it would be a good idea to go ahead and do them all anything else would require pulling the heads (MPFI conversion) or swapping engines (EJ22 - and it requires a lot of work, but has ~140hp)

my parents bought my 1985 new before I was born - they were living in florida, and my mom did not have a car with A/C while she was pregnant with me - they had a friend who had a subaru and that's what got them interested in it - she went to the 5-speed D/R 4WD from a 1972 Datsun 510 station wagon with a four-on-the-floor the day they bought it, the dealership had a promotion where anyone who bought a new car that day got two free roundtrip tickets to London, so in a way, that car has taken them across the big pond I still have all the paperwork, dealer sticker & all at home in a file