Subasaurus

one hell of an old thread but yeah, there's those snap on tabs that always break to disengage from the metal door itself, and the doorcard lifts up holding it at a 10 degree angle away from the door.

tuning a carb is not rocket science, set your timing and idle first, every flywheel is different on these EA71's, they were all welded by hand, mine is at 8degrees with idle being 850rpm due to having electric fans and needing a bit more rpm for the battery to catch up to the power draw, also make sure the engine is warmed up before tuning. more timing=more power but more HEAT, be conservative about your timing and how much power you want to push out of your lawnmower of an engine. then make sure there's no vacuum leaks! and hook up a vacuum gauge, you can get these for $12 at harbor freight, your goal is 18 inches of mercury by playing with the mixer screw, you want it as far opened as possible before the gauge begins to dance and ultimately heading back down the gauge (less suction) which means less stable which means engine may randomly shut off on you, (start at turn and a half out) once you're right at when the needle wants to dance and start loosing suction on the manifold, back off away from that area 1/4turn-1/2turn, this will help when weather changes, although i'm not sure how much the weather changes in Hawaii. if your car can achieve anything more than 18 inches, that is spectacular and uncommon, you can get away with 15inches of pressure, but next time the weather changes, expect issues. -forgot to mention, vacuum gauge hooks up where the distributor advance would hook up to, you go based on non advanced timing, also don't throttle the engine without the advancer hooked up, you're asking for fire to shoot out of the carb. a cool way to know if the vacuum advance is working and the bladder inside isn't shot is to suck on the vacuum advance with your mouth, it should increase idle a bit when you do this. another thing to note, timing, idle, and mixerscrew all mess with each other, it's a 3 plot graph, you mess with 1, you gotta mess with the other 2, your goal is to get all 3 lines to meet up as close as possible, make sure to mess with your idle again once you've tuned everything, and then review your timing again, i usually repeat 3 times and call it good enough till a cold front hits.

i did, engine roars now, it's so weird how different the sound it makes now that it's not being restricted by the Hitachi, MPG is 21-23 if that matters to you at all. >i should note, i got a ripoff branded one, here's the link on ebay for it, i couldn't spend $400 for the Webber branded one at the time since i wasn't working. there's a version with an auto choke on this ripoff branded one too if you decide to go the cheap route. https://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBARU-76-89-EA-71-81-32-36-DGV-CARBURETOR-CONVERSION-MANUAL-CHOKE-K730-M-ECON/361450089325?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 it was $200 back in 2017, i see it's gone up in price lol.

it's the choke as previously mentioned, your choke isn't opening up all the way, and when the engine is "cold", it needs your foot constantly on it to open the choke alittle bit till it warms up (choke finally opens enough) and when it's completely warmed up you mentioned it's sluggish at low speeds, either it's too far opened (maybe the auto choke is worn or not reading engine temp correctly) when warmed up or not opened enough when fully warmed up. i've never had luck with auto chokes, i've tried 3 times on 3 different cars, so everytime i see one i immediately pull it and replace with a manual mechanical cable choke. chokes are super sensitive when cold and after it just ran across the city and then sits for 30min (partial warm up), those are the hardest for a vehicle to start, even modern cars with worn sensors. also if it still has the original hitachi carb on there, i would say it sounds like it's working better than intended.

i would agree on the newer models, but you literally need a $30 tool set from walmart to take this whole vehicle apart. get a Factory Service manual.

first impressions, it looks pretty solid, not much cracking on the top of the shock tower rubbers. no rust at all where the spare tire goes, whats up with that?!?! looks like the vehicle may have fuel delivery issues, the pump isn't where it's suppose to be, could be dangling underneath? and it has the not so awesome Hitachi Carb that all these originally came with, i remember the pain to work on that original carb even after rebuilding it. that's all the input i have about it based on this one picture, maybe someone else can see something i don't.

ah, thanks for that info! haven't seen enough examples to know this.

look for rust where the front doors hinge from! don't want structural damage now. it's normal for some rust to be under the spare tire area, same goes for battery location, and rear mudflap location. is the windshield cracked? because you're not finding another one! and if you do, they go for $300+ just for the glass, plus shipping, plus installation. these engines are very bullet proof, just make sure the crank turns over to make sure it's not seized up and you should be fine. post pictures! i would love to see another survivor. the plastic in the cargo area is usually gone or falling apart, same goes for the dash, there's probably less than 10 that don't have cracks across the country lol. if it's a manual, look at the pedal box for any cracks or separation. not sure what else to really say without pictures, alot of these first gens leak water in, either through pin holes in the cowl that let water fall through into the passenger side floor, or in the top corners of the windshield seam.

if there's no spark, it may be the ignition control module (small cube computer attached to the ignition coil), seems to be sort of common to not have spark because the computer decides to liquify itself internally. the rust you want to look out for is where the front door hinges are, where the hood hinges from, and underneath where the driver seat sits all it's weight at, if those have holes through, that's structural, and if you seem to not be able to find another one to make the best of two, perhaps start chopping it and make it into some sort of dune buggy? it's okay to have alittle rust and some holes where the spare tire is since 90% of all first gens suffer from this, same underneath where the batterymounts, and same where mudflaps attach to underneath. if the vehicle leaks water when it rains, you have pin holes in the cowl. post pictures when you get a chance, ill be able to tell you more about it, and im sure others here will too.

as long as the vehicle wasn't last registered in the late 80's when everything was only on paperwork and nothing to do with computers. you may have a chance to look at previous records of mileage during state inspections

that's a no brainer.

very impressive that the cargo area on that wagon still has all it's plastic intact, not a crack. same goes for the dash, that vehicle has never been out in the sun for longer than 24hours.

so it's an EA71 on an EA82 body, would this 3rd gen have a choke for the carb? or is this EA71 heavily modified to accept injection of some sort?

pretty much every EA-82 has those cracks between the valves, normal, in a sense, nothing to worry about unless it causes another issue, i've had 3 3rd gen subaru's, they've all had them.

it's $40 where i live for them to clean an axle out, change the bearings and cage, regrease, and reboot. there's not many places remaining though, theres only 1 that i know of here in my city that dedicates to only CV Axle Rebuilds. stick to OEM, pull yours out and get that one rebuilt.

just use the cigarette lighter as a continuation for the starter switch, if they can figure that out, then they were going to take the car anyways, old 70's trick my dad taught me. vehicle being a Manual is probably your best anti theft system in the U.S. though.

i know in 1978 they did some strange stuff, on the wagons they sometimes placed quad headlights on DL vehicles, it's possible they did the same for sedans too, as to why they did this im not too sure but right after 1978 they followed their DL=2 headlights, GL=4 headlights. could also be that someone 30 years ago swapped them out for the quads when parts were more readily available. also the vehicle looks saveable to me, how bad is the rust? what is it that isn't saveable anymore?

you can see the old existing holes from where the original 3rd gen radiator mounts, but refitting it to mount on a first gen is no biggie, new holes up ontop and a simple bracket on the bottom since this radiator isn't as tall as the first gen to keep it from rattling around down there, and there you have it. i added a reservoir because why not, where i mounted mine is the perfect place for the water table and the reservoir always being at the full mark, i literally ripped off the mount from the body of a 3rd gen. you gotta relocate the horn inorder to mount the reservoir where i placed mine at, i split my horns, one on each shock tower. and yes, that's a first gen fan and a 3rd gen fan attached to the same 3rd gen radiator, because im cheap lol. this radiator has been working fine for me for the last 2 years, one thing i will say to take note is i tried installing a radiator from a 3rd gen that was full metal(older 3rd gens), and the inlet/outlet seemed to have been smaller diameter wise than the ones that are metal/plastic radiators(newer 3rd gens), hoses fit better now, don't know if it was just that specific radiator or not, both types of radiators worked just fine, but i didn't trust the full metal type for long term due to how much i had to tighten the hose clamp onto it, so i installed the newer metal/plastic type that had the bigger inlets. im not a fan of plastic but i had no choice there.

sorry it's been raining, ill get some pictures once it stops.

ill post some up tomorrow morning.

i was unable to find one years ago, mine was leaking, rusting, flaking, it was in really bad shape, so i installed one from a 3rd gen 1984-1994 GL/DL/Loyale. if you would like to see pictures of how i did it, let me know.

crazy how the only way to keep a Subaru older than 1989ish alive and on the roads today is to have 1 or 2 parts cars in your own back yard to keep that one alive. i hate the beginnings of dismantling a what will become a parts car, it hurts so much at first, super careful with things promising to return the part back to the car one day when i find another... after about a month im using a hammer and prying tools to get to my part, funny.

so i went and found one Brat, junkyard is just wayyy too big to be wandering around when the place was only open for 3 hours on saturday, but i found everything i needed from that one brat! the list of things i found include: 2 tail lights, 2 front corner lights, both types of grilles (2 headlights and 4 headlights type, there was an extra grille sitting inside in perfect shape for some reason) all 4 mudflaps in great shape, extra front disks and brake hardware, shift knob and 4WD shift knob, driver glass ofcourse! grabbed an extra antenna, all 4 marker lights, a whole tailgate, bed chrome trim, interior seat belts, dash clock, all dash vents, 2 interior door panels, 2 out of 4 metal center wheel caps, both mirrors, and i can't remember the rest, an extra wheel i grabbed, but didn't need it since the Peugeot i picked up while i was in Oklahoma (Not at the junkyard, just a private individual while i was up there) already had 4 Subaru wheels on it.. i still need to go through everything else in the bucket, i was pulling parts off like a madman while i was there, got a bunch of old Subaru Emblems too from other nearby old Subaru's from the 70's and 80's, i can't remember everything off the top of my head. no bed seatbelts though! sad about that, there was one in the back but someone cut the belt part off for some reason, plus it was jammed up so i abandoned it. i also got a few XT-6 parts since there were a few things there that were just too cool to not get as souvenirs. Some scary looking Spider the size of my hand that i almost didn't see, no idea what it was though. i also brought back home from oklahoma a $100 Peugeot 504, unrelated to Subaru's except for the bolt pattern on the wheel, but the same trip to make it worthwhile.

sometimes timing isn't where it's suppose to be, the flywheel isn't perfectly accurate, my 79 Wagon liked being at 9 1/2 degrees while my 80 Brat likes being at 7 degrees, just go by feel and sound, and keep an eye on that temperature gauge! your jets may be too large or you need to close off that fuel mixture more, check with a vacuum gauge as you're tuning it down some, you want stable 17-18 inches of Mercury (or more! if possible). you're dumping an excessive amount of fuel so it flash ignites in the exhaust and BAM! 12 gauge shotgun. check your wires that wire up to the ignition coil, you may have a wire on the wrong polarity on your ignition coil, this happened to me once and caused this shot gun like sound when shutting the car off, there's multiple ways to make the vehicle pop like this. i had so much fun doing this on purpose in my 79 GL Wagon, i would floor it as the vehicle shut off to dump more fuel to make the pop even louder when i would arrive at work back when i worked at a shop, and once in a while police would arrive due to the report of gunshots fired, which weren't. i miss that wagon. i know this because i would do it to my friends when they were following behind me at night, big flame blast comes out the rear and ofcourse a gun shot like sound, IT IS LOUD.

well, change of plans, im driving tomorrow morning 7 hours one way to a junkyard that has a few of these first gen brats in Oklahoma, thanks for the help though Moosens! ill post what i find here in a few days