MR_Loyale

Chrome - it's what's for dinner. Got the heads in. First the passenger Then the driver side

Thanks Miles.

Do the blue lines on the head gasket go towards the head or the block?

Thanks Gloyale. I was wondering what EA82 ever had a spark plug tube.

It'll bang out. Ask me how I know.

This thread is dedicated to Uno my very first Subaru which I have owned for twenty years now. I am the sole owner of this car. I purchased this car in 1994 at Camp Subaru in Spokane Washington. Up till that point I had driven used cars. The original purchase price was approximately $11K. This was quite a lot of money for me at the time as I only made $14/hr part time. Uno is a 1993 Subaru Loyale Sedan, FWD with the Single Point Fuel Injection (SPFI) EA82 engine that makes about 90HP at the crank shaft. It has power windows, power locks, power seat belts and air conditioning. I got a good deal on this car because it was last year's model when I bought it in August 1994. I have owned it for 20 years now and it has never left me stranded. How many other cars can you say that about? I have been on USMB since 2005 and never really thought to start a "build" thread as my car is mostly stock. After about 19 years I thought about the newer cars and what I might like about them. The main things were electronic so I added them to Uno. Uno has remote key-less entry with trunk pop and soon to be enabled, remote start. Uno also has a backup camera and reverse distance indicator to tell me if I am about to back into anything. There isn't really anything else that makes me envy newer cars. Uno fits me perfectly and I enjoy driving it. I am in the process of refreshing Uno for a twenty year anniversary trip from Bremerton Wa to Baltimore MD and back. I will visit a very special friend who played a key role in my adoption of Uno as well as in my life and I can't wait to get Uno back together again so I can once again drive it. People make comments about me and "my old Subaru" but I pay them no attention. This car is like a comfortable pair of shoes or comfort food. There will probably be others, but this car is my first and will always be special to me. This pretty much sums up how I feel about this car:

Yeah I know I got just over a month until I drive Uno, the White Sedan all across the country. Head, cam towers blah blah blah. THESE are the important details: The power steering bracket:

I am going to be doing a cross country trip Aug-Sep. in my Loyale sedan. Some things to ponder before you take the trip Do you have tow insurance like AAA? If you cannot afford this, start making subie friend along the route now, before you leave. Might be nice to meet some of the folks on the board in person too. Perhaps facilitate transportation of some hard to find parts in exchange for a safe haven should your old gal collapse. Please tell us what sort of budget we are working with. total shoesting or adequate to financially handle any contingency? Planning is different depending. Since you are 18, I will assume shoestring. #1 Replace all belts and fluid - no exceptions. If you cannot afford this, stay home. Put old belts in trunk. #1a Fuses. Carry some. Put them in the glove box. Look at fusebox for sizes needed and get some of those. #2, Carry a gallon of pre-mixed anti-freeze and motor oil. #3. Tools: Cheap socket set ($20 Walmart) pliers, standard and phillips screwdriver. Total cost under $30. Throw in Haynes book. #4. Check the balljoints, bearings and brakes. Replace if any doubt. #5. Do all the turn signals, tail lights and lamps work? You don't want some hick cop blowing your budget with a $600.00 ticket for a burned out lamp. Let Roscoe stick the next sucker instead of you. #6. Is the clutch iffy? If so replace it. 2600 miles won't make it better. It is a clutch not a fine wine. If you neglect it the only fine wine you will see is you whining to mom and dad from 2000+ miles away. #7. Take some shorter trips before you go sort of as a shakedown of sorts. Use a critical eye to find issues and evaluate if critical or not. Take someone along who doesn't know the "quirks" of your old gal and ask them to be critical. Often times we get to know our cars noises and become accustomed to them. #8. Contingency plan. What if the car catches fire and burns to the ground in small tow hicksville while Goober and Roscoe watch. How will you get home? #10. Carry a mobile phone and 12v charger. Have emergency numbers programmed in. Hope this helps,

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I read they will all be driving in a convoy to ferry to Vashon Island on sat.

I make sure to have my foot on the clutch and in neutral when engaging it. Eventually I will swap in dual range. Just have too many things on my plate right now.

Well my tail lights aren't out. I just had that damned parking light switch on the steering wheel in the wring position. After twenty years I should know better. And for the last time AARP, I am NOT interested!!

Oh yeah. While I was down there, I noticed a nice coolant drip drip drip. Hopefully it is just a water pump of which I have a hand me down from, you guessed it, Uno the white Loyale sedan. Works out because I have a brand spanky new Subaru water pump in the box waiting for Uno anyway. Uno is the spoiled one lol.

Got the exhaust leak in Ash repaired tonight after work. Turns out it was a bad gasket I took one of Uno's gaskets since he is apart right now. I will be ordering brand spanky new one for Uno anyway. Ash gets the hand me downs from Uno. So far Ash has received an alternator and exhaust gasket for the passenger side.

Why do you say that? It is push button 4wd. I don't have the original manual as the owner did not have it. He said it had to be in neutral when engaging the 4wd. Is that not true?

Well tonight after work I went after the exhaust leak. It was coming from the passenger side. Turns out it was the gasket. I happened to have two extra ones as I have the used ones from Uno sitting next to Ash in the driveway. Here is what a good gasket should look like when held up to the sky: Here is what was there:

Yeah. But I feel the electrical issues are well within my skillset. If the car was perfect it wouldn't have been sold. It looks as if someone recently did some engine work as the engine is fairly clean on top.

Started chasing electrical gremlins in the new 4wd Sedan. I solved the mystery of the fading charge, brake and parking indicator lights. During idle they would all glow faintly. Increasing the revs would make them glow a bit more. Further increasing revs made them go out until about 2000 revs where they ca,e back on and fluttered. Swapped out the alternator with the one from uno that was lying around and it fixed the issue. Now I have to figure out the tail light situation. Uno is going back together. This weekend I will make major progress with installation on the heads. Just don't want to tackle that job when I am tired after work.

I took my "new" Loyale Sedan (4wd) out for a nice drive on my favorite stretch of twisty road. It is the one I always took my white FWD sedan on. But in 4wd, I noticed the corners were not nearly as fun as they were in my FWD. It was good that the car seemed well planted but the thrill seemed gone. On the return trip I turned off the 4wd and it was fun again. It appears that FWD has oversteer and 4wd does not. Has anyone else ever noticed that?

Did some more work on the car. One issue it had was that the alternator regulator was bad such that when the idle was low, the charge, brake fluid and park brake lights would fade in. Then revving the engine to 1000-2000 rpm made them go out. Revving higher brought them back on but bright. I figured this was the diodes in the alternator allowing ac current into the system. I had the alternator from Uno (my white sedan) and put it into Ash. That fixed the issue. I then took Ash out for a spirited drive and got pulled over by the police. My tail lights were out and I was speeding apparently. I explained I had just bought the car and he told me to drive home with the hazards on and watch my speed, both of which I did. Oh and the power door locks are blowing fuses so that is another issue I will have to sort out. But I did get one solved and the mirrors are still working but the blower motor quit on me.

Well tonight I decided to peek at some of the issues with the car. The power mirrors and door locks did not work. Replaced the fuses that were blown. Also found a 30 amp fuse in one circuit and there are no 30 amp fuses anywhere in the fuse chart on the fuse panel. So I pulled it and put in the correct size. I found the reason for the exhaust "leak". One of the bolts holding the flange onto the head was totally loose. I tightened it up and it helps somewhat. But I need to get an exhaust gasket for it. Looks like the one there is a cheap third party thin one. I gave it a wash as well. There are small black spots all over the engine bay and on the fenders so I found a solvent that would get them off and began working on that. I took some more pictures as well. This car is in pretty good shape. No rust, runs fairly well and the clock even works!

I had better be careful, the sheriff lives next door, lol. No, the custom plates are a one time privilege for the only Subaru that has been there since day one, with help of a special person who believed in me at a time in my life when no one else did, not even my own father. The new car can never have that connection in my life. Plus Uno has carried two of my best loved pets that are departed so it is sort of a historical artifact in my life so to speak. Ash on the other hand is open to all sorts of possible mods. Plus if I EJ it in the future, I then have a hot swappable spare for Uno. So it all works out in the end. I can get rough with Ash and not be guilty about it. I can even take Ash to the mountains banging around and it won't crack its computer like some other 4wd we dare not mention. Ash is easier to put into 4wd too. But treating Uno harshly is like crapping on your grandmother's credenza - it just isn't done. Besides, Uno has to make it to the 30th anniversary.

Don't give up. Walk away for a few days and let your head clear. Logically, if you "did everything right" it would be running, yes? Not pointing fingers so don't get offended. When you go that far into the engine, expect something to be missed. As long as it wasn't the head bolt procedure and cam towers, it is probably easily correctable. But at this point you are just frustrated and logic won't penetrate that.

Thanks man. Fun fact: I bought that Loyale new, in Spokane from Camp Subaru in 1994. In 2012, while visiting a friend in Spokane, I called them to look ( wink wink, yeah I was ready to buy) at the new Impreza's. I showed up and no one would see me! Could have sold another Subaru and got my praises, but instead they now get my scorn. "We're family" etc BS is just that BS. They could care less about you at the stealerships, especially Camp Subaru stealership.