TomRhere

Yeah, I hear you on the HHR. I really like the looks of them, but I don't fit the driver seat all that good. I sit to high, and have to have seat all the way back for my legs to be somewhat comfortable. Really don't like all of the built in blind spots either. But Del loves it, she fits it well Will say it was better than expected as far as comfort goes on the trips we made down to the Lexington, Kentucky area.

Yeah, this Wagon has kept me busy in one way or the other. Got driveshaft done with all "New" u-joints, just haven't installed it yet. Wrenching done today was rear brakes, "New" rotors/calipers/pads. Be installing the rear diff and axles tomorrow, do test to run checking for any anomalies. If that proves good, install front half of driveshaft, repeat test run. If that's good, install rear half of driveshaft, switch trans back to FT4WD mode, (currently have center diff locked in), repeat test run. Really wish this here laptop would allow me to attach pics. Rotors on the rear look so bad, you need to see it yourself. When I 1st installed the 5-lug discs on the rear, they looked cruddy. But I thought a few brakes applications would clean them up. That didn't happen, even with repeated bleedings of the system. Was like rears weren't really working, though I could lock them up on loose stuff. Do know, after the past few days of being under the Wagon, I really need to get after the rust that's starting to show. Got that penned in for warmer temps though. Not a good thing to fill garage with explosive vapors while heating it with a torpedo heater. Good thing yesterday was somewhat warm whilst repairing gas line leaks on the '07 HHR. Didn't need heater. Just gotta love road salt............................................ NOT!

Any free-flow muffler would help. Lot's of different ones on the market, so choice is up to you. Different muffler designs will give different exhaust note. When I installed a glass pack under the '85 BRAT the same way I did on this Wagon, straight pipe in place of stock muffler, it had a nice burble at idle, sounded pretty good going thru the gears sitting in it. But it wasn't the same sound if you were listening to it going down the road. Listened to it a few times as Christopher drove it, way different sound outside vs. inside, as in quieter. Another BRAT had Xcellerator Turbo mufflers under it on home made dual exhaust with roughly 30" of pipe after mufflers exiting in front of rear tires. Loud, real loud. Think Harley with half-pipes on it loud. Few Members on here are running Flow Master mufflers on theirs. Thought of doing that myself, just haven't bought one yet. Ran my '88 XT6 with a pipe replacing the rusted out muffler. That,, sounded,, so good.

It's some what of a pain to do, but pull the hinges, clean/lubricate the pivot point and reinstall. Had the same issue with one of the BRATs, couldn't figure out how one was to lube the hinge pivots without pulling them. I was of the opinion that the hood was flexing a bit, causing it to rub while opening it, center of hood bows down. Closing the hood puts the stress in opposite direction, hood bows upward. Just my thought on it, but it worked for me.

I remembered you saying something about those in another thread. Soon as I saw the shape I knew what they were.

Just back from putting roughly 40 miles on it doing errands. Seems the engine is liking the glass pack. Didn't bog down as much pulling some hills around here. Plus, I could actually accelerate in 5th going up one of the longer uphill runs, which made the Wagon slow down before. More to come...

Got the glass pack installed yesterday, but not without another trip to parts store for different adapters/clamps. I had guessed wrong on what I needed. Still need to get a length of pipe to replace stock muffler. Which by the way, apparently didn't like the mid-pipe flopping around for some 40 miles. Inlet pipe has broke free from muffler. Still holding muffler up, but it's loose and leaking.

Care to fix one for me? Have 4 that I can send you, only need one back.

Yep, missing T-belt tensioner would give you some grief. T-belt kits can be found on E-Bay at a decent price, and I've seen them on various parts sites for close to same amount. T-belt kits have both belts and both tensioner/springs in them. Once you have the new kit, go to you-tube and search for "The art of Subaru Maintenance by MilesFox". Excellent how-to on doing the belts.

reinforcement plates for where the strut tops bolt to the strut tower

Chances are that the intake is hitting the seam where the case halves come together. I have ran into that a few times swapping intakes onto other engines. If you place the gaskets where they belong, then sit the manifold down and it rocks side-to-side, the manifold is sitting on that seam. My fix for that is to mark the area the manifold crosses, take the manifold off, then lightly hit the area with a grinder. Replace gaskets and manifold, check for rocking, hit it with grinder again if needed. One could also hit the underside of the manifold where it crosses the seam of the engine. I have 2 SPFI manifolds here, one would rock when sat in place on my current engine, the other one didn't, so I bolted it down.

The wires in that Black box are fusible links, made to protect the wiring in the car. Definitely have some wiring issues if all of them popped. I would carefully and fully inspect all of the wiring. Wouldn't surprise me any if a mouse hasn't chewed on part of the harness.

@ GLoyale Found it funny that you mentioned. "Play it again Sports". Previous owner of my '85 BRAT used some hockey pucks from there as spacers for the front lift . I removed them, but found it quite ingenious for them to do so, even if it wasn't "proper" to do so.

Wishing I could like Jerry's post more than once. More moonshine..........

Well, be Friday before I get the parts. The store closed at noon today, and I didn't home from work until 3:30. Oh Well. Really wasn't planning working on it until Friday anyway. @ Scooner, My 1st ever SUBARU was an '86 BRAT bought from a co-worker. $100.00 in his hand and I drove it 23 some miles home. No brakes other than the E-brake, no exhaust past the flange. LOVED every minute of that trip..............................

Merry Christmas

Broke it today. Nothing serious, just the exhaust pipe. Got about 8 miles down the road this morning. Pulled away from a stop sign, and she sounded a tad louder. Another 12 miles to the nest stop, and she got way loud. No choice but to finish the trip into work. Took a gander underneath it at lunch. DURN!!! Pipe broke at the mid-pipe side of the connecting flange. (Y-Pipe had done the same thing when it was on another vehicle, had that welded to an adapter). Said the heck with it and drove home after work. Got a glass pack muffler and clamps waiting for me to pick up tomorrow. Going to do as I've done before, and put the glass pack in place of the flange joint, remove stock muffler and replace it with a straight pipe. Was doing my best to keep the growl level down, but she did seem to be a bit more peppy.

Didn't watch that show, but I have seen pics of the BRAT on here. Bruce Springsteen also mentions Subaru in his "Pink Cadillac" song.

The Neutral Switch grounds the Yellow/Green wire Pin 14 on the mid-size connector at the ECU. Pin 14 is below the release tab of the connector. If your trans doesn't have the switch, you could wire in a switch mounted to the clutch pedal. You want a switch that closes when you push the pedal, a brake light switch would work. Splice into the Yellow/Green wire, run that to the switch. Other side of switch would be a wire ran to a ground point.

I know that Seafoam works to clean the fuel system. Used to believe in Gum Out for fuel system cleaner. But it seems to have changed from back then, talking '60's, '70's era. But those are the 2 Brands I prefer over the rest of them. 11 - 12 months really doesn't matter on the gas. I've fired up engines on 3+ year old gas. Yeah, they didn't run real good at first, but they fired up and ran. Took a bit to get them going, but they ran on the old gas. Had many tell me to use Stable(?) for storing seasonal equipment. Tried it, not happy with the results.... Engines seemed to be way harder to start the 1st time when that season came back around.

And just for the record; BRAT and Hatch doors interchange, but the glass doesn't......

Have someone move the affected wheel while you watch things under the vehicle.

I would check the tie-rod ends if 3-9 play was evident.

I could send info from the FSM. PM me an email addy.

Fuse 12 is for ignition. Check it and test for power on the positive side of the coil with key On. Use a test light between coil negative and battery negative, light should pulse as you crank the engine. If light doesn't pulse, pickup in disty or the wiring to it is faulty.