Spiffy

I believe there should be visible stamps... where is says EA82 on the head... plain EA82 is 2st gen, line under the EA82 is 2nd gen, box around EA82 is 3rd gen loyale... all heads of the same type (mpfi, spfi) should work from any gen... try to find a newer one if possible since it'll probably have lower miles... -Spiffy

assuming the thermostat is good (not stuck open) and the car warms up normally and fairly quick... ... is it consistently not very warm? or does it start off warm and then get cold? if it stays constantly not very warm then you probably need to adjust the little white plastic clip that holds the cable slider to the core flapper door open... they can be really tricky to work with because of the limited space by the gas pedal and heater boxes... get your head down there and move the controls from hot to cold and you should see where it connects... the plastic connector is tricky, the top opens and the threaded rod clips (not screws) into it... then that is clipped into the flapper lever... if you break it get 2 when you go the junkyard... The part that holds the cable end at the heater controls rarely fails, and it takes longer to remove the gauge trim to get the heater controls out (unless you've done it a lot)... if it starts off warm and then gets cold then you have a mostly clogged heater core... I took my heater hoses off from the engine and put low water pressure from the garden hose through it, each direction, until it ran clear... carefull not to put too much water pressure through the core in case it's rusty and you burst a hole in it and end up tearing your entire dash out to replace it... ofter a few flushes in both directions the water should be flowing better and you can hook it back up... I've done both of the above to fix EA81/EA82 heater issues... --Spiffy

ok, so I'm replacing the lower heater hose on my '82... the one that goes into the tubing on the engine... yeah, the little S-shaped piece... the hose is new, the pipe is 24 years old and rusty... and there's not a lot of room to work down there... definately no room for a wire brush attachment... maybe a toothbrush sized one... I'm going to need to lube it to get it on there... I tried a bit of silicon spray, but that doesn't get far... what should I use? KY? gotta be something slick that isn't bad for the cooling system... --Spiffy

that'll work for now until I can pick up a hard copy for my specific year... PM'd you... spiffy (dot) miserable (at) gmail (dot) com... thanks! --Spiffy

well there's no factory service manuals on ebay at the moment, except those cheezy CD versions... maybe I'll check nasioc... --Spiffy

well it's 04/98 so it's a true '98... so am I going to need a set of base books that start with '93 and then get suppliments, or is there a 1998 version just for impreza? a quick search for 1998 didn't pan out... --Spiffy

does anyone make a decent DIY repair manual for a 1998 impreza? I would think there would be a chilton/haynes for '93-'01 but I haven't found one... closest I've found is one that covers every model from '85 to '96, and that's just not going to be specific enough... is there a specific set of OEM shop manuals for this year that I can search for on ebay or something? not sure if they made a set just for this year, but for some reason I'm thinking it's one of those change years... --Spiffy

obviously check all the fuses and fusable links... could be that this last time you tried you didn't get enough of a charge to light things up... possibly because you didn't have a good connection between cars or because you're jumping it with a geo metro and there's not enough power to run both cars... (try jumping a 454 GMC with a weak import battery) you may also have a grounding problem, it's common in old subies... check and clean all the wires from the battery and alternator on both ends... --Spiffy

any wheels off another EA81 or EA82 style subaru will fit... just has to have the 4x140 pattern... also some puegot 504/505 wheels fit... just check the wheels page for a list of wheels that will fit... --Spiffy

anybody have a white set of these on their subie? I'd just like to see what they look like... (too lazy to photoshop it) off-road preferably, but they'd probably look nice on my turbo wagon as well... thanks! --Spiffy

does it turn over really fast with the plugs in or does it struggle? --Spiffy

also the vacuum control by the firewall on the driver's side engine bay is controlled by the white vacuum conister as well... so if that's disconnected you wouldn't have any vent control or 4wd... but if just the 4wd part is disconnected you might still have vent control... --Spiffy

and if it's not the white vacuum canister (it usually is, especially since you were messing around in the engine bay) then the push-button control unit may have a leak, or a disconnected main hose that goes to that canister... my problem was a different one in that only my defroster didn't work... turned out to be the diaphram behind the glove box... major PITA... --Spiffy

leave it white and put a gold racing stripe on it with the gold wheels... you could even put some polished gold kick panels instead of the usual silver... --Spiffy

I'll generally always stop for a stranded soob on the side of the road to see what I can do... and always willing to help out the fellow members when they need something, even if it's just somebody to pick up and hold onto something until they can pick it up or have it shipped... these kinds of small communities are great... common interests are what keeps everybody's groups loosely connected... --Spiffy

I was totally there, and saw your sweet new hatch... but we were in the gf's impreza so no wheeling for me... didn't see you milling around... but I think you may have been in the camping area with everybody else... sorry I couldn't stay long... I looked at all the cool subies and watched people play in the mud pit for a while... and I think richie was stuck behind the registration counter the entire time I was there... it was my anniversary weekend and I had just proposed to the girlfriend... we were kind of looking forward to the trip home and relaxing (and other things) after being out all weekend... I totally owe you a visit... sorry man... --Spiffy

is there another models springs that will fit? or are all the other stiffer ones lower? --Spiffy

is this right? because the #2 spot on my '88 is dead, and I figured it was the resistor pack, but haven't got around to checking it yet... by the above login if #2 is dead then it should take another speed with it.. but all my other speeds work... are you saying that if only #2 is dead then it's probably something else? like the switch? --Spiffy

ok, it's that time again... the power window switches are getting dirty and my windows are starting to slow down or not work at all... time for a carbon cleaning, again... why do I have to do this every year? I've been scraping them really good and even using the good electrical contact cleaner on them... isn't there some kind of goop I can put on the rocker connectors in the switch to inhibit the formation of carbon on them so I don't have to worry about cleaning these things for another 20 years? --Spiffy

who in australia sells them and ships to the us? and how much are they? --Spiffy

so the gf's '98 impreza wagon is slumping in the rear... time for new springs... I don't want to lower it, as most aftermarket springs tend to do... I could just get some stock replacements... but, since we are always carrying things/dogs around I'd like to get something a little stiffer, but not insanely sporty as it still needs to retain its utility... going to be putting kyb gr2's on it at the same time I replace the springs... figure I'll replace all the springs, since I'll be replacing all the struts... any suggestions? --Spiffy

weird, I thought I saw soemthing on the ex-in-laws Loyale years ago that had something about disabling AWD with a jumper... never had to do it though... there's was also an automatic... ... anyways... I've had my 5spd push-button 4wd turbo wagon towed a few times with the wheels rolling... --Spiffy

if you have to push a button to engage the 4wd than you can tow it with just the front wheels up on a dolly... otherwise it's AWD and needs a flatbed, or the rear drive train disabled (which I think you can do by jumping some wires)... --Spiffy

that's good to know... we didn't want to have to leave the dogs behind since we're staying overnight in the gorge friday night and then hitting the show on saturday afternoon... --Spiffy

I saw some fog lights at the GI Joes tent sale a couple weeks ago that look like they'd fit perfectly where the turn signals are under the front bumper... just wire a couple small fog lights there and rewire the turn signals to the marker lights... nice and clean... just be sure that you use yellow lights, they give so much better vision... all white does is make things too bright, with no clarity... --Spiffy