heartless

the "special" tool for turning in the pistons is cheap and readily available at most auto parts stores or can be ordered online.... looks like this: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=APO&MfrPartNumber=T71921&CategoryCode=3479 each side has a diferent configuration for doing many different sizes...the thing fits nicely on a 3/8" drive ratchet.

Connie, sorry to hear of the problems - seems like when it rains, it pours doesnt it? Sure wish we were closer, I would be there to lend a hand in a heartbeat! Hang in there, it does get better.

and there is the difference! I also have an EA82 SPFI, 5spd, FWD wagon that gets darn good mileage considering i am pushing the 250K mark, and drive it like i stole it!! summer time i can average around 34mpg - winter time with warm up times it does drop, but still very reasonable. just imagine what i would get if i drove like a little old blue haired lady (not meaning you Connie! ) but if i can get 34 driving hard (much more fun!) then i should realistically get much higher if i drove "nice" - right?

come on guys - i can pull away from a "rolling stop" in second gear without a problem in my 89 wagon - heck have even done it from darn near a standstill a time or two...sure, it really doesnt like the "darn near standstill" thing much, but it does do it...first gears are over rated!! dont even use "first" gear in my old ford PU - it's a granny gear!

89 EA82 NA - 247,000+ miles, no known leaks at the pump (and none since i bought it at 142K) lol - oil leaks every where else, but not at the pump! Cold start up - 80+ warm idle - 15+/- warm at speed - 45+/-

looks to me like the right side high beam is burned out - need to fix that! nice job on painting the interior pieces, they look good - except now the tan bits look out of place/mismatched (steering wheel, shifter, etc)

Is it running at 2100 rpm after the motor is warmed up? It will idle at higher rpm till the motor warms up or you kick it down.

you guys were lucky to have a dad like that - my stepdad was a total imbecil when it came to mechanical stuff, (if something said "some assembly required" forget getting him to do it!) and being the oldest, i didnt have a sibling to learn from either. what i did have was the desire, and need, to learn, and learn i did, from whatever source i could!

there is nothing wrong with you. you have a new toy, and you are enjoying it. did basically the same thing when Hildy was down after going in the ditch - for a while i wasnt in a big hurry to get her fixed, i kind of enjoyed driving the coupe (and i didnt have the cash for replacing the glass) but after a while i began to miss Hildy, and all her little quirks, which motivated me to finish up the repairs and get her back on the road. give yourself some time before thinking there is something wrong - took me almost 2 months to get Hildy back on the road. and personally - i would leave Bucky as a 2 whl drive - just fix whatever is wrong and keep him the way he is...just my .02 cents

been driving my EA82 wagon for 5 1/2 yrs now and my only real safety concern is hitting a darn deer dead center and having it come up over the hood & thru the windshield! This is the same car i went in the ditch with back in November - dropped off the edge of the road about 7 ft down - hit hard, barely missed a telephone pole and took out a couple of fence posts (speed was originally only about 35 mph - slick roads) stiff and sore for a few days afterward, but the car got pulled back up onto the road and I drove it home. had to replace some glass and do a lot of cleaning (20 oz of coffee makes a big mess!) and a little cosmetic fixing, but all in all the car came thru just fine I drive about 100 miles a day, 5 days a week going back and forth to work. I regularly have idiots pulling out in front of me & doing other stupid stuff - being aware of what is going on around you is the #1 safety rule in my book. (#2 is wearing the seatbelt - even tho i dont particularly like them - uncomfortable) just yesterday i had some dumb broad nearly take off the front of my car when she changed lanes without looking - I nearly let rage get the better of me on that one - my bad - if only i had one of these >

most of my knowledge has come from having to do, but, before doing, i try to find reading material to get the jist of something before i actually tear into it. my first car was a hand-me-down 73 Ford Maverick with plenty of "issues" that i had to figure out how to fix - no mechanically inclined family members to learn from either - did have a couple of freinds that knew a little, but most of it i figured out for myself. (no internet in those days!) This board has been invaluable to me since buying my first Subaru (which i am still driving). I have learned a lot about it and how it works - things like the timing belts & little bits of information that arent in the haynes or chiltons books. like others - i tend to learn more about something by actually getting my hands dirty doing it than just by reading about it - altho i do like to read first if possible.

a decent set of pin punches are invaluable. they look something like this: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93111 you should be able to get a similar set locally at your favorite tool outlet.

my 89 GL wagon has this problem - has been like that since before i bought it (5 1/2 yrs ago) - i am so used to it that it doesnt bother me - just have to tell my passengers to "watch out - it's a knee knocker!"

hehehe - was waiting for you to jump in on the rust thing, daeron! getting back on "topic" tho - most of the older Soobs are picked up cheap because they have problems that were caused by neglectful previous owners. by neglectful, i mean the p.o. did not keep up with proper maintenance schedules, or let small things go until they became big things. then they put the car up for sale as a "parts car" cause it doesnt run, or whatever. this was pretty much the case for mine - the p.o. drove it till it had more problems than he wanted to deal with - clutch gone, bad alternator, axle going, etc. at one point he had replaced the rear hatch cause somehow he had broken the glass - easier (& cheaper) to replace the whole hatch than just the glass - except he didnt get the wiring right (cut the darn wires! ) anyway, i bought the car for next to nothing, fixed the problems and have been driving it for just about 5 1/2 years now, mostly trouble free. my point in all of this is that with a little time, effort, and usually just a few $$ you can end up with a GREAT car. might take a little while to work out all the bugs that the p.o. ignored, but once you do the payoff is a very reliable vehicle.

never seen rust on a Subaru??? where have you been lately?? here, this should do ya! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/oldfender.jpg or http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/oldhood.jpg

ok, so why is this "the beast from hell"?? looks to be a fine car to me, nicely kept - except for the wheel covers...the flashy chrome covers just dont go with these cars. (sorry, just MHO)

that is one beautiful hatch!! wish we could find cars in nice shape like that around here, but Wisconsin winters have a bad habit of eating them alive. I am with hatchsub on this one - keep that beauty the way she is and get another to lift/offroad

:lol: wasnt much left of the original hood either... the drivers side fender is a little better, but not much - it will get replaced this summer, after the replacement gets painted and undercoated good. the pass. side one will come back off and get refinished as well, so the front end will look good at least!

Fianlly got some pictures taken. in the interest of saving server space i am linking to them in my photobucket account... 1st pic: the "new" hood. this one had a small amount of rust on the front edge that did go all the way thru and a small dent (about 50 cent piece sized) that went outward, right at the point where the center ridge meets the lower portion - like the hood was dropped on something... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/newhood.jpg 2nd pic - the "new" fender - no trim - was removed for future refinishing months ago. the large dark spot is where the white paint is flaking off showing the maroon underneath (there are several other places that the maroon can be seen as well) just a note for you guys thinking of painting...SAND the existing finish FIRST!!!! gives the new paint something to adhere to. I will get around to sanding and repainting this one this summer. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/frtfender.jpg 3rd & 4th pics - the old hood and fender - not very pretty are they?? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/oldhood.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/oldfender.jpg 5th - i did leave the bashed in rear fender...as was noted in a previous thread - it gives character!! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/rearfender.jpg 6th - this pic shows the road conditions we were greeted with monday morning - Hildy's maiden voyage to work since our unplanned venture off road. the county we live in is pretty lax about clearing roads of snow...we only had about 2 inches of the stuff come down sunday - it was done falling before dark... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/1-22-07snowyroad.jpg and last, but not least (maybe i should put this one in the "show off your mileage" thread) the odometer reading - taken after arriving at work. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/heartless500/Hildy/odometer1-22-07.jpg none too shabby for a car i paid $150.00 for over 5 years ago...

bgd - we dont have to deal with inspections here in Wisconsin - thank goodness. Not that I doubt the integrity of my repairs, but there are enough oil leaks, fender rot, etc, that Hildy's days would be numbered very short if we did. Undercarraige is doing pretty well, considering her age, and the salt and such used around here. (thank goodness for the liberal undercoating on these cars). I did notice one spot on the belly pan that I am going to have to address this summer, but overall it is mostly cosmetic stuff - things that make her look bad - like the fenders

thanks for the offer Connie. We do have a garage, but the heat is from a kerosene turbo heater - not exactly the best thing for painting - tends to blow a lot of dust around. I did manage to get a decent paint job on the hood and around the windshield area, but thats all i am going to do for now. I am going to have to tackle a couple of other areas come warm weather - but then i can get the bike out of the garage and be riding that while i work on Hildy. I am just so glad to have MY car back. Driving the Coupe was nice and all, but i dont really dig the auto tranny - altho - having the "on demand" 4 whl dr was kinda nice in the snowstorm we had a while back... the bedliner stuff is great for below the trim line. they make a spray can version the is pretty decent. we used that on the other half's car - looks cool - kind of two tone - blue above, black below.

GD - the replacement fenders are in good shape, as is the hood that i put on - only had a couple of minor spots to touch up, and a small dent to straighten. the hood is the best lookin part of the car!! LOL - but yeah, the rest of the car is getting to be pretty rough. I'm not too worried about the flaking paint on the passenger fender right now, the maroon underneath is still solid, so no worries about things rusting right away. will finish the drivers fender when the warm weather returns, and put that on, as well as redoing the paint on the pass side... Not sure how far I am going to take the rust repair - far enough to keep her on the road for a while longer i think. Looking to get at least 300K on the Odo - at 244K currently.

will try to get some pics tomorrow if it isnt snowing... the fender i put on was originally maroon - somebody painted it white without sanding at all so the white is flaking off...makes it look worse than it is. Have the drivers side mate for it, but it is currently in nothing but primer (started redoing it a while back for future use) and trying to paint in cold weather is a chore.

you are doing a GREAT job with Bucky! I can only wish that Hildy looked that good, but she hasnt looked that good in a very long time - was pretty rough when i got her. even with the "new" parts, she is still not very pretty, but i dont love her for her looks (good thing! ) Plan on doing a little more body work when the warmer weather gets here....

Finally, at long last, Brumhilda (aka Hildy) is back on the road after taking an unplanned ride into a very deep ditch the week before Thanksgiving. Had to do a lot of rust repair work, mainly around the windshield area, new glass installed - windshield and pass cargo area, fix the mangled exhaust, did a little rear wheel well repair, mounted a used front passenger fender and hood (after doing a little bit of rust repair on the hood, and repainting) in the processes of all of this, the dash was unbolted & moved back, the drivers seat was removed for a minor repair, the interior had to be cleaned due to a full 20 oz cup of coffee going everywhere, and of course, pulling the rear interior side panel to repair the wheel well (which also meant pulling the rear seatbacks out)... finally finished getting everything put back together and cleaned up today, swapped the good tires back onto her, and got her to fire up (was a little stubborn after sitting for so long) let her warm up a bit and took her out for a test run. Took her easy for the first few miles, but it wasnt long before the speedo was riding up near the 70 mph mark - handled great, no fighting with the steering wheel, everything seems to be kosher, but only time will tell for sure. all i can say at this point is it is SO good to have my car back!!!!