hatchsub

Well it was a bit worse than i thought. The drivers side framerail is kinked, fender is pushed back, radiator support is toast. Rough estimate to get it right would be about 4 hours on a frame machine to pull it back out at 89 dollars an hour. Then factoring in cost of parts to throw on it and i have no clue if its worth it or not. I have to do some calling around and get some ideas of how much it will cost to get it up and driveable again.

Thanks everyone. Ill let everyone know. Pics to come later today in the other thread.

My buddy matt (autobody tech) is coming over to look it over with me and see what he thinks as to if its worth saving or not. One way or another im not leaving vintage subarus. I may be on the hunt for a replacement to transport all the goodies from mine. I have one in mind already.... Thank you everyone for your support. This is why i love this board.

might be dead as of 1:44 eastern time tonight. I hit a rock hard. Smashed the bumper apart. Driver side fender is toast. I have to see if the radiator support is bad too. I think it is since the hood is sitting up. Its snowing outside so who knows. This sucks. Ive been with the car for over 5 years now and its the best car ive ever had. Ill take pictures tomorrow.

so much for that. I think i might have totaled it tonight. spun it out and hit a rock tonight. will let everyone know what it is tomorrow.

Rockauto.com has em for 70 a piece. I dont remember if that is cheap or expensive its been so long since ive bought em. I think its about right though for the 4x4. Just go through the parts catalog. Kyb gr2s are the only strut that come up. http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?a=G-KYB

If thats the case then yea its not totaled. Get a new bumper and tailgate and get the bed floor pulled and you should be set.

More updates. Im going to be doing some more since the passenger side pinch weld is starting to go farther back. This car i swear the farther i get into it the more rust its got. But luckily none of it is structural. The frame rails are solid as a rock. You can see them in these pictures actually. This is the area right behind the passenger fender lower mount. It shows the repair i did on the lower fender earlier in this thread as well as my "new" pinch weld. came out pretty damn good if i dont say so myself. Before: After: What its not showing is all the welding and fixing on the back side. I had to rebuild the back of the rocker then the front. Its all seam sealed and undercoated. Front part of the pinch weld its bent over just like the factory would have done at the bottom..and them seam sealed all the way across.

Just from the pictures i see no reason why the frame would be tweaked. Can u get a picture from the underside right behind the bumper? Even if it is a bit tweaked its nothing that a good bodyshop cant pull. As others said..then all your doing is looking for a good tailgate and bumper. My thought...not totalled at all.

Those are going to be a hard find at a junkyard (not impossible just hard). I would post up in the wanted section and see if anyone has a good one collecting dust in a basement.

So are you looking for both top and bottom gaskets? I read through your post twice and couldn't figure it out. Redline weber should have no problems giving you the correct gaskets if you give them the kit number. But...since they cant seem to figure it out give bigjim a call at overseas. He is listed in the vendor forum. He deals in webers. Tell him your problem and he should have no problem getting you what you need.

Thanks for the update. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how in the world off time could only affect one cylinder. Didnt seem like it would but couldnt figure out anything more plausible. I do believe this is one of the first stuck valves ive heard about on the board. Im surprised too at only 62k. Guess your right and all that sitting did not do that engine wonders. What are your plans for it when it goes to the shop? If your going to pull one head you might as well pull both so that both head gaskets are new. That way they can inspect and fix if necessary any other valves. If you got a few extra bucks you might just want to have both heads gone through by a machine shop and rebuilt. It would probably save you grief down the road. And im glad that GDs and my discussion helped uncover what it really was (aka he reminding me there was such a thing as a MPFI '85 lol). I had completely forgotten about that one year only engine since they rarely pop up. Good luck!

Ok your questions make post more questions lol. What year brat do you have and do you know if it has a top mount or side mount starter? If it has a top mount starter then yes you will need another transmission. If it has a side mount starter however you will be able to use it with an adaptor plate. If its side mount the starter will be towards the drivers side of the transmission. If its top mount it will be directly in the middle. FWD stands for Front wheel drive like you thought. If we talk about four wheel drive on this board its usually 4wd. Imprezas were offered with front wheel drive all the way up until 95 in fact. As for your brat now you have 4wd so why not keep that layout? Most people choose to do a EA82 5 speed with dual range 4wd because it is a reliable transmission and it will get you the fuel economy you desire because you can put it in 2wd or 4wd. EA81 4 speeds are also an option but are not as good of a transmission. Their linkage is a inferior design and 3rd gear on most of them is done by this point. Of course you could do AWD manual transmission out of a legacy or a Impreza but gas mileage will suffer and you would have to check gear ratios in your differential to make sure they are compatible (assume not).

Im not sure i understand your question. What is it that your having trouble understanding? What each engine code represents? EA71= 1.6 liter (over head valve) EA81= 1.8 liter (over head valve) EA82= 1.8 liter (over head cams) Those are also put into order of when they were produced. The EA71 came before the EA81 and so on. This is not to say that all three motors were not offered during the same model year. Take 85 for example. 85 was the first year of the EA82 but you could still get the EA81 in the brat or the hatch or the EA71 in a low option hatch (std=standard).

Nice. Could i get a picture of the rear strut mounted in the car if you get a chance? Im just curious what you did with the top...or are you just using stock EA82 top hats to mount it?

Going by the avatar you have an EA82 though. Thats a different animal from the brat. If your not talking EA82 then i have no idea how u got it to fit lol.

Just latch it with the safety latch and dont drive fast . But seriously i know what you mean. I did the swap..went to close my hood and...DOH. Didnt close. The 2.5 inch filter is nice for lifted rigs where the engine is farther down than a stock rig. They also work in Gen 1s i believe but otherwise your going to be looking at the shorter filter. Where did you buy the weber from? If you bought it from overseas (bigjim), he should send ya a new one for free. If not then your on your own.

DOJ= inner joint of the axles that is closest to the trans (double offset joint). When they start to go bad they can shake the car under load. They can be as little as vibrating your shifter to shaking the whole damn car. Depends how bad they are. They will only do that under load however so if you let off and your vibration goes away chances are you found your culprit. What i would do still is replace that pitch stopper and see where you stand. If you still have the vibration then start looking at possible bad DOJs.

I didnt mean to sound like i didnt like american. Im all for american and have a restored IROC camaro. Ive also driven everything from a 87 cadilac (moms) to a 96/01 lincoln continental (dads) to a 61 corvette (uncles). All are awesome cars for one reason or another but all are old and therefore will have problems. You will just be trading problems for problems at this point with a 500 dollar price limit. I think it would be best to stick with a car that your familiar with. It may have problems but you know what they are. If it is still getting you from point A to point B, then keep it going and fix the problems when they arise and when you have the money to fix em.

What kind of problems are popping up? Got any examples? Another used car is going to have just as many problems if not more for the 500 dollar price tag. To get a caprice or a buick or something like that for 500 bucks its going to be rusty and have high mileage most likely. That = undependable if u ask me. What i would do truthfully, that no one else on here suggested is go EA81. Its a step down in hp to an extent but a step up in simplicity. There is far less to go wrong on the EA81 than a EA82. Ive been DDing a EA81 for 5 years and once you fix a few things that will be bad its very dependable. Just stay away from the autos if you go this route.

Pitch stopper keeps the engine and tranny from "pitching" forward so yes without it could be causing that problem or adding to it at least. Generally shuddering under load is a DOJ issue but without the pitch stopper it could be doing it also. I would replace it and see where your at then. If that doesnt solve it start hunting down other problems. Does the shudder go away when you let off the gas?

Hey welcome. There is a wealth of knowledge on this board. You really scored that thing for a song. BTW im subroc over on NECF

Ive considered 5 lug for my own car but i gotta say (a bit ashamed to admit this) but the main reason i dont is i love my Enkeis so much. By far my favorite 4x140 wheel. I like the way your RX looks with em! BTW what size and brand tire are you running? They look wider than 175/70/r13.

LOL Paul. I wouldnt have even noticed had u not put the face in there.

Looks like my 83 sedan except...better. I got a LONG way to go.