New to me 87 RX (horay!)

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Hi everybody!

 

Last week I picked up an 87 RX that one eye had been saving for me for a coupla years (thanks man) It's got the green digidash the dual range, the diff lock, the 5sp, all the cool guy computer stuff- and even better, it all works (even though the car had been sitting in a field for years, typical subie )

Here's a couple of pics . . .

 

So, as you can see, it's a little rough 'round the edges. For one of us "west-coasters" it's got some gnarly rust, and the red hood is extra sexy

i cut clean A-pillars out of a GL 3 door at the pull a part for $30 and got the hatch off of the same 3 door for $45 including brand new lift-struts (it's even white!! )

Even though the car fired right up (right there in the field) and runs really well after just a fluid flush and oil change, I bought a 60k (ish) "from japan" EA82T MPFI from suberdave (that dude knows his stuff!! thanks again dave) and a TD04 off a newer WRX from Cobcob. I've got the matching WRX top mount intercooler, mccord headgaskets, and a downpipe coming!!

The plan is to drive her "as is" after replacing the hood and rear hatch and a few other little things, while I accumulate all of the little bits necessary to put in the TD04'd EA82T (BOV, boost controller, gauges, etc). After that I'm going to do the obligatory 5 lug swap, get those A pillars welded in, and repaint the car this color . . .

I think this should be a locatable OEM color, but if not, I'm thinking Mopar's Mineral Gray Metallic will work as well. I'll be getting ahold of you, McBrat, for those replacement decals (those look awesome b.t.w.)

 

Whats everybody think so far? (the posts had been slow on the ol USMB for the past few days, so I went ahead and started this project thread at an earlier stage than I had planned, plus I'd love everyone's input!!)

 

Anybody who has those little turbo bits I was mentioning and would like to get rid of them, please PM me! Also, I'm going to need to replace all suspension bushings (all dried and worthless) and the shock/struts and would like some experienced ideas on what to do there . . . believe me I've searched and found soo many ideas, too many maybe- and I'd like to get them narrowed down a bit!!

 

Thanks

chris

[Major Lazy]

Dude,

 

Sweet. l have an 87 RX and live in Everett & work in Burlington. My Rx is the funnest car i ever had. Not the fastest by any means but the funnest. I heard there is an all sub wrecking yard in Mt. Vernon but I cant find it, you know where it is?

 

Lazy

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actually, i need to change that, now i live in Everett too, (merrill ck pkwy, boeing area)

"the" wrecking yard in Mt Vernon is just off the freeway, take the college wy exit, go towards the river (west) and south, it's on the dike road behind Blade Chevrolet . . .

(f.y.i., there's quite a few older gen soobs there, but the guy who runs it now is kind-of a jerk. . . )

 

I got my parts from the new pull-a-part in Arlington, just past the airport.

 

 

Dude,

 

Sweet. l have an 87 RX and live in Everett & work in Burlington. My Rx is the funnest car i ever had. Not the fastest by any means but the funnest. I heard there is an all sub wrecking yard in Mt. Vernon but I cant find it, you know where it is?

 

Lazy

[Major Lazy]

yea, ive been to that one. No 3 doors there, i need the rear wiper arm for my rx.

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the problem is that i think the rear wipers only came on the RX's, not just any 3 door. the hatch i picked up from a GL didn't have a wiper in it, so i'll be cutting the hole and swapping in the wiper from my old hatch. i'll be at the pull-a-part tomorrow, i'll keep a look out for an RX.

chris

 

yea, ive been to that one. No 3 doors there, i need the rear wiper arm for my rx.

[one eye]

There is an all subaru Whole car sale place in Anacortes. The guy who owns it name is Ed. I think he got in trouble for not having a junk yard permit so he has to sell whole cars now no parts just whole cars. He has a lot of Crap there. Its right off reservation Rd and hwy 20 there. I don't know if there are any RX's there I know a while back he had a butt load of XT's but he didn't know if they ran or not and he wanted 400 bucks for it.

 

Jeff

[one eye]

oh I was going to say too The Rx looks great Chris!!! Thanks for giving me some credit too!!!!!!!!

 

Jeff

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hey, i wonder if that guy's got an xt turbo chillin at his place, from what i've read doing searches, the xt turbo's "up pipe" is a little less restrictive than the stock EA82T's in the RX . . . might save me some $$ by not having a custom one built . . .

might see one at the pull-a-part tomorrow too . . .

 

 

There is an all subaru Whole car sale place in Anacortes. The guy who owns it name is Ed. I think he got in trouble for not having a junk yard permit so he has to sell whole cars now no parts just whole cars. He has a lot of Crap there. Its right off reservation Rd and hwy 20 there. I don't know if there are any RX's there I know a while back he had a butt load of XT's but he didn't know if they ran or not and he wanted 400 bucks for it.

 

Jeff

[one eye]

I know the "white XT" I was looking at 2 years ago was a 2wd turbo, but you would have to buy the whole car. That's the only thing that sucks about going out there. Todd has one over at his place if all else fails but I think he would want to sell the whole car too:rolleyes:

 

Jeff

[tizzle]

I might be out on Reservation road today, so I'll take a peek, and ya, he only sells whole cars, the place next door is a junkyard, Almac or something like that

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thanks, it'd be good to know at least . . .

I remember spending hours every weekend at Almac when I was a kid (my dad used to wrench on old honda's with parts from that place) it was the best wrecking yard up north. . .

 

I might be out on Reservation road today, so I'll take a peek, and ya, he only sells whole cars, the place next door is a junkyard, Almac or something like that

[tizzle]

from a quick glance I saw one xt a couple 3 door coupes, and some hatch/wagons

[audio_file]

thanks tizzle!

 

so, nobody has an opinion or suggestions for my new project?

[EvilDead]

Sweet man!! My RX has a twin!

 

Those wheels are kinda cool to, remind me of xt wheels for some reason.

[Suborsche]

SWEET! I love the RX! Have you thought about converting it into a rally car?

[88RxTuner]

As for tips or tricks, there arent any.. it's pretty straightforward to TD04 and Top Mount the EA82.. but to put the TMIC in a fairly "stock" location, I did away with the BOV and fabbed a block off plate for like 69 cents, bacause the stock BOV interferes with the hood. No driveability problems to speak of, since the EA82T is non-BOV in the first place.. Does play some hell with your MAF due to the increased volume of the intake track, mostly I notice a little black smoke only between shifts.. If you mount the TD04 in close to the "Stock" location, you can use any WRX downpipe, too.. .the vertical drop is very close to the EA82 downpipe.

 

As far as suggestions, there's only 3 choices.. Leave it stock, take it up, or take it down!

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How did you run a TD04 (higher boost than stock) without a BOV?!!!

I'm going to relocate the MAF to the pipe between the intercooler and the throttle body, there's a thread on that here somewhere, takes care of most of the MAF issues . . .

and DOWN, its definately going down, probably tein coilovers, i'm just not sure which ones i need, the ones for an xt6 (because of 5 lug swap) or something else (easier to find)

chris

 

As for tips or tricks, there arent any.. it's pretty straightforward to TD04 and Top Mount the EA82.. but to put the TMIC in a fairly "stock" location, I did away with the BOV and fabbed a block off plate for like 69 cents, bacause the stock BOV interferes with the hood. No driveability problems to speak of, since the EA82T is non-BOV in the first place.. Does play some hell with your MAF due to the increased volume of the intake track, mostly I notice a little black smoke only between shifts.. If you mount the TD04 in close to the "Stock" location, you can use any WRX downpipe, too.. .the vertical drop is very close to the EA82 downpipe.

 

As far as suggestions, there's only 3 choices.. Leave it stock, take it up, or take it down!

[88RxTuner]

You may look up using Mazda shocks and coilovers, I think from a Miata?? There's a thread on here about converting and lowering.. If I recall correctly, the XT6 uses the same control arm system, the big difference being only in the hub assy. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

[88RxTuner]

Ummmm...

I just did? lol After the fab and retrofit were complete, I found that with my TMIC located where it is, the stock WRX BOV wouldnt bolt on and allow my hood to close, so I blocked off the mounting point on the intercooler..

The BOV doesnt regulate boost, it only bleeds it off under manifold vacuum (closed throttle) conditions... Boost is regulated by the wastegate on the turbo. The BOV is for venting accumulated air charge (boost) when you close the throttle, supposedly to keep your turbo spooled out..I think. This may not be standard issue, but I dont believe that is necessary. You may think differently, it's just my opinion.. As I stated, the EA82 does not have a BOV from the factory... The ECM doesnt know the difference, except for un-compensated airflow between closed throttle and open throttle. As stated, it does play a little bit of hell with your MAF.

I was very careful to tune my turbo to 9.5 psi for daily driving, though.. I found that without the BOV the only issue is going rich between shifts, as I mentioned earlier. I am devising a supplemental fuel system so that I can exceed the 10 psi fuel cut, which is calculated by the PCM by MAF reading... currently in the works.

[s'ko]

thanks tizzle!

 

so, nobody has an opinion or suggestions for my new project?

 

You could do what I'm doing and put a EJ into it. With a EJ22 you will get about 150 bhp and make it a blast to drive.

 

The way I see it you are working with a flawed engine. The EA82Ts were not the best design and when it's only a whopping 21 HP more than a SPFI one... that's pretty lame. There is more upfront work with an EJ swap, but in the long run you will have a more reliable more powerful vehicle.

 

The EJ22 computer is very adaptive and can take some boost. Do some research on RS25 or NASIOC and see what they are doing there.

 

Of course you could always do a EJ20 and call it a day.

 

BW

[audio_file]

You could do what I'm doing and put a EJ into it. With a EJ22 you will get about 150 bhp and make it a blast to drive.

 

The way I see it you are working with a flawed engine. The EA82Ts were not the best design and when it's only a whopping 21 HP more than a SPFI one... that's pretty lame. There is more upfront work with an EJ swap' date=' but in the long run you will have a more reliable more powerful vehicle.

 

The EJ22 computer is very adaptive and can take some boost. Do some research on RS25 or NASIOC and see what they are doing there.

 

Of course you could always do a EJ20 and call it a day.

 

BW[/quote']

 

(*surprised it took this many posts to hear "just put EJ__ in it"*)

no offense, but i consider that cheating. i've had the "newest, fastest, coolest" cars, but the whole point of buying a 20+ year old automobile is to drive, work on, and experience a 20+ y.o. vehicle, both good and bad. there are few things in this world that disappoint me more than seeing a shelby cobra or porsche 356, only to find that they are "kit cars." to me, regardless of the expense of the kit, or even if it's considered an "authorized" re-creation, it's still not a true cobra or 356.

therefore, much to the dismay of many on this board, i will be sticking with the EA82T, no matter how many times it goes *boom*, just because, that way i'm driving what i bought . . . an 87 subaru RX.

chris

[EvilDead]

Hey if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

 

I wonder what a Cummins Turbo diesel would be like in a RX?!?!?

[s'ko]

(*surprised it took this many posts to hear "just put EJ__ in it"*)

no offense, but i consider that cheating. i've had the "newest, fastest, coolest" cars, but the whole point of buying a 20+ year old automobile is to drive, work on, and experience a 20+ y.o. vehicle, both good and bad. there are few things in this world that disappoint me more than seeing a shelby cobra or porsche 356, only to find that they are "kit cars." to me, regardless of the expense of the kit, or even if it's considered an "authorized" re-creation, it's still not a true cobra or 356.

therefore, much to the dismay of many on this board, i will be sticking with the EA82T, no matter how many times it goes *boom*, just because, that way i'm driving what i bought . . . an 87 subaru RX.

chris

 

You asked for opinions.....

 

But I respect your desire to remain true to the original car. I think a lot of the problems with the EA82T builds I have seen is that people kept pushing for more and more power. I think Calebz, Subarutex, WJM are a few people that come to mind who have done some extensive work with the EA82Ts. Do a search of their old threads and glean what you can from all of those old posts and then do what they did right and avoid what they did wrong. I have never had a working EA82 so I am biased towards them. I like the old EA81's and since I have overcome the mental fear of doing wiring work on a EJ swap I am a big fan of that.

 

I am not saying get the biggest baddest engine out there. I am saying that you can get a decent $200-$300 EJ and do wonders with it. My RX is gonna have a EJ22T. I want to get about 200 hp (about 150 bhp) out of it initially. That's WRX territorry in terms of hp to weight. Total build is going to be under $3000. So if I compare it to a 2002 WRX that can be bought for about $10,000. I am spending 30 cents to the dollar. The final build goal is going to be around 270-300 hp (i want 200 bhp) That should bring me into the 4k-5k range. But then I would be in STi territory. and spending 9-11 cents on the dollar.

 

One thing that you might want to consider it modifying your hubs to work with 5X100 rims. If will open up a whole new world of rim options, once again my opinion.

 

BW

[audio_file]

haha, might be a little nose heavy, (cast iron block) but AWD drifting wouldn' be a challange

 

Hey if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

 

I wonder what a Cummins Turbo diesel would be like in a RX?!?!?

[tizzle]

Maybe I haven't been so dissapointed with the EA82t like the others because I have another subaru with plenty of power. So the RX was my 2nd car. I went pretty basic on my RX as far as power upgrades. TWE headers, port&polish on the turbo, and then go for suspension goodies. It has provided me with an enjoyable car to drive( as long as a sensor or something isn't buggy)

 

If you are going to do anything to the car. 1st make sure all the hoses and sensors are in good order, as well as intake manifold gaskets and head gaskets.