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1600 engine thoughts


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I've just given away my old Soob to my sister, '84 Leone 5 speed manual EA71, been a great car. 260,000kms, the paint survived a volcanic eruption but came off second best after the ash got wet while it sat on it so the silver kinda faded to a mushy grey. Hasnt cost me a cent in two years of 350 miles per week of hard highway driving to and from work and it only let me down once when a CV joint boot split and got a stone in it-my fault of course!! Otherwise it was a strong little engine, ran out of puff on a couple of very steep hills but had plenty of cogs to choose from so always made it up. It consumed oil at a fairly high rate (1 litre per 1000km's) but to be expected I guess, it seemed to have a small oil leak at the pump which may have explained the drip and the low oil pressure. It was inspected last week and the mechanic who did the inspection asked me how much I wanted for it-just when I had agreed to give it away. He thought the rattle from deep in the depths wasn't anything to worry about and the zero oil pressure on idle was more likely a faulty sender than genuine pressure loss.

Gonna miss it but have gone up in the world to an 87 EA82! Much classier!!

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It's an anemic motor compared to EA-81's, 82's etc.

However, the 1600 in my 78 wagon is a hell of a trooper. More power is always nice, but I can't fault my little EA-71. She gives it her all each and every time, and has never let me down.

If it ever gives up the ghost, I'll upgrade. Till then I see no real reason to.

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The 1800 is the same design - a LOT of parts will even swap between them. The 1800 offers more displacement, and there's a lot more aftermarket for them (as little aftermarket as there is for the 1800, there is even less for the 1600). And it's a direct swap - basically nothing to do but drop it in, and hook it up.

 

Don't get me wrong, the 1600 is a fine engine, but EA81's are dirt cheap, and if you can get a little more power (you WERE talking about mods....), then there's not much reason not to.

 

You can probably break even if the thing runs good - people with Gen 1's are now and then looking for good running EA71's because it's a bit of work to swap a Gen 1 over to the EA81. (unless you happen to have an '81 Brat lying around for parts).

 

GD

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well this engine only has around 50k on it so I think it will hold up for a while, I don't need the ultimate power system. I need something that will get me better gas mileage than my V6 toyota and get me to the mountain. If the little engine that could dies I would go with the ea81. But until then I would probably want to do somethings to the 1600 you know?

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i weberized mine, and it has plenty of power when you have stock tires. still a little power with 27" tires. but too small of a clutch for a hill climbing with traction.

 

i had a japanese motor too. they are great little engines. but now that i'm upgrading tires i am upgrading to a built 1.8L. the other reason why i'm upgrading is i'm making my ideal subaru 4 wheeling machine. clutch can't handle 31 inch tires on a 1600.

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