14 replies to this topic

[Ofeargall]

So, in all honesty, how we'll does and EA82 turn 27" tires?

Will an EA82 with a 5 speed cruise at 65mph with 27" tires? Mileage isn't quite as important, I'm more curious about the torque and power shift with the larger tires. Does it render the car useless on a road trip?

I know this is likely opening a can of worms because 'drive ability' is pretty subjective.

[Scott in Bellingham]

I ran 27" swampers on a stock ea82 and ran it in low range most the time (unhooked the rod), or you hardly use 5th gear , its pushin it , got a EJ now and its no problem

[GeneralDisorder]

Very poorly at realistic freeway speeds. It will do it but its not like you will be passing anyone easily. Mountain passes will be scary. Mileage goes straight in the crapper cause you are WOT at all times just to get moving and stay that way.

GD

[WoodsWagon]

It's not that bad if you have no mercy for the engine. My SPFI EA82 wagon wouldn't quite break 100mph with 30x9.5 mud king's on it. I did a run where it held 85+ for an hour and burnt out the exhaust gaskets where the Y pipe attaches to the head. Also set an 02 sensor code. It was a good time and I was lucky I didn't get caught.

I've done a 4 hour trip averaging in the 70's with a EJ22 running on 3 cylinders in the same wagon. Equivalent power to the EA82 at that point.

Don't be afraid to let it rev in a lower gear and get good at fast downshifts.

[tweety]

I wonder how it would perform with a supercharger.?

Since Tweety has had his SC12 Toyota Sc installed with its impressive low down extra torque (30%) and more power (32%) on a humble 5psi boost I think bigger tyres than the ones I have on it is feasible. (295/50 r15's). soon to have water injection.

So maybe a bonnet bulge is in order??

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Well, in my own experience and since I drive 60% on City (During Week Days) and 40% off-road (on Weekends) I choosed 25" Tires on my Lifted Subaru "BumbleBeast" and the Subie runs Great with the Weberized EA82 engine.

I Noticed that the Steep uphills where I Cruised up in Third Gear (with 5 People + Luggage) with the Stock 13" Tires, now I Need to Downshift to second gear with the 15" tires, but the car holds up great with traffic, doin' 4K RPM's in Second gear uphill.

Beside those Uphills, the car does drive nice almost everywhere, but as GD said: "Mountain passes will be scary" that is True, So I don't try to pass anyone going uphill.

Something interesting is that on Highways my Mileage has increased a Little, specially if I don't try to pass anyone

So, in my Own Humble Opinion, 25" is the Best Choice for Mixed Driving, 27" is for more off-road use.

Kind Regards.

[Gloyale]

You'll find yourself using 3rd and 4th where you used to be in 5th.

Which isn't so bad as it sounds, actually.....Because you'll be going faster per revolution, so it's just a gearing adjustment.

Ea82 with 5spd D/R on 27" tires, you're speedo will read 55 when you are actually doing 65. At that speed in 4th gear you'll be turning about 3000k rpms.

Right about the same rpm's or even a bit less as you would have been turning in 5th with the stock sized tires. So freeway driving isn't that bad.

It's accelerating from a stop, and going up hills where you'll notice the difference, and have to drop into lower gears.

Like Woods said...Don't be affraid to let'r rev out.....just keep it at a minimum throttle to hold rpms, not floored.

[Ofeargall]

Thanks for the great information! It all sounds rather logical. I like the idea of staying around 24" considering the type of driving the Subaru will be doing.

I've got a brand new set of 195/70 15 snow tires (that were given to me) that would probably do the trick, I just need to find a set of 15" rims to put them on. Can I get Peugeot steelies in 15" or did they only come in 14"?

EDIT: I see the 6 lug re-drill thread here: Official 6 lug re-drill thread
and the great reference for Peugeot wheels: 80's Subaru wheel options

Thanks again for all the feedback.

Edited by Ofeargall, 25 September 2012 - 01:58 PM.
Found the resources I was looking for

[torxxx]

you can get 14 inch steel pugs (thats whats on my lifted 86) its got 25.5 inch tires and I have no issue turning those in 2wd on the highway. My 300k+ carb'd EA82 engine is whats limiting going over 80mph or so. With a SPFI engine you shouldnt have any problems. I've ran my car on the same engine and trans for 7 years (daily driver and weekend beat on rig)

Keep in mind if you use the 14 inch pugs you will need to use 3/16" washers as spacers to keep the calipers from rubbing. one washer per lug should do it just fine. I've never had an issue with them coming lose from running a washer behind the wheel.

And remember your mileage is gonna goto dog dookie. I think my EA82 gets maybe 18 mph, if that with the carb @ highway speeds. I think it actually uses less gas offroad since there is no major load on the engine. The EA82 will hold 5000 rpms all day long, its been tried and tested by most of us. Remember a redline a day keeps the mechanic away

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

In my case, actually mi Subie's Mileage has increased with the Larger Tires... but that is in part, due to the fact That I tend to drive around 40 ~ 45 MPH's ...

Usually I don't run fast in my Subie, Specially because almost all the Time I drive with my Li'l Daughter.

... Remember a redline a day keeps the mechanic away

I Agree!

[jboymechanic]

With a 3 speed auto 27" tires seem to be fine as you have to rev the piss out of the car to go highway speeds any way. That is the setup of TheLoyale's loyale and it drives just fine and gets good mileage too.

[kingbobdole]

Got 235/75r15 on mine. It'll break 100 and typically got 24 mpg. I'm in Colorado where power is hard to come by. I could get it into 5th over 75, but even slight hills made me down shift. Not something I'd want to take out of state.

[thedoctor]

What about odometer readings? If you're really going faster than your speedometer says, you must also be going farther than odometer says... yes? Do you guys convert odometer readings for fuel efficiency calculation?

[WoodsWagon]

Yup, my speedo was 20% low, so I'd multiply the odometer reading by the correction factor before using it for MPG calculations. I also had number stickers on my dash lined up with what the real speed was. Didn't work at night as they were opaque, but I had a good feel for what rpms in what gear were by then.

I do the same with my truck, the speedo reads high so I multiply the miles by 0.96 to get the actual miles traveled.

[ferp420]

im running 27s on my ea82 fi wagon my daily driver my my gearing seems fine 5th gear works good from 60+ i spend alot of time in the mountains its not scary at all handles great 65 in a 40 turn no screeching dosent role alot feels way more stable on the road than it did stock i am running a procomp ignition that seems to make power around 2000 rpms instead of stock 3000 rpm which is great in 5th gear at 2250 rpms at 65 it gives me more low end grunt and makes it really drivable in the mountains in the city or on the highway i wouldent go back stock for nothing