Is it worth it?

[91 subaru]

So i was doing some reading on the ea81 to ea82 engine swap and it really doesnt seem like its worth it on the carbed engine. Eleven horsepower gain and 7 ft-lb of torque seems kinda silly or is it? The below specifications are from wikipedia.

 

Ea82 Specifications

 

Displacement:

1781 cc Bore: 92 mm Stroke: 67 mm

Compression Ratio: 8.7:1 or 9.0:1

SPFI According to Subaru Factory Service manuals: 9.0:1 "carb" 9.5:1

SPFI Valvetrain: SOHC

Horsepower:

Carb - 84 bhp (63 kW; 85 PS) at 5,200 rpm

SPFI - 90 bhp (67 kW; 91 PS) at 5,600 rpm

MPFI - 97 bhp (72 kW; 98 PS) at 5,200 rpm Torque:

Carb - 101 lb·ft (137 N·m) at 3,200 rpm

SPFI - 101 lb·ft (137 N·m) at 3,200 rpm

MPFI - 103 lb·ft (140 N·m) at 3,200 rpm

 

Ea81 Specifications

 

Displacement: 1,781 cc Bore: 92 mm Stroke: 67 mm

Compression Ratio: 8.7:1

Valvetrain: OHV Pushrod

Horsepower: 73 bhp (54 kW; 74 PS) at 4,800 rpm

Torque: 94 lb·ft (127 N·m) at 2,400 rpm

Edited January 11, 2013 by 91 subaru
More info

[GeneralDisorder]

Never has been worth it. Who told you it was? The EA82 is a horrible engine while the EA81 is quite good.

 

GD

[91 subaru]

Never has been worth it. Who told you it was? The EA82 is a horrible engine while the EA81 is quite good.

 

GD

 

I saw a write up on here about it and i was a little curious. Im glad you read this GD. Seems like you are the "go to guy" about alot of things:grin:

[Dinky26]

I like GD for his input here too:grin:

[turbosubarubrat]

i would not say the ea82 is a horrible engine they run forever if you maintain them much like the ea81. my dad has drove with both and there very dependable engines if there well maintained. i would say the ea82t is a horrible engine before i would say it about the ea82 for the head problems the turbos have and the more stuff that can happen to it. the swap really wouldn't be worth it unless you get a ea82 motor thats fuel injected for better mileage, maybe a little more power, and you don't have to rebuild carb's. or you could make the ea81 fuel injected, 1982gl4 is doing the swap right now so you could ask him questions while what hes doing is fresh in his mind.

[GeneralDisorder]

Thanks. Yeah best to stick with the EA81. It was the best of the EA engines. The EA82 was frankly an answer to a question no one asked. It was a timing belt experiment and a way to get a "SOHC" marketing term into the sales brochures. It was overcomplicated and never made a bit more power in stock form than the high performance EA81's and EA71's. Using SPFI EA82 pistons you can get to the same performance with the 81.

 

GD

[91 subaru]

GD what do you think of an ea82 intake and weber carb on an ea81 engine? I read on here that the ea82 intake had a bigger opening at the bottom of the carb allowing more air.

[Markus56]

That setup works well. i have an ea-81 built up just like that. the best exhaust to get would be to modify an ea-82 turbo manifold.

[MilesFox]

i think an ea82 works better with a5spd swap if you have the power band vs gear ratios to think about.

 

you can swap an ea82 carb and manifold on the ea81 engine for a little bit bigger carb and more fuel delivery.

[Subaru_dude]

Never has been worth it. Who told you it was? The EA82 is a horrible engine while the EA81 is quite good.

 

GD

 

Thank you GD, I think it's crap too. I just got onto the EA81/EA71 bandwagon a year ago, so much nicer to work on. No timing belts FTW.

[jeryst]

Is there a reference list somewhere that shows which engines were used in the various years?

[91 subaru]

Is there a reference list somewhere that shows which engines were used in the various years?

 

You can look up "subaru ea engines" and it will give you everything you want to know.

[91 subaru]

I forgot to say that search can be done on wikipedia

[91 subaru]

Ill make it easy

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_EA_engine

[Dinky26]

http://www.angelfire.com/crazy/bushy5552/weber1.html

 

 

Is it possible to put a Weber on without adding an EA82 intake?

Or is this where the addapter plate comes to play?

 

This guy makes it seem like it is best to add the EA82, if this is the best route, performance increase with said addition?

 

 

 

Thoughts??

[TomRhere]

You need an adapter to put a Weber on regardless of intake used.

 

I already had the Weber and adapter for the EA82 intake, which is why I set about swapping it over to the EA81 engine.

 

The EA82 intake has a larger opening under the carb then the EA81 intake does.

Going to a larger carb with the Weber, it just made sense to go with larger opening in the intake.

Larger opening under carb helps with throttle response mainly, there may be a slight overall power increase between the two manifolds.

 

One would have to do a dyno run before/after to actually say for sure.

Actually, 3 dyno runs would be needed;

1st run done with stock setup,

2nd run with Weber on EA81 intake,

3rd run with Weber on EA82 intake.

Edited January 19, 2013 by TomRhere
clarification.

[TomRhere]

And to answer your "Is it worth it" question on swapping in the EA82 engine.

I wouldn't do it, unless the EA81 needed some serious work and needed to come out, and I still needed to drive the vehicle. Only then would I drop an EA82 in. And only for as long as repairs to the EA81 took.

 

When I bought my '82 BRAT, an owner previous to the one I bought from, dropped an EA82 into it. It fits, yes.. But it is way tight on the sides, and waterpump mounted fan is something like 3/8"-1/2" away from radiator.

It really was a pain to work on.

 

That was the engine I bought the Weber and adapter for. Intake and Weber has been installed on 3 other EA81 engines since then.

[NickNakorn]

I've had a series of pre-owned EA82 engined cars (L-series/leone/loyale) over the past 20 years or so and pretty much all the problems I've encountered have been due to poor maintenance - mostly due to previous owners but in one case due to my own failings when I was very busy for about 3 years and didn't lift the bonnet (hood) often for about 40,000 miles.

 

Having said that, there's no doubt that simpler is often better - yet it depends what one wants to do. Pushrods, for example, can be troublesome if one is looking to tune an engine beyond its original design limits but, in standard trim, both the EA81 and EA82 seem to be dependable units; both are used in light aircraft. A local westcountry (UK) subaru racer (now retired) from whom I bought one of my cars told me he much preferred the EA81 for ease of maintenance between events.

 

But I don't think either of these engines is bad and the EA82 is not really complicated. What seems to have prevented a lot of maintenance of both engines in the UK has been the horrific cost of parts; more than twice as expensive in the UK compared to USA. However, for all their faults there can not be many mass production engines of that era with such a good power-to-weight ratio and for me that makes both engines exceptional.