Ezekiel Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Hey Guys I need your advice on whether my mechanic's story makes sense. Im not one to doubt but I figured someone on here knows much more about this & could verify the story at least hypothetically. The Story... I took my 82 GL wagon (third eye works!) seemingly all stock w/hitachi carb to my mechanic because it had odd running issues ie. very hard to start cold, would not hot restart, throttle stuck wide open one time, sometimes engine would flood when trying to start. prior to this it ran good for 8 months. I figured it was time to go ahead & weberize! So took it to my mechanic to verify in fact that the hitachi was crap & weber would solve all problems. 2 Hours later he calls & says he adjusted throttle linkage & set ignition timing & that it was driveable. I paid $150 for that & left. I got 5 min. down the road & it died while at idle & would not restart... for those 5 min. it did run very smooth. But then just cranking forever & no start. So he tows it back to his shop. Later that day tells me it needs a new distributor. I ok the disty & we move forward. Then he tells me the previous owner actually swapped in a points style disty from a 75 GL & removed all the related electronic ignition items (what does that mean?) So now we had to hunt down a reman points style disty from a 75 GL to match the jury rig setup. Now waiting for part to come in. Really hope this works as he is charging me too much already. A couple of questions... 1) I changed the dist cap & rotor myself before. ( would that work if the disty is a 75 like he says) 2) Why would someone revert back to a points style setup? ( the guy I bought it from had like 5 GL's so he probably swapped em to save money is my only guess) otherwise I dont know. Thanks in advance for your thoughts! -Zeke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 IIRC, the points cap is different. I would ask to see the distributor that is in it. I suppose if the ignitor went out and they didn't want to cough up for a new one, they might have thrown a points dizzy in. It sounds like it's all carb related to me and he's covering his a** going down the wrong road. Also, I have never seen a Subie points dizzy just completely give up the ghost and not work. Yes, the shaft bushing will go to crap, but it will still run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 So which engine is in your wagon? If it's an ea81 I don't see how a '75 distributor would work in it. My old gen go to mechanic told me once that an ea71 distributor from the same year engine wouldn't work for my ea81 brat because the shaft length was different. Was there any sign of distributor failure before it died, such as the tach jumping around or skips in power. I feel like this guy is trying to take you for a ride personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbosubarubrat Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 So which engine is in your wagon? If it's an ea81 I don't see how a '75 distributor would work in it. My old gen go to mechanic told me once that an ea71 distributor from the same year engine wouldn't work for my ea81 brat because the shaft length was different. Was there any sign of distributor failure before it died, such as the tach jumping around or skips in power. I feel like this guy is trying to take you for a ride personally. The the ea71 points distributor fits in a ea81 and has the same length shaft. The ea82 distributor also fits but if i remember right you have to take off the ea82 gear then put the ea81 gear on and drill a new hole for the roll pin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 He's full o' crap. Grab ANY EA81 distributor and put it in. The Electronic pickup is all contained in the disty....just hook the Yellow wire to - and the black/white wire to + on coil...............Give the coil 12v and your good. Let me ask though......is the Tachometer jumping even slightly when you crank over the engine???........if it is then the disty is good and the problem is something else.......probably fuel...... Sounds to me like your hitachi just needs a clean out and reseal.......they only are "shot" when the throttle shaft bushing get REALLLLLY bad.........90% of them are still fine once cleaned/resealed...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 (edited) part numbers on the dizzy body will tell some story. It is likely previous engine went out and a points dizzy engine went in. Is engine EA81 or EA71 ? coil is supposed to be matched to dizzy, so, points coil and ign module coil are different. A points coil gets power via a ceramic resistor Volt reduced to 8 or 9 V. An ign module dizzy does not use the ceramic resistor and gets 12V at coil Your mechanic is charging you to deal with what sounds like a non std set-up. Get some pics up. You may need a weber or another Hitachi and a rebuild kit, and a fuel line clean out from front to back, check any fuel evaporative cannister for correct hook up, correct fuel line set up..... Edited August 21, 2014 by jono Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 The the ea71 points distributor fits in a ea81 and has the same length shaft. The ea82 distributor also fits but if i remember right you have to take off the ea82 gear then put the ea81 gear on and drill a new hole for the roll pin. I knew the ea82 did, my comment on the ea71 was something my old mechanic told me 14-15 years ago that I never bothered to confirm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezekiel Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 Thanks for all the replies guys, The motor is absolutely an ea81. says it right on block. 167k on the odometer. Came from Missoula Montana. Actually pretty rust free. When I was last cranking the tachometer was jumping very quickly between 0-100rpm. Mechanic has it at shop so I cannot post engine pics right now. I've read about guys having to blow crud out of the fuel lines before. I wonder if that may be the problem. Remaining questions: Why would you convert to points style ignition? (easier to maintain...points are cheap...more dependable? IDK? Are there any other ignition components that would go with the 82 electronic ignition that would not exist on a 75 points style setup?? Igition Control Module? Igniter? How difficult is it to clean out fuel lines front to rear? Pricey? Thanks again guys : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 When I was having trouble in my brat from a rusted fuel tank clogging lines we'd disconnect the line from the front fuel filter and from the pump and just blow it out with compressed air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Thanks for all the replies guys, The motor is absolutely an ea81. says it right on block. 167k on the odometer. Came from Missoula Montana. Actually pretty rust free. When I was last cranking the tachometer was jumping very quickly between 0-100rpm. ......... This means the disty is likely good. Are there any other ignition components that would go with the 82 electronic ignition that would not exist on a 75 points style setup?? Igition Control Module? Igniter? No. Just remove the dropping resitor (if there is one) Give the coil 12v.....and hook the 2 electronic disty wire to the coil....Black to + Yellow to -......done. No need to swap anything else......there is no ECU, no seperate ignition module...I've swapped Points and electornic distributors around lots. Easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 (edited) to blow those metal fuel lines innards out you really need the fuel tank to be empty so you can see through the sender units hole once removed.I used a rag tied to a metal rod to sweep the crud from the tank floor where it spat out from - to the sender hole to keep things clean. Two sctions to blow, from front filter to pump connection, other side of pump to tank when you get to look at your ignition coil - if it is original black, Diamond brand, might have a 7 in a box printed on it and say use with ........igniter ? check that too and report back if need be. Someone may have swapped engine with points dizzy and wanted to keep it that way - may not known how to remove and refit a dizzy , but known how to wire in a points dizzy. Edited August 23, 2014 by jono Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.