88RxTuner

Nice crosshatch... at 180+k miles... I wouldnt worry about it, as stated above if you cant feel the grooves, dont worry about it. At the top of the piston travel, the piston stops momentarily and walks a little bit side to side due to the connecting rod swinging over on the crank. This happens at the bottom, too. Being that this is the only non-linerar (up and down) motion of the piston, not to mention the least lubricated area of the cylinder... it's not uncommon to see polished areas around where the rings sit at the top. 88RxTuner

Just for future reference, if all you are doing is changing the dizzy, mark where the retaining bolts are, and where the rotor is pointing on the housing. Transfer those marks to the new dizzy, and install exactly the way it came out. This should prevent a mis-timing episode providing you do NOT turn the engine while changing the dizzy. I would re-verify that you have TDC on the COMPRESSION stroke, DOUBLE CHECK YOUR FIRING ORDER... if you have it backwards or even off one position, it wont fire. Good call to check the timing belts, but the fact that he HAS spark at the wires indicates that the dizzy is turning and presumably the belts are intact at the time at least the l/s one, as well as the coil is functioning correctly and the rest of the ignition system. I think a wrong timing event is at fault here. Hope this helps!! 88RxTuner EDIT: I'm assuming a new cap and rotor, and that all the wires were off at the same time?

Have you ever ran it out of oil? Have you ever subjected the lube system to abrasives? Generally, the EA oil pumps will last indefinitely provided the above 2 conditions have not occurred. Very little actual wear takes place in the pump. What you can do, is when you have the back plate off, lift out the gears (taking note how they are oriented) and visually inspect the sealing and bearing surfaces (where the gears come together and where the gears ride on the pump under the gears) for obvious scoring or galling. Some minor scoring is normal, and acceptable, but if it looks like someone dumped sand into it and scrubbed it around you've got problems. The normal galling should be concentric and circular, following the movement of the gears. I'm not exactly sure what it's called, but if you bring up that you have an EJ engine your dealer should be able to come up with the correct o-ring. 88RxTuner

Is condensation a possibility? Water can condense on the inside of the fuel tank overnight, and being heavier than fuel will sink to the pump pickup area after a little bit of sloshing around.. Could *possibly* explain why it only does it after a little while. Hopefully the new gas solves your problem! Perhaps look into the possibility of water in your fuel, I dont know for sure how you could prevent that, tho.. 88RxTuner

Dont even necessarily have to swap fuel pumps... presumably you could use a regulator to get it down to 3-4psi or wherever you'd like to run, and use the FI pump.. I dont know how hard this would be on the pump, but if it crapped out, THEN you could swap to the low pressure pump... I dont know which is cheaper. I'm not sure, but I think the ECU controls some functions of the car such as ignition timing and perhaps some dashboard functions?? as well as the engine (Corrections??) If not, it should be pretty much that easy, swap the engines and exhaust, install hot wire to choke assy, address fuel pressure and go with it..? Do the carbed engines use electronic ignition timing? 88RxTuner EDIT: +1 on getting a 100$ turbo car!! Pick it up!!!!!

+1 on running it... I would think the lower ring would be below that, it may burn a teeny tiny bit of oil, but a spot that small shouldnt affect your compression enough to worry about it. LOL@ "These aren't Swiss watches"... Are you building a spec or race engine? If so, I'd do something about it.. is this for your daily beater? I'd run it in a heartbeat. When I built my first EA82T engine, it had been sitting with water in the#1 cyl for a year.. it didnt hone out, but I ran it anyway mostly cause I'm cheap and didnt have the money to do it right, and it had that kind of pitting 3/4 down one side of the cylinder... Passed emissions (I'm in CA) and ran like a champ... went thru about a quart of oil every 300 miles... smoked a little... Tough little engines, I'd run it as it sits... That damage is so minor that unless you NEED to get the absolute most out of this engine, you'll never even know it's there. 88RxTuner

Is the problem dependent on RPM or throttle position? Does it always happen at 3000 RPM, even when you squash the pedal to the floor? Does it always happen on a certain part of the road? Does it always happen in a certain gear? Right turns only, left turns only, uphill or downhill only? Need more info! LOL These kind of diagnostics can be tricky... I'd follow the above advise, check your dizzy and cap for wear/ damage. Check your harness connectors for corrosion, etc, check your BATTERY VOLTAGE! Low voltage will play hell with ignition systems.. Does it feel like the igniton is stopping, or does it feel like it's running out of gas? 88RxTuner

Does your dealer know it's an EJ engine you are working with?? Every single dealer in the US will carry that o-ring. Hopefully he doesnt have it confused with the EA oil pumps, in which case there is only the "mickey mouse" o-ring. Make sure you inform whom-ever that you are working on an EJ engine! 88RxTuner

This is strictly for EJ engines, which it sounds like he's working on.. On ALL of the EJ engines, there is 2 things that need to be replaced when doing the oil pump, and a couple other things that need to be done to the parts that are there. 1. The o-ring that seals the pressure port needs to be replaced, and preferably SILICONED IN PLACE with a **Very** light coat of goo just on the inside of that o-ring. Yes, Glue it into the engine block. Dont go excessive on the goo, or it will end up in your oil system = bad. 2. Replace the crank seal while the oil pump is off. Common sense, it's already apart. When you disassemble and remove the oil pump, keep track of which way the crank is facing, you will notice 2 flats on the crank and 2 flats on the oil pump. These need to line up on assembly, or it wont go back together. Be careful not to catch the lip of the crank seal on the crank when you assemble it. While it's apart, you will find a metal plate screwed to the back of the pump with 5 screws, these are usually (and NEED TO BE) very tight. Loose screws here will cause pressurized oil leaking at that plate, which will blow out your silicone sealant and leak oil all over the front of your engine, not to mention causing the "lifter tick" due to lowered oil pressure. IF you can loosen these screws, remove them, blow out the holes with brake cleaner or something that eats oil, and assemble with RED lock-tite and an Impact screwdriver. You dont ever want them coming back out... To assemble on the engine, remember to glue the o-ring in place, coat the OIL PUMP mating surface with a quality silicone such as Permatex ULTRA GRAY, make sure there's no oil on the block surface, make sure your drive flats on the pump and the crank are lined up, and squish it back together. You should see a small line of squished silicone coming out the seam all the way around the oil pump, this lets you know you used enough. That's about it, unless you pull out the oil pump gears, in which case you need to re-time them by lining the dots up on the gears when you assemble it. This shouldnt be a necessary step. Hope this helps!! 88RxTuner

When I put Subie engines together, First I scrape all the old HG junk off with a nylon/phenolic scraper... these things are awesome, they wont gouge the aluminum and not very expensive... Next I use a flat-board sander with about 120grit paper, HANDHELD not one of those reciprocating air powered ones.. and carefully plane the surfaces down until all HG materiel and wear is gone. The steel rings in some head gaskets (notably the 2.5l's...) will actually imprint a ring in the aluminum Cyl Head... I sand until that is gone or so small you cant feel it when you scrape with your fingernail. Then check it for flatness with a straightedge and feeler gauges, making sure you check it along the length of the head, across the head, and diagonally as well. I've had so much success with this that sometimes I've touched up the machine shop's crappy surface LOL!!! ***Make Sure you clean the block and heads thoroughly after sanding, such as steam cleaning or dunking on the hot tank... Make sure the coolant passageways dont have crap in them before you assemble the engine!*** Apply and install your head gaskets dry, they are designed so they do not need additional sealant, and in many cases using sealant can actually weaken the head gasket joint. I've used the above mentioned "CopperCoat" stuff, whether it helped or not, I dont know... I try not to use anything unless there's obvious flaws in the metal surfaces that need to be filled... and if you've prepped the block and heads correctly, this should not happen. Try and avoid using wire brushes, they gouge aluminum and leave deposits behind. Likewise, avoid the "Abrasive 3M" type Roloc wheels, they can leave abrasive material in places very hard to clean, like cylinder walls ,between the piston rings, in the cyl head behind the valves, etc.. which eventually can get into your engine and cause wear/ failure. +1 on the nylon Bristle Wheels... I use these all the time, they are great. Hope this helps!! 88RxTuner

Ummmm..... +1 on relay(s)... forgot to mention that bit on my last post... Keep in mind, anytime you add a load to the stock electrical system, unless you're coming directly off the battery itself, it could draw power from another essential system circut... So do like he says, and use relays!!!! 88RxTuner

Hey, wal-mart rocks!! lol I got into wheeling a long, long time ago, but didnt get into subarus till about 5 years ago... So, when my stock alternator went to crap, I figured, hell.. the A/C doesnt work anyway, why not put something where the compressor goes? And I ended up installing a 180amp GM alt (for an ambulance) in place of the A/C compressor... with a little bit of making my own brackets, it works just fine..I figure I should be able to run 8-10 130watt lamps with this NO problem, which is far more than I currently have (2 cheap wal-mart specials...) In my experience, if you are running less than about 400 total watts, the stock alt. should be able to keep up with it, provided you have a decent battery... On time VS off time, if you drive it during the day and charge the battery with a low draw, and wheel it at night (my suspicion is that this is why you want LIGHTS, for the night runs...) on the battery, you shouldnt have any problem with the stock alt... Keep in mind, this is TOTAL watts. You go and throw 6 150watt DayLighters at it, it's not gonna work right... but your stock headlamps and up to about 2-3 pairs of the 55W wal-mart specials should work fine... PROVIDED that you keep you battery maintained and drive it during the daytime with no/little load to keep the battery charged up. If you are planning on adding more than 200W to the factory charging system, it WILL be worth the time and money to look into a higher-amp charging system, the gains in the long run with NOT having to replace alternators every 6 months will be well worth spending the extra time and money fitting and fabricating a HI-Amp alternator to suit your car... Just my .02..... 88RxTuner

Awesome! I was just shooting in the dark... Yer new ones really do look good! 88RxTuner

MMMMMmmmmmmmm... Nice.. Anyone have dibs on the old ones yet? (I'm an opportunist, and looking hard for some spoke wheels... LOL) They look great, well done. 88RxTuner

I would suggest mechanically testing both the EGR solenoid and the EGR valve. Get a couple lengths of vacuum hose about a foot long, sized to fit your EGR vacuum fittings. First, set your ECM in "test" mode, just connect the 2 green "T" connectors together, making sure the 2 Black connectors are NOT connected. Your car should start clicking, buzzing, whining, etc. as the ECM cycles all the ECM controlled functions on and off, this includes the EGR solenoid. If nothing clicks or buzzes,etc, there is a problem with your ECM or you have the black connectors hooked up as well. Next, remove the vacuum hoses from the EGR Solenoid, do not unplug it. Install your new vacuum line to the "manifold" side of the solenoid and suck on it... Now suck harder... If you can make suction and hold it, either the solenoid is not working right or is not getting powered to cycle. If you can make suction and hold it, and then it vents when the solenoid clicks, your solenoid is working fine **for now...** They all take the big crap, it's just a matter of when. NOW, if the solenoid works adequately and vents your mouth-vacuum about every 2 seconds, remove your hose from the solenoid, attach the hoses you disconnected from manifold and EGR valve. Remove the hose from the EGR valve itself. hook up your vaccum hose to it, and suck hard again... you should be able to generate vacuum and pull the EGR valve open, and it SHOULD hold vacuum. If it doesn't hold vacuum, the valve diaphragm is bad. You can also perform this last step (checking the EGR valve) with the engine at idle... if the valve is working and opening, it will cause the engine to stall out when you suck the valve open. If nothing happens, either you're not sucking hard enough or the diaphragm is bad, ***OR*** you have so much carbon build up in the EGR passage that it's not functioning anyway. Following these steps should help you isolate whether it's the solenoid, the valve, or the ECM. Hope this helps. 88RxTuner

Nope... Not offended at all, by all means your 'hijack' seems to have provided some more useful information that I may be able to take advantage of... Thanks for all the input, I too have thought of triangulating the strut towers to the center of the firewall, using the top of the struts as point A and a fabbed mounting plate where the spare tire used to be as point B, but never thought to connect both to each other and then to the firewall to provide 2 directions of support... Thanks again for the input, and by all means.. if it keeps it coming, someone else has my express permission to 'hijack'!! LOL 88RxTuner

Ummm, yea, 1988 RX, EA82T, mostly stock suspension, some spacers on the rear coilovers to get the body up a little... Ummm, yea, happened directly after an airborne "incident"... lol Struts seem ok even to this day, after I repaired the strut tower damage all is good with alignment and camber, struts are not bent etc. Going to replace struts anyway, when I lift it this spring or summer (when warm weather and $$ come together) but I want to prevent this type of damage from happening again... Fabricating the new lower control arm shock mounts shouldnt be a problem.. but where do the upper mounts go? Onto the crossmember, and use really really short shocks? Or onto the strut tower and fab upper mounts into the tower as well? Thanks for the input... 88RxTuner EDIT: Out here in the desert, there is pavement and there is washboard trail... and I sure as hell aint gonna keep it on pavement, so I guess upgrading the suspension is the only alternative... 'Specially when the rallys come around here, OH, and the supertrucks that I just have to show off to... lol

Updates?? Did you fix it? Just for us people who keep track of what sypmtoms cause what problems... 88RxTuner

Bump... Nobody has any input on this? (fixed the problem, we're still in the re-assembly phase) I dont really want to do it again...

Once again... I change mine every 50,000 miles, but I REGULARLY (before she broke) spin the motor past 7,000 RPM... This is what I consider abuse, and YES, I abuse my engine... but I also treat it right in the way of maintenance. I suspect the 200,000 mile timing belt IS in fact a "Freak of Nature" and perhaps the gentleman that manufactured that particular belt was either very happy on that day or very intoxicated that day... Either way, the VAST majority of these timing belts do not make it to much past 60,000 miles. I beat the ever loving crap out of my car, on a daily basis, between street racing every day it runs and turning the rallys at the end of the month, and I have never, NEVER gone past 50,000 Miles on a timing belt...Because I choose to change them when I WANT to, rather than when they break in the middle of the flippin road... 88RxTuner

I have had this problem before as well, getting "factory" remanufactured carbs and having problems with them (such as the loose throttle shaft bushings and "mangled" emulsion tubes..This seems to be fairly standard in 'reman' carbs, though I've seen it mostly with the Hitachi carbs ( I did a lot of Suzuki work) I guess a product of my personal experience.. GD has a very good point... for the money you'd spend on getting your carb'd setup up and running, you could very well have a decent FI going in your favor... Do you have anything against going electronic? (I only ask, cause there are some "ALL CARB" devotees out there...) It may be more worth your time and money to convert to a Fuel Injected system, and this could definitely save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run....

Correct bracket, correct plugs... but mine doesn't have the nifty little foamy pad on the back!!! lol PM sent... Sorry it took so long.

Disco..... "I think an EA82T would need FAR better headers than std to make that turbo work properly . " That's why I manufactured my own... and as simplistic as my exhaust may be, I only have about 300rpm difference in spool time between using the TD04 (USDM from a WRX) and using the VF7 that came factory w/ the EA82Turbo (again, USDM...) I cant imagine that would be far behind with the Garrett GT2860..maybe a tad bit slower, but I wouldnt suspect more than about 500RPM loss. Spool time and efficiency are the direct result of proper engineering of the exhaust system, just about anything is possible with enough thinking about it done before the "jumping into the fire" stage...We built a WRX and went from the TD04 to a Garrett GT-35 and only lost 800RPM spool time.. I think that anyone out there with the time and skills necessary to weld and fabricate their own exhaust can achieve similar results. For those who cant, I'm Positive that the local exhaust/muffler/emissions station can provide adequate service for the right price...not to mention the number of qualified builders on these forums!! I'm still running my original engine, at 234,000 miles (376,000Kilometers for you metric folks)with 115-120psi compression across the board (790-825kPa) Did head gaskets at 190,000, Got rid of the "Y" pipe ( T-pipe for those who know it...) made my own header/up-pipe, swapped the TD04 in there, and here I sit... at about 12 psi... no worse for wear than the next guy who tweaks his engine. ALL of this is do-able for the average guy looking to make his car faster/better/etc... for a less than astronomical price tag, to boot.

That'd be awesome... I have scoured the wrecking yards around here (subies are hard to come by in the desert...) and found some promising donors for the future, including one unmolested complete turbo engine, but none of them have the damned transistor/amplifier type ignition coil bracket... Not to mention the parts houses around here havent the slightest CLUE what I'm talking about, and I'm about 150miles from the nearest radio-shack. I'm guessing it's specific to my model/year? I'd gladly reimburse you for the part, and your time if you'd like...

If the screw came out of the rotor, it could potentially be running over 20degrees retarded... but just the same, it may fluctuate between retarded and advanced, randomly. Definitely something to check, though, but I would suspect against the dizzy having something to do with this problem... Although you did just change cap and rotor, right?