ettev

Yep, he's the man, especially on these EA81's.

I believe the EA81's fuel pump is feed from the fuel pump relay, which get's its signal from the distributor, not alternator.

OK, so I fancy myself pretty handy with typical motor work and general vehicle maintenance, etc. This current project I'm doing has fought me every step of the way and I'm about to throw the towel in. Here's my latest. After having to literally chisel apart the old oil pump to get it out of the block I figured I'd better pull the oil pan to clean out any and all bits of the pump that got in there. So, drop the y-pipe, loosen the motor mounts from the cross member and jack the engine. All good. Take the oil pan down and figure I better check out the pickup tube. Yanked the pickup tube out and found it loaded with aluminum chunks and bits from the oil pump destruction. So the way these pick up tubes were assembled there's no way to really clean out all this stuff properly. No biggie.....I post on USMB for a pickup tube and GeneralDisorder comes to the rescue (thanks Rick, really appreciate it man). So I think I'm set. So I figure I'm in this far I may as well yank the valve covers and replace those gaskets as well. Off with the drivers side....no issues. Off with the passenger side and what do I see. The very rear push rod not engaged on the rocker arm. Hmmm. Loosen the rocker arm adjuster and get the push rod back in. Throw the crank pulley bolt in and (try to) give the engine a few turns to see what may be going on with this push rod and yikes. When its time for that last valve to open/close there is literally no action and turning over of the engine by the crank bolt gets pretty hard (more so than normal compression resistance). Push rod comes out of the rocker arm again. Hmmm. So after getting the push rod back in the rocker arm I take a closer look at the valve and notice that it appears to be stuck in the "open" position. So I think broken valve spring. Visually inspection only but no signs of a break. Put a flat blade in the spring and use the lip of the head to pull the valve outward, or to the "closed" position. WOW. VERY TIGHT, and still can't get it to come out as far as the other three valve/valve springs. Question 1: WTF? Bent valve or maybe just tons of carbon on the valve stem binding it? This car had been sitting and not run for about 3 years prior to me adopting it. Questions 2,3,4, and 5: If I have a bent spring whats an easy check? Do I need to yank the head to verify? If not, can the valve spring cap be removed with the head on and in the vehicle? If so what kind of compressor tool do I use? See pictures at bottom of post. Next item....naturally since I have the engine jacked up I can't get the two long head bolts holding the rocker arm assembly out thru the frame holes. After about a half hour of trying to get the motor mount studs back down thru the crossmember mounting holes I threw in the towel. Question 6: Whats the secret to getting the engine back into the proper seated position and the motor mount studs back thru the crossmember holes? I DID NOT do anything with the rear engine pitch limiting stay when I jacked the motor up. Next item....I remember when I rebuilt my EA82T many years ago and bought replacement heads they had these funky looking plugs on them. I'm suspecting they may be some kind of overheat sensor for warranty reasons but that's just my guess. What is throwing me off is that I have one of these same plugs on the rear of the motor just forward of the timing inspection window. See picture below. Question 7: What exactly are these plugs and can I assume that this car not only has a replacement head but possibly a replacement block too? I'm disgusted. The engine in this project was the one thing I thought I had going for me. I'm just not in the mood for open heart surgery on this thing. It's a project I'm doing with my 17 year old son and it was to e his car. Anybody in the eastern Pennsylvania area that can do an EJ22 swap for me on this I'd really consider it at this point. Any answers you guys can provide will, as always, be much appreciated.

Specifically for EA81's: - easy to work on in these days of body control moduled cars - no need to worry when you see the odometer hit several hunderd thousand as they seem to just keep going - cheap to puchase.....no car payments!!!

More 85 GL

85 gl

85 gl.

xoomer.......nothing is impossible. See for yourself. Twelve pages of photo evidence. Enjoy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26905545@N07/sets/72157605926523746/detail/

I found this one on Craigslist back in the spring. Fellow from Georgia had it. Sent it thru uShip. Soda blasted it and shot it with chasis black paint. It's a Sterling unit and I think I have a picture of the Sterling sticker on there with contact info. It does fit nice, even with the seats.

Now I need to modify my tonneau cover, or just have another one made to fit around the roll bar tubes. Pic's here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26905545@N07/sets/72157605926523746/detail/?page=12

The oil pump from HELL! 1984 EA81 oil pump backing plate. Removed the pump and the rear mount was cracked in several places. When I pulled off the front pump housing this was what I was left with. How in the name of God do I go about getting this out? Barely spins if I hit it with a hammer and a dull flat blade. She's in tight. Only about 1" or so of the flat plate remaining. HELP.

Yep, I was always told you can't ever make the crank pulley bolt tight enough. Tighten the crap out of them. I had a pulley come loose on a non-Subaru car after a timing belt job I let my inspection mechanic do for me. That pulley was keyed to the front of the crank and he never got it tight enough. Naturally, from being that loose it enlarged the keyway to the point that the pulley was actually banging around on the front of the engine. Had to have the engine pulled and the crank fixed. Tighten the @#&% out of the pulley bolt. I doubt you'll strip it.

Yep, the NGK's are close right off the shelf. I think spec is .040. If it's not spec that's what I usually set them at and never had issues.

Carb leaking down? Or perhaps the gas is boiling in the carb bowl (especially if you're running gas that has ethanol or alcohol in it). Try depressing the pedal to the floor twice (don't pump, just two strong full depressions) and see if it starts any easier.

Anybody have a part number(s) for the REAR in-line filter on an EA81 (1984 GL Wagon) near the electric fuel pump? Aftermarket #'s are ok. Also, how about rear wheel cylinders? What's everyone using? NAPA #'s?

More snooping on the NAPA website. Looks like the 4-door wagons and Brat's had the bigger 7 1/2" diameter boosters. Learn something new every day. So if anyone has a verifiably good booster from a '82 thru '84 4-door wagon or '82 thru '87 Brat that you want to purge let me know.

I need to pick up a replacement power brake booster for a 1984 EA81 GL. Looking at the NAPA website they're showing two. One is a 7" diameter diaphragm and the other a 7 1/2" diaphragm. Did they actually use 2 different sizes? If so what were the applications of each, and are they interchangeable (same mounting mounting pattern, same pedal push rod dimension, same master cylinder use)? Looking at subaruparts.com they show 2 for my year application, the only difference being "brake booster - wagon" vs. "brake booster w/o wagon". Really? Wagons used what I'm guessing would be the bigger diameter unit? Without popping the canister open how do you measure for the correct diaphragm diameter? Also, if anybody has one for my application laying around and want s to trade for cash let me know.

Tremendous info, thanks. How about the swapto Hitachi. In and out, or other mods/changes required?

GD, please explain the coil/disty match-up. I believe you but I'd just like to know as a point of learning something new why the coil is different and why a mismatch would matter. Are the coils physically different so I can properly identify which coil I have? Then.....is one disty/coil setup better than the other? Why did Subaru use a different setup for the 2WD vs 4WD? If the Hitachi is better is it as simple as finding one and doing the swap or are there other mods/components that need to be swapped?

Now I'm really confused. From what I can tell this is a Nippon in a 4WD.

OK, I know there are tons of threads covering all sorts of questions and issues with both the Nippon and Hitachi distys, so no need to lecture about searching. I've done that and I'm still perplexed. The latest undertaking is a 1984 EA81 GL 4WD Wagon. What's got me thinking.....this thing appears as if it's equipped with the Nippon distributor (vented cap). I thought the Nippon's were only in the 2WD (front wheel drive) models? What vehicles actually got which distributors? Just so I'm correct in my thinking its a Nippon, apart from the vented cap what's a quick visual to determine Nippon vs. Hitachi? Also, I've read that the disty's may have been matched up with carb manufacturer. I'm planning on a Weber carb swap, so if this thing is a Nippon disty am I in for any issues that I should be aware of going in? As always, thanks in advance for any help you folks can post.

Thanks Paul. Appreciate it. Yeah, this build is a 1984 GL. Doing with my 17 year old son. Trying to teach him some stuff. I'll try to start another pic page for this one, although its not nearly as rough as the Brat was that I did. Mostly cosmetic stuff on this one.

That's what scares me! If something looks too good to be true it usually is.