spikedbeetle

GD, 400 grit sounds about like the finish they had. They felt smooth. They just weren't "reflective". So, I guess that is good news. I will still post pics of the heads and possibly the gaskets to get opinions. I am kind-of hoping that I just undertorqued everything so I can just clean things up and put it back it back together.

Good to know about the silicone. I was hoping to spend the day changing gaskets and getting everything re-assembled, but my gaskets aren't here yet. I will post a picture of the head surfaces when I pull them off. They were certainly not mirror smooth when I got them back from the machine shop. I wondered about the grooves when I picked them up, but I figured that a well known machine shop would do it right. This could be a possible explain for the even seepage. Maybe when I get the heads off, I will be able to tell if that had anything to do with it. Thanks for all the info.

I just found an old thread about retorqing heads. There was a point made by someone that the old nuts on the old studs can have extra friction from rust and other crap causing the torque readings to be off. I guess I will oil up the threads this time and run the nuts on and off a few times to clean them up good. Then I will overtorque by 5-10lbs as suggested earlier. I caught the leak pretty quick. No milshake stuff. I will drain the oil to check it, and probably just change it for good measure even though it's only been in there for 30 miles. I have had a couple people tell me they put a very thin film of a high temp silicone on both sides of the gaskets. You guys have any opinions on doing this?

I took the heads to a machine shop for a valve job and resurfacing. They said the heads were flat but cleaned them up just cause. I got the torque #'s and sequencing order from a subaru dealer. I stood there while they looked them up and then printed of the papers for me. Here are some pics of the even seepage. I guess I will check the heads against the block for block warpage. I am more of an experimentor than a mechanic. All the measurements are as close to as exact as I could get. I am just wondering if I was pushing the gas pedal too far too soon. How long should I wait to step on all the way?

Thanks for the 2 cents. Those are sealed up good. When I started the car yesterday, I only let it run for a minute or two and I could see coolant seeping out the top of the heads. I am thinking about some minor sheet metal trimming so I don't actually have to pull the engine. Wishful thinking. I guess it only takes about 20-30 min. to get it out anyway. I just ordered a set of gaskets. They were $42 shipped for the pair.

Suck! Just when I thought I had everything fixed. I started the car up to warm the engine. It started to blow some steam out the exhaust. I guess I will be pulling the engine...again...I went ahead and checked my torque just to satisfy my curiosity. I set my wrench to 72ft lbs. It clicked right away. I also checked my oil to find what looked like water droplets mixed in. I guess i will be making a trip to autozone in the near future for some new gaskets. I just have a few questions for the next time so I wont have to do this again. What are you guys for touque settings? What is the proper procedure for assembling the engine? I know the torque pattern. I mean, how long do I run it? When do I torque and retorque? And most importantly, how long do I have to wait before I can roast the tires and drive 80+mph? How do I not get leaky gaskets? I am just about ready to go back to air-cooled. Will it hurt the engine to let it sit with antifreeze in the cicyndars? Possibly for a few months...

I got the engine from a junk yard. I wasn't sure if it would run or not, so I took the heads off to see what the insides looked like. I could still see almost all of the factory crosshatching. I took the heads to a machine shop while they were off and got them worked over. New seals, valves, resurfaced, etc...I feel pretty confident the heads are good, I am just wondering if my torque wrench is off or if the recent cold weather had something to do with it. I guess I will try adding a few pounds of torque and see what happens, If I can really get good gaskets for $15 ea. I will only really be out time.

Thanks...I used felpro gaskets and was very careful about torquing the heads to exact specs. I guess if you guys give an extra 5-10 pounds, I may try that to see if it works. If I do have to get more and start over, where do you get the permatorque gaskets, and what is the difference? How do they work? I had to buy a complete gasket set to get the set on my car.

I recently had my heads rebuilt. I heard I am supposed to re-tourque them after 100 miles or so. I have coolant leaking or seeping out of my head gaskets. Is this normal after 3-4 hours run time? Will re-torquing fix this or do I have to put new gaskets on again?

So, let's say I drove around in my beetle-( EA81 ) engine for let's say 20-30 min at 70-80MPH with the egr outlet on the head wide open. I am running dual carbs with custom intake manifolds and this area was plugged, but the plug came out sometime on my trip tonight. I will try to start the car up tommorrow after work, but I just want to know if this could have caused any damage. Thanks

TristanJ I have a question about the galvanic corrosion. I am running mild steel lines with my setup. My filler tank is bolted directly to my firewall. The tank is steel. Will I have any problems with corrosion if I use a good antifreeze? I have put a lot of work into this and do not want to have problems. I will isolate the cooling system from the car somehow if I need to. I would appreciate your input. thanks You can see my cooling system in this thread. http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=103498&highlight=spikedbeetle

I know it's a dumb word, but that is what it is. My subaru powered beetle can chirp. I just taped the tips on to try them out. I wont use them most of the time. Just for shows and stuff. But here it is.

Fuel pressure regulator?

I would use metal tubing as oppesed to hose to get the fluid front to back. Then rubber coolant hose for the angles you need. I have seen a thread on volks-swap or bb.bbboy.net where someone used a marine grade hose for their coolant lines. $8ft. You can get metal tubing for $1ft.

I am considering organizing a drag race and or autocross event probably at a local airport. I want to get an idea of how many people would be interested before I pick a date and get started. I would try to organize it for somewhere between Spanish Fork and Provo Utah. I would like to try to do it this year, but it all depends on the weather. It may have to wait until spring. Just reply if interested, and I will take a count from there.

Thanks tedbull. I think you will really like it in a buggy. Even this little motor with the dual carbs has more than enough power to be fun. I am going to edit and compile a better vid for youtube, but here is a short clip for now. It would have spun well into second had I not let off the gas...

My brother and I just completed our subaru to VW swaps. His engine is an all subaru EA81 solid lifter engine. Mine is a hydraulic lifter EA81 with dual carbs and a "tuned" exhaust. (both my own setup) His feels like a good daily driver. Mine can do donuts, gives a lot harder kick in the seat, and will leave a lot more rubber on the road. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=103498

Well, I have no need for a vacuum tool. I simply timed the engine to the 8 degrees BTDC instead of to TDC. I still have a little carb tuning to do, but HOLY COW! It wants to MOVE! I Reved it up to maybe 2500 rpm and left two 8 foot long stripes in front of my house and when I turned around at the end of the road to come back, I lightly stepped on the gas and spun right around. This was over an hour ago and I am still giggling to myself. I will try to make a short vid Saturday if my brother can come and help me with it. I took my wife up and down the street once. She told me to warn her next time I want to take off like that. It is a good feeling to finally have it all working right.

What do you mean by 8 degrees on the gun? should it be timed to the TD mark on the flywheel or the 8 on the flywheel?

I have heard that having the distributor off one tooth can create a loss of power. I am working on an EA81 I have my car timed to the mark on the flywheel. I have a serious lack of power. My distributor is turned all the way to one side to get the timing correct. This motor is in a VW and I may still be thinking VW. Does the position of the shaft really matter if the timing is on or is the "computer" inside my distributor hooked up to an indicator on the shaft somehow making the correct timing a two part thing? I have tried to search for the answer to not repeat. This is what got me thinking about a possible indicator. Thanks for any help.

Thanks for the reply, When I put the heads back on, I marked the real TDC on the pulley. It does not match up with the notch in the pulley. The marks on the flywheel match the factory notch in the pulley. That is where I timed it to. The distributor is maxed out to one side of the adjusment bolt. (Not centered) How would a tooth off make a difference if the timing is on? I am pretty sure the carbs are jetted correctly. My bug motor was making about 70-75 horse. These carbs are supposed to run at about 1-1/2 psi. I can't get it set exactly. I either get 1 or 2 psi. I have no way to check how much vacuum I am pulling right now. I may be able to borrow a tool in the next couple of days.

I got everthing sealed up and put a 180 degree thermostat in. I let it idle up to 180 and took it up and down the street. I got home and let it keep idling while I tried to tune the carbs. It eventually got up to about 200 and my fan turned on and maintained the temp. I am very happy about that. Now I just need to figure out to get it tuned right. Any advice on basic tuning would be greatly appreciated. It idles great. It just doesn't seem to accelerate like it should. I step on the gas and it makes a lot more noise and little more power. As of right now. My bug engine was a lot faster. This engine sounds solid. I don't really know what I'm doing. What vacuum level should I be pulling at the distributor?

Isn't it great! I was actually thinking I could put the little vw chrome exhaust tips on with the built in glasspacks to see if I can get the chirpy sound.

I wish I would have known this were possible. I had to make my intake flanges by hand using a dremmel tool and hack saw. about 7-8 hours of work. I got my exhaust flanges from coneeng.com You can get collecters and bends there as well. That's where I got all my parts.