Crazyeights

Congrats on the new house. It looks like you have lots of room outside to work on cars too!

+1 What he said ^^^^^

I agree with Scott on this one. The EA81 4WD 4 speed isn't really the greatest transmission to start with, hence the reason so many people swap them out for 5MTs. Even if you can find a Loyale push button single range that would be good. Like Scott said above ^^^^^ the driveline and too many other things won't fit with the 4 speed.

Try searching for "fuel surge tank" and see if that will help with ideas.

Happy Thanksgiving and a good holiday weekend to everyone at USMB

+1! These are not easy cars to put windshields in due to the type of seal involved. I had the front windshield replaced years ago on my 1983 GL Wagon due to a large crack. The car had never had a water leak until after I got it back from having the windshield replaced. Now water poured in to the little tray under the right side of the dash and soaked the carpet during every rain storm. The knife they used to cut out the old gasket also caused damage to the paint on the window channel under the rubber. I didn't find this until years later. By the time I went back in for the third warranty fix, the company had gone out of business. Fast forward a few years and I took the windshield out again to replace it. The knife cuts had spread causing rust which had to be repaired all around the window channel. I would be sure to check the cowl drain area right at the base of the windshield also. Try having a friend run the hose down in to the cowl on a dry day and make sure that's good and water tight inside the car. There is an easy way to check the gasket around the edge of the windshield too. Start the car and run it at idle for 20 minutes or so until it's fully warmed up with heater set to defrost and blower fan speed on high. Make sure all of the windows are rolled up tightly too. This should build up enough pressure inside the car that you can check all of the window gaskets by using a spray bottle of soap and water around the edge of the glass. Dish soap diluted in a spray bottle with warm water works great. You will see lots of bubbles at the areas with leaks.

By chance are the fuel pressure and return lines swapped around the wrong direction at the engine? Is the fuel pressure regulator good, and the fuel pump pressure within spec?

You'll most likely break a motor mount in short order too without the pitch stopper installed. I would drive "gently" until you install one

I am pretty sure that the inboard mounted compressor is factory installed AC vs Dealer installed on the outside of the alternator. I have one EA82T of each style.

Engines run fine on the shop floor if you don't get too crazy. I test ran my last EJ22/5MT conversion before I installed it in the car. I wanted to check the wiring harness before I pulled the EA82 out of my Wagon. I have a 5 gallon Jerry can that I fitted with an Acura fuel pump module for a fuel supply, even switched by the ECM. You can see the EJ22 and EJ 5MT under the green tarp in the corner with the fuel supply can. It sure was loud IF you want to get fancy you could make a frame with some casters and an old EA82 front cross-member to mount the engine on. [EDIT] That Brat isn't mine. It belonged to a customer, I was doing a 5 speed D/R swap for him. The EJ went in to my '92 Loyale.

Congratulations! You've come to the right place too, we like lots of pictures

@Dfoyl Thank you for all of your hard work and time. @Carfreak85 That would be Awesome Thank you for offering!

Does the cam on that side feel ok when you rotate it? Perhaps the engine was run low on oil at some point and the cam is too tight to turn properly.

Congratulations on getting it running I'm sure you will have it dialed in soon.

I'm pretty sure that the axle seals on this transmission are installed from the inside. There are two ways to deal with this that I am aware of. First is to pull the trans, split the case open, and then tap the seals out towards the inside. The second way is to pull the front axle and then remove the locking tab from the large backlash nut on the side of the transmission. Mark this big nut very carefully as it sets the preload on the front differential bearings as well as the ring and pinion gear backlash. You must reinstall the preload nut exactly the same number of turns in and to the same locking point that you marked earlier. If you put these large nuts back on in the wrong position it can destroy the transmission. Be sure to replace both the seal and the large "O" ring on the outside of the backlash nut. No more burning 90 wt gear oil smoke coming in through the heater vents

Welcome! There is a wealth of information here and lots of helpful people too.

I owned about 3/4 of a Gen II Brat for a while (rust)

+1 on what Ivan said above ^^^^^ I have had this before. If it's a manual trans then check the hill holder valve and cable to make sure it isn't being applied at the wrong time somehow.

I am down for one set with new studs please

I would like to put those graphics on my '83 Wagon

I think that's normal. I just checked and those holes are on my heads too.

Is their any possibility that the fuel pressure and return lines got swapped by accident during the surgery?

Ok Thanks

It sounds like I am being way too fussy. It looks like the general consensus is to just run them unless they have been creamed by a piston or show obvious signs of being burnt. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you for all of your opinions As far as the customers cars I work on the machine shop makes the call, so this info is just for my own projects.

I was wondering what others do to bench test valves for leakage when checking used heads or when they are off for gasket replacement etc? I know that you can spray brake cleaner down the intake and exhaust valve ports and look at the faces for leaks. Some folks pour water in the combustion chambers and use a blow gun to push air in to the ports against the back side of the valves and look for bubbles, is this a better way? It seems like almost every valve I check with brake cleaner seeps a little bit, yet they were running fine? Is lapping in this situation recommended or will that just accelerate wear and make it worse?