el_freddo

Maybe I got that wrong then - I thought they were all hydro, the imports were solid lifters... Yeah I didn't think the 14 litres of water and oil I drained out was important to the issue at hand: Still going: It had apparently sat for 6 months with this mix in the engine. I thought it'd be a dead engine due to over heating and a severely blown head gasket - but it turned out to be a popped welch plug: And this is what I found once the heads were off: Hmmm... yummy! So it's taken me six months to get it from the clean up after finding the above on the engine stand to being on the floor ready to go in. It then took me a week to get it back in and running - on all four pots Cheers Bennie

Hydraulic lifter. I backed off the rocker arms on the side in question until I could make a tiny tapping noise with the lifter arm on the valve stem. Fired up beautifully - got a little bit of lifter tick (to be expected) but it runs and I'm very happy with that. No smoke after the initial burn off of the oil we put in the cylinder - much much less than what came out when I first fired it up! Now to replace the water pump, ball joints, engine and gearbox mounts, sort out why the interior fan, radio and thermo fans aren't working, replace rear diff seals, replace damaged front guard and clean the interior then it's off for a road worthy. Can't wait for that day! Thanks for the suggestions guys. Hopefully this thread might help someone else out if they use the search function. Cheers Bennie

Diff output stubs can be swapped for the EJ units. Problem is pulling the EA 5spd PT gearboxes apart is a PITA to do. Worth the effort in my opinion - you can use off the shelf drive shafts then. It's also a good time to drop a front LSD in there I kind of find this funny as in Australia we're using adaptor plates to mate EJ engines into the EA vehicles. I only know of one EA gearbox being fitted into an EJ vehicle and that was a FT4wd locking centre diff unit to a H6 - went well until the incorrect use of the centre diff wore it out (unlocked on sand). Otherwise it went very well! Cheers Bennie

I don't have the gear to do a compression test until I can steal dad's unit. The head gaskets and inlet manifold gaskets have all been replaced. The downside to this engine is that when I got it the guy said "it just stopped dead on the side of the road one day" and had sat like that for 6 months - engine was full of water as a welch plug had let go. I thought it was a head gasket. The engine was pulled down to a short block, all the muck cleaned out and the surface rust removed with some sand paper. Bores *looked* good after this, cylinder 1 was the worst with some tiny pitting at the top of the cylinder, but it's one of the working cylinders. Hence my thought that I need to look at the valves on the non working side of the engine. This engine could be a loss, but I want to look at every possibility before I come to that decision and decide on what to do after that. Cheers Bennie

G'day all, I've finally got my red targa brumby's engine to fire up - but it's only running on one side of the engine (driver's side to the US crew). I've checked plugs and leads, swapped the working side to the non working side without any change, swapped a good set of leads in without change. When I remove plugs 2 & 4 there's no change in it's operation. Would I be correct in thinking that I need to play with the valve clearances? Cheers Bennie

You'll be surprised how rust can hold the CV end cups onto the stub shafts! Very painful situation to be in All the best with it. Cheers Bennie

^^ And that's how you'd want them to look! Cheers Bennie

My L series wagon has the same issue - but in the heat! It's the instrument cluster for some reason... The brumby with the factory 6 gauge instrument cluster doesn't have this issue... Cheers Bennie

Phiz have you looked into the stock carb from the ford 6 cylinders? They look like they'd fit well, they're dime a dozen. Apart from that I don't really know much more on them (as you know I'm pro EFI - but understand what you're trying to achieve!). It'll be great once you get it up and running - then the real fun beings! Cheers Bennie

I would say that the best EA81 blower set up would be with EFI - either a set of turbo heads running the turbo wiring or even the EA82 MPFI wiring. Or go with the SPFI setup. You would need to watch the richness of the mixture in the exhaust gases for a while to make sure it wasn't leaning out when on boost. Tweety (on here and ausubaru.com) did a draw through setup with a side draft weber I think they were - datsun units I believe. A draw through unit will eventually eat the teflon coating from the supercharger fins/blades/whatever you want to call them - some say this is not an issue, but who knows... Tweety did have issues with his fuel economy - too high for his liking plus the block started having blow by issues as you could imagine. Shoving a blower on a well used engine that's been built for NA will show up all sorts of blow by issues. Ultimately you need to build up an engine specifically for boost. I'm pretty sure he loved the power the supercharger provided though. Now he's managed to source a SPFI unit in Oz and is running that - after a lot of fine tuning and troubleshooting he's finally seeing the smooth running and simple start that he's been chasing. There was one in QLD that I've seen on facebook as well - I think that one's been parted out, but it showed a good setup that fitted under the bonnet... Cheers Bennie

If you've managed to bend both rear wheels to a new angle you've "done things well". Just not the type of well that you're after! Depending on what you find it could be time for a new rear subframe. But you could've just bent both rear swing arms - still a huge effort to do that! Cheers Bennie

If you're going to destroy a gearbox like this, send it my way and I'll sort you out with a PT4wd gearbox. The part time gearbox would be stronger for this application, but as with all subaru gearboxes, the rear output shaft gears are the weak link in running RWD. That gearbox you've got is not something to weld up like that! Save a good gearbox and get a run of the mill PT4wd box Cheers Bennie

G'day mate, To hook up the fans to make them ECU controlled you need to use plug F47, wire 17. This is an earth switched wire, same as the stock EA radiator thermo switch. You can wire it straight into that factory wiring if you've got your fans hooked into that, just make sure it's NOT on the earth wire side of the radiator switch With the ECU controlling the thermo fans they should switch on and off as needed. If they're on all the time you need a new temp sensor - the brown plug, two wire unit on the coolant crossover pipe under the intake manifold - it's a PITA to get to! I'm still working on my radiator situation too. Your setup looks neat - I personally wouldn't worry about it, after having seen the pics I think it's neat and effective. If you don't want 5 lug anymore "feel free" to ship the rear end setup to me!! Cheers Bennie

I wouldn't say this thread is old... I'm yet to get the stock EA81 going - then I'll mess around with the MPFI setup. Does anyone know if the crank pulley on the EA81T is a direct swap with an EA82 unit? I'm thinking it's not as the EA81 crank pulley from memory also runs on the oil seal... I'm keen to get my hands onto one of these and the bracket set for the EA82 AC/alternator setup - or does the stock EA82 unit bolt straight on? More questions! Cheers Bennie

All good, we've got the message. While this is not an autocad file it's certainly one way of producing your own adaptor plate. Cheers Bennie

Top effort mate - especially having a little man child to deal with too! Hope you get many years of happy trouble free motoring from this conversion! Regards Bennie

Sorry I forget that you don't have the same sort of constraints that we do over here with chassis rail modifications! For example, to drop an EJ20G into a Brat you need an engineer's report for the chassis modifications (some are hesitant to sign off) - but you also need one for the engine anyway. Same goes for any EJ in and MY or L series... Cheers Bennie

I made a set of shims from two shims used in the steering column of old holdens - these still needed to be ground down a fair bit. If you had some flat bar steel 4 or 5mm thick you could grind yourself a set - just takes time. Be sure to drill the hole first, otherwise drilling on an angle after grinding will be fun... I've never had an issue with engine mounts, but I've always run these shims too. I'm currently running the EA82 engine mounts in the front hole of the EJ engine mount plate and have sleeved the gearbox crossmember holes for the gearbox mounts. This effectively pushes my drive train back about 15-20mm; so far that I've found the back of the sump rubs on the engine crossmember (now that I've got the engine out) - no noise there though. I've heard to avoid the round engine mounts like the plague for an EJ into an L series/MY as they don't last long. Cheers Bennie

Yes they do. The EA81s between the US and Australia are pretty much the same thing - emissions could be slightly different but the main bulk of parts are interchangeable. Further to this have you tried out ausubi for some local knowledge? Cheers Bennie

I'm sorry if I've got my "negative hat" on - but are you sure you don't have a head gasket issue? To be able to see steam out the back of a vehicle travelling at cruise it's usually piped out there through the exhaust. A puddle on top of the engine that leaks further down onto the exhaust would not create enough steam to see out the back of a car unless it's very cold and dry. Check your compression on each cylinder and see what comes up. Also, is your oil milky? I do hope that it's not a head gasket issue, but I would like to know that you have thoroughly tested for a HG leak. Regards Bennie

All that awesome work mate, then the final moment of that first turn of the key - only to have it not do what you want it to do most Just read your thread from start to finish. Very impressive! I wish I had the skill and patience to do that sort of rust work that you've conquered! One question: Did you have the front and rear windows removed for the respray? I couldn't tell if they were installed or not when it left for the paint job. Keep up the good work! After all that I'd be inclined to keep it at stock height - it looks friggin' AWESOME!! Cheers Bennie

I've seen a guy shatter the cast alloy backing plate on the rear diff. If he had a bash plate on the rear diff this would not have happened. You never know what is possible in terms of damage. The way the suspension moves while traversing rocky terrain can see all sorts of things up under your vehicle, especially if you're not experienced enough to know better - or you slide over something you're trying to avoid... Over here the very least of protection is a sump guard/front bash plate... I've got an L series that I'm planning to build a guard for the fuel tank, I'm on my second one now (partly due to going EFI and I had a suitable tank available) - granite rocks that can move are great at damaging your underbody. I've got a ripper "battle scar" in front of my rear right wheel in the sill panel - I don't know how it got there nor did I feel or hear anything happen until I saw it once home. Cheers Bennie

Breaking that into paragraphs would have made it an easier read - but what an effort and an achievement! Dual use area... Are there specific days of the year that will be closed off annually for the Marine's training or will dates change from year to year? Very interesting to read that there is a city that acknowledges the positive economic impact of the wider 4wd'n community contributes! In Australia this would only occur for main annual events that occur - and maybe a bit for the remote communities such as Birdsville etc out near the Simpson Desert... Make sure you all keep using this area now that it's secured! Regards Bennie

Nah should be fine - have the fans hooked up for when the sender on the engine or ECU wants it - I definitely wouldn't have one in the radiator! The thermostat won't instantly close, it'll reduce the amount of flow into the engine (EJ setup) enough to maintain a good operating temp. If it doesn't work as required go with a smaller radiator or insulate the return pipe from the rad to the engine/run one thermo fan etc etc. Cheers Bennie

If this is the earlier style brat I reckon you'll need more lift than that to clear the EJ in the engine bay from what I've seen with these. Cheers Bennie