GeneralDisorder

Yes, but with an EA71 you will still be limited to the 200m clutch setup as the EA81 flywheel will not bolt up. You could probably redrill an EA81 flywheel but for all the work it would just be easier to drop in an EA81 in the first place and get the added 10 HP. GD

You sure you didn't get the heads mixed up and reverse them? Unlikely your machine shop had a set of EA82 MPFI non-turbo heads laying around. GD

It depends on the year. Later EA71's were more powerful. It just isn't worth it. For $850 I can buy a couple EJ22 donor cars and have more power and more reliability. There is no Subaru engine more solid. Period. Plus it will get better mileage. Never said it was impossible - I said it wasn't worth it. And it isn't. Not in a car anyway. Aircraft...... different story. GD

There should be some form of vacuum choke pull-off that assists in unloading the choke when you open the main circuit. Check that as it needs to operate - especially when the engine is already warm. There is a fast idle cam attached to the choke linkage that increases the idle speed when the choke is on - sounds like your's is not adjusted or not working properly. Cold idle should be around 1500 RPM and drop down in a two stages as the cam pulls off with the choke. Make sure the tach is correct. I've seen a few that stick right above the idle speed. So it looks like it's idling at 1000 or 1200 but it's not. I have to smack the top of the dash above the tach on my '83 hatch as it sticks in that region. Most of the time I don't bother with it. GD

I use loctite in "glue stick" form on the OD of the seal. The trick is to get them started straight and work your way around the seal slowly with a small ball-peen (if you don't have the right driver tool). GD

There is no max operating angle. That is to say that it's not a linear drop-off for the operating angle vs. speed graph. As the angle gets larger, the safe operating speed drops off. Also the forces at work trying to tear the axle apart increase as the angle increases - a failure ALWAYS occurs at a given angle AND speed - consider the boundery condition - 0 MPH and max angle allowed by the joint - it will never fail because it isn't turning. Similarly the opposite end of the spectrum - 0 degree's of angle: it will still fail if spun fast enough. Centrifugal forces will tear it apart. Not that either of these examples are real life by any stretch - but they serve to illustrate the point. Which is merely that the question asked is unvalid - it does not have an answer. As to the aformentioned graph - one surely could be produced but perhaps no one ever has and likely no one ever will. Experience and rule's of thumb's must govern here in all likelyhood. GD

The thin metal "gaskets" are shim stock spacers. They are almost certainly metric and are used to set the R&P gear lash. If you change the case, gears, bearings, or any combination of these items you need to reset the clearances for optimal lash settings. GD

Yeah - try the Autozone web site. I was quoted like $40 each from one of the stores and I brought in the web price and they matched it. Something about them being a franchise I think. Anyway - they aren't real bad. I always use them but get most of the other stuff from the dealer. GD

For $80 they are a worthwhile investment if you are planning to work on Subaru's or even other vehicles in the future. That can be a lot of money for a one-time job but I bet for $20 or less you could rent one for the day at any rental place - probably be a nicer unit too. In any case, a full set of the 6 ton jack stands from harbor freight is almost a must to drop out a tranny without a lift. You need the height and even with them I still have to turn the tranny on it's side while it's on the tranny jack to get it to roll under the engine cross-member. Oh - and invest in some kitty litter or dry sweep. There's almost no getting around spilling a bit of gear oil. I have a driveline end from an EA81 that I slip on to the tailshaft of Subaru transmissions to keep the gear oil in. GD

Yeah - heat isn't an issue - the quarter should be fine. I usually just remove the threaded portion from the pipe, drop a fender washer in there and weld it in place. GD

Yeah - replace the cap first. No rot in those areas on mine - no rot at all really. Just minor surface rust where the paint is wearing through. Maybe due to the camper this one had on it for most of it's life. I'll have to check closer when I get a chance. Finally got it running right today. Some hinky work was done to it by a short-term previous owner and I have about three vehicles worth of engine parts under the hood - not everything matches up. Can't see the timing marks on the balancer as they are behind the water pump . Engine came from a Van apparently. One thing I don't have to worry about is the cooling system - as part of the towing package they ordered the heavy duty cooling system. It's got a 4 row radiator in it It must hold like 4 gallons of coolant. Good luck with getting it running. Mine's been a real pain fixing all the stuff that was wrong with the engine install from the last people that tried to fix the truck. GD

Autozone has them individually for like ~$15 each or something. As far as I know Fel-Pro only makes the PT head gaskets for EA's - they don't make one that *isn't* a perma-torque model. Seepage is definitely not normal. Did you check the heads for flatness with a metal straight-edge? I always add 5 and round up on the torque. The torque on these is fairly light to begin with and I don't get my torque insturment's calibrated often enough so a little CYA is called for. Experience has shown they handle it without trouble. GD

Solenoid's can stick open or closed - but that has no bearing on the continuity of the driver coil inside. You have two parts in them that can fail independently - the driver coil (which the ECU can detect and report with a code 34/35), or the valve itself (which the ECU cannot detect). Any and all combinations of driver/valve failure can and do occur resulting in four distinct states that the valve failure can fall into. Not all of them act the same. A faulty CTS that reports warm when the engine is cold could cause the solenoid to function I suppose - but it wouldn't run for beans when cold as it would have no cold enrichment and in any case that can be ruled out with a simple Ohm test of the CTS. EGR failure (either because of the solenoid or the EGR valve) in and of itself should not change mixture settings in the ECU, and it's functioning will not reduce HC's to any great extent. It's pupose is to reduce Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) which contribute to smog. Working or not - it will not change how the engine idles, runs, or drives. Now if the EGR failure or solenoid failure has caused a gigantic vacuum leak - that's another story entirely. That can cause HUGE HC problems at idle as it will cause a severe miss where entire cylinder's of fuel/air are expelled through the exhaust completely unburned. GD

You will want a 4WD rear assembly as they have MUCH heavier bearings in them. You just knock out the roll pin on the outer end of the drive axle and remove them. Functionally the same but the 4WD stuff will be easier to get brake parts for (if you are using the brakes), and the bearings are completely different and much bigger. Finding one will be the trick - we have members here from Indiana, and there aren't really any of those bodies left out your way. Getting scarce even here on the West coast where we only crush them for fun (no rust). You want an '80 to '84 basically. Exceptions being the hatch and Brat which ran to '89 and '87 respectively. '79 will be different and not what you want as they use two seperate torsion bars set at compound angles to the body. There were never any payload capacity differences between the different bodies. They all used the same torsion bars (except 2WD vs. 4WD). These are not heavy capacity assemblies. Max capacity WITH passengers for an EA81 is 800 lbs. I've seen them do more, but 500 lbs will easily max out the torsion bars. There won't be any travel left at that weight and it will likely ride on the bump stops. You might also look at the old Datsun 510's etc. They had torsion bar IRS IIRC - just avoid the wagon's as those had solid axles. GD

I have 6 ton jackstands (for the height) and a transmission jack from Harbor Frieght ($80). Works excelent. I've done more than I care to remember. Before I had my current setup my procedure was to block the front of the trans in stages while supporting the back with a rope through the shifter hole in the tunnel - wrap it around the tail section and slam the loose end in the door. Then block up the front of the trans or have someone hold it while you slide under and bench-press it into place. Hated doing them but I did a lot that way before buying my current gear. No question it's easier now. Still a lot of moving around and always a bit of fighting to get them lined up and slid into the pilot bearing. If you have an engine hoist then use that to pick up the front of the trans and the rope to pick up the rear then slide under and manuever it around. The inexpensive tranny jack is much better though as you have height and angle control from under the car - beats moving around to all the posistions to line everything up using the rope/hoist methods. GD

You will have to get them from a junkyard or donor car - EA81 parts are not simply picked up from a catalog. Major components like blocks and heads you will need to source used and rebuild or have rebuilt. Delta cam has grinds for the EA81 - they will regrind your core. Price is under $100 to have the cam ground. The rest of the stuff is going to depend on where you pick up the parts from. Timing belts are nothing to be afraid of. Belts are availible for the 22 that last 105k even - replaced twice in the life of the engine. No big deal at all. EA71/81 are just as much maintenance keeping the seals from leaking, and the valves in proper adjustment. I've owned more than you have ever seen of both. Torn them up/down/sideways and rebuilt a number of them from the ground up. Hands down the EJ22 is the better engine. I'll take the t-belt motor any day for the ability to swap cams easily, more power and more potential for power. The maintenance is a lot less on the EJ's simply because you aren't dealing with a carb that wants attention all the time. Instead of random failures that leave you frustrated and unhappy you have controled, scheduled down-time that is actually very simple and pleasureable. GD

Not true. Both distributors have the same advance curve. GD

Nice truck. I just got a '69 GMC Custom Camper that I've been working on. Just a 2WD but it's got the monster heavy duty camper suspention - Dana 60 Power Lok 8 lug rear end, etc. 350 Q-Jet with a 4 speed. Actually this will be my first personal truck. Worked on plenty of the Chevy's in the Army (CUCV, etc), but never had my own till now. Mine's got a little more surface rust than your Ford there, but real straight and no chassis rust at all. I've been working on getting it driving again - been sitting for a couple years. I'll see about getting some pics. GD

Remove the clutch fan for testing - you don't need it anyway. It was only equipped on engines with AC. And with temps in the teens - you can pitch that sucker in the weeds. Once you have the fan off you can check the surface of the radiator to be sure the temp is uniform across it. If you find any cold spots that would indicate poor flow through that section. Just pouring water in one end and seeing it come out the other is not a good indicator of radiator condition. Heater core's are not part of the primary cooling system except to heat the cabin. Even if it's clogged it wouldn't cause overheating. Flow through the heater core by-pass lines is not neccesary for proper cooling system function. Additionally - a leak in the radiator will bleed off system pressure. Pressure is what allows the coolant to rise to temps above the boiling point without flashing off to steam (think pressure cooker). You may have low pressure due to the leaks, causing steam bubbles to form - steam does not circulate and the bubbles will stop the flow of coolant. You need the system to hold pressure or it will boil and not circulate properly. This is particularly critical with EA82 cooling systems. Any air bubbles OR pressure leaks that lead to steam bubble formation WILL cause overheating. It's just the nature of the EA82's - they have very little overhead in terms of cooling capacity. Any small thing that's wrong will expose their weakness. GD

When everything goes electric it's going to be like building PC's or RC cars. You just buy the peices you want and bolt it all together. And people that drive an HP or Dell will get laughed at. GD

You think the EJ22 is worthless, and high maintenance? You're nuts kid. The EJ22 is very little more maintenance than an EA pushrod. Timing belt and associated components every 60k. That's about it. No valve adjustments every 15k, no leaking cork gaskets. And it's worth the 2 hour timing belt job every 60k for TWICE the HP and better mileage. As I pointed out - your EA71 is a very bad place to start. You have no transmission options and it will be almost impossible to find a replacement top-starter 4 speed when you blow the thing up. You need to swap it out to at *least* an EA81 and associated side-mount starter transmission to insure you will have availible parts to keep it on the road. The EA71 is a dead platform as is the top-starter transmission. They are good for Museum restorations - that's about it. Think of it as your first performance upgrade - the EA81 will net you 10 HP instantly. GD

Interesting - I heard that Subaru was supposed to be putting out a gear oil forumation for their race cars to the dealers to sell. I don't know of that ever came to pass - I think it was said that it was only availible in 5 gallon units at a pretty unreasonable price for the average user. They were apparently considering selling it in quarts if there was enough demand..... Never did hear what came of that but then I haven't been looking for it either. So it's just a matter of no one makes a "perfect" gear lube for our transmissions - at least not for the performance minded folks that want to shift them like they are going around a track every day..... GD

My EA81 is very little different from my '69 GMC - except the carb is simpler on the EA81 and the engine is more reliable - good for 3x the mileage. In my world - simpler is better. Seems to work for me anyway. GD

Nothing really - I've used both styles of the NGK's and as long as you gap them per the engine spec there shouldn't be much problem. There *shouldn't* be a problem with the Bosch stuff either - but there seems to be. No one has good luck running them in Subaru's. Don't know what the reason is for this, but a lot of folks have had bad experiences with them. Besides - the NGK's are cheaper anyway. All the EJ's seem to benefit from bi-annual plug/wire changes. Especially the turbo's. GD

Specially forumlated MT fluids and/or ATF (which is now very common in the newer MT's being built) can take advantage of the transmission not having the hypoid diff - it requires a formulation that protects against the heavy loading of the hypoid gear teeth. More sulferizing compounds from what I've read. Anyway - the Hypoid puts a requirement on the gear oil that doesn't jive with the fluids that make for pretty shifting. There is nothing out of the ordinary with the Subaru syncro design. It's about the same thing that you will find in any other transmission. GD