GeneralDisorder

The 96 and up EJ22's were a redesign pushing more HP (147 IIRC) with solid lifters as part of a larger performance upgrade - the valve train was redesigned for the solid lifters as hydro's cause drag on the cam lobes and thus decrease performance . The EJ22 was phased a few short years later. When people around here talk of the bulletproof EJ22 they are mostly refering to the 90 - 94 EJ22e and EJ22g (turbo). I get what you are saying, but you have to remember that this post is about the EA82 and the EJ22 is a completely different animal altogether. EJ's are to EA's what small-blocks are to big-blocks. Funny you should mention that. I use vacuum gauges everday. Digital ones even! A lot of the pumps I work on are rated in Torr. I work on some that can pull 0.5 Torr. And I have a 1940's combi gauge that reads 24 inches of vacuum clockwise and 12 psi (fuel) pressure counter-clockwise. It's got a special hook for hanging it under the hood. Pretty neato actually. GD

Only way is to either remove the valves and visually inspect it, or have them pressure tested. Pressure testing and then surfaceing if they pass might be the way to go in leiu of removing otherwise properly functioning low-mileage valves. Absolutely. But in practice this is a very tiny hole for it to leak through. Even at idle RPM's this size leak is negligable. And as the engine revs to higher RPM it becomes even less of an issue. Engines all leak some compression - past the rings, past the valve seats, etc. One of the reasons you compare compression test numbers to each other and not to other engines (even of the same model) is that, within reason, the differences you see on a gauge aren't going to make a whole lot of difference in the way it will run. Given two engines of the same model with one testing at 125 psi on all cylinders, and the other testing at 175 psi on all cylinder.... you wouldn't be able to tell which was which with them idling. Because at the speeds the engine runs at the differences become almost non-existant. Cylinder pressures are high for such a short time that the a hole of that size doesn't have the flow capacity to adversely affect the runability. GD

Never heard of it. EJ22's are absolutely bulletproof engines. All the dealer tech's I've talked with have said they don't see EJ22's with mechanical failures of any kind before 300k. And there hasn't been any talk of that on this board that I'm aware of. The EJ22, along with the EA81, are considered the most reliable engines Subaru has made to date. The EA82T, and the EJ25 phase I are the least reliable. Neither are particularly bad save for some specific defects that are quite common. GD

I don't know the purpose of the hose, but I suspect it's a road draft tube or a condesate drain.... or a road draft condensate drain EA82's have the battery on the drivers side and the can on the passenger side. EA81's are opposite. In either case though the can is opposite the battery in all stock configurations that I can recall. I would get a printout of the parts breakdown for the SPFI evap system to show the guy. Functionally the different ports are just additional vapor inlets - only one of the ports on any can is going to be the vapor discharge. Perhaps reason with the man - multiple inlets for multiple fuel reserviors makes sense - you just don't have the fuel reservoir that's inside a carb. GD

And that's exactly what we keep telling people but some folks won't listen. On the EA82T's though, the cracks can extend down to the cooling jackets in extreme cases resulting in coolant leaking from the exhaust port. The service bulletin is only a CYA on Subaru's part for *stock* engines. When you start to modify things (as in the case of some of the heavily built EA82T's that have come and gone in the past) you quickly find that these cracks become a problem. Subaru redesigned the heads twice in an attempt to overcome this problem but never did solve it. GD

Yeah - the crack's are usually pretty deep like that. As long as they don't extend into the water jacket you are fine. The cracking has little to do with mileage - it's a design fault. It only takes a few heating/cooling cycles for them to crack down through there. That, and being they are deep as you see is the primary reason all attempts to fix the cracks by peening them shut or stiching them with pins invariably fails. It's also one of the big reasons the stock EA82T heads will never make big power. GD

Looks good - one less thing to worry about failing. Cleans up the bay a bit as well. Everything is going acording to plan eh? GD

I coat both sides of the gasket and let them fully cure before installing them. GD

That's just silly. Engines come in many flavors, shapes, and sizes. It's just as easy to design an engine where the flywheel should be moved when installing the belts as it is to design one where it should be stationary. In the case of the EA82, the engine is non-interference and cannot be harmed from incorrect timing belt installation. The worst that will happen is you will have to redo the timing. The reason the flywheel is rotated 360 degrees after the drivers side cam is installed is because the cams are at their unloaded (all valves more or less closed) state when the timing mark is straight up so it's easier to position them there. Moving the flywheel with the belts off is not going to do any harm to any engine unless you time it improperly. All engines have methods by which they can be timed if the position of the flywheel is unknown. GD

1. Phantom Grip makes an LSD for the FRONT diff. Rear is no problem as LSD's were offered as stock items, and most folks that want massive grip in the rear weld their diffs anyway as LSD's generally suck with large tires. 2. A vacuum air locker or manual locker for the rear diff would be a cool thing..... unfortunately unless you also build chromoly stubs the effort is largely wasted. The whole rear end setup is one giant fuse - each component that you make stronger will just break other things till you reach the tranny and blow the gears out of it. They weren't designed for the load some of us are putting on it. GD

Depends on how you build the lift. Personally I leave them down as that allows the front springs to be softer and allows for more travel. If you want them cranked up you could easily build a lift that would correct the camber with them that way - just add about 1" to the engine cross-member/control arm lift blocks. GD

Not the EA81's I own. If you coat the cork gaskets for the valve covers and oil pan in RTV and let it set up they don't absorb oil and become hard. RTV resists the heat and oil so doesn't stop sealing like the cork does. Really once you address those two problem gaskets the rest of the engine is generally leak free. I haven't owned a leaky EA81 in years. GD

Yeah - if you can't I'm sure we can come up with some and send you half a dozen. I'm sure I have a few from the SPFI harnesses I've stripped out. GD

You can remove the rear section but not the front. The front section holds all the tranny fluid in. But if you get all 4 wheels up in the air you should be able to detect any play in the joints. They are, unfortunately, staked in place and according to official documentation "not repairable", however they can be removed (with some effort) if you are careful and there are joints (for a toyota I beleive) that can be fitted. It's generally better to find a good used one unless you think you'll need to do it again in the life of the vehicle. The "solution" is the same as for the driveline - remove each one and see if it makes a difference. I'll tell you right now your rear axles aren't the cause though - I have never seen one fail on a non-lifted Subaru of the 4WD vintage. Your description sounds like either a bad u-joint or, quite possibily, a bad front inner DOJ. The inner axle joints are a type of CV known as a Double Offset Joint - when they fail, or lose their grease protection, they vibrate to an obscene degree. GD

I was always warned in the military never to ride a blackhawk or chinook if there wasn't hydraulic fluid leaking from everywhere....... no leaks means it's got no fluid That's cool that you have in-shop calibration though. We just had a fiasco at work because of a broken Snap-On torque wrench - had to track down equipment that was already out the door and tear it partially down to check torque on some critical fasteners. GD

If you actually called for a price you would be surprised to find they are rather affordable. All gen II Brat's use the same light, the lenses are still availible, and that's about the only place you'll find them. Think - before you speak. And when you need parts - try the wanted section (after you call the dealer). And I don't have a club. Don't want one either. I don't like people. GD

I have got into the habit on the EA's of going to 55 Ft/lbs final torque so as not to require a retorque later - plus I use the Fel-Pro perma-torques as they are cheaper and designed not to require it in the first place. This has worked well for me and others around here plus if you go a bit higher you don't run as much risk of the wrench being off a few pounds light because even if it is you are still on the heavy side. For reference, 47 lbs is extremely light for head torque. Most engines are well over 100 including the EJ's.... so emperical evidence sugests it's perfectly safe and good insurance if you don't plan on doing the retorque. GD

I would trust EMPI before I trusted A1. They have always been shady and there's been many regrettable stories about their axles on here over the years. The EMPI stuff looks better than the GCK stuff did IMO. Sounds like the price difference is negligible - i paid $58 each for the EMPI's. GD

Dealership. GD

Not the same as an EA81 pump. Completely different in fact. GD

I don't know if the relay is at fault here but it's definitely something to check into. Is your wagon left hand drive or right? It should be under the steering column if it's LHD like the US. Otherwise I'm not sure if it's RHD. I would unplug the relays one at a time till you find the two for the headlights and then swap them with each other. If the problem changes sides then you have a bad relay. GD

Yep - those would be gaskets for a DCZ-328-XX carb - the EA82's had larger Hitachi's with different bolt patterns. GD

The kits are for all Hitachi's in the model range. As far as I know, all the kits I've seen were generic with respect to model number - they usually list them as pertaining to a range of models. Last one I bought was $30 and had parts to fit all DCP-306-XX models (your carb is one of these). Feedback has NOTHING to do with the kit. As far as that goes a feedback carb is identical to a non-feedback except for jetting and how it's hooked up with the metereing port's when you install it in the car. And you need to be ordering kits for an '84 wagon - the Brat ran into the EA82 era and you are likely to get EA82 parts if you don't order for an '84 model year. GD

Any EMPI dealer - mostly VW speed shops. Just lookup the part number on EMPI's web catalog before you go in as most of them are stupid about anything that's not VW and I imagine that a lot of them have no idea EMPI has a line of axles for other makes/models. GD

That looks like the stop light checker - perhaps they moved them there in '85.... I could swear they were behind a panel in the bed though. Anyway it looks very much like it. GD