GeneralDisorder

Wasn't that hard was it? You have a better understanding now don't you? GD

Not the modification I would pick first - just wouldn't use it often enough to justify. You would want to use a 1/4" ball-valve, and some 1/4" brass nipples. Easy enough to do - I just don't see the point when a pair of vice grips will do the same job. You are still going to get fuel out of the filter, etc - so you still need a drain pan and gloves. GD

Correct - it would blow a fuse. GD

True - the lines will siphon the tank dry if you don't do something. Not everyone realizes that the first time. GD

I install a new one in every engine when I aquire it or put it into use. I have found so many that were bad, and lost one of my first EA81's to a rod bearing failure that I could have prevented, that I just buy a new pump before I even remove the old one. That way I can tear the old one down at my leisure and check the internals. If they are good I'll mark them as such and store them away as spares...... I have zero used spares..... see what I mean? The fact that your's looks so good speaks to the validity of keeping your original engine. The rest of the internals are almost certain to look just as good seeing as it ran fine, etc. That is actually quite normal for the Subaru boxer engines. The cylinders being horizontal tends to hold lubrication better than a more vertical arrangement which would tend to drain it away. I have yet to encouter an EA engine personally that didn't still have the factory hone marks. It can happen, but it's generally due to complete lack of lubrication. You have an excelent engine there - Rob wouldn't have steered you wrong with the coupe, I know that. Knowing that, and what you have told us about it.... you are better off with it's original engine than a lower mileage replacement of lesser-known history any day of the week. It really isn't the mileage that takes them off the road. It's the years, the little things (electrical, worn carbs, etc) that all start mounting. The car gets old, becomes unwanted, and is relagated to the "kids" car.... or whatever. The engine internals are hardcore reliable if the maintenance is kept up on. A properly maintained EA81 should need little more than a valve job (probably once) to reach 500k. The internals are easily capable of it from what I've seen. GD

While I do not think that you folks will have any luck building HHO generators out of your garage, I would like to point out a few things. 1. Hydrogen, if you could get enough of it, and assuming an engine that is capable of leaning out the fuel discharge to accept it, could indeed increase your gasoline mileage. 2. Conservation of energy is not violated if you do it right. Yes it requires current, which would normally draw on the alternator. BUT there are ways to "bring extra current from home". It's called a battery. Or several of them. You pull cheap power off the grid by chargeing it/them each night instead of burning more expensive gasoline to generate the neccesary current with the alternator. 3. It's entirely possible that the idea could work at some level. I'm not saying it's viable as a consumer product or as a item for automotive makers to employ, but as a sceince experiment it might be interesting. GD

There's no adjustment on an 86 Brat engine as it would be a hydro lifter engine. So either he's full of crap or the engine is a replacement. GD

That's just silly. Clamp the lines off with a proper clamp - vice grips and two nickels, small c-clamps, welding clamps, etc, etc. There's no reason to get drenched in gas or try to stab a golfing T in the line (and how many mechanics golf anyway ). Last time I did one I didn't lose a drop on the ground or on myself (except my gloves of course). GD

I have yet to break a pump doing a reseal. You have have to twist and pull to get them off. GD

+1 - it's always the nasty rear one that gets people. It's next to the pump under the car near the tank. People replace the vapor seperator thinking it's a filter (it is, but that's not it's primary job) without realizing that the real filter is before the pump and the seperator under the hood receives primarily clean fuel. GD

It should be completely closed when cold. But that doesn't mean the fast idle cam is working. Sounds like it is not as it should idle around 2,000 RPM when cold anyway. Drilling the rivets is easy - 1/4" bit will pop the heads right off then you just drive out the rivet with a punch. Pan head phillips self tappers are the way to go for putting it back on. GD

Hhhmmm - I'm not quite following what you are saying. There's always oil present in the valve covers due to the horizontal nature of the boxer engine. The PCV system (if it's not working correctly) will suck the oil into the airbox. Blow-by is a fact of life for all engines. The PCV is there to deal with exactly this problem. Granted if there was *too much* for the PCV to handle then you might get a pressure build - but it would escape through the oil dipstick hole, and you would blow seals out, etc. Experience over the years has shown that Subaru's engines just do not wear out their bore's.... virtually ever. Every single engine I've torn down had the factory cross-hatching still visible - even at 300,000 miles. Further - the early EA82 SPFI's had a recall for exactly this problem as the PCV system was incorrectly designed from the factory and sucks oil on turns. His engine is a prime example of the pre-recall style PCV routing, and what it will cause over time. Chances are very slim that the engine has any kind of blow-by that is above average and that the PCV can't deal with if it's clean and working correctly. Cylinder/ring wear in the EA's is never seen - the bottom end will go twice over before the rings would wear out. I suppose it's due to the cylinders not being vertical and thus not tending to drain lubrication away from the wear surfaces. The lubrication is nearly perfect and thus the metal almost never touches. Thanks - It was a cool learning experience. Hope you find it useful. GD

Those are the infamous 60,000 mile EGR switch leads. Ignore them. Use the other connector for the speed sensor per my write up. GD

That's really a very excelent question. I'll tell you what I know. 1. The oil pressure gauge runs directly off the pump. It's pressure is related *mostly* to the condition of the pump and not the condition of the engine. Thus bad oil pressure indicates a bad pump, not poor clearances in the engine as some people beleive. I like to see at least 20 psi at idle with the engine at operating temp. Any lower than 15 and I start finding out why. 2. The condition of the pump over time is directly correlated with the maintenance the lubrication system has had. If the filter gets clogged (pressure across the filter is too high) the bypass valve inside the filter will open and allow unfilted oil with contaminates in it to flow through the pump. This is obviously bad for many reasons (but still better than no oil due to a clogged filter), and shortens the life of the pump by a lot - not to mention the mains and rod bearings. The pump takes the hit HARD if you have any particulates that get through the filter (via bypass valve, crappy filter, whatever) as it's bushings are just aluminium and are not resistant to wear at all. 3. Basically, since the pump comes apart so easily, it's best to take them down and do an inspection of them. In Connie's case this was doubly important due to the mileage and the fact that the digi-dash has no oil pressure gauge. GD

The rotor to end-plate area with the scoring is not so worrying actually. Inspect the rotor shaft where it rides in the end plate bushings. From your pictures it looks OK to me but I would prefer a closer veiw to give a confirmation one way or the other. Here's what I'm talking about. This pump came from my 230k hatch: And a close up of the damage that's critical: And the housing: The play in the rotor was so severe that measureing the clearances inside the pump is all but impossible. The various pieces are now paper weights. GD

Your choke is not operating correctly, or the idle-up cam is not operating. They are non-trivially interconnected devices so I would start by removeing the choke spring/heater housing for a look. GD

You have to cut and box in the frame rails where the overhead cams are located to make it fit. It's a decent gain - 90 HP for the SPFI EA82 with either the SPFI or a Weber vs. the 63 HP of the EA71. 95 HP for the MPFI EA82's, and 115 HP for the EA82T's. But as pointed out - an EJ22 would fit better and have a ton more power (130 HP). More diffiicult to swap wireing wise, and if you want a newer tranny there's nothing for it but a lot of work - the tunnel will not easily accept anything newer without some fab work or a lift. GD

It's not blow-by. That can't lead to oil in the airbox - only in the exhaust. The engine is an air pump and the valve work as check valves. As the engine runs air can ONLY go one way. Thus any oil introduced by the rings can only go out the exhaust valve. The ONLY place oil in the airbox comes from is the PCV system. Your valve is probably fine - it's the 300,000 miles of carbon and oil that's blocking the PCV hoses, fittings, and valve cover ports. You need to clean out all the hoses and fittings, and remove and clean the ports on the valve covers. And replace the PCV with one from the dealer (ONLY from the dealer) for good measure. Check EVERY connection, T, fitting, etc. Put them back how you found them and do the oil-burning-on-sweeping-left-hand-turns recall repair to keep them from getting munged up again so quickly in the future. GD

Yes - and the hanger. Doug - you probably have a bad u-joint or a bad rear axle Double-Offset-Joint. The diff is likely to be just fine. GD

Chevron 10w30. Get it at Costco for very reasonable. Change it every 3k to 5k depending on conditions and how much you add due to leaks between changes. You can change the filter every other oil change per Subaru's guidelines. There's lots of reasons for my choice - primarily I've torn down many oil lubed peices of equipment and engines and I'll tell you that the important part is that it's changed regularly and that it's the correct viscosity for the equipment and conditions. There are so many variables that it's best to judge each vehicle based on it's condition and driving conditions rather than a blanket statement. If I had a brand new or rebuilt engine for example I would run synthetic and change it much less frequently. One of the best indicators of oil condition is actually the simplest - color. In a clean engine with a properly operating PCV system the oil should be a nice golden color. If it's jet black or you can barely see through a sample of it then it needs to be changed - regardless of the mileage. A distinct color change indicates contamination and temperature related breakdown. It's as good a way to judge oil as any and trust me - if you sample your oil for color change, top it off regularly, and change it when you get a large color change, at the 3k to 5k interval, or after a significant mechanical event, you'll have trouble free operation for as long as anyone else. GD

You could go through the dealer but they are a bit pricier. The Beck-Arnley is going to be a repackaged OEM pump as well. Basically any place you can get an oil pump will be the same OEM pump as no aftermarket manufacturers make them for the EA81's. Beck-Arnley does the repackaged stuff a lot I've noticed - I bought some engine mounts for my hatch on sale from rock-auto and inside one of the boxes the repackage people had neglected to take the mount out of the Subaru OEM plastic baggie . www.rockauto.com has the Beck-Arnley (again - it's just a repackaged Atsugi OEM pump, so just as good as the dealer) for $95.79. Take it apart, but be prepared for a surprise as by that mileage it will be a pile of poo. You will be scared to put it back in. All the 100,000+ mileage EA81 pumps I've pulled down have been completely wasted inside. It's amazing they work at all considering the damage I've seen. A testament to their close tollerance construction. GD

Not at all. I guarantee the cylinders are nothing like "loose", and heavier oil is only going to harm the bearings - it really won't help. The tollerances inside the EA's stay pretty much solid till very near when they blow apart. GD

With the high mileage of your engine you are going to want a new oil pump. Take it apart and you'll see what I mean. GD

It's the other way around. Pre-83 were all the same, and 83+ got larger clutch sets and different flywheel for 4WD only. 2WD's stayed the smaller size. So it depends - is his 4WD flywheel an 82 or older? If so it will work. If not it won't. Simple. GD

When the throttle plates open more than a few degrees they expose the transition ports and the idle ports are no longer exposed to the low pressure area under the throttle plates. You can actually shut off the idle circuits if you open the throttle plates with the speed screw too much. It's more around 1500 RPM that they cut out. Try this - remove the idle jet and holder and then see how far you have to take the speed screw before it will run on the primary (with no jet or holder it won't suck any fuel through the circuit). That's where the idle port is no longer receiving any vacuum. Yes - any RPM where the mains are operating, so are the air bleeds. GD