GeneralDisorder

No - not as reliable as the 2.2. The SPFI EA82 isn't a bad engine. Underpowered (90 HP to the 2.2's 130), eats timing belts, and has a tendancy to leak oil and have annoying valve train noise. The cooling systems aren't great. Not a lot of overhead in cooling capacity, and they can be finicky if the air isn't bled from them properly. Radiators are small. The shift linkage gets sloppy, and the pushbutton 4WD isn't very desireable. Most folks want the dual range or AWD systems. GD

Heli-coil's are pretty inexpensive.... GD

Depends on the all-thread you buy. You can buy grade 8 all-thread (hell - you can get left-handed tool steel if you wanted it). Most is grade 5 though which should work just fine. I make studs from metric all-thread all the time since it's difficult to source them in the US. GD

Unfortunately that may not fix the problem. This problem is almost always a combination of things. Yes, the switch may be part of it, but I've replaced them only to have the problem not change. In fact, I've replaced the starter, switch, checked the available connections inbetween, cleaned all the contacts, replaced the positive cable to the starter, and replaced the ground cable and cleaned/reterminaled all the grounds.... only to have the problem return or even be worse. The trouble is probably a poor factory splice, or just corroded wireing at some point in the crank circuit. No amount of parts swapping will fix it (many of us have tried), and short of unwrapping the entire harness (often not worth the time considering the value of the vehicles in question) the best fix is to live with the abilities of the wireing you have and put in a relay to get full current to the starter solenoid. GD

Just run a 7/16 x 18 tap into the existing hole and replace the stud with a peice of all-thread cut to the size you need. JB weld will not do it. Something like Devcon would do it, but to do it right it would require more work than tapping it so it's not a viable option. GD

I have no need of these, or any real intrest in doing this, but looking at your drawing it immediately occured to me that you could cut down the cost of production by haveing them just drill the holes and tapping them yourself. Running a tap into pre-drilled holes is easy. These wouldn't even be hard to make if you just want a one-off set. Get some scrap plate steel, cut the circles out on a bandsaw, and then using some hubs and a bit of geometry lay out the holes and tap them. I could build a set in a few hours.... most of the cost is in the materials if you do the work yourself. GD

Well - there's many factors. 1. Automotive is very competitive. Dealerships make a lot of money off service, and they pay a correspondingly better wage. They have better training programs, hire/train more knowledgable people, and have better equipment to perform the work. 2. "Shops" (non dealerships) make the bulk of their money on "services" - by which I mean oil changes, brake work, timing belts, shock/strut replacement, ect. Stuff that is in the maintenance schedule of the vehicle. Not outright repair of "broken" things. The collective experience (if there is much) is usually clustered around that type of knowledge. Not how to diagnose and repair "problems" but rather how to follow a procedure and change wear item parts on an otherwise correctly functioning machine. 3. Knowledge of older vehicles really isn't out there to any great extent. It's not marketable, and people that really know this stuff are either retired, have moved into management, or have changed industries..... which brings me to... 4. The "old timers" that know this stuff got tired of the automotive industry long, long ago. It's competitive, it's extremely fickle, the pay is usually flat rate (more on this in a minute), and the customers are often a horror story all to themselves. Take for example a story from my co-worker that spent 20 years at a Pontiac dealership: One day his service manager pulled a customer's car around to the shop with the customer standing nearby. He jumped out and closed the door - unfortunately locking the keys inside. He asked my friend to open the car "right away" as the customer was waiting. My friend leaned close and sugested he take the customer away and tell him it would be a few minutes. His manager, not understanding the folly in allowing the customer to see his car being "broken into", recoiled at the sugestion and further indicated that he wanted it done "NOW". My friend offered to his manager that this customer was "your problem", grabbed his slim-jim, and popped the door open in approximately 1.5 seconds. You can imagine the horror on the customers face..... 5. Flat rate pay engenders a lack of concern for quality and a sense of urgency in finishing the job and moving to the next. When you pay people based on their speed rather than their experience, knowledge, and abilities you take away their willingness to do things the right way. Flat rate workers are always finding quicker, cheaper ways of doing things - usually at some cost in the quality of the job. That's a little summation of my feelings about the autmotive service industry anyway. I am lucky to have avoided it and now I work with a lot of very knowledgeable guys that got out of that industry for all of the reasons I went over. As with a lot of things in life - if you want it done right do it yourself. That applies specifically to older automobiles. Even the dealerships have a hard time with them. I like to go and talk with the old-time parts guys and service managers that have seen the stuff, but the people doing the actual work are more likely to break things than to fix them. There is no money in doing work on older cars - the flat rate scale isn't enough to allow them to both learn/be trained on something they have never touched before, and still get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. 9 times out of 10 taking jobs on outdated equipment like that spells a money losing proposition for the shop. GD

I disagree on a few points. One - I have not seen a switch fail and be unable to activate a relay. The current is very small and no arcing of the switch contacts should take place. Thus the switch shouldn't deteriorate beyond that point. It could happen, but replacing the switch is so simple at that point that I fail to see the point in worrying about it. Two - wireing a relay using the existing switch retains stock functionality. And wireing a relay using a pushbutton allows you to use small gauge wire to the pushbutton for the relay coil. It also saves the pushbutton from the same fate as the ignition switch. Three - pushbuttons are ugly and impact the resaleability of the vehicle. They seem hokey to most people and smack of a disregaurd for proper/quality electrical repair to the rest. I would not buy any vehicle repaired in such a way. GD

It shouldn't be in that far. Even, and flush with the OD of the case. Use locktite blue (the 248 stick works best) on the OD of the seal. A tiny bit of valve sealant or grease on the ID. Use only OEM seals - they fit better. GD

Yep - that's the size of it. Barring some type of swappage from a previous owner. GD

No - non-feedback continued till the end of carbs in '89 (EA81 hatch). Feedback was always a 2WD, or California model system. 49 states 4WD's never had it. As for a definition - "Feedback" refers to the "feedback loop" programming used by most computer control systems. The 02 sensor continously updates the computer on the mixture - the computer makes adjustments, and the cycle repeats - ad infinitum. Thus you simply remove the ECU, it's associated sensors, valves, and duty solenoids (if you wish - you could just as well leave the junk in there), and install a non-feedback carb with proper routing of the mixture port air supply lines (no duty solenoid controls). That is all that is required to convert an EA81. GD

The lines, and especially the black plastic "F" shaped bit on the drivers side of the PCV system gets clogged up with carbon deposits. I almost always have to clean them out with a screwdriver to get all the gunk out. The breather element is a couple dollars at the dealer - worth having a new one. I haven't been real successful cleaning them. Here's the thing.... There's only two places that oil can get from the engine to the inside of the airbox - the top of each valve cover. The inside of the valve covers also gets really gunked up - they should be clean and shiny so that oil can drain away from the breather ports and not be sucked into the airbox. I sandblast the inside of all mine to insure there are no deposits or build-up in them. Castrol super clean degreaser will eat it out as well - protect your hands from the stuff though. The deal is - if you have oil in the airbox, it IS comming from the PCV system. That's the only place it can come from. This can be a frustrating problem. You just have to address the system from top to bottom to insure you get proper flow and aren't sucking up oil. It's best to address it now as you'll still have the same problems with the Weber if you don't. Except with the Weber the oil will be sucked into the carb rather than just inside the airbox but outside the filter. With the Weber the same filter is used for both airflow and PCV. GD

It's too far into the frame rails. You'll never make it solid again without cutting it apart and making new rails. Not worth it. GD

I don't think you quite grasp the situation here - there's no such thing as a "non-feedback ECU". Carbs equipped with ECU's are feedback. Without ECU's are non. So the answer is that you should remove the ECU. GD

That hose is a breather line for some thermo-valve, ect. It's not the source of your oil. You may have replaced the PCV, but did you clean out the hoses, valve cover nipples, and plastic connectors? Also I see you haven't replaced the PCV breather element. It's that white foam element on the inside right of the filter box. You are almost certainly still getting oil from the PCV system. GD

Chances are that nearly every one still out there has been swapped, traded, moved, ect so many times that there won't be a consensus on such a small detail. If they even came with the hardware originally it was metric stuff, and there's a good chance that they either didn't, or that it wasn't used all the time. Being an option, it was often up to the dealer to supply such things. Measure the thickness of the items it goes through, gauge the hole sizes, add an extra 1" (or metric equivelent) for nut, washers, and lock washer, and grab something that works. GD

Yep - just remember - yellow is the tach signal, and tach signals are always on the negative side of the coil. GD

Did you use the valve timing marks or the ignition timing marks when you put on the belts? Here's the rules: 1. Flywheel at the center of the three vertical lines on the flywheel (valve timing marks). 2. Drivers side cam mark (dot, hole, whatever you call it) straight up. 3. Passenger side cam mark straight down. 4. Install both belts and tension (don't move the cams). 5. TDC #1 on compression stroke (both valves closed - finger over plug hole test). 6. Turn flywheel BACK to your desired timing (8 for carbs, 20 for SPFI, ect). 7. Install disty with rotor pointing at whichever plug tower you wish to be #1. 8. Install wires counter clockwise from tower #1 in the fireing order 1,3,2,4. Done. P.S. - make sure the crank sprockets are on in the correct order. The one with the groove for the lip seal goes on the inside. GD

Not true. You can't say what has the biggest impact without specifying the conditions. The thermosensor (coolant) has a very large impact - for one thing the O2 sensor has NO effect when the engine is cold as it takes several minutes (sometimes 5 or 10) for the sensor to even begin reporting as they are not heated sensors. Durring that time it is ignored by the ECU because no signal from it is present. C/W's were availible at least till 84. I haven't personally seen a post-EA82 era C/W, but I've seen plenty of 83/84 models. Well - good luck with that. As I have said you'll spend just as much money screwing with that feedback system as you would buying a nice shiny Weber. And you'll get less power, worse fuel economy, and you'll still have an old, crappy carb. Not to mention you'll be dirty, high from the fumes, and will never get back the time you wasted. At least with a Weber you can yard it off and sell it on ebay for 3/4ths of what you paid for it when you get rid of the car.... GD

That's not entirely complete. Here's a full list of the ECU's input's: 1. Battery voltage (duh). 2. Ground (duh 2). 3. Speed sensor. 4. O2 sensor. 5. RPM (tach signal, coil negative, ect). 6. Vacuum switch 1 [(0 - 100 mmHg for MT, 0 - 86 mmHg for AT): ON]. 7. Vacuum switch 2 [0 - 200mmHg: OFF]. 8. Thermo sensor (coolant temp - it's a dual element sensor - one element for the gauge and one for the computer. Different than the non-feedback). And it's output's: 1. Kickdown solenoid (AT only). 2. Duty solenoid (slow). 3. Duty solenoid (main). 4. Automatic choke relay. 5. ASV Solenoid valve. 6. EGR solenoid valve (AT only). There's an entire chapter of the FSM dedicated to this - I don't have time to scan it all unfortunately. I sugest you pick up a copy for your own if you intend to work on the feedback system succesfully. GD

The jetting (inside the carb) is different. Rebuild kits do not come with jets and there's about 7 or 8 of them that have to be switched in order to make it a non-feedback version. You can tell which carb a junk yard car has by looking for the ECU, the O2 sensor, or the duty solenoids. All of those will tell you immediately if it's a feedback. There are model numbers on the back of the float chamber, but it's often difficult to read them. GD

Not really - it all depends on how you do it. New/used, rebuilt yourself, wireing, plumbing, ect, ect. Once you have done a few it becomes very easy. GD

I've seen them seize, yes. Don't know about the timing - perhaps your timing belts are loose. GD

It's not supposed to connect to anything. Leave it. No clue - power steering, AC, or automatic transmission related. It's not stock with that color hose and those clamps. Maybe a transmission cooler? Should be open when hot, and closed when cold. But that's a basic description - there's more to them than just open and close. Rate of opening, accelerator pull-off, ect. GD

There may be a few diode's you have to add for some of the tell-tale lights (I did, but I used an '80 dash), you will have (want) to change from an oil pressure idiot switch to the real oil pressure sender, and change the fuel sender. I think the coolant temp sensor is ok actually. What I did was cut the three round plugs out of the PCB on the back of the digi (destroying the digi of course), and then soldered wires to each pin. I then added the analog plugs to the other end of the wires. I initially put bullet connectors in the wires so I could proto-type the wireing and make sure it worked. Once I had it where I wanted it I cut them out and soldered/heat shrinked the wires together. GD