GeneralDisorder

Sounds good. I've run plenty of stock (carb) pumps without return lines. Both with Weber's and with stock carbs. Never has it been an issue. I've also never had a carb fuel pump fail. They really just don't die unless they get crap in them from a failed/no filter, or they starve for fuel and overheat. The pump's are like 1.5 to 2.5 psi. "filling" of the filter tells you nothing. That's just trapped air that can't get out of the system. In order to fill the filter with fuel the air would have to go somewhere - but it can't once the float needle closes. The pump doesn't have enough pressure to displace the air even with a return line. Without the return it can't pump any volume at all. Pay no attention to the air. You are getting fuel - that's all that matters. I really doubt your problems are fuel pump related. Everything you have told me so far sounds normal to a trained ear. Lean will not hurt it at idle unless you have severe misfiring. WOT is a different animal. Your problem is the idle circuit on the carb (talking fuel flow here, not electricity). Once the choke plates (those flappers you speak of ARE the choke) open, there is less vacuum on the idle circuit, and the mixture changes from very rich, to progressivly leaner. This allows the engine extra fuel durring warm up - fuel is easily condensed to a liquid on the cold cylinder walls of the engine so extra fuel is needed to make sure the final mixture is correct for the engine to idle. Something about your idle circuit is wrong - either it's plugged up, it's jetted wrong, or the mixture screw is way off. When tuning a Weber you NEVER tune cold. You don't even start tuning it till the engine reaches operating temp and the choke is fully pulled off. Then you start by setting the throttle cable posistion, and then the idle speed and mixure - they are a balancing act. The throttle plates should be fully closed and you should only have to adjust the mixture screw. If you have to change the speed screw (IE - lift the throttle plate off it's closed posistion) then you need to go up a size in idle jet. Sadly, 4WD's all have Hitachi distributors, and 2WD's have the ND. Unless they have been swapped, which is possible but probably not likely. At any rate that's a total rip-off. You can have the vac-advance pot rebuilt for half that or less. Lookup Philbin Group. They have done a few for me and are very good at what they do. It should always be plugged for timing checks/adjustments. And no - a malfunctioning vac can will not really do much of anything besides give you a slight hiccup when transitioning from idle to main. GD

Have you checked for spark with an inline spark tester on the #1 lead? Have you ran compression on all the cylinders? GD

It has the pump on it, just not the work end of the deal. Jeff Most EA82's, including virtually all GL's had power steering. My 85 had it, and even my 84 EA81 GL has power steering. It was very uncommon on the EA82's to see manual rack steering. GD

Not only have I seen it, but I have done it myself. So have many others on this board - most of them before you joined. The rod's nearly always break out the top of the block beneath the intake manifold. What's worse is that there is almost no warning. The power is good, and the noises are miniscule till right before it blows. It's similar to a lifter tick noise, but goes away without load. GD

A mapp gas torch will work - heat that sucker up and start whailing on it. BIG hammer, and spray it with a good penetrant while it's hot. GD

It's not specifically an EJ swap problem. My SPFI Brat does it as well. It's the fuel injection system - it must remain pressurized and the tank has no baffles to prevent sloshing. I found some plans for a surge tank searching the internet a while back. The guy made one from a tap water filter housing from home depot. I was thinking along those lines but I'll probably wait till I find something at work that will do the trick. GD

Check your jets - could be way off if you can only get to 42. Also the fuel filters - there's effectively two of them. One near the pump, and one on the firewall. They are different as one is a vapor seperator. Since you are doing the Weber you can eliminate the vapor seperator and replace it with a regular inline filter. GD

If it's lifters, and they have been going at it for 75k, then nothing short of replacing them, and doing a complete lubrication system reseal will stop it. On the other hand they could keep ticking for another 100k.... chances are the bottom end won't last that long though. Most times the EA engines don't get much past 300k without throwing a rod. There are exceptions, but they are comparitively rare. If you get it - figure it's parts, and any miles you get from it are iceing. Don't drive far from home. GD

www.subarupartsforyou.com also has excelent prices. GD

Mileage is too high, and the 86 interior is teh-suck. $200 tops with that kind of mileage and the problems you mentioned. That's a money pit, or a drive-it-till-the-wheels-fall-off kind of Subaru. There's not a single part on it that's desireable - engine and tranny have far, far too many miles to be worth reusing, and the rest is just a carbed shell. Otherwise pass on it and let him stew over haveing $200 or having a worthless beater sitting on the street. In a few days I wager he reconsiders if he turns you down at first. There's way, way too many of those on craigslist and in the paper for that much or less. If a bird shat on that car it would total it out here on the west coast. GD

The lower bell-housing nut on the drivers side you mean? For those, use a u-joint socket and several extensions. I've seen 14mm (gen 1), and 17mm nuts used there. A set of u-joint sockets is wonderful sometimes. If I don't have a u-joint socket, I'll generally just use a box wrench. GD

All EA81 u-joints have Zerks... at least the longer one's do. I would have to look at my hatch to make sure. It's the EA82's that didn't have them and the U's were staked in place. EA81 U's are replaceable and greaseable in stock form. How much did that one cost you anyway? I might be in the market soon. I might also have a buddy of mine weld it up and then take it to them for balancing if I need it. GD

Two-part urethane. Do a google search - there's tons of info on it. GD

First, this post is 4 YEARS OLD. Second, the original poster is WRONG about the EA71 pistons. They are a few thousandths taller pin to top. Third, you can't slot the cam pulleys on an EA81 - it's a PUSHROD engine. It doesn't even have them. Damn it's annoying when people do this GD

Ratcheting 10mm wrench fixes that problem. The only tough part is getting the valve cover off. 10 minutes of frustration and it's done. GD

If you take it to a mechanic it's about a $1000 job give or take. You would be doing a timing belt job plus removing the cam cases and putting them back. Laborious when you consider proper cleaning and reassembly to spec. When you have them down that far, it's not even difficult to do the head gaskets while you are in there. Good insurance but in your case probably uneccesary. GD

It's trial and error at this point. Without being there it's hard to say what might be your malfunction. This is just part of owning a Weber. You would be amazed how many posts like this I've seen. Eventually everyone figures it out and dials it in.... more or less. GD

Probably lifters (TOD). Time to do a complete lubrication system reseal (new oil pump, oil pump seals, and cam case o-rings). If you don't cure the ticking fast, you'll end up replacing the lifters to get rid of it. The ticking is very hard on them, and they will rapidly wear to a point where they will never stop ticking till you have them rebuilt. GD

What brand of gaskets are you using? GD

Sure you can. Just bolt on your old rocker assemblies to the large valve heads. It's the rocker assemblies that are important in the equation, not the size of the valves. Only 82 and older used the small intake valves. As you have small valve heads already that's another data point indicating your engine was replaced or the heads were. Either rocker assembly will fit either head. The heads themselves are interchangable across all EA81's except the turbo's. What you cannot do is use the hydro rocker assemblies with your solid lifter block. GD

Indeed - I didn't catch your humor the first time. It would be nice as well. Perhaps Mick or Shawn could change the form for new posts to have a model and year feild after the title field. That sure would increase the number of posts with that information I would think. GD

Stainless is a pain in the butt to weld. You need tri-mix gas for it, and it's very sensitive to welder settings. Once you get it down it flows like butter because it's got no carbon, but without the right gas, and without a lot of practice, it's not what I would reccomend for this job. The welds are going to be half stainless and half mild anyway so they would rust up again. I would use mild steel. I think you can get a conversion kit for the Lincoln that will allow the use of gas with it. Check ebay and Lincoln's web site. As for jacking it up - use the engine cross-member, and the rear diff. Those should still be solid right? If they aren't, use that welder to build some jacking plates that will spread the load of the jack (or stands) and allow you to get it off the ground. Find some local scrap steel yards and peruse their inventory. It CAN be done, and you CAN do it. It's just a matter of taking small bites at a time. First get it off the ground, then worry about what's under there. It might be a year or two before you can drive it again, but the learning experience will be worth the investment. GD

He's running SPFI Skip. GD

Probably should PM him. He may not see this as he's a busy man. GD

Yes - jack on the transmission, and hoist on the engine. Let the engine down till the studs are touching and then drive the studs into the holes with a big flat-blade screwdriver and a hammer. When I got my SS the PO was having the same problem and the engine was just sitting on top of the x-member. 10 minutes and I had it back in. This sometimes happens on the EA engines as well. Depends on the condition of the mounts. The EJ22T mounts are real tough, so you have to put some weight on them while you pound them toward the hole. GD