GeneralDisorder

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

If you want to keep it, you'll have to do the work yourself I would say. You already have a welder that will do the trick. Remember - it's not about the size of the welder - it's how many passes you make, and the prep work you do. You can weld 1/2" plate with a 110 box if you build the joints correctly and make the right passes cleaning as you go. If you don't already have it, get a gas bottle with 70/30 for mild steel. It will allow your little welded better penetration and easily give you the ability to weld the sheet metal of the unibody. For your first welder project, build a small sheet metal break - here's a simple plan: http://www.ch601.org/tools/bendbrake/brakeplans.pdf Invest in a small compressor - it will come in handy for sooooo many things. Air tools are cheap, and make fast work of cutting, grinding, etc. This will also allow you to get a sandblaster setup to take that rust off and really see what you are working with. With a bit of investment, you can up your level of autorepair to a whole new level. We all know you can do it - you just need a push to take the leap. GD

Check for vacuum leaks again too. Something may have come loose on your drive. You should be using just a plain old timing light. Set it to zero if you have one with the dial and shoot for 8 on the flywheel marks. GD

Could still be the ignition switch as well. Sometimes they have a "sweet spot" that if you go past voltage will stop flowing. Also could be ignition related - if you aren't getting spark, then there will be no tach signal, and the FPCU will not power the pump. GD

On auto's the idle should be around 850. You adjust the idle by adjusting the IAC flow control screw. GD

You can't - no one can. You can test the particulate sizes of various filter mediums and take your chances. It's not worth it to me when for very little more I can just go with a BIGGER paper element. The premium on K&N's has you halfway there already in cost. I rebuild stuff every day where I see the effects of particulate abrasion to cylinder walls. It WILL wear out the rings faster, but if that increase in wear is important to you, or to the overall life of the engine is probably questionable. It's really just a matter of being better safe than sorry. Do as you like - it's your money. For me, the potential drawbacks outweigh the gains. Especially when it's avoidable by just going with a known safe option like paper and using one big enough to give the flow I desire. GD

You watch the valves while turning the engine over. You have to know when things are supposed to open, valve overlap, etc. Compression check will tell you right away usually just as it would with an EA82. Valve timing is gear driven - if it's off then you have BIG problems. I have never seen one that was incorrect. The timing marks on the gears are pretty obvious. They are behind the bell-housing. GD

They are quite a bit larger, and custom brackets would need to be made. It could probably be done though. It's not a bolt-on, that's for sure. GD

I would put on new boots as well. They are like $15 each from rockauto.com...... made by spicer IIRC. After spending $150 on the inner tie rods, I wouldn't be wanting any grit getting in there. Otherwise they are simple - just bend back the washer with a screwdriver and spin them off. Take the whole thing off with the end and all. Carefully measure the distance to the ends and make the new one's the same length. GD

I would bet you are going to have an intake gasket leak after doing that. The gaskets get nasty after 20 years. Replace with OEM only, and wire wheel the mating surfaces. 12 ft/lbs is all they require. Otherwise - looks good. You could do a valve adjustment (yes - there's a procedure for the hydro's too). It's not called out on the maintenance, but after 20 years and high mileage I would do it anyway. GD

TDC on #1 with flywheel at 0 (both valves closed). Turn flywheel BACK to 8 BTDC. Insert distributor so rotor is pointing at a plug wire tower on the cap - this will be your #1 plug wire tower. Install plug wires 1-3-2-4 in a counter-clockwise orientation starting at the tower you chose for #1. Verify the timeing with a light. Should be about 8 degrees without vacuum advance at 750 RPM. GD

Process of elimination is the easy way. If it's not the fuseible link, fuse, pump, relay, ignition switch, or wireing, then it's probably the FPCU. Being that you can't easily generate an artificial tach signal on the bench without some electronics knowledge.... they aren't condusive to "testing". Verifying the other components and the wiring will get you there without the need for bench testing. GD

That depends on how they fail. It's very often the brushes that go - they arc and pop and blow the rectifier circuits. Then you are at the mercy of the electrical gods. Maybe it just dies, or maybe it goes over voltage, or maybe it produces a ton of AC voltage and blows stuff up. Without the VR, an alt can easily push 120 volts of AC. Try that with 12v components. The dealership's prices (for Subaru anyway) are often well worth the extra quality. GD

Yeah - sadly the OEM stuff is metric, so you'll not easily be finding spools of it around the US. As G says above - fuel line is the ticket. Generally 1/4" or 5/16". It will take the heat ok as it's designed for mechanical fuel pumps attached to the block. Don't skimp on the clamps or on the sanding cloth to clean up the nipples. Aluminium Oxide "mechanics cloth" is awesome for that type of work. Or a media blast cabinet GD

I get the nice German hose clamps from my local VW speed shop (Discount Import Parts). They have rolled edges so they won't cut into the hose, and their mehcanism is much more rugged and will not go "off track" like the cheapies. Marine supply places are good too - they usually sell a variety of heavy duty stainless hose clamps that are of superior quality. Home Cheapo has some of these too in the plumbing department. And actually, the tiny wire hose clamps originally installed by Subaru are quite good. They are difficult to work with but if you clean up the threads and are careful about how you install them they actually can put down some serious clamping force without causing damage to the hose. They will start to distort if you get them too tight which is not a problem for the German one's I use. You can't easily make them tight enough to break. I need to find a bulk supplier of them so I can stock up my garage. GD

At the cost of filtering ability. For a given suface area, the flow is proportional to the particulate size of the filter medium. Sure K&N filters flow better - but they filter worse. That causes all number of problems ultimately shortening the life of many components dowstream of the filter. There's a reason manufacturers choose paper elements over oiled cloth. The reason is particulate filtration sizes. Paper can be produced with much more accuracy and consistency than the oiled cloth mesh, is more durrable, requires less maintanance (you throw them away), and is less expensive. It also has no chemical effects on any potentially sensitive electronics as the oil can when it gets sucked out of the filter (which it most certainly will as oil vapor). Personally I would rather just use a larger paper element if I need better flow. GD