GeneralDisorder

Yeah - it was definately different than my other D/R I had to look at, and also different from the single range we pulled out. The extension housing is actually a different casting with a switch on the side in a similar location to where the pushbutton cable lever is on the other tranny's I have. I'm guessing they originally put the low range switch on the tranny itself, and then later when the push-button came out they changed the houseing and just put the low range switch on the shift lever instead to facilitate only using one casting for both trannies.... For whatever reason, this tranny was missing that switch, and we didn't notice it till it started losing fluid. GD

The castings should be identical - the lower y-pipe on one side could be due to a bolt-on spacer under the head. Some EA81's had a similar setup where the y-pipe was shorter on one side. EA81's also had the same situation where some engines had a single ASV, and some had one on each head. I've owned both types on both engines. I've had plenty of these engines apart, including an 87 with a single ASV just like yours, and in all cases the head castings were identical. Lots of engines had the EGR without the anti-afterburn tube. That's also common as some vehicle were not equipped with the same decel system to releive engine vacuum under closed throttle coasting. Cam tower seals should definately be checked. Being an 87 carb it's very possible is has only the rubber o-rings instead of the rubber/metal rings that prevent them from collapsing. Good chance to clean the lifters, and reseal the cam tower and rocker cover anyway. GD

CTS - coolant temp sensor. The one for the ECU, not the one for the guage. It will have a green connector, and it's below and behind the thermostat housing. Clean that MAF with some brake cleaner - works great for me. GD

No - it's -7lbs, meaning he had 7 lbs taken off the EA82 flywheel. Which probably made it somwhere around 20 lbs (but that's just a guess). GD

Do the normal stuff - plugs, wires, cap and rotor, pcv valve. Clean your MAF, check the TPS for proper operation, and check the CTS for proper readout when cold and hot. If that doesn't cure it, replace the oxygen sensor. If it's still there, run a D-Check and check for codes from the ECU GD

How's the PCV system? Are you using a custom manifold? The PCV system needs to be routed correctly or the engine will suck oil from it. If you are using a stock manifold get a new PCV valve from the dealer. Aftermarket valve's are known to cause oil consumption. GD

I've told you this before - non-feedback carbed EA82's have a single ASV on the drivers side head, and nothing on the passenger side. That's stock. Heads are all the same casting regardless of SPFI, carb, or even right and left. There is ONE casting used for all, and the needed ports are drilled out at the factory. Some carbs came with 2 ASV's, and some with only 1. Depends on if it needed to meet California emissions or not. Pistons make the compression - 9:1 in carb land, and 9.5:1 in SPFI land. Heads are all the same. Only difference on the SPFI are pistons, valve springs, and cam. GD

Actually I coat the gasket in RTV and then just let it fully cure before I install it. Just a very thin layer rubbed all over the surface with my finger, and let it dry for an hour or so. This way it doesn't stick to anything either. Basically I'm just making my own rubberized pan gasket. GD

For the price of them, you should send your's here and have it rebuilt: http://www.philbingroup.com/ The bearings can be replaced, but the older units have to be done by a machince shop. The post you are speaking of is talking about the fuel injection crank angle distributor, which can be done much easier. You can swap over to the fuel injection and use that FI distributor too - cost would be about the same as a new disty for the carb. GD

We replaced it. I'm thinking it may be some of the seals around the shift rods.... weather has been nasty here so it's hard to tell. GD

They are hooked into the coolant passages as well, and when they leak internally the steam gets inside the crankcase and will condense around the breather tubes were cold air is drawn from the intake. GD

I never change plugs. I clean them with a points file, regap them and throw them back in. Back in the day when plugs were expensive the old timers had plug cleaners that used compressed air and sand to clean them up. We still had a cleaner in our tool truck at my national guard unit up till a few years ago when it got thrown out. GD

Very good sign of a bad intake manifold gasket. I've seen it quite a few times. Get them from the dealer only. GD

I would be afraid of the cork being somewhat porus enough to prevent the anaerobic sealant from setting up. Anaerobic is generally only used for extremely close tollerance machined surfaces - like the mating between the block halves - my understanding is that it's not at all for use with any form of gasket material. I coat all my pan gaskets with a thin layer of RTV (both sides and the edges) to protect the cork from absorbing oil, and from being cooked hard and brittle. Works good for me anyway, and a LOT cheaper than anaerobic which for similar sized tubes is about 3 or 4 times as expensive as the highest quality Permatex RTV. GD

Yeah - this one was just old apparently. It looked ok, but he said the new seal had a lot more "suction" when he slid the driveshaft in. No rust or anything - the driveshafts were done before all the wet weather started around here. New seal was like $7 GD

That wasn't his problem, it was the rear output seal.... But you should NEVER remove the side bearing retainer rings. They adjust the gear loading on the front diff, and if not set correctly can cause the front diff to eat itself. Although if you *have* to do it, then I guess mark where it was, check it's torque and put it back the way you found it. Still not a good idea unless you have the proper tool to set the side gear torque load. GD

Pushing the gas pedal to the floor while cranking opens the throttle plate all the way, and also puts the ECU into "flood clear" mode effectivly disabling the cold start enrichment. There is no cold start valve, only a single injector that the ECU uses to squirt more fuel durring cold starts. And yes, you do have a throttle plate. SPFI is also more commonly called TBI, or Throttle Body Injection. The injector sits right above the throttle plate, which is operated by the gas pedal just as it is on a carburetor. The only real difference between a carb and TBI is that the carb uses engine vacuum and a venturi to *suck* fuel from the float chamber into the engine - it relies on the venturi and jet sizes to proportion the amount of fuel correctly for the engine. The TBI uses a computer and a few sensors to control the amount of fuel, and rather than use engine vacuum to suck it in, it uses a high pressure electrically controlled injector to squirt the correct amount into the throttle assembly right above the throttle plate. GD

I pulled around 200 - 220 off the EA81 that's in my wagon right now. I don't know how or why. As far as I know it's a stock 83 hydro lifter EA81 from an automatic coupe or sedan. Claimed to have been running on 3 cylinders due to some electrical issues. It sat for approximately 4 years in a shed and my garage before being put back to use. It's VERY strong and has great oil pressure (I did replace the pump).....FWIW. Then the EA81 in my Brat pulls 145 - 155 on every cylinder at 170,000 miles. I tore the engine down for a complete rebuild with performance cam and such due to some bad mains. The EA82 in my sedan is around 165 per cylinder after a recent head gasket change. The reading I've done sugests that for a standard road engine you should see psi in the range of about 17 to 20 times the value of the compression ratio. That gives a range of 161 - 190 for an EA82 SPFI with 9.5:1 comp. GD

There is no cold start valve on an SPFI system. GD

I would have to look at it, but it seems to me that it may be in part a function of the routing - where the steering linkage and the heater core lines are..... probably makes things just a little different in length. GD

Fixed! GD

Doesn't need to be a deep socket - just has to be a 1/4" drive E-10 torx. I've got two from Matco that work great and are impact rated. GD

Generally you want all your readings within about 10-15% of each other for a normal "everyday" use engine. So your lowest was 152, and highest was 175. That's a little over 13% difference which is acceptable but on the high end of the scale. It's not race engine acceptable, and it will do for a daily driver, but you should do some further tests to narrow down the source so you know what's starting to fail. You can try squirting about 1/4 ounce of oil in each cylinder and retesting. You'll likely find no improvment at all but if it does that indicates ring wear.... usually the cylinder sealing problems on the EA series are due to burnt exhaust valves and seats. You can pressurize the cylinder with shop air when it's at TDC on the compression stroke and listen to the exhuast, intake manifold, and oil fill tube to pinpoint the cylinder leaks to either intake or exhaust valves, or rings (unlikely). GD

Yeah - thrust bearing prevents the crank from moving forward or back. Push/pull to check for play. It would help to push the clutch in while doing this test. GD

Having just done my third SPFI conversion of a carbed vehicle, I can say with complete confidence that it does not contain a MAP sensor, has no provision for one, and contains no inputs or outputs for one. That's probably going to shoot the SPFI/4EAT combo right in the temple. Won't matter how good the engine runs if the tranny can't shift. So looks like an NA MPFI conversion is the only combo that will get you an automatic from your availible parts unless you want to build a MAP sensor control board and reverse engineer the 4EAT's MAP input signal.... GD