GeneralDisorder

I haven't personally done the LPG conversion, but I know someone that has, and apparently it's really easy. They make LPG "carbs" that mount with the same pattern as the Weber we all know and love. He says his EA81 has just as much power as it had with the Weber and gasoline. I guess most of the cost was the tank and the lines - the carb itself was only about $50 - very simple device as LPG is a gas at atmospheric pressure. Have to run a bit larger tank as the mileage isn't as good, but that's offset by the lower cost of the fuel. Find a local place to you that specializes in LPG setups and they should be able to help you out. Cost was more than a weber as the tank and lines are not cheap, but the fact it will run at any angle is nice, and the system is so increddibly simple there is almost nothing that can go wrong with it. No fuel pump, etc. GD

If you are good with wireing it can be done, but as has been pointed out, it's a nasty mess of a harness, and it will be complicated by the fact that you will have to remove the SPFI portion of the DL/GL, the MPFI portion of the Loyale, and put the vehicle's harness back together using the MPFI computer control system. Plan out a couple weeks for that disaster. You'll have to change the fuel pump, entire exhaust system, engine cross-member (which includes removing and replacing the steering rack), as well as various other bits and chunks under the hood. No small peice of work.... with that much work to be done, it would be both easier, and much more powerful to do an EJ22 swap (135 HP, more reliable). It's actually less work as you still have the wireing and to a lesser extent the exhaust, but the engine cross-member doesn't have the be changed so no mucking with the rack or suspension parts. GD

About 100x easier to just swap the trans into the loyale. GD

Not by itself - just really noisy valves. Overheating is usually the 20 year old radiator, and crappy aftermarket thermostat's. Possible you had a leaking head gasket. It's not uncommon. GD

Did you ever adjust your valves? On solid lifter engines it's required every 15,000 miles.... GD

Not entirely true. Audi came with AWD in '80 (subaru didn't add the center diff till mid 80's), and the transaxle design was descended from the 4WD Kubelwagon of German army fame circa WWII. And in defense of Audi - they are still the first king of rally, and having worked on some of their newer stuff - it's amazing. The new S4 makes an STi look slow. GD

I doubt the tie rods are at fualt, and unless one took a direct hit on the curb, you probably are just seeing normal wear. They should be smooth and very tight - so tight it's hard to move them by hand. You'll see when you get the new ones. GD

Probably didn't break anything then - still check carefully. Subaru suspensions can take some severe punishment. I've seen several bent control arms - both from impacts with stuff on the street, and from landing on things off-road. Usually even with bent suspension parts, they might pull one way or another, but they don't usually have vibration problems - that's usually a bent rim or axle issue. GD

2 years old already? Seems like just yesterday. LoyaleFan hasn't logged in since January.... I'm betting he hasn't even got a subaru anymore GD

Probably need a new 02 sensor. Very much overlooked. They get slow with age. The rest of the fuel injection is pretty fool proof, but the 02 will exhibit the symtoms you sugest while still not setting an ECU code. The ECU can only sense when the 02 is out of range - it can't tell that the response time has decreased. Typically they only last about 50,000 miles before the degredation becomes severe enough to warrant replacement. Clogged cat's are fairly rare with the FI engines. Subaru's don't typically burn enough oil to clog one unless the PCV system is clogged for an extended period of time. GD

I am not of the opinion that the cam was causing your problems (or mine). I had excelent power, and it's never had overheating problems (new radiator). I think the rough idle could be related, but I think it more likely that it was bad main bearings that caused that as well. The cam wear looks ugly, and the flaking surface metal probably contaminated our oil, but it doesn't appear to have worn out the lobes. I never had any valve train noises, but I have hydrualic lifters and unless your 84 is an automatic, it would be solid. I haven't checked the cam journals, but that may also be the culprit of my knocking noise. I'm curious - did your engine make any noticeable noises? GD

In this case I'm using oversized bearings, and I need to double check the machinists turning work. I'll not be putting it together to find the machinist undersized my crank by .050mm, and my bearings are .025mm over Would much rather spend the few $$ on some plastiguage and find out before I try to start it.... GD

They are supposed to rotate, and while the bottom of the lifters is not pristine, they don't look like the cam either. They are dished, and the cam lobes are set off at a 4 degree grind to fascilitate the rotation. They did not tick at all, were not stuck in their bores, and do rotate freely. Looked alright really.... I can't explain it. GD

Yeah - might have bent a/the control arms and leading rods, or the rim. Did you have the rim inspected carefully? No surprises - other than the HTKYSA is wrong about needing a "shop" to get the axle out. GD

No wonder they last so long - when they hit 100k miles, they are mearly broken in to the specs that GM started with Seriously tho - I'll be running 30 weight in all of mine now Any thoughts on the cam? Anyone? GD

But you are missing a zero..... the range is .0004 - .0012.... even the green doesn't go low enough to measure the limit of the tollerance, although it would at least tell me it's within spec I suppose. Jeez, that's close. GD

So..... where do I get the plastiguage that the FSM calls for? GD

Hhhmmm - don't think it's a typo - both the FSM and the Haynes manual I have list that spec. GD

Yeah - something like that - 12" rims - really small. GD

Bad times - so do you have any clue as to what might have caused this series of unfortunate events? Looks like you have a communist gnome making weapons out of your piston there..... GD

Point #1 - He says in the auction it's a Justy, and says it's "wider than a Sherpa" Piont #2 - You can read on the tailgate the sticker says "Justy" GD

Not a "sherpa".... whatever that is. Like I said - it's a justy. GD

Tearing down the EA81 out of my Brat. Approximately 175,000 on the engine. Previous owners were none too kind to it, and I've flogged it pretty hard for the last 40k. Anyway, it's never idled right, and while it did have a lot of power, it also had a rough idle that I couldn't get rid of, and a knocking noise that you can feel in the shifter, and hear very clearly and distinctly when the oil fill cap was removed. I always assumed this was probably a main bearing knock. The knock was not like a rod knock, and persisted for many thousands of miles. The oil pressure wasn't great when I got the car, and I promptly changed the pump - after which it was 25psi hot idle, and over 50 cruise. Although I think it was too late. After doing a lot of work to put on the SPFI and comming up with an idle quality that was too poor for my needs, I decided it best to tear the engine down for a full rebuild. The mains are scored, and pretty far out of spec. I haven't removed the rods as it doesn't really matter at this point - I already have a turned crank and full bearing set ready to go. My quandry is I can't find any place that sells plastiguage that measures down to the tollerance of the EA81. It's extremely close - acceptable being .010mm - .025mm. The smallest I can find online measures *down* to .025mm but no smaller.... and the stuff I had on hand (red) seems to indicate the old bearings were somewhere around .075mm or more - anyone think that could confirm my analysis of the noise and poor idle quality? The cam - well the cam lobes look just aweful. I imagine lack of oil delivery was probably the cause here, but wow - I've taken out a few EA82 cams with far more mileage and probably just as bad or worse treatment that don't look anything like this.... Looks like some severe oil deprivation caused heating and spalling of the surface - maybe just for a short time it was run without oil or something? GD

No - the computer is not part of the system. I've converted carbed engines to SPFI, and I am intimately familair with the ECU fuctions, and wireing. It is not related in any way to the wiper system. GD

Headlights don't really play a role - for EA82's that's a GL/DL thing, and I've seen plenty of 87/88/89 DL's with four headlights and SPFI. SPFI and MPFI in 85/86 was exclusively a 2WD thing except for the turbo models, and the XT. At least that's been my experience. There's an 86 GL-10 2WD sedan in the yard right now with SPFI, and I've got pictures of an MPFI non-turbo 85 wagon. Both with single headlights as they are GL's. I also own an 87 2WD SPFI coupe. GD