GeneralDisorder

Yes - we all know this. There's also quite a few engines missing.... EJ18, EJ20, EA63, EA71, EA81T, etc, etc What's the point of this post? GD

Don't like that style as it bit me rather hard in the Mud. I went through some stirred up gunk about halfway up my doors in the beast - following another lifted beast. I made the mistake of feathering my clutch a little, and it failed on me. Turns out that lip of metal covering the fingers filled with silt when I pushed in the clutch, and then when I released it.... well it didn't. So I got to AAA it to the garage and pull the silly clutch out. Tossed that one in the round file and went with the stock style that has open PP fingers. Not really an issue I guess for street, but I don't like it all the same. Subaru had their ducks lined up when they built these things, and I'm wary of aftermarket parts that differ in design. Reman is cheaper at Napa too - had good luck with them before. I tend to use junk yard clutch parts now - cheap like a $20 hooker. GD

If it's an EA81 with a feedback carb (sounds like it if it has a legion of connectors) then unfortunately there is nothing quite so complex in all the land. Vacuum hoses, wireing, strange do-hickery abound. The polls say rip it off and put on a Weber (or SPFI like I just did ). Seriously though - the wireing at least - as NW pointed out - should all mate up without much work. The length of the wires, how they are perma-bent, and the connector should make it all pretty obvious. The vacuum hoses are less obvious, but start by looking on the chart under the hood if it's still there. After that I'm told it's best to LEARN what the bit in question does, what it should be hooked to, and if all else fails, re-route around the hard lines so you are 100% sure of where the vacuum lines are routing. GD

Yep - check the cable first - the routing, and the cable design make them eat themselves alarmingly fast. At least they are reasonable (less than $20, and less than $15 if you can get wholesale). The other possible cause would be a bad pressure plate. Not terribly likely however. GD

Restore - like most "magic bullet in a can" crap sold to the uninitiated vehicularly impared, contains large quantities of Dupont Teflon - which has shown to decrease friction, and increase compression and power output in the short term. It's long term effects unfortunately are the problem. Among other things, it embeds itself into the bearing material, and causes spalling of the bearing surfaces. It also clogs up oil filters and passages, and just generally wreaks havok within the tightly controlled oil-rich universe of the combustion engine. Dupont recognized these problems, and tried very hard to stop third party companies from purchasing their product for this use. They lost a court case or two on the subject, and now they simply have an official stance that their product (yes - THEIR OWN PRODUCT) has no recognized benifits when used in gasoline engines. Slick 50, Restore, etc tout their claims louder, and have their name on many a race car so you can imagine how well this has worked. When used in a race engine intended to last a season or less, it really doesn't matter, and the money they get from the endorsements would cover the occasional mishap anyhow. Here's a little more detail to chew on: http://www.msgroup.org/TIP043.html GD

If you've done a V8, then it's the same, but you take out JUST the engine, not the combo. Just label stuff, and start taking out bolts - it will all bocome clear. Not that hard - I can have an engine out in about 30 minutes. Putting them back in is the tough part - make sure you put a jack under the tranny, and keep it there. Jack up both, and then support the engine weight with the hoist - unbolt everything and it should slide forward, and up. Leave the transmission jacked up till you are ready to put it back, then just do the opposite. You have to use the jack for the engine mounts to clear the cross member underneath. GD

Now try the oil squirt step - that will tell you if your low readings are rings (unlikely) or valves. Yeah - those numbers are ok, but a little low IMO. Anything over about 80 or 90 is ok to run, and yours are looking alright in that respect. You may benefit a lot from a valve job. For reference, my Brat pulls 140-150 in each, and my wagon is about 220 on each (I have no idea how it got so high, it's just a stock engine AFAIK). I have yet to test my sedan, but it runs good, and doesn't overheat so I have little reason to..... yet. A newly rebuilt EA series should run in the 175-200 range (after break-in) if it's been done properly. Chrome rings may increase that a bit once they break in. I kinda have a feeling there's already something like that in the wagon's engine - very strange high readings. Oh - and another thing. I've tested engines with bad HG's that ran but overheated, and still got good readings. The gasket was allowing small amounts of compression into the coolant, but once the cooling system was pressurized, the compression readings in the cylinder were normal. GD

Have the wheels rebalanced. The shops these days do a crappy job because they are used to everything having power steering. The wheels must be carefully balanced with manual steering, as there is no fluid to dampen the vibration. Make them understand this. Check the rubber donut in the steering shaft where it exists the cabin - the VW bug urethane ones are a direct fit if you need one, and make sure the rubber rack & pinion bushings are in place, and tight. Bad wheel bearings are an unlikely cause of vibration - the will make aweful dying animal sounds, but I've never had any sort of vibration from them. You did check them with the parking brake off right? You won't notice any play with the parking brake set. GD

It's not neccesarily the mileage - engine will run even when the vehicle is in traffic, etc. It's also the age - electronic bits get old, solder connections get crusty and shrink, etc. If that's the original alt, then it's 13 years old. And yes - it's fairly common to have to replace them every 100k or so. Cheap and easily replaced, so not a big deal. GD

1. It functions to shut the valve off on those models equipped with a feedback (computer controlled) carb. 2. No, as your Brat does not have a computer or the solenoid to turn the valve on and off, it's best to just eliminate that part of the valve - otherwise you would need to supply it with constant vacuum for the valve to stay open durring operation. That said, those valves are not necessary - they are a LOT more trouble than they are worth, and just removing them entirely will improve the overall running quality, and eliminate a possible failure later on. If eliminateing them is not possible because you have underhood inspections, undo the pipe from the head to the valve, slip a quarter (yes - $0.25) into the valve body, and thread the pipe back on. This will disable the valve, and leave it in place so the inspection will assume it's still working. They really don't do much, and if the engine is tuned it should still pass a tailpipe sniff - if you still need it to pass for some strange reason, repair them as you planned, still use the quarter, and just remove the quarters when you need to hit the smog shop - otherwise they are just a time bomb waiting to happen all over again. Here in OR, I don't need to smog any of mine, so they are all gone. Ports welded up - never to be seen again. Note - if you swap out to the SPFI from the EA82 you no longer need these valves as the function is provided by the fuel injection computer..... GD

10 minutes to remove? I want video to prove that. On an EA82 you first have to remove the crank pulley, and the bolts for the belt covers are almost always stripped. With a die grinder maybe. Besides that, it's still near impossible to change the belts on the side of the road with the covers in place. Without the covers you can slip them over the crank pulley without removing it, you can check the tension any time you like, repack the grease in the tensioners, and easily inspect the belts for wear or crack. 15k now for me on no covers, and old belts. I removed the covers just in case since the belts are old (209k when I got the car, so no telling) and I keep an extra set in the trunk if they break. I drive around to construction sites all day - I'm a drywall estimator right now. I see plenty of rocks, and other debris. Nary a scratch to be seen on my belts. GD

No - the rotors and calipers are vastly different in size and cannot swap from front to back. Bolting pattern to the hub is different, and stub axle diameter and spline count is different too. GD

They are, so long as you also change to the corresponding coil - the different brands have different resistance values and mixing them can damage the ignitor in the disty. Other than that, they will swap with no issues. GD

Code 05 is just the model designation for a manual trans 49 states vehicle. Doesn't really mean anything - mine did that too - they all do when you first turn the ign. to ON. GD

Well - I'm willing and able to take pictures of my setup for you if you like. I simplified the wireing as much as possible, and it's not real bad now that I've done it. I haven't put anything "away" yet under the dash - it's all sitting on the floor (I just started it for the first time tonight). I planned to do a write up anyway, so I'll snap some pictures of the important bits, and make a few notes. I don't see why we can't get yours running without a lot of trouble now that I know a little more about the system. First question - where did you mount the fuel pump, and how is it being supplied? I mounted mine under the hood, and just routed around the existing pump under the car with a bit of hose. Worked fine, and kept the rear filter in place. GD

What part of the harness are you talking about? In general, no - but if you are wanting to put an EA82 in your Brat, then yes it's close enough to work out alright without a lot of changes. If you are wanting to use all the accesory stuff, and want to replace your entire harness with one from an EA82, then no. They are quite a bit different, and I wouldn't advise something like this. GD

Yes - the later 2.2's have single exhaust port heads - not as desireable. GD

Rear discs are no problem - they will bolt straight on - either 4 lug or 5 lug. I have EA82 turbo 4 lug rear discs on mine in fact. The front is quite a bit different - people have done the 5 lug conversion, but it requires fabrication skills beyond what most people have, and also requires custom axles be made. EA81 series vehicles, including the Brat, are narrower than later models, and as such many related problems have to be dealt with in order to mount anything different to the front. GD

The rectifier diodes in the alternator's internal regulator are dying or dead. This is causing the alternator to put out large amounts of alternating current. The diodes in the dash that prevent the indictor lamps from receiving power through the incorrect path in their complex array of circuits and power feeds are no longer having the desired effect as alternating current flows in reverse of the normal current flow - this causes them to glow faintly. It's NOT by design, and if not corrected, the AC current can damage sensitive components. GD

Fan switch has nothing to do with it - it's just creating a draw on the electrical system, and the distributor is no longer able to cope with the lower amps. Your problem is the distributor bushings. I will lay down money on it. Take the cap off and try to move the distributor shaft from side to side. It *should* have no movement. Your's will be very sloppy. The worn bushings are causing the reluctor air gap to vary enough that the distributor is fireing several times for each plug - that's the high RPM reading on the tach. These guys can replace the bushings for about $35 if you dissasemble it for them or about $50 if you have them do it, or snag a JY disty for $20 or so: http://www.philbingroup.com/ GD

Temp sounds about normal - depending on the guage, some will read higher than others. Best to test with an aftermarket guage. As long as the radiator fan kicks on, and then back off when idleing stopped, it should be fine. Mine hangs about 3/4 on the guage and that's with a new radiator, all new cooling system parts, and new head gaskets... that's just how the guage is. Basically if the guage climbs and stops at a specific point and NEVER climbs higher, you're ok. The speedo and odometer are the same guage, and the cable is likely broken. The oil pressure could be the sending unit, or the wire going to the sending unit - check them both. They are on the oil pump on the front of the engine. GD

Nope - that's why we modify. GD

Hey Jerry - you ever get this fixed? I just spent about 4 hours troubleshooting my swap having the same symptoms you had - figured out that the coil bracket itself has to be grounded. I hooked everything up, but didn't mount the coil - wouldn't start. I ran a wire from the bracket to ground and it started first try. No where in the conversion manual does it mention this little bit, but the harness isn't long enough to mount the coil in an EA81 unless you legthen the wires. I just sat the coil in the spare tire area - intending to move it to it's final home after I proved it would run, and was in the "cleanup" stage. It didn't ground through the paint, so no spark till I decided on a whim to ground the bracket. Maybe not your problem, as you said it ran with some fuel down it.... but thought I would mention it - and you never told us if yours worked.... GD

If it still runs good, and only has milkshake in the PCV system, and the oil cap, but the oil is clear, and the engine has good compression it's most likely just blown intake manifold gaskets. If thats the case it's perfectly fine to drive - just make sure it's full of coolant. If the oil comes up looking lumpy and whitish colored, then it's a blown HG, and you'll ruin the engine if you drive it. But it's been my expereince that they won't run this way anyhow - the milkshake is so bad and thick once the HG goes, that it gets sucked into the intake, and down the carb - engine will not run at that point. Start it up cold with the radiator cap off - if coolant boils out the radiator then you have compression going into the cooling system. If it doesn't, then drive it. Just watch that you don't overheat it - you'll warp the heads if they aren't already. GD

Yes - like the Datsun style, but prefereably beefier. Like a 6 bolt would be nice. That's what the H1's have, and it makes the axles a piece of cake to change. Jack it up - 12 bolts out - axle in - 12 bolts again - done. It doesn't have the problems that the spline fit does with rust, and it doesn't need partial dissasembly of the suspension to get them out. And of course no need to remove the wheel and all the braking system from the front like a subaru. Very superior design from an off-road standpoint. A flange style on both ends that would mate to an axle running Porsch 930 CV joints, and a slip yoke like a Z car axle would be the ultimate subaru axle setup - the 930 CV's can approach 45 degrees, and are good for over 30" of travel. I've done the research, it's just the investment of time and money that I lack. It would really not be all that hard to implement given the right tools and the ability to do some aluminium casting and milling. I would really like to move the brakes inboard (and go to a larger GM setup), and build some chain driven portal hubs for another 1.5:1 reduction at each wheel. That would give a stock crawl of around 40:1 with no transfer case, and would remove almost all of the associates stress from the axles and transmission. All your stress would be on the chain drive portals, and chain is both very strong, and extremely efficient. You could have a dual stick setup so 2WD Low range would be availible for street driving.... A setup such as this would easily have 24" under the front and rear running on say a 33" tire. GD