GeneralDisorder

Ah - I failed to see "Iowa". Take whatever you can find then. Hehe GD

Loyle's were stripped down - they were the low end making way for the Leganus - get an 89 GL if you want all the cool gadgets. GD

Valve adjusters are hydraulic - cannot adjust them. Lifters bleed down after a long storage - very common. Officially subaru says up to two hour of operation for all air to bleed out of the lifters. Replaceing the oil pump is definately a good thing - just replaceing the seals is not generally enough in my experience - and if I'm going to all the trouble, an extra $60 is acceptable to me. GD

Sounds like a vacuum leak - you may have inadvertantly dislodged a vacuum line while pulling on the plug cables, etc. Use a spray can of carb cleaner while the engine is running to locate leaks - the engine idle will smooth out noticably when you spray around the leak area. For the seats - use a 3M green scrub pad (most auto body supply's carry these) to scrub off the oxidation. GD

It's basically the same principle as any other engine. You just don't bore or hone the EA81's - at least not without a bore plate. Usually you can still see the factory cross-hatching so there is no real point anyhow. Go to the library and get some books on engine rebuilding - you'll want a micrometer and telescoping guage set - and some plasti-guage for bearing fitment and such. Assembly lube for start-up lubrication. And you'll need to buy or make a tool to remove the piston wrist pins in order to split the block. Also need a 12mm? hex socket for the wrist pin access holes in the block. Really it's just a lot of measureing, labeling of parts, torque settings, and taking stuff to have it milled and waiting for the machine shop to finish... You'll want to mill the heads, have a valve job done including replacing the stem seals, and lapping the seats (at least - a grind you be best). Probably best to have the crank turned and get oversized bearings for it and the rods. New rings - I got the chrome rings from Fed-Mog - still looking into wether I should hone the cylinders a bit or not with the chrome jobbies. Tough call since you want to break them in, but you don't want to wear all the chrome off doing it and the subaru bores already have the factory cross-hatching, so it may serve to break them in by itself. If I do it will be a very light hone with like a 500 grit bottle brush. GD

If you don't have the flywheel on you can rotate the crank till the #1 piston is all the way up. #1 is the one closest to the disty - on the car it would be the front passenger side cylinder. You can tell when it's on the compression stroke by putting your finger over the plug hole - you will feel the air being pushed past your finger. Use a drinking straw to tell when the piston reaches TDC. Then just slide the disty in so that the rotor is pointing at whichever plug wire you want to use for #1. Most caps are marked. Fine adjustment you can do later by turning the disty with it's adjustment slot. GD

Being a Gen 1 4WD, your rear diff may be 4.11 or something.... better check the sticker. GD

Last one I sold on ebay I got near $300 + shipping for it. The datsun guys love em. GD

I'm a bit paranoid about the oil pressure thing. I had a digi-dash EA81 with no guage, and even though I resealed the pump when the idiot light started flickering at idle, I blew a rod out the top of the block about 4k miles later. Keep in mind that this car *was* a 2WD grandma car with perfect maintenance, and a beutifully smooth running engine with only 145k when I got it. I lifted it, wheeled the piss out of it - drowned the engine in swamp water more times than I can count (had water halfway up the inner door panels on it's maiden lifted voyage ). I changed the oil afer each run, and used quality filters (WIX). The oil pump itself is what did the engine in. Had I REPLACED the pump when I got the car it would still be running - that I'm sure of. On my Brat the pressure was low when I got it - around 15 at warm idle, and would go up to around 45 at cruise. I changed the sending unit and it made little to no difference - I resealed the pump - no change. REPLACED the pump ($60 from subaruparts.com)... now it's 20-25 at idle, and nearly 60 at cruise. On to the new engine in my wagon - got it from an 83 or 84 automatic that Turbone parted it. Sat in his shed for a long time - came to me and sat for another year. When I installed it I got some slight ticking (hydro lifters - actually a whole lot at first even thought I dead cranked the engine without plugs till I saw the oil pressure guage come up). It quieted down a little. Pressure was not what I wanted - so again I replaced the sender - actually replaced the entire guage with an aftermarket autometer setup. No change. Resealed the pump - no change. NEW pump - ticking is gone in the last 100 miles or so after the pump change(it doesn't get driven a lot being a lifted weekender), pressure is around 20-25 idle, and 50 cruise. This engine is awesome - it pulled 220 psi in each cylinder for compression, and I really don't want to blow it up like the last one. People say you can just "reseal it", but my experience has been that this is not sufficient to restore a pump with 100k miles on it to full capacity. Being the most important fuild in your engine, personally I don't take chances anymore. After you have thrown a rod as a direct result of insufficient oil pressure, and completely destroyed a perfectly good engine, you won't find the $60 all that expensive. I pay it now with a smile. GD

Neat - not something I want or need myself, but if you could take pics of it, or allow me to drop by and take some for the site - that would be cool. I have several regular EA81 intakes to compare against photo wise.... I wonder if the ECU could be re-flashed with the fuel maps and programming used in the JDM engine..... and I wonder even more if that information could even be found from either a JDM ECU, or from Subaru of Japan.... GD

Everything that's good around the roof, and bed area - including t-tops, moldings, bed access panels, rear mud flaps, and as above tailgates, trim etc. Get the door window glass, and the rear slider, plus any headliner you can, and all the trinkets that go with the t-tops (sun visors, seals latches, etc). Oh !sht strap if it's not gone. If you are really down for some fun - grab the fuel pump and it's shelf under the Brat - that is distinct to the brat body.... MPFI XT engine.... maybe they bypassed the stock pump or removed it tho. Don't waste your time with junk that can be had off any EA81 unless it's really, really nice. The mentioned ign. switch for example - waste of time since any EA81 GL will have that. Door handles too. Don't mess with drivetrain bits unless you need them - again same as any EA81 out there. Everything forward of the doors (including the doors) is the same as any EA81 out there. Seats are slightly different than other models (still suck like all EA81 seats ), so if they are good grab them. Can you tell I've stripped a few Brats? . Owning one helps too.... GD

You are right about the disty, but the EA81T mounting plate (under the disty) allows you to use the EA82 disty without making the adjusting slot bigger. Not a huge deal anyway, but thought I would mention it... GD

*should be a 36*, but I've encountered rebuilt axles where the rebuilder included a 32mm nut (leganus style).... not cool, but ya never know with an old soob. hehe GD

Well - it's not actually the "axle" you are dealing with here.... First - I would do just what you did - torque it down (pehaps with a new cone washer, as they are usually worn too much to work at that point), and see where things go. If it comes back (ie: loosens up again), then you NEED to replace the stub shaft (actually a seprate part - NOT the axle. The axle is splined to the stub), hub, and cone washer. If you don't replace them all, it will just keep wearing out hubs and grinding the axle stub to dust. The cone washer is most important, but once the thing has been loose and driven that way, the washer is toast, the conical section of the hub is toast, usually the splines are ripped out of the hub, and the axle stub splines are sanded down the point where the fittment to the hub is no good (even a new hub) and the whole mess will repete itself. Just get all three from the junk yard, and with all that metal dust that has just passed by your bearing seals, you are going to want to seriously consider doing that wheel bearing while you have it apart too. I would go with a new bearing, but a JY one in good shape will do the job too - they generally last 200k or more in the rear if not contaminated and properly torqued. I've got 25k on one from a Brat with 193k on it.... I swapped the entire trailing arm to prevent the possibility of wrecking the bearing durring removal. They can be drifted out with a brass punch if you are careful. New they cost around $50 each. GD

Neato - thanks Mick! (No - I haven't forgot about the valve! ) GD

I've heard (but not tried myself) that if you rub about a 1/8" thick layer of vaseline on the dash and leave it there in the sun for a few days it will soften up the plastic.... been wanting to try it. Best option is to replace the dash.... of course you have to find one so that's going to be difficult. On ebay there is usually someone selling the carpet dash covers - they velcro in place and improve the appearance tremendously. I'm going to have one on my uncracked replacement dash that I have yet to install. BIG cracks in mine too - looks terrible. Once I have replaced it I may attempt to fix it just for kicks - good test subject since it's already toast. GD

Are you running a weber? Just curious as I've never seen a kidney bean shaped K&N... or have your rigged up something else for the old Hitachi? I totally agree on the slowing down thing - I've been using the cruise on my sedan, and I get the finger a lot too. The other day I got passed by a very angry lancer - he got pulled over about 2 miles later by an unmarked police Dodge Charger! Didn't know they had those here yet. I laughed as now that I have slowed down all my tickets have dropped off my insurance . The tire pressure thing is a excelent one as well - I've been upping mine - mostly in the front as the engine weight seems to be too much for 32 PSI. First I went to 35, but now I'm thinking more. I intend to do a contact patch test with some latex paint but haven't got around it. I think about 38 - 40 is about right for the front of an EA81. I seem to get a lot less wear, and much easier steering from it as well. Just going from 32 to 35 got me up from 27 MPG to almost 30. Also thinking about pulling off my tailgate on the Brat for a while - at least on long trips. Better vision that way too. Being that my Brat is street only, I'm going to take the "rake" out of the suspension by clocking the torsion bar down, and then adjusting the nut for more height till I get it level. I've got the thing all the way down, and it still sits high in the back. Hugging the ground will help increase mileage too. A front air dam would be sweet, but near impossible to find anymore. They did make them for EA81's back in the day. I'm amazed that you got 40 - that's really increddible - I'm going to work on getting there. GD

Look at the front of the block - is it stamped EA71 or EA81? If it's stamped EA81, then check the valve covers for a gold sticker that reads "Do Not Adjust Valve Clearance". If that is present you have a hydro lifter EA81 - best EA81 to have. If it does not have hydro lifters, then it's an early EA81 from a 80-82, or 83/84 manual trans. There are further checks to narrow it down if it has solid lifters. 83/84 had larger intake valves and the head castings are slightly different. As for the STD having the 1600 - yes it should have come that way. They made the STD and GL hatch's till 89... and if the engine blew up the owner would have had a very hard time locating a 1600 side starter - thus a replacment 1800 would have been fitted (educated guess). GD

The "new" weber kits are made in Mexico - that's how. Mine wasn't like that, but I don't like the "kit" as it doesn't come with several key peices, and the tall filter won't fit a stock height ru (unless you want it rubbing on the hood, or have bad engine mounts ). That, and it's $200 cheaper to rebuild your own. GD

Being a 4WD EA71 side mount starter it *may* have the very rare EA71 225mm clutch pack.... if that's the case, then his bell housing and flywheel are worth probably more than the car. hehe. But more likely it's just the 200mm clutch. GD

Yeah - you may not have noticed, but that's what I did to the one that's on my wagon right now. Short of a weber, just cutting the end off the air-box helps a lot. Mine was (is) moving pretty good with just a hitachi - even on 28's. That, and the lift makes it impossible to fit the air-box to mine as the end of it hits my upper radiator hose GD

My tranny mounts are totally blown. Trans is resting on the cross-member. Unless I can find a used set on Sat at the junk yard..... well I don't want to break my trans just yet. Anyone got any EA81 tranny mounts? :-\ I'm gonna order new ones, but payday (which is techinically Sat ) in reality won't come till Mon when I can actually lay hands on the check..... GD

Exactly! HP is a FUCNTION of torque and RPM. Just like I said - you'll have to move up the RPM range and improve flow up there (cam) if you want more HP. Personally, I use these engines for off-road, so high end is useless to me. But taking a look at the specs of the JDM dual carb you'll see that it's 108 HP is at a higher RPM than the 74 HP of the stock EA81 single carb. More air and more fuel is fine - that's exactly what you need for power, but the valve train will only breath so much without changing the cam and the heads to get more air. Forced induction is a possiblity, but the stock pistons will not handle much in the way of boost. Apparently there was a guy at SUB4 that supercharged a heavily modified EA81, and got nearly 200 HP out of it. It was in a Brat with SUB4 logos on the sides. Would love to see it myself.... GD

Nope - not true. FSM lists a single curve for both. The EA82 is the same way - not sure if the EA82 got the ND disty's or not, but EA81 got Hitachi and ND. Both have the same curve. I use the ND (2WD) personally, because I like the way it fits with the Weber, and the fact that the seal is better against water intrusion under the cap. But that's just my prefrence. It does have a slightly hotter spark as the ND coil is wound differently. All this only applies to carbs, BTW. the SPFI, MPFI, Turbo, etc use only one Hitachi model with a crank angle sensor. In fact the SPFI and Turbo disty's are the same and interchangable. Timing is completely controlled by the ECU - changing it will give you zilch. As for the weights - no - different brand so the parts are totally different. Turbo muffler is just refering to what muffler shops call a "Callifornia turbu muffler" - looks stock, but has a better flow to it. Jetting kit - HAHAHAHA. No. Wrap a wire around your linkage to make it mechanical rather than vacuum. GD

Justy and EA81 cars are the same. I only know this because I ran across a random junk yard EA81 with a justy wheel.... . Splines are the same. GD