GeneralDisorder

EA81's never tick.... none of mine have, and I've never heard anyone else report it either. That is characteristic of the EA82 overhead cam design, and usually a result of poor oil pressure to the lifters, and their distance from the oil pump. Bad cam tower o-rings are common, which add to the problem. Also, if it's the same as here, then an 84 with the 4 speed will have solid lifters, which require manual adjustment every 30k miles or so. Check the valve covers for a gold sticker that says "Do Not Adjust Valve Clearances" - that will indicate a hydro lifter engine. In the states, only 83/84 automatics had those, and in 85+ the Brat and Hatchback all had them. GD

The JDM dual carb EA81 was 108 HP. (should mention that it has a different compression ratio, heads, and y-pipe too). Stock EA81 single carb is 78 HP up to '82, and 83 HP for '83+. Difference is the larger intake valve, and cam profile. Stock EA82 single carb is 95 HP, Turbo is 110 or 115 depending on year. GD

4 speed only came with the EA81. All EA82's were 5 speed. GD

EGR also comes from the carb - higher up above the vacuum advance for the disty. Only receives vacuum after throttle is opened a bit father than for the disty. Someone above said don't touch it unless you know what it does - that's about the size of it. If you want to know what it does, post a picture and I or another board member will tell you. There are too many systems on there to list here.... and I'm tired of explaining this over and over. Do a search as this has been covered weekly for years. GD

I would say your problem is jet related - fluttering the pedal engages the accelerator pump repeatedly allowing you to rev the engine.... that alone points toward a fuel supply issue. The choke on the Hitachi keeps the idle higher before it pulls off, and the choke being parially closed helps add vacuum to the idle circuit. The thermo-vac valves.... there should be two or three on an 82... some may be electric rather than thermo - on a timer. Hard to say without looking. Largely they are there for evacuating the evap canistor once the engine reaches operating temp, and other emmisions related BS. Personally I just remove all that junk. Knowing what it does, and how it works is a requirement to being able to effectively remove those types of systems without causing problems in the process. GD

Just remove it - you may get slight, soft pops while coasting down steep hills. Doesn't bother me. On EA81's there was two types of EGR's - one with the big tube for the anti-backfire valve, and the earlier one that does not have it. I use the older style without the pipe... but you could just block off the EGR port with a steel plate. GD

Since it has to do with temp, your issue is partially choke related, or you have a vacuum leak that is opening with one of the thermo-vacuum valves.... but I would tend to suspect the choke. Rev the engine to 2500 or so, and cover the intake with a rag till it almost dies (or does). This will cause massive vacuum in the carb and suck out any gunk clogging the jets. Repeat it a couple times. GD

Yeah - probably a cir-clip floating around in your tranny.... perhaps replacing it with a spring style clip would work... might want to try and get the old cir-clip out with a magnet if you can find it I'm thinking you should go with the 5 speed. Less potential issues later. GD

Well - I think if you can't pound that puppy back in (some tranny's apparently you could slide-hammer those out, but others were bolted in from the inside?) then your are SOL. As good a time as any for a 5 speed swap it sounds like. Take a look at the stub that got "pulled" out and see if you can determine if it broke, or was just pulled free of the diff. GD

The point is that it can, and has been done. The twin carb setups are not actually all that rare, and even in NZ, I'm sure you have places that import used Japanese engines. That's where people in the US have found dual Hitachi setups. Frankly tho, if you have any fabbing skills, it's not all that hard to cut plates for the head intakes, and carb base, and braze or weld on some tubes in-between, and nipples for the coolant cross-over. Dual carb theory is the same as it is for any of the VW flat fours, so there's plenty of reading material at your local library. The problem is.... the head castings for the EA81/EA82 carb/spfi engine's don't flow well. This is fixed one of two ways - forced induction, or different/modified castings. If you can TIG alum. then you can do exactly what SUB4 does, and dual port the stock heads. Just bore into them, and weld in some tubes for intakes. I'll do it myself if I ever have the money for a decent TIG box. GD

None - EA82's are wider, and so driveshafts are longer - both front and rear. *edit* What are you trying to do here? I may know a thing or two about swapping ends and joints and such.... GD

You guys should do some more research - all this has been done by Subaru, and the pics are right here on our own site: http://ultimatesubaru.org/80s/projectrudy/rudy.html GD

Hehe - there was a semi-conductor factory located next to a chicken farm a number of years ago. Chickens kept dying mysteriously, and acting really weird. Turns out the factory was producing an ultra-high frequency that happened to coincide with the resonance of the chicken skull cavity. Be glad your Subaru is not capable of this feat.... GD

Stop by a Napa or equivelent and get a 24" peice of 5/8" heater core hose. Put an ear plug in one ear, and use the hose to pinpoint where the noise is comming from under the hood with the other ear. Works great. Typical whining parts are: Alternator, Water Pump, Power Steering, Timing belt tensioners and the idler, Clutch release bearing.... All of the things with bearings in them basically. GD

Vucuum leak in the manifold closest to the cylinders not fireing. When you pull the wire on those cylinders, the engine doesn't change pitch because the vacuum leak is affecting them the most. Explains your rough idle too. Spray around with WD40 to look for a leak. GD

I have no pre-heat tube on my Weber's, or my Hitachi on my other rig - neither have ever done that. But I suppose it's possible - just seems strange that I've never experienced it. GD

Yes - OEM only for t-stat's on Subaru's. Here's why: OEM on the right, crap aftermarket on the left: GD

Oh - I agree, but I've never experienced it on a Subaru in this climate - that's what I meant. With the coolant running through the manifold to the base of the carb they usually don't get that cold. You might check the coolant flow through the manifold, and to the base of the carb. GD

It's an EA81, and while they do last a long time, there are certain things that must be maintained. Driving it for two weeks with a blown HG likely destroyed your vavle stem seals - water in the oil will do this. Each time I drowned my engine with swamp water the oil burning got a little worse. I failed to replace the oil pump (digi-dash - didn't know the pressure), and it threw a rod eventually. I would say that you definately need to rebuild that carb - sounds like it has some issues there. Probably replace your oil pump (easy), and perhaps the vavle stem seals as well (can be done without removing the head). GD

He's in Gresham, and that's very close to me, so I doubt he's experienceing any carb iceing - I mean - it's cold here, but not quite cold enough for that. Coldest it's been here in the morning is about 20. I've not experienced any issues with carb iceing ever in this climate. GD

Heh - neat trick. I'll remember that one for my swap. GD

All the plugs for the cluster are immediately behind it... if you need it, I have diagrams for all that stuff from my '84 fsm. The ignition plug that Skip mentioned is a good one to check - most I've seen are burned - some idiot cut and spliced my "big" juice into an aftermarket alarm system wireing harness. It was sloppy - didn't even use a 3M tap. I had to rip all that out, and repair the harness. I soldered it to be sure of a good connection. The wires to the ign. switch would actually get HOT because it was so borked. GD

Nice - couple questions then - how's the upper radiator hose routing look? The EA82 hose work alright? And what does it look like for the little water passage hoses under the manifold? Just curious. GD

Any progress on this? I'm itching to do it myself, and sell my Weber's! GD

Yep - that's pretty much how most of us have it. Idea is basically to allow the engine to breath, and make sure that any air it takes in goes through a filter. You can do this by putting filters on each valve cover, and on the PCV, but it's easier for most of us to just use the filter we already have. Looks good to me - I have the same setup, and no oil consumption or strange effects from it. If you look hard at the stock routing, you'll see that it's the same idea - just with the addition of a passive carbon canister to capture gasses. GD