Mudboat

Head gasket....

If you have the traction, you'll be popping wheelies.... Cool ride!!

Pull your plugs and check the compression on each cylinder to see. I had low compression on one cylinder a few months ago. I pulled the piston and found the rings siezed and the piston burnt. Cylinder wall was ok. Ran a hone in the cylinder, put in a new $65 piston w/rings from Car Quest and it was back in action in about 6 hours.

If you know how to TIG, and have the tubing and access to a bender, then go for it.... Let us know how it comes out....

The Carter-Weber should have a metal tag on the front, right, bottom side on one of the bolts. The C-W tag has the carb info.

Here's another price from Weber Carbs Direct: http://www.webercarbsdirect.com/subaru

When I bought the remanufactured Hitachi back in November, I asked about a price on a new Weber 32/36 and that's the price they told me.

With the Stock Carter Weber on the EA81, you're pretty limited without changing the intake manifold or finding someone to make an adapter. To install the Hitachi, or the after market Weber you will need another intake. The Carter/Weber bolts to the manifold with 2 bolts. The Hitachi bolts with 4. I had the Carter Weber on my engine and was set on changing over to the Hitachi. I found a used intake for $40 and bought a remanufactured Hitachi for $175. I went to a manual choke. I plan on switching over to the after market Weber, which comes with the adapter. Only thing holding me back is the price... I've been quoted $380 for the Weber..

??? Automatic choke going out, maybe? Fuel pump?....

Pictures of 4 different mudboats using a variety of engines. EA-82 with ram-air, 2 with EA-81's and one with a Super 16. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?ppuser=8086&cat=500

I pulled out a piston a few months ago after I ran a compression check and found 40 psi. The piston looked almost just like that except that a compression ring was also broken and seized in the groove. The oil ring was seized in the groove about 3/4 of the diameter. The cylinder was not scarred, but did have some mild scratching. I ordered a single piston and rings from Car Quest, ran a hone in the cylinder, installed the new piston and it came back to life with no problems. A mechanic that looked at the old piston told me that the engine looked like it was overheated and was running on oil that was broken down. Note: It was like that when I bought it.

I haven't seen a jet drive, but that don't mean there aren't any. Our boats are used strictly for marsh hunting. There's nothing worse than hitting a pile of water lillies or thick hydrilla with a 24hp Kohler inboard and not having enough power to bust out. Soobs literally eat that stuff for lunch with the right prop. I've never gotten it stuck, not even in solid mud with the consistency of oatmeal.... Built for power more than speed...

Ok, since some of my pics are up. I'll try to explain the "Stick Steering". See the vertical SS steering stick on the left side of the seat? Well, it is designed the same as some air boats. This setup uses a boomerang ("L" shaped Stainless plate that pivots) to transfer the front to back motion of the stick to the side to side motion needed to operate the rudder. To set up this steering, you need to make sure that the boomerang and rudder tiller are completely square with each other. The components are connected with 1/2" SS shaft with adjustable rod ends at every swivel point. Every stationary pivot point (stick, boomerang and rudder) are mounted with flange bearings for reduced friction. As for other engines used in these boats. Everyone uses either EA71's 81's or 82's. There are some who use Nissan engines for more HP, but they are not as compact. I've seen V6 engines in mud boats, but they are usually very heavy. Not ideal for running in the marsh, but very powerful for shallow duck ponds.

There are 5 guys in my hunting club and all of them have soobs in their boat. No 2 are alike. 2 with EA81's (mine included), 2 with EA-82's and one with a super 16. The nicest rig is one with an EA-82. The hull it totally customized with all kinds of trick features, most notable is the home-made Ram-Air Induction he built in to the engine cover. He claims it increased his RPMs from 5200 to 5500. He also built a wet exhaust exchanger that exhaust's out the back of the hull. Some use a diesel equipment silencer in place of dual mufflers to reduce noise. Note: My boat is quite loud with dual cheapie mufflers... But it still sounds sweet...

I have a few pics up (finally) after re-sizing. I have some more but I'll have to wait until I have a little time to re-size them as well. Specs: The boat is 16' long, fiberglass with 2" floatation in floor. EA81 Inboard, shaft through the bottom. Keel cooled. Flywheel machined to accept marine damper plate and coupled to a 1 to 1 Borg Warner Velvet drive clutch. 10" SS 2-blade prop. 5300 RPM and top speed of 42 mph. Unstoppable in shallow water and soft mud. Blows through hydrilla and water lillies. See recent photos in photo gallery...

You're probably looking at roughly 135 lbs, give or take 10 lbs... I've lifted one with a friend before, so that's just a guess...

Man, you learn something new every day!!! You guys are cool! I'll pull out my pics when I get home this evening and post a few. I don't have any at work... Thanks...

stinky wrote: "what about a subaru buggy with a fiberglass bottom / sides and the drive shaft switchable between driving the rear wheels and a prop ? Subaru amphibian! :)" It's already been done. I know a guy who runs a Subaphibian in my area. He uses it to ride up to his deer feeders in the marsh so he can fill them without getting his feet wet. It's too wide to run through the ditches, so he uses trails. His wheels are front and rear dualie style ATV gumbo tires to keep from sinking too low in the marsh. His cooling system is both a car radiator with fan and keel cool. No switching from wheels to prop. They all spin together. I'm not sure how he has the drive train rigged, but I'm sure everything is hand made. It is very slow on land and in the water, but it works. I'll take pictures of it the next time I see him out in the marsh.

I don't have a server or a web page to host any pics, but I'm more than willing to email pics to those who may be interested. I went out in it yesterday afternoon to feed my deer herd in the marsh. I opened it up in a straight stretch for a few seconds. Man that was a rush... Note: We run our boats through a floating marsh, in ditches that are approximately 4' wide. Your steering had better be up to snuff when running at this speed in a 4' wide ditch.

I have a boat with a EA-81 engine. It is keel cooled (water circs through protected radiator under boat). Flywheel is machined for a marine damper plate. A 1 - 1 Borg/Warner marine transmission with F/N/R coupled to the engine with a custom made aluminum bell housing. Stick rudder steering. 10" 2-blade SS prop. Seat is mounted over the engine. Boat carries 2 people. RPM is 5300. Top speed is approx 40 mph in very shallow water 6-8" and less in deeper water. my email is ryker725@cox.net pics are available if interested.

1982 EA-81 in a 16' hunting boat. Flywheel machined to accept a marine damper plate and a custom built bell housing to bolt up a 1 to 1 marine transmission. 1" shaft through the bottom strut with a 10" SS 2-blade prop. Keel-cooled (water circulates through a special radiator built into the hull). Exhaust systems vary from boat to boat. No 2 are the same. Stick drive, rudder steering. The rig literally blows through mud and hydrilla due to the engine's power and low drag of the fiberglass hull. Top speed = Approximately 40 mph in 6" of water. Less in deeper water. A common sight in South Louisiana. There are probably a couple hundred of these boats in my area. Each one custom rigged... I have pics, but not not on a web page.

Plugs, wires, rotor and coil were all recently replaced when carb was rebuilt. No points.

I can see from the last picture where that may be a problem..... Hey, if you cut off the fan blades... problem solved!!! Sorry I can't help ya..... If that's the only block heater that will fit on the engine, then you may have to get a slim fan....

I use Castrol High Milage (5w) oil in my EA-81. I've tried a synthetic once (Royal Purple), but I lost some compression and also started leaking oil once the deposits washed away. Shortly after switching back to 100% petroleum based oil, I had a piston burn and rings seize up. After the repairs were made, I strictly use the High Milage oil.... I like it....