bushytails

That's a lot cleaner than any you see here! Good choice for a project. Stuck thermostat also can cause overheating and foaming, but head gasket isn't too bad of a project. The stock carbs aren't terrible, and often can be fixed with just a cleaning, being careful not to tear gaskets. Brake booster and master cylinder are usually reliable; no need to replace them unless you have issues. Try ebay or junkyards for better headlights.

I'm the one who suggested that the cylinders were washed. lol. The piston rings seal with a very thin coat of oil on the cylinder wall. If you ever get fuel without starting, like trying to get a bunch of old gas and a dirty carb to run, the fuel washes this thin oil coat off the cylinder walls, and you lose compression. Fixing the problem that caused it not to start (i.e. flushing bad fuel, and dismantling and cleaning a gummed up carb), and starting it, will get oil slung back onto the cylinder walls, restoring the ring seal, and restoring compression. Sticky valves or such aren't going to happen simultaneously to all four cylinders from a running engine... Mechanical things that could affect all cylinders at once are a broken crank, broken cam (I saw this once! ... but there was a lot more broken too), broken timing gears, slipping ring gear (so you're not actually cranking the engine), etc... But if the accessories and dist are turning, those are all going to be fine. Broken cam or timing gears also cause a distinctly different sound, since some cylinders will be stuck with both valves closed, and compress each revolution - the sound of an EJ ready for a timing belt and half the valves replaced.... Am I positive I'm right? Of course not. They could have blown both headgaskets at once, or some other simultaneous multiple failure. Or the engine is total crap and never actually had any approximation of full compression but was limping along. But, based on my experience, I think it's the most likely diagnosis, which is why I said "probably".

I doubt it's anything actually mechanical, just because it's all cylinders at once.

If everything is turning, you probably just washed the cylinder walls, and it'll sound normal again after you fix the fuel problems and get it running for a bit.

Are the accessories (alternator, etc) turning?

The California Hitachi actually flows pretty well. It gets you several horsepower over the 49-state Carter version. There's also a 49-state Hitachi, but I've never seen one here in California. Unless you pair it with other upgrades, I don't think a carb swap will give noticeable power gains. It is, however, more complicated to work on.

It should run best with the solenoids plugged in. Make sure the green test connector under the dash is not plugged together, then get your 'scope on the o2 sensor line. Keep in mind it's an unheated sensor, and you may need to rev it a little to get it to come to life. It should be switching between around ..2v and .7v every couple seconds. Check at idle, at a constant no-load slight rev, and during gentle driving. It'll always be rich at full throttle, by design. If the o2 sensor is switching at idle, but you have more power with them unplugged, check to make sure the power valve isn't stuck closed. On the topic of power valves, make sure not to damage the gasket around the tiny passage in the middle of the carb when taking the top half off. It's easy to tear, and will smoke and run like total spoob if you do tear it. Also check secondary is opening correctly - it's semi-vacuum-operated and can be sticky. And, of course, clean every single passage and jet in the carb... Also check timing. Rich mixture can hide overly advanced timing. Check timing with vacuum advance unplugged and idle set correctly.

That's normal operation. The duty solenoids allow extra air to mix into the fuel in the emulsion tubes, leaning the mixture. Off all the time, mixture is too rich and you get black smoke from the exhaust. On all the time, mixture is too lean, you knock and can't go up hills. The ECU varies the on/off duty cycle (hence the name) to adjust the fuel mixture in the middle of this range, until the oxygen sensor is happy, cycling just above and below stoichiometric.

Those springs do not affect the feel of the clutch in any way, and they're often simply missing... If you felt something change, look elsewhere.

That radiator looks due for replacement. P.S. The little powerstack battery works really well in that ratchet.

They're going 65mph in the photo... at that speed, it should be firmly at the bottom line, where the thermostat opens. EA81s aren't picky about thermostats, since they're on top like most older vehicles - it's the newer EJ motors that have them on the bottom that are super picky. My first guess would be a clogged radiator. Where on your temperature gauge does the thermostat open? From a cold engine, keep feeling the outlet side. It'll be cold and then suddenly hot when the thermostat opens. Then keep watching the gauge, and also note where the electric fan kicks on. These are your reference points for where the gauge should read. On level highway it should be at the point the thermostat just opens, and it should never exceed the point where the fans kick on, at any speed.

That temperature gauge is *way* too high. Address that promptly or you'll be getting to do head gaskets very soon. At highway speeds the needle should be at the lower black line, and it should never get to the second black line.

I need to split a transmission soon, and I'll be replacing all the seals while I'm at it... will need to figure out how to set the gears, not just mark the positions. yay.

As subaru1988 says, they need adjusting... but they're often corroded to where the ball that senses you're on a hill can't roll freely, and thus don't work. I haven't tried rebuilding one.

Instead of dual SPFI, let's go for *quad* SPFI! ... oh, wait, that's just a MPFI manifold swap.

Same question, different sensor. Does the bucking go away if you unplug the knock sensor?

Current trend is "almost nothing is available, and what is available is usually garbage", alas...

I've been searching pretty hard over the last few years for a good radiator, and the only option in the US seems to be roughly four varieties of chinese all-aluminum models. There's a company in .au that supposedly still makes a copper-brass one, but they explicitly state they will not ship overseas, and did not respond to an email asking if they'd consider changing that policy. You can get the aluminum ones on ebay, or at o'reilly if you want a warranty. Quality... varies. The o'reilly one isn't terrible. The $90 ebay special is pretty ugly. I haven't tried the "Fenix" one for a higher price. There's a couple middle-priced ebay options. When searching, look for "leone" and "brumby" radiators, since that's what the rest of the word labels them as. If you do find a copper-brass one that's actually available in the US, let me know!

"most available".... I haven't seen one of those available in many years.

Does the bucking go away if you leave the valve unplugged?

I should add, it's just my *theory* that not having a reservoir makes them crack. I've had a lot of problems with them cracking, and here's what I decided: With no reservoir, the radiator always runs with a bubble on top. Even if you fill it to the brim, when it warms up and expands, it'll push coolant out the cap, and pull air in when it cools. At idle, the bubble is at the top of the radiator. Coolant entering the upper hose at low velocity drops by gravity and slowly flows through the tubes, with the top couple tubes filled with air from the bubble. At throttle, the high-velocity coolant against the resistance of the tubes causes coolant to flow through all the tubes, including the top ones, and the bubble is pushed to the outlet side of the radiator. You can see this if you look down the cap with it running - the level drops when you give it any throttle. So, at throttle, the top tubes are filled with hot coolant, and are hot. As soon as you go to idle, and the bubble moves into them, the airflow over the radiator instantly cools the tubes down to air temperature. Then you give it throttle, and they get filled back with hot coolant, and instantly heat to coolant temperature. Then you go back to idle, and they drain and instantly cool to air temperature. And paper thin aluminum can only take so many 100 degree temperature cycles every few seconds before cracking... especially since when they cool, they contract against the force of the rest of the hot tubes expanding the tanks apart... I couldn't find any other claims about this when I extensively searched for info on them cracking - just lots of other people having mysterious cracks in fairly new expensive radiators. So, with no other competing theories, I'll go with the one I came up with!

I got a universal stainless steel one on ebay. Google, ebay, or amazon for universal coolant reservoir, universal coolant tank, and searches like that. There's tons of nice-looking ones available.

Got a source on those? All I can find is references to swayaway, which seems to be out of business...

Hrmm, I could have sworn the 2wd still had it, but it's been so long since I've seen one, I seem to be mis-remembering!

You're doing it wrong... you take off the shocks, then the three bolts on the trailing links, then the inner bushes, then drop the gas tank, then bolt up the 4x4 gas tank, the mustache bar and diff, and the trailing links with CVs...