August 23, 201015 yr Hi everyone. I just replaced the engine of my beloved VW Beetle. Threw out the EA71 and put in an EA81 with the two carburators. The engine is a BEAST After a couple of minutes though water started to come out of the exhaust. Busted head gasket Anyway - no biggie .... but : is the headgasket identical with the single carb EA 81 ? (i know that the heads are definitely not) Thanks for your help. Oh - by the way : i'm about to get a new exahust too, so what would be the correct tube size under the heads? Thks.
August 23, 201015 yr they should be the same the only difference in the heads are that the valves are reversed
August 23, 201015 yr It could possibly be bad intake manifold gaskets. When those go bad they tend to leak coolant into the cylinders. Twitch
August 23, 201015 yr I would check the intake gaskets before u go and pop the heads off. Much more likely with the EA81. And if u wanna sell the heads and cam let me know.
August 26, 201015 yr Author To take the heads off, the manifold has to come of anyway. Thus, we shall see if the problem is there. Since i'll be taking the heads off, i think i'll just send them for a skimming and a valve job. It's as good an opportunity as any. Does anybody know what the tube diameter of the original exhaust used to be on these engines ? 'cause the port is HUGE (i think it must be 25-30% larger than the "normal" EA81) Thks Boris
September 17, 201015 yr Author The head gaskets were at fault. By the way - they are identical to the "plain" EA 81. Skimmed the heads, reground the valves, checked for wear on the guides (still very good) and replaced the heads with a set of new gaskets (original Subaru). What an engine .........
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