Hi guys.

In short, I had a very bad overheat on an EA-82 from a 1991 wagon with 160,000kms (~100,000miles).

I yanked the engine and pulled it to bits before taking it to a company to have them check and measure everything. (I asked this Subaru parts/service guy here in Melbourne where he gets his engines done.)

 

Here's what they think needs to be done:

 

crank pretty bad - do a crank grind

bores re-bored and honed

new pistons and rings

rods resized and bushed both ends

new main bearings

new big end bearings

full set of lifters

oil pump gears

full gasket set

heads cracked between seats so they're gonna do a full reco including new seats

 

They quoted me AUD$2200 ready to assemble (I said I would put it all back together)

or they said AUD$2600 assembled to the rocker covers.

 

As this isn't a performance vehicle (nor a fancy EJ engine) I'm now thinking of sourcing a 2nd hand EA-82 (it would still need maintenance work for piece of mind).

 

I would rather use an engine that I 'know' so I'm wondering if I can just clean her up, replace all the bearings, rings, seals and gaskets and put it all back together....?

 

I'm also wondering what would be considered the 'minimum' amount of machine work, ie. a head check/straighten/hone?

Alternatively I can source a pair of good heads that would only need the mating surfaces checked.

Also, the crosshatching on the bores is still visible.

 

I guess this is a pretty broad question, given that I don't even know how close to spec all the parts are, but I'm hoping someone might have some thoughts that will help me in my decision making.

 

Thanking you all in advance

David.

i would say measure the specs, and if they check out, reassemble. as long as you didnt get coolant in the oil, and you didnt get so hot that the timing belts melted, you are good to go.

 

have the heads inspected for cracks in the EXHAUST PORTS, the cracks between the valves are NORMAL, its common for them to go down to the valve guides. have the valve seats staked in if you recondition them

 

if all the bolts came out without trouble, and didnt take any threads out with them, the block is still good

 

i would say the motor is worth rebuilding if measured for spec correctly, and it checks out

 

the most cost effective measure would be to swap in a known running motor

wouldn't it be way cheaper to throw in another used longblock, maybe with new gaskets, a cylinder hone and new rings? Youve got parts yards down there right? And no shortage of subarus I'm sure. I wouldn't use the same head bolts, I've had other cars overheat, and had the headbolts/studs begin to stretch as I was getting them to their spec'd torque, even thought the engine wasn't too bad. The heat can anneal them.

Hmm, it appears my reply disappeared....

 

As I was pulling the engine apart it looked like it had been running on chocolate milk, hence why I decided to split the block as well.

It had also run hot enough to melt the belt covers around the bolts which meant I had to break the covers.

 

All the bolts came out pretty well although the threads were all gummed up with oil sludge or loctite from the factory.

 

Because I don't have a lot of precision measuring tools I had assumed this engine builder might be able to give me an objective opinion on the wear and measurements of all the parts I gave him. I have now asked for an itemised quote so that should be interesting.

 

We have various parts yards, although the going rate for a running (and alleged 'reco') EA-82 engine is ~AUD$1000 from the wreckers.

 

Good idea on replacing the main bolts as well.

 

Thanks for your thoughts guys.