The '86 Wagon

[6 Star]

I can't have been THAT far off. It ran and gave me 25+mpg!

 

I won't lie and say I drove like Granny does either. That thing saw plenty of 4500 RPM shifts.

 

 

 

Nah it wasn't far off. In fact it was working fine the way it was, it just wasn't in the factory position. It will run facing any direction as long as the order is the same 1324.

 

That being said I thought I solved the problem when I switched it around. But the engine would still shake at idle. Then on the way home from the tree run the engine decided it would die whenever it was at idle.

 

 

So I did a bit of looking around for vacum leaks and found an un-corked vacum opening for (Idk what really, some accessory my car doesn't have). It was on the intake manifold close to the passenger side head. Closed that up and the engine idles really smooth now.

 

But as soon as I closed that vacum port, the engine developed a miss that doesn't go away throughout any rpm speed.

When left to idle at 1000 rpm, the engine will miss every now and then and eventually idle down and die just like on my way home from the tree run.

 

If I turn the idle speed up to like 1100 or higher the engine wont die, but it will still miss.

 

Also when I removed the airfilter cover the engine choked out and died.

 

I am getting spark to all four cylinders.

 

 

So I'm gonna look at a few things that the troubleshooting guide has pointed me to:

egr

pvc

any other vacum leaks there may be

fuel filter

 

 

If anybody has some ideas of what might be happening I'm listening.

Edited December 16, 2012 by 6 Star

[wentz912]

I'd be halfway inclined to think fuel delivery, since when you give it more air, it can't keep up.

[6 Star]

Did some more tests today:

 

Disconnected the fuel line in the engine compartment and turned the car over, when I did this fuel came pouring out looking unrestricted. So by the looks of that my fuel pump and fuel filter(s) look fine.

*Is there more than one fuel filter on a carbourated ea82? There isn't one in the engine compartment.*

 

 

The engine really doesn't want to stay running when cold. If it is left to idle it will just choke out.

Once warmed up it is fine, the idle just has to be set at 1100 rpm.

However when the air filter cover is removed quickly it will kill the engine.

 

 

Is this my problem here?

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=135387

[6 Star]

This thing has been my amazing workhorse for over a year now.

Not much has changed since it is my daily driver.

The problems in the previous posts were vacuum leak related.

It is still as underpowered as ever, but after warming up it does just fine.

 

Here is a recent picture I took at work.

 

Edited January 6, 2015 by 6 Star

[6 Star]

I got bored with the looks of the wagon and decided that I would play around and lower this thing for a little while.

This is a hybrid of stock ea82 front and rear struts with cheap Honda lowering springs.

The front needed a coil cut on each side to look even.

The original struts/springs are stored away for when I want to go back to stock ride height.

The pugeots wouldn't fit with the massive tires on them, so wagon wheels are on for now. I'm planning on throwing my Enkei 3F mesh wheels on here soon.

 

Here is how she looks after being all settled down. Please excuse the dirt lol there is construction happening on my street.

 

 

Edited January 6, 2015 by 6 Star

[6 Star]

Heres a recent picture of when we got a little dusting of snow.

 

 

 

 

Also I have the Enkei 3F's on now, I like the way it ended up looking.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2015 by 6 Star

[6 Star]

Over time this wagon developed a stutter/hesitation problem that was truly mind boggling.

I started a thread about it a little while back if you would like to read more into that.
---> http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/149521-fuel-pump-controller-problem-hitachi-ea82/?do=findComment&comment=1253597

 

It turns out it was something in the distributor causing all the problems. After swapping distributors with a spare one, the engine fired right up.

 

Also I have some exciting news; this wagon is now Weberized. 

I bought the Redline kit off of Ebay, the one with electric choke for the EA82.
Ive had it sitting around for several months thinking my carburetor was about to go out, so it got swapped in as a byproduct of trying to get my car running again.

 

I followed the advice of these threads:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/71510-ideas-on-swaping-a-weber-carb-on-ea82%C2%B4s/?hl=%2Bea82+%2Bweber+%2Bvacuum

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/110926-seshs-1987-gl-build-thread/?hl=%20ea82%20%20weber%20%20kanurys

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Hitachi, it was fun while it lasted.
I removed the intake manifold just to make the process of cleaning it easier.
If you are worried that your intake manifold bolts are old and crusty, well use your own digression.

I will also add that it is advised to use genuine Subaru intake manifold gaskets if you removed your intake manifold. Dry! No other sealants needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stripped the manifold bare and plugged the water passage on top (for the stock Hitachi) with jb weld.
To make it easy, I plopped a good size blob of jb weld into the opening also ensuring that some made its way into the bypass tube that exits the manifold there.

Then I put painters tape over the opening and turned the manifold upside down to set up.
Gravity made it come out perfectly flat and flush with the base where the carb mounts to.

 

 

For the gasket that goes between the manifold and the Transdapt 2107 adapter, I put a layer of Permatex Form-A-Gasket 2 Non-Hardening sealer on both sides. All of the excess that beaded out into the manifold was wiped clean. This sealant is gasoline and oil resistant, and I also put a very thin layer of it on my new thermostat gasket.
The gasket between the adapter and the Weber was left dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little guy came from Ace Hardware and cost $1.20. I got the idea from Kanurys build thread.
It is rubber, hollow, and at the nipple it has a threaded brass connector inside which is also hollow.
If you looked at Kanurys thread then you know what this is for; the pcv bypass to the air cleaner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drilled a hole in the air cleaner baseplate. (Didn't compensate for the gasket, D'oh!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clears the airfilter pretty well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Thermo-vacuum-switch's vacuum lines are routed as such, from the top:

1: Fresh air Tee'd from the pcv bypass hose

2: EGR- Tee'd to the egr port on the right/front of the Weber carb

3: Distributor advance- Tee'd to distributor port on the left/front of the Weber carb

 

Power to the choke is wired from the oem engine harness. It is the blue wire on the three-wire-plug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the old Hitachi's throttle lever, a couple washers had to be added to clear the Weber carb's linkage.

When trying to decide if I wanted to use the throttle cable holder/ adjustment-point bracket that came with the Weber kit, or the stock one...

I made my own bracket.

 

This is because the stock one is now positioned too far away from the throttle lever with the Transdapt adapter.

In contrast, the bracket that comes with the Weber kit is too close to the throttle lever for the stock Subaru throttle cable.
However, the Weber's bracket can be bent backwards (similar to mine pictured above) to be in the correct position.

 

But! The throttle cable position of the Weber bracket will put a bind on the throttle cable if the spare tire is put in the engine compartment.

This is due to its high mounting point compared to the oem bracket.

 

Now you can see why I opted to create my own, bolted to the back of the intake manifold.

If you have a lift or if you don't care about putting the spare in the engine compartment, then by all means bend the Weber's bracket to work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say, everything is so much easier to get to now.