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79 Brat - Sputter, Start issues


lvsarge
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Hey all. I just wanted to bounce some things off some of the more senior Subaru mechanics and get some ideas. Here's the skinny: Stock ea71 motor. Subaru was running okay, then one day was having problems accelerating from a stop/idle, and then eventually having problems starting. The acceleration problem apparently was the fuel filter. After replacing that, the acceleration problems never occurred again.

 

Now, truck has a real hard time starting. Starter turns and cranks the engine, and when I Take the filter off the carb (Weber) I can see fuel getting dumped into the manifold. Pulled plugs and cyl 1+3 looked rich, but not wet. Cyl 4 was rich AND wet, and Cyl 2 was lean, with a ton of buildup on the plug. Checked plug wires, all looked normal except Cyl 2. The connector was corroded and rusted out, and transfered to the connection on Cyl 2 spark plug, as well. 

 

Additionally, I noticed when in operation, or trying to turn on the fuel pump (in the engine bay) leaks like a siv. The  carb IS getting fuel, and it obviously does turn on, but I'm not sure how much fuel I'm losing through that thing. 

 

Looks like I will need to tune the carb, perhaps do a compression check, and then from there see if I need to look at the piston rings/valves. 

 

Anything I'm missing, or should take a look at? Seems like it's gotten a lot worse since it's cold now. Please keep in mind this is my first "project" car, and also my first carburetor vehicle I've ever really worked on that was "mine", so I'm fairly green on the classics, and would love some advice. Thanks in advance. 

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Hey all. I just wanted to bounce some things off some of the more senior Subaru mechanics and get some ideas. Here's the skinny: Stock ea71 motor. Subaru was running okay, then one day was having problems accelerating from a stop/idle, and then eventually having problems starting. The acceleration problem apparently was the fuel filter. After replacing that, the acceleration problems never occurred again.

 

Now, truck has a real hard time starting. Starter turns and cranks the engine, and when I Take the filter off the carb (Weber) I can see fuel getting dumped into the manifold. Pulled plugs and cyl 1+3 looked rich, but not wet. Cyl 4 was rich AND wet, and Cyl 2 was lean, with a ton of buildup on the plug. Checked plug wires, all looked normal except Cyl 2. The connector was corroded and rusted out, and transfered to the connection on Cyl 2 spark plug, as well. 

 

Additionally, I noticed when in operation, or trying to turn on the fuel pump (in the engine bay) leaks like a siv. The  carb IS getting fuel, and it obviously does turn on, but I'm not sure how much fuel I'm losing through that thing. 

 

Looks like I will need to tune the carb, perhaps do a compression check, and then from there see if I need to look at the piston rings/valves. 

 

Anything I'm missing, or should take a look at? Seems like it's gotten a lot worse since it's cold now. Please keep in mind this is my first "project" car, and also my first carburetor vehicle I've ever really worked on that was "mine", so I'm fairly green on the classics, and would love some advice. Thanks in advance. 

When you say you have a "Weber" I am guessing you are actually talking about a Carter-Weber stock single barrel carb.  This carb is very different than the heavily favored Weber that people talk about on this forum.  Not many people comment on Carter-Weber issues because it's generally regarded as junk that needs to be replaced.  That said, obviously it can be made to run correctly, but you probably won't get much tech support simply because not many people have spent the time to figure out how to repair or maintain them.  I am not sure of the availability of carb rebuild kits for these carbs either.  Not trying to discourage you, but if you want to keep the Carter-Weber, you're probably going to have to mostly rely on yourself to get it ship-shape.  If I am correct and you have the Carter-Weber and you want to switch it out for a better carb, then unless I am mistaken you will need either an ea71 intake manifold for a Hitachi carb or make an aluminum adapter plate for your existing manifold.

 

So are you saying fuel is actually leaking out of your fuel pump, but not from the fuel outlet?  If that is the case, you need to replace it immediately.

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No, sir. It is an aftermarket dual-barrel Weber carb.

 

The pump (after the fuel filter in the engine bay), appeared to be leaking from the seals on the body. The hoses, themselves, appeared to be pretty dry, and noticed no holes or tears. I have removed the pump and am trying to see if I can find an OEM replacement (I've noticed I cannot find OEM-anything with this car). Otherwise I imagine a cheap electric inline pump would work fine?

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No, sir. It is an aftermarket dual-barrel Weber carb.

 

The pump (after the fuel filter in the engine bay), appeared to be leaking from the seals on the body. The hoses, themselves, appeared to be pretty dry, and noticed no holes or tears. I have removed the pump and am trying to see if I can find an OEM replacement (I've noticed I cannot find OEM-anything with this car). Otherwise I imagine a cheap electric inline pump would work fine?

Basically any inline pump designed for a carb will work.  You can search for a pump for an '84 wagon with an ea81.  That will probably give you better results and it's the same pump.

 

I recommend you also adjust the valve lash to spec, and if you can get it to idle at operating temp, then verify the timing.

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Thanks for the input. I will have more time this weekend to get into the engine and behind the valve covers to check it out. I'll report my findings here and see if I can't get a fuel pump, also.

 

Not engine/carb related, but since this is on the topic of parts, what would also return better results for brake components? My front brakes are destroyed and I'd like to do new rotors/pads, but alas no rotors anywhere and pads seem to be iffy. 4x140 is an oddball size.

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Ah yes indeed.  If you want a straight replacement brake parts I would stick with searching for you model and year.

 

If you can find an '83 or newer ea81 vehicle I believe you can swap out the upgraded front rotors and calipers.  They went to vented rotors in '83 I think, which will give you better performance and are more available.

 

If you can lay hands on a rear disc brake swap then I believe that is also a direct bolt in swap.

 

I could be wrong, I don't have any Gen 1, but I did the vented front and rear disc swap on my '81 and it made a huge difference in braking performance and the parts are easy to find and fairly affordable.

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  • 1 month later...

Just wanted to update this. After replacing the fuel filter, I swapped fuel pumps, cleaned the carb top to bottom, put in new spark wires/plugs, and adjusted the valves. After this the Subie fired right up. I was then able to tune the carburetor a bit and got it running pretty smooth. Thanks for the suggestion, I believe it was the valves as they were fairly tight before being adjusted. Anyway, thanks for the help all.

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  • 4 years later...

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