the sucker king Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 What are thoughts from folks who have had them on reliability, etc, I have heard people say they were junk and I have heard people say they were super good and reliable. What all is involved in swapping in a EA81 T in place of an NA EA81? What if I don't have the turbo harness, is their an easy way to wire the fuel delivery? Bellhousing is the same correct? it could be mated to a 4speed DR without issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyeights Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) They bolt in the same as any EA81. They are old and rare. The heads crack easily. Overheat it and it's junk. The EFI is multi-port. There is also a knock control box hidden in the fender that most people overlook. As far and engine management if you don't have ALL of the factory stuff then you are probably on your own with Megasquirt or something. Reliability? That is totally dependant upon the builder and the driver. Put it together at near stock boost pressure, start with a BRAND NEW cooling system and maintain it. It will probably last quite a while. Fall behind on the maintenance and it's junk. That said I have (2) EA82T engines, like them both, and (2) EA81T engines that I am currently building. I had a factory turbo Brat for a while with DR manual swapped in place of the 3at. It was a super fun ride. If not for terminal rust I would still own it. Do it and post LOTS of pics! Good Luck!! Edited January 23, 2015 by Crazyeights 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihscout54 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 What are thoughts from folks who have had them on reliability, etc, I have heard people say they were junk and I have heard people say they were super good and reliable. What all is involved in swapping in a EA81 T in place of an NA EA81? What if I don't have the turbo harness, is their an easy way to wire the fuel delivery? Bellhousing is the same correct? it could be mated to a 4speed DR without issue? Unless you have one of these gems handy its likely not worth the effort. Ej adaptor plates are surprisingly affordable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 the EA82T had a lot over the EA81T as I can see, never experienced though - in that EA82 mpfi and turbo are as mentioned above - twin port inlet manifold, yet EA81T is not twin port inlet manifold or at the head - correct me if wrong though. Something that made EA81 engines reliable - was minimal smarts - just a module in the dizzy. A81T start to use ECU and knoclk modules that need sensors in good working order, lots of good readings, good earths and power supplies and yeah people tend not to care a lot for cooling systems as they age. I still plan to whack on an EA82T exhaust on a spare EA81, slap on the spfi inlet, rig up water supply, oil supply for a EA82 hair drier and let IMPCO take care of fuel delivery - no ECU, no knock module, maybe a boost retard system i have kicking around that came off a supercharged EA81 that ran propane. Engine metal temp sensors for loud alarms ..... Dreaming huh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyeights Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 You can source the engine temp alarms from just about any marine supplier. I would also fit an air inlet temp gauge, oil temp, and exhaust temp just to be anal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubaroo84 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I built a turbo setup on my na ea81 and it really scoots with big tires on. But I redid the engine. It's a fun car. Is it sti fast? No. But it's easily twice as fast as when it was na and I'm running 4" taller tires than stock. but mind you the heads are different and I have put a bigger cooling fan on. As soon as the fan turns on the gauge drops drastically. But with the money I have into this engine /turbo setup I could have built a ej engine and swapped a 5spd for the same price. But I've always wanted to experiment with a turbo so I went ahead and built it anyways. Just because I'm stubborn and didn't want to go mainstream just yet with an ej. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 so scubaroo, can you detail just what your NA build was please? Like std NA pistons compression? , std NA heads?, turbo from ? turbo pipe ? fuel system and manageent? knock control? I just wanna slap all the stuff on a going EA81 with its 510,000km on it, low budget experimenter for starters, and see you with spend more to be different, basic, simple, and achieve what you did Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubaroo84 Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 I know people will and probably already do shake their heads at how I did it but it works and I tried doing it on a budget. when I started I used the original engine that had 170k miles on it. Pulled the heads off and all 4 cylinders still had the hone marks in them. I didn't touch the short block at all. I ported and polished the heads and when I say I ported them I mean I took a TON of material out of the exhaust runners and bored it out to gasket match it. I gasket matched the intake side of the head and cleaned up casting ridges. Installed new valve Seals and gaskets and painted it. I used an ea82 spfi intake manifold and welded the weber adapter to it and welded the egr ports up. Jetted the webber up big: 155 primary 180 secondary and 60 double pump accelerator pump jet. I used an rhb5 vf7 off an 87 ea82t. Made my own uel header out of 2" pipe. Made a divider plate on the down pipe flange to run a 1" Screamer pipe off the wastegate and a 2.5" turbo back exhaust with new cat and an obx resonator. spfi fuel pump with a mallory 4309 rising rate fuel pressure regulator. I couldn't get enough fuel through the weber under boost so took the carb off and went spfi. Bolted all down and got it running na. Hooked the turbo up with the maf on the intake side of the turbo and the turbo blowing through the throttle body. It runs great just can't find a good coolant temp sensor so it's having issues starting. I run stock 7psi through this setup and can roast the tires into second gear. I'm going to add a cold start injector into the boost pipe before the tb for a second injector under boost. it will be hooked up to a boost switch to turn it on and flow will be regulated by a fuel pressure regulator. The spfi handles the boost just fine but at the top of second and in 3rd and 4th it runs stoichiometric (14.7) as soon as the computer figures out how much air is flowing through the maf. Other than that it provides enough fuel as you enter boost but like I said as soon as it figures it out it dials it in to run (efficiantly). Was it fun to build? Yes, as I've always wanted to build a turbo engine. Was it worth it? Kinda. Was it easy? No, not really. If I had the money to do a full blow crazy build on one with stand alone efi managment, would I ? Heck yeah! Its all in what you want. I sourced my parts and figured out how much it would cost First. Weighed my options and still went with it rather than an ej. Like I said I'm stubborn and I like to play mad scientist and experiment with things just for the hell of it even if people think I'm crazy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 @ Scoobaroo84 For a new CTS I used the following from O'Reilly Auto Parts on my '88 SPFI; IDI Brand sensor - #17-1233 BWD Brand connector- #28419A Spliced the connector into the Factory harness, keeping the original CTS connections. Just cause.. Made big improvement in my gas mileage, and 1st starts, was wanting to flood out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubaroo84 Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 So that cts is about the same ohms as the factory one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyeights Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 @ Scoobaroo84 For a new CTS I used the following from O'Reilly Auto Parts on my '88 SPFI; IDI Brand sensor - #17-1233 BWD Brand connector- #28419A Spliced the connector into the Factory harness, keeping the original CTS connections. Just cause.. Made big improvement in my gas mileage, and 1st starts, was wanting to flood out. @TomRhere Thank You for this ^^^^ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 (edited) I know people will and probably already do shake their heads at how I did it but it works and I tried doing it on a budget. when I started I used the original engine that had 170k miles on it. Pulled the heads off and all 4 cylinders still had the hone marks in them. I didn't touch the short block at all. I ported and polished the heads and when I say I ported them I mean I took a TON of material out of the exhaust runners and bored it out to gasket match it. I gasket matched the intake side of the head and cleaned up casting ridges. Installed new valve Seals and gaskets and painted it. I used an ea82 spfi intake manifold and welded the weber adapter to it and welded the egr ports up. Jetted the webber up big: 155 primary 180 secondary and 60 double pump accelerator pump jet. I used an rhb5 vf7 off an 87 ea82t. Made my own uel header out of 2" pipe. Made a divider plate on the down pipe flange to run a 1" Screamer pipe off the wastegate and a 2.5" turbo back exhaust with new cat and an obx resonator. spfi fuel pump with a mallory 4309 rising rate fuel pressure regulator. I couldn't get enough fuel through the weber under boost so took the carb off and went spfi. Bolted all down and got it running na. Hooked the turbo up with the maf on the intake side of the turbo and the turbo blowing through the throttle body. It runs great just can't find a good coolant temp sensor so it's having issues starting. I run stock 7psi through this setup and can roast the tires into second gear. I'm going to add a cold start injector into the boost pipe before the tb for a second injector under boost. it will be hooked up to a boost switch to turn it on and flow will be regulated by a fuel pressure regulator. The spfi handles the boost just fine but at the top of second and in 3rd and 4th it runs stoichiometric (14.7) as soon as the computer figures out how much air is flowing through the maf. Other than that it provides enough fuel as you enter boost but like I said as soon as it figures it out it dials it in to run (efficiantly). Was it fun to build? Yes, as I've always wanted to build a turbo engine. Was it worth it? Kinda. Was it easy? No, not really. If I had the money to do a full blow crazy build on one with stand alone efi managment, would I ? Heck yeah! Its all in what you want. I sourced my parts and figured out how much it would cost First. Weighed my options and still went with it rather than an ej. Like I said I'm stubborn and I like to play mad scientist and experiment with things just for the hell of it even if people think I'm crazy. ^^^ this is what forums are all about ! Someone who feels a bit differently about something, and does it - just needs a prod to share it So, looks like you used standard carb heads to modify. Now, do you know how to get photos onto your post above - I need to see this !! Send me a message if you like ... the 1" screamer pipe is that Mazda rotary like extra exhaust pipe directing the release valve exhaust away further down the pipe ? How far did you take it before plumb into 2.5 exhaust ? The spfi did not have knock control ? You went full spfi so got their spfi disty in the EA81 - did you do anything to retard boost timing, stake the disty - can't do that to an spfi internals ? Timing setting ? See whhat you have created Edited January 25, 2015 by jono Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 So that cts is about the same ohms as the factory one? Yes. Web site gives the Subaru number of 22630AA000. Checked that number against a Dealerdhip site and it was listed as a replacement part for the SPFI systems. I know my Wagon is happy with it. Gee. I can even quote now. I be even Happier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubaroo84 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Jono my Screamer pipe is dumped, meaning it dumps to atmosphere so under vacuum the car is quiet but when under boost and the wastegate opens it's loud. It dumps right behind the font axle, just goes straight down off the turbo. That's right I used stock carb heads and stock comp ratio. I didn't mod the dizzy other than the mods to get it to fit in the ea81. I run non ethanol premium 92 octane In it so it doesn't detonate. even though it's over a dollar more a gallon, for a 12 gal tank it's worth it. I took it for a test drive yesterday with a friend to show him how much more power it has and constantly monitored my gauges. I had boost creep spike up to 9psi. It handled it fine with no knock. Still needs a bit more fuel. Boost enrichment system is next on my list. Just buttoned up the interior and interior wiring for now. you can see my build thread under "project scubaroo". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the sucker king Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thanks for all the input, this gets me thinking. and and a couple things that were not addressed- The power steering resevoir is different in a turbo motor, I assume to make room for the turbo. There were differences in the rest of the power steering system, too. So how much of the steering needs to be swapped out if putting an ea81T into a ea81 car. Also what about the engine cross member? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbosubarubrat Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thanks for all the input, this gets me thinking. and and a couple things that were not addressed- The power steering resevoir is different in a turbo motor, I assume to make room for the turbo. There were differences in the rest of the power steering system, too. So how much of the steering needs to be swapped out if putting an ea81T into a ea81 car. Also what about the engine cross member? The reservoir on a ea82 is the same as a ea81t but not sure on mounting is different. The pump inlet/return lines are routed on different, but could be easily made to work. The ea81t cross member is notched for the header. A regular ea81 cross member could be notched to work though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 EA82 XT PS pumps were different from non XT in the reservoir size/position. You looking at EA81 PS or EA82 PS ? I notched a few EA81 non turbo engine cross members. One has been tested over 100,000km , the other welded by a boiler maker and got his certificate number stamped on the job - ready to roll one day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.