Hi all,

 

Looking at buying a full gasket set for my 88' carbed EA82 wagon made by Eristic Gaskets on Ebay ( link here) as it's about $120 NZD incl. shipping to New Zealand, versus buying a full headset here for $240 NZD. 

Obviously I'll be using Subaru OEM intake and exhaust manifold gaskets when freshening up the motor, but my question is what quality the rest of the kit is.

Anyone used them before?

Also is it necessary to use OEM head gaskets or are aftermarket ones generally OK?

I bought that same eristic kit. It seems to be ok for it's price but I will not be using those head gaskets since those look pretty rough in my opinion.Those head gaskets would probably be okay to be used, but I don't want to take any risks that they blow up in near future in my turbo engine. This kit even had metal reinforced cam case oil o-rings so no need to buy them separately. The kit will be missing some seals and one of them being oil pumps axle seal. 

 

I took some pictures of it when it arrived:

 

Head gasket:

 

 

 

 

Some randon gaskets (mostly to the intake manifold, seems to be ok quality):

 

 

Some more random gaskets (oil pump, piston pin hole plug seals, injector seals, cam case o-rings etc.) : 

 

 

Seals for the timing belt covers:

 

 

Intake manifold seals:

 

 

Ehaust manifold, valve seals, camshaft outer seals:

 

 

Oil pan gasket:

 

 

Crankshaft oil seals:

 

 

And the valve cover set:

 

 

And some close up pictures from some of them:

 

Block breather and oil sump seal pretty much the same quality/material both:

 

 

Oil seals:

 

 

 

Cam case o-rings (as mentioned these are metale reinforced):

 

 

Cam case cover bolt seals:

 

 

 

Valve sealse:

 

 

Intake manifold seals (these looks pretty crap to me and wont be using these):

 

 

Turbo exhaust manifold (with metal reinforecement) and NA exhaust manifold gaskets:

 

 

 

Closer look to couple of those paper mass seals:

 

 

 

Injector seals:

 

 

Timing belt cover seals and other rubber gaskets pretty much the same quality:

 

 

Sorry for pic heavy reply But you get a pretty good image what you get from that kit. All in all I'm quite happy for it and will be using most of the seals.

nice pics!

 

could you buy the parts you need rather than a complete head set?

 

first few engines i did i bought head sets...then i just started buying what i needed and it's been much simpler and cheaper and i've never kicked myself "ah wish i would have gotten..."

 

i've had aftermarket EA/ER crank seals be terrible fits and leak soon after installation.  i'd prefer Subaru on older EA/ER seals.  

I bought that same eristic kit. It seems to be ok for it's price but I will not be using those head gaskets since those look pretty rough in my opinion.Those head gaskets would probably be okay to be used, but I don't want to take any risks that they blow up in near future in my turbo engine. This kit even had metal reinforced cam case oil o-rings so no need to buy them separately. The kit will be missing some seals and one of them being oil pumps axle seal. 

 

 

Sorry for pic heavy reply But you get a pretty good image what you get from that kit. All in all I'm quite happy for it and will be using most of the seals.

 

Wow, awesome pictures! Thanks for that - great info and advice!

 

nice pics!

 

could you buy the parts you need rather than a complete head set?

 

first few engines i did i bought head sets...then i just started buying what i needed and it's been much simpler and cheaper and i've never kicked myself "ah wish i would have gotten..."

 

i've had aftermarket EA/ER crank seals be terrible fits and leak soon after installation.  i'd prefer Subaru on older EA/ER seals.  

 

I could, however buying them over here in NZ can be very pricey compared to US products, even with shipping. I'm looking at taking the engine out and doing a complete reseal (not splitting the block) so I figure if I get one of those sets it'll have most things at a decent quality, Things like intake & exhaust manifold gaskets and head gaskets, I will most definitely buy OEM or OEM quality.