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ER27 durability + performance build


tjet
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Hey guys, I'm in the process of tearing down 1 of 2 ER27 engines.  Here is my original post asking about ER27 info...

I plan on getting the heads worked (3-angle, pocket port, & milled). The cams will be sent to Delta for a 260 dur "torque" grind.

I want to do a leakdown test, but this engine is missing the balancer & bolt. Does anyone have a spare bolt or know the specs on it? I tried using an EJ22 bolt, but it's too small (diameter wise). I would take it from my other engine, but it's in California. This one is at my house in Connecticut.

 

Thanks.

 

er27_70.jpg

Edited by tjet
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Yeah i saw that. What is it for? Does the dealer put it on?

It looks rusty in the #5 plug hole. I will pull the head in a few days & get some pics.

here's that tag

20200229_145222_HDR.jpg

Edited by tjet
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Wreckers have used these discreetly on used engines they supply in case of any warranty claims.

Engine rebuilders also.

Got a stash of these somewhere. The centre of the washer is like solder, if not solder. At certain temps it melts and falls out leaving tell tale sign the engine has been cooked. I failed to measure temp as it melted when I warmed one up on the furnace

 

So where was the leakdown leaking? Could you hear it in intake, exhaust or crankcase?

Edited by Steptoe
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10 hours ago, Steptoe said:

..So where was the leakdown leaking? Could you hear it in intake, exhaust or crankcase?

Seemed like the air was escaping thru the crankcase. I have the oil pan off, so it's not like I'm getting a stream of air from the oil fill.

I will pull the head to investigate further.

It's weird that the tag thing was glued right over the bad cylinder. Maybe just a coincidence. If I had to make a guess, the head gasket had a leak, which allows water to fill the cylinder while it was in storage.

Edited by tjet
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So it appears that the engine leaked water into the #5 cylinder during storage :( this rusted the lower section of the cyl wall.

The good news is that this engine has 5 head bolts per cylinder and a closed deck. How cool is that? :). I think an EZ30 only uses 4 head bolts per cylinder. 

2006845.jpg

2006848.jpg

2006846.jpg

Edited by tjet
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Made by Nike! I love it. That’s actually the Fuji heavy industries logo, they’re the parent company or something that owns Subaru I believe. 

The EA82 was closed deck too. It didn’t do much for the cooling system, and any strength gained wasn’t worth it really. 

Pretty cool looking engine though. 

Are the exhaust ports singles or Siamese and a single? 

Cheers 

Bennie

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Did a 3 angle valve job, cleaned up the ports on the intake/exhaust, and milled down the heads a bit on my ER in high school. The power was nice! Lost a few upper RPM in the rev range but I can’t say at all that the engine didn’t wake up lol 

Didnt last very long though.  I used the wrong silicone for the cam carriers/housings (I just didn’t know. I was a kid) and it broke down into chunks and clogged up the oil pickup.

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On 3/2/2020 at 12:29 AM, el_freddo said:

The EA82 was closed deck too. It didn’t do much for the cooling system, and any strength gained wasn’t worth it really. 

 

You speak the truth. One of the reasons the EA/ER engines have such a terrible cooling system. I've seen a couple big closed-deck EJ22t cars that required so much more cooling capacity than it seemed similar semi-closed blocks required.

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2 hours ago, Numbchux said:

 

You speak the truth. One of the reasons the EA/ER engines have such a terrible cooling system. I've seen a couple big closed-deck EJ22t cars that required so much more cooling capacity than it seemed similar semi-closed blocks required.

How much more cooling capacity does it need? This is a swap project, and I can install a large radiator and an oil cooler if needed.

6 hours ago, jdmleggy97 said:

Did a 3 angle valve job, cleaned up the ports on the intake/exhaust, and milled down the heads a bit on my ER in high school. The power was nice! Lost a few upper RPM in the rev range but I can’t say at all that the engine didn’t wake up lol 

Didnt last very long though.  I used the wrong silicone for the cam carriers/housings (I just didn’t know. I was a kid) and it broke down into chunks and clogged up the oil pickup.

What sealant do you need to use?

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2 hours ago, DaveT said:

What does closed deck vs open deck mean?  I haven't seen this terminology used before.

This comes up in the images search that carfreak posted. This is very common discussion with performance EJ block selection, as all 3 forms are available

blockdesign-jpg.379865

33 minutes ago, tjet said:

How much more cooling capacity does it need? This is a swap project, and I can install a large radiator and an oil cooler if needed.

No easy answer to that without some serious thermodynamics engineering. And being that yours isn't going in a Subaru, airflow will be all different from most of the documentation. But the EA/ER engines have very weak cooling systems, heat will probably be your biggest challenge, depending how hard you try to push it. Err on the side of caution with radiator capacity, oil cooler (at least oil/coolant exchanger, oil/air can be hard to prevent overcooling) would likely be a good idea. A radiator that struggles to keep a 90hp EA82 cool can keep a 130hp EJ cool without any fans.

Don't run a lower temp thermostat, though. Aluminum engines don't like being run cold, either. But if you've got adequate cooling capacity, you shouldn't go over "fully open" temp on the stat.

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6 hours ago, Numbchux said:

No easy answer to that without some serious thermodynamics engineering. And being that yours isn't going in a Subaru, airflow will be all different from most of the documentation. But the EA/ER engines have very weak cooling systems, heat will probably be your biggest challenge, depending how hard you try to push it. Err on the side of caution with radiator capacity, oil cooler (at least oil/coolant exchanger, oil/air can be hard to prevent overcooling) would likely be a good idea. A radiator that struggles to keep a 90hp EA82 cool can keep a 130hp EJ cool without any fans.

Don't run a lower temp thermostat, though. Aluminum engines don't like being run cold, either. But if you've got adequate cooling capacity, you shouldn't go over "fully open" temp on the stat.

 

Thanks for the info. I will make cooling a priority on the swap. The radiators on these old VW vans are very big - almost overkill. I added an old cooler with it's own fan a couple of years ago. I also removed the AC condenser in front of the radiator.

 

Edited by tjet
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Quick question: On this ER27, I've noticed various ports and nipples on the intake manifold, engine case, and valve covers. These are for water, vacuum, oil and breather.

 I would like to know what I can eliminate on this engine. 

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