nigxl Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Hi all Just about to become an XT Turbo coupe owner for the second time after owning one in the early nineties. Back then parts were scarce and I'm guessing it hasn't got much better 30 yrs on . Wondering if there are any other XT owners on here? Car should be arriving tomorrow hopefully so it will be over the pit and given a full assessment then. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Welcome! Nice XT Turbo in Wales! Kind Regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Thank you Should be arriving in the next few hours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otondent Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Howdy from AZ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, nigxl said: Thank you Should be arriving in the next few hours Nice car. Yeah there’s a few XT owners here. I’ve owned a couple dozen of them since 1991 and have a couple right now. I usually am in the XT6 side of the XT world but there’s gobs of overlap and I’ve had both. Currently have the same car as yours but it’s in poor condition. Yes parts are scarce. There’s usually a few that everyone needs and wants and can’t find. Drivability wise it’s not hard to keep them reliable and running, so that’s the good news. The more perfect you want it in other ways, the more resources it will require. Edited October 9, 2020 by idosubaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Thanks for the welcome, unfortunately it turns out this car has some issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 I'm guessing it's heads off, sump off if it's do able, turbo out and check for damage? Guessed that's why it hasn't run in 2 years and why there was no battery with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Yeah those turbos are prone to all sorts of issues over time - all hoses seals and fittings are prone to age and heat degradation from the turbo. More heat, more parts, some weak design considerations, the stats are highly against old gen turbos. Pull the manifold and look for oil/coolant in the exhaust manifold from a head crack. Headgasket is obviously another possibility. Common failure too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Let’s hope it’s head gasket. Had one go on a previous Xt but that was letting water into the cylinder and making a load of steam at the exhaust. I’m guessing water into the oil is going to be worse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 I'm probably going to pull the engine out for investigation or I'm considering doing a transplant with a different engine. Was wondering which engine would drop in with the minimum amount of fettling??? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 the intake gaskets can also leak into the cylinders - that's far less problematic in some ways...although that pic looks really b ad. 1 hour ago, nigxl said: Was wondering which engine would drop in with the minimum amount of fettling??? Depends what you mean and what are your goals (more original, more modern, cost, ease, minimal wiring, power). For most people, any engine they want is going to require wiring and fabrication so it's basically all the same. EJxx is the standard modern upgrade. In the US it's the 1990-1998 EJ22 is the preferred option. Easiest wiring, more reliable, significantly more power, readily available parts. A non-turbo would be the closest in wiring. that would be as close as you can get to "plug and play" with minimal wiring work but you'll still be looking at diagrams to ascertain differences. I've put a non-turbo EA82 into an EA82T XT Turbo and gotten it to run before with no wiring work at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 Thanks for that. I was guessing that wiring and ecu may be an issue. my main concern would have been exhaust connected to turbo, engine to auto box, engine mounts etc. I will probably lift out, strip and assess as I could well be buying the same trouble. At least a lift and strip will have a minimal cost as I still need to assess the rest of the car before spending too much money on the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 So the engine is out and I've found the culprit. One of the freeze plugs had popped out in the head. Just waiting for my water pump to arrive and I can do a pressure test on the cooling system to see if I need to delve deeper. Dropped the sump off and apart from a load of milky oil laying in the bottom it looks like the crank is in good condition. Also managed to free off the completely stuck distributor, given a clean up and back in. Good weekend so far. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 ^ that’s a win in my book! Run it with quick oil change intervals to clean the milky crud out of the engine. Drop a bore scope into the cylinders to make sure they’re not full of milky oil. You may need to pull the heads to clean the cylinders out yet. I had to do the same on my EA81 that did the same thing as yours there. Cheers Bennie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted November 8, 2020 Author Share Posted November 8, 2020 I've bought a full engine gasket set just in case. I have taken out cleaned and checked the hydraulic lifters they are back in with clean oil. I've taken out the oil pump to clean and renew the seals and so far all is looking good. The majority of the milky oil has been removed I hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john in KY Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Camshafts use 2 seals. Front one obvious but the one that always leaks is that O ring on the back side. I know the newer engine has 2 seals backside of the cylinder heads. Not sure about this engine but if there, both are leaking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Thanks John I'll check. On the downside some parts have arrived, unfortunately the wrong parts. The waterpump is too tall by around 5 or 6 mm and will mangle the aux belt if fitted. The front brake pistons don't have receivers for the handbrake. 10 days waiting and crap arrives, great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john in KY Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Been 25 years since I had an 85 XT turbo. For some reason thinking the part of the pump where the fan bolts can be moved downward with a press. The turbo engine I believe required the shorter pump because of the thicker radiator. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 You’re not alone. there are two different style EA82 water pumps. This has gotten many old gen subaru owners in the past. The caliper pistons - did someone remove them or are they non-stock calipers? Any EA82 front calipers will work, model or turbo or nonturbo doesn’t matter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 14 hours ago, john in KY said: Been 25 years since I had an 85 XT turbo. For some reason thinking the part of the pump where the fan bolts can be moved downward with a press. The turbo engine I believe required the shorter pump because of the thicker radiator. I've decided to send it back as I've since found out that a genuine Subaru one only costs £20. Stupid me for not checking, the aftermarket one was £30. Can't help thinking they have made a mistake though at £20. 6 hours ago, idosubaru said: You’re not alone. there are two different style EA82 water pumps. This has gotten many old gen subaru owners in the past. The caliper pistons - did someone remove them or are they non-stock calipers? Any EA82 front calipers will work, model or turbo or nonturbo doesn’t matter. They are aftermarket pistons, managed to clean up the original pistons so I'll reuse them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 if you can't get them locally someone could probably ship you the originals if you need them to retain the parking brake function. that's a very strange repair that someone did - pull the pistons and replace them without using the spindles for the ebrake? Unless they gutted the originals? Either way it's odd. You could also do the rear ebrake conversion and possibly use brake calipers that are more readily available over there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 The original pistons are fine now. The new ones are being returned as they don't have the internals fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 That water pump difference is for the V belt and the flat ribbed belt. And the caliper piston is probably an early EJ unit. I’m not sure about the XT6 front calipers, as I’ve never seen a set, but if the handbrake is on the rear of the XT6, you might have that front caliper piston type. Cheers Bennie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 1 hour ago, el_freddo said: I’m not sure about the XT6 front calipers, as I’ve never seen a set, but if the handbrake is on the rear of the XT6, you might have that front caliper piston type. XT6 brakes are the same as EA82. Same calipers and front hand brake set up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigxl Posted December 26, 2020 Author Share Posted December 26, 2020 Still waiting for the waterpump but I got fed up having the engine hanging around so back in she went with the weeping original pump. 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.