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seeking EA81 engine replacement in the Seattle area


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Well. God damn. I messed up. After putting a ton of work in I thought I was done and back to enjoying my car. Nope! I messed up and drove it on a 1 hour test drive around the city only to find out later it didn't have oil. I think something was wrong with my oil indicator. I was doing the test drive because it died on me twice before earlier in the day, but I thought I just hadn't let the engine warm up at first. It drove well for my test drive after I let it warm up but now the next day the engine wouldn't start and there was zero oil when I got around to checking the engine.

I fear I made a very dumb mistake and seized my engine!

So. Anyone have an engine laying around? I would love to replace mine. 

Here's a picture of my beautiful 1983 BRAT hanging out down by the old Weyerhauser headquarters by Auburn.

If someone around here doesn't have one I've already talked to a guy in Philadelphia who's willing to ship one over. Someone on reddit clued me in to ask here to find someone more local.

Screen Shot 2021-01-06 at 6.02.20 PM.png

Edited by Geluso
typo
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Thanks for the responses! I waited a bit to get another pair of eyes on what was going on and good news: STUPID MISTAKE.

It as my Weber carb that was seized. The choke plates were stuck. I had pressed on them back when the car first went wrong but I didn't remember or know how they were supposed to move. They were certainly jammed. My mechanic friend came over, saw what I wasn't able to describe via phone and we got everything back up and running, replaced the distributor cap, added new spark plug wires and did a proper timing too.

This isn't the first time this Weber carb has caused me trouble. It still has a "sticky throttle" issue where a piece closer to the manifold still has some resistance. The throttle cable doesn't always naturally return to neutral. I found this YouTube video of a guy showing pretty much the same problem. I still need to get my hands on Teflon dry lube to try his fix. The last time I took the carb off to investigate the sticky throttle it wasn't jamming as much as it had before.

Anyway, I'm rambling now.

See videos of my stuck carb here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GB1yLBaKoRFvmoGj6

See the other dudes video of a sticky weber carb fix here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Ol6iQCH94

Edited by Geluso
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No issue with the oil at all. I realized last night why my initial reading was so bone dry and completely inaccurate: I was parking facing steeply downhill after I had tried to compression the car when it first failed.

Yes, serious facepalms all around here. But, hey, I'm not a guy that ever learns stuff the easy way.

Just a funny scene from a funny show called Medical Police:

Doctor: We need guns.

Guns Dealer Friend: Sorry, I'm out of that game. I didn't realize how much guns hurt people.

Doctor: You didn't realize guns hurt people?

Guns Dealer Friend: Not until I got shot. I'm an experiential learner.

Edited by Geluso
  • Haha 1
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