EA82 Cleaning & Assembly Questions

[SuspiciousPizza]

I'm doing a top end rebuild and reseal on an EA82 that'd been sitting in a car in the woods for 20+ years. 

The heads need resurfacing but once they're ready to go back on, I'm curious about oiling the head bolts. What's your preferred method and oil/lube? My first thought was engine oil but how best to apply? Use an oiler bottle? Just dunk the threads and shake off a bit of the excess?

Tangentially, for the Felpro head gaskets (they're what I had laying around from a reseal kit I bought) they say they're 'permatorque' do they REALLY not need to be retorqued? Would going through the FSM -60°, oil threads, retorque, repeat really not make a difference? I find that hard to believe. 

The engine was stored with oil in the pan, I'd like to fully clean out the pan to get all the old oil and crud out of there. Should I use something like diesel to flush out the pan? Any preferred methods?

I'd like to flush out the coolant passages with distilled water once the engine is back together (before installing). I was thinking of using an aquarium pump in a 5 gallon bucket with some sort of filter/strainer system, removing the thermostat, and letting it run overnight to get all the old nasties out of there. Or would it be just worth flushing the system with a chemical flush while driving around? 

Any thoughts are appreciated, y'all have more experience than I do.

Thanks :]

[el_freddo]

I was a long time ago that I did an EA82 headgasket job - I don’t recall there being instructions to back off the head bolts in the process! 

Just use engine oil, nothing special required. If you dip the first 5mm of thread that should give you heaps of oil to play with. 

If you can use an engine stand with the cylinders vertical (engine 90° rotated), this will help keep the oil in the holes and not on your new head gasket. 

Oil pan, drain it. Then pull it off to clean it out. Reseal with quality sealant. 

Cooling passages - you’d probably be better off hitting any passages you can with a high pressure washer before starting any real work on the rebuild side of things. Just running water once the work is done won’t move anything. 

If it’s looking really nasty, getting a rod or a screw driver in there to remove scale can be effective. Ensure you get this crud out. 

When putting everything back together, clean all mating surfaces then wipe with methylated spirits or some alcohol wipe that completely evaporates without leaving a residue. Then apply your goo or gaskets etc and torque to spec.  

After about six months of continuous driving, it should develop an oil leak if you’ve done things right (joke! It should last longer than this!). EA82s always leak oil! 

On that note, they usually leak from the cam box where the sealant is the only barrier between the engine internal environment and the rest of the world. I hated this seal!

Best method I found was to clean as described above, apply silicone to fill the channel and the edges of the mating surface. Then sit the cam box on the sealant and leave it to harden a bit before torquing the cam box down properly. 

And the VERY BEST method I found for EA82 oil leaks was to EJ it. The only EAs I tinker with now are EA81 units 😎 

Edited September 29 by el_freddo
More info

[SuspiciousPizza]

The factory retorque procedure seems like a massive pain. Torque once using 3-step torque increments, reassemble and install the engine, get it to operating temp and let cool. Then loosen the intake manifold bolts and take off the cam carriers (may as well remove the intake manifold and pull the engine again), in the same torque order loosen the head bolt 60°, oil the threads between the washer and the head, torque to spec. Repeat on every bolt using the head bolt sequence 5 times. Then retorque one final time without backing off the bolts. Reassemble. 

I have no issue doing this to prolong the life of the head gaskets but I does seem like a PITA.

[el_freddo]

19 hours ago, SuspiciousPizza said:

but it does seem like a PITA.

EA82 lyfe!

[SuspiciousPizza]

So I've been spending the past few nights after work cleaning up my deck surfaces and head bolt holes.

I ran a thread chaser down all the head bolt holes and they all cleaned up great, however some of the gunk it scraped off the threads is now at the bottom of the holes. 

I don't want to use compressed air as I worry some of the holes go into the water jacket and I don't want to blow the gunk into the water jacket. Any tips and tricks here?

I thought about using a wood screw to auger the gunk out or using some safety wire as a pick to get the gunk out. I used a small amount of engine oil to help the thread chaser and the gunk is sticking to the oil. 

Obviously brake clean would help get the oil out but I still worry about the brake clean blowing the gunk into the water jacket.

:]

[el_freddo]

I don’t recall the EA82 having head bolt holes that go into water jackets. 

I you have it on an engine stand turn the holes to be cleaned upside down and let gravity do its work. You might only need to agitate it with a piece of wire. Then run the thread chaser down each hole again. 

Or so it on the bench by “whacking” the deck into a soft surface like a newspaper or towel on the bench. Anything that doesn’t come out shouldn’t be a problem. 

[88SubGL]

You could try using a shop-vac.

[SuspiciousPizza]

34 minutes ago, 88SubGL said:

You could try using a shop-vac

I did, even with an adapter and a smaller hose, it helped but there's still gunk at the bottom of the holes.

I'm going to try tipping the engine so the cylinders are vertical (and get myself bathed in coolant and oil), using a piece of wire as a pick to dig the gunk out and use a shop vac to help pull the gunk out. 

I know I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be, but I'd rather think it through rather than rush through. 

 

[88SubGL]

If you’re going to flip the engine, shoot carb cleaner in the holes. It should wash it right out.

[SuspiciousPizza]

I have another question regarding oiling the head bolts. 

After doing some reading online, specifically for rebuilding EJ's, some people really stress oiling the underside of the washers (knew that) as well as the underside of the bolt heads. Doing this makes sense but the FSM doesn't mention doing that. So is it okay to only oil the threads and the underside of the washers? Or should I also oil the underside of the bolt heads?

Also some people really stress using a high-pressure assembly lube rather than engine oil. The FSM specifically says "oil".

I know it's not rocket science but with how rare parts are, I want to take my time and do it by the book and learn from other's experience rather than learn the hard (and expensive) way.

:]