Alright, who has the lowdown on EA82 heads with a crack inbetween the valves...some folks say it doesn't make any difference, to put them back together and run 'em, others say fix the crack first.

I took two other used motors apart to try and score a couple clean heads... they were cracked too. Now I've got my heads at the machine shop for a valve job, one good head and one that's cracked-getting welded first. I'll be into it $500. when they are done with them. That's $125 for the good one and $375 for the cracked one. I wouldn't have gone ahead with the expense but I wanted to get running again and it seems heads are few and far ...unless you want a crack.

Here is a document that will show you that cracks between the heads will not cause and problems

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41348&page=2

 

3rd post down, labeled "headcracks.pdf

 

 

Gannon

the shop i go to is an aluminum head specialist and they aren't the cheapest place in town but they are good. they charge $275 for a complete job on

XT6 heads, and that's for a 6 cylinder. that's a complete valve job, milling the heads and fixing the cracks. a 4 cylinder XT would be cheaper than that. they use stitch pins to fix the cracks, they are made for this application. i've posted about them before including company that makes them, part number and phone number if you want to look it up.

 

the cracks are almost always there in my experience. think of it this way...if the cracks are on nearly every set of heads you pull then you can probably figure that most EA82's on the road today have cracked valve seats and run fine. it's not like they crack when you pull the motor apart!

 

if they get deep enough they will hit a coolant jacket. that's probably not likely but i go ahead and have the cracks repaired.

what I was told from soob mechanics growin up, if you can get your edge of your fingernail down in the crack, THATS BAD. smaller than your edge of your nail, prolly ok.

 

I think 75% of the EA82 heads I've seen have had cracks. 5% were rewelded and the other 20% were uncracked. I've rebuilt over 100 EA82 engines, so you can do the math.

If you look at the "crack" between the valve seats, you may find that it is a casting line (casting flash). Try cleaning it up with a dremel (don't hit the seats, though.

had a turbo with a bad rod. pulled the heads to swap onto a carb block

 

one head was a gen 1, the other a gen 2

 

both heads had cracks between the valves

 

both cracks went all the way down to the VALVE GUIDES

 

ported out the headfs and used them on my carb block build, no problems!

 

paranoia didnt stop me from putting the motor together. if i would have had to spend some money on this project, i would see how it holds up first, then soak it. so far no soak