Just thought I'd give you all an update on my Subaru powered Trike I have been building over these past 3 months.

 

I received my Kennedy Engineered Adapter Plate on Thursday afternoon 12/28/06 and began to figure out how it went together. Fri I finished bolting up the adapter and mounting the motor on the Trike. I was still missing a couple items for the motor that I had forgot to pick up at the Auto parts store. Fan belts and the vacuum line needed for the auto transmission. But I've had this motor sitting in a dirty old bard for the past 4 years and I was really wanting to know if it was going to fire up after all that time and how many problems I muight encounter making it run. I still don't have any exhaust pipes for it either, but I went ahead and added the oil, filled the 2 little goldwing radiators with 50/50 antifreeze and poured about a half gallon of gas in the tank. I turned on the key and let the fuel pump run for about 10 seconds and hit the starter. I was in total disbeliefe as it fired up instantly and settled right down to a very nice gentle purr. I didn't have to make a single adjustment to anything. It just runs like a well oiled swiss watch. I am very impressed with this little motor.

 

I have driven it around my storage facility lot where I live and work a couple times to just get the water moving and see what if anything was going to brake or spring a leak or whatever. Not having a fan belt I used a piece of rope to turn the water pump so I held it down to around 10 mph the first couple times out.

 

Today I got belts for it and vacuum line and was able to drive it a little more. So far only a couple minor issues have come up. It looks like I might have to replace the water pump as its leaking a little water from the weep hole. But it may be to early to be sure about that. I'll watch that for a few days and see what happens. I get a couple drops of oil from near the heads after its turned off. May just need to tighten some bolts. And it looks like the Alt will need to be replaced as I'm not getting anything from that

 

Anyone out there have a better Alt that they like for this motor or should I stay with what is stock? It would need to fit the same bracket I have but that looks pretty standard for mounting.

 

So needless to say, I'm very happy with my motor. The Weber carb is very responsive to the throttle and it seems to have a very good power band throuhout the throttle range. I think this will be a very nice Trike for my wife and I. I think I made the right choice in motors as well. The only thing now is to see how well these radiators do in the hot Calif summer. Time will tell.

 

And above all I want to thank those of you who gave me a lot of information about how to set this motor up. Your help was greatly appreicated. I have added a couple photos to my photo page and once I have the Trike all back together, I'll post a completed photo.

 

Thanks again.

 

Bob:grin:

Sweeet! I'd like to see pics of that.

 

I'd ALSO like to see some pics of this motor in the airplanes I'm hearing about ...

For hot climate, run 30/70 coolant mixture, or even 20/80 for tropical environments. In places like Hawaii they sell it pre-mixed that way.

 

Nissan Maxima alt will fit - same casing, but it's 90 amp instead of 55.

 

GD

Your car list says 1982 E82 1.8 carburated.. Is it a 1982 trike, or are you using an EA81?

 

 

Either way, pics are a must. I love a good trike.

Dang, GD beat me to the punch with the Maxima Alternator. Late 80's model; there seems to be some disagreement between references on exactly which years. The pulley will have to be replaced, and the plug is slightly different, BUT its still a two wire plug, and one wire is MUCH thicker than the other for both alternators.. so its kind of easy to figure out which one goes where

Coolant from the weep hole on the water pump is a no-no, bad pump. There's 2 pumps for this engine depending on if it was Factory AC, or not or Dealer installed AC.

 

If you click on his name and go to his Home Page you can see pics.

 

I want a Trike so bad I can taste it. Maybe I build me one..........

I have added a couple photos of the finished Trike in the photo section under my profile name. You can see them there.

 

Bob

 

Sweeet! I'd like to see pics of that.

 

I'd ALSO like to see some pics of this motor in the airplanes I'm hearing about ...

At first I thought my motor was a 1982 but with the help of a couple guys on this forum, I found out it had to be an 85 to 87 year. So I'm calling the motor a 1985 OHC 1.8.

 

The Trike I put the motor in is brand new. I just finished building it and in about a month when I'm able to get it regestered, it will be titled as a 2007 SPCS Motorcycle. See pics in the photo section under my name.

 

Bob

 

Your car list says 1982 E82 1.8 carburated.. Is it a 1982 trike, or are you using an EA81?

 

 

Either way, pics are a must. I love a good trike.

In my case I have air conditioning by mother nature. I guess you could call that factory air. LOL As for the car it came from, I have no idea. When I get ready to change it I'll just take the old pump with me.

 

Thanks, Bob

 

Coolant from the weep hole on the water pump is a no-no, bad pump. There's 2 pumps for this engine depending on if it was Factory AC, or not or Dealer installed AC.

 

If you click on his name and go to his Home Page you can see pics.

 

I want a Trike so bad I can taste it. Maybe I build me one..........

Hi General, I want to thank you personally for your kind assistence in helping me get my motor setup right. Everything went like clock work.

 

Right now I have a 50/50 mixture in it but I will need to drain that when I remove the pump. When you say 30/70, is that 30 water or 70 water. I bought a premix 50/50 and have never seen anything different than that in premix. ??

 

Thanks, I'll check out the Nissan Alt. Extra Amp's are always nice to have.

 

Bob:banana:

 

For hot climate, run 30/70 coolant mixture, or even 20/80 for tropical environments. In places like Hawaii they sell it pre-mixed that way.

 

Nissan Maxima alt will fit - same casing, but it's 90 amp instead of 55.

 

GD

what kind of tranny are you running? it looks vw, but i`ve never seen an automatic vw trans in a beetle, maybe a in a squareback.

just as a thought, adding an oil cooler and/or transmission line cooler might help in keeping temps down, if you run into problems.. these motors do not react well to overheating once or twice, if they have miles on them. adequate cooling is a must.

Clutch fan held on with studs/nuts is Factory AC. If it's held on with bolts, it would be Non/Dealer AC. I just don't remember which one is the shorter of the two....

 

And yeah, take the old one with you when you go, less headaches that way.

 

 

 

 

In my case I have air conditioning by mother nature. I guess you could call that factory air. LOL As for the car it came from, I have no idea. When I get ready to change it I'll just take the old pump with me.

 

Thanks, Bob

Yes the full automatic trans is from a squareback as is the whole rear carrier.

 

Bob

 

what kind of tranny are you running? it looks vw, but i`ve never seen an automatic vw trans in a beetle, maybe a in a squareback.

Either way I don't think it will matter in my case as I'm not even using a fan off the motor and I removed the clutch part too, so I guess either one will work.

 

Bob

 

Clutch fan held on with studs/nuts is Factory AC. If it's held on with bolts, it would be Non/Dealer AC. I just don't remember which one is the shorter of the two....

 

And yeah, take the old one with you when you go, less headaches that way.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I will be watching the temps real close unyil I'm very sure my setup is doing a good job of cooling. I have an oil cooler on hand anyway should I feel the need for it.

 

Bob

 

just as a thought, adding an oil cooler and/or transmission line cooler might help in keeping temps down, if you run into problems.. these motors do not react well to overheating once or twice, if they have miles on them. adequate cooling is a must.

the difference between the two water pumps is one of pulley location; if you get the "wrong" one the pulley will not line up properly with the others.

 

Since you are going to have the old one in hand when you go to the store anyway, just check it in one of two ways..

 

First, you could just set them down on the counter, side by side, with the mating surface down, and eyeball the height of the pulley. Theres like a half inch difference, its not minimal.

 

Alternately, one style has bolts to secure the fan and pulley onto the nose of the waterpump... so the pump nose has threaded holes. The other style uses studs on the water pump nose.

 

I can remember all that, but i cant remember which one (taller or shorter) is the most common, or any other detail to tell you.

 

at least now i can say that i helped (a teeny tiny bit) build a trike :- )

Sweeet! I'd like to see pics of that.

 

I'd ALSO like to see some pics of this motor in the airplanes I'm hearing about ...

 

I Like to see Pics of it Too!

Some Pics of Subaru Engines used in Planes:

They always use the EA81, (Now with a 200 HP version) due to no Timin` Belts...