April 20, 200718 yr Hello, I have not been on this board for quite a while. I had a 1989 Subaru RX that the motor was ruined in and I took the EA81 engine out of an old 82 wagon that I had and rebuilt it and put it in the RX and it has done fine until now. Last week while my dad was driving it, it started hammering and lost power and he had to get towed home. I'm pretty sure it is a connecting rod and expect the crankshaft is a gonner. I pulled the egine today and started tearing it down. I have two questions. 1 what would cause this, I suspect the oil pump died or something. Even when I started it with it knocking, it had oil pressure until it got hot. 2 is it possible to split the crankcase without removing the heads. the heads and pistons are fine, I just need to remove the crank and rods.
April 20, 200718 yr I don't think you can pull it apart that way. IIRC there are bolts holding the halves together in the coolant pathways, or that may just be ej's
April 20, 200718 yr Author I don't think you can pull it apart that way. IIRC there are bolts holding the halves together in the coolant pathways, or that may just be ej'sAre there bolts in the coolant passages? I am almost to that point. I hate to pull those heads if I don't have to. I must get it apart and confirm what I think. I need a decent crank for it I'm sure, I have some ea82 parts to swap if someone is interested, turbo heads and the turbo. I hate going to the junkyard.
April 21, 200718 yr It would be possible except for 1 bolt that goes thru the very center of the block thru the area where the pushrods go through. if you were able to get past that, then you could split the halves. Then the next question is, how are you supposed to put it back together? crank w/ rods go in crankcase, and pistons are pushed in after it is assembled. They give you access holes to align everything and slide in the wrist pins. Sorry for the bad news -Mike
April 21, 200718 yr Author It would be possible except for 1 bolt that goes thru the very center of the block thru the area where the pushrods go through. if you were able to get past that, then you could split the halves. Then the next question is, how are you supposed to put it back together? crank w/ rods go in crankcase, and pistons are pushed in after it is assembled. They give you access holes to align everything and slide in the wrist pins. Sorry for the bad news -Mike You are correct, I had to pull the heads,or at least the left one to get at the bolt that was the last holdout. It was as I had feared, the oil pump had been failing for a while and all the bearings looked rough, but the bearing for the rear rod had spun and the rod is a gonner. I don't know weather the crank could be turned down and saved or not. I checked with my calipers and that journal is within .007 of the other rod journals. Does anyone know of anyone who sells subaru crank kits?
April 23, 200718 yr I don't know weather the crank could be turned down and saved or not. More than likely, you can get bearings down to at least -1.0mm (if you look hard enough) which gives you plenty of room to play with.
April 24, 200718 yr Author I am going for another crank. Finding someone who knows what they are doing with soobie cranks around here seems to be hard to find.
April 25, 200718 yr http://stores.ebay.com/Arkaem-Motors You might want to check this outfit for a crank. He has had them listed before on Ebay. Good luck. I've never purchased anything from him but he does have rockers for sale.
April 25, 200718 yr Author It would be possible except for 1 bolt that goes thru the very center of the block thru the area where the pushrods go through. if you were able to get past that, then you could split the halves. Then the next question is, how are you supposed to put it back together? crank w/ rods go in crankcase, and pistons are pushed in after it is assembled. They give you access holes to align everything and slide in the wrist pins. Sorry for the bad news -Mike Mike, I sent you another PM. Thanks, Kim Webb.
May 1, 200718 yr I am going for another crank. Finding someone who knows what they are doing with soobie cranks around here seems to be hard to find. Yeah need a narrower than usual tool i think.... I only know of one outfit that has the gear in my city.
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now