For the EA81 engine gaskets is there any benefit to staying with OEM vs. aftermarket. I know on the EA82's the OEM oil pump gaskets seemed to be better than aftermarket but how about on the EA81's?

 

In particular I need to replace the front main crank seal, the oil pump gasket and the valve cover gaskets.

 

OEM or aftermarket?

I used name brand aftermarket for mine when i had it.

 

nipper

you are fine to use after markets on those.

 

i personally used to use after market with these but since last summer i'm a mostly subaru man.

 

i had an EA82 Fel-Pro crank seal last year that was very difficult to seat. finally went in but ended up leaking like a seive. replaced it with a subaru seal and all was well so the crank or engine block aren't to blame. i know it wasn't the installation. but i'm not saying that can't happen with subaru gaskets either, im' sure one bad one gets through.

i put a fel-pro head set on my ea81. i used their perma-torque head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, valve guide seals, exhaust gaskets and bought fel-pro crank seals. i used a beck arnley oil pump seal kit. the oil pump leaks just a bit but i think its cuz one of the bolt holes was stripped. i also replaced my water pump with a new cardone one, i used the gasket that came with it and a light smearing of water pump/t-stat sealant - no leaks there.

 

i did go with oem gaskets for the intake manifold, t-stat housing (and oem t-stat) and tb base though. the felpro intake manifold gaskets and t-stat housing gaskets are just lame diecut paper while oem's are not simply paper and they have metal reinforcement in the middle.

 

i used GD's rvt trick (coat the cork gasket with a thin layer of rtv silicone and allow it to fully cure before installation) on the valve cover gaskets and i was able to reuse them after readjusting my valves with no leaks so far.