subarunuts

4WD or 2WD? They are very different. No special tools are required for either type. There is a socket for the 4WD rear bearing retainer ring, but a punch works fine generally.

It could have one or two wires depending on carb type - it will be to the left of the EGR valve, and screws directly into the water passage of the manifold. IIRC it's a 19mm. The EGR pipe from the passenger head has a heat sheild held on by a single 10mm bolt. The temp sender is not accesible with a socket unless this sheild is removed first.

Check your oil pressure - the EA81's do need oil pump replacement after 100 - 150k, and you might have air in your lifters. A lot of people will just replace the seals in the pump, but really once the seals are dead and crispy chances are a new pump is needed.

Couple things on EA82 Hitachi's. The secondary vacuum actuators fail, and the choke spring's wear at the point where they actuate the choke plate - most of the ones I have seen in the JY the end is already broken off, and the spring will no longer engage the lever at all. Sometimes you'll get lucky and find a car where it has already been replaced, or a car that was garaged or from a warm climate. The upper body gaskets get knarly, and occasionally you'll run into one where the throttle base is sloppy - it's cast iron, and the shafts are brass. It's easier to get a new throttle base from the JY than to replace the shafts. I think roo-builders sells bases tho. The accelerator pump and seal come with any kit, and I have found that the float and float needle need to be carefully checked to make sure there's no binding - wear on the needle can cause this. Also note there are two tabs on the float - one for max travel in each direction. Can't let it go too far down or it will stick in the open position.

Make sure to use some grease on the inside edge, and I use a bit of silicone on the outside edge to hold it in place. They get pretty old and brittle if the engine is not run for a while. Just replaced an engine recently with one that was sitting for a few years - luckily I noticed the old seal was hard, and happened to have a new one on hand for the occasion. Good way to remove the old one is to screw a couple wood screws into the seal itself and pull it out with pliers.

Hook a meter to the switch leads and run it through the gears if you are curious.

Get new cone washers - once they strip like that they are done. It will loosen again after a few miles otherwise.

No on the power increase - you can remove almost everything - AIS and EGR ports will need to be blocked - I use the pipe fittings already there and weld them up. If you plan to keep the Hitachi then there is the matter of the bowl vent line - has to be open, but unless you want to smell gas, then you'll need to run it to a charcoal canister and use one of the existing purge valves to burn off the vapors once the engine reaches temp. Same goes for the tank vent line. There really isn't much in the way of emmissions on there anyway - AIS (passive - exhaust pulse type), EGR, and the evap system - but unless you like the smell of gas you need something for the evap. Other two are up to you - EGR lowers exhaust temps by a lot - good on some engines for keeping the valves from burning - EA81's don't seem to care much either way. AIS is totally useless except for assisting catalytic action - I always remove or disable it with quarters since the reed valves do fail at some point causing molten plastic to get sucked into the carb.

Izuzu Impulse - if you can find a set. Took me a while. They sit lower than stock - good for tall people.

Sometimes running out of spec for a long period of time will kill the cat - there may not be anything to do but weld in another cat - make sure the AIS is working properly - rather than replacing the cat that's in the y-pipe it may be simpler to add a second one farther back where the resonator is. Vacuum leaks are very common - check the EGR system as it will activate under load at speed. In order to pass mine, I replaced the y-pipe with a lower mileage one with a better cat, and re-routed the entire vacuum system using new hose and bypassing some of the less needed components that looked suspect. I bypassed all the hard lines and simplified much of the routing. Some knowledge of the principles of operation of carb emissions gear is needed, but it's not difficult to figure out. Most of the stuff in there is "passive" for trapping rougue gasses when your rig is sitting in a hot parking lot - this stuff can't be tested other than to look under the hood to see if it's physically present - no tailpipe test will show any difference with or without it. Even in CA.

I've compared the 1600 pistons, and the wrist pin is slightly lower, giving an increase in compression over the entire face of the piston. 1600 heads will not fit an 1800 block, and the valve sizes are considerably smaller - in fact even the early 1800 intake valves were smaller till '82 when the intake valve size was increased by 2mm. Remember that while the RAM performance people do know a lot, they also make their own pistons so why would they care about EA71 parts, or even bother checking. The difference is slight, but definately exists - I measured the difference at about .008 or so. Without changing the cam tho, the EA81 has difficulty running anything but premium gas with even mild increases in compression. Decking the block or going more than .030 on the heads will result in the need for custom intake manifold - not impossible, but with coolant running in it, it's not a small job either.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but lifters are generally designed to rotate in their bore as the cam lobe runs in contact with them at a point slightly offset from dead center. This is why they are round and not some other shape. Installation should not matter, as orientation will change with each rotation of the cam.