zyewdall

So.... should I fix it... or put an EA81 in there (I have a good one sitting around). Keep the SPFI on there. Hmmmm. Or EJ22...... For now, I'm driving the Justy (which was actually MEANT to be a 3 cylinder engine) instead

In general I think the EA81 is a more dependable, easier to work on, engine. A bit less power than the EA82, especially the SPFI ones, though. And the oil pumps should apparently be replaced ever 150k or so as a preventative measure. I have never had trouble finding parts here in Colorado, and up in WA, I doubt you will either. If you were back east, I might recommend against it because most of them have dissapeared back there. I've owned four EA81's, and three EA82's.

On the highway today, going about 70ish, it kind of lost power going up a hill, and was really doggy the rest of the way back to the office. At idle it shakes a bit, but runs smooth at higher rpm. Seems (from pulling spark plug wires) that it's not using the front passenger cylinder. If you rev it, you can hear a little jingle from that side of the engine, and the exhaust has a rythmic pulsing wheezing noise to it at idle -- normally it's a very quite car (unlike most old subies I've had). So... my diagnosis, without actually tearing into it, is that the exhaust valve on that cylinder either lost a spring or a retainer or a rocker arm. What do you think? 1989 GL wagon, 244k original miles on the engine Z

I have 4 currently. Three running (the fourth I took the engine out of, but it ran before that ) and two registered....

The justy got 31mpg on the first tank... not so good. But, I think it's running rich the entire time because the computer temperature sensor was bad. We'll see if replacing that helps any. Could also be because I drive kind of fast... but I do that on the old GL wagon and get 28 or 29 in the summer. Z

Aaagh. Can I wait two more years....:banana: 42mpg sounds about right for a legacy, considering what the TDI jetta's get. 148 horsepower doesn't sound like much.... but at 258 ft lbs torque at low rpm, that'll feel more like 300 horsepower, I bet (not for accelerating, but for highway cruising, based on how the TDI VW's feel with only 110 horsepower) Question is... will I have stuffed a TDI VW engine in my EA82 before they FINALLY introduce the diesel subaru to the US.... maybe. Maybe not. On the head gasket issue someone mentioned that old subarus had issues...depends on what you call old. I say only the new subarus' that have that problem... like 1995 and up, till about 01 or 02. Before 1995, it was only overheated EA82's, which you kind of expect. Hopefully the diesel won't have any such issues. Does anyone know what block size they used... and bore and stroke. Is it a EJ25 block only bored to 2.0 liters for added strength perhaps? That would mitigate the potential for issues a bit. Or more likely, a completely different, and new block designed from the ground up?

I suppose... but you'll have to wedge something inside the caliper to keep it from just squeezing the piston in, and force the fluid (and air) out of the bleeder instead. Seems like there's got to be another EA81 near there with a left caliper... I've been to idaho and it's nearly as crowded with old subies as Colorado is.

That's what I was going to suggest too.... if the timing belt is a tooth off, the distributor will be wildly out of wack.... and even though you've fixed it now, it's possible that the valves are still not timed right wrt to the pistons on that side

Interesting bit of information I found on the wikipedia page for justy's 5MT: 1st 3.071 2nd 1.695 3rd 1.137 4th .823 5th .675, Rev 3.461 Final 4.437 4WD: 1st 3.071 2nd 1.695 3rd 1.137 4th .771 5th. 631, Rev 3.461 Final 5.200 The final drive ratio for the 4wd ones is particularly interesting.... 5.2? That makes first gear an overall ratio of 15.96, running 175/70/R13's. This is probably about the same ground ratio, or slighly lower, as my mazda pickup truck which has 4.4 1st gear, and 4.1 diffs -- 18 overall, running 215/75/R15's. Of course, the truck also has a 2:1 low range, for 36:1 in low range. But comparing it to an EA81 or EA82 http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/80s/mick/gear-ratios.htm the overall 1st gear ratio for that is only 14.18 for the EA81's, and 13.82 for the EA82's (standard 4wd MT's). So... the justy is actually geared a bit better than the EA81/EA82 for 1st gear... probably to compensate for the lack of torque from the little three cylinder engine, I imagine. It does feel like it's geared really low compared to my EA82... 1st gear revs up to 4500rpm almost immediately after letting the clutch out it's so low, and 55 or 60 on the highway is almost 3500rpm it seems, whereas the EA82 will do 70-75ish at that rpm. Low range is 20.7 and 22, for the EA81's and EA82's, respectively, so they are definitely better there for offroading. But, I was impressed with how low of gearing the justy has without even having low range. 1st gear on the old EA71 from 1979 is actually just about the same as the justy too.

I want it Well, actually, I already have 8 cars (4 of them run, even), so probably not. But I do like the lifted brats.

Would you be keeping the SPFI system from the EA82? I think there's some disty swap stuff you need to do to put it on the EA81. Other than that, it sounds doable. It'll be a dog on the highway, but in my experience, the low end torque from the EA81 is no worse than the EA82 (it's a lighter car too though... not sure how that affects the seat of the pants feel)

You got it :banana:

Yeah.... I put a 91 engine into an 87, and even though both were SPFI, I had to redo a bunch of the plugs to make it work. Z

I wish I had known what ones to plug on my '85.... it had more like 15 of them....

Only if it was sold in California in 87. The rest of the US didn't get the SPFI wagons till 88. I've owned both SPFI and carbed EA82's, and the SPFI ones (that I've owned) run way better, start better in the cold, more power, etc. I hate vacuum lines, so if it's got a carb, it better be from the 70's or 60's. Those carbs were still fine. Everything else should pretty much be identical between the years. Z

Yeah.... for the same price I paid for this one after having the rebuilt engine installed by a shop, brand new michelin tires, and a few other little things, I could have bought a 1996 Suburban in decent shape... but this is more fun. And still only double digits to fill the tank I'd been looking for about 6 months for this one, and decided to pay more for a nice "new" one. Even ones completely beat up and worn out are still going for $600 though.

Finally got the digital camera working again. Z

That's how I described mine too... like a big go-cart. The fuel injected ones (mine) are actually a little more faster than an EA82, but less torque still....gotta keep it above 2,500rpm on the road, and above about 1,500 offroading, or it just bogs.... likes revving up to 4 or 5k fine though. I swear, I've seen bigger engines in some lawn tractors. One of my coworkers said her tenants used to own a Justy, and she made fun of it... but then it kept making up the driveway all winter, unlike lots of other vehicles... Mine has some curious dents and scrapes on the frame rails underneath that imply it was off-roaded pretty hard at some point. The subaru dealer said that they're seeing justy's coming out of the woodwork the last few months. Wonder why that is Z

Well.... I don't have much to offer yet, but I am planning on doing the same thing... Mine doesn't have an oil pressure guage either, and with the sensitivity of these engines to that....I think it would be good. And my temperature guage never gets above barely above the cold line -- I'd think it was not connected at all, except it does move maybe an 1/8th of an inch when hot (and yes, the engine does get up to normal temp, or at least enough to turn on the radiator fan and blow nice hot air out of the heater). I ordered a new temperature sending unit for it... $75 from the dealer Is yours fuel injected? If so, it looks like there are three temperature sensors on the right side of the intake manifold as you look at the engine from the front of the car -- one for the computer, one for the fan, and one for the guage. I have no idea where to tap into the oil pressure... the oil filter is on the back of the engine under the intake manifold.... nuts. On temperature guages, I have JB welded temperature sensors to the engine block before... not the same thing you are measuring as when you get into the coolant stream, but I figure it's still useful, and you can learn what is normal and what is not. Z

1989 SFPI dual range GL wagon, around 29 to 30mpg (country highway, 35 to 50mph, and some steep hills). Falls to 24ish in wintertime bashing through snowdrifts. 1991 Justy 4wd.... to be determined. Haven't gone through a full tank yet because I just bought it. 1982 dual range GL wagon ... used to get around 29 highway, 24 city. Dropped about 2mpg when the carbureator lost the idle circuit, for some reason (probably lost some other stuff at the same time). Z

ECT = temperature sensor? It may indeed be running in open loop, as the mileage appears to be kind of low -- low 30's. But I haven't run a full tank yet either, so not sure. Z

I don't think it has a choke.. but I'm not completely sure about that. It certainly is acting like a closed choke... IF is is a cold start enrichment system on the fuel injection system not working... what might cause that?

For off-roading, I'd put the EJ22 in the older GL wagon.... the dual range in the legacy would be nice, but it's a bit heavier softer sprung car -- not idea for offroading. Having the same power and gearing in the GL will be alot nicer -- plus I'm not sure if you can buy lift kits for the legacies (you can do other stuff, but the actual lift kits, if you're not into fabricating your own, seem to be for the EA81 and EA82 cars. Z

I've got the new Justy (1991 GL 4 door) now, and had a chance to try it out this last weekend. Overall, it's a fun car -- pretty zippy, kind of like driving an oversized go cart. I took it up a few 4wd roads without problems. Not serious ones, since it doesn't have lo range, but one good enough to almost foil my friend's ford explorer. It did great. Faster acceleration and more power on the highway than the EA82 SPFI GL wagon, though it seems to be geared to top out at about 70mph or less if you keep it below 4k rpm. Kind of like the top gearing on the old 4 speed EA81's, only with 5 speeds crammed in there. Tomorrow I'm filling the tank for the first time, to start getting an idea of what mileage it gets. The only two big issues are... wiring harness for the starter is falling apart and it won't start half the time -- easy fix there. The other one is that when you start it cold (anytime after sitting more than 4 or 5 hours, even in nice hot summer weather), it takes about 30 seconds before it will move -- it will idle fine, nice steady around 1,000rpm. But, if you touch the accelerator, it almost dies. After about 30 seconds, it starts behaving normally. It also stalled twice when I was engine braking, foot completely off the gas going down a hill, and I put the clutch in... sort of like my old pickup does on that same hill sometimes when the idle circuit can't take over fast enough when the engine actually has to run itself again. But, on a fuel injected vehical, I wouldn't expect this. This was also before the engine was fully warmed up -- maybe ran for 3 or 4 minutes, mostly downhill. I cleaned the MAF with MAF cleaner, put a can of injector cleaner in the tank, and mechanically it all seems to be okay, but I wonder what's causing this behavior? Perhaps a related issue is that the temperature guage is not working... wonder if the temp sensor for the computer is also not working? I have not changed the fuel filter yet. I'm getting my digital camera fixed this week, so I'll post pics. It looks pretty sharp actually. I did a little two tone paint job on it (rocker panels down are hammerite dark gray) and put on a roof rack I had sitting around from a GL wagon at some point. If I get motivated this weekend, I might weld together a proper brush bar for the front.

Yes.... it's a bizarre design with the housing of both the oil pump and water pump built into the front of the engine, so you only replace the rotor/impellor and seals, not the whole thing like you would if it was a separate element. Was this a subaru designed engine or who?? It's a crazy little creation.