Tycho

P/T 4wd 3.70 Dual Range with the 1.2 low range was an option on some GLs also. I have an optioned out 85 Turbo GL sedan with that trans (and an open rear diff). I myself found this out when I noticed that Lo range wasn't anywhere near a 1.6 times higher engine speed for a given wheel speed ... but I didn't have an RX as it had air struts and a digi-dash.

2. Exactly (there is really no way to improve things). The RX rally car notes from Subaru show where they ported. They basically just worked on improving the short turn radius, but even if you blend it as best as possible, you're going to get massive flow separation right where the throat meets the seat. A wet flow bench with some UV dye in there would be good for a few laughs. You'd see fuel wetting out in a massive way and huge cavitation on the short turn side of the valve. The main area where things aren't what they seem (where flow is concerned) is in cross section vs flow rate. Bigger is not always better. As far as shapes go, regardless of cross section, for non-turbulent flow (intake side), straight is best and equal length (port roof to port floor) is best (straight is equal length of course ... but you can also get equal length by turning a "C" into an "S" ... impossible on a flat engine tho). Any and all deviations from this require additional flow energy (i.e. a reduction in volumetric efficiency) due to shear. You don't need a flow bench for that part of things. You can actually just section a mold of the port to create a cross section profile then "back out" the velocity numbers from that. It won't tell you everything tho. You DO need a bench on the exhaust tho, as I'd bet one would find massive gains there by building up the port divider all the way to the flange, reducing overall cross section, and turning the siamese into two much smaller ports. It'd be very difficult to know without numbers tho. 3. I don't think you need as much money to make "big" power (in EA82T terms) as has been claimed. If you took care of the heat issue FIRST, head gaskets, head studs, forged pistons, etc simply become redundant. Take care of the heat issue and you won't have the expansion/annealing problems that contribute to gasket failure (walking heads) and head bolt thread pullout (weakened aluminum). Knock will also be greatly reduced thus eliminating ring land failure. Suddenly you don't need studs, MLS gaskets, or forged pistons. Head cracks won't be a problem either, especially if you dump the log manifold and go to a TD04L or larger (HL perhaps) exhaust housing on the turbo (with a nice downpipe and exhaust system). Later spool is good for decreasing knock ... and making power up top means lower peak torque which rods and cranks tend to like. Slightly less torque at higher RPM can really reduce peak loading on the internals. Opening the exhaust yields more power at the same given cylinder pressure (easier on head gaskets and head bolts) as you get a better scavenge effect (higher VE, less combustion endgasses left in the chamber) and thus a better burn with less fuel and less boost which results in less knock too. More complete burn from not having to run pig rich all the time increases mileage and decreases EGT as you turn more potential energy into pressure and less into heat. Oh, one other neat trick for solving the head gasket and knock problems. You can mill a "ring" in the deck in the aluminum around the bores. I haven't looked to see how thick the closed deck webbing on the EA82 is (should fish out my spare block and take a peek), but if you could put a 3 mm ring all the way around the cylinder, this would massively reduce peak temperatures in the top of the cylinder and probably lead to near infinite head gasket life. Lots of sleeved and/or deckplated builds that were originally open deck incorporate this trick to retain the advantage of that design with the added stability provided by a closed deck. This would be like $50 bucks of machine work on the block. Not expensive. One can also do some radiusing on the oil and water pump and block passages to improve coolant and oil flow substantially. I did this on my current EA82T. Took an hour or two of my time (so basically free). Here's how ERL does it: http://www.erlperformance.com/honda-k20-erl-superdeck-i-sleeved To what the O.P. wants: 1. Get a hugely "oversized" radiator 2. Uncork the exhaust and get rid of the log manifold (your heads will thank you) 3. Don't rely on the knock sensor to pull timing. It can only react. Set your ignition so you don't get knock (pistons will last forever). Use good gas. 3. Intercool and oil cool (less knock, more timing). 4. Do it all on a freshly built longblock where you've had the heads and deck surfaced (fresh surfaces combined with proper cooling ... the head gaskets will not give you a problem) Then if you want more power without upping the boost, there's a lot to be found by spending a few minutes on a few specific areas of the cylinder heads. They'll still be junk, but much improved junk. Also, spyder manifold swap will yield horsepower at higher RPMs if you have done the heads (if you haven't, the heads will likely choke flow before the OE intake manifold). The head gasket problem is a symptom. Cracked ring lands are a symptom. Cracked heads are a symptom. Solving the underlying problem is not that expensive. Get exhaust heat out quickly. Get coolant heat out to maintain T-stat temperatures under load. Get oil heat out for the moving parts benefit. To make more power, don't start with boost and timing. Those two come last. You add boost to a healthy engine with overhead ... rather than trying to make a modified engine healthy.

I inherited a car with non working 3 and 4 speeds, but the resistor was intact (and speed 4 doesn't use it anyway). Turns out that the fan was dying and the increased electrical load caused the switch to get hot enough that the wires had unsoldered from the switch. New blower fan + re-soldered wires -> problem solved.

The reason no one has flow numbers to show what a poor design the EA82 head is, is that just by looking at the short turn radius on the intake and exhaust, anyone with a flow bench would just have a little chuckle and set the heads aside, rather than waste their time. Look at how the seats are cut too. You already have this super tight short turn that is impossible to radius adequately (on both int and exh!), and to make things worse the seats stick all the way down into the throat, turning what would be a terrible short turn into a sharp 90 degree (especially on the exhaust side, you can often feel the bottom inside edge of the seat on the short turn). Then you look at the bowls which are all wrong on both sides, and the one intake port on each head (MPFI) which has the weird casting lump in it to clear various valve gear (which creates a flow separated cavity and associated choke and wet out) and the "S" turn exhaust port on the other side ... and the siamesed exit which is massively oversized where the cylinders dump into a common volume (massive velocity drop and associated reflected pressure wave here). Then you look at another engine that came out in 1985. Let's take the Toyota 4AGE for example. Some other members here have MR2s, I have one too. The 4AGE made 115 HP from 1.6L NA. The EA82T made 111 from 1.8L @ 7 PSI in 1985, later 115. 134 in Europe? But who cares about those numbers anyway. Factory numbers are just a reflection of the horsepower-hour duty life goals of the manufacturer. Far more important would be to look at the air path in and through the engine as well as the intended operating range (this is where you find "what is possible" rather than simply "what is"). So the 4AGE is 81x77 bore/stroke, winds out to 7000+ RPM, and makes power "up top". I'd call this a short stroke high RPM engine that needs ports capable of high velocity but not massive volume. Toyota actually shrunk the intake ports on the 4AGE in the late 80s and picked up power in doing so ... they raised the ports a hair to yield a better intake short turn at the same time. The EA82 is 92x67 bore/stroke (with an awesome 1.75 L/R rod ratio which is why the cylinders never wear out), is self governed in NA form basically (power drops off so quickly at high RPM that you don't really have to watch out for redline), but with a crazy short stroke. It's so massively oversquare it's not even funny. This makes it terrible as a torque motor as big bores love to knock/detonate (which is a supersonic propagation of the flame front ... the can of marbles sound is a bunch of little sonic pops hitting the physical bounds of the chamber as unhomoginized pockets of gas explode instead of burn) ... not to be confused with preignition (which is a hot spot in the chamber starting ignition before the spark) at low RPM. This is part of the reason for all the broken ring lands on EA82Ts. Where do massively oversquare engines like to make power? Up top. Way up top. Check out the geometry of sport bikes, Formula 1 cars, etc. Big bore means lots of room for valves and lots of room for quench area which nips detonation in the bud in high CR engines. Short stroke means super low piston acceleration which helps rods live and also leads to lower peak flow velocities for a given volume ingested (which is awesome from an efficiency standpoint). What is required for a high RPM screamer? Super steep super high velocity ports. What does the EA82 have? Super shallow (hence the sharp short turn) super low velocity ports (and comically terrible manifolding to go with that). High RPM engines SCREAM for massive intake plenum volume. Liters and liters of it. The Spider manifold is a huge improvement over the original MPFI, but still needs maybe 3x the plenum volume to feed an engine that would spin as fast as the bottom end would like. But that's not a problem because the heads are such a massive joke that the engine will never make power at those RPMs anyway. The EA82(T) has the geometry of a F1 engine with the heads and manifolding of a tractor. The performance suffers as a result (and ends up much closer to the tractor at the end of the day). Then you have the cracking problem. I myself think that's almost entirely a function of a log manifold that concentrates heat on the 1/3 head, along with turbo coolant and oil dumping into the same head, plus the favored flow of cold water out of the radiator is in the 2/4 head. I bet if the water pump was on the other side of the block the coolant issue would be greatly reduced. I also bet that the 1/3 injector issue is related to the heat issue in that head. Baring actually moving the coolant pump or reverse-flowing the engine with an electric pump, I'd bet that a proper header (like the TWE I've seen some pictures of ... but maybe with a biscuit welded into the flange to keep the siamesed ports separated a few inches into the primaries), re-routing of the oil return direct into the pan, and a radiator that's sized to keep temperatures near that of the T-Stat (the radiator is supposed to be able to reject MORE than the max thermal load of the engine, thus keeping engine temps within a few degrees of the T-Stat itself), you'd never see a cracked head. That's even without an intercooler and oil cooler (which should have been included as OE). Has anyone run a poll on which head cracks most of the time? I'd wager that it is extremely biased to the 1/3 head. Anyway, it's such a massive turd that it's a bit fun to hack on tho. I have a freshly built shortblock that was decked to give about 8.0:1 SCR coupled to some heads I ported along with a ported log manifold, ported/gutted downpipe (and no other exhaust), and a soon to be installed spider manifold (which will probably include a SDS EM4-F standalone install as, like the other poster, I've had a bunch of sensor failures ... tho they are just about all fixed now!). Right now, on the stock ECU and manifolding with the aforementioned "un-corking", it's a fun rig! If it holds together long enough, I intend to see what can be had with 7 PSI. A very chilly 7 PSI with much less restriction on the exhaust side ... i.e. TD04L or HL perhaps (after all, FI engines make power not only relative to boost itself, but also relative to the intake/exhaust pressure ratio). Besides lower intake charge temps, I think the increased exhaust flow of a TD04L is a major contributing factor in some of the positive results members have had with those swaps, even at stock boost levels.

I had a fun game chasing heater problems on a car I just got on the road. It had a missing thermostat A plugged heater core A dead fan relay A burnt fan switch (which had gotten hot enough that wires unsoldered themselves) and a dead fan motor. So "nothing" worked ... but "everything" made it finally work. I'd start by replacing the fan relay and doing the old +12v test on the blower motor. Aftermarket blower motors often have sticky brushes. You can fix this by taking the motor apart and using fine grit sandpaper on the brushes. Then check the fan switch. If it's arced enough for the contacts to burn, the wires can actually come unsoldered from it externally too. They are fairly easy to rebuild with some sandpaper, a flat surface, and some patience (to refresh the internal contacts ... sand the pits out and the carbon off).

Recently had to replace a bunch of bulbs in my newly rebuilt '85 EA82T GL-10. These are an exact fit into the Trip Computer plastic holders. These are the long wire lead bulbs. Cheap and long life too. http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=7752virtualkey60600000virtualkey606-CM7752

Phantom Grip provides next to nothing for LSD torque transfer. Check out these images then read the rest of my post: http://web.me.com/dgiessel/Pictures/car/phantom_grip/index.html After posting those pictures in 2003 or 2004, I remember all sorts of PG users sending me hate mail/hate messages on forums talking about how great it worked for them and how I must have installed it wrong/etc. This is a case of psychological refusal to acknowledge the sunk cost of buying garbage. I had one of the first ones on my 2001 Saturn about 9 years ago when the car was almost new. It was complete ************. I also installed one of their diff pins at the time (that was supposed to solve the Saturn diff pin problem ... which was actually solved in 1998 or so when the OE pin became a hardened steel piece ... but I didn't know this at the time). The PG diff pin was not hardened and lasted about 25,000 miles before snapping and taking my transaxle with it. At that point tho, I had already built up a new transmission with slightly modified synchros and a Quaife because I had been so profoundly disappointed with the Phantom Grip. My PG originally had the soft red springs ... then I "upgraded" to the stiff green springs. The difference was about 7-10 lb-ft of torque transfer. Took the diff from 13ish lb-ft to around 20. Once the spider gear carrier bearings started melting, that torque number fell back a bit. I don't really get the big deal over a $300 dollar LSD. What is your time worth? When you use cheap ************ you are flushing both time and money down a toilet. When you use good ************ it costs up front, then you just enjoy it and drive with no worries for years and years. Plus it works better the whole time.

Thanks so much guys!

I have an '85 Sedan I purchased years ago and just got it back on the road. It was down and out for like 3 years while I picked away at an engine build for it (then the engine sat for two years before I finally put it in). Subsequently I've forgotten a few things (and there are some that I never really knew as I only drove it about 5 miles before tearing the engine out/apart). Question 1: How does the turbo downpipe bolt to the transmission housing? The little tab isn't even close to any holes on the trans case. Anyone have a picture of this? Question 2: My dash dimmer does not dim the portion of the digidash that has the picture of the car and the door open / parking brake / 4wd indicator stuff. It dims the speedo and tach part only. Is this normal? Question 3: On the far left of the dash just above the fuse panel is some sort of floor vent control lever. Moving it around doesn't seem to change the airflow at all. What is this supposed to do? (I just had all this ************ off while I was cleaning grounds and all the connectors but didn't pay attention to how it was plumbed). Question 4: No idea what the car is. Turbo Traction? RX? GL-10? It came with an EA82T, P/T 4wd Dual Range with 1.20 low range, no LSD, sunroof, Digidash, checkered/bolstered seats and checkered seatbelts, air struts, power everything, cruise (buttons on the steering wheel), has the B pillar defrost vents, blacked out trim. The writing on the doors and rear plastic piece just says "4WD Turbo." I've assumed it's just a totally optioned out (sans LSD) GL Sedan. Question 5: Does anyone have the deep torx socket required for LSD installation? I have a freshly rebuilt unit itching to go in the rear pumpkin, just need that socket. Thanks a bunch!

I have photos of coated EA82 NA and Turbo pistons here: http://web.me.com/dgiessel/Pictures/misc/pistons/index.html No photos of the NA bottoms, but they are a thinner crown. Note that the bottom of the EA82T piston crown is all the way down to the oil return slot in the oil control ring (and even at the piston center it is nearly that deep).

That's probably it. I was looking at diagrams for "1985 EA82T" in a Chilton's (far cry from a FSM) and an '87 FSM scanned code page I had downloaded some time ago. Thanks for the additional info. Was still getting Code 14 and all the injectors are working fine ... but the MAF isn't plugged in (now that makes sense). Figured 'pre '88 would be good enough, but these cars seemingly have about the most variation of any "mass produced" car ever. Anyway, thanks again. Time to overheat it and blow a headgasket or two Should be 100% up and running this weekend, and if not ... I'll splice the harness and put my EM4F on there and be done with this '80s EFI stuff (this is how I dealt with a 1985 Toyota with almost as many broken vac lines as broken wires).

Brilliant. Checked the tach signal (which was white going into the ECU, not Yellow like the diagrams say) and it was very low amplitude. Checked coil- while cranking and it was a strong signal. Means I had some wiring wrong. The tach wire is black where it comes out by the coil, so I had it on coil+ with all the other black wires, thus giving a super weak tach signal. Moved it to coil- and the injectors started squirting ... but the tach readout on the dash went wiggy. Grounded that mystery wire (goes from the disty to the knock control unit on the other side of the engine bay) and the tach readout stabilized and I still got fuel + spark. Screwed with the timing a bit (advanced) and got it to ignite some fuel. MAF/intake stuff is all off/disconnected, but if I cranked it with the throttle all the way open it would start and sputter along at 600 RPM or so. Need to check my dist. timing again I'd say. Thanks for the troubleshooting tips. If the harness were anything close to properly color coded this'd be a lot easier! Never remember this much nonsense on my SPFI '90 Loyale.

Well it wasn't the other injectors being plugged in, or ground (tho cleaning them did make the starter a lot more snappy). I checked the codes again. 11: Crank Angle Sensor (no ref pulse) 14: Fuel Injectors #1 and #2 (abnormal output) I also have a mystery wire. Black wire with a yellow stripe and a 1 pin "flat" connector (white/clear). It comes out of the ignitor harness with the wires that go to the coil. Goes to the knock control unit on the passenger side of the harness. WTH does the connector on the driver's side go to?

Ah hah! I checked with the injector unplugged ... but not with all injectors unplugged. The second one of the pair was passing voltage through. I'll disconnect all of em and try that again. In theory two shorted injectors could steal all the current from the other two. I'm not getting a check engine light, I have checked all the fuses, I have NOT checked for a pulse at the ECU. Will try some of that stuff tonight.

1985 Turbo Sedan (early MPFI) Freshly rebuilt EA82T Car cranks Plugs spark Fuel pump and pressure are good Fuel injectors don't click Plugs are dry after cranking I took an injector off and bench tested it. Soon as I put 12v across it it clicks open, then clicks shut when I remove voltage. Hooked up a noid light and cranked. No triggering on the injectors. Both sides of the injector plug sit at +12v the whole time. Mutlimeter'd the wiring harness. Continuity all the way to the ECU. It would seem the injector drivers are dead. Any other suggestions? Insufficient grounding? I took the ECU apart. The injector drivers don't appear to have physically smoked out, tho they may still be dead. I'm really want to get this thing on the road to see if it blows up as quickly as all the other EA82Ts out there. Then I can just rid myself of it. But I can't blow it up unless I get it started first!

On my SPFI build I had .005 taken off the deck to bring the quench height (piston to head) down to .035 or so. I also had .010 taken off the heads, although the increase in CR was negligible. If you want to increase the CR, do it by decking the block FIRST (reducing quench height). .035" piston to head would be a good limit to observe. On smaller bore engines (82 mm bore) I've gone .030" without problems, but piston rock in these huge bores is going to be a bigger factor. The tighter your quench is the more knock resistance you'll have. Shaving the head will not help the already bad knock situation that these engines have (due mainly to their large bores). To find the exact CR increase you need to CC your combustion chambers. Since I was taking a mere .010 off I didn't even bother to check it. On some other builds where I've taken .030 off or more, I always CC the chambers before and after (I'm usually re-working the chamber anyway so it gives me the opportunity to match them all within .1 cc). If you know the engine stroke, bore diameter, piston protrusion above deck, compressed headgasket thickness, and chamber CC, you can find your CR. finding the change in CC per amount shaved...well these chambers are pretty simple, so you could probably just measure the average depth, assume the chamber area is the same from deck to valves (it's not, but it's reasonably close), and estimate the reduction in chamber volume per amount shaved. If you want to alter the heads in a meaningful way a die grinder and carbides are the way to go. I worked the SPFI heads on the aforementioned build with a Milwaukee 12 amp grinder running off a VARIAC to allow low speed operation. Long shank double cut and alumacut carbides are your friend. The short turn radius is a key area to watch on these heads. It's absolutely terrible no matter what you do with it, but you can improve it a good deal with minimal work.

You know, that crimp on top cap part does not need to go back on the lifters once you've cleaned them. Leaving that part off makes the lifter cleaning procedure pretty fast.

Hey man...hope to see you out at the ice track some time.

Do those buckets happen to be 33mm in diameter? If so...can I purchase one that you don't end up using (I know you're a ways away from setting lash) when it is convenient? I have two applications with 33mm hydros and would love to have a source of one piece buckets (right now I'm looking at using KZ650 shim under units).

Just for fun: http://homepage.mac.com/dgiessel/.Pictures/misc/subaru_lsd/index.html Those clutches look pretty cherry. Symmetric LSD action (2 way). Seems that modifying the pinion shaft and pressure ring with a shallower angle on the "forward" thrust side would be a great way to get more on throttle LSD action. Unforunately welding on that stuff would totally de-temper it.

Anyone ever order some of the Nissan/Datsun R160 clutches? Part numbers are available at the bottom of this page: http://www.gordon-glasgow.org/lsdtech.html

Well I got my LSD...so now I'm going to rebuild the whole rear diff case (it's leaking out of all the seals). Anyone have a blow up diagram of it? A list of the seals on it would work also (obviously there are 3...pinion shaft and axle shafts...any others?) Does the pinion shaft bearing wear out commonly? It's cheap to replace while I'm in there anyway (I'd like to order one before I have the thing apart if it's something that is commonly worn).

I've heard something about flipping the spring plates in the old LSD's to make em bite harder. Anyone have the details on this? Just a matter of flipping the spring plate and spring disk?

My HGs actually had a "DO NOT RETORQUE" note on them. They were crap Fel-Pro units..but actually MLS! I was pleasantly surprised...almost made up for the lack of proper cam carrier o rings and all the trouble that caused. 12,000 miles later having overheated the engine wheeling in the summer and putting it through several -40F cold starts without it plugged in...there's no hint of any chamber pressure getting where it shouldn't and all the fluids are in order also.

Yes...almost as bad as a 3000GT/300ZX/SVX (I've driven 2 of those 3). Don't know if you've ever tried one or not. /looks for vomit smiley. My buddy LOVES his Stealth RT/TT. Ran a 13.54 bone stock just this fall (it's a 94 with 105,000 miles on it to boot). It feels like driving a fast Suburban to me. Different strokes for different folks. Try out something light with ITBs sometime and it will sour you on those piggy turbo (and in the SVX's case non turbo...but autotragic) cars forever. Consider the STi's engine and brakes on an EA81/82 car. I think there's little question that the 6-700 lb advantage combined with equal HP and braking hardware would result in a sizeable performance advantage. I mean...they haven't done anything magical with the suspension on the Impreza (nothing special in light of all the late 80s hondas with 4 wheel double wishbone, 300zx with HiCas, etc)...and it certainly doesn't have much (if any) more interior room than my EA82 wagon. How do they justify the extra blubber?