ihscout54

Ive spent alot of time trying to salvage the stock fuel/emissions systems on the EA81 cars. In the end I found that the SPFI or weber swap was the only way to go. Unfortunately the the SPFI system is becoming scarce, and the weber kits are costly. I would still likely dump the Hitachi if it needed rebuilt, but my new hatch has a nice one bolted too the manifold. Ive decided to re-invest my energy into the non feedback Hitachi system. Much regarding the EA81 Hitachi carbs has been discussed on this forum. For some reason the vacuum system and its components still remain a little fuzzy. This may have to do with the vagueness of the service manual or the confusing difficult to follow steel vac lines. Subaru/Hitachi definitely over complicated this system and to add confusion theres numerous calibrations that vary per model year. During the 70s-80s automakers had to get pretty wacky to get cars to meet emissions standards. I suppose it was during this era that the "just rip it out, I hate emissions crap" ideals began. More often than not this gutting may have solved a problem by eliminating nothing more than a vacuum leak. Since these cars are so old and parts for this system are sorta unavailable we have no choice but to take this attitude. Thinning this system is much easier and will have greater benefit if its taken with some understanding of whats being removed. My time is limited and Im only going to post info that Ive seen members looking for lately. If there is interest I may add more at a later date. Alot of this info is opinion, based on my experience with these. My terminology may not match the FSM, and might be misspelled etc with poor grammar and broken sentences. Take it or leave it. Would be great for members to add (friendly) contradictions or contributions. Im going to start with the air cleaner: "Stove Pipe Control" - this is the thermostatic valve that controls vacuum to the carb preheat motor. This diverts air flow into the aircleaner/carb. When cold the valve is open causing hot air to be drawn from the exhaust pipe. This helps to speed up warm up time and prevent icing in the carb. They are great, except that mine had all failed in the open position. This is not doing you any favors in the summer time. I live in a mild climate with pretty warm summers so Ive elected to unhook this system (including the corrugated pipe) and plug its vacuum source. There are ways to get this working if needed. Ive used something like this in the past. "Thermo Valve Vents" - these ports are for the thermo valves. One is for the black water temp valve thats for the choke (the one by the disty). The other is for the white "wall" temp valve for the EGR valve, canister purge, and the vac advance. The origional vac hoses make it hard to mix these up, but I dont see it making any difference wich goes where. More on the valves another time. "Hot Idle Compensator" - pretty common gizmo from this era. Supposedly, some where around 150 F (air cleaner temp) this opens up to help prevent stalling. I suppose during long periods of idling in hot weather fuel in the carb can vaporize and richen the mixture. This valve would open and in effect raise the idle and lean out the mixture. Of corse in the real world (or least on my car) this gem failed the vac pump test. So it was just a filtered leak. I eliminated its tee and plugged the port on the air cleaner. I havent had any issues from this. "Air Bleed Ports" This is where the high speed/main and low speed air passages get their filtered air. Since this system is so poorly covered by the FSM Im going to share my opinions on it now. In a few posts Ive noticed members are simply plugging these ports. If you live in a cold climate and only drive short trips then you will notice very little difference in driveability with this mess removed and plugged. This system may be nothing more than an economizer. But I believe the Hitachi was designed to have these ports open in some fashion. These air passages arent like manifold vacuum ports. They are plumed directly into the mixing stage of the carburetor. Whether they were orifice'd straight to the air cleaner, temp controlled, or computer controlled, Im unaware of any factory calibration where they were plugged. As Ive said I live in a mild climate at hight altitude. I found the car runs fairly rich, and inconsistent, with the ports just plugged. On my car the mess of hoses were incorrectly routed, with one of the ports fed without the orifice in the circuit. Once I figured this out the carb no longer "needs a rebuild". Im unsure of how these were factory routed and tee'd. So, I found the car runs best with the passages directly routed to the vacuum control valve (VCV) with the orifce lines on the carb ports. You MUST have the orifi in place! On my configuration there were 3 total, 2 silver colored and one gold with a smaller hole. There may be dozens of different sizes, I cant say. It seems to run best with the gold one on the high speed port, and the silver on the low speed port. As mentioned these lines were ran directly to the VCV. I removed the the tees and loops. I tested the VCV with a vac pump, and the thermo vac valve with a lighter. They both checked out, so I kept them. Manifold vacuum is supplied to the thermo valve. IIRC it opens at 85 F and vacuum is then supplied to the VCV and VSV which causes them to open. What were they trying to do here? My guess is that under certain conditions the float chamber may end up under negative pressure. The VSV would open the chamber to the atmosphere, eliminating this issue. I have not experimented with capping this one yet since my VSV tested good. I did have to remove the VSV's cover and replace the air filter inside because it had turned to dust. I had a sheet of foam that is meant for window A/C's that I purchased at Lowes. A small cut circle of this foam was installed and the cap replaced. Years ago on a different car I removed the control part of the system. I used a tee and one orifice after the tee right before the port on the air cleaner. The VSV was also removed and the line from the float chamber was hooked directly to the unused connection on the air cleaner. This was in Vegas (hot) and I didnt run this setup long before going SPFI. But it worked. If you are missing an orifice or one of these components fails to operate correctly, there's no reason not to experiment with this setup. In fact the EA82 cars are setup similarly. If you are missing all the orifices you could try an experiment of your own by melting a tee closed at the third leg and poking a small hole in it. Im not sure how precisely engineered the orifices need to be. If there is real interest in this thread I have more to add. Not sure its really worth it, seriously, how many EA81 Hitachis are even left? You may also argue that its best to just eliminate all of this "crap" and plug everything. And I will say, Ive seen cars so stripped of this emissions "crap", even the PCV system had been disabled and plugged Why? Because they had a problem and didnt know how to diagnose it, or what any of this "crap" was for. Why delete it if you can get it working? Uh-oh Ive now been on the computer nearly 2 hours and my wife is getting suspicious so this is all I have for today...

Have you figured out your secondary Issue? Its not real easy to tell if they work sitting in the driveway. The info I gave will have no bearing on this issue. You have a linkage issue, the diaphragm is shot, the gasket is bad or the theres a restriction in vacuum supply.

I have to do a fuel pump this evening. Im working on a mini writeup that I will post about this separate from your thread, so as not to muddy it up. I havent flaked...

This is the mess Im talking about. Its a confusing spaghetti pile. I took out the tees and ran the lines with the orifices directly to the control valve and then to the air cleaner. The control valve is actuated by manifold vacuum that is regulated by a thermo valve. I tested the vcv with my vac pump and tested the thermostatic valve with a torch. They both checked out so I kept them. I will post more info on this when Im home if anyone is actally interested.

This is a tube with an orifice installed. Those ports I mentioned really need to be open with these vac lines installed. The carb wont run right and will be pig rich with them simply plugged.

Your driveability issue sounds alot like carb tuning problems. Things like float level or accelerator pump dive adjustments. if your sure that its not the carb, Ide look over the vacuum routing and recheck for leaks. How did you route the evap lines, and the vac advance line? Have you checked your timing with a light? Its very common for the Hitachi distributors to have play in the rotor shaft. I have not experienced your symptom from this issue but it could easily cause a number of odd hard to pin down performance problems. Check the rotor for side to side type play. If that checks out you should inspect the vac advance diaphragm with a vac pump or your mouth. The lack of advance probably wouldnt cause this but its not helping. Of coarse a large rupture in the diaphragm is a vac leak and could create tuning issues. Other thoughts would be engine condition (valve adjustments, gasket leaks, compression, etc) Im not clear on your alt problem. Are you still using the A/C bracket? Theres one long bolt that has a nut on it and one short that threads directly into the mounting ear. Is one of these stripped? IIRC on the a/c setup the shorter pinch bolt has reversed orientation to the non A/C type. For some reason I remember one setup having the bolt in front of the alt and the other threading in from the rear. Check and make sure this is correct.

The cold idle problem is very likely an adjustment of the choke system, or a vac leak. How do you know your secondary isnt opening? If you have removed the hoses and plugged the lines to those three ports in the second picture (with blue caps) you may not like the results after the car warms up. Ive mentioned this befor in one of your posts, those ports most likely need to be "opened". The front one is the slow air bleed. The middle is and atmospheric vent for the float chamber. The rear one is the high speed air bleed. There are a series of vac tubes in this system that worm around and are temp controlled. In those tubes are special orifices that control/regulate the air flow to these ports. If you havent thrown these lines away you can look inside them and see what Im talking about. IIRC my setup ran best with the system thinned out and the temp control left in place. The rear most tube (high speed) ran best with the smallest brass orifice. After the control valve it found its way to the air cleaner. The middle (bowl) just goes to its little vac controlled air filter. The front (low speed) used one of the aluminum larger orifice lines and ends at the air cleaner as well. I actually think I have pics on my phone and may be willing to post them If you really need them.

Ive noticed that the vinyl window sticker fad has really calmed down alot. Perhapse run its course. I still see them from time to time, but most of them are "realtor crap" or "Avon Mary Kay" type stuff. I once had access to a cutter and this forced me to make stupid stuff for my back windows. Im sorta glad I no longer have the means to make stickers.

His car does not have an ignition module. The ecm on the spfi units assumes those duties.

http://www.philbingroup.com/ Builders and re-manufactures of these sorts of things are beginning to disappear. Your not likely to find a "can" anywhere online without the distributor. The reman disty may be found for less online, but they will still run over 150 bux. Im not sure if the ea81 disty advance can will fit the ea82. Watch ebay for a used one and roll the dice. Use this advice at your own risk: The way you describe this car tells me its just a beater "run er till she dies" car. If you dont have to pass an emissions inspection, I would advance the timing till it misses at idle. Back it off the miss and drive it. Retard till the hot starts are not too difficult, and your not getting crazy ping. How much longer will the car last and how much is it worth? If it were mine Ide live without the advance till I found one at a junkyard. The ND and Hitachi units are swappable. The coil should be swapped with them, but in your case the ND coil has a little higher ohm values, so it wont hurt the Hitachi ign module.The Hitachi coil could hurt the ND module.

The power to the distributor is supplied by the ECM. I believe the coil shares a fuse with the fuel pump. Have you checked for voltage at your coil? Have you changed the cap yet? Where are you checking for spark? If your sure your not getting spark heres whats left too check: Coils power source (fuse/wiring) Coil wire and disty cap. Distributor, or its harness (the distys rarely fail) you may need to pull off the rotor and metal cover to see if its rusted and corroded inside. The ECM There are numerous connections for these components which could be corroded or disconnected.

Pretty sure there are emblems and such for sale in the USMB store.

Yes safelite had them 2 years ago when i had mine done. They also had the gaskets. The lock/trim is not available so they had to float the glass in sealant. This is not how these were meant to be installed so they gave me some greif and would not warrenty the install from leaks.

Theres also the digi-dash...

The difference in the dash is likely a DL vs GL thing. Otherwise its just the color and some small functional things. There are differences throughout the ea81s run. Rotors and calipers changed for like 84 and up. The clutch kit for the s/r is not the same as the d/r 4 speeds. There were numerous audio system changes. Like anything out there, things change with year to year and option packages.

Have you checked your fuses? You didnt give much info to go on. Did you unhook the coil? The tack signal wire is a thin yellow wire with a ring terminal on it (iirc its marked with red bands) goes to the (-) lug on the coil. The 2 prong plug you mentioned, is in the block or the intake manifold? That sounds like the coolant sender which may have been tampered with during your swap. Its in the manifold. Did you identify where the short is? Why not just run new wires to the sender on the back of the tank and splice it in past the issue.

Hes been trying to sell that one for a pretty long time. Hes a member. The car is nice and with his persistance he may get what hes shooting for. If it were mine I would not let it go.

Rubbing noise? Like a growl or rumble? Definaty from the front? You should check the frent weels for play. Lift the car, put your hands at the 6 and 12:00 positions on the tire. Rock the tire. If you feel any play the bearings might be due.

Absolutely, you know it needs work. I would expect some pings and stumbles too, but maybe if the timing is off and/or the vac line to the advance is not hooked up. The choke may not be functioning correctly. Perhapse the secondary may not be opening either. Are the tires too big? But just for parts! Whats the price?

Gary mentioned the pcv. Wasnt there a TSB for the pcv routing due to smoke on hard turns? I dont remember but Ive read about this issue befor.

If the car is an '86 4x4 non turbo wagon, it will be an ea82 and very likely carbureted. I dont think 4x4's got SPFI (throttle body fuel injection) till '87. No matter what configuration, the parts car you are asking about is EA82. Which is a later body style than your BRAT. Numerous parts and gizmos will fit, can be made to fit, and are even upgrades. But as far as body and interior very little swaps over. This has been mentioned, but heres a list of "EA81" style cars. These are what you need to be looking for. 80-84 wagon sedan, and coupe 82-87 brat 80-89 hatchback (3 door) I guess all of the confusion comes from the continued production of the EA81 hatchback. Since it was still produced/imported along side the EA82 body cars. It also carried similar badging (DL, GL). I apologize for mixing you you up.

Perhapse IH ownership is a prerequisite for owning a BRAT? You wont find the vent louvers. Those are "unobtainium" If that ea82 parts car is cheap I wouldn't blow it off. Is it for sale? If you have a place to store it and/or extra parts the front seats could likely be made to fit. The front hubs are keepers and the fuel injection (if equipped) would be nice to have. Might have some decent rims and tires on too. If its 4wd non turbo add the tranny and rear diff to the pile. At a loss to the SPFI. Welcome to the board

I figured out why you were doing it. I was unaware if it being a common mod. From the tone of your post it has been well documented? If the contacts in the switch are pretty flakey it may not be reliable even to trigger a relay. If it works its cheaper than an ign switch and youll probably never have to worry about that part of the switch again. Check radioshack the quality of their relays was better than the cheapy parts stores. Good luck.

I suppose im unaware of the conversion your attempting, but that 30a lighting relay should be acceptable for engaging a starter solenoid. Another thought for you is Radioshack. Its been 5+ years since ive bought from them but they used to have the bosch 4/5 pin types in their bins 40a and even 60a and they were like 6-7 bux. I hear that radioshacks are no longer on every corner now, tho.

You have asked similar questions 3 or 4 times now over several months. Is this car at a shop? These cars dont have a seperate xfercase like your brothers blazer, its all one tranny. I can only guess that you have a 3at 3speed automatic and the fluid is leaking into (or between) the front part of the trans which is the final drive or vise versa. On this transmission the 4wd portion that one might call a transfercase uses the same atf that the tranny uses. The final drive which is in the front of the trans takes gear oil. Finding another tranny is physically easier than replacing that seal. They are getting scarce tho. Look at this pic, the auto trans is on the bottom. You can see 3 divisions in the body of the tranny, from left to right (back to front) : 4wd> trans> final drive. .