ferox

I was at the yard today, so I grabbed a couple leading rod bushings off an ea81 and installed them. They're a bit thicker, but once I got the nut to catch a thread they installed easily. You have to crank somewhat forcibly at the end to make sure the nut seats completely. Seems like they will work well and the price is right. I think I might redo it later and cut the bushing in half, so the bushing that is internal to the mustache bar isn't pushed up. It's probably ok the way it is though. I'll keep an eye on it.

That was easy. I have some leading rod bushings I was going to try, but I could not find them so I picked up some of the rag joint discs. The outer diameter is a little large for ea81 mounts, but the inner diameter was perfect. It would probably be good to have a little rubber on the bottom, but I will deal with that later.

Thanks! That's a great tip. Easy install and I know it's going to make a noticeable difference. I am going to try to get that done tomorrow.

I have been meaning to ask this for a while, finally remembered. All the mustache bars I see have gaps between the bushings (?) and the bar. Is that the way it is supposed to be or are the bushings worn down?

The stupidest S**t I see are sweet ea81s in the junkyard. It breaks me heart. You rust state people would cry at the niceness that gets crushed here. I wish there were money to be made in fixing them up and selling them. Then we could at least keep them on the road.

It looks like it to me. If you look at the picture of the one on my Justy and look at the one on Beechbm69's ea81 they look like the same thing. Maybe that's why they discontinued the original ea81 adapter. If they discontinued it. I am going to try to call Grant tomorrow to get to the bottom of this. Beechbm69 would be able to take a side shot of your adapter?

That's the adapter I have for my Justy. I guess that settles that. The Justy adapter works for the ea81. That is good news. That adapter is a pretty decent piece of hardware. Nice looking interior by the way.

You are correct sir (no surprise of course). I just checked both-16 mm with 20 splines each. I know I have been told that the ea82 and Justy are the same, I just can't remember who or when or where. The measurements don't lie. After looking at both adapters, I don't see why the Justy adapter won't work on an ea81. The two little holes in the back that engage the turn-signal release might need to be drilled slightly larger, but I think they would actually work straight out of the box. The horn contact looks like it would fit no problem. I couldn't try it out because the Justy has a different turn-signal release strategy. I had to customize the adapter, so there are roll-pins sticking out the back about an inch where the recesses are. The Justy adapters are machined out of a single piece of aluminum and powder-coated black. If they work on the ea81 that would be kind of bad rump roast. I tapped those pins in pretty good. After WCSS I might see how good. If I can get them out without damaging my setup I'll see how well it swaps.

The fab work on the GM swap is super easy if you have a little welder (which it sounds like you don't). You just have to reduce the width of the main bracket a little bit. You can probably do it without welding, but I have a welder so I have never done it that way. The one-inch spacer on the adjustment bracket is just a piece of angle iron with two holes drilled in it. Once it is done the alt bolts in straight out of the box and has the correct pulley already. I have done this on two cars and they work great and are readily available in several amperages with the same case size. The Maxima swap is great too, and is easier for most people. Just keep the correct size allen wrench and an adjustable or correct closed-end wrench in your on-board tool kit in case the alt goes out while you are away from home and need to swap the pulley on to the replacement. Most auto parts stores can probably help you do that too, or you can just buy the tools there. You will be very pleased with either option. If you buy a new (reman) alt. I recommend getting one at Autozone and save your receipt. I am not really a fan of Autozone, but with their limited lifetime warranty you can bring it back for a new one in perpetuity...meaning you essentially pay once and get as many trade-ins as needed as long as you keep track of your receipt. I also recommend up-sizing your wiring. The power supply wire to the battery and the field sensor wire should be a little larger. For the most part the stock wiring will handle the load, but if you run your battery down or have lots of electrical accessories and the alt. starts charging hard, it could cause some excessive heat. I don't think most people that do the swap do anything to their wiring, and I haven't heard of cars burning up after the swap so it's not mandatory, just recommended. The fusible links should melt before anything else.

Yeah I like the smaller diameter wheel and larger grip. The Grant definitely has less flex in it also. I have one on my Jeep as well. They are nothing special in the aftermarket steering wheel world, but I have been nothing but pleased with mine. Tell us what happens. I have had several places tell me they were discontinued for a long time now, but Grant kept them on their website after updating their website design. Seems like they would at least cull discontinued products from their online product list when they re-did the website. It could just be an erroneous computer classification, where the product description in the online dealer catalog was accidentally tagged as discontinued and has not been corrected. I found a similar mistake with ea81 manual transmission mounts. Online they are not listed under transmission mounts anymore, they're under engine mounts on all the parts supplier websites. Somehow they mistakenly got classified under engine mounts and now all the parts places list them as such. From the product description, I ordered a couple of these "engine mounts" from Rockauto the other day and received the manual transmission mounts I was looking for.

I am going by memory so I am not 100%, but I am pretty sure. Their production years completely overlap, and I remember trying to remove an ea82 steering wheel to put on my Justy. I did not succeed in removing the ea82 wheel and almost broke both of my pullers trying, so that did not happen. I will try to check tomorrow. I have to pull the ea81 steering wheel to lube the horn contact anyway.

Grant's website says they still have them, but you would have to contact them for sure Part # 6596 Euro installation kit. It only works with the 5 bolt signature series steering wheels. http://www.grantproducts.com/products/application_search/#30/47/826/180 I got mine through Baxter auto parts. They may have had some old stock in a warehouse. ea81 Justy The Justy splines match the ea82, but definitely not the ea81.

I am biased toward the ea81. I plan to skip the ea82 and go to EJ22 when I move to fuel injection. My daily driver is an '81 ea81 of course with 285 k and it still motates exceptionally well. I am constantly impressed by these engines. Just look at that face. How can you resist the ea81? This '84 wagon is freshly for sale BTW.

The first thing I would say is don't drive it until you figure out what is going on. Remove the wheel and check the drum/hub, wheel bearings, axle nut, etc.. It could be a suspension problem. You might have to replace some things. Have you noticed any noise from that area when you were driving?

$14.87 at Rock Auto under ['84][Electrical Switch & Relay][Radiator Fan Switch] http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php

Thanks, I am going to try to get the pebbles out without removing the rings. I think the re-install would be the more likely step for damage. They flex a lot when I put leverage on them but don't unseat. High probability of tweakage if I go for it.

It's not if you are meticulous. The first Hitachi I rebuilt I did with a dreaded Haynes manual (ea81). It has a half-way decent description of the carb rebuild with numbered steps. I taped every part from the carb onto a piece of cardboard with transparent tape as I disassembled it and wrote the step #, part description, and other notes next to each part consecutively. It made reassembly very easy. I think it took the better part of a day the first time I did it. You have to allow time for parts cleaning, which can be a lot or a little. It looks to me like you need 96-676 (if the picture is correct) I use Gas-ga-cinch sealant (sparingly) on my carb gaskets, and let it dry before install. Others use other products or don't use anything. If you do use a sealant on your gaskets, make sure your are careful not to create any tiny bits that might come off and clog the tiny fuel circuits.

ea81 transmission mounts are whimpy so if/when you do this you should also unbolt the transmission mounts so you don't damage them when you jack up the engine/trans. There are two 14 mm nuts in the underside of the transmission crossmember. If you remove them along with the engine mount nuts then the engine/trans can be jacked up a bit. I did this recently too and did the RTV coating as well. I used Ultra Black which should be fine and let it dry overnight. I also put a slip-coat of aviation anaerobic form-a-gasket on it right before install. Just make sure you don't torque the oil pan bolts too much. +1

I am prepping one of my '84s for sale and one of the rear wheels has some rocks stuck under the metal wheel skirt ring thing. The sound they make is a little "distracting". I would normally just rip them off, but there is probably some rust underneath, and I would rather let the next owner make that decision. So I am wondering about the best way to remove the skirts or just the rocks without mangling the metal.

If you completely unscrew and remove the backlash adjuster screw and lock nut you can pull out the plastic spacer and squish a bunch of grease in there and move the rack back and forth through it's full range of motion. It is possible that the backlash adjuster spacer is even the problem. The rack moves back and forth against it, no bearings, if it does not have lube or the old lube is gummy, then there could be a lot of friction. I have done this to all of my Subarus and it helps a lot with the friction in the steering, plus you get to remove the steering backlash in the process.

You might try Trisodium Phosphate (TSP), cheap and plentiful at anyplace that sells paint prep supplies.

If you haven't fixed this and adjusted your idle speed screw until the car idles on its own then you probably are not running on the idle circuit of the carb. Which is really not that good. I have done it to get my car home when my idle circuit has gotten clogged, but it is more of a temporary thing. Where the wire broke off at the solenoid (this happens all the time) there should be about 3/16" of black rubber insulation. Carefully shave some of that down until you have a bit of wire exposed to solder the other end of the wire back to it. At some point along that wire cut it and attach mated electrical connectors like spades, so in the future you can disconnect the wire when you want to unscrew the solenoid. Once you have that done you can adjust your carb properly.

They play a substantial role in holding the wheel and hub to the axle. Subaru recommends replacing them everytime the axle is replaced. Replacement everytime may be a bit of overkill (or might not), but chances are that yours have either never been replaced or haven't been replaced in a long time. They are extremely important parts to have in good working order...meaning not worn down. Once you have more posts you can do some searches and see how much has been said about it. Member GeneralDisorder has explained this many times in detail in the past, so when you have the ability to search you can look for postings by him on the subject.

Ok so obviously you when you replaced the first axle there should have been two washers at the end of the axle spindle along with the axle spindle nut. Do you remember those? If they were not there, do not drive your vehicle until you have replaced those washers along with the hub because if you drove it 2000+ miles without them then the hub is probably toast. The Empi's can be had at some independent parts stores, check VW specialty shops or just order them online. The run about $60. Getting a used hub and knuckle at the JY is not a bad idea. Make sure you bring some leverage. The hub is the outer part with the wheel lugs in it. The knuckle has the bearings in it.

The grinding sounds like you might have bad wheel bearings. I would also suggest getting new Empi axles from somewhere other than Checkers and replace the conical and spring washers. Make sure you torque the axle nut to spec. and check the splines in your hub. If the splines in your hub are going out that could also cause a grinding sound with a sensation of power loss.