Crazyeights

This was the best I could get with my cell phone

I just pulled an EA81 down last week. The distributor drive gear is on the front end of the crank. Remove the pulley and the seal and it should slide right out. I think the gear is a soft metal like aluminum so it could be worn. The beveled side goes in towards the engine. Good Luck!

Probably a blend door or cable adjustment. It shouldn't be too hard to get to the bottom of it. Does the blower sound like it's running at full speed? Do any other positions like defrost or heat push a normal amount of air?

Try Naval Jelly on the rusty chrome wheels.

I still have them.

Yes, EA82 pistons will work also. They will raise compression slightly more than the EA71 pistons will. I have built EA81's both ways and they work great:grin:

Seriously though, good luck. You will get them out. I think part of the key is patience.

Thanks Bennie that's good to know. I am still trying to decide on weather or not to go ahead with the EA81T build or just shelve it for now and finish my EJ22 conversion. So far I have a good block that would end up .020 over with new pistons and (2) good pair of heads already pressure tested - ready for valve grind, seals, and surfacing. The EA81 Turbo engine cross member all cleaned up

The shock of an impact does seem to have a positive effect on breaking up the corrosion.

@ Caboobaroo PM Sent

Someone here told me to use 3/8 impact on those and they almost never break that way. So far after the usual soaking with PB ect, this hasn't failed me yet. I know it sounds crazy but it works:eek:

The BIG one on older Subarus is rust and hidden rust. Missing parts even rare ones can be found or made if you wait long enough and are prepared with a big enough budget. If you get something with so much rust in the cowl area that water pours on on the floor during every rain spell you will not be happy. This isn't easy to repair unless you really know what you are doing. Look CAREFULLY at the area around the door hinges and at the rocker panels. Give a light pull on the wire grommet where is passes through from the door to the body. Does it feel like it's going to pull the surrounding metal out with it? A little surface rust here on a car that has been painted over can hide TONS of damage. Also make sure the suspension is safe and solid where it mounts to the body as there really isn't any frame. On a Brat look at the wheel well areas in the bed and see if the shock mounts are rotting away at the top. Is the drivers seat about to fall through the floor when you sit in it? Look closely at the floor pan behind the seats, if it's even there is it all beat up, does it have a pool of water sitting in the low spots? BTW look closely at the spare tire area under the hood, leaks here will poor right in on your feet. Pull the T-Tops if it has any and look for roof rot all around the area of the hinges and latches. Look for rot at the windshield pillers, ect. Again, crawl under it and look one more time for structural damage as mentioned above. Good Luck and have fun!

Lots of your questions are answered in a recent thread. Thread about buying older Subarus

Does this help? Megasquirt your RX Turbo

Great! Thank you. I wish I had known about this 2 days ago:grin:

That's a great idea, I wonder if it would work? I just did this again on another EA81 with a ground down battery J-Hook bolt. It sure would be easier with the right tool. I think it's a Lisle 13750.

I'm not sure it's possible without lots of creative fabrication. I've done quite a bit of searching on the same subject recently. Some REALLY talented people here have done some nice factory looking swaps and decided that there just isn't room for an AC condenser, cooling fans, and a radiator.

Update, I have the case disassembled, split, and everything pressure washed. Out of all the EA81 blocks I have torn down so far this is the best with the features I want. Hydraulic lifters, all the accessory mounting holes on top for PS/AC Turbo or not depending on which pistons I choose, multi-port heads, ect. It looks like it would need to be bored oversize. So I need to decide if I am going forward with this build which pistons to use.

Perhaps try cleaning any sludge built up in the throttle bore and on the throttle plate?

Something isn't right. The new gasket in the picture looks like a Felpro 9392PT The old gasket looks like it might be from an EA81 which should be an 8818PT Hope you get it sorted.

I can confirm it also. I oiled up an ER27 and taped off the ports for storage a couple years ago. I went to roll it over by hand and it tried to suck in the tape on the exhaust ports:grin: I forgot it was even there.

Great! Can't wait to see them. I am about to go through this on mine. Did they use any urethane or anything on the gasket or install it dry?

I have done some searching. From what I have read in other threads it looks like there isn't room for air conditioning and radiator cooling fans when swapping an EJ22 in to an 83-84 EA81 body correct? So the engine options if AC were desired would be limited to EA81 or EA81T? If it comes down to it, I wonder if an EJ22 swap without AC is worth moving away from an EA81T that has factory AC? Thoughts? Just thinking through some details for one of the worlds longest ongoing Subaru projects:grin: Thanks in advance [EDIT] I stripped down an EA81 Hydro core yesterday and it had a big 2" crack right through the water jacket where it apparently sat without antifreeze in it:( This was my last Hydro EA81T core. I opened it up today and it looks like it has had coolant sitting in one of the cylinders for a bit too long. I doubt this will hone out. I have pulled about half a dozen of these EA81's down now and all but one are basically junk. Looks like it may be finally time to give up on the old EA blocks as much fun as they are and finish my EJ22 Swap - AC or not:rolleyes:

Did you do the windshield? I would really like some details if possible. Any rust in the channel or cowl area you had to deal with when the windshield was out? New gasket or re-used? Thanks, Great Project!

IMO such a custom build might appeal to a slightly smaller audience. The buyer will also need someone that is capable of working on it and maintaining it if they are unable to do it themselves. To the right person it will be quite a find I'm sure!