Crazyeights

I've heard of people going as much as .030-.040 on the EA81's but you start to run into problems with the intake no longer fitting without mods. I went .025 total between the deck and heads and used EA71 pistons which are also slightly taller from pin to top. No problems modding EA's they make LOTS of torque for their size.

Agreed, I had both halves of my EA81 case decked about .005 to clean up the surface and the heads surfaced .020. The old head gaskets were some of the worst I had ever seen in a running engine:eek:

I've always been able to get the studs out easily. I bought some longer bolts to fit and it works great.

I had always wondered since I did the SPFI conversion on my built EA81 if any other Hitachi TBI Units were similar to the one Subaru used. I found this dual injector single barrel (with MAF included) on an 88 Nissan pickup with a 3.0 V-6. Two of the four mounting holes actually line up perfectly. Custom adapter/spacer would obviously need to be made. TBI-1 TBI-2 TBI-3 TBI-4 TBI-5 TBI-6 TBI-7 TBI-8 Not saying I will take it any further, but I had always wondered how close it would be. Yes, I know my EA81T power steering pump probably wouldn't fit, IAC would have to be adapted to an XT6 inline unit or..., distributor probably wouldn't fit, ect. Fun to look at the pics anyway:grin: Feedback?

It seems like it all about the right time, right place, and LOTS of patients. Oh, and a fair amount of luck doesn't help either:grin:

I guess it also depends on what your intentions are for it. If they want $600.00 for it and you can get it for a little less, have most of the parts to make it run, and just want to drive it around and beat it until it falls apart then maybe. On the other hand if you actually want dry carpet in it and have hopes of making it nice someday then I would start with something else. If you really have the tools, space, time, equipment, money, and experience to take on rust repair then do it. Just be careful you don't end up with 5K in it and 6 months work only to find out you still need another body. Have someone else look at it with you BEFORE you buy it. Just my opinions - Good Luck and have have fun with what ever you decide.

I'm sure it would be fine indefinitely.

Pass on it if it's a rust bucket IMHO. There will be another Subaru for you fix up.

I know exactly how this feels. They probably weren't there to start with. Source them used or just call the dealer. You could just leave them out but that isn't my style either:grin:

Somebody already answered it a few posts back. The dealer has a $35.00 kit that screws in to the front bumper cover. Other than that it looks like you are on your own to design a bracket that mounts from underneath.

Even better yet! I have a couple 3 and 4 wire ones I could have used but I wasn't positive about wiring up the heater circuit and in too much of a hurry to look it up. Did you just run 12 volts to it, does the heater voltage (usually controlled by the vehicles PCM I think) run on a timer or constantly? Thanks for the ideas.

Going through this on my 2004 LGT. It has the dimples also but I can't bring myself to mow screws right in to the front bumper cover. So far I haven't been pulled over but now that I've said that I better make a bracket too:grin:

Sorry, I'll update with the part number tomorrow. I think it was an older GM unit. I just chose one with a ground wire to the shell and the signal wire out the center (0-1 volt range). I cut the plug off and extended the leads with solder and shrink tube. I also cut out the OEM connector, replaced it, and shrink tubed that as well. The contact seems to be able to slip out of the end of the factory connector very easily when they get older. Really improved drivability in my case.

I built a performance EA81 with GD's SPFI conversion. One thing that really made a BIG difference was switching from the stock 1 wire O2 sensor to a 2 wire sensor (signal and ground wire) and grounding it right to the block. The 1 wire sensor was not getting a good enough ground through the exhaust system. This simple mod improved idle quality and performance quite a bit. Don't know if it will help anyone but it is simple to do, cheap, and should work with any single wire o2 system.

Dealer could still order the seal kits for mine a short time ago.

How are the exhaust system hangers? The system works, but if one or more hangers are broken or missing it puts added stress on an already weak design. Seal it good again using Car-Quest gaskets, Dealer gaskets, whatever, make sure all the studs and threads are in good shape and the pipe can't move around more than it's suppose to and it will last a LONG time. Also use anti-seeze on the threads and re-torque them after a couple heat/cool cycles.

Can't wait to see them, how did you prep the underhood area?

Thank you that's perfect!

Probably just about the same amount of work except that with the SPFI already done you should have the correct fuel pump and lines. The rest of the EJ22 wiring will be all different than the EA stuff either way.

Does anyone have access to the EA81T pages in the parts manual? Out of all the parts catalogs I have for EA and ER none cover the EA81T and I am going to need some seals and small engine parts. I would also be interested in factory service manual that covers the same engine. Thanks in advance if you can help

Link to Cherry Red Trans on NASOIC

It would be great to see the follow up on how this works. I would like to pull mine one more time and swap in 1.59 low range gears in place of the RX 1.2. Then I'll get another chance to make it look right.

It's tough to get the paint to stick to aluminum that has been covered in grease for years. I cleaned my RX trans really well when I had it apart and hit it with cast coat. It is already coming off in places on the underside. I wonder if you could have the case powder coated:grin: I'm curious what option you choose and how it works out.

Agreed, having both engines here side by side in the garage the EJ swap also gets my vote:grin: One of the biggest problems with the ER27 swap is that there isn't any room for a radiator. The EJ is also a generation better in technology. The ER and it's wiring, fuel and ignition systems are based on the EA82 if I remember correctly.

I think I read somewhere on here that you can use injectors from an EJ25 for a little bump but I can't remember what thread it was. Good luck - sounds like a cool project!