Idasho

I have never pulled the cam gear off, so I do not know. A heavy (20w50) synthetic motor oil was used for assembly of all bearing surfaces.

Doing a complete rebuild on an EJ is no cheaper than an EA. Then factory all of the work involved in doing such a swap... While an EJ swap would be great, it is simply isnt what I want. I like these little ea81s

Then it was time to mate the case halves. I could not find any loctite 518 locally, but I did find its equiv. in permatex 51817 A bead was laid, then using the finger dabbing method, the gasket was laid out. Then the case went together! I was even lucky enough to get the timing lined up. Hard to see, but the dot on the CAM is seen within that hold on the crank. Waiting for pistons (rings) now...

Time to toss the bottom end back together... connecting rods get new bearings Connecting rod ends get foam sleeves to protect the cylinder walls. New main bearings Crank and cam installed!

and thats all for case half pics

So the heads are done... finally. I dropped them off at the machine shop weeks ago, and today they finally called to say they were done. I nearly left them there for what they charged me... Oh well, at least they did a damn good job, and didnt cut any corners. But they did take ip upon themselves to repair 6 or 7 threads with inserts, as well as install a repair insert into one of the spark plug holes. I didnt think they were bad at all, but whatever.... I have them decked .015, and they were given a nice 3 angle grind, and a good cleaning. They look like new No cracks! Then I started to prep to throw the bottom end back together by doing a close inspection of the case. Lots of case half photos ahead.... ......

Waiting for parts, I kept myself busy by doing things like... Stripping the valve covers and pan, and repainting them! The valve covers are color matched to the OEM air cleaner.

The only appreciable wear I could find on the bottom end was a pretty bad groove worn into the flywheel flange of the crank. I repaired it with a speedi-sleeve A word of caution..... :Flame:SLEEVES ARE VEEEEERRRYYYY SHARP!! I cut the ************ out of my thumb tearing the sleeve flange off. Anyways....

Then I tore the crank apart And inspected the rod bearings. Remarkable shape for the mileage. This motor is said to have 180k miles. Case halves back from the machine shop! Cylinders look pretty good. A couple of light scrapes, but nothing bad enough to worry about. Waiting for parts....

From there it gets a little fuzzy for a bit. I started tearing it apart, and just didnt quite...... So I failed to get many tear-down photos... But here we go, regardless... Main bearings Cam and hydro lifters Crank with rods Pistons, pins and clips Oil rings were a bit crudded up, compression rings looked great. And the empty block ready to go to the machine shop for a cleaning and light hone.

Ive had a couple of requests to post some info and pics for this build. So here we go.... This WILL be picture heavy, so for those on dialup, you should have probably sprung for high-speed No sympathy for you here! As it seems, the very clean '84 GL I picked Nov of 2010 has some motor problems. Nothing really terminal, but things I simply will not put up with. I purchased the car with "recent motor work" Yeah.... we all know how that normally ends up So I picked up a used hydro-ea81, and have been slowly working on rebuilding it. The motor that is in the car right now is fine for around town, but I simply do not trust it for long trips. So here we go.... I purchased the motor from a forum member back in MA. Together we were able to make it work $$ wise, and he actually stripped the motor down far enough to ship it UPS ground. I had it shipped to my work... This is the day it showed up, and I brought it home for the preliminary inspection and tear-down. Please excuse the crappy cell phone pics...

Ready, set, GO! Got the bottom end of my fresh ea81 back together

No need just yet, unless you know for certain the head gaskets are bad. I suggest you replace the intake manifold gaskets and see if it fixed your problem first.

ditch the felpro intake manifold gaskets. They are junk Get the proper gaskets from the dealer.

The motor Im buildig is a '85, hydro lifter. Valve covers are different.

More work done on my garage queen '84 GL I stripped and painted the valve covers for my ea81 build, and did the same for a spare oil pan. Valve covers are color matched to the OEM air cleaner. I also restored the center caps, in preparation for installing the summer wheels. I sure hop I dont loose these now

Right back at ya, from Idaho

Like I said, no disrespect intended. Blasted them yourself? Interested in making some $ ? Ive got a set of steel wheels that need blasting. Let me know if you are interested.

"in the area" is pretty limited. Try calling spalding in Spokane for some price comparisons. You might be surprised. No offence intended, to you or Everett. I do like the guy, and have spent hours myself just talking with him in his tire shed. And Im not the only one in town that thinks he is expensive. That is simply the word on the street. Anyways.... man has to make a living some how. The wheels look great. Where did you have them blasted? P&R? Ive got a set of wheels that need to get blasted too.

He does have quite the stash. Unfortunately he is much too expensive. NOTHING there is cheap. Last fall he had 5 EA81 rigs in there. 2 wagons, 2 hatches, and one sedan. All of them in remarkable shape (body, glass, lenses) I asked him about them, he said he was going to hang onto them to part them out. I checked a few weeks ago, and they have all been sent to the crusher.

Some of us do:lol:

Has anyone found a source for replacement clutch discs? or is everyone just buying an entire clutch kit? Im pulling parts together for a 5-speed DR swap in my '84 GL. Thanks

I bet you have never seen RUBBER diamond plate, right I could start a thread on the build. Maybe this weekend

Thanks for the response Tom

So I finally received an incorrect part via rockauto. About 8 years, 50+ shipments, and probably north of 200 parts, I guess that aint so bad. Question though, related to the '85 Brat motor Im building. Its an EA81 obviously. I ordered '85 Brat headgaskets. Felpro Permatorque. Only problem is that they shipped me headgaskets for an EA82 The brat was never available with an ea82, right? Anyone have the permatorque headgasket number handy for the EA81? Thanks