el_freddo

@czny- I hadn’t thought about buying a carb kit, but near $AU200 for a kit (postage is half if not more!) I’ll opt out of that, not that I’m keen to strip the carb down - but it might have to come to that yet. Glad it’s not my only ride! Those are good points Jonno, I checked the dizzy advance diaphragm before the last Sydney trip and it seems to hold going by they way it holds the tip of my tongue on the end of the hose until I remove it. Only got the air recirc stuff run by vacuum in the cab and that’s all good too. I’ll have to check the brake booster - I haven’t noticed any chance in braking feel/performance or any noises either. What I do get twice every year at around the same time (changes then about six months later it returns to “normal”) is a change in the behaviour from the carb. When the weather cools for winter it typically seems to use more fuel and idle nice at a steady 700ish rpm. Then at some point as the weather warms up the idle increases for no apparent reason and my fuel economy moves back to good economy without any power loss. I have tried the spray method to find vacuum leaks but am yet to find anything - unless I’m doing something wrong there (something stupid no doubt). I’ve checked that the throttle butterfly isn’t being held open by the throttle cable. Several years ago I put new genuine intake manifold gaskets in thinking the issue was a vacuum leak at this point in the system. No change. This is an issue that’s plagued this engine for a long time so I’ve just lived with it, now it’s manifested into this that I don’t want to live with! That’s it for now. Cheers Bennie

I remember my days of EA82 4wdn with a welded rear diff - very impressive and very easy to damage the floor pans if not careful! Cool pics, the area looks stunning! Cheers Bennie

@moosens- after today’s drive home I’m leaning towards the issue being the carb too. This morning’s drive to work was pretty good. But I noticed that gear changing to go faster would result in a jolt from loss of power then instant power return as I put my foot on the throttle. But if I let it over rev a little bit as I disengaged the clutch to change gear there wasn’t an issue. The drive home tonight was the same every gear change and the misfiring at cruise was back. And I’ve noticed when down shifting the burble with engine braking isn’t what I’d call normal, it’s popping and farting without a pattern to it unlike its regular rhythmic subaru burble during engine braking. Also at idle it sounds like it’s sick - almost as if it’s got a hot cam in it but it’s missing that cool semi misfire noise about it, and it’s not liking to idle. I’ve bumped the idle “up” to get it to ~800rpm atm which helps raise the red flag for the carb. Fun fun, I’m not wanting to put any time into the carb! Efi is where it’s at for me, much easier to deal with. If I do anything about the carb I’ll post back here, don’t hold your breath! Thank you for everyone’s thoughts on this issue! Cheers Bennie

@Rupart 4° btdc isn’t much and certainly not over advanced. They’re usually tuned at 6° to 8° before top dead centre. I think you might have the retard and advance the wrong way around in your description. I know this engine consumes oil and this brings down the effective RON rating of the fuel, even if it is slightly. @Steptoe's photos I don’t see how my EA81 would punish me for not liking the EA82 much, the EA81 already knows it’s a superior engine… Admittedly I am limping this EA81 along and I know that it won’t like this coming heat over summer. The next engine swap will be the EJ and it’s known this for a long time as it’s collected the various parts with me. It was flawless in its two trips to Sydney, the first one being at the drop of a hat and the second one planned. It was on this second trip that I ran the octane booster to avoid pinging in the warmer inland temps on the way home. I think I’m on my second tank of fuel since then and now is when this issue arose. To answer other questions - electronic ignition, new NGK spark plugs. Dizzy cap inspected and seems good, rotor button and tabs on dizzy cap had signs of corrosion. They’re cleaned up now and look good. Carbon button in dizzy cap present and in good shape. Shaft play would be less than 1mm in any direction. Can’t test drive today as it’s a great drinking arvo while tinkering away and I love having my licence… so I might drive her to work tomorrow (~80km round trip, what could go wrong?) to see if there’s any change with the build up on the dizzy tabs removed. This still doesn’t explain why there’s no issue under load when the ignition system is under the most stress. I’ll report back when I’ve got an update Cheers Bennie

I’ll put those things on the list. Thanks Moosens! I’m not a mechanic either but know these things quite well/well enough - just that I’m stumped on this one as having a load on the engine there’s no issue. I’ll report back with what I find. Cheers Bennie

Any bit in particular? It had a new coil and ignition module in 2019. What else should I be looking at/for? Cheers Bennie

It could be time for the old stater relay mod that was done back in the day. Add a 30amp horn relay triggered by the starter wire to give the starter solenoid a full 12v kick to get it going. If that doesn’t work then your starter motor is most likely toast or on the way to being toasted. Cheers Bennie

What year and model are we taking about here? Is the fuel pump in the engine bay or forward of the fuel tank? Got a pic of what you’re working with? Cheers Bennie

My brumby (in Oz) developed a misfire at cruise recently. It uses about 1mL of oil per km, detonates in warm weather unless an octane booster is added (which was done for two tanks prior to this tank of fuel), is run on 98RON fuel. From memory the timing is set at 4° btdc, anything more and it pings hardcore. No issues under load or when accelerating slowly or going hard with the misfire. Just at cruise it misfires giving small jolts in loss of power. The old plugs were pretty toasted so new plugs went in with no change with the issue. I’m open to ideas on this one as I can’t work it out and I want to keep driving it before a long winded EJ conversion happens to it. Cheers Bennie

Ok, that’s jibberish to me. I’m guessing you’re wanting to drop some VW diesel in an L series GL or GL-10 or XT6/Vortex. What gearbox would you use? Cheers Bennie

Wiring loom! Why didn’t you grab the wiring loom?! That could come back to bite you later on. That’s a fair effort to fit that amount of Subaru into the back of the Legacy! Time for some stiffer rear springs? Cheers Bennie

That’s a factory Subaru spare tyre swing arm. Hen’s teeth! And that’s typical JDM style I never realised the Gravel Express was turbo’d. I always thought they were NA and this was a limited special run spec. I’ve only seen them from NZ though. I wouldn’t think it would be much fun to drive on your LHD roads, much like I reckon driving a LHD vehicle over here in Oz wouldn’t be much fun, even though many ppl do it with their classic American muscle cars that they imported from the states. Cheers Bennie

The only timing issue it could be is skipped teeth on the cam belt. The ECU sets the spark timing. Valve timing doesn’t change once the cam belt is correctly setup. Cheers Bennie

Well this one is probably long gone since the thread is over 7 years old! These days there’s loads more info and ease in converting these L series to NA EJ or go all out with a turbo EJ conversion. If you’re really keen on the old unreliable EA82 turbo you’d need to search high and low for a complete vehicle, or go about collecting the parts to make it happen. The EJ22 is about the same as the EA82t peak power without the complexity and added unreliability of the turbo on the EA82. Cheers Bennie

That vibration could be a drive shaft, it’s possibly running the tripod style inner CV joint driveshaft. Or the tyres are slightly off balance. Cheers Bennie

I find in summer here that my fuel tank can pressurise quite a lot on a hot day. I don’t open my fuel tank unless I’m on empty so there’s no fuel to be sprayed at the filler cap for me. I don’t have an EJ under the bonnet (yet!). The other thing to check out is to see if the purge control solenoid is operating properly on the EJ - it’s under the intake manifold on the RHS from memory. If this isn’t working properly it should throw a CEL I believe. If this pressurisation occurs in the cooler months I’d investigate to work out what’s going on, otherwise I’d just put it down to it being warmer and the EJ circulating the fuel more which to me would result in more pressure in the tank. Cheers Bennie

That’s one tidy looking EA71!

Thanks Westy. I’m wanting to remove the rear window to repair some rust that’s just in its early days in the bottom right hand corner. The strip down isn’t far off doing a respray but not having a shed and plenty of dust from passing trucks puts the brakes on that for now. Anyway, I’ll check out that product and go from there. It’s a slow burn for our Leone and not a priority atm. Cheers Bennie

Looks awesome Westy! That’s a top effort! I was meant to ask earlier - what did you do for the fixed side rear window seals and the tailgate window seals? Mine on our Leone wagon with a similar story to yours minus the rebuild are completely shot. You can put a finger in the gaps where the rubber has split! Cheers Bennie

Smoke testing an O2 sensor won’t show anything. Smoke testing an intake manifold will show up any vacuum leaks. How old is your O2 sensor? And did you check the wiring for continuity? If your O2 sensor is old it could be dead, or if the signal or heater wiring is damaged it may be offline, either way it should be getting up to temp even in extremely cold weather - this should bring it online (once up to temp). With that said I’d rule out the heater wire and focus on the sensor being dead or a damaged sensor wire. What’s the quality of the O2 sensor you used to replace the old one? And is it pinned correctly? Sometimes the pinouts can change and I’ve seen units where you have to correctly pin the plug for your model of vehicle. Cheers Bennie

Fair effort mate! I reckon that black crumbly rust is one of the worst types to work with - so much more needs to be cut out to find good material to work with. I’m loving those rust repairs in the lower A pillar - something I need to do too that I’m not looking forward to. How far along are you now, still chipping away at it or have you got it completed already? Cheers Bennie

Jonno, for a moment there I thought you might be fishing for a compatible ECU that didn’t have an immobiliser unit tied into it. I’ve not come across this issue with specific sensors for a type of ECU, but then again I’ve always replaced like for like as required. Cheers Bennie

Yeah mate it’s looking good! How long have you been working on it so far before you dropped it on us? Cheers Bennie

No worries. To get the wheel bearings replaced/done. You can do them without removing the swing arms or needing a press. You will need to remove the stuck CV cup to access the retainer nut that holds the bearing outer casing in place. You will also need to either make or buy a tool that can remove that retainer nut. Or use a punch to tap to out - not easy to do without distorting the nut edges/flange. I made a tool that slots into the four slot spots once the stub axle is removed. I hammer this out with a block of hardwood or a soft hammer. Then the tool sides into the hub and located on the four slots and allows me to get a big shifter onto it to lever the nut off. Then I use an old solid tow ball with the stub/thread cut off to hammer out the outer bearing casing. I also use it to hammer the new casing in but I usually do this much more gently and stop once it’s located on the retainer tab. Pack the bearings with grease, fit in place, fit the new seals and refit the retainer nut and stake it. Then hammer the stub axle back in, the outer bearing may need the hub to be fitted with the castlated nut to push it in properly - I can’t remember how I did this bit. Put the cone washer, concave washer and castlated nut on and tighten up stupidly tight. That’s basically it. It’s the setting up on Jack stands and removing the castlated nut that I find to be the painful bit that takes the most motivation from me. I hope this helps. Cheers Bennie

The reason why you drive in 4wd without the rear drive shafts in is because the tail shaft isn’t spinning when driving without the driveshafts fitted. This could potentially allow the rear output seal to leak if the tailshaft isn’t spinning. Cheers Bennie