GeneralDisorder

You use a 60* countersink for the chamfer - here's a whole set for $23: http://www.grizzly.com/products/60-5-pc-Countersink-Set/G5728 This isn't rocket science. You just drill some holes. It's not hard or time consuming. GD

Oil pumps do sometimes get chewed up from lack of oil filter changes. Low pressure is what kills the rod bearings in these engines. GD

The FIRST thing you need to do is a system pressure test. If it can't hold pressure then the system will not transfer heat well, and will eventually run low. Do a pressure check - if you can't see a leak anywhere then it could be an intake manifold gasket (coolant runs through them as well), or the beginning signs of a head gasket although I doubt that. My guess is that you will either find a small leak in one of the little hoses on top of the engine that run to/from the block and manifold or you will determine that the intake gaskets are shot. And don't forget when you are running the pressure test - test the cap too. If it holds 13 psi without any problems - probably time for a new radiator. But unless you have some really nasty, nasty anti-freeze (brown, chunky, etc) then my bet is on a leak. GD

It just isn't that complex really. You take an old hub or drum, knock out two of the studs and bolt it up to the rim to be drilled. You scribe a circle through the stud hole in the hub/drum onto the wheel. Remove the hub/drum, bisect the circle to find the center - punch mark it, then center punch it and drill a pilot hole with an 1/8" bit - then enlarge to 1/4", then 1/2", and finally 9/16". I did my first set with an old single-speed 1/2" drill that was probably state of the art in the 1950's. For the bevel - a chamfer tool could be used. Personally I used a small carbide burr in a dremel tool when I did it because that's what I had (mind you that was 6 or 8 years ago), and the wheels are still doing fine to this day. I was just careful and took my time and did the chamfer by hand and eye. It can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. As far as I know there is no benefits other than peice of mind and job satisfaction to be had from having fancy machines and equipment do this simple task. I would use my drill press and chamfer tool now - but I'm not the crazy kid I was back when I did my first set either and I have lots of fancy toys that save time and labor and make me smile when I use them . GD

Sounds like your power supplies are messed up. Have you checked the fuses that you installed for the power supplies to the SPFI harness? There should be 1 fusible link, 1 constant hot fuse, and 2 ignition switched fuses for a total of 4 seperate power supplies to the harness in addition to the ignition switch "start signal" wire to the ECU (which technically should also be fused but I typically don't bother). Power on both sides of the coil is normal - it is the interruption of the power that causes the secondary winding in the coil to charge and discharge. Not only does there need to be power at the coil, but also the ECU has to be turning the power to the coil on and off as the engine is being cranked. Sounds like the ECU is not giving that signal to me. Thus I would be checking the SPFI harness power leads to insure that the ECU and all the trimmings in the SPFI system have power where they should. After that you need to start checking grounds. The ECU is not grounded except by it's ground pins and thus through the ground leads in the SPFI harness. GD

They are external, high pressure, electic rotory vane pumps. They make a whirring noise. That's pretty common. GD

Internal regulator has failed. Replace the alt. Wireing will not cause those symtoms. GD

Might be a simple fix. Check the modulator on the side of the tranny and look for obvious things leaking, etc. GD

Return spring for no HH: Yes. Some DL's had them so you can actually order them from the dealer. Nothing needs to be done to the HH - just leave it alone (sans cable). You do not hold the clutch down while bleeding. The HH does nothing *unless* you push on the clutch. It's a straight shot through the HH if you don't press the pedal. Correct order is MC, then either rear wheel - then the opposite front. Then the other rear and the opposite front. The order that you do the circuits in doesn't matter - just so long as you do the farthest from the MC first and then the other wheel on that same circuit before moving on. GD

Looks like a solid car - just fix the crank nose, do a timing belt job on it and sell it. Timing belt parts are pretty cheap. Crank nose can be welded if it's really bad and the pulley replaced. That's fairly low mileage and it doesn't look rotted out. I wouldn't part it - but that's me. I just sold a '95 - same color, comparable miles (161k). After doing some maintenance like the timing belt, front axles, and an ABS sensor, O2 sensor etc. Sold it for $2700. No way you could get that parting it out. Being a '98 - I would do the work and sell that for $3500 - and probably have people knocking down my door to get it too. GD

It's been done without splitting the case but I wouldn't. It's very invasive work and if you replace the pistons you will have to replace the rings which means at least a bush-hone to seat in the new rings..... that's a lot of WD-40 and metal to be throwing around inside the case which can't easily be cleaned without splitting it. Plus the engine has to come out of the car to access the rear cylinder wrist pin removal ports (behind the bell-housing). GD

Depends on the condition of the pistons. But yes they will fit. If you are going to do that then you might as well pop for a $75 Delta cam for the EA81 as well. That much work to split the case would be silly if you didn't change the cam too. GD

Yep - SPFI swap all the way. I have some updates for the SPFI write up planned - I've refined a lot about how I do the wireing and such now. GD

You have the common misconception that the AC fan is the electric one. It is not. The AC fan is the belt-driven thermostatic clutch fan (yes - it DOES have a thermostatic clutch). The passenger side electric fan is still the primary fan and DOES come on via a thermoswitch *or* via a relay bypass when the AC is turned on. You can remove the thermostatic clutch fan and replace it with another electric or if you aren't going to use the AC then just pull it. Models not equipped with AC did not have the belt-driven fan. GD

Drain the oil and check for metal. If you don't find any then perhaps it's something related to the accesories? Inspect your belts and pulleys and maybe remove them and spin the accessories over by hand. GD

Why not just get a first gen Legacy with that same closed deck 22T? That's what I have and I particularly like the '91 body personally. Also an early rally car and a very fun car to own. Not at all the unreliable POS the RX's are. The 22T is an excelent engine and you should stick with it. GD

13/16 is close to .815 (.8125 in fact) so that's sounding like the XT6 style pressure plate. What is it you would like clarification on? This is pretty straightforward - .815 is the step for XT6 (maybe turbo as well - IDK for sure) and .900 is the step for non-turbo 4WD's. Buy your clutch components according to the flywheel you have or have it reground to the spec you want to use. GD

EA82's lose a lot of their appeal when you find out that in order to make it into anything decent it's going to take replaceing everything but the shell. If all you want is the look of the body then by all means - it's been done before and I'm sure it will be again. But know that you are going to need to do some serious work. The entire suspension has to be redone, and no - the RX transmission will not handle the EJ20G power plant. You will destroy it - they were not designed for 200+ HP. Cryo-treating the gears is a doubtful solution as well as being expensive - you are looking at a complete tear down, rebuild with all new seals and bearings, plus the cost of the cryo treating and even then it's a gamble - you would be cryo-treating worn parts which is not a fantastic idea anyhow. I would guess you would be spending somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple grand on an endevour like that - not even knowing if it's going to work. Wouldn't be worth my money and I've been inside and back out of a number of EA and EJ transmissions. If it's me I'm putting that couple grand toward a 6 speed. You will have a shell - and mechanically speaking you will have a gas tank and some brake hard-lines. Maybe the odd bits of headlight and turn signal wireing . Don't get me wrong - if I were going to EJ20G an EA82 chassis then the RX would be my choice - and people do crazy stuff like that all the time. But know what you are getting into here. As for the EA82T being reliable for a couple years - you are going to want to replace the entire cooling system - just march straight down to the dealer and ask them to order every single hose in the system. Pull the engine and replace it ALL. Get a new radiator and if you can get a twin-core or make a twin core from something else fit. If you can keep the cooling system together you can likely make 2 years with it. But I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it if you just buy it and drive it. That's why these cars change hands on a yearly basis - people don't do the preventative maintenance that's required of a 20+ year old turbo engine. Blow the cooling system and chances are you'll be looking for a replacement motor or that 20G a lot sooner than you think. They don't take overheating - not even a little. GD

Throttle shaft is the one with the butterflies - open them slightly so the butterfly isn't holding the shaft centered in the bore and wiggle them. There should be little to no side-play in the shaft. If you can detect more than half a millimeter or so you don't want that carb unless it's cheap - rebushing the shafts isn't so that's a point to bring the price down. You are probably looking at more than the carb is worth if you have to do both shafts but if it's a primary shaft rebush only then it might be worth it if the carb is less than $50. Basically they are worthless with bad shafts. GD

They make them to order - it's just seam stiched carpet so they can pretty much make anything they have a pattern for. I've had a few back in the day when EA81's were still plentiful in junk yards. I had a blue one and a tan one at one time but I think I gave them away. They fit fine and they are usually attached with velcro tabs that adhere to the dash. Make sure you specify GL as a DL is a completely different dash contour. GD

Yes - the transmission will bolt right up. You may need a pedal assembly from another XT - that I'm not sure of. As well as the 5 speed XT interior console's, etc to make it look right. Being you have a DL, that would mean it's a push-button car. I would highly reccomend you put a D/R transmission into the XT instead of that push-button. They aren't that expensive. ($150 give or take is the going rate it seems). Plus they are easier to install as there is less wireing and no vacuum actuator system. GD

Yep - pull the #1 plug, feel for comp. stroke, rotate till timing mark comes up on 20* BTDC, and drop it in with the rotor pointing at the plug tower you want to be #1. Then the fireing order is 1,3,2,4 in a counter-clockwise order. GD

Watch for worn throttle shafts. Other than that they are simple and easily rebuilt. I don't know if that's a good price or not- haven't looked up the exchange rates lately..... here you can get a Weber kit for about $325 to $375 depending on where you shop. My rule is that I pay about $100 for a Weber that needs a rebuild but has good throttle shafts. After I rebuild, rejet, add the adaptor and filter I'm usually right around $200. Any more than that and it wouldn't be worth it to buy one used as the cost would be too close to a new one and my time is not worth that little. GD

100k is not many miles by mid to late 80's standards. And I have 115k on my EJ22T in my sport sedan. Even the EA82T can do 200k no problem if you don't mod it and take care of the cooling system. That's part of it. But the real "problem" with them is that you don't need a turbo on a 1.8 to get the amount of *reliable* power the EA82T makes. You can do it without the turbo and the added complexity. Thus makeing it an answer to a question never asked. The other problem with them is their odd design and lack of reasonably priced upgrade paths. To get out from under just the head gasket/head cracking issue would cost thousands more than simply putting in another engine. And that wouldn't even begin to address the poor flowing head design. A used non-turbo 2.2 with cams and tuning can eat a modded EA82T for breakfast 7 days a week and twice on Sunday. And do it for about $1000 or less. The EA82T is a dead platform. The added complexity and age makes them unattractive for plain driving duties when a similarly priced Legacy can out-perform it. And it's obviously dead from a modding point of view. At this point it's a matter of keeping the few out there going for their current owner that can't afford something else. I have no problem with that. But I wouldn't tell anyone to go and actually BUY one . That would simply be a mistake. GD

Ding! Ding! Ding! Rob now has the correct answer to the question "how do I fix my broken EA82T?" GD