Ross

Its certainly not suppoed to act like that, but it could be a number of things causing it......... If it drives fine otherwise, its probably not plugs/wires/dist cap, but its always worth checking. I would second checking the choke, thats definitly a possiblity. A cracked vacuum line could also be the culprit.

Update: Done about 600km now - cant drive further till i get some cash for petrol!! Damn student loan people...... Spark plugs have cleared up nicely. Has burnt maybe 100ml of oil. Its still not idling very well - smooth enough, but will vary between 900 and 1100 revs with no obvious cause. Vacuum is only around 18mmHg at idle, used to be more like 20mmHg - I'm not sure if that has something to do with it or not. I am wondering if its just dirty injectors. I'm also not very confident that the throttle stop is adjusted properly - it has a non factory bolt in it, and the butterfly valve seems to wedge itself closed sometimes. Cant find the procedure for adjusting it though...... Valve train is rather noisy. Clearances are adjusted properly, but still doesn't sound right - although it may just be that the injected engine is quieter, making the rocker noise seem louder. Either that, or it is a problem caused by using solid lifters and corresponding cam with push rods and rockers for hydraulic lifters. I'd like to swap them out with some for solid lifters just to make sure at some stage. Other than those little probs, its going very well - good on gas, no smoke out exhaust, heaps of power (haven't quite floored it yet, but still seems much faster than before) and drives very smoothly. Of course, I'm used to the na ea81 with a leaky crap carb that was in there, so its no surprise that this engine seems so great!

Thats a fair bit, but ive seen worse. A general rule seems to be that if it burns more than 1 litre/1000km the engine is a gonner. Does it leak, or is it all burnt?

Looks like Rob from Cromwell auto recyclers made an unsuccessful bid on it.....

Can you be more specfic about how the knock sounds? Is it a dull knocking, a sharp knocking etc.?

There are two CV (constant velocity, as opposed to a universal joint) joints on each axle, the outer one (closest to the wheel) is just referred to as a cv, but the inner one (attaches to the gearbox) can also be referred to as a double offset joint, since as well as allowing angular displacement, it also allows linear displacement - ie you can push the axle in or out of it. Might be loose ball joints or bushings - jack up the wheel (securely, of course!) and try to move the wheel/hub assembly back/forward etc (a pry bar helps). If it moves, see if you can see what joint is moving.

You could put a carb on it, but it would be a dog - the turbo motor has a very low comp ratio. Put some good oil in it, new petrol, and give it a go - i think you may be pleasently surprised. Well, i'd say you're getting a pretty good deal - even if the engine is a write off.

OK, well, try boosted84's suggestion - then we'll know if the injectors are getting a signal or not.

Can you smell gas out the exhaust after cranking? If you can, the injectors may be supplying too much fuel, in which case the engine wont start unless you add starter fluid to let a wider range of mixtures combust..... If thats the case, could be any number of sensors - start unplugging them and once the bad one is unplugged the motor should start. If you can't smell gas, I'd be looking at wiring between disty and ecs, and ecs and injectors.......

Just thought i'd share this, it probably applies to all ea81s, but i can only vouch for it applying to ea81ts........ I noticed the spare intake manifold i had had been ground out, quite a lot, mainly on the outside radius of the bend. Then i noticed that the head i got with it had not been touched. Now why would you port the intake manifold and not the heads??? Because, the holes in the heads are at least 2mm larger in most directions than the holes in the intake!!!! Yuck. The subaru gaskets are smaller still. I've ended up using the ported intake, and i cut down the gaskets to match with a dremel. Something worth thinking about if you've got your intake manifold off.....

Code 12 will always come up when the ignition is in the "run" position and the engine is off. I think code 11 "no reference pulse" should also...

That is correct, however the line to the vacuum advance does not see manifold vacuum - it gets a vacuum from the throttle body that seems to increase with d(air flow)/dt.

It would tell a lot if you could get your hands on a timing light - they are very easy to use.

Yes you should, although that vacuum line sees very little if any vacuum at idle - ive found it makes no difference at idle on my ea81t (same set up).

You may as well get the valves/seats re faced since you've got the heads off. I very much doubt you'll need new guides (best to check though), so just do the re facing and valve seals. Shouldn't cost much at all.

I think 3rd may also higher after '83, although i'm not sure. 1st and 2nd are definitely the same.

You have to use the stock seals as well - shields are not seals. I always use bearings with on side shielded, if you have a little grease between the seal and the shield, anything that gets past the seals should stick there instead of getting in the bearing.

What is this engine we speak of?

I used a wire brush in a drill (lightly) - nice to have something on the engine thats steel not aluminium!

Just took the plugs out, done 50km so far - running very nicely overall. The pics show them lined up from 1-4 left to right. #2 and #4 look quite normal - just a little brown colouring on the top. #1 is rather sooty on one side in particular. Maybe a dripping injector? #3 looks quite shiney on the insulator - like its wet. looks normal after wiping with a rag.

Hmm, just noticed another oddity - if its idling, and i pump the brake pedal, the engine will speed up by about 200rpm for a second or so.......If i hold the brake pedal down, the idle doesn't seem to change though. Leaking booster or something??

if the egr valve is still there, then i'd say so.

From what i remember on putting ine together the other day: The one nearest the right (1-3) side goes to a hard line which goes to the vacuum advance and possibly the charcoal canister as well. The middle one tees, on end goes to a hard line then to the egr solenoid, the other goes to the egr valve - if you still have egr. otherwise, it gets plugged. the one on the left does nothing, and goes nowhere, and does not get plugged.

If you end up deciding to buy a new module, Dont pay retail for it! They have a ridiculous markup at parts stores. Retail on the one for the ea81t (4 pin) was around $260, i was gonna get it for something like $90 from my local. But then i bought a whole ea82t disty with the module in it for $40 from a wrecker....

Yes, but this happens even after decelerating from say 3500 rpm at closed throttle - feels totally normal except for a half second long surge as it goes through 1500rpm, then its fine again. I'll check it out though. IAC valves can certainly cause strange problems on some cars, but the valve on the ea81t is a simple temperature controlled unit, and i don't think it could open/close quickly enough to cause this problem.