UnorganizedMechanic

That is awesome! Thanks @Subi81. I calculated your car's lambda and it's spot on a 1.00. It's perfect. Might be attributed to the new cat like you said but still, it's really good. I'll be able to use yours as a basis for comparison until I get mine in that same ballpark. As of yet, I feel like it's still missing something so I might check the same things you've stated that have caused your leaning out. Thanks again! Will report if anything changes.

After much checking I think I may have found the culprit to the lean condition. If anyone is interested. I found (like I'm sure many of you vets have already seen many of) the egr hose piped to the AAV had a small tear in the bottom. Fixed. Feels a bit better. Might be my hopefulness. Still need a functional AAV though. Hope ya'll are doing well on your projects.

In my constant need to test and improve all the parts whilst driving, I think I've found that the AAV is not sucking in the good way. Tested it a few times and seems like it's shot internally and I'm theorizing that it may be causing the lean condition I'm hunting. I'm also going to swap out the possibly faulty EGR and rubber hose on it due to the idle rising when I spray carb cleaner near the gasket/diaphragm/hose area. In searching for my (possibly) lost power I've checked the spark plugs and only #3 seems a bit off. Compression test is good. Timing is spot on at 9 degrees. To anybody who can answer this; When warm, do you get vacuum at your distributor advance, or is it ported like I suspect? Which makes no sense because according to the emissions diagram you're supposed to disconnect it while checking timing. Why bother if it isn't applying vacuum?! I've run myself ragged trying to make sense of the vacuum routing in my head and thermo switching valve operation to the EGR and advance mechanism. She runs. She's got new tires. And she sounds like the car from the Jetsons. It might be from the future.

In addition to the gaskets, I applied some grey silicon to each side of them. So far, so good. With a beast this old and unknown, I did that to the intake manifold gaskets, water pump gasket, and thermostat housing gasket in addition to greasing up the mounting bolts to prevent oxidation and fusing to the intake again. Hopefully it's just overkill and not a future problem. +1 to pressure checking the system, make sure it's not the head gasket leaking coolant on top of the engine. Good luck.

I hope I'm not beating a dead horse, but does anybody have a passing smog for (especially) an 84ish Brat or GL with an ea81 so I can try to tune it closer to what it should be? It passed just fine, but on the waaaaaaay lean side so I'd like to compare the tail pipe emissions from one, or more, to mine. Or just take a look at the one I attached in my other post and tell me if it looks typical for this little brat rod and share the results if you can. Getting tires for it soon and axles so I want to make sure it's tip top before turning it into a daily. Thanks again everybody.

I'll make sure to speak well of those beloved ea71 engines also. All Soobs need love.:)

My main concern at this point is that it's running lean according to the lambda calculation. I don't need power, I need reliability from future disintegration. I also short shift like an old lady. With this being a fresh rebuild, I haven't let the revs get up to 3k until I'm sure this thing is the dogs nuts. In watching somebody else drive, they get up to at least 3k it seems before shifting. I'll just have to give it the beans. Would anybody who considers their brat or other ea81-powered sled be willing to share their smog test sheet for comparison? I don't want to run the long term risk of burning out the cat and in 2 years have the insanity of trying to find a new one. Gotta love Cali cars. I've considered converting the vacuum secondary into mechanically operated which can be easily undone if it doesn't work out in an attempt to eek out a little more oomf. Thanks to anybody who can help.

Powerhouse or not, I love it to be sure. It's been 15 years of me waiting to get a Brat, and maybe I'm just excited to plow through the gears and hit the trails. Thanks for the words of encouragement and realism all.

So far, so good.

Howdy and hello all. I just got my 84 Brat smogged and on the road and I'm happy as can be. Just one issue, I feel like it's a dog. Doggier than it should be I suppose. Rebuilt the ea81 engine, valves adjusted, new fuel filters, Hitachi carb cleaned, float set at level(thought it was too low and causing lean condition), vacuum and mechanical advance working(though it was advancing too soon), timed at 9°btdc with 91 octane gas, egr working, oil changed(I suspected oil was too thick causing drag), no vacuum leaks, the cat is solid and good(thought it was clogged), everything seems to be perfect. By the smog sheet at 15 and 25mph, higher nox, o2, and lambda at 1.2(not 1.0) shows me it's too lean, but adjusting float level, idle mixture, emission component operation, hasn't changed much of the performance. I'm used to driving my 2010 WRX so my basis for comparison is that unfortunately. Do these beasts take a calendar day to reach 60? Are they really that gutless? I'm looking for videos of people driving around to see if I'm crazy or need to enjoy what I got. I'm not getting a Weber, I'm in California and I'm fine with the stock setup. I'll probably put up a video of myself driving so others can compare too. Thanks for any info the Brat vets can send my way.

After much time off neglect and procrastination she's on the road and smogged. Survey says?! Passed! She's still running too lean, but I have a new fuel filter to install and checking the vacuum secondaries for operation before major mechanical repairs like the axles and turning her into a daily driver. I've been absorbing all the knowledge I can from the experienced Subaru vets as I can and I appreciate that you've shared it on here. Check out her smog sheet. My lambda calculation has her over 1.2 which is insane and near 20:1 AFR on both the 15 and 25mph. I don't want to burn out the cat so I'm going to find fuel somewhere if it kills me before putting too many miles on her. She's a dog on acceleration, but runs like a champ and is smooth as can be even without higher end power. And no, I am not considering a weber conversion as I live in California, but I'm willing to tune the crap out of the shitachi carb. Hope everybody else is having success with their projects.

It's only taken a year, but it's just about there. This week, gonna start her up with or without a radiator or coolant and see how many fuel leaks it has, then radiator and watch her leak like a seive.

This goes to the more seasoned ea81 builders or those with experience. In reading the repair manual for my 84 Brat I saw that the flywheel has balance point dots and should be installed with them aligned to the crankshaft. I sort of blew through the build and install into the vehicle and I don't know if they're aligned. How bad do you think the shimmy, if any, would be? Is the motor forgiving? I'm not planning on hot rodding it, just mostly daily and looking for consistent reliability. Thanks for any info guys.

Where from the block is it leaking coolant? How do you know you've overheated it? Because of the leak, or did the temp gauge go too high and for too long? Find the source first then determine diagnosis or repair. It could be a hose clamp or the head. Good luck getting it back on the road.

Nice! May I suggest driving it around for a few months then looking for a good basic tune. It could really wake it up and make it fun to drive and waiting to do it would make you appreciate the difference that much more. Have fun!

Anything you like about it?

Bought this one a few months ago when they were called Crosstour. The first one had a bad battery, the replacement has been working pretty well so far. Make sure that the battery stays charged after power off the vehicle. You just need to find proper software that can play dual channels if you want to watch them simultaneously. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099J6TZRF/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A1S6S8EXETZYGQ&psc=1

Did you or the shop install the new pigtail?

Look out for differently sized release bearings in the clutch kit. Some come with the larger release bearing. There were two sizes made in those years and I had the unfortunate luck of having to track down and getting the correct matching set. I ended up having to purchase a new release bearing holder, wasn't expensive and bought from Subaru. Good luck.

My 2 cents. If you have a fuel pressure gauge hooked into the source fuel line, watch the pressure at idle, 2500 rpm, then after shut off to get some base line readings. Then watch the fuel pressure for 20 minutes after shutoff, it typically should hold within a few psi. If you're feeling frisky and have a bore camera, or even a good phone camera, safely take out the spark plugs after shut off and look inside to see if you can see fuel draining into the cylinders. Good luck.

If it doesn't pan out, I may have a pulley that I could send you for the price of shipping. It's still firmly stuck on the crankshaft at this moment so it might take some persuasion to remove.

Great trade! Hope to see it. You'll need to change the image size to less than 0.4MB per pic. I use a simple app to resize it like Lit Photo or similar. The iphone gallery software might have something. Or I upload to my PC and use a image software program to do the same. Good luck.

Rockauto sells those bad boys. But the price in resleeving would equivalent to buying a new engine.

If I had something like that, I'd use some way to feel if it was raised like a casting mark, or recessed like a crack. Some blue die, permanent marker or something then wipe it off. If it leaves a line, it's a crack. Like a ghetto magnaflux. Glad to hear it's running good.

My little beastie cost me $2200, It was complete except for the jump seats, almost rust-free, needed an engine rebuild though. Ended up installing a $200 engine. Have yet to start it up. If I had to sell it, I'd get it running nicely, then put it up for at least $4000.