hillbillyhans Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 On another thread I had picked up on some hurt feelings towards the EA82T. :confused:Why is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKghandi Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 most people dont like it because the heads are prone to cracking and blowing head gaskets. That plus the engine control system from the 80s they just arent popular for tuning However, properly maintained they are great in stock form. Mine has 246k on it and i still manage to show riced hondas how its done. silly hondas....they think they can drift lol i even showed up an sti once...he doesnt deserve that car. im going to sell mine here soon and buy my brothers 84hatchie. better mileage and i wouldnt feel so bad about denting it on the trail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 There are tons of threads on it... In fact, in my opinion, the EA82T gave the EA82 a bad name... Family EA82s - My dads (then mine) 1985 DL had 456K on it, running and driving. My 1992 Loyale had 246K on it, and last I heard had 300K (sold it) and now my faithful NED (1986 GL) has 177K on him and has had a blown DS head gasket for over 8K miles, still accepts 6K shifts and doesnt overheat. But the EA82T has a lot of problems... overheats, blows headgaskets and they are expensive. My friend blew a coolant line in his EA82T and the motor blew even though he was adding water/coolant every few miles, trying to get it home (about 30 miles) and he got it home, as he pulled in the driveway the car shut off and wouldnt restart. On the flip-side... my EA82 (NED) went all around Beaverton for a few days, smoking like a beezy, and I couldnt figure it out, saw coolant all over the engine, asked GD, and drove out to his place (about 22 miles) and replaced the coolant line, only topped up coolant once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tundrabrat Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 (edited) I have a pretty low milage ea82t that I am using while I rebuild my brat and I plan to hold onto the ea82t for a while. I don't rev it much over 3500-4000... don't really feel I need to. Sounds like some people run them hard so that might be a contributing factor. Once the Brats back on the road I hope to use the ea82t when I need to take more than one other person with me and to do some ice racing next winter. Edited April 13, 2012 by tundrabrat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpholz Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 i blame it more on engine managment and lack of aftermarket support than anything else. proper tune and care they will make good power for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 The reasons are: 1. The design was a solution looking for a problem. Subaru built EA81 dual-carb engines in Japan with 108 HP and no turbo. The overhead cam layout of the EA82(T) with all it's additional complexity, additional width, timing belts, ticking lifters, etc was simply not neccesary. They wanted to use the hot buzzword of the day - "SOHC" - in their literature. It was also a test platform for timing belts in general which were a fairly new technology in '85 and completely untried by Subaru to that point. Make no mistake though - there's nothing the EA82 can do that the EA81 can't do just as well or better if built up correctly. 2. On turbo's specifically the head castings have a design flaw that causes them to crack into the exhaust ports from the cooling jackets. This can be mitigated by keeping the temps low and not stressing the design to it's limits (IE: more boost) and some folks have made good power for a long time despite this - but there is no safety margin. Push the boost up, run it hard, and pray you don't have a cooling system failure because one little mistake and that will be the end of it. There's no forgiveness here. 3. When put up against the EA81 and the EJ22 - the engines that came before and after it - the EA82 looks very sickly. It's much harder to work on than either of it's siblings, produces very little more power than a hi-po EA81, and the EJ22 has got it beat in power, gas mileage, and reliability without even having a turbo at all. That makes the EA82T look pretty sad by comparison. 4. Have you ever worked on one of these nightmares? If you have you will quickly come to the same conclusion as everyone else here. Not worth the time and headache. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tundrabrat Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 - there's nothing the EA82 can do that the EA81 can't do just as well or better if built up correctly. That's what I'm counting on... the ea81 for my BRAT starts going together next week:banana: 4. Have you ever worked on one of these nightmares? If you have you will quickly come to the same conclusion as everyone else here. Not worth the time and headache. LOL... GD you are as subtle as a wrecking ball!!! Nightmare is exactly what I was thinking when I opened the hood but I love these sedans. If I can keep this thing from imploding for a year then I will be swapping in an EJ next summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillbillyhans Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Very well put, and easily understood as to why all the hate and discontent! I still believe that if you take care of something, it will take care of you. Totally agree despite what I just said. No, I have never worked on one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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