maestro Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I have a 78 brat I'm restoring.The engine runs great however I am about to pull it and the trans so the engine bay can be painted along with the rest of the car. While the engine is out I plan on replacing oil seals that are leaking since everything is easier to access while out. I am thinking about having the heads ported and polished while it is out. While there how about having the heads shaved for a bit more compression? How much is safe to shave? I'm tossing around pulling the cam for a grind. I've never tore one of these engines down before. How difficult is it to get this engine apart and back together? Is it worth the effort for a cam grind? I've heard EA63 heads are a direct swap for the EA71's for better flow and compression. Is this true and if so anyone have a line on a good set? I'm not looking to make a race car or else I'd be looking into an engine swap. Just a little more pep since the engine is coming out anyway. Any suggestions on what to do while the engine is out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 i took my ea71 and used a ea82 carb on it had to modify the carb bolt pattern and hog out the hole a bitt but what a difference probly picked up 25% a'm working on a tbi ea71 soon but intake is giving me trubble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 oh and i have a head planer and surface lotts of heads as a rule never more than 2 thow or geomitry gets messed up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan-AZ Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I was talking with a Subaru Master mechanic who has a lot of experience with older 70's and 80's models. I am planning on doing a major engine overhaul I hope this summer. He states that regardless of the changing of the oil seals and gaskets, the engine will leak oil after 6 months or so. He states this is just the older EA71 engines and there is nothing you can do about it. Anyway. My EA71 leaks oil and I can't stop it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestro Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 My leaks seem to be coming from the valve covers and the oil oan seal. The crackshaft seals don't appear to be leaking. If it ain't leaking then I ain't fooling with it... Unless of course I decide to do the cam grind. I may try some RTV on those valve covers and oil pan. Ivan I'd be very interested to see the tbi conversion or at least progress. Please post when you get a chance. I have an old RX (total rust bucket) and I've tossed the idea around about fashioning a conversion to my EA71 using the injection system from the EA82 in the RX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 my 79 brat dosent leak a drop thank you ultra grey! gule every part exept the valve covers i grease those so the gasket dosent stick and keeps oil in the other trick is dich the pan gasket and use ultra grey the gaskets dont seal well. A bitt of ultra grey around the outside of the crank seals help to and glue the dipstick in. Most ea71 leaks i see are from the oil pump oil pan and dipstick somtimes from the bell to engine seam. A'm working on the tbi for ea71 the intake is a bitt to wide so has to be cut down and rewelded. It works on my 81 ea81 cause its the same width when the intake is done the rest is easy. The ea82 mpi will not work is a deul port intake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferox Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 My leaks seem to be coming from the valve covers and the oil oan seal. The crackshaft seals don't appear to be leaking. If it ain't leaking then I ain't fooling with it... Unless of course I decide to do the cam grind. I may try some RTV on those valve covers and oil pan. Ivan I'd be very interested to see the tbi conversion or at least progress. Please post when you get a chance. I have an old RX (total rust bucket) and I've tossed the idea around about fashioning a conversion to my EA71 using the injection system from the EA82 in the RX. If you are looking for fuel mileage or trying to keep the Brat as stock as possible, then an SPFI ea71 would be great, but if you are going to go through and do a bunch of work and don't care that it's modified, then an EJ swap would really be the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestro Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 Yes I am trying to keep it as stock as possible. At least until finding original as possible parts becomes impossible. An spfi would be cool since the mpfi won't work. I currently am running the weber 32/36. It does well however I need to tune it. 17 mpg is not what I think is fine tuned but hey that's just out of the box and bolted on. I see jetting in my future. Ivan, thanks for the tip on the ultra grey. I will be getting some. With the engine still in the brat it seems as though most of my leaking is in fact from the oil pan and the valve covers. I am going to do like you say and ditch the oil pan gasket and use ultra grey. When you say grease the valve covers do you mean put a coating of grease on both sides of the new gasket and bolt down? Also I am not sure about the dipstick but do you mean glue the tube the dipstick sits in where it bolts to the engine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 yes both sides and yes were the dipstick gos into the engine block Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brat78 Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 My brat is pretty dry. Junkyard motor, which sat on the shelf for about 25 years. I am running valvoline maxlife in it right now, which allegedly helps older seals do their job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooparu Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Ej22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonvo Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I was talking with a Subaru Master mechanic who has a lot of experience with older 70's and 80's models. I am planning on doing a major engine overhaul I hope this summer. He states that regardless of the changing of the oil seals and gaskets, the engine will leak oil after 6 months or so. He states this is just the older EA71 engines and there is nothing you can do about it. Anyway. My EA71 leaks oil and I can't stop it. sorry i dont buy this it will leak just because its a specific kind of engine? im sorry i call bullshit. i re did the head gaskets on my 78 wagon when i first got it and wouldnt you know it every gasket i replaced didnt leak now here we are a year and a half later and get this it still doesnt leak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestro Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 I think it is true that most of these older Subaru engines leak. Whether or not I have to live with them is yet to be seen for me. I will keep posts updated to my results. I've owned several EA81's and 82's. They all leaked. I had much less mechanical experience then and just let them leak thinking it was too much trouble trying to fix the situation. I've also owned sever small block chevy's and Fords and they all leaked as well. It may be simply that technology in the design of seals from yesteryear simply hadn't caught up to the technology of engine design that makes engines we have now that can last much longer in terms of mileage and time. It used to be that once an engine had 100k miles it was shot. Not so any more and hopefully seal design has come along with that. This is my first EA71. Now that I am older and more experienced I am going to try replacing my seals, use the ultra gray, black and grease where it needs to be and see how long it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonvo Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) any engine with 30 year old seals will leak its that simple but with all new seals it shouldnt leak simple as that if they all leaked by design people would have been flooding the dealerships wanting there vehicles fixed under warrentee Edited March 17, 2013 by bonvo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingbobdole Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) Cork gaskets suck. As a person "in the industry" dealers always require you build a motor "properly" which will lead the old engines to leak quickly. I don't know about six months, I'd give it longer. When I resealed mine I used Toyota FIPG witch is a high quality liquid gasket. Works great, no leaks. As far as people flooding dealers, firstly warranty was 12 months and secondly I think people took more responsibility back in the day... I'd love to see an SPFI on a 71. Can't you just swap on the throttle body assembly? Edited March 8, 2013 by kingbobdole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 have thought about making a tbi addaptor plate but is just to different one is square one is rectangle the whole intake is the best idea the tbi on my ea81 works so good sat for 6 months hit the key without touching the gas and runing. I do think the ea71 will make more power with a ea82 carb. The ea71 with the ea82 carb makes almost the same power as the ea81 with tbi. I think that ea71 needed way more feul than stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestro Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 So... I have the weber carb on my ea71. It runs good but I still need to get the jets set up correctly. I haven't gotten into that yet. Would I be better off finding an ea83 carb or just tuning my weber? Also, while on a junkyard pull I found an ea81 with a one barrel carb, it says "Carter Weber" on it. Anyone know what this is? I pulled it and have it in my basement. I figured it would be cool to have as a back up later on as I plan on finding a second gen brat after I'm through restoring my gen 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Yup, cork gaskets, especially oil pan, suck. I resealed my ER27 less then 1000 miles ago and it's already seeping from the back of the pan. I'm going to yard it off and just use standard ultra gray as that's how the seal is for an EJ engine. I even coated both sides of the cork in silicone and let it set up for a few days before I ran it. Oh well, looks like another weekend project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferox Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 So... I have the weber carb on my ea71. It runs good but I still need to get the jets set up correctly. I haven't gotten into that yet. Would I be better off finding an ea83 carb or just tuning my weber? Also, while on a junkyard pull I found an ea81 with a one barrel carb, it says "Carter Weber" on it. Anyone know what this is? I pulled it and have it in my basement. I figured it would be cool to have as a back up later on as I plan on finding a second gen brat after I'm through restoring my gen 1. "Anyone know what this is?" Yep, generally defined as a POS and that does not mean point of sale. You should return it if you can. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonvo Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 So... I have the weber carb on my ea71. It runs good but I still need to get the jets set up correctly. I haven't gotten into that yet. Would I be better off finding an ea83 carb or just tuning my weber? Also, while on a junkyard pull I found an ea81 with a one barrel carb, it says "Carter Weber" on it. Anyone know what this is? I pulled it and have it in my basement. I figured it would be cool to have as a back up later on as I plan on finding a second gen brat after I'm through restoring my gen 1. run the weber it is a much better design and will help driveability emencly the stock carbs suck hitachi never could make a good downdraft carb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestro Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 I wasn't sure if the "carter weber" carb from the ea81 I pulled was stock or some sort of aftermarket carb. I am running the Weber rather than the hitachi. The hitachi leaked and ran noticeably rich, as in, black gasoline smelling smoke out the exhaust. With the Weber conversion it runs great, no black smoke and doesn't smell rich. However I didn't notice any difference in the power and my gas mileage stayed exactly the same as the hitachi, 17mpg. I was told that I need to fine tune the Weber and possible re-jet it. I'm not carb expert so anyone with experience there please chime in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonvo Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 yeah re jetting it is the only way to really dial a weber in your not supposed to notice a difference in performance or gas mileage but rather drivability i know with my hitachi there is a delay between when the accel pump stops and mains start that goes away with a weber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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