Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

EA82 How do we feel about it?


Recommended Posts

The only other bad experience I've had with an EA82T is I had 3 headbolts pull out of the block. Granted, this was a high mileage motor from a different car and who KNOWS what the P.O. did to it or if even HE stripped out the headbolts (this is my current theory), but after that, it had 12 qts of fluid in the crankcase (8 of those were coolant) and it still got me home... 20 miles.

 

Oversized the bolt holes from M11 to M12, got new Grade 10.9 bolts, bolted it up and it still ran like a champ. In fact, it's still kicking around in some woods, in southern Ohio I believe...

 

Overall, a great motor. It was susceptible to problems just like any other motor, but look how many other motors were COMPLETELY made out of aluminum (minus the crank and rods, of course). This was still in an era of iron/steel everything so heads never went bad/warped/cracked and if gaskets blew, it was 10 bucks and a few hours to fix.

 

Infact, I'll probably just build the EA82 I've got in my loyale now until the Ej204 arrives.. this SC14 needs a job.. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny you say that, coz many EA81 owners would love to have the Special EA81S that runs inlet valves in the middle with twin carbs and a few better internals I suspect - I think S is for Screamer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

gallery_4164_16_1360569570_582.jpg

 

Take a look at those connecting rods. I drove it for a couple weeks like that after the 4k rpm hydrolock incident. Sure, it was down on power, and yes it made some pretty bad noises with the pistons hitting the bottom of the cylinder bores, but it still ran and drove. I didn't spare it any either because I knew it was done and had an EJ22 to replace it. It would only rev to mid 6's instead of low 8's.

 

That same engine held a lifted wagon on 30" mud tires at 90+ mph for an hour straight. It couldn't quite break 100, but holding it WOT for that whole time didn't blow it.

 

I've put some other EA82's through their paces and I've never had one blow. They all were gutless through. I can't tell you how many times that EA powered out on climbs in the woods that the EJ just ripped up later. The fun to drive factor of the car went up 50% I'd say with the engine swap. I could pass people if I wanted! I could be doing highway speed by the time I hit the end of the onramp! So that's the downside of the EA82's.

 

I wouldn't bother rebuilding one. I saw a rebuilt shortblock in the junkyard recently. It had a metal plate glued to the pan: mains 0 rods 0 cylinders 0, so it didn't take any machine work to "rebuild" it. There's so many used ones out there in perfectly serviceable condition that just need gaskets that it doesn't make sense to pay a shop to go through one that's truly gone bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

No, you probably have the brother to my old gauge sender :)

I thought I had a cool running beast,never got hotter than 1/4 BUT my watchdogTM2 was reading higher at times and the gauge never went above 1/4 still ! Until I fitted another sender unit - not a new one either.Still runs about 1/4 unless hot days, mountain climbs goes to about 1/2

 

Now running another EA82 combo in another sube. Is EA82 carb block, mpfi turbo heads, cam and the mpfi twin port inlet manifold for the best LPG throttle option. Goes great now i have learned how it is to be driven, flooring it in first and second gets it up to 50 mph ~ 6000rpm. Now without crapped out clutch fan, is so quiet and smooth on the mizpah engineering reco lifters.

 

Hoots better than the twin carbs on EA81 :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great engines, had 2 of them. the EJ engines were developed from the success of the EA 82 engine. Unfortunately the problems were due to lack of maintenance (particularly to cooling systems) ie manufacturers recomendations not followed. Inhereted those problems in both of mine, able to fix one and quit the second one.

Have seen many others that shouldn't have come to an early end for that particular reason.

 

Also prefered the manual choke (much better at very cold start / warmup) - carburettored ones with non ecu/sensors breakerless electronic distributor and standard single coil because of its simplicity / longevity / ease and low cost to diagnose problems and fix compared to more recent more complex, more expensive to fix ecu / sensors managed fuel/ignition systems now particularly in EJs.

 

The one that l kept ie 86 Leone GF wagon 5MT D/R was 24 years old when I sold it , it never had a spanner inside the motor apart from a new clutch and the usual cam belts, there were no electrical/ignition issues apart from changing batteries, spark plugs, light bulbs and only had carburettor apart once to put a new kit in it.

 

Also the EA82 wasn't / isn't so good for modifying because of its head design ie limits to how well the manifolds / heads flowed with forced induction so power increases were modest. EA82T - 115bhp, EA82 (MPFI) - 97bhp SPFI - 90bhp, carburettored - 84bhp.

 

However the factory rally spec RX11 Coupe/Sedan EA82T was 190bhp, and had heard that up to 250 bhp was reached with some tweeking.

 

This, below (mentioned previously) in original condition (2009) was probably the best car I've ever owned for longevity /low cost/ lack of problems etc.

6533_1030570381198_4050791_n.jpg

Edited by subnz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...