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EA82 combustion chamber efficency (Now with pic)


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It seems to me that the combustion chamber of the ea82 engine is shaped very inefficient. Can anyone verify that? I'm in the process of rebuilding an engine. I just took off one of the heads tonight and noticed that the valves are very close to the combustion chamber wall or dome. It seems to me that if some material is removed around the valves it would help improve head flow!

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Klaus

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I started doing something about it, but there were a few things I actually liked. Sooooo, what do you want to try? Unshrouding the valves? Changing the shape altogether? Gimmee some ideas. I have a pair of ea82T heads right here, for the sole purpose of modifying.

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first off .. clean up and polish the cylinder domes get rid of all casting marks

get rid of any sharp edges <except the valves :) >

 

find a spare motor tear it down and seperate it

bolt the heads on to each half reach inside with a scribe <the use of machinists dye is recommended on the heads>

 

and mark out with the scribe the exact position of the cylinder on heads <trace the cylinder on the heads>

 

pull off the heads and look what you have

it will tell you how much you can safely remove before interfering with the cyllinder sealing

 

its as good a point as any to start with and much better than going all crazy with a die grinder

 

as far as the intake and exhaust ports go

port match the intake to the heads using the intake gaskets if your not sure what port matching is then before you trying it do alot of reading :) its how i learned <now if only i could learn to type so i can get my thoughts out better> :)

 

if your fuel injected i would say polishing the intake side of the head ports when your done is good <no rough casting marks pretty much>

 

if your carbed well then get rid of the nasty looking casting marks but leave the slightly bumpy surface there it will help improve the fuel and air mixing before it hits the cylinder

 

i am sure there are many people here who can better explain this than me :)

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i would port the intake, smooth the sharp areas and such, then port and polish the exhaust, you want to keep intake rough so taht it keeps up turblance so the air/fuel mixture stays constant.

 

 

then smooth out the complete combustion chamber, post a picture of the chamber it self and i will edit the areas and show you where the work should be done.

 

Shean

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OK, here's the deal. I'm rebuilding an EA82 engine, SPFI, non-turbo. I live at 7000 feet and the car seems way down on power...it needs to breathe. Cleaning up the ports, slightly reshaping them to cause a spiral flow into the combustion chamber is straight forward, done it many times on M/C engines. However I've never messed with the combustion chamber dome shape before. The valves seem to be very close to the chamber wall, so close in fact that I think it affects the flow. I will shoot some pics and further clarify what I'm talking about.

 

 

Thanks for your input.

Klaus

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Here is a pic of my combustion chamber dome. My suggested mods are in the areas in red. Basically I'd like to make more room for the flow of gases near the valves. What do you guys think?

 

Klaus

post-348-136027592705_thumb.jpg

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I guess I should have it done. I'd sort of lost interest, but if it ended up working, well, hey, that'd be cool!

 

 

I have a pair of ea82T heads here, one with a pretty gnarly crack. Anyone wanna put them on an engine after I get them semi-hemi cut?

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if you mill the heads to compensate for it

what does milling do to the alignment of the intake ports. might cause leaks

but then again it might not

and will it affect the timing belts?

i was thinking maybe some bigger pistons? maybe a set of custom one's?

i don't know if any of the ea series had longer rods than the others

i do know the n/a and turbo pistons are different

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yes milling the head any significant amount will cause the intake ports to not line up, and also the timing will be off. I would expect the intake to be easy to fix but not the timing belts. You would need to change the orientation of the cam pulleys to compensate for the different length. I would say the best idea would be to get some custom pistons made for a higher compression ratio with stock heads.

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I'm only thinking about taking off 2-3mm on the shown areas in the combustion chamber. Milling to compensate for that would have to be minimal, I don't know, say about .2-.3mm. I believe I will also send the cams in to be reground. That could compensate for the change in cam timing. Then again, M/C racers slot the cam sprocket holes to allow for cam timing changes.

 

I don't like the idea of custom pistons, they are never as durable as stock, most of them are forged and not cast. Forged pistons expand faster and expand more than cast pistons therefore the piston to cylinder clearance has to be larger to eliminate the chance of the piston seizing if it heats up to much. More cylinder clearance also means that the piston slaps more with the engine cold.

 

Klaus

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Guest taprackready
yes milling the head any significant amount will cause the intake ports to not line up, and also the timing will be off. I would expect the intake to be easy to fix but not the timing belts. You would need to change the orientation of the cam pulleys to compensate for the different length. I would say the best idea would be to get some custom pistons made for a higher compression ratio with stock heads.

Why not adjustable cam sprockets. There may be a version out there for the other imports that will fit a Suby. Take some measurments and look around.

 

Bill

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I think it would be easy to make some adjustable cam sprockets. Just turn the holes into slots and go.

I also agree with that one. I remember talking to a mechanic that had to get the heads surfaced on some subaru engine, and they took off so much that it wouldent idle properly anymore, so they had to find Thicker head gaskets?!, which apparently solved the problem.

 

But anyway, for what you guys are thinking here, to advance the belt timing to compensate, you could also add an obstruction to the belt's path. Like an extra idler pulley that you could bolt down real tight so it wont move.

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I read somewhere if you take off less than .030" off the head you don't have to worry about it. My Datsun's head was shaved .040" and it had shims in the cam towers, I suppose you could shim the cam tower with some shim stock if you were crafty lol...

 

Also, the thing with forged pistons, use hypereutectic. They are cast, but are nearly as stong as forged. Call up United Engine Machine in Carson City, NV they might be able to make a set...

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why not have some DOHC 4V per cylider heads made.....and the EJ headers and intakes bolt up to the new heads.

WJM,

 

I'm doing this work to my wifes wagon (family wagon). If I was to go through all that expense and trouble I would not start with a Loyale Wagon, I'd get a WRX instead.

 

It all started with a rebuilt. The engine overheated last year due to a clogged radiator and has been burning a quart of oil per 300 miles. After tearing down a spare engine I discovered the poor head design. I'm working on porting the heads right now, and thought it may be worth reshaping the combustion chamber a bit. I'm thinking about getting the cams reground to help it a bit too. We live near 7000' and the engine is very sluggish. Especially when we have the car loaded up to go camping with 3 people 2 dogs all the camping equipment (beer, etc.) and a trailer with my motorcycle on it.

 

The most important thing is to keep the engine reliable while helping it up the mountains a bit. :)

 

Klaus

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