Seeking a brilliant idea on mounting power steering bracket on ea81

[the sucker king]

I installed a new ea81 engine in my hatch and I didn't hook up the power steering till I got it running and tuned because I didn't want the pump in the way. So when I went to install the big front bracket for the PS pump, it turns out the engine I put in does not have two of the three holes drilled for mounting. I mounted it with the one bolt that I could and it is actually holding okay, but I need to do something permanent. I can drill out holes in the pass side head just like stock but would have to pull the head or engine to do that. I would rather not.  Anybody have any brilliant ideas on how to secure the PS bracket bracket? Any ideas are appreciated.

One after-thought is that the engine I believe to be a 1982 model, was there another power steering bracket that mounted to these early year ea81 engines? My PS came off off an 83 or later I think.

The other possibilty is the subaru just did not drill the holes out on models not getting PS.

[Crazyeights]

It might end up being easier to swap the heads for ones that have the proper accessory holes. The center mounted EA81T - EA82 style power steering brackets also require mounting bosses that may be missing from the block just to the left of the distributor on the early EA81's.

 

Other than that you could probably fab up a custom bracket, but it might require welding skills. You could also find an electric power steering pump from an XT6 or a Mini-Cooper and mount it in the spare tire well

Edited March 9, 2015 by Crazyeights

[skishop69]

I looked at mine today, and I don't see a way to mount it without having brackets crack down the road which leaves you with two options. Get a 90 degree drill to drill and tap the correct holes or pull the engine. I would bet you money that you can just pull the exhaust and radiator hoses and then lift/tilt the engine up enough to get a regular drill in there if you had to.

[idosubaru]

It's a power steering bracket - tigthen the one bolt and it's good.  i routinely throw away A/C and power steering bolts on my own car and only leave two bolts, i'd not think twice to only leave one in place if i had to.  they're large and not very dynamic in terms of stresses.

 

that said - i've gotten right angle drills plenty of times to drill a hole that's hard to access. like timing belt tensioner and pulley holes.

 

if you have enough space you can use a cheapy harbor freight right angle drill adapter.  what i do is take a drill bit, mount it securely up against rigid metal corner and wail it as fast and as hard as you can with a heavy hammer (mine is 22 ounce).  the drill bit will shear in half - making it shorter. 

 

if you have really tight clearance you can rent a hand held right angle drill that's shorter than the attachments.  i've done that before as well.

[wagonist]

I

The other possibilty is the subaru just did not drill the holes out on models not getting PS.

Bingo.

 

If you've got the ability to easily pull the engine will a hoist, then save yourself a lot of future headaches by spending the extra hour or so doing this.

The brackets hang way out on these and require the belt to be pretty tight to keep pressure on the pulley.