spycho_clown Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 hi, i building an off-road project and i was looking for a good engine. I went at the junkyard and they don't have any ea-81....so i think that ea-82 may be a good swap....is it a good engine, does it have major problems??? an other question, what's the length of the inputshaft of the 5sp tranny that come with an ea-82? thx and sorry for the english.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Asking that question here will get a wide variety of responses. Here's mine: The ea82 is most definitely a "good" engine. As with most soob engines, they last a long time, are relatively efficient, can be made to produce decent power, and most importantly, are easy to work on. Now for the reasons that you will probably get some negative replies. Unlike the ea81, you have to deal with timing belts. I personally don't mind this. As long as you replace them with Subaru belts every 60k like you should, they won't give you any trouble. The ea82 also tends to be a leaker of oil, generally moreso than other soob engines. Again, this is something I deal with. If you replace all the seals and redo the cam-tower mating surfaces with anaerobic sealer, it probably won't leak for quite a while. The last major gripe I can think of with this engine is that it is common for the lifters to make noise. They still run fine with this condition, it is mainly just a nuisance. However, if you reseal, you can take apart and clean the lifters while you are in there, and they should be quiet forever as long as you keep up on your oil changes. Finally, I would add that you might consider an early EJ engine, primarily the EJ22. These are AWESOME engines. The bugs of some of the EA engines were worked out by the time these went into production. The only real issue here is that you have to deal with all the electronic stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nug Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 I watched Myoss Feece, Zanny Dook, and Miles Fox far exceed the redline of their EA-82 powered cars for quite some time. Like 7 grand for 5 minutes straight. Then they thrashed them all weekend. So yeah, good engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiemech85 Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 alebit that my car does better in mud at redline, it craps out shortly above that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All_talk Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 I my opinion the EA82 is a very good engine, if treated well they will go 250,000 miles and still run great. And they have good bottom end torque which is great for off road, subie conversions are popular with the VW baja and sand rail guys. Snowman covered most of the possible quirks (I’d call them quirks as none of them are serous problems), however there is one thing I will add. The EA82 (as well as most all engines with aluminum heads) does not fair well when overheated, they will blow head gaskets, if overheated severely the heads will crack. If your cooling system is in good order this should be a non-issue, but I would suggest you install a good water temp gauge and keep an eye on it. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiemech85 Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 atleast it is all aluminum, unlike the cadillac 4.1-4.9 engine series with cast iron heads and aluminum block Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKIRA Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 EA82s can crack heads when they overheat, thats whey there are 3 generations of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 change your timing belts on time, and keep a good radiator with good airflow, and they will last just as long as an ea81. peepl always let the belts go for way too long, then get pissed when they break. and if the radiators are bad they will slowly roast till one day the head will crack or at least a gasket will go. i guess they are more prone to lifter tick, but again, thats usually from poor maintenance. 10 more hp at least! and with a high compression, its over that. and add efi and a turbo! go go go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viceversa Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 1) They are sensitive to overheating, get cracked heads. 2) They leak oil, lots of it. 3) They tick. It's about average engine in automotive world, not too bad but not that great either. I had an engine which went for about 170K miles until it started running on 3 cylinders... and burned / lost lots of oil. The only pos. is that they get great mileage, I get 29 in an auto, and with manual, probably get 35. Others are right, get a 2.2L as a better motor, but I have no experience with it. Legacy is just a much better car than Loyale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 I'm happy with my EA82 SPFI for all the reasons mentioned above so I wont bore you with my 2 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 go hang out in the new forum viceversa! thems fightin words, everybody knows the ea series cars are much better! especially for OFF ROADING! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spycho_clown Posted June 10, 2004 Author Share Posted June 10, 2004 thanks for the reply.... i have some others questions: what's the height of flywheel how many theeth does it have? what's the length of the tanny input shaft? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Quick testament to the engines ruggedness- I know a kid who had an 89 station wagon. It had headgasket problems, bad enough that he had to add to the radiator every time he parked it. He got a camero (POS) and decided to beat the subi. They took it field beating and offroading, ran it mostly dry of coolant, thrashed the body, and called it a day. When they were finished, the engine was still running fine, so they decided to try and blow it up. 5 minutes worth of holding it floored in neutral, and the engine was still runing fine. They were able to drive the car over to the junkyard the next day with no problems. How many other (non subaru) engines can take a beating like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef_tim Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 If your planning on going into DEEP mud and water, do not use an EA82. The tensioners will get mud and water in them and crap out and eat the belts. Please believe me on this one, I'm speaking from experience here. Later, tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 ea82s are good motors, but not the best of both worlds in terms of reliability vs performance. ea81s are slow, simple, but rugged. Ej22s are powerful and high tech. The ea82 is middle ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerFahrer Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 I can speak for both sides here, as I have both an EA82 and an EJ22. The EA82 has proven to be very reliable for me, it's no powerhouse, but it's very torquey. I will also say that t-belts on EA82's are a breeze, easier than the EJ22 IMO. It's easier to deal with one timing belt for one cam at a time, than to get both cams and the crank lined up perfect all at once. Plus the EA82 spring-loaded t-belt tensioners are a snap compared to the EJ22 hydraulic one. But the EJ22 is it. Overall (with the exception of t-belts) the EJ22 is easier to work on, it's smoother, more powerful, leaks less oil , and just as much, if not more, durable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKIRA Posted June 11, 2004 Share Posted June 11, 2004 at least it is better than a Gorp engine it is a four-stroke v-2 with a 2 stroke one cylinder merged into the back - needless to say, it does not work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenaissanceMan Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 So, I just wanted to throw my 2 pennies in the pile. I love these ea82 engines over newer subaru engines just for the fact that they are dirt cheap, and EVERYWHERE. Its real hard to find a junkyard around here that doesnt have at least 2 ea82 cars. The parts for these engines are about half what EJ parts cost too. (maintenance stuff, etc). If one of these motors somehow amazingly goes bad, just toss it and get another one, and it wont put a big dent in your wallet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 dragged the brat out of the carbola, wet grass, reverse, 4500 rpms spinning 4 tires with the diff lock, going nowhere. but it will pull the rpms without whining! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TahoeFerrari Posted June 26, 2004 Share Posted June 26, 2004 hi, i building an off-road project and i was looking for a good engine. I went at the junkyard and they don't have any ea-81....so i think that ea-82 may be a good swap....is it a good engine, does it have major problems??? an other question, what's the length of the inputshaft of the 5sp tranny that come with an ea-82? thx and sorry for the english.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TahoeFerrari Posted June 26, 2004 Share Posted June 26, 2004 hi, i building an off-road project and i was looking for a good engine. I went at the junkyard and they don't have any ea-81....so i think that ea-82 may be a good swap....is it a good engine, does it have major problems??? an other question, what's the length of the inputshaft of the 5sp tranny that come with an ea-82? thx and sorry for the english.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suberdave Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 i have 2 EA-82's one turbo and one not. i love them both, th nonturbo has 189,000 miles on it and has had nothing other thay ragualr mant. the turbo is on its second engine, but like stated earlyer, i just through out the old and got a new, about 4 hours later, good as gold. -=Suberdave=- www.suberdave.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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