Info on the EA82 SPFI

[Eriklyon94]

Hello everyone, if anybody is still active in this part of the site. I am looking for information on all kinds of stuff to do with my EA82 in my 1987 GL wagon, d/r 4wd double manual. 
 

I’m looking for the sizes of the fuel lines in the engine bay, and basically any and all other information, bits of cool knowledge, technical notes, parts lists, basically looking to get together a type of encyclopedia of EA82 information that people have discovered over the years. 
 

Most importantly is the fuel hoses because I want to replace all of my hoses in the engine bay with clear hoses. The PCV system is all clear hoses now along with an air oil separator in the line. 
 

thanks!! 

[Dee2]

http://www.jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/--Articles--/--Books--/

[GeneralDisorder]

You don't need an air-oil separator. That's laughable stupidity. Remove that junk. They do nothing useful on that engine - in fact we don't use them on 500+ HP Subaru engines. That's more of the junk you hear on the "errornet". Stop trying to reinvent the (relatively) good engineering that was done when the car was built.

Clear lines are generally not acceptable for many applications - the high pressure fuel injection lines being one of those. 

Subaru engineers are rolling over in their graves at the sight of the butchery you are doing in the engine bay. Put down the harbor freight tools and go get some education on proper repairs. And please don't modify 90 HP crap and shove it in our faces. We don't appreciate it. 

GD

[Eriklyon94]

I did not ask for rude comments. This is MY car lol I can do what I want with it. If you don’t have anything helpful to post please move along. 
 

I wanted to play around and see what I can put together myself. I think it looks cool so it’s going to stay. It’s not hurting anything or anyone. You’re not the one driving it, I am. And for your information I do not use harbor freight tools. 
 

[el_freddo]

G’day Erik, 

Please excuse GD’s shortness, his time is money as he runs a Subaru specialist shop and has many years of experience around many different Subaru models. He speaks the truth as brutal as it can be to hear it. 

I was in the process of writing out a reply earlier today but got distracted by something more important, my reply was along similar lines as GD’s but mainly - WHY all the clear pipe work? It’s not a science experiment and to me it makes your engine bay look cheap. 

As for the air oil separator, yeah gimmicky blah blah; that said I have a small one on my brumby - just a cheap oil catch can from eBay plumbed in before the PCV valve. I’ve shoved some steel wool in the catch can and the crap it collects is insane. I must say my engine isn’t the healthiest and I regularly do short trips to and from work - hence why it fills so quickly. I neglected to check it after about six weeks and it was amazing to see how milky water this thing collected. 

What you’re doing isn’t my thing. Just ensure your hoses are all compatible with the fluids they carry, otherwise you could end up with a fiery mess. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[GeneralDisorder]

"Air/Oil separator" is the wrong terminology. They are Air/Liquid Separators and the vast majority of what they trap is condensate from cold start. Which mixes with the natural oil vapor in the lines and forms this milky white/greyish muck that should never have formed had the Air/Liquid separator not been installed in the first place. Condensate is burned in the combustion process with the factory PCV system. They are WORSE than a waste of time - the lines plug up with the condensate and oil paste and then the crankcase can't breath properly.

The usual (mostly incorrect) reasoning for their use is to prevent oil vapor from reducing effective octane of the fuel/air mixture. On a 90 HP engine that runs perfectly fine on 87 octane elephant piss this is just a complete waste of effort. Not to mention it has no coolant circulation to even attempt to suspend cold start condensate, and has no return drain back to the engine so it's a collection bottle for a product that wouldn't even exist if the bottle wasn't there. Useful? Not in the slightest. 

And yes - you CAN do whatever you like. Just don't expect us to not tell you it's stupid. You came here for opinions and information right? Well that's what I'm giving you. Take it or leave it. What you CAN'T do is command us to not give our honest opinion when you come here and blatantly post pictures of stupidity and ignorance. 

GD

Edited August 25, 2021 by GeneralDisorder

[Eriklyon94]

Thanks Bennie! Yes I know it’s stupid but it’s what I like lol, I want to give her a bit of that “wtf is that” flair. And yes the catch can works great! I did stuff it with some steel wool. The hose to the can is filthy and collecting stuff like it should and the hose off that to the PCV is clean as a whistle which is exactly what I was going for. 
 

And yes I have done my research, the clear hose on the PCV system is all vacuum and pressure rated and safe for oil fuel and coolant. It’s actually the very same hose the company I work at provides in vacuum pump kits for pro-stock drag cars pushing 1,000+ horsepower. Which is why I’m here asking about fuel hose sizes as I have found a suitable hose but I’m not ordering until I have a for sure size. 
 

To me it is my personal science experiment and I like to be different. 
 

And as for GD, it’s working just fine and has been for 6 months and is catching impurities that would have normally gone into my intake. She’s running happier, better fuel economy and my oil isn’t getting as dirty as fast. 

I like clear things. Come clarity. 
 

GD if you’d like I can post up more pictures? I’ll bet I give you a stroke seeing this one, if you know what it is anyways… lol

 

[GeneralDisorder]

I was a vacuum pump technician in a former career. I was a factory authorized repair technician for Busch vacuum pumps and was trained in Germany. I'm 100% confident I know a significant amount more about vacuum pumps and systems than you do. 

And yes - that's a gigantic waste of time on the EA engines. 

There's nothing significant to gain from running a crankcase vacuum pump on an engine without a power adder. But please - go ahead and put a turbo on that garbage engine - it will hasten it's demise and we won't have to be subjected to this stupidity. 

Being "different" is usually just stupid. Most of these ideas are already worked out and have been for decades. We have DIY customers come in all the time that are "different" and without fail they make less power than our tried and true formulas. 

How do you know your oil is "less dirty"? Have you sent it for analysis?

GD

Edited August 25, 2021 by GeneralDisorder

[idosubaru]

6 hours ago, Eriklyon94 said:

To me it is my personal science experiment and I like to be different. 
 

And as for GD, it’s working just fine and has been for 6 months and is catching impurities that would have normally gone into my intake. She’s running happier, better fuel economy and my oil isn’t getting as dirty as fast. 
 

Y’all aren’t going to agree…and that’s okay. This forum is significantly different than others. There’s downside and upside to that.

I don’t care what you do with the car. And I still I appreciate GD explaining how those cans show benign materials that wouldn’t exists without the cans in the first place. Very cool. Most other forums lack that

that’s not a science experiment though. Working for 6 months - Short time period. And “working fine” is arbitrary.  

Catching impurities. seeing stuff doesn’t mean that stuff is meaningful. It may be benign. Or It may be an insignificant amount of the total impurities a given system encounters…etc.  There’s decades and billions of miles on hundreds of thousands of Subarus EA engines….and countless UOAs suggesting catch cans aren’t necessary and EA82s weren’t breaking down due to a lack of one.

Running happier and poor fuel economy usually means the car was poorly taken care of previously, and needed a tune up. A tune up with no custom hoses probably would have given identical results in those departments. Or over 6 months - you noticed the 2% gains from the gas stations switching to summer blend from winter blends and attributed it to something else. People do anecdotal type causations daily.  It’s human psychology to do so.  Or it means pressing the gas pedal harder and longer or a new job/house which prompted this car and resulted in a change in driving habits or……I’m sure there’s more possibilities but - it’s not scientific  

Clean oil - without UOA before and after the work done it’s not a science experiment. 

Oil could be looking better due to whatever other changes happened when you got this car, decided to make it a daily driver, it sat for years was neglected, poor prior maintenance…etc.

or as CS Lewis said “suspicion often creates what it suspects”, or psychology has gobs of research on confirmation bias which most people are subject to daily without knowing 

But I still say go for it. I don’t care. It’s a piece of metal.  It’s just not scientific. 

Edited August 26, 2021 by idosubaru

[ferp420]

just measure the old lines or the nipples the old fual line goes on too

 

[Ionstorm66]

Only impurities coming out of the PVC are already in the oil, unless you are cooking your pistons with timing/power adders. Unless the engine is so clapped out that your rings are shot, there won't be enough blow by to hurt your fuel economy. If there this enough blowby to stop the PVC system from working, then you've already lost any economy increases you could want.

 

The engine is setup to have a metered air flow through the engine from right to left, with baffles in both valve covers to help with oil splashing into the system. You have added resistance to the system, without compensating for this restriction. The engine should run with a slight vacuum in the crankcase at cruise, lower the air resistance inside the motor as well.

 

 

Also I would love to see the spec on those hoses, I have NEVER seen a clear hose rated for engine bay uses.

[Eriklyon94]

The PCV system is working flawlessly, I made sure my can has little to no restriction. 
 

And as for the hoses I’ll try to find the exact specs. But off the top of my head I can tell you they are safe for 75psi of pressure, and 26 inches of Mercury vacuum. So plenty for this application. It’s the same hose used on ProStock drag racing applications. Oil safe, fuel safe, alcohol safe, and coolant safe. Oh they are 5/8 inside diameter. 
 

If it wasn’t safe my boss would not supply it to our customers. Mike Janis actually uses this same hose but a big bigger to give you a name of our type of customer base.