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So, how bad does this engine look to you?


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I just today pulled the motor off of the 78. Needed to do it to get the heads off so I can take them to a machine shop to get the stupid broken bolts removed.

 

Anyway, took some pics, lots of crud everywhere... How bad would you guys say it is?

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/166896604/171703146PyfTiT

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/166896604/171703775NeuAfc

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/166896604/171703684heMuUr

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How thick is it?? I had some pretty thick carbon buildup on the tops of the pistons of one of my 88's. Some chemicals and a putty knife made quick work of them though.

 

So... if the car has been run on crappy gas for a long time... seems pretty typical to me as most of the engines ive yanked apart have had over 200K

 

My 87 engine was nice and clean inside cause it only has 35K in Japan + 80K here in the US

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EA71, MY78 4WD 4-speed

 

Wear doesnt look bad, and the buildup seems quite cleanable. I was just wondering if it was indicative of any sort of possible issue with the motor, but then again I guess these pushrod motors do run a bit crummy :P

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71?!! Hmm, all of mine have water crossovers like an 81, might be that all mine are 80 and newer.

 

Ya, just check the cylinder walls to see if there is crosshatch in there, if it's very dominate then I'd call it good, clean it up and slap (metaphorically speaking) back together and call it good.

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Only issue there is old age :) Thats a clean looking block and heads. I recommend Mother's Machine shop on Fair Oak's, down by Sunrise. They did a great job on my EA81 heads. WHerever you take them, it would help if you had the valves worked on and heads cleaned up.

 

Did you end up with a complete engine gasket kit for the engine? And how did that carb turn out?

 

Looks like your making pretty good progress.

 

-Brian

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That looks salvagable from the pics I saw. Nothing a few hundred bucks at a machine shop cant fix right up :)
Few hundred bucks?! The only thing im having worked on is getting the bolts out of the heads... everything else im doing myself! (cause I cant afford to get it done professionally anyway)

 

brian: No, just getting the headgaskets, I already have every other gasket thats the only thing thats still coming (ordered them yesterday). The carb turned out good actually, its all nice and clean now, and seems to be actually working better (the choke, throttle, etc. seem to be working better now, im sure it will run nice once it is on the car!)

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Ya, it should be nice. Ive painted a few engine bay parts that were looking bad, and have a few more that i'm going to paint now. I'm thinking yellow for the valve covers, but I havent decided what to paint the intake yet... Blue, black or yellow?

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ok I got some clarification on the EA71 differences. '77-'78 model years had the external crossover pipe. I *had* one in my '78 Brat. Now in '79-'81 they had the internal water passages with an 1800 waterpump. I believe after that they went to the fat case EA71. I could get pics of all of them if people are interested:D

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The manual I have says the 1980 model year was when the water passage switched. This coincides with the introduction of the EA81 (which has always had the water passage in the block) so it makes sense from that perspective. Addmitedly, this manual is a Clymer, so it could be wrong. But it would be tough to prove one way or the other as many cars have had their engines replaced with ones from other cars, etc. It's a crap shoot as to what you will find under any given hood anway.

 

GD

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