What engines will work in 78 Wagon

[ianmagruder]

Hi all,

I've got a 78 DL that I drove in college. Now it sits in garage and is sadly been adopted as a storage unit. I was driving home from work in '02 when it started to have engine problems. I drove it home 65 miles on 2 cylinders which took some time but amazingly got me home; I have never been stranded by any Subaru knock on wood. I took out the engine and saw that one head gasket is blown. I have not looked at the other side but it has compression. Removing the oil drain pan I found some metal shavings in the pan. To top it off, several of the manifold bolts broke on removal. My impression is that the engine is toast.

 

What I'm wondering is, what model engines will fit? The old engine is s 1600 #974066. It looks like I will be able to swap bell housing if necessary. I had Rising Sun offering me a replacement for $395 and suggesting it was as easy as swapping the bell. Anybody got any ideas on what would be best?

Ian

[Sweet82]

What engine did Rising Sun offer you for $395?

 

If it was a EA71 (1600) it should fit directly in?

Also "fit" is a relative term. Anything could be shoehorned in.

How much work are you willing to do?

 

Oh ya, Welcome to the board!

Glenn,

82 SubaruHummer

84 GL Mad Max

01 Forester

 

(There are several members in your area.)

[ianmagruder]

Hey thanks for the welcome. I didn't ask what model the engine was when Rising Sun quoted me because I didn't know the differences. I take it all of the 1600's are EA71s? Rising Sun said what they had would fit but I would have to use my bell house. Now I'm looking for something that will mount up without any modifications if it is reasonable to expect I will find that. I want to avoid the shoe horn if possible mostly because I may not have access to the right tools to be changing engine mounts or bell housing fit. Anybody have any opinions on a source to get the most reliable replacement engine for this one?

[SUBARU3]

The engine currently in your car is referred to as a thin case. It has a external water transfer and the old style water pump. The newer 1600s are called fatcases. The water trasfer between sides of the case, is internal and they use the later water pumps.

 

ANY 1600/EA71 engine will work. The bell housing changeout is VERY easy. It's just 10 or so bolts ...period! It's not a modification. You need to do this to mount it properly in your car.

 

Additionally, low mileage thin case motors are getting very rare.

 

Feel free to PM me and we can exchange #s. I'd be glad to help you out.

 

Todd

[tailgatewagon]

what is a thin case motor im not familer with the term:rolleyes:

 

oh and dos this mean that you can easly change from top to side mounted starter its always looked this way to me but ive never checked....

[moosens]

Ian,they may have also had an automatic bell housing and were telling you that you may need to swap your manual shift bell housing over.Sound possible?Either way,Subaru3 is right,you'll be ok with this task.And,there's plenty of help here.Welcome!

 

 

Oh,and Todd,thin and fat are passe,politically incorrect Ducatis of the 60's were refered to as "Narrow case and Wide case".I've got two narrows of Ducs and two narrows of Subaru.

 

Please consider keeping it fairly stock.You can drop in several engines with modifications,but you'll have an easy time if you stick with the EA71.It's the work horse engine of the early Subarus.A lot of people feel the EA71 was the best engine Subaru ever had for good reason.

 

 

The price from Rising Sun isn't so bad.

CCR might be able to help you.They have a great reputation and you'll even see the owner right here on the board once in a while.

http://www.ccrengines.com/

 

 

Good luck!

 

*

[SUBARU3]

Well, back in my folks dealership, the term "thincase and fatcase" was used to describe the early and later version of the EA 71s

 

(Thin referring to the external water jacket and a "thinner block")

 

Now Paul.......go to your room!

[moosens]

 

I'm going to make a bumper sticker....."No Fat Cases!"

 

My '78 just turned 87k tonight! Just an old baby.

[Seahag1978]

When we switched out the engine in my '78 Brat,we found that it had an automatic torque converter plate. It just unbolted to accept the flywheel for the manual transmission.

 

We did find that the "y" pipe flanges didn't match up to the new engine. We took it to the custom exhaust shop and he cut away the heat shield and discovered a gigantic hole in the "y" pipe. He cut it all out and made up new flanges for $60. He knew exactly what he had to do before we told him, he said it was common on these cars.

 

The dipstick is different too. The new motor didn't have one, so we thought we could just use my old one. It takes a shorter stick than my original, so we had to cut it down and make a new witness mark for full.

 

He also changed the distributor to electronic. Everything else bolted up fine.

[SUBARU3]

Mary...did you add a pilot bearing in the end of the crankshaft? The automatic cars did not have that , but you need to press one in, (and a seal), for the manuals. They are easy to put in.

 

 

 

Todd

[Seahag1978]

Hi Todd,

Yes, I forgot to mention that. The junkyard man even wrote "change pilot bushing" on the slip when I picked up the motor. The clutch kit came with one and was newly installed when the tech school did the tranny swap last fall, so the bearing didn't even have 100 miles on it.