Carb woes+, looking for suggestions, long winded...

[DrKrazy]

I currently have a friend's 85 GL Wagon 5psd D/R Carb with 198k sitting at my house for some repairs. I'll give you guys a quick run-down and then looking for some suggestions.

History: She bought the car several years ago, had the carb rebuilt (twice, they screwed it the first time) then it had some other problems so she parked it for about 3 years. She has now resurrected it somewhat and has been driving it around for the last year. Not sure how she's been driving it but she just managed an 600mile trip to my house in it. This car is very very neglected. Ok she is away for a few days on her honeymoon (hence why I have her car finally). Trying to get running reliabily for her as a secondary wedding present. So far I have found and fixed:

Distributor off a tooth, took out put back in correct place

Cam timing off by a tooth, dismantled front of engine and redid timing belts correctly (and scoped everything out since it leaks oil like crazy)

Replaced broken vacuum valve of some sort - my stash

Replaced two broken vacuum lines - my stash

Reset the EGR light

Blocked off ASV valves (she lives in desert and doesn't need emissions stuff) was worth a shot to make it run better - 2 dimes

Changed out distributor cap and rotor, wires with good ones from my stash

Plugs/filters/etc all recently changed by her.

 

The rest of the stuff it needs that I've found so far but haven't fixed, some not going to:

Radiator Seeping

Coolant Fan Switch Bad (I rigged it to always on for now)

Carb toasted- I think

Alt/AC belts need to be replaced bad (none in my stash were the right size, this car has no P/S??)

Needs all new cooling hoses (replaced a few already)

Front Brake Pads/Rotors

Rear Pads/One Wheel Cylinder

Oil Pan Gasket

Valve Cover Gaskets

New exhuast from y-pipe back + few tiny holes in the y welded (extremely loud between the y-pipe and next cat, going to try and fix that tomorrow)

 

She also mentioned the 4wd bucks like crazy..it's a D/R and haven't had a chance to check that out yet..too much other stuff, but she has brand new matching tires all the way.

Ok so yea this thing is also kinda trashed out, would clean up and body is straight with some rust. Thought for sure after I got the timing cleared up it would run a ton better, which it does but just showed how jacked the carb must be. First off I know nothing about the hitachi's and don't really want to, FI/Weber all the way baby. It can't hold an idle when cold at all, 50/50 if it does when warm and it's not steady. Will die when it wants to or shoot to 1500rpms. I can also literally block the air intake with my hand and it will actually run much smoother?!? If you rev it up it does run better but kinda stumbly..

So advice I'm looking for, and I'm trying to not spend too much on it since it's not my car, and she is completely broke:

Should I tell her forget it and get another wagon?

Should I slam a can of seafoam through it first to see if it helps?

Would love to put a good used, rebuilt, or weber carb on there, but $$ and only have the car until thursday. Is there any hope for this carb? Any CO guys have a known good EA82 Hitachi sitting around for cheap?

The way it sits, it's a $100-$200 Roo that's in okay condition but needs a ton of repairs thus making it worthless. Having a hard time deciding what to do/tell her. What do you guys and gals think? Runs so terrible I have hard time even letting her try to make the 600 mile trip home, though it is running better now than when she brought it to me, but scares me and I'm a hard guy to scare when it comes to Roo's. Ok that was long...sorry everyone.

[GeneralDisorder]

There is an issue I've noticed with the choke spring on the 85/86 Hitachi - the end of the spring where it attaches to the lever that operates the choke plates has a "hook" that wears through and falls off. The spring can then no longer close the choke plates at all, and the thing will run like poop till warmed up.

 

If the carb has been rebuilt then the choke housing should already have screws replacing the original pop-rivets... anyway you'll have to either replace the choke housing with another, or rig a manual choke to it somehow. You seem to have some fabbing skills, so shouldn't be terribly difficult to make a manual choke work (can get "universal" kits from like autozone for $15 or so I hear). It's VERY hard to find junk yard replacements for this part as the spring is almost never intact. I've found a few that were presumably from garaged cars where the choke was rarely used, or replaced at some point. Once I went looking for one for a friend of a friend, and spent most of the day in three yards - I think I took at least 10 carbs apart - I found 1 in good shape, and another that was only partially worn :-\. It's definately a strike against the EA82 Hitachi, as this part always fails - and it's probably over $100 from the dealer. Maybe give em a call, but don't hold your breath.

 

As for getting it running decent - an italian tune up can do wonders for sucking the crud out of the carb - run it up to 4k rpm, and cram a shop rag in the carb - that will create enough vacuum to suck out anything that *can* be sucked out. Beyond that if it's still fubar, you'll probably want to pop the top off the carb and blow out the passages with compressed air. Fixes in a can aren't my cup of tea - I prefer honest work with real tools .

 

Have you checked for vacuum leaks? Spray around with some WD40....

 

I have an EA82 Hitachi that ran OK - that's not to say it ran perfect, but it did alright for the few K miles I had it on there. It was a feedback unit, but it should run without it - you can have it for shipping if you want, but I don't know if you would get it in time :-\

 

GD

[DrKrazy]

Hmm Thanks GD will have to check those out, I do have another carb sitting here but it ran just as bad as the one on her's. Same problem too, bad idle, extremely stumbly. So probably can't rob it off there, thanks for the tips on rivets also..now I can tell if it really has been rebuilt!

Same way here man, I don't believe the fix in a can...always gotta break out the tools. And Yes I'm what they call a "RedNeck Rigger", and proud of it!

Yea checked all around for leaks, that's how I found the ones that were leaking..well carb cleaner until I ran out then WD-40.

[jeffast]

- an italian tune up can do wonders for sucking the crud out of the carb - run it up to 4k rpm, and cram a shop rag in the carb - that will create enough vacuum to suck out anything that *can* be sucked out.

GD

thats a redneck carb clean out

an itialian tune up is taking it out on the freeway and taking it up to or past the redline for long periods of time

[GeneralDisorder]

Sorry - I stand corrected.

 

GD

[Caboobaroo]

Keith, if you need parts like a radiator and such, you might wanna try and come up since I have a EA82 wagon for parts now. I'm going to take a look at it later today to see what kind of condition everything is in since I also need a shortblock for my RX.

[DrKrazy]

Thanks for the offer Cab but chances are I won't run up there,her radiator works great still, but is starting to seep. She can deal with that later, and I'll just trade my lifetime warranty spare in for her.

Well GD was right after looking closely there is 0 spring action in the choke! I'm sure this is a big part of the problem. But what do you know the spare carb I have sitting here appears to great spring action, so going to attempt to swap the chokes out without destroying the Carb. Good call GD I'm sure that will at least help things quite a bit, considering I can move her choke butterfly anyway I want, it's just free swinging in there!

[robm]

Are the throtle shafts worn? It sounds like there is some kind of variable air leak, when you say it jumps around, and runs better(!) with your hand on the intake.

[DrKrazy]

Yes they are probably worn..but nothing I can do about it as that was the one of the problems with my spare carb. I swapped the choke's out and it helped a ton, will actually hold an idle cold or warm now, just nothing under 1100-1200 rpms or it will sputter and die. Still stumbles while accelerating and will just randomly die but starts right back up. So at least it's better now, carb still needs to be replaced. I at least fixed her oil leaks, coolant leaks, vacuum leaks and timing. Plus gave it a good tune-up + oil change, runs ok now. The linkage for the 4wd was all jacked up so I fixed that also, works great now.

So will finish up some other stuff on it and let her go with it knowing what else needs to be replaced/repaired. Unless Jerry comes by and can make that carb run better without many parts...he is a miracle man sometimes.

[DrKrazy]

Forgot to take before pics...which I really should have since this was the most caked, greasy, disgusting EA82 I've worked on in a long long time. Can kinda tell from the pics, look at the driveway underneath...all from this car, pressure washing it, and keeping 2 different oil pans under it almost the whole time. There is actual mounds of greased up chunks of soob goo everywhere from the pressure washing, and it still didn't get that clean in the engine....

Ok the car that has caused me hell for the last few days:

 

Look an EA82 Wagon, Sedan, and RX in my Driveway(Legacy Wagon hiding behind the EA82's), My dream! (Now just gotta buy myself a wagon):

 

Nice somewhat clean engine with really clean painted valve covers, can't help myself even if it's not my car. Had them off to do the gaskets anyways:

 

The mess of a driveway:

 

Should've taken a picture of myself yesterday and today...ok off to shower for the 4th of July night! Happy 4th everyone!