Why isn't an EA82 a raging "hot rod"?

[bgd73]

I looked at the car. 10 years now. .. tore apart an engine, broke a unibody, totalled a sedan (that kept running on 2 cyls...). twisted, jumped a downtown hill beating a redlight (2000lbs? pffft. Yeah Right.) . bumped, burned a little rubber and still have answered only a few secrets about getting realistic power.

The car is light, displacement decent. I have had a 1600 and 1800 other models- also known for slow, and they moved right along with a thing called AIR.

I have figured out:

tight Cams, clean open cool intake, at least 9:1 (even if I had a turbo), hot fast plugs and a clutch fan shrouded...super lube the bearings, replaced/covered rust with aluminum., and painted.and 2 inch exhaust, no more, slightly less like oem in the back to keep it hot and "lubed" to flow.

What am I missing.....

I have gone as far as getting an exotic sound of an old porsche 7000rpms easily, full stroked sounding (carb cams of course), backfiring between gears sometimes.... what in heck am I missing. I can say the torque is there at all times. On nearly new tires my wagon hydro planes (one wheel "burns rubber" in all rain all speeds, rather easily unless 4wd (or 2wds seem to stay planted- same tires).

is there something anchoring my wagon? tranny shaft slow? rear end? what is it?

[JWX]

the biggest thing that both the EA81 and the EA82 have killing the power for them is the fact that the coolant crossover runs underneath the intake, thus heating up the air before it gets to the big bang chamber.

[jacobs]

The biggest problem is that Subaru never put grease Zerks on em to grease the muffler bearings.

[carfreak85]

Both EA81 and EA82 engines have horrific port geometry, and unless you port the $#!T out of them or cast new heads, you will have a hard time making power without forced induction.

[baccaruda]

I'd blame it on the tradeoff that gives the EA82 lower compression but keeps it a noninterference motor. The EA81 maybe not so much. That point about the coolant crossover is good too.

Jacobs, the muffler bearing isn't really the issue, it's the fact that they didn't properly clearance the interocitor housing. If you shim out the poiuyt valve you get better flow transference between them and you can scavenge 5-7% of nonoptimized horsepower.

[Durania]

I wasn't aware there was such a thing as a "muffler bearing". Does this fall into the same category as "synthetic turn signal fluid"?

[bgd73]

No doubt about the coolant under the intake-- there is a way to get a super flow to help on the single channel, the double (mpfi) should be naturally decent, but it never lasts for me.The carbs almost win... but don't. The hot spfi will never win without a mod on that coolant channel.

You lost me about "muffler bearing" it is not stated in my post, must be your own mind- may as well check blinker fluid while your lubing muffler.

I have acheived power with ea82, no turbo.. to keep it consistently has been impossible. I examined the heads, intake channel size. It truly is decent for a 4 cyl- it is never shared, but one cylinder at a time, in fact, for the displacement they are rather large. I would take one to 9k rpm if that coolant channel didn't super expand air/fuel. If anything, that subtle pressure called vacuum is quite a helper on the single channel.The intake coolant channel taking over is a very good thought- I will target it, as I have an intake ready to go cleaned up a bit (slightly more air)- maybe restrict that channel? I do not know if it will hurt anything. The spfi sedan I had running cold literally sucked me into my seat, and easily lit up the tires (both of them)- and quickly the curve died off into a full warm engine.... There is a little monster lurking in the ea82 and I really want it in action.

so to sum it up for the muffler lubers: Can the channel of coolant below intake be restricted, or even done away with (I really do not want it gone entirely for same reasons of power/efficiency) ?

[NorthWet]

Folks, get over this whole "coolant channel" thing. Virtually every car engine made in the last who-knows-how-many decades uses heated intake systems. They greatly improve drivability, emissions and fuel economy. Their major effect is at low air flow; effect at higher flows is lessened to the point of not mattering at maximum flow. There is a time factor involved with thermal transfer due to the resistance to thermal conductivity (aluminum is not that great a thermal conductor) and its mass, referred to as "boiler plate effect".

 

Above and beyond the aforementioned less than optimum port design (and the unmentioned inability to port-tune siamesed ports), you have an oversquare short-stroke engine that doesn't make use of its major asset. Short-stroke engines usually trade off torque for the ability to spin at higher speeds, yet the EA-series are redlined the same as my long-stroke 4s from the same era. Horsepower means torque times RPM, and if it isn't producing much torque it has to be spun faster to increase HP.

 

Combustion chambers (especially on the OHV engines with their bathtub chambers) is also less than optimum.

[nipper]

The biggest problem is that Subaru never put grease Zerks on em to grease the muffler bearings.

 

And winter air is heavier then summer air, so if you have winter air in the tires ....

 

It can also have something to do with the gearing.

 

nipper

[Petersubaru]

in my town is a guy running around with an ea81/ported heads( he told me that it took many hours to do this properly) ..homemade intake and useing a much larger 2 barrel carb from gm..an old carter from a pontiac I believe..

Both EA81 and EA82 engines have horrific port geometry, and unless you port the $#!T out of them or cast new heads, you will have a hard time making power without forced induction.

[GeneralDisorder]

As carfreak already said it's the HEADS. Subaru knew this - that's why the Turbo's got dual port heads. With forced induction the turbo's were capable of 170 HP in race spec. RAM engines knows this - their dual port EA81 heads run 140 HP N/A, and 200 HP supercharged.

 

It's all in the heads and the intake/exhaust. Your precious coolant passage in the intake has almost nothing to do with it. And you can't do away with it - it's a major part of the coolant flow to the heads. You would have to build a new intake and re-route it through a seperate hose. RAM does that with their intake's, but you almost have to if you are building a new intake unless you have casting ability.

 

GD

[WoodsWagon]

The flow coeficient of the air traveling through the bends in the intakes reduces the ability to hot rod the enine. A hot rod must be put throught a staight tube, so hotroding an engine that has multiple 90degree bends in the intake makes as much sense as adding a mechanical fan to the front of the engine. The airbox inside the fender, while disableing the butt-dyno, collects invisibles and refutes their ability to corrode the valves when heated by the anti-icing heated manifold. Supercooling the intake charge would lead to the fuel falling out of suspension, puddeling in the 90 degree turns, and a lean mixture. My extensive research while half inebriated shows that replacing the engine mounts with solid pieces of oak reduces the degrees of torsional loss, enhancing acceleration while reducing chassis flex.

 

 

 

That was kinda fun...

[Quidam]

Well, you asked. I haven't even read the other responses.Two things off the top.

 

The tires need to be 175-70 or that height, or less for throttle response. Lower effective drive. Less weight.

 

Speaking of weight, some of these cars aren't that light. Several hundred pounds are up to you and the way the car left the factory. Go on a diet? I've done a lot of rust repair and you probably added lots of pounds in the repair materials. Of course several pounds rusted off too? lol Did you repaint it? Could be 100 pounds or more in that, lol. Oh well, get my drift? These are the things I think about on a race car. I'm gonna stop now:)

[GeneralDisorder]

The flow coeficient of the air traveling through the bends in the intakes reduces the ability to hot rod the enine. A hot rod must be put throught a staight tube, so hotroding an engine that has multiple 90degree bends in the intake makes as much sense as adding a mechanical fan to the front of the engine. The airbox inside the fender, while disableing the butt-dyno, collects invisibles and refutes their ability to corrode the valves when heated by the anti-icing heated manifold. Supercooling the intake charge would lead to the fuel falling out of suspension, puddeling in the 90 degree turns, and a lean mixture. My extensive research while half inebriated shows that replacing the engine mounts with solid pieces of oak reduces the degrees of torsional loss, enhancing acceleration while reducing chassis flex.

Well said, well said. You definately need to adopt a new avatar title in lieu of your new found knowledge and inebrieation...

 

GD

[WoodsWagon]

The funny part is that there is sound advise in there if you read carefully. Who knows, it may get through.

[Caboobaroo]

You need one like mine!

[nipper]

The funny part is that there is sound advise in there if you read carefully. Who knows, it may get through.

 

Well there is some in there, not much.

 

nipper

[GeneralDisorder]

Well there is some in there, not much.

 

nipper

 

The hidden truth is that this is THE way to derail BDG's threads. Turn them into a circus side show. Hey - at least we get to laugh a little.

 

GD

[DerFahrer]

You guys crack me up :lol:

 

As 91Loyale and GeneralDisorder have already alluded to, the number one way to determine how much power an internal-combustion engine can make is how much air it can move. The more air it can move, the more power it can make. Be that from having a huge displacement, forced induction, or sky-high revs, the only way for an engine to make power is to move air.

 

And with the head designs of the EA-series Subaru engine, it is never going to move a lot of air.

[jacobs]

You guys crack me up :lol:

 

As 91Loyale and GeneralDisorder have already alluded to, the number one way to determine how much power an internal-combustion engine can make is how much air it can move. The more air it can move, the more power it can make.

 

WOW! I think I'll mount a 4x8' sheet of plywood in front of my Roo. On the second thought, how bout a sheet of plexiglass.

[keltik]

In my personal uneducated opinion, the EA82 is not a hotrod because its a rather rugged car. Subaru made the motor flat, slammed a spare tire on top of it and called it good. They designed it to be a reliable car which gets the job done.

 

I never saw a GL Wagon in the Fast and the Furious. If they had an XT6 in "Tokyo Drift" i bet youd see a few with glued on bodykits and big tachos trying to be like the movies. Then someone would start selling aftermarket bits to make your XT go faster!

 

Finally if "Eleanor" in Gone in 60 seconds was a Brat not an american V8 thing, maybe youd see more companies making big chrome superchargers for EA series soobies.

 

Then of course there are the more obvious reasons like the bad flowing heads and all that stuff.

[kingbobdole]

Then of course there are the more obvious reasons like the bad flowing heads and all that stuff.

And poor muffler bearing design.

[nipper]

And poor muffler bearing design.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

nipper

[JWX]

if basicly if the heads flowed more then heating up the intake air charge wouldn't hurt anything?....................

[Subaru_dude]

You guys crack me up :lol:

 

As 91Loyale and GeneralDisorder have already alluded to, the number one way to determine how much power an internal-combustion engine can make is how much air it can move. The more air it can move, the more power it can make. Be that from having a huge displacement, forced induction, or sky-high revs, the only way for an engine to make power is to move air.

 

And with the head designs of the EA-series Subaru engine, it is never going to move a lot of air.

don't some older porsche's have a seperate intake/carb for each side of the engine? could a similar set-up for a soob be custom made and the 90 degree angles in the intake be gotten rid of??