EA82, carb, gutless....!?

SKiT_R31 · Post by **SKiT_R31** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:23 am

Hey all,

Just got one of these beasty's as a daily (1993 wagon, manual), its a good straight car, everything is very clean, regularly serviced, just done its 100k service (belt etc).

But its gutless, in 3rd gear, is flat to the floor to make it up hills on the hwy (@ 100 max), is this normal? Just curious if the engines a bit tired or out of tune, or whether thats normal?

Also its getting pretty average economy (hwy driving) alot worse than my 3L turbo (rb30et, R31 wagon, off the road atm) @ ~ 12L/100... is this normal??

car has done over 300thou kms, but blows no smoke, blue, black or grey, car is exceptionally quiet (no rattles or exhaust noise,m even when cold) and very smooth, no flat spots or hesitation.

Ill give it a full service (fluids, filters, ign) in the next day or so, and advance the timing, ill also check compression, but yeah, cheers for any info

oh and when i put it in 4wd, it doesn't want to go back to 2wd, sorta have to ram it in, is this an easy fix (something loose?).

other than that, I'm pretty happy with it, and might modify it when my other cars back on the road, already thinking about what to do to it, will an EJ20 bolt up to the original box? Otherwise i was pondering lpg + small ihi turbo i have siting around (off 1990 2.2L Mazda MX6) if the engines healthy enough for ~ 5psi, i'm handy with a welder so not too big of a job just to get it chugging (just want drivable power, got over 200kw at the rear wheels in my other wagon, and then 170rwkw n/a sedan)

haha cheers

dfoyl · Post by **dfoyl** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:10 pm

Sounds like a standard EA82

It's easier to go from 4wd to 2wd while rolling (about 5-10 km/h), and preferably on gravel rather than bitumen. If you're just sitting and try it's very hard.

EJ20 will need an adaptor plate. Check the FS section, there's a sticky.

Dean.

fredsub · Post by **fredsub** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:43 pm

SKiT_R31 wrote:Hey all,

But its gutless, in 3rd gear, is flat to the floor to make it up hills on the hwy (@ 100 max), is this normal? Just curious if the engines a bit tired or out of tune, or whether thats normal?

sounds about right maybe, i recall once being fully loaded with 2month traveling camping gear,fridge etc, and 80kmph best could do uphill, and an anxious truck tailgating me:mrgreen: - thats when the L still had a carb. changed for a ea82t later, no worries then, but i don't have it no more:(

SKiT_R31 wrote: Also its getting pretty average economy (hwy driving) alot worse than my 3L turbo (rb30et, R31 wagon, off the road atm) @ ~ 12L/100... is this normal??

no should get ~7L/100, fully loaded as described above was ~9L/100

SKiT_R31 wrote: car has done over 300thou kms, but blows no smoke, blue, black or grey, car is exceptionally quiet (no rattles or exhaust noise,m even when cold) and very smooth, no flat spots or hesitation.

Ill give it a full service (fluids, filters, ign) in the next day or so, and advance the timing, ill also check compression, but yeah, cheers for any info

still, a lot of mechanics know bugger all about subes - the horizontal 4 throws them, might have got the timing belt off by just one cog is enough to effect power/fuel economy..

SKiT_R31 wrote: oh and when i put it in 4wd, it doesn't want to go back to 2wd, sorta have to ram it in, is this an easy fix (something loose?).

don't put it in 4wd on bitumen/hard surfaces, it'll do that, and wreck your
diff/gears. The 4wd is locked front/back - which is bloody good for off-road

Welcome to the board and subarus mate.

CPOCSM · Post by **CPOCSM** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:59 pm

fredsub wrote: don't put it in 4wd on bitumen/hard surfaces, it'll do that, and wreck your
diff/gears. The 4wd is locked front/back - which is bloody good for off-road

Welcome to the board and subarus mate.

Concur - unless you are in Canberra and hit some black ice. I usually put my L Series in 4WD on a long straight piece of road to keep the back bits all lubed up. Lucky I forgot to take it out on the way to Bungendore last week....was wondering why the back end was trying to out run my front end...black ice and 3 x cars piled up on the culvert on the side of the road...Soob recovered and managed to stop without so much as a worry. Pulled over and rendered assistance. The RTA turned up with signs and all was well.

shuffbag · Post by **shuffbag** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:24 pm

i remember when i got my L carbie it went alright but as soon as i put 14's on it gutless. do you have 14's on it? 5 blokes fully loaded on a trip to melbourne best i got was 110kmh but had to down gear for every hill. over take a truck down hill- truck passes again at the next hill:(

SKiT_R31 · Post by **SKiT_R31** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:17 pm

cheers heaps everyone for the info and input

Yeah, it goes well enough as far as city driving is concerned, just higher speeds + hills, it cruises happily at 110 otherwise though.

I do all my mechanical work myself, but the work on the car wasnt done by a subaru specialist, just normal shop, ill have a proper look at the engine on the weekend, but the power delivery feels about right (compared to others i drove), so i'd dunno about cam timing.

had a bit of a play with the 4wd today after your comments, and now i have the knack, its problem free, a bit of a thud when it engages, but happy as otherwise, actually had to travel through snow, it did the job well

.

Unfortunately its just got the standard 13" wheels on it, ill change that as soon as i can though, bit small, 14x6 with 70 wall sounds more like it. How do you's change the speedo with your bigger wheels?

As for economy, i'll have to see whats going on there, used almost half a tank today, did around 160km, thats pretty average economy for a 60L tank (10 reserve?) im using E10 fuel btw (95ron), if that might cause any problems (first tank ive put in it though) so on the weekend ill increase the timing to take advantage of that. As well as a service ill clean the carby and check over all the fuel lines, could be slight leak if economy is this bad compared to what it should be :S.

so yeah, cheers for the welcome everyone, i tend to get carried away with modifications to cars, trying to keep this one a sedate daily/camper/fisher. So better wheels and a bit more performance and the right economy, and i'll be a happy chappy.

So if the engine seems healthy, ill look into a few modifications (probably just turbo and leave everything else as standard as i can) otherwise ill drop somthing newer into it, but im not a real fan of wiring (had too many nightmares with my other cars) so lpg/turbo route sounds like the go (plus its somthing different to tinker with)

Also, after reading my manuals today, i noticed these have an incredibly small spark plug gap (0.7mm) anyone experimented with a better gap plug (~1mm) and a better coil?

sorry about the long posts, i get a bit carried away and my mind wanders, ill check everything over soon and probaby come back with a heap of queries.

cheers

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:25 pm

note that the gauges can be pretty crappy, so do a proper fill calculation before you take the economy

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:27 pm

theclick wrote:note that the gauges can be pretty crappy, so do a proper fill calculation before you take the economy

Never believe your fuel guage until your outta fuel...

Spark plug gaps you can easily go up to 1mm without a worry. The MPFI and MPFI turbo's run 1.1mm gap.

The problem you're experiencing with your fuel economy could be to do with your carbie needing a re-build. My mate's L is the same at the moment, hard to start etc and not as good economy.

I'd also be checking your timing, the cam belt timing and condition of the leads. The old EA82's need all the help they can get.

To check your cam timing you need to take off the cam covers each side and the flywheel cover. There are three marks like AFL goal posts minus one on the flywheel, these are different to the timing marks. Line the centre one up with the pointer.
Check each of your cam shafts, you may need a mirror for this. What you want to look for is a little hole in the cam gear. One of the cam's should line up with a groove in the cam cover backing above the cam gear...
Now, turn the engine over ONE rotation to the same marks lined up in the same way. Check the cam that was not lined up and see that the small hole lines up with the cam backing cover groove.
If any of these cams does not line up the hole with the groove, its out of timing and needs to be changed.
There's a little rubber plug near the crankshaft that hides the two bolts that hold the cam belt tentioner pulleys. Using these, some pain and perspiration you should, with some difficulty added, beable to get the cambelt lined up without taking all the other fan belts off etc to take the cam cover off. But if you feel you want to see everything that your doing this is what I'd recommend.

Time the spark and it should go a lot better if a cam was out a tooth...

Good luck with it, you should be getting at least 200+ Km to half a tank of fuel when gunning it, unless your in third all the time at 100km/h.

And welcome to the forum!

Cheers

Bennie

SKiT_R31 · Post by **SKiT_R31** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:59 pm

Had a look at the car today (got time afer work, with daylight) cheers for the info on timing, i was a bit baffled, also why are there 2 belts? redundancy?

ill fill the tank and run it low and calculate the fuel usage properly, the car cold starts fine, though i idle it for a few mins before driving.

cheers

ZefleR · Post by **ZefleR** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:19 pm

SKiT_R31 wrote:Had a look at the car today (got time afer work, with daylight) cheers for the info on timing, i was a bit baffled, also why are there 2 belts? redundancy?

ill fill the tank and run it low and calculate the fuel usage properly, the car cold starts fine, though i idle it for a few mins before driving.

cheers

They have one belt for each head mate.

SKiT_R31 · Post by **SKiT_R31** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:59 pm

i meant the accessories belt?

also the car makes a buzzing noise (from under the car?) when you turn it of, is this normal?

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:54 pm

Mine does that occasionally, i think it has something to do with the vapour return to the fuel tank. Seems to do it more on hot days.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:41 am

I've never heard the buzzing sound but sometimes I hear the thermo fans wind down...

I drove my L for the first time in a few weeks - I tried out 3rd at 100km/h and you'd be pulling 5000 to 5800 rpm, so not a lot more to give really. The older EA81's had gear "maximum speed marks" on the dash, 3rd clocked out at 110...

I'd be checking your air filter too, if its blocked you won't be getting much performace or economy from it...

How did the check of the timing marks go? Best place for info is to the EA82 tech manual Part 1 - PDF and Part 2 - PDF.

Hope that helps you out

Cheers

Bennie

rob83ke70 · Post by **rob83ke70** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 3:24 pm

They are pretty slow and I think that is normal. Mine sounds about the same. Try towing a 8x6' box trailer fully loaded with furniture up mount ousley and then over the razorbacks on the northern road and down the blue mountains...... painfully slow, 1st gear for a lot of it...

SKiT_R31 · Post by **SKiT_R31** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:03 pm

hahaha @ rob, sounds painfull

Haven't had a chance to do the timing yet, went to do it on the weekend, but had a couple and got distracted, ended up pulling the engine out of my other car instead... No hurry to look at it for now, really don't want to touch it until I'm not so reliant on it as a daily (ill get one of my other cars going over the weekend and then worry about it)

Had a look at the air filter, gave it a bash to get the dust out of it, gave everything else a bit of a clean, and gave it a fluid change. Car seems to go better than when i first got it, must have cleaned everything out with the constant WOT on E10 :S.

haha about the revs in 3rd gear, must have had it sitting at 105kmph in third up a hill for a minute or so... uh well it loves it, anyone know if a tacho dash from the injected model fits without modification?

Also, have done a proper fuel usage test from a few tanks, average is exactly 10L/100, thats mostly highway @ 110kmph. Up and down hills (work and back) I'm happy enough with it, but any better would be a bonus, but economy is probably my driving style... (i like to casually accelerate, but that is WOT in this beasty...)

After checking, I think the buzzing is the vapour return (strange as its 0 degrees here), cheers heaps everyone

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:12 pm

SKiT_R31 wrote:anyone know if a tacho dash from the injected model fits without modification?

No mods to physically fit it in the car, just a heap of wiring to re-pin... The GL dash uses different plugs at the top of the dash, the two circular plugs may need some pins changed to suit, but these should be labelled anyway.
The other two plugs should be colour coded and not too difficult to work out. You'll need to run two wires to the coil to get the tacho to work.

I did mine by swapping out the MPFI loom from a touring wagon to get an injected engine, the dash was just a bonus and I like it a lot more than the base model's 3 guage dash.

Hope that gives you some ideas...

Bennie

rob83ke70 · Post by **rob83ke70** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 4:40 pm

i reckon mine is a bit slow actually now that i've driven it around for a little while, and i think i'm still struggling to get under 12lt per 100km which is not good at all. i have new tyres on there now, and hardly any road noise.

my boss seems to think i may have positive results from fitting new plug leads (i think i still have original leads at 300000km) and an e type coil. fouling plugs at 20000km isn't normal i think?

anyway i will get some bits this week and see how i go.

ror · Post by **ror** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:55 pm

Got my 92 L Series Carbie this weekend, and initial observations look like the 9L/100km are what I'm getting fully loaded. (Thanks for the figures FredSub) It's a 240,000km engine that's been relatively well looked after.

Going to make a post with some details, questions and the like that might help with some of your current, and future questions too (don't want to hijack your post). The info from you and the replies in here so far have been very helpful.