Drag RX

ORX-18 · Post by **ORX-18** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:51 pm

Well, the missus has put the brakes on:(
She wants to get a more economicall drive car, ie a 94 lib sedan (power steer and air con) so the little RX is up for some drag duties i think
Just chasing if anyone has had any experience 'Straight lining' these things here. It'll be full metal headgaskets and 30psi, 650cc squirters and maybe a new hufer and computer, one capable of Ignition as well as injection.
Soooo, throw your ideas my way if u have any

theclick · Post by **theclick** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 5:13 pm

Strip it right down. Anything you dont need, get rid of it

This will be great to see

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:21 am

I wouldn't bother for outright performance , why be hamstrung by heads that don't breathe too well and a three main bearing crankshaft ?

EJ is way to go if you want to seriously drag race it .

ORX-18 · Post by **ORX-18** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:58 pm

Well, for starters, it has BIG port heads, as in ill port the **** outta them big, and flow just under440hp each, so i found out, it also has forged internals, nitrided crank, and im trying to source Ibeam rods. The reason for this is so i can qualify for the 20yo under 2000cc class we run locally here, and im going an auto too. SVX auto im hoping, we will see how much chopping i gotta do
to the tranny tunnel. So, Constructive criticism is appreciated

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:44 pm

EJ18 with EJ20 turbo heads?

If you put the same amount of money into an EJ as your gonna pit into your EA, youd have one hell of a motor

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:49 pm

I think we need to er assess the reality of the matter here .

Fact 1) No matter how hard you try you will NOT get the power potential of an EJ turbo from an EA engine without a huge dollar development plan - start with about 100G and develop one off heads/cams etc for a start .

Don't believe me ? I wonder why Subaru developed the EJ series is the first place - could it possibly be that they knew EA limitations and weren't going to throw good development dollars after bad ?

Fact 2) Forged steel crankshafts . These have been around for a long time - Mini Cooper S's had them std in 1964 and yes they were Nitrided as well .
Steel forgings are good because they can hack high rev innertial loads (from the reciprocating rods and pistons . The Nitriding process is good because it makes for very hard wear resistant bearing surfaces , this shows up as an item that has to have any machining operations done before the hardening because after thats its too hard and can only be ground .
Three main bearing cranks/blocks (crank cases in this case) have a limited ability to support the crank under high power (cylinder pressure) loads . Even a forged steel crank will flex to the point of failure given high enough power loads - particularly in a lightweight split aluminium crank case . No secret why the EJ's have a five main bearing crank/crank case .

Fact 3) EA82 MPFI/T heads are not a high performance design . Because :

A) A rocker under cam design is not a high speed stable design because the springs have to control the innertial loads of the large and heavy valves/caps/rockers .

B) Two valves per cylinder . Cheap to manufacture but not a high performance design because firstly you cannot physically fit enough valve area into the chambers , secondly you can't have compact pent roof chambers with only two valves per cylinder , thirdly because vertical valve heads don't have an ideal port entry angle into the combustion chambers .

C) EA82 MPFI heads have siamesed exhaust ports so you can't seperate the exhaust pulses at high revs between adjacent cylinders . These heads also have a bloody great lump of aluminium sticking out of half the inlet port walls because they had to house bulky pre historic hydraulic rocker pivolts for lash adjustment .

I could go on but I think most get the picture that you would eventually hit a performance wall where the budget goes balistic for small gains .

When you can go buy an STI EJ20 turbo engine for a lot less than a 100% effort EA82T why would you bother ? If your really serious destroking the 2000 to 1800 is easy and as was mentioned there already is an EJ18 out there .

Your call but I'll get more performance for less money with an EJ based engine than you will with an EA based one . The best EJ's have heads that breathe quite well and bottom ends with adequate strength . EA's don't .

Cheers .

PeeJay · Post by **PeeJay** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:18 pm

EJ20s are 1994cc, pity none are over 20 years yet.

timmo · Post by **timmo** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:27 pm

discopotato03 wrote:I think we need to er assess the reality of the matter here .

When you can go buy an STI EJ20 turbo engine for a lot less than a 100% effort EA82T why would you bother ?......... (blah blah)

Cheers .

heres a suggestion. why dont you take your own advice on board in terms of your car. I recall reading long winded write ups of getting your ea turbo to perform

Post by **Captain Obvious** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:33 pm

discopotato03 this motor has had lots of $$$$$ spent on it by the previous owner and is one fast EA82!!!!! it has to be seen to be beleived!!

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:46 pm

Timmo,.. good call!

Ah so the engine has to be over 20yo. Silly me thought you meant the owner.

I remember seeing this engine pull something like 260hp and over 400 of torque. Pretty impressive for an EA82.

Have you done anything to the head studs?

ORX-18 · Post by **ORX-18** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:12 pm

Umm, i apologise if i have seemed to start an argument, however, i need to stick to the rules. I have considered an EJ conversion however with the R&D spent on this engine i have atm id like to stick to it. Disco, im sorry, maybe i should have explained myself a little better. Anyway, have fun and keep the ideas rolling please. And Happy days people, happy days:)

Subafury · Post by **Subafury** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:23 pm

what type of headgaskets are available- in either metal or copper beefy ones? i need one for mine aswell.

timmo · Post by **timmo** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:26 pm

subafury I just used genuine subaru ones on my car, ok after 15,000kms so far! I think it would be a good idea to use studs instead of the standard headbolts if your using beefy copper gaskets.

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:36 pm

Why not get a EA81 from RAM engines, they have dual port heads and are good for 140hp mpfi non turbo. Add a turbo and wholla

At least EA81's have head studs and not bolts

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:36 pm

I suppose rules are there for a reason. The class he intends to run in is older than 20 years competing against same technology available back then from other manufacturers. There won't be much multi valve stuff older than that will there? Triumph Dolomite Sprint ? Italian makes perhaps ?

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:55 pm

This goes with what i said before about the EA81

Good point jono.

How about a VW or Porsche engine, they are flat 4s

schultzie · Post by **schultzie** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:18 pm

ea82t FTW old school cool,

im persisting with it,

i WILL kill for that motor and or a full list of infomation on it

pm me

riksta · Post by **riksta** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:36 pm

Thats a very Nice EA81 you have there, very cleen and looks like it will rev hard as well. love the pipe work for the turbo, how much power dose that
EA81 make??

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:17 pm

Oh its not mine. I just found the pic on a website somewhere, i think it was to do with light planes

Matatak · Post by **Matatak** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:20 pm

Suparoo wrote:This goes with what i said before about the EA81

Good point jono.

How about a VW or Porsche engine, they are flat 4s

now THAT is wt a set of factory headers shuld look like