subaru Lseries EA82 engine

Ben james · Post by **Ben james** » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:30 pm

hi every one. iv all ways drivin my ford falcons, but love camping and a little off road driving witch the falcon s cant really do. so I brought my self another car its a 1990 Subaru L series wagon. iv had the car for 6 months now and I like it for the fact it has low and hi range 4WD. and that its not sum big fuel eating RIG. but there is one problem I don't like the EA82 engine is slower than my brothers 125 pit bike lol. and I have to rev the guts out of it to get any were up hills is the worst. but all in all its a grate off road car. just wanted to no if any one could tell me what other Subaru engines would fit the Lseries with out to much work. as my engine has just hit 200.000 k.s and has bad oil leaks even after I changed rocker cover gaskits. oh and it runs hot. any info would be grate thanks.

Proton mouse · Post by **Proton mouse** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:26 am

G'day Ben,
for a major lease on life, the best option is to put an EJ motor in it, sourced from a Liberty or an Impreza etc. but when you say
"fit the L series without too much work" this might not be an option as there is a fair bit of 'adaptation' required to make them fit.
Here is a general idea on what is req'd ....
The worst, for most people, is the wiring harness modification. The newer motors are controlled by an ECU,
which also controls many other things on the newer cars, so the harness must be 'cut down' to the bare essentials req'd to just run the motor.
The cut down can be out sourced to a pro for around $400 if it sounds too scary, but you will still have to blend it into your existing harness!
Next major thing would be the engine to gearbox adaptor plate. needed because unfortunately EA doesn't bolt straight up to EJ

Oh and also a moded EA flywheel to fit the EJ crank!!
A different Y pipe and mods to the radiator inlet/outlet pipes is also needed.
It is a major undertaking but well worth the effort. If you decide to do it there is a wealth of info on this site (search is your friend)
or plenty of knowledgeable people willing to offer good advice.
Good luck!!

John

Esubie · Post by **Esubie** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:50 am

The EA82 is a gutless slug but reliable when running right.

Alternative to replacing it is to get it running right. A lot less work.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:15 am

Yeah, fit a 20 (EDIT - 25) year old EJ from a wreckable cheapy purchase donor vehicle .....has any admitted the EJ was not much chop at this age and needed money spent on it for reliablity sought from the EA82 in the first place ?

There are EA82's and EA82's.

You could get a noisy sports exhaust and make it sound to the brain via the ears (and everyones ears

) that it really goes better . I went that way with EA81, got sick of the noise and 14 years later went back to quiet, but breathes better, then went EA82 with 180,000kms, reco lifters and heads (twin port mpfi ones from one of the other EA82's) and it flies - just doesn't sound like it - yet the traffic I am leaving behind and its want to go beyond speed limit willingly is a worry !

All this on piddly LPG.

A 24 year old EA82 may also need too much work for some. New timing belts and their tensioners/ idler will pull the cams back into more precise timing with the crank. With this job you also get self genuine cam shaft seals, seal proper and the blue O ring for the housing seal sits in. Oil pump seals mickey mouse and a few others, new oil pressure switch will all go toward reducing oil leaks, but then still have head gasket and cam case that may leak oil too - more work or slap on some sealnt to slow things down. A compression test before you do any of the above is best. Check to see dizzy timing is advancing. Maybe the beast needs a tune as well. Someone may have got a really cheap 25 years reliable plugger service out of this beast of yours, and then traded up to a newer thing to spend money the best thrifty way

Esubie · Post by **Esubie** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:29 am

200, 000 Ks from 1990 isn't that much really so it's not the raw Ks that are causing the problem. Mine has 435,000. What condition is the rest of the car in to give an idea of it's useage history ?
How much $$ do you want to invest here ? If it goes alright but leaks oil then it's a gasket/seals issue and prob not terminal.

BTW I wouldn't "rev the guts out of it" if it's leaking oil. That's only going to make it worse.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:15 am

Two things to an EJ upgrade that are the bonus: 1) there's more of them easily available for the conversion or for spare parts! 2) anything is going to be a power up grade over a tired worn out EA82... and 3) it's a power upgrade either way! (Yeah I know I said two, but really it's three)

EJ conversion and "not much work" don't really go in the same sentence - depending on how mechanically experienced you are with all aspects of a vehicle, including the wiring.

With my conversion I took my time to carefully collect parts, do my research then about 18 months (no rush at the time) to get the wiring right. The wiring is the bit to get right, stuff it up and you're in a whole world of hurt. To make sure my wiring was right I floor tested the engine and the wiring loom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUjKbPrZDLM

After this it's merging the EJ loom with the EA loom - not hard to do once you know what needs to be connected in the EJ loom, you just have to find it in the EA loom.

Then the mechanical stuff - three ways to bolt the EJ engine to the gearbox - the most common I would say is to buy/make/steal an adaptor plate with the EA flywheel that's had it's crank bolt holes elongated, then it's EA clutch, some have it beefed up, some don't.
The other way is to take the EJ gearbox and use the front cases to fit the L series gearbox in to. I've done it this way - This is basically the same as using an adaptor plate but you get to keep the EJ factory clutch setup and the gearbox still bolts in as it should.
The last way is to fit the EJ engine with the EJ gearbox. Will need custom gearbox crossmember, gear linkages and most likely tail shaft too.

The engine - it can run with the stock radiator if it's a good one. Don't expect to go offroad with this setup as it won't hold up. There are several options - custom, the BRZ radiator seems to be a new one and a guy on the forum here is using a Saab 900 turbo radiator.

Make sure you fit the engine stay rod, otherwise you'll get all sorts of funny behaviour going on.

The engine mounts can be bolted straight in but they'll sit on an angle, best to put a wedge under them to get them to sit properly. The holes on the engine crossmember also need to be filed outwards towards the wheels.

Really though, just about all the info you'll need to get an idea of what's involved has already been written up in the conversion, mods and performance section of the forum.

If you have any questions from there, drop them in here

Cheers

Bennie

Ben james · Post by **Ben james** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:21 pm

thanks for all of the advice guys. the car looks to be in grate con has all of its log books and an old man owned it intill he gave it to his grand son for work. grand son then sold it to me as he needed a big suv. has full service history. so it looks like a well looked after subie. very clean under engine bay apart from oil leaks. so after reading thru posts iv decided to keep EA82 motor. as I haven't got much cash to play with. dumb question but whats the best engine oil to use as im currently using 20W 50 oil.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:18 pm

15W40 seems to be the best for the hydraulic lifters. Oil may leak out where it not supposed to if the breathers are blocked, check for the small filter pad in the air filter box for one side PCV hose. THe PCV valve at rear middle can block up as well, as can all PCV hoses and the vents in top of rocker covers

Esubie · Post by **Esubie** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 12:28 pm

Looks like I've got 25W/60 in mine but that's cos it's supposed to be for 'high KM engines'. In fact it did stop the little smoke I was getting at cold start. It is in the wrong direction for the lifters tho as Steptoe says.

I don't think the exact grade is going to be critical. Regular service would be more important. Seeing as you have the 'log ' books do they show regular servicing ?

Steptoe : how are those breathers checked ? Pull one end off and blow thru ?

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 6:21 pm

Weber carb is a relatively cheap and easy upgrade.
You'd be surprised how much quicker an L series feels with a Weber and a free flowing exhaust. (doesnt need to be noisy to be free flowing)

Esubie · Post by **Esubie** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:16 pm

It won't fix the oil leaks tho.