Tweety's ea81 build

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steptoe
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Post by steptoe » Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:37 pm

aha, baby screen did not help me on that one. yep, lpg and 22 degrees and not heard a ping. This is the twin port too so she breathes a bit better :p

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El_Freddo
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Post by El_Freddo » Wed Mar 04, 2015 10:14 pm

Tweety wrote:Interesting today. Did the tappets. All werent much off stock gaps 10 and 14 thou. My Platinum plugs (new when engine was new) were set at 32 thou. Adjusted them to 38 thou. Went for a run...mmm lots more pick up and revved out quicker and smoother to 4500 rpm.

Then checked the timing and was 6 deg BTDC. Suppose to be 8 ,10 or even 12. Wondered why. Seems that the angle I put the light on the pulley didnt show the true mark well. painted the mark white and rest of pulley black so its clear. Gave it 11-12 degrees. Readjusted mixtures screws. Test run. now seriously, it shouldn't be a guide to power output but sometimes it happens without knowing it will happen. From rest full throttle and front wheel lifts off ground about 6 inches.
Hasnt done that since supercharged engine. Totally under control and a thrill. An ea81 on song pushing only 650 kgms can be fun. Any higher though and upon ground contact can damage the steering neck.
That's awesome mate! Can't wait to see the results after the dyno tune!

I seriously hope this is the setup you'll run hassle free for many moons to come! Stoked for you so far!

Cheers mate

Bennie
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Tweety
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Post by Tweety » Sat Mar 21, 2015 8:38 pm

Today I did an economy test. First chance riding the trike without towing the camper. Melbourne and return. Total 446 kms fuel = 42.6 litres. = 9.55 L/100 kms or 30 mpg

I'm stoked about this. Speed was 105-110 kph constant to Berwick other side of Melbourne. Used 95 RON. Have been using 98 but 95 runs a little smoother and 98 showed no improvement over 95 in any way.

Spark plug gap had been raised from 32 thou to 38 thou with a little improvement in acceleration and response. Dont know if I should make it larger say 43 thou as recommended in some threads on USMB. Timing has gradually been raised from 8 degrees BTC to now 12 degrees and think it is right on now. maybe even a little too far might back it off to 10. As you guys know it runs rich. With these adjustments the symptoms of richness has deminished a little.

Can honestly say that the smoothness of this motor now is amazing. Balancing must be worth the cost. Certainly the larger manifold and larger carb 38/38 experiment has been successful and that makes me pleased.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Tweety trike- EA81 (full reco 2014) 32/36 weber, SPFI manifold, 9.5:1 CR, VW auto.

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El_Freddo
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Post by El_Freddo » Sat Mar 21, 2015 9:57 pm

Nice mate... Now I want to drop a pot load of money into Redback :p

Stoked you're getting those fuel economy returns. Much difference to towing? And have you got a dyno day booked in yet?

Cheers

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steptoe
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Post by steptoe » Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:46 am

compared to the supercharged version running...what was it ? broken rings, crap compression etc - how do you rate your rebuild for power delivery and drive a bility ?The fuel consumption may improve when you get the rich bit sorted. I hope you have relayed the joy back to the engine builder ....

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Tweety
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Post by Tweety » Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:25 pm

When towing I was getting 24-27mpg the camper weighing 300kgms total. The trike weighing 660 kgms plus me, Deb, Rosie and top box luggage so say 900 plus 300 = 1200 kgms....same as brumby with 2 passengers with a 3 speed auto.

So really good economy. I once got 34mpg with ea81 and 32/36 weber 3 years ago but that was in a trike convoy with some oldie riders doing 80kph lol. So I know its capable of a bit more especially once that dyno is done.

Dyno hasnt been booked yet. unfortunately some time ago I had a new VW beetle master cylinder modified with S/S sleeve and I installed it. Then I stripped a thread where one of the steel brake lines goes into the master. (Always use your fingers for several turns with those bolts before using a wrench)It has a slight leak. Tried to tighten it more and rounded the bolt bit. So that has to be fixed as a priority. Then other bills like RACV total care and electricity mongrels that sent my 6 months of power bills in one hit etc etc. The joys of being pensioners.

Steptoe... the pre rebuild engine was never measured for compression. The engine builder told me bits of an oil ring number one cylinder had made its way to the cam gear at the rear and damaged it. Hence a new gear was found as part of the rebuild. As most here know the engine was purchased from "Rex" of his own Subaru mechanics shop at Wodonga. An older guy he was honest and I liked him. He told me he bought his Brumby for running around in around 1994 off an old lady. It was 2yo. Then in 2009 he rebuilt it with only rings and bearing and admitted the rings were cheapies in that they didnt lock into position. "So on the odd occasion the ring gaps will line up and a puff of smoke will come out the exhaust but it should worry you".

Since purchase I probably rode only 25,000 kms before the "blow up". And in that time went from 32/36 weber to the supercharger to SPFI. I really believe the supercharger caused harm to it. Perhaps some gunk, or the water injection etc etc.

Running the trike now with the 38 and SPFI manifold the only thing the SC had over it was initial take off. I could easily wheel stand the thing with the SC and once the front wheel was airborne could control its degree of decent with sheer throttle. But it was no where near the smoothness of this engine. This engine idles without choke after 5 seconds of starting. I suppose I'm so stoked with the feeling of total newness I cant get over it.

I took the trike to the engine rebuilder to show him how good it idles and revs. He just wanted to sit on the trike lol. When I kept saying how it runs he eventually replied "yeh, bulletproof". Sums it up.

Today I backed off the timing to 10 degrees. So it runs best at that and 12-14 degrees on 98RON. But I dont want to fiddle now. I'll leave the platinum plugs at 38thou.

Anyone having thoughts of rebuild I'd seriously recommend the weber 38/38. I dont know how well it would go on a stock manifold but its footprint is the same as the 32/36 so the adapter plates should fit it. It's response is great and its a little more thirsty by a minuscule amount. And no waiting for that second throat to cut in.

Of course it was a good move for the auto trans. A perfect match. This morning I also adjusted the auto kickdown solonoid. The ideal point is when at 60kph and half throttle it kickdown. Then at 80kph 3/4 throttle for kickdown and at 90 kph full throttle for that rare overtaking job. Remember I now have that torquey cam similar to yours Jonno? Well that results when I'm cruising in a town at say 50kph top gear at 2000 rpm I can give it one third throttle without kickdown and it has the power to smoothly increase speed. I have my test area each end of town. One end has a sharp curve and a hill. It now kickdown into second and remains in second going up the hill accelerating nicely to 80kph or more. You can imagine how this new engine has transformed the ridability. Before you had to set the kickdown to come in more often. Now the torque allows you to not kickdown as often and just accelerate away. Towing is more enjoyable to.

Its still no rocket. But it was never dreamed to be.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Tweety trike- EA81 (full reco 2014) 32/36 weber, SPFI manifold, 9.5:1 CR, VW auto.

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Green_eyed_liberty
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Post by Green_eyed_liberty » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:42 pm

must of been an anual Trike cruise on the Gold Coast yesterday. easily 30-50 Trikes zooming through heading towards the mountain roads

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Tweety
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Post by Tweety » Sun Mar 22, 2015 6:42 pm

Annual United Trikers AGM. Biggest club in the country. They are staying at Tweed Heads. Bit wet up there. A friend of mine has a Boom trike and aquaplaning is so bad they barely do 40 kph anywhere while its raining.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Tweety trike- EA81 (full reco 2014) 32/36 weber, SPFI manifold, 9.5:1 CR, VW auto.

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Post by El_Freddo » Mon Apr 06, 2015 10:27 pm

How many k's have you put on the EA81 build so far Tony?

Quite a few I bet :rolleyes:

I know I wouldn't have any coin in my account - it would've gone into the fuel tank if it were me!

Cheers

Bennie
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Tweety
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Post by Tweety » Mon Apr 06, 2015 11:34 pm

yeh Scott, about 3000 kms I suppose. The engine runs better since I increased the plug gaps from 32 thou to 38 thou (platinum) and advanced the timing to 12 degrees. So the symptom of running rich is still there but less so.

I have a stripped thread in one bolt for the steel brake line going to the master cylinder. Have to book that in tomorrow. Hope they can fix it on that master as it has recently had a S/S sleeve put in.

Have had annoying squeak happening. Tuned out it is a shocker. Munro GT's. Never liked them in any car I've had. might look for an alternative. Its on the end of the list lol

I've finally adjusted the auto trans vacuum solonoid. It took 2 hours of adjust/test ride/adjust etc one quarter of a turn out from all the way in. Finally got it just right. kicks down right on. The best test was up the mountain...doesnt hunt for top gear once it kicks down to second and goes to top gear at the right point of call. Its a big difference to the rideability.

Then a couple of weeks and the dyno is to be done. Guy in Shepp has been recommended Melb side of the old Harvey Norman store. will keep you posted.

As for riding it all the time well, 6 years of praying my work would evolve to a level that the trike would sit there ready and reliable for any ride has got me to leave it polished and happy to leave it garaged. Odd eh. Doin' more gardening and firewood collecting.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Tweety trike- EA81 (full reco 2014) 32/36 weber, SPFI manifold, 9.5:1 CR, VW auto.

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Post by Tweety » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:49 pm

Last week I took Tweety for a dyno.

Engine was lean at idle, lean at cruise and really rich on acceleration.

Mains went from 125 to 143. it ironed out a lot of the up and down lines on the graph but still Matt wasnt happy. So he ordered 145 and 150 Main jets and he reckons 147 will be "IT".

Anyway the squirters were too big also. And I forget the idle jets as to what is required. Matt also will set the timing for the maximum HP. This is critical as Tweety doesnt have timing marks due to the flywheel being discarded for an adapter plate to match the transaxle to the engine.

Comforting to see a real pro working on this engine. So I return Tweety soon for the final dyno.

It only registered 51hp max. Matt explained that there would be around 17-24 hp loss from the auto trans. I didnt think it would be that much but on the road would prove the story. Took Tweety out to the back blocks and am really satisfied with its performance regardless of the figures.

Soon it will be finished.

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Tweety trike- EA81 (full reco 2014) 32/36 weber, SPFI manifold, 9.5:1 CR, VW auto.

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Post by steptoe » Fri Apr 24, 2015 11:41 pm

hang the horsies - how many foot pounds of torque ?

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Tweety
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Post by Tweety » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:25 am

chart reads 65 ft lbs torque. not much eh Jonno? that would be at the wheels wouldnt it?

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Tweety trike- EA81 (full reco 2014) 32/36 weber, SPFI manifold, 9.5:1 CR, VW auto.

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Post by Subydoug » Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:53 am

That's awesome Tweety! Not many ea81's rolling around with that sort of whp. Nicely done. It's amazing how much info can be gathered from a simple exhaust gas reading. With your new cam you will have picked up more meat in your power curve. Peak hp numbers Mean very little to the driveability and feel of the engine.

Tweety looks good on the rollers, sure to turn many heads in the future!

Regards

Doug

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Tweety
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Post by Tweety » Sat Apr 25, 2015 11:29 am

Thanks Doug but

what is the stock ea81 hp at the wheels say Leone automatic?

And stock torque ft/lbs at the wheels Leone automatic?

Would love to know. What I do know is acceleration is on the par with the supercharged engine with less tendency to raise the front wheel off the ground. (which is a good thing)

I'll get a read out of the final dyno soon
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Tweety trike- EA81 (full reco 2014) 32/36 weber, SPFI manifold, 9.5:1 CR, VW auto.

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Post by Nubaru » Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:01 pm

stock figures a re so low they don't get a rating anywhere :p :p

something about sailors and sisters comes to mind, or was it the skin off a rice pudding ??

I wonder if those 120HPat the flywheel plane engines have no torque whasoever ?

Look out - the question mark police are after me .........
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TOONGA
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Post by TOONGA » Sun Apr 26, 2015 9:22 am

these are the figures from Wikipedia

EA-81

The Subaru EA-81 engine was produced from 1980 to 1989 and is a stroked version of the EA-71.
Specifications

Displacement: 1,781 cc
Bore: 92 mm
Stroke: 67 mm
Compression Ratio: 8.7:1
Valvetrain: OHV Pushrod
Horsepower: 73 bhp (54 kW; 74 PS) at 4,800 rpm
Torque: 94 lb·ft (127 N·m) at 2,400 rpm

Found on

1980-1989 Subaru Leone
1981-1987 Subaru BRAT


If you have 51 real horsepower and 65 ft/p at the wheels after an auto transmission, that is rather impressive.

Well done

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Tweety
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Post by Tweety » Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:15 pm

you've made my day. And the dyno isnt finished yet....but I dont expect much more increase.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Tweety trike- EA81 (full reco 2014) 32/36 weber, SPFI manifold, 9.5:1 CR, VW auto.

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Post by TOONGA » Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:52 pm

I did forget to add those figures from Fuji are a benchtested engine at the flywheel, not after an auto transmission or a manual transmission.

Good luck with the next dyno session, just from the look of his workshop and his machine , the guy knows what he is doing. (or has good cleaners :) )

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Post by El_Freddo » Sun Apr 26, 2015 2:18 pm

That's awesome mate!

Can't wait to see tweety again, it's been too long!

Hope the second sesh sees the setup completed ;)

Cheers

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