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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 12, 2017 11:21:44 GMT -5
Hey guys. I just picked up my first Justy a couple days ago. I've owned probably a dozen Subarus between Imprezas, Legacies and Foresters, but never a Justy. It's an 89 4wd 5 speed car from Tennessee (I live in Vermont, so rust has destroyed 99% of older Subarus in my area) with just under 62k on the clock. The bad part is that the engine has apparently overheated so badly in the past that it now sounds like a little diesel tractor. I plan on taking the block to a machine shop and having it freshened up. Whatever they need to do to make it right. I found a remanufactured bare head on ebay from Canada for 117 bucks I believe. I plan on getting brand new valves, springs, etc. and sending my cam to Delta for a torque grind. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is a really nice carb upgrade. In the Suzuki Samurai world (I have three of these little bad boys too-awesome vehicles!) a popular upgrade for the 1.3 is a Harley CV carb in either 40 or 44mm I believe. I didn't do a ton of research as mine came EFI, but I tried doing some research into use on a Justy and came up with nothing. It is touted as a very simple, beneficial upgrade by many Samurai owners and I think when the time comes, I'll try to fit one on this. Just wondering if anyone has heard of this being done before? Or possibly even some gixxer carbs
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Post by madmatt on Mar 12, 2017 14:23:18 GMT -5
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 12, 2017 19:09:22 GMT -5
Alright, this is a thread I'll start reading here in a minute. Do you have any thoughts on the harley carb idea? The car needs front wheel bearings in a bad way. It came with new bearings, seals, ball joints and a fuel filter in the passenger seat. I haven't looked into how the job's going to be yet. Gotta get some other projects out of the way first. I'm excited to start working on it, but not looking forward to trying to find parts for it. I found a writeup using various McMaster Carr items to fix the sloppy shifter as well as one on firming up the front control arm bushings. I plan on using the SJR? 4" lift kit instead of going low like my cars usually do. Are there any other easily fixable/available wear items for these things that I can start gathering up?
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Post by madmatt on Mar 13, 2017 11:13:18 GMT -5
Front bearings are easy... just use proper techniques to remove the axle, a big hammer and you will damage the threads... so if you don't have a puller, put a nut on the end and tap don't blast. You can pull the axle back through with the nut and various combinations of the hub and washers... I have not come across anyone doing a big CV carb, not saying it has't been done. There is a common weber DGV swap, there is even an adapter plate for it. Remember that the carbed heads have a water jacket in the intake manifold. This makes the FI head the better bet for any tom-foolery with carbs There are few bike carb things out there... using the triple carb arrangement. Last check, no need to send your core cam to Delta, they have cores in stock.
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 13, 2017 17:25:12 GMT -5
Thank you for your responses, Matt. In my very limited time on this forum, you seem to be one of the more knowledgable guys here. This is nothing like the world of Subarus that I'm used to at all! I've got everything to do wheel bearings on the rest of my vehicles so I guess I should be good to go, but I do love an excuse to buy new tools! I did not know that about the coolant in the carbed intake. I should be picking up the other engine (no idea what year, shortblock only, bare block only, head or no head) this weekend and I'll have a better idea of what I'm working with. I did find a somewhat local machine shop who didn't sound intimidated by working on the little guy although he's never even seen one. I suppose if I were to use the carb head that I could build whatever intake I end up going for to just block off the coolant port altogether?
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Post by madmatt on Mar 13, 2017 22:10:47 GMT -5
lot's of similarities with Subaru... not a lot of similarities with "other Subaru's" Where in Vermont? I'm just up in More-ee-all... In the carbed engines, the water jacket and the exit point are all integral, you can't just block them off (the coolant leaves the motor through the manifold). Years ago somebody here started doing throttle bodies with the carbed head, and gave up. Now... that's not to say you couldn't adapt a single sidedraft to the stock manifold, but you would need some machine shop time... Adapting a single side draft to the EFI head would be much easier... HOWEVER, I'm running out of room between the carbs and the firewall. And you can see how short my set up is. I kinda want to play with plenum length, but that would mean curved plenums. If you were to try to mate all three ports to a single carb I would think you would have some funky runner length, or... run out room unless you put the carb in the cockpit
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 14, 2017 7:17:30 GMT -5
Very interesting stuff. I'm at the very bottom of Vermont in Bennington. I've found two online sources for an EFI head (depending on availability-I'll be calling around today. I'm not beyond using a Weber, I've just seen them used on the Samurais by people who later switched to the Harley carb and were much happier with it many times. I'll post up what I find after talking to these companies about purchasing a new head.
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 15, 2017 3:42:31 GMT -5
Well I ordered myself a rebuilt EFI head from Ram Cylinder Heads. He wasn't sure if they had one in stock, had a core on its way back or if he has to find a core, but time is on my side with this project. Hoping to go get my other engine this weekend and get one of them to the machine shop. I'm planning on buying a new balance shaft chain but I can't find the chain guide anywhere. You think I'll need a new guide? I haven't dug into my engine to see the condition of mine yet, but I like new parts where I can get them. Also, I haven't been able to find a new oil pump but I came across a repair sleeve kit for one. Does that sound like something I should get?
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 18, 2017 13:21:59 GMT -5
Went and picked up the other engine today. It's more complete than I was expecting. Everything from the intake manifold to the original exhaust manifold and cat. No engine accessories, but the car was complete already. Still got the distributor and spark plugs in it and it was sitting in the guys shop so I think it should be pretty decent on the inside. I'm excited to start tearing into it, but I'm trying to get my turbo Impreza wagon project out of the garage first. I should have the new EFI head within the next week. I'm assuming that the carbureted intake manifold will bolt to the EFI head (hopefully I'm not wrong). I'm thinking I'll try to build something like www.lowrangeoffroad.com/sidewinder-suzuki-samurai-cv-carburetor-installation-kits-40mm-or-44mm-seu-cvck-40-seu-cvck-44.html to mount a 40mm Harley Davidson CV carb to the carb. intake. Has anyone here ever heard good or bad about the engine kits from cleggengine.com? They show a kit complete with a full gasket set, pistons (standard, .020" and .040"), rings and rod/main bearings (standard, .010", .020" and .030") for $215. Seems like a no brainer to me for that price. I'm hoping to tear this spare engine down this week and get it to the machine shop sooner than later. I've also seen mention of the balance shaft bearings being impossible to source. Is this accurate or is there a different part number someone has come up with? I want everything to be as fresh as possible.
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 19, 2017 6:29:28 GMT -5
Well I've got the spare engine down to the shortblock. The cylinder walls look awesome. Crosshatching still clear as day where I can see and there's no rust or pitting anywhere that I can see. Everything seems to spin very freely and everything came apart beautifully. This engine has at least had the head gasket and timing belt replaced in the past, so I've got hopes that it was at least somewhat well maintained. I'll let the machine shop disassemble, repair/replace and reassemble the shortblock at this point. I'm getting excited about this little car once I can get the damn Impreza out of the garage. Been chasing oil leaks for the last week. Should have just left it stock and I'd be driving it by now, but my short test drive yesterday put a smile on my face that only boost can provide
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Post by madmatt on Mar 19, 2017 13:33:25 GMT -5
Ahhh I see this is a kit that makes a 90 degree bend to the downdraft intake... seems like a lot of bending air The carbed intake will not bolt to the EFI head. Completely different beasts...
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 19, 2017 19:11:18 GMT -5
That's bad news. I don't have an EFI intake. Time to start scouring the web.
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 19, 2017 20:54:27 GMT -5
Ok I ordered an EFI intake manifold and a 40mm Harley carb. Tomorrow I need to find out about a balance shaft chain guide and balance shaft bearings.
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Post by madmatt on Mar 19, 2017 22:15:53 GMT -5
Why are you so keen on the 40mm CV that is sidedraft?
The engine bay doesn't really make sense for the application...
Where are you going to put it? It won't fit against the firewall, and it won't fit under the hood if you do a riser to go forward.
I love making stuff work, I'm just questioning your reason to stick a carb in there that is difficult to locate...
Before you order... plan.
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 20, 2017 3:50:43 GMT -5
Well, the car is still part of a good sized snowbank and the green samurai took the open spot in the garage yesterday. If it turns out that I can't make it work, that carb will be perfect for one of the other Samurais and I'll suck it up and use a Weber. In hoping to talk the wife into bringing the short block to the machine shop for me on Friday and I'm hoping to see some of my parts come in during the week.
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Post by madmatt on Mar 20, 2017 10:16:13 GMT -5
I'll come back with... you could make it work... but I think you would be out of room with the stock carb manifold. You could bend it 90 degrees to the left or right, and have it face the side of the car. That might work. If you can make your own plenum, you could do some funky long runners and have it at one end or the other. Lot's of options. You might be able to use the stock EFI runners all the way to the throttle body... and replace the throttle body with the carb. Now there's an idea! Could also go with something like this lh6.ggpht.com/_7EUAij74Ycw/SeaP05Hkw-I/AAAAAAAAUXE/FLyr1BD4gZw/s800/DSC00140.jpgOr this www.streettunedmotorsports.com/parts/b/ams_evo_f1_intake_manifold2.jpgBut I'd be a bit worried about fuel puddling out of the mixture. Maybe not... They do that sort of set up for blowers... so...
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 20, 2017 14:03:39 GMT -5
I think you might be onto something there. I was pleasantly surprised to see that both the intake and exhaust ports on the carb. head are round. Not sure if the EFI head is the same, but I was thinking I may build my own header and might have to do the same for an intake manifold. It just so happens that I work for a large HVAC company so metal is free and plentiful. It also helps that I just bought a sweet welder and plasma cutter that I haven't gotten to even try out yet. I appreciate your feedback, Matt. I've found there aren't many people to talk Justys with lol
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 21, 2017 21:15:31 GMT -5
I got the EFI intake manifold in the mail today. I think it will be rather simple to attach the Harley carb. A short piece of 1 3/4 ID pipe with a flange on each end. It should take up far less space than the factory throttle body and plumbing and I may make my own ram air type system. This just gave me a confidence boost.
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Post by austynn2001 on Mar 22, 2017 10:23:35 GMT -5
I stand corrected. I was looking at the carburetor backwards. It will be even easier than I thought. Only one flange to make. Anyone (Matt - I think we're the only two people who visit this forum) know what the factory carbureted fuel pump puts out for pressure and if I could find a new one if I had to? From what I read, the Harley carb likes about 2 psi.
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Post by madmatt on Mar 22, 2017 13:28:57 GMT -5
If I recall correctly the stock pump is in the 4-6 psi range... It is a standard Facet type.
My minkunis like 2 psi as well...
I used the stock return with no pressure regulator, and have had no fuel puddling issues.
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