Time Lapse Head Gasket Repair - Start to Finish - 1991 Subaru Loyale EA82 - Plus Bonus Repairs

This 1991 Subaru Loyale, with the SPFI EA82 engine, was mixing coolant into the right hand cylinder head. It was time to replace the head gaskets.
This timelapse footage shows removing everything to get the engine out, such as the air conditioning and power steering. As well as removing the timing belt covers once the engine is out.
Similar procedure to the last video of the 1986 EA82 Head gaskets.
I show the whole process;
Engine tear down,
Getting the Engine out of the Car,
Prepping of all the parts,
Assembling the Heads,
Assembling the Cam Towers,
Setting the Timing Belts
Setting Ignition Timing,
Installing the Engine back into the Car,
Etc...
New head gasket set from Felpro, new valve cover gaskets from Mahle, new Intake manifold gaskets from Subaru with anti-seize on the bolts, and this engine needed new exhaust manifold gaskets which came from Ebay.
Some extra repairs were made after the job was done to make things more reliable and to chase down coolant leaks. New Coolant Temperature sending unit and water pump from Napa.
I ended up deleting the A/C pump for simplicity in the engine compartment, better performance and fuel economy, and because the A/C was no longer working.
The EA82 engine was Subaru's first Timing Belt Engine (OHC)
Before, with the EA81 and all previous EA engines, they were OHV, pushrod engines.
The process here will be similar for all 1985 - 1994 EA-82 engines.
This engine was used in the wagon, sedan, coupe, and XT variants.

[@peterross6050]

Hi. I love the simplicity of your video. I now feel confident to rebuild my EA82T myself. Thank you so much for sharing this video. I now have a good reference guide. Thanks again for sharing. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

You're welcome, glad you got use of this video. I also have another video of a 1986 EA82 going though the same process, a little more in depth and has more of the part numbers and torque settings. The EA82T is a little different, it is Multiport instead of Single Port Fuel Injection. Also there are a few more ports/attachments connected to the engine. The process for that engine will be very similar besides those small differences

[@leonardlacasse3730]

My 1993 loyale 5spd 4wd EA82 has 346k Love that dude, I had head gaskets done when I first got it 17yrs ago at 122k, they used felpro it blew out at the water jacket with in 3yrs. I did it myself the next time and used factory oem Sub, they ironically have a tab that folds over from the ring right where the felpro blew out. Just an fyi. I replaced them over 10yrs ago no problems. Now i believe I have a valve seal failing. So I be going back in and see if I can get another 200k out of it😎♣️🏁🏴I never re-torqed as is suggested... Thanks for sharing great video and info of the prone trouble spots!

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

I have not re-torqued the EA82 engines either, only the EA81 engines when doing headgaskets on those. Glad you enjoyed the video

[@ashleyhetzel9836]

Thanks for all your hard work! :)

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

You're very welcome!

[@donovangibson7765]

Seeing as you went with a taking belt cover delete, I would happily buy your center front timing belt cover off you! I need to keep the rocks out and mines got a chunk missing...

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

Sorry, but this vehicle was not mine. The timing belt covers went back to the owner in case if they decided to put them back on at some point.

[@donovangibson7765]

​@@creativelivingnorthwestAh! Thought it was your ride. Apologies. Good video!

[@victorHS3993]

Exelente trabajo. Dos preguntas. Como lo sincroniza sin la marca de la tapa de la tapa de distribución?. Y ese motor dobla valvulas cuando se rompe la correa de distribución?

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

Gracias. You said: "Excellent job. Two questions. How do you synchronize it without the mark on the timing cover cover? And does that engine bend valves when the timing belt breaks?" To synchronize the timing without the timing belt covers, you line up the small dots on the camshaft pulleys with the inner edge of the valve covers. They just happen to be in the same place that the marks would be on the timing covers. You can see this in this video here as well as my other video with the Red 1986 GL Wagon. Basically just having the flywheel pointed in the middle of the three hashmarks -III- and having one camshaft dot pointing straight up, and one camshaft dot pointing straight down. This engine (EA82) will not bend valves when the timing belt breaks unless it breaks while in very high RPM. This is because the engine is a "non-interference" engine.

[@victorHS3993]

Gracias. Ya lo sincronice, lo pondré a trabajar sin las tapas a ver cómo va

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

@@victorHS3993 De nada

[@javierencuadra]

thank you so much! is incredible. For me it is very useful. Do you know how to clean and adjust the Hitachi carburetor? it would be great

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

you're welcome, glad the video could assist you. I have not had to adjust the carburetors on my old subarus except for sometimes adjusting the idle speed. There are many writeups online though. I would recommend using ultimatesubaru.org/forum and using a search engine to search for the tuning of the hitachi carb. (the search feature is not good on the site, best to use another search engine like google) There are also many facebook groups about old subarus with many knowledgeable people there

[@javierencuadra]

@@creativelivingnorthwest thank you! I have another question: why did you switch from Hitachi to Weber 32/36 DGEV. Do I need to make any important modifications to the manifold? I found it on Amazon for about $113.

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

@@javierencuadra so that was on the Red 1986 GL Wagon, in the other head gasket video. This White 1991 Loyale still has the fuel injection. Why I switched carburetors in the other car was because I was dealing with an issue with the car intermittently not running correctly. I thought it was carburetor related however it turned out to be distributor related! So the carburetor was switched without it really needing to be. However I still have the original Hitachi sitting on the original intake manifold ready to swap back on at any time if needed. Be careful, if it seems too cheap on Amazon it is probably a fake Weber carb. It should be about $300 for the real Weber carb through Redline. There are writeups online about the swap, however one of the main mods is to JB Weld the coolant passage that would touch the bottom of the Hitachi carb. This is why I used a spare manifold to do the swap and not my original.

[@nicholascrevier2659]

Surprised how recent this video is. I'm replacing the head gaskets on my own 93 loyale EA82 with 210k miles, what head gasket kit did you use/would recommend? I've seen all these posts about FelPro and OEM Subaru but it seems impossible to find any today

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

check out my other head gasket video of the red '86 wagon. it has all the part numbers from the stuff I used. did both engines last spring

[@497491]

que pasó con las tapas de protección de las correas de distribución ?

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

You said: "What happened to the timing belt protection covers?" They are not needed unless the vehicle is used frequently in off road or muddy situations. They are just another thing to take off or get in the way next time going in to maintain something. In later engines like the EJ series, they use plastic timing gears which will wear out fast if left exposed, so in those engines it is best to have the covers.

[@toaster4395]

Surprised this vid is pretty recent?! I just bought one for 400

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

Yup, just did the head gasket on this wagon last summer. Nice, they are still available out there for good deals if you look hard enough. Sometimes they just need a little love

[@toaster4395]

@@creativelivingnorthwest haha yea, don't really get these here in Oklahoma, only really old jeeps lol. learned alot from this vid, thanks man

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

@@toaster4395 you're welcome. I have another video similar to this one if you need more details. Its about the 1986 EA82 I did head gaskets on

[@ellenklima1690]

I like the AC delete. You just used the alternator brackets? How is it working out?

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

These specific brackets came from a EA82 car that came from the factory without AC. The belt used was the smaller one that would drive the AC (it was inboard of the alternator.) It works well. The same setup is in my red 1986, which is in another head gasket video on this channel. If you don't have access to the special brackets, I have seen people use all-thread and nuts to create a spacer-holder that takes the place of the AC and leaves the alternator in its stock location, you would just have to get a different length belt.

[@ellenklima1690]

@@creativelivingnorthwest I'm in the process of doing this along with a clutch and reseal job. I'll be using the stock AC brackets but will brace them as you suggest. I'm thinking about eliminating the clutch fan too since it was not used on non-AC equipped cars anyway.

[@creativelivingnorthwest]

@@ellenklima1690 yup, totally do-able to use all the brackets and not have the AC pump in place. Just have to create something to fill it's place and brace the bracket there. Have seen it done before. Surprising how much the AC pump weighs! If you aren't using it or if it no longer works, can lose some dead weight and gain some efficiency by eliminating the extra drag on the engine by those needless pulleys being spun. Cleans up the engine bay and makes it easier to get to things to!