Waterboxerz

Ideally, I'd like to configure my GLF coupe for autocrossing and rallycrossing, but keep the car clean and innocuous enough to pass off for street driving, so I can sneak up on those riced-out Civics and still remain low-key. I've driven manuals for the bulk of my time behind the wheel, and find most automatics lacking the capability for spirited driving. With this in mind, the 3-spd auto in the GLF has got to go! In the last few weeks, I've found two good donor cars for a transmission swap. Both are early EA81 cars, one is 2WD and the other 4WD. My battle plan is to eventually go 4WD, but I'm wondering how suitable the early EA81 4WD tranny is for the rigors of autocross/rallycross. Is there a 4- or 5-speed tranny out there what would be more suitable for this project? I kinda suspect that a 4-spd D/R tranny is the wrong choice for this application. Besides, I'd rather tow that whole donor car home and refit it for off-roading. It's the perfect year/color for my taste. Thanks in advance for the input!

Amazingly, there exists a junkyard in northern Alabama which contains a small cachet of Subies. Almost all of them are EA81's. One beige '80-'81 4WD wagon, a blue '83-84ish Hatch, a beige '81 BRAT, and a grey '82-'84 wagon. There's a Justy, too. I know the beige wagon is a stick, and the Hatch and BRAT are automatics. Anyone in the area looking for EA81 bits? Dibs on the BRAT's window crank, and the 4WD wagon's driveline. Mebbe the 3rd eye, too. The GLF's getting some toys. Edit: Supposedly, there's a junkyard in southern Alabama between Birmingham and Wetumpka that has a huge stash of Subies as well. More info to follow, as I can dig it up.

Got my cylinder heads back from the shop yesterday, and they're looking pretty good, except for the dorky "tattletale" warranty stamps that fail if you overheat the heads. They did a good job of welding and replacing the valve seats, and taking .040 off too. I'm almost ashamed at how clean they are as compared to the rest of the block. Here's the "before", note all the damn cracks! The one on the #3 cylinder almost penetrated the water jacket! And here's the finished product! Got a stamping kit to mark all the pistons before popping then out of the block. Was somewhat of an exercise in futility, once I got a good look at the #3 piston. I suspect they're not supposed to look like they've been gnawed on. So, here are my current questions: 1) I have heard rumors of the later EA81s having bigger valves than fossils like mine. Is there any truth in this? When I had the heads rebuilt, I was tempted to ask them to get the later valves, but I figured that I needed to research this story further before acting on it. 2) I talked with a buddy of mine who's been building racing VWs for many, many years, and he brought up an idea which had occurred to me, but I simply hadn't asked yet: Has anyone ever "pinned" the bores on an EA81 to keep 'em from spinning? If I have to bore the cylinders, the discussions of spinning the bores worries me. I inquired as to the extremity of boring .030 on the engine, and my friend laughed it off, saying that the figure is essentially a 1st overbore on American iron. However, I doubt that figure is a blowoff on a Subie. Any feedback would be appreciated. 3) If boring the block is bad, then can anyone suggest a good source for a set of new or good EA71 pistons? I'd prefer to go with stock size, but I'll work with whatever's available. Thanks! - Sean L. '80 1800 GLF coupe owner and worshipper

Does anybody know anything about Badger pistons? Two sets for 1600/1800 on eBay, one's .030 overbore, and the other's .040 overbore. Not sure if this will give the compression ratio I'm looking for, and I'd prefer not to bore the block unless these pistons would actually improve the ratio. Thanks in advance. Now back to cleaning the block.

Since the nature of this beast is gonna primarily be an autocrosser, I'm looking for the power up near the top of 2nd or 3rd gear. All the running I've done so far with my roomie's MA70 NA Supra and my Audi GT have kept the engines near the rev limit in those two gears. As for the cylinders, all I intended to do was a light dust-up with a bottlebrush hone. Nothing too tricky. On the manifold, I'm considering pulling a spare off a junker motor, and welding the bases to a set of 34mm Dell'Orto manifolds from a single-port Beetle, and then matching the ports. Lotta work, but this thing could be a hoot with dual carbs.

Sure. If the pistons are thick enough, would it be feasable to spot-face 'em a bit for valve pockets? And where can I get my hands on a set of EA71 pistons?

Hi all! I hadn't been able to put much time into my '80 1800 GLF 2WD coupe for a while, but my roomie and I finally got into a house, with a garage! So the project begins... Pulled the motor out and disassembled it. Blown headgasket on the passenger side made for some ugly oil in the pan and some minor crud in the bores. Both heads were cracked into oblivion. They have since been rewelded an rebuilt. Lifters have some carbon crud on the faces, and the cams a little pitted. Crank looks okay, but it'll definitely need new rod bearings. My plan is to send the cam off to Stratus (if they're still doing Subie cam regrinds), and have the crank cleaned up by a reputable machine shop. The heads were done by a good shop, and were decked .040 each to accomodate the Stratus cam. From what I understand, this bumps the compression ratio up from 8.5:1 to around 9.2:1. Are those numbers reasonably accurate? Also, I remember reading somewhere that the 1600cc Subie pistons would fit the EA81, and that they increased the compression ratio too. Is this true, or merely smack talk? Finally, could the engine accomodate both the 1600cc pistons AND decked heads? I'm sure I'd be getting close to having interference between valve and piston, and I'd rather find out now instead of during reassembly. If it might work, does anyone know where I can get some 1600 pistons? I intend to use this car for autocrossing, and possibly some rallycross, and have a little fun on the street with it, presuming that I can mod it that much and still get buy with hi-grade pump gas. I'd seen a fair bit on EA-81 aero applications, and the power numbers looked pretty good. I do plan to change the pully sizes to prevent the water pump from cavitating at higher RPM. I'm also looking at ways to modify the intake manifold to fit on the now-shorter longblock, unless anyone knows of a set of Baby Del'Orto manifolds for EA81s. I feel that old Subies get no respect around here, and I figure that if I can get this car running well, I can back up my sig line. Thanks in advance for any info. Sean L. '80 1800 GLF Automatic beige coupe Huntsville, AL Stalking an '80 GL beige wagon as well!