mikesgold

okay, im hunting for a nice solid ea81 and trans right now. wondering how hard it would be to adapt spfi to the ea81 in the ea71. read all of this... http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/EA81_SPFI.html and i am wondering a few things. will the ea71 fuse box work with ea82 spfi system? will the ea71 gas tank work or could it be adapted? and would this mod be worth the trouble given the modifications i am planning for the ea81 (cam, decked heads, higher compression)?

im also interested in what will need to be done to the shifting linkage. gonna grind the bellhousing and run stock steering. is there any benefit to solid vs. hydraulic lifters if i use my ea71 pistons, milled heads, ported polished and torque grind cam on the ea81? are these mods detrimental to using low octane gas, stock carb, and reliabilty? i owe you guys a 12 pack already. im racking up beer debt to everyone on here. thanks.

sounds good, this is really helping. everything seems simple and straightforward. i am, however, having a hard time finding a 1981 brat to give up its guts. i am wondering if the later ea81 crossmembers could be made to work by using lift blocks with the bottom holes drilled for later crossmember. will all the stock steering and suspension parts bolt to the later ea81 crossmember? or is this insane? i know i can find ea81 crossmembers. or....is it possible to modify ea71 crossmember to clear the newer engine and trans? i have access to welder, grinder, hammer. i am not opposed to lifting this vehicle. also ea81 hydraulic lifters? better or worse?

thanks for the help. its good to hear from people who have done this swap. okay, so any ea81. any 4spd d/r transmission. 1981 brat crossmember+steering rack and associated parts custom shift linkage (or 81 brat) custom pitch stop (or 81 brat) what about electrical and vaccum? whats the best year ea81 and what year trans to look for? what are common problems to look out for while junkyarding these parts?

i know if i search and read a million threads i can sort of figure this out but i want a clear concise and quick answer. i have a 1979 wagon ea71 4x4. spun a bearing this last week (most likely). is a ea81 with 4speed d/r transmission a bolt in swap? what years are ideal for donor parts? what parts are needed? i know the ej22 is superior but transmission clearance issue, wiring, brakes, suspension are more than i want to deal with. i know the 5 speed trans is better but i am under the influence that a 4spd will bolt right up to the stock cross member and fit in the stock tunnel. please help, i am hoping to start sourcing parts on saturday of this weekend. thank you.

when i unbolted the broken remnants of the horizontal damper the engine+transmission+crossmember dropped out. its my first subaru. i have always assumed that an engine crossmember would be welded. didnt even cross my mind. im used to working on much larger 4x4's. coming from a rock crawling background. building this as a hot rod for the woman. so i bolted it back in using 3/8" grade 8 hardware with splitlock. fabricated a new horizontal damper. put it all together and reattached all the vaccum and electrical that was yanked. test drove it. seems great. fun little car when everything is working. any info on hardware and how to adjust the horizontal damper would be appreciated. thanks.

im new to this forum, just recently picked up a 1979 4x4 wagon. i drove it home 100 miles even though it was a little sketchy feeling. wanted to start working out bugs right away. the first thing that i noticed was a broken horizontal damper. the next was that there were no bolts holding the crossmember to the frame! i think the previous owner is retarded. he mustve pulled them all out to take off the brushguard. first off, im glad to be alive. but i do have questions. my manual doesnt specify bolt size or length and i need to get up and running (safely). im gonna throw some grade 8 hardware through there but i want to get this right before i drive it.