bertmann73

you will need cv axles and tie rod ends from a gen 2. be shure the axles have the deep sleeves that go on your trans-axle as some are the shallow ones. this will give your axles more travel and prevent them from popping out. if you can find gen 2 hubs that are 1/2 inch wider also. you will get 3.5 - 4 inches total added width. make sure you measure 1.5'' for your extension on the control arms cuz the actual difference between gen1 and 2 is 3". you will also need to extend the struts or strut mounts in one way or another to compensate.. not sure what the measurement is cuz i did a lift and used gen2 struts with butted bottom cases for 5" total strut lift then used the adjusting nuts on the gen2 struts to get alignment camber. in a nut shell its an insane persons thing to do cuz you must commit yourself but it worked great and runs pretty straight.

had to put my former truck in as honorable mention to gas guzzlers past.

Been away for a while so time to pay the piper...hope these will appease...also had a wood wheel in my 62 chev that i regretfully sold last year

sorry gang.. been busy goin to school and workin. Ive been runnin the engine from the brat for a few months to get by but shes tired and ready for a re-build. I just found an engine for 100...guy had it for years and said it was smoking blue when he removed it. when i got it home i noticed it wreaked of old gas in the crank case. pulled plugs and found gas fouled plugs. i tore it down and found good rings and bearings with normal wear and cylinder walls lightly scratched.. my thoughts are carb was flooding out into crank case causing oil to thin and level to rise and get pass rings.........the usual misdiagnosis of bad rings. I could have run it a s is and got 5 years out of it but i already had my other case bored with ea71 .20 pistons, ported heads and intake and cam ground so i ripped out the crank and replaced the rod and main bearings for my custom built engine. i just got done torquing the heads and will adjust valves to transplant tomorrow. then i will start tearing down my sons engine to get his brat tickin again. i have an original equipment single bbll holley? i assume for grabs if anyone needs it....or if anyone still tolerates these. i can see the intake on this engine is different than the hitachi equipped intakes...havent dealt with these yet..anyone got any pros or cons to these carbs?

lift is 3in and needs more..tires are 26 general grabbers a/t. brat is sitting for now as my son is going to help me lift it again. it belongs to him now...tires are now on the wagon.

wagon is the same under as a brat...the whole set-up will work fine with the exception of a longer clutch cable and mods to the 4wd shifting system.. just re-drill the motor mounts about 3/4 in forward and shim the trannt mounts up about 3/8in to prevent tranny bottoming out on crossmember ..i also ran into some problems with cv axles and resolved it by using the deper trans-axle cups from and 80s soob with the original axle shafts... boots were a pain as not much steering shaft to clamp clearance...hence the upper anti pitchbar adjustments to clear it and grinding the bell housing.

I had to pull her engine......tear cant find any donor engines out here to fix the engine pulled from the wagon. i will be on the look out still as the brat will be for my son in 3 more years.

wish you were closer to vegas cuz i would have your 5speed sitting in my back yard. i want to find a coupe to put it and its respective ea 71 in but i may find a leprechaun or a unicorn first

My 78 brat has quads and my 79 wagon has 2....i cant decide which look i love more so i am happy that i have both. anyway 79 dl wagon 2 headlights chrome trim no tach and has (had) factory a/c

same thing with vegas...no old soobs..on flat4lv there are 3 gen 1s and i have 2 of them. i have never owned an ea82 but i hear alot of mixed emotions on this post and from what they say it is a solid engine given you maintain it as you are supposed to but i dont hear about many mods for them. i love my ea 81s as they pack a punch in the gen 1 soobs cuz they are so light. i rebuilt one with ea71 .25 pistons and also ground the camshaft. I ported the heads and intake. the engine ran so good that i blew it up going to arizona.......lack of 5th gear and doin 90 had alot to do with that. I pushed it too early and a rod bearing failed. i just pulled the engine from the brat and swapped it out in about 5 hours and smogged it that afternoon........thats what i love most about these carsi strap a come-along to a garage beam and the engine is out with the turn of 6 nuts and 4 bolts. that would have never happened in my chevy days

Bittersweet Sadly i had to pull the 1.8 from the 78 brat because my crankshaft is beat up. i will be looking for another 1.8 to rebuild later for the brat. I am still gonna pull this one later and transfer the crank into my other block as it has new ea71 pistons and bore....miss my cam too. I ended up removing the 14s and am running the 13s as not to strain this engine before i tear it down. I has to lower the suspension so it dont look so funny going down the street with a 5''lift and donuts. looked like one of my sisters roller skates from the 80's anyway its good to hear the boxer rumble early in the morning.

I would give my left spherical bagged item to have a clamshell wagon........lucky!!! Now you can sit on your tail gate while the rest of us hit our heads on our hatches. best of luck with it and keep us posted.

my first guess is also the ignition switch. there are also wires that are switched to stay on as long as the alternator is turning such as fuel pump, choke and anti deisel valve. if there is a short from these to the ignition it can cause it to run after shut off. also check if coil and resitstor are wired correctly.

agreed...i have a built ea71 from my 5spd set-up that i wish i could put in my ea81 set up but those fat bell hosings are illusive in these pats of the desert. you still get a little more bang out of an ea81 or 82 so the best thing to do is find an old wagon with a 5speed and upgrade to ea81 or 82. as for the steering clearance its all about getting the adjustment on the anti pitch bar atop the engine and drilling the motor mounts about 3/4 in forward. i notch in the bell housing for the bottom bolt 1/2 inch and ground down the stud to get extra clearance. when installing always adjust the pitch bar first then tighten all other engine and tranny mounts.

to get 5speed you will have to upgrade to at least an ea81 or go 2wd ea71 . i did my 78 brat and my 79 wagon which was 2wd 5spd. i like the dual range but do miss 5th gear. the 26'' a/t wheels help get better highway speed but cuts power down. my ultimate goal for my wagon is dr 5spd and ej22....funds are always the issue though.

all struts from 78-85 should bolt up if you can find them in a junk yard. you will have to remove the break line mounts on gen 2 struts as they are mounted to the spindle with the fastening nut on the gen 1s. I have not looked for any struts for mine. but someone here may know where to get them. i had an 84 brat that i swiped them off of. they also have adjusting nuts on them for ride hight. I upgraded to 1.8 and 4wd dual range. as for my 4 speed problem i am eventually going to find a 5 speed dual range as the bolt up with minimum modifications and i hear the differential needs to be swapped along with it so it will be a donor wagon that i will look for. is your wagon 4wd or 2wd?

These engines have a flow of air through the crank case from one side to the other and if the tubes coming off the valve covers on each side crack or come off it will spray all over ive also noted condensation in the engine thinking it was a blown head gasket because of this alternating airflow. one side should go to a pcv valve somewhere that eventually gets routed to the intake and the other side to the air cleaner cleaner....i believe....my soobs have never been stock when i get them....anyway thats how i route my hoses. check the dipstick tube and oil cap as they will leak too if they dont seal up. my dipstick was leaking once and i thought it was the valve cover...i also left my oil cap off after an oil change once.....huge mess. other than that the only oil leaks ive ever had is valve cover gaskets as they get old and harden up after a while.

sounds like you have an odd ball ea81single range. I never heard of one until i met this guy on craigslist who had a bunch of subie parts. i bought a tranny thinking it was dual range until i noticed it didnt have the secondary lever going towards the bell housing. i actually used an old dual range that was roached and transfered the single range gear assembly. the gear ratio in the single range is slightly lower. it took some careful bearing sleeve removal but the gear assembly interchanged fine and now i have a lower geared dual range...downfall is im at 400rpm doin 60 with the small tires. upside is car pulls my 26''tires with ease. i just popped off the spedo needle and set it at 10mph bottom out so it reads somewhat accurate like a mountain goat on trails but struggles a little on steep highway hills.

they look like 75-78 corollas. there were three of them. the celicas were cool too. when i decided to get something small and park my 62 chev stepside guzzler i was looking for an early datsun truck, 510 or old corolla to fix up when i came across my 78 brat on craigslist. as soon as i saw the engine bay and the tiny boxer engine inside i was in love...wifey gave me the stink eye and we fought a couple of days until she gave in...when i was done painting it i could not go anywhere without her calling shot-gun.

I was madly looking a few months ago before i lost my job. i am starting my new job next week.....i am definately interested if not sold in the next few months...I will be glued to this post sure is hot in vegas!!!!

the a/c hoses on gen 1 go straight through the firewall and 2nd gen have fittings right at it. i have thought about removing the core and trying to swap them out but am now selling my other brat cuz i need $$. you would probably be able to do it with some time and resources and a bit of madness. i have looked in to finding a/c components for my gen 1 as i am missing compressor, condensor and variouse hoses but they are tending to be illusive so the thought has crossed my mind. 2nd gen parts are easier to find so its a matter of if the core will fit in the gen 1 air box assembly. then you go from there.

with both of mine i kept the ea71 cross members and support beam just drilled the motor mount brackets 1'' forward as the engine is 1'' wider and 1'' longer and put washers between tranny mounts cuz it hit a little. its all in adjusting thestabilizer on the top of the engine to get the best steering shaft clearance. I also ground the bell housing down about a half inch where the bottom left engine bolt is and shortened the stud.....fits like a glove.

where do we get such wonderful toys!!?? I just use the needle nose and a 12mm. tighten down on feeler guage a little because when you torque the bolt down it usually pulls back on the cam follower bolt a little causing you to have to re- do it. i like the go-no go feeler guages because they have a ridge that lets you know when it is spot on. intake should be 10 and exhaust 14.