andrsn

Good to know, I've always wanted an excuse to go in there and check out their awesome looking machines. I always peer through the windows when I walk by...

That's too bad about your experience at M&B Cylinder. The owner was really friendly but I could see some stuff getting lost in that shop... it wasn't highly organized looking... I just had a flywheel surfaced there, which is a much simpler task than an engine rebuild. I've also gotten some motorcycle engine work done at Portland Engine Re-builders a long time back. If you search their price list, they actually have the ea81 engine listed but I have a feeling that price list is a bit old so I'd call down there. I've gone with a 5spd/ej22 swap myself but its true, low mile engines are hard to find, i felt lucky to find a great running parts car with 120k on it...

I've gotten some work done at M&B Cylinder heads in North Portland. When iI dropped a fly wheel off the other week the guy who runs the place was showing me some 2 ej22 turbo engine rebuilds he was doing. He razzed about redrilling my flywheel for an ej swap but was a super cool guy and his ej22 builds looked sweet.

I've got some 'US Wheels' brand wheels on my car. They are the steel 8 spoke style 14", they look great. You have to drill new holes for the 4x140 pattern. other than that you'll be looking for used subie or peugeot stuff...

I always look on the ad to see how long its been posted. People put crazy prices on stuff all the time, just wait a while and make a reasonable offer. I still see deals pop up often on craigslist.

I've snapped off an extractor before, its a bummer... The best luck I've had getting corroded bolts out is LOTS of heat, if you can get the stuck item cherry red hot it should be enough to break down the rust/corrosion bonds. Doing that near critical engine parts can be problematic though given the possibility of warping something. I would only recommend trying that if the bolt is still exposed not if it is flush or near flush with the surrounding surface. I resurfaced my ea81 heads a while back. I machined a super flat/large piece of aluminum and wrapped it in sandpaper. It did a fantastic job. I measured my block while i was at it and it was totally fine. Measure yours, i bet its fine, it would take some serious heat to warp a block I would think. I also did my valve seats manually with lapping compound, worked well.

Hope nobody minds the revival of an old thread but this is the most pertinent thing I can find to my current situation. I've got a manual rack on my lifted ea81 and I'm trying to get the steering linkage figured out. Why are the linkage requirements different? Just the force required to turn the wheels in a manual vs. power steering equipped car I'm assuming... Here are my current possible strategies, please weigh in: 1. I've got an early legacy double u-joint unit on hand. I could extend the legacy u joint in the center by a few inches, remove the 'rag joint' near the rack and shorten the shaft bolted on top of the 'rag joint'. I think this would work well because it would minimize the abrupt angle I currently have between the steering shaft and the rack shaft. I was a fan of this option until I read this post and it says "None of those would work for a manual rack." 2. keep the rag joint, extend the shaft bolted to the top of it and use the original single u-joint. I mocked this up at first but I can't imagine I won't have some serious steering binding issues given the angle the two shafts will come together at.

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into re-working how I've got it set up for sure. The angle from the steering shaft to the splined rack shaft was almost 90deg. after the lift when everything was stock. It definitely looked wrong.

maybe you could remove the spacers and drill a hole into the side and weld the studs to stop them from spinning?

naw, there are spacer type things that have a pipe leaving them to go into an emissions system. You can see them clearly in photos about 1/2 down this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/98113-help-with-ea81-motor-mounts/ I remember them from my old ea81 engine. I don't know about sourcing replacements, might have to head to the junkyard.

I've just about got the steering figured out. I got my engine and transmission installed. I've read you need to shorten/lengthen the drive line a couple inches when doing this type of swap but mine is only short about 1". I'm not too worried about it. I'm having a lot of trouble hooking up the shift linkage though. Does anyone have a picture/diagram of how it all goes together? I bought the transmission already removed and just have a box of linkage pieces... Anyone able to help?

I finally realized these coupler parts are also called 'rag joints' after that search I found that older VW's use the same size coupler. If anyone needs one try searching for vw couplers, they are widely available and cheap.

I've been getting my steering linkage back together after a lift and realized that my steering coupler disc has a big deep tear in it. Does anyone know where to buy a new one? I don't see them on rockauto or ebay. The part I'm looking for looks a bit like this: I'd also like to find a polyuretane one if possible. Maybe I'll track down a blank and drill the holes myself.

I've been doing a ton of work to my 83' BRAT since the late last fall. 2/3 lift with General Grabbers Rear disc swap 5spd D/R swap EJ22 swap Custom tube roll bar and front/rear bumpers Here is a picture of it currently: As I'm working through everything I'm gonna post questions in this thread, hopefully ya'll can give your input and help me get this thing back on the road. I'm re-installing my steering linkage. I have an ej22 parts car and stole the linkage out of that for more flexibility in my set up. The linkage angle going from the steering shaft to the rack looks extreme. To reduce the angle I could remove and shorten the steering shaft, the splines would still engage and I could mill a new bolt slot no problem. Should I even be worrying about this? Also, can I remove the original round rubber connector just above the steering rack since i have a more flexible joint in there now?

i've got a 1990 sedan i'm parting out. i'd sell you the struts cheap if you wanna come swap your bad ones for my good ones...

If I would have seen this earlier I would have offered my 14" pugs for sale locally. Hope to see that ride around town sometime...

I'm gonna start a front/rear bumber build for my BRAT soon, thanks for posting all the pictures.

There is also this place here in Oregon, looks like the same scorpion wheels being sold in Aus. Not sure if they're still available but they look to be... http://get-primitive.com/46-wheels-rally-race-street

Here is a good example made by another user of how they should come out. That lip is super important, it'll center the adapter to your hubs correctly and should aid in the power transfer as stated before. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/137844-matts-gl-sedan/ I considered making a set for my BRAT project but ended up with a set of pug's from a friend. I've built a few sets of motorcycle wheel adapters to allow the use of modern front suspension on vintage bikes. There isn't anything too hard about it, just measure everything really well and plan your operations out. If you build jigs for set up it makes it go waaaay faster the second or third time around.

Is it the general rule that any car with rear discs and the funky 4 bolt stud pattern should be compatible? I would think that is true... can anyone confirm that?

I always try to resist adding more threads to the forum, but I'd love some follow up on an idea I have. I'm currently doing a 2/3 lift on my 1983 ea81 brat. I've been reading up and down the forum on the strut block angle and have settled at 14deg. The blocks will be constructed from 1/4" steel plate/tube. I was thinking of cutting the bottom plate to have slots so the camber could be adjusted as many aftermarket products accomplish for other vehicles. During my research I came upon a few threads where member GeneralDissorder had mentioned something similar but I couldn't find that anything had ever come of it aside from a personal set of strut blocks he made for himself. I'd like to solicit feedback on the adjustable camber strut lift blocks, has anyone done this and had issues? I'd like to save myself the pain of going down this path if anyone knows better than myself. The only issue I could see would be having the strut mount bolts slip in the slot, I may address that by running set screws into the slots from opposing ends to hold the strut stud in position. I have one more question, I never saw reference to the rear needing angled brackets for lifts, I'm guessing that's because the shocks are more vertically oriented? thanks

You are correct, thanks for pointing that out.

This is the best tutorial I've seen, its really clear. I'm in the process of doing the same. http://offroadingsubarus.com/rear-disc-conversion-on-ea81-ea82s/ You should not need new hubs. You just need backing/mounting plates, calipers, pads, rotors and hose. I believe any Subi with the funky 4 bolt wheel stud pattern with rear discs should work, the only caveat is the donor car and your car need to match regarding FWD vs. 4WD. Someone correct me if I'm off on that...

Thanks for the quick reply and offer, I appreciate it.

I'm gathering parts for my EJ22, Dual Range 5spd swap into my 1983 Brat. I have a great running EJ22 donor car and a working D/R 5spd transmission but the transmission didn't come with a flywheel. I've located a flywheel out of a push button 1988 GL Turbo Wagon. Does anyone know if the flywheel will be compatible to my set up? I just want to be 100% sure before I got buying parts I don't need... Thanks!