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Will another engine work in 87 RX


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Have an ea81T with no heads

Seems like they are hrad to find and a reasonable price.

Is there another enginet that would fit?

concerned about motor mounts, wiring, bolt ing to manual tranny etc,?

Edited by Turbone
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Where did you get an '84 RX? Those were not imported to the US.

 

At any rate - you can do something like the EJ22 conversion - but there is not an engine that will easily work in place of the EA81T. Yes the heads are difficult to find but they are still out there. I still see these in the junk yards around here now and then. Any EA81T heads will work - '83 and '84 turbo wagon's, coupe's, and Brat's all have that engine. Don't call it an RX because we never got those in the states so no one will have a parts interchange for it.

 

If you are looking for a "cheap" solution.... there isn't one. Best bet is to fix the EA81T - even at $500 for a set of heads you will still be ahead. Trust me. Minimum you could even consider doing an EJ swap for is about $1000 and it's unlikely that you have the resources to do it that cheaply. Usually closer to $2k and up for stuff like that. An EA82T from '85/'86 might be able to run from the EA81T's ECU, etc but those engines are WORSE than the one you have and have just as aweful head issues - so that's not a good solution.

 

GD

Edited by GeneralDisorder
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You could physically fit an ea82t from an 85+ turbo car. 85 and 86 models are very similar schematically, and it may likely be possible an ea82t(vane MAF, mechanical disty) would run on the stock ecu if you were to match all the pinouts.

 

Otherwise, you could throw a carb ea81, or an ea82 for that matter.

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Where did you get an '84 RX? Those were not imported to the US.

 

At any rate - you can do something like the EJ22 conversion - but there is not an engine that will easily work in place of the EA81T. Yes the heads are difficult to find but they are still out there. I still see these in the junk yards around here now and then. Any EA81T heads will work - '83 and '84 turbo wagon's, coupe's, and Brat's all have that engine. Don't call it an RX because we never got those in the states so no one will have a parts interchange for it.

 

If you are looking for a "cheap" solution.... there isn't one. Best bet is to fix the EA81T - even at $500 for a set of heads you will still be ahead. Trust me. Minimum you could even consider doing an EJ swap for is about $1000 and it's unlikely that you have the resources to do it that cheaply. Usually closer to $2k and up for stuff like that. An EA82T from '85/'86 might be able to run from the EA81T's ECU, etc but those engines are WORSE than the one you have and have just as aweful head issues - so that's not a good solution.

 

GD

 

Its just a name used for the 84 EA81T.

We did get the same car here, it was just called the Turbo Traction Coupe. In Japan it came with fender mirrors and RX decals, but everything else was the same as the one imported here.

As for fixing the engine, what about taking a EA81 and making it SPFI?

I thought you were the guru on that mod/swap?

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I thought 1984 RXs had twin carb ea-81s.Seem to remember seeing one in the NZ classifieds.

 

 

They did. The RX and the turbo coupe were similar vehicles but no the same. The RX was actually faster by a long shot. 105 horse dual carb EA81 with a 4 speed dual range dif lock trans if i remember right. It was a cool setup for sure. The turbo coupes were kinda a let down to be honest. You can make them faster but stock...they were just a slightly more powerful EA81...backed by an automatic which took any and all fun out of driving it. 20 horsepower difference over the standard EA81 wasnt really too much to write home about. Doesnt mean i still wouldnt want one though.

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Going from MPFI to SPFI..... never tried that but in principle you should be able to reappropriate the wires going to the MPFI ECU and use them to run an SPFI ECU. There should be more wires than you need since you would be going from 4 injectors to just 1. This will be something that you will want to be *experienced* with electrical to attempt. No doubt in my mind it could be done but if you are going to the trouble of that much wiring - why not just go to the EJ and get an improvement in performance instead of a downgrade....

 

I don't know of anyone that's done that, but I have heard of someone swapping a whole dash and front-end harness from an SPFI wagon into a turbo wagon (but both were the same body style and same year) and apparently it worked out fine. The rear harness plugged into the dash harness and all was well....

 

Being that you are now talking about an EA82T - those are much more common and you can easily get heads for them. Just post in the wanted section. They don't *usually* fail though and if you are concerned about cracks between the valves - don't be. They always crack there and it's not a concern as long as the crack doesn't extend into the exhaust port water jacket (they usually don't unless severe overheating has taken place). I would just have your heads rebuilt if you just have the usual between-valve-cracks.

 

EJ22 swaps are also common into that body and highly reccomended. The retrofitting forum has all the info you need.

 

GD

Edited by GeneralDisorder
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