Markus56 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 hey guys! just picked up a '80 brat on saturday! This thing is in really good shape! The interior is in near perfect condition, the jump seats have headrests and seatbelts, and the carpet is still in the bed! There is a little bit of rust on the passenger fender, door, and the wheel wells, but its not bad at all. The biggest problem is the motor is seized, but i can put an ea-81 in there if i swap bell housings? i would imagine the flywheel needs to be swapped too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffanyus Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Wow!!! very nice score!!!! More pics please. I love that color to for some odd reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 So from what i have found, i can take my spare ea-81 engine and use the ea-71 bell housing and clutch to make it fit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O.C.D. Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 What'd you pay for it? Just comparing to my bucket, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sube101 Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I tried swaping before and it ended up not working because the 4 speed bell housing wouldn't fit to the ea71 block Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 The bellhousing you need is the one from the ea81 bodystyle ea71 motors. If tht made any sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 The EA71 bellhousing will not bolt to the EA81 block, been there tried that. What you need is a D/R 4-speed, the tranny will bolt up to the stock crossmember, but unless you get one from a 81 Brat, you will need to modify the shifters and modify a clutch cable from a Gen 2 Brat, as the 81 Brat clutch cable was only made one year and is no longer available anywhere (also tried to find that too). Then you will have to modify the angle of the steering rack to clear the wider bolt pattern of the EA81 bellhousing. Everything else pretty much bolt together. I've done this kind of swap so if you have questions let me know. -Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 ok. i have a ea-81 parts wagon, so i could just swap everything over. i would like to find another ea-71 though, just to keep it stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 have 4 ea71s nice truck not to rusty i love my 80 brat ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 I got the engine to turn over! but there seems to be no compression. :-\ What would go bad to cause something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BratRod Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I got the engine to turn over! but there seems to be no compression. :-\ What would go bad to cause something like that? No compression at all? Could be stuck rings. Low compression? Head gasket. You say the motor was seized, thats pretty indicative of frozen rings in my experiences. Judging by what I have read: If youre not worried about keeping it "original" youre much better off with an EA81. I know I love mine Just my two cents though. T.J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) So what is the best way to make the steering shaft fit with the d/r transmission? And do the drive shaft and cv axles still work? Edited December 31, 2012 by Markus56 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted February 10, 2013 Author Share Posted February 10, 2013 Over the past two days i parted out my 84 wagon and removed the engine and tranny from the brat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted February 10, 2013 Author Share Posted February 10, 2013 The only issue i am having now, is that i cannot figure out a good way to hook the 4wd shifter from the brat onto the D/R transmission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maestro Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 These guys sell rebuild kits for the ea71. It looks like they offer rering kits as well. Not too bad considering all the mods to make the ea81 work. With the engine out you could have the heads ported and polished as well as a cam grind to make up for any loss of power from not going to the EA81 swap. I don't need to rebuild mine but I am pulling the engine and trans for a paint job coming up. While the engine is out I'm going to replace all the seals, port and polish the heads and have the cam ground. Also throw away the hitachi carb and go with the weber and you wont be sorry. The electronic distributor from your ea81 would be nice too. Also if you get tire of those skinny rims that come on those, I know I did, I did a write up on how I made the mag wheels from ea82 cars work on this gen brat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brat78 Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I was going to rebuild my EA71 but one head was bad and sourcing a good one proved impossible. A lot of people had them lying around but I had no guarantee that I wouldn't end up with another bad head. I considered swaps but in the end for practicallity went with a junk yard shelf EA71 complete for $500 with a 90 day warranty. That was going to be cheaper than my rebuild in parts alone. Add labor into that and I am really far ahead. And now I have a reliable driver. Down the road I'll probably go EJ, but that'll be another time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 More progress! tranny and motor are in! EA-81 with EA-82 intake and weber carb! also fit 195/75r14 tires on it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendecker Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 More pics...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 So what do you do, if the key all of a sudden will not fit the lock cylinder, and you cannot turn the key after you're buddy uses his pocketknife to unlock the steering column? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbosubarubrat Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 get a new. the cylinder breaks on the inside when you put a wrong key in or in your case your buddy and his pocket knife, when it does this it makes the tumblers not line up right so it will never work again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 get a new. the cylinder breaks on the inside when you put a wrong key in or in your case your buddy and his pocket knife, when it does this it makes the tumblers not line up right so it will never work again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 new pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O.C.D. Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Sweet, a battery that costs more than the car, lol. How'd you like that Weber swap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus56 Posted April 9, 2013 Author Share Posted April 9, 2013 Sweet, a battery that costs more than the car, lol. How'd you like that Weber swap? The battery was free and the weber is on an ea-82 intake with the trans-dapt datsun adapter plate so it would clear the distributor. Havent gotten it to run right yet. I think i have a stuck valve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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