EA82 pedal box into EA81

[jono]

Ten years ago I asked on another forum about the EA82 five speed into an EA81 body to replace the 4sp 4WD Dr box.

 

Amongst info offered was instead of modifying an EA81 pedal box (PB from here on in ) to take the EA82 clutch cable, someone said he just used an EA82 PB. That word 'just' also applies when someone suggests to just  fit an EJ engine to replace an EA

 

Back then I spottted the PBs were not a direct bolt in, so modded my EA81 PB

 

Full circle, having tossed a few EA82 PBs, considered the whole idea for the better clutch cable design and need the EA82 clutch pedal for the longer pull for an EA82 clutch - no need to mod the EA81 PB and add reinforcement.

 

I have a chunky style RX PB - uses same length cable, just more robust design PB.

 

Looking at the two different PBs:

 

both have same hole spacing for the steering column bolts and the booster studs

 

the EA82 PB as a whole is shorter in length than EA81 PB by about 40mm ?

 

the accelerator pedals are different at the cable pull end at least. Swap over easily, EA82 also has bonus return spring

 

my idea was to extend the steering column end with flat metal plate , BUT, just noticed the pedal pivot bar in both is same distance from the steering column end mounting holes , so, to mount EA82 PB in EA81 against firewall we'd have to alter the brake pedal to booster push rod and the clutch cable would have less distance to sort itself before the firewall exit hole.

 

In EA81, the pivot point for the accy pedal is agaisnt the firewall. If the EA82 PB was installed, that pivot shifts towards the drivers pivot point by about 40mm - OK if you are shorter than me. That mount may need altering, cut off and reweld, or just a simple bend OR it gives more throttle pull !!

 

Simple enough fix then - spacer between the firewall and pedal box would do the trick , but the studs off the booster would likely need extending. This might be done with long nuts/join nuts made up to double as the spacers between PB and firewall/booster. May also need shortening of the boosters studs - a point of no return then.....

 

So, anyone done the stickl shift EA82 PB into an EA81 and got any tips? be appreciated

 

I am doing mine in RHD, but should be no different to a LHD set up

 

Just thinking...if space allows - a spacer made up of a plate to bolt to the booster end, say 110mm square, another of say 6mm plate, with threaded holes and studs to bolt to the PB end, and a spacer of about 75 -80 mm square hollow section tube, all welded together. So, essentially a spacer made up to bolt to firewall to leave in place for when PB ever needs to come out for clutch cable replace etc ???

Edited March 28, 2015 by jono

[jono]

lady luck may have just breezed by .... the length difference when measured roughly ...looks like 27mm.Join nuts are 25mm long, enough to swallow unmolested booster studs and offer safe thread number to add some studs or simply bolt into place. Some fastening device or goo to go with it....off to a US and AUS joint venture hardware to score the extra join nuts

[turbosubarubrat]

ea81 on left, turbo ea82 middle, and ea82 on the right

ea81 with ea82t clutch half welded on

heated up the pedal with the torch and bent it until it was far enough from the brake peddle.

[jono]

WOW! Are you a resourceful dude or what ! Are you doing this right now, or are you sharing your library of pics ?

 

A cut and shut would have been the last thing I would have done - only coz I'da never a thought of it !

 

Thanks for the show and tell

 

The joint country hardware store only had join nuts in imperial threads would you believe ?

 

I intially started thinking if I just use join nuts there would be a long term stability issue as the PB is sort of jammed against the firewall in factory set ups, but playing with one join nut I have,I reckon I could add a 2mm plate to the back of the PB making up the ~27mm and see how things go.

I really should add some pics of RHD PBs huh ?

 

Here in RHD land, a performance mod is to cut the corner out of the flor mat that gets between the underside of the accy pedal and the RHF wheel arch. In LHD world you would not get interference from the trans tunnel surely ?

Edited March 28, 2015 by jono

[carfreak85]

I had to solve this problem late last year.  After owning my 5-speed swapped EA81 for 10 years, replacing the pedal box, transmission mounts and clutch cable all conspired to reveal that there wasn't enough throw in the clutch pedal to fully disengage the clutch.  I had not known this for 10 years, due to the amount of slop in the system.

 

After fretting about the situation and reading some of what jono had already posted, I decided the simplest solution would be to extend the throw of the original EA81 clutch pedal.

 

EA81 in the foreground, EA82 in the background.

 

Cut and ready to extend.

 

EA82 lever arm welded to an EA81 pedal.  Ignore my ugly weld.

 

This was incredibly simple once the measuring and cutting is finished.  I would suggest going this route for simplicity's sake.  Less modification means less chance for error.

[turbosubarubrat]

I did it in my hatch about a month ago. I measured the throw difference and noticed they were different so i combined the two.

[jono]

aha tsb , and carfreak, am starting to think the EA81 clutch pedal has a different shape to it in LHD form cmpared to RHD in the long leverage end. I simply shoved an EA82 pedal in my EA81 PB on that other project EA82 engine and box in EA81 84 Brumby. Worked well on an already modified PB

[jono]

OUCH!! That hurt   A thought just came to me - 'just' cut the firewall snout end off and extend it to suit - use a bit of tsb approach ;

[carfreak85]

What is TSB?

[jono]

what is tsb ??   an acronym for turbo subaru brat - sorry !

[jono]

OK, actions now .......rather than cut two boxes and weld a firewall end of an EA81 pedal box to the RX pedal box - and maybe stuff both in the process I went with the more cautious option:)

 

I have disconnected cables and wires and removed the pedal box and pedals as a whole unit, felt a bit like a midwife for a moment ? and refit of the RX pedal box really needed the clutch pedal extra bits removed and the column lowered to get the EA82 RX pedal box in for a trial fit.

 

I used the long nuts of about 25mm long, four studs from the EGR studs of EGR valve mounting for their minimal no thread zone in the near middle and a washer against the floor, another washer at the back of the pedal box for extra reinforcement and also lines up poifect with the under dash brace.

 

The whole assy needs to be a little sloppy to allow reassembly of the RX pedal section, or, maybe a bfh to knock some of the under spare wheel well bracing of RHD ???  Only need a smidge to get the pivot thing back on.

 

And guess what I found inside ..... little roller bearing races each end for the clutch pivot shaft !! This is where the 25% increase new sale price over a NA wagon went !!

 

There are alloy spacers between firewall and booster, about 12mm thick , maybe 2 and a half of theem could be modded to fit between firewall and pedal box for better rigidity, but am happy with how it all looks and feels at the moment. Stopping to give knees and sanity a break

 

A thought came to me that if I were able to mount this pedal box against the firewall and still get enough clutch pedal throw for 25mm at the fork, and the accy pedal still clears things, and I cut more thread on the brake to booster push rod and extand the front mounting instead - I could get an extra inch of seat to pedal clearance for my legs !! Would also mean no chop and add some to the accy pedal. Woulda been easier to mod the EA81 pedal box for time counted !

Edited April 5, 2015 by jono

[jono]

turbosubarubrats pic of a turbo EA82 pedal box - just spotted it is what I know as an XT pedal box, at least looks same as a RHD FWD5 turbo pedal box. It has the helper spring that looks like a head valve outer spring. My EA82 RX pedal box does not have that spring, nor any helper spring and is a two part set-up with a pedal use a metal rubbing point that rubs and rolls against a bearing surface of a lever set up that is supported by a separate axle shaft , Pics might help eh ?

 

 

in the pic above, the EA82 clutch outer cable mounting block fits where those M6 bolts are, and you can see the metal rubbing block riveted to the top of the clutch pedal. Three roller bearings in all - wonder if they are in the service manuals and which service did the dealer do it ?

 

in the pic below, you can see the hole in the lever with the hardened ring insert for the cable inner pivot pin

 

 

 

Fitment progress is happening, just not entertaining more pedal clearance from driver just yet - got it spaced from firewall so brake booster rod lines up almost without adjustment. The EA81 RHD accy pedal just needed a bend or two - mate !! 10mm mild steel rod is overkill for an accy pedal when it comes to need to bend without heat ! Bent it to sit closer to floor and further to the right and still comes nowhere near original accy pedal stop - namely the RHD wheel well ...but has same distances from brake pedal now.

 

Just hearing noise of accy cable inner trying to saw through the outer cable - the distance from pivot point to cable pull is not same with this combo so will need to measure , cut, weld either reduce or increase pedal length.

 

I did not have to adjust pedal cable pull point closer to firewall as the adjuster at the carb pull end was just enough - used it all up though - thort I'd saved a acy pedal cut and weld !

Edited April 6, 2015 by jono

[jono]

oh turbosubarubrat - you used a cruise control/brake switch in the pedal adjust/stopper hole , or for the ECU - works OK ? Need to do same in another Brumby

Edited April 6, 2015 by jono

[turbosubarubrat]

It works good. I left it there as the bump stop since it was like that in the gl-10, but i will never use the switch because the pedal box is in my wheeler.

[jono]

may need an explaination of 'wheeler' - US term I am not precisely familiar with..so close to wiener though !

 

got some pics coming through that demonstrate the different box lengths and distance from firewall end to the main pedal pivot shaft and lastly the differnt side bends of the pedals - bit different from LHD ones I suspect

 

 

though... the pics look a little similar, from memory the one on the left is the RHD EA81,

then the RHD EA82 RX turbo the one I am installing

and the most right one is a RHD FWD 5 speed XT/ Vortex

 

 

 

and below is a closer shot at a different angle of the RX turbo gear just greased up, felt end seals back in place ...

 

;

 

once it is all working nicely I think it deserves to come out and get a coat of epoxy in black or silver to keep the rusty surface look under a moisture proof seal. The accy cable may be replaced before any adjustment welding of pedal goes ahead in case the old cables dodgy firewall fitting is part the cause ....

Edited April 7, 2015 by jono

[turbosubarubrat]

The term basicly means off road toy or off road rig.

[jono]

aha, very nice toy

 

Not looking forward to crouching in footwell to get a good measure of the acc cable pull point centre difference between original and modified, so...

 

mounted the two pedal boxes on a board, same holes, one at a time and added the spacers as per modified RX mountings.

The difference between the original and the EA82 RX pedal box with EA81 acc pedal is just 2mm.

Need to extend the top section of the EA81 acc pedal to have same centre. By the time I cut some material out - hacksaw blade width - likely be add 3mm.

Plan to drill two small holes either side of the cut, make their centres 8mm apart, so when measure time comes, make sure they are then 10mm apart, taking in the needed 2mm and should be OK. That should get rid of the inner acc cable tearing away at its outer cable noise