EA81 3spd Auto -> EA82 5spd Manual

[StinkBinko]

Hello everyone! I have been alittle rat in these forums for 3 years now and decided I may need some help with my BRAT I bought acouple years back. I have a 1985 BRAT near mint with the EA-81. Its got the 3spd auto(yuck) and we finally got a 88’ GL turbo wagon in my local picknpull. Can I just rip out the entire EA82 transmission, drive shaft, shifter, pedals, clutch cable, flywheel, crossmember and differential  toss it into my Brat? Should I also take the axles because I have heard mixed opinions about the different spline count. I understand that many people have to get the adapter plate for the EA81 that allows it to mount to the 5spd. Everyone talks about Jerry’s kit. But that was 13 years ago and I am unsure if he still provides those services. 
Thanks! And please let me know if I need to clarify anything, 

[Rupart]

hi, some of what you need to know: the ea82 turbo 5mt has more splines than the non turbo 5mt so your front axles wont match. most turbo manual trans had 3.7 ring/ pinion, non turbo had 3.9 ring/pinion, so you can use the turbo trans if you also match the rear  diff too it. not sure what the auto trans had in back.  on the pedals, i think you need to use the ea81 style , you may be able to add the clutch pedal or may have to have the whole pedal box. you do not need the ea82 flywheel,, you should use a ea81 flywheel that was a 4x4 225mm clutch, you also need the ea81 clutch, and use a ea82 4x4 clutch disc..   the ea81 and the ea82 flywheels have a different depth where the clutch bolts to them.. use ea81 4x4  flywheel and clutch with a ea 82 4x4 disc, use the ea82 fork on ea82 trans. also use the ea82 throwout brng,, no adapter to mate to eng to trans. jerrys kit has to do with shifter and trans mounts. you would need to put the turbo trans inner cv joints on your axles to make that work out. driveshaft is 2 piece on the ea82, brat and other ea81 used a 1 piece driveshaft. basically you need ea81 clutch& flywheel (4x4)225mm,, and ea82 disc.  also need the ea81 manual trans crossmember!! pedals and stuff from ea81,  and drive shaft, ( will need modified). do get the shifter stuff from the ea82.

[Rupart]

oops,  i forgot to say, i dont know if a manual trans will mount to the auto trans bell housing on your engine. the rear engine cover is also a bell housing/adapter that the trans mounts to. i do know that the ea82 manual trans will bolt up to an ea81 engine that had a manual trans with it,   so if you locate a 4x4 ea81 parts source you might want to get the rear engine cover/bell housing also.. some other member may know if the manual trans will mate to your auto cover/adapter.  the ea82  eng adapter will not work on your engine since it is different. actually the rear of the engines are different, ea81is open,, ea82 is closed block.

[el_freddo]

There’s loads of info about this spread out across this forum. Do a google search with “site:www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum” at the end to bring up results from this forum. 

The EA82 should bolt up to the EA81. I’m betting the auto bellhousing is the same. It was the earlier engines that had the starter mounted above the gearbox that are an issue from what I understand. I’ve not swapped an EA81 auto for an EA82 manual but I’ve done the EA82 auto to manual without issues. 

You’ll need to source the manual EA81 flywheel. From memory you can use the EA82 clutch pressure plate once the EA81 flywheel step is machined to match the EA82’s step depth. I can’t remember what measurement it is exactly now but it’s here on the forum somewhere.

Rupart is right about the difference with the diff stub axle spine count. This box runs the same as the EJs - larger diametre with 25 splines. 

Check to see if that turbo wagon is part time 4wd or AWD. You guys got some different combinations to us so that could potentially be an AWD box. 

Being a turbo manual gearbox, if it’s dual range it’ll have the poor 1.19:1 low range compared to the NA 1.59:1. Huge difference between the two if you need the low range! 

Two piece tail/prop shaft from the EA82 can be made to fit the EA81 body with a centre bearing mount added to the trans tunnel. If drilling holes or welding brackets to your EA81 body isn’t your thing you can have a one piece tailshaft made up too. It comes down to preference and dollars…

Cheers 

Bennie

[Steptoe's photos]

Have you done the job yet ? I used an automatic block for an engine rebuild - it mated to my 4 speed, then no troubles putting the 5MT DR 23 spline output box in. I did mine with the smaller 200mm clutch flywheel using an Isuzu clutch disc plate. Only after some 200,000km I worked out I had a mismatch of where the throwout bearing hit the fingers of the pressure plate. This required my gear shifts to be to the floor or I might crunch gears. My next step was going to EA82 engine replacing the EA81. This is when I needed the extra pull of the L series clutch pedal installed in the EA81 pedal box that was modified already when I did the EA81 + 5MT 4WD DR.

L series EA82 clutch cable needs a 25mm pull measured at the fork. EA81 give 15mm.

 

Come back and tell us where you are at.