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1983 Turbo Brat Questions


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Recently I was given a 83 brat that needs some work. The story on the beast is that the owner overheated the engine and the turbo was leaking coolent. He let the car sit to long and rusted out the cylinders. To make a long story short the guy didnt want to spend the money on it because it was a $2k repair + labor. They dicided to try to put a 1.8 carb motor in it and got as far as installing it (and throwing all of the old stuff away :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: ). The exhaust didnt fit up and the fuel pres. was to high for the carb, and there was a few other problems. The car has an auto with the 4WD transfer case and has been sitting for a very long time (more than 7 years).

 

I would like to go back to the fuel injection and turbo (depending on the costs). My future plans are to find a totaled WRX and drop the entire powertrain i.e. motor all the way down to the wheels and tires but I am a poor student and dont have the fund for that kind of project right now

 

My questions are:

What motors will fit in this thing and about how much am i looking at for costs?

 

How much would a stock engine cost and where would I look to find one?

 

I have been trying to do some reasearch on doing a 5 lug conversion and puting a AWD transfer case and manual trans in it but have not been able to find to much out, If you know anything it would be usefull.

 

Where could I find body parts for it, the drivers side rocker is rusting?

 

Any other info or input would be usefull. (sorry for the long post)

 

Thanks in advance:)

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The original ea81t will be difficult to find. (i take it you no longer have any of the original one?). Not impossible, but difficult.

You could probably find an ea82t (overhead cam turbo) cheaper, and that will fit, but wil require some work.

Any ea81 will fit very easily.

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I just replaced my ea81 turbo with a ea82 turbo, because of problems finding parts for the ea81T. The conversion was simple but time consuming. Took me about 3 months on and off. Engine was a little to large for the engine bay and had to modify the left hand side chassis rail, also exhaust manifold would not fit cause of cross member and oil feeder bolt to turbo so had to make a new exhaust manifold. I had planned to have problems with the new computer and wiring lume. but simply moved computer, wiring lume and engine in car as was in parts car and everything went 2nd time, 1st time I forgot to have power to the fuseable link box, hehe. I am running ea81 drivetrain but all seems to be going well so far. Have a rally in 2 weeks so we will see what happens then :)

 

Good luck.

 

P.S. ej20 is miles to big to fit in engine bay BUT nothing is impossible if you are willing to part with some $$$.

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Where did you get your ea82 engine, turbo, wiring, and ecu? How much did they cost? Is the ea82 capable of puting out some h.p. numbers? I want something that has some get up and go to it, that is why I wanted to try to put a ej20 in. You also said that you had to do some work on the frame rail to get it to fit. What did you have to do? EA82Turbo could you send me some pics of your engine bay marq84004@yahoo.com ?

Is the auto trans capable of holding power? I want to go manual, is it worth it, and is it a direct bolt up? What is better the 4WD transfer that is in it or a AWD?

I have been doing some research and found alot of people that have been puting the 2.2 legacy motor in. I want the car to stay turbo and have reading that the 2.2 dosent like boost. What other subaru motors are capable of boost, puting down power, and fitting into a brat?

Thankyou for answering my noobie q's

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There is a guy in the marketplace that is selling the motor, ecu and wiring harness for a ea81T, I think you may need 10 posts to see the marketplace, but you should be able to post on this a couple of times, in the off-topic and maybe the site help area. I have a website with a few ea81T pics

 

 

www.angelfire.com/on2/richie/Subaru/subsite.html

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Yeah, I admit I am a Subaru freak, especially ea81T. I think the power is pretty good compared to the non-turbo models, the bodies are lighter than the ea82 bodies so I think they are quicker, if not faster.

 

 

Sorry about the pop-ups, going to move my site to my other website as soon as I get a chance, haven't updated it in years.

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An EJ22T out of a legacy has been done, but it would take some work.

 

Whatever you do, DON'T keep the stock auto tranny that's in the brat right now. The 3AT just plain sucks. For ease of installation, cheapness, and decent power, I think swapping in an EA82T w/5 speed manual, and doing some light engine mods would be the way to go.

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