ea81>ea82 conversion ideas and contemplations

[MilesFox]

i have some ideas between 2 ea81's involving ea82 parts

 

1st there is this 83 turbo wagon 3at ea81 turbo 88,820 miles. this car sat for 10 years with a seized turbo. i changed the fuel pump and it ran and drove 35 miles. it sat another year now its in wisconsin. the fuel pump did not come on but its wired to the coil. anyway the wiring harness and ecu works

 

2nd there is this 84 gl-10 sedan 66.000 mi with cruise control and power steering, ac, digital dash and velour door panels, sunroof. its black with blackout trim and black bumpers(stock trim) and a trunk rack. the door has a dent and the paint is way faded. its a fwd ea81. it also sat for 10 years with a blown head gasket. me and a buddy pulled the motor by hand and did the head gaskets in the spare tire. got it to run but the carb was whack and the exhaust caught on fire. no damage. this time around we swapped a hitachi carb and iintake to replace the dried out weber. blew out the gas lines and installed a fuel pump and throttle cable from an 85 wagon. ran and drove added coolant and water in the oil. so much for driving it back 400 miles. the car was put together enough to run so the ac, ps, and a whole wreck of vacuum lines will need hooked up

 

anyway here are some ideas in mind:

 

ea81 option-

 

83 wagon: remove turbo and use y pipe non turbo mpfi. would be a dog with 7.7 compression.

take gl-10 motor and use block for ea81 turbo build, or n/a mpfi

swap on an ea82 carb compressin block. use 86 intake, heads, and a turbo from ea82. a lot of the components on the ea81 turbo are very similar to ea82's, and also the battery, air box, and coil are like that of an ea82 in location. since ea81 was only turbo 83 an 84 subaru wouldnt scrap the design they would have moved it to ea82 until 87 with the optical disty.

 

now with an ea82 motor for n/a an ea82 y pipe willhave to be used, the ea81 y is too short to clear the frame without the spacers on the exhaust ports

 

this car has an at a 5spd ea82 could be swapped from with the crossmember from either the gl-10 or maybe this brat. an ea82 crossmember could fit with trimmong to the radius rod plates and maybe some washers of sorts. the diff could come from an ea82 or maybe this brat.

 

84 gl-10

swap in an ea82 carb likeit is, plug in the hitachi to what electricals there are for it. the ea82 motor will fit at the expense of the hill holder. the flywheel can be drilled out for the ea82 or an ea82 fwd 5spd flywheel can be used. maybe this brat, there would be a gas tank and a rear end for a 4wd conversion. if so either 4spd or 5spd dual range.

another idea would be to put in an xt6 full time 5spd with an ej22. and 5 lugs. WHAT?! yeah:banana:

 

anyway here is some pondering i have not yet mocked up for possible fit. i would like the idea of using 5 lugs without modifying lower control arm mounts. now in order to get 5 lugs on the fron is to use ea82 dimension geometry for the right axles. it appears to me that at least on ea82, 3at turbo has the same diameter DOJ as the 25 spline turbo axles, xt's and legacy. the 3at is ideal for use with 23 spline non turbo trannies such as the part time 5spd dual range.

 

the 83 turbo wagon has 3at, and is turbo. the doj's may be smaller like regular 4wd or ea81 doj. but the axle shaft appears to be fatter than regular

 

now, it has been known that the front half of the cv comes apart as well, if not to get the bearings out but to just take it off the axle shaft. now what would be neat to figure out is to see if the ea81 turbo axle will fit on the xt6 or legacy doj. or maybe impreza

 

another thing about axles in general. my buddy has a 93 impreza 1.8 fwd 5spd. the clitch disc is the same as ea82. he swapped legacy struts/axles and the doj ws too big. so it appears that the impreza 1.8 fwd 5spd is 23 splines and not 25.

 

now, the impreza axles will work if we went to ea82 suspension geometry. but the goal is to see if the outer end of any ej or xt6 will fit on the outer end of the ea81 turbo axle shaft and the doj and maybe the bearing housing from an ea82 3at will fit on the inner end

 

if this would work it would be the key to unlocking ea81 5 lugs using stock parts

 

of course we will have to use xt6 or legacy/impreza struts. i have used 5 lug on an ea82 with 2wd legacy struts. i have seen 93 impreza struts on an xt6, "modified" maybe the part the knuckle fits was narrowed(must look for a weld)

 

anyway in the ea82 the strut cap was swappable, ea82 on the legacy strut, so there was no modification to the holles

 

also i have seen ea82 strut in the ea81, holes wiere drilled. the triangle of the strut cap, one corner was trimmed down for clearance. one stud was forward in the sock hole and the other 2 back squarely from the front. so aside from drilling 2 holes the struts can now fit an ea81 suspension.

 

by using the xt6 knuckles or even ea82 knuckles for that matter, the ball joint holes can be drilled out. the ea81 holes are actually bigger so the xt6 may just fit as is. i modified ea82 holes on the xt6 swap to it by drilling stepped holes, start with big bit so deep then smaller one. but a tapered reamer is best for integrity, should i find one

 

now if we can keep the ea81 geometry and not have to resort to the modified crossmember and ea82 geometry, there will be no involvement with swapping out tie rod ends. ea81 tiie rod ends are bigger than ea82's, if i remeber the xt6 holes are the same as ea82 so the knuckle tie rod hole will have to be reamed, using ea81 tie rod ends. the xt's curve differently they will thread on but i would measure any difference in geometry, as they are a little longer

 

for the rear the xt6 5 lug will swap on like any ea82 disc brake. an ea82 trailing arms can be used bt making a notch in the trailing plate on the side for the brake line, and drilling out the holes on the tube frame and using ea82 bolts. i have done this to my car id it worked but i seen it on another car and it was cambered in with the lift. the one on my car was lifted was way negative on camber. it was ok with the lift removed. for weight considerations ea82 coilovers could be fitted to substitute the shocks, double suspension

 

now say for instance the ea82 suspension was used. it would be possible to locate the mount for the ea82 swaybar as the trailing arms would accomodate them. the car would have an ea82 track in front and an ea81 track in rear, even when using ea82 trailing arms. the only way around that would be to retrofit an ea82 tube frame, such as in a fabbed lift. but i know of some ford trucks being narrower on the rear axle, for turning.

 

the idea of all this has been mocked up or built either way except for the axle ideas. what kind of ideas would anyone know about the axles, such as dimensions or measurements, would any cv axle outlet know about these possible fitments. if a custom axle can be "made" from a supplier couldnt we make one from stock parts?

[SkankinPickle]

This is where the latter parts of the scientific method come into play. Wonder who is going to have the first non-brat EA-81 five-lug vehicle in north America????

[MilesFox]

maybe myself. just only if i had the parts to mock up. ea81 turbo wagon rx conversion i foretell to the future! trashwagon8

[archemitis]

fox, you still in sconsin? i have a complete 5 lug swap sitting here on my garage floor. i like 6 lugs, so i dont see myself using it anytime soon

[MilesFox]

yo im in columbus right now today. but im in indiana till the alliance meet. IMMEDIATELY after the alliance meet im moving to amillawauka wis-tune permanently.

 

anyway what kind of deal would you make for the parts? we are running out to IOWA between tues and thurs after memorial weekend, what will you be doing. we could use some drivers as we will be attempting to bring back 3 or 4 vehicles in one trip. gotta have a trashwagon replica before june 4 for the power tour.

 

anyway keep in touch and hold on the parts for me if they are not going anywhere

[MilesFox]

ok the other day i was playing with this car:

 

i got it running after it sat for 10 years with a bad turbo, drove it 30 miles, it sat for another year. i had to replace teh fuel pump again, this time with one froma turbo ea82. the damper on the end leaked so i rippedit off with a pair of pliers and connected to whats inside. anyway i got this car to run again for the 2nd time, since last year

 

it smokes like a bizzle, choked me out all night. anyway i have an ea81 turbo and a broken downpipe suitable for modification. this car does not have the water cool retrofit so i will have to pipe into the heater hoses. also i have a spare heater core i would like to make an auxiliary turbo cooler out of. should it be before or after the turbo? anyway this is the first step with this car. im a long way from any motor or tranny swaps as of yet needing to accumulate a pedal box and a crossmember, and of course, a tranny

 

i got a spare ea81 4wd axle to play with i need to find a legacy or similar axle to try to find the key to unlock the elusive ea81 5 lug!

[TomRhere]

Putting the spare heater core in before the Turbo wouldn't do much for you except a slight cooling to the Turbo itself. Would be best to plumb it in after the Turbo for best engine cooling effect.

Wonder how restrictive to flow of coolant to the Turbo this would cause if any, especially if plumbed in before Turbo. Best to insure that the core is free of any gunk anyways.

Now with that said, this is what I think I would do to plumb it in. Tee into the supply hose for the heater, run hose to Turbo. Run the return hose over to where the spare heater core is mounted, then run hose back to a hose barb that was installed in the area of the T-stat on the engine. You would most likly have to drill/tap a hole to install the barb, it's doable. I've done so installing Aux heaters in vans and the likes.

Best to mount the spare core with tube ends up, that will insure that the core is properly filled with coolant, vs tubes to the side or bottom.