Modifying the EA81 pedal box to accept EJ Clutch Cable

[86BRATMAN]

If anybody has covered this I haven't found it, so here goes.

 

I've been dragging my heals lately with the EJ conversion. Mainly because the brat is not road worthy and I've been waiting for another car, and well I've got it. So I figured since there was at least one other board member expressing interest in a full ej driveline in an ea81 body I'd address one of the issues I had procrastinated on.

 

The ea81 clutch cable is too short for one and does not fit the ej transmission correctly. I had previously toyed with an ej pedal on the ea81 box with no success, the pedal was entirely too close to the brake pedal and I did not want to fool with cutting and welding.

 

Earlier today I started comparing my ej pedal box to the ea81 box since I had spares laying about. And I realized that with minimal effort the ea81 clutch cable part of the box could be made to accept an ej cable.

 

First I took off the clutch pedal for ease of modification.

The ej pedal is slotted at the top and the cable just slides down into it, as you can see the ea81 is not that way, it is held on with a pin much like the brake pedal is.

The ej cable has the pin made into it.

I had thought about drilling out the attatched pin on the ej cable and utilizing the original ea81 pin style. The reason I did not is for the simple fact of making it easier down the road when the time comes to replace the cable.

 

So I fired up my old trusty(not so much) grinder with a metal cutoff wheel and took about a minute to slot the to of the ea81 pedal.

 

Before

After

 

With this out of the way, I went to fit the cable into the box, and found that there is a spacer tack weled to the box where the cable is clipped in. It would not allow proper fitment. I figured that it would be more difficult that it was to remove this spacer. I used a small hammer and straight edge screw driver to pry loose the welds.

 

Before

After

This thing won't be needed again.

 

After that just simply slide the cable through and use the clip from either the ej or ea to hold the cable in place.

Now the hole is slightly larger than the cable, so make sure to keep it lined up fairly close to center to keep from causing any extra wear or tension on the cable.

 

Now you can put the pedal back on the box. And install the cable to it.

 

I left the slot slightly tight on the top of the pedal, and had to pry it open just a bit. When I got the cable back onto it, I simply used my small hammer and tapped it closed to insure a good snug fit.

 

The end result is a stock geomerty pedal box, that will allow the use of off the shelf ej clutch cables.

[Scott F]

Nice job. I sure could use an unmolested EA81 pedal assy if you have any more.

[86BRATMAN]

I do actually have another and a cable from an 86 brat.

[Scott F]

I ended up pulling one from the JY. I hope the stock EA81 clutch cable and speedo cable will work fine with the 5spd D/R.

[86BRATMAN]

You will have to trim the ea81 speedo cable a bit because it doesn't go all the way into the threads.