Modifying the 84+ EA81 pedal box to accept EJ Clutch Cable

[86BRATMAN]

For all the people wanting to swap a full ej drivetrain into the ea81 body. There are a few minor issues with making the things work.

 

The part I am addressing today is the clutch cable. We cannot use our stock cable on an ej22 transmission because of its length and the way it attaches to the transmission and clutch fork.

 

It is pretty easy to make the ej cable fit our ea81 box. There are just a few things that must be modified.

 

The first is where the cable attaches to the box. There is a spacer that won't allow the cable to be clipped into place. It has to go, I used a sturdy flat head screw driver and a small hammer to break loose the tack welds and pry the spacer off.

 

Before

After

This is the part I removed, you won't be needing it anymore.

 

After this the cable will fit the box, just make sure to keep it lined up to the center of the opening, because otherwise it may put more restisance on pedal effort or cause premature wear of the cable. I used my trusty screwdriver as a spacer while I tapped the clip into place.

 

Now for making the cable end fit the pedal. Stock ea81 cables are held in by a pin similar to the brake pedal to the booster assembly.

Ej cables have the pin made into the cable itself and slide into a slot in the pedal.

I thought about drilling out the pin on the ej cable and using the stock ea81 style pin. But this would require subsequent modification whenever a clutch cable is replaced. I decided to slot the ea81 pedal to accept the ej cable's built in pin.

Before

After

I started to use the hacksaw but with a bad blade it wouldn't make a dent in the pedal, so I fired up my dying grinder and slotted it that way.

 

At this point we are ready to install the pedal to the box and the cable to the pedal.

I tapped the end of the pedal to where it would hold the cable securely with my small hammer.

 

The end result is a stock pedal box that will accept any off the shelf ej clutch cables.

[mikeshoup]

What year EA81 is this? Looks like the 84+ style pedal. 83 and earlier use a different style to connect to the pedal.

[86BRATMAN]

It came out of an 86 std hatch. I forgot about the difference in them. Might have to address that at a later date.

 

I changed the title so as not to mislead/misinform anyone.