ivantruckman Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Are the ea81 engines getting hard to find, im looking at a 1978 brat, nice shape but the engine is kinda rough, i saw a rebuilt long block on ebay. 1650 bucks.. yikes, more then twice the price of the brat... what about a ea82 up grade or is that an up grade ? downgrade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Are the ea81 engines getting hard to find, im looking at a 1978 brat, nice shape but the engine is kinda rough, i saw a rebuilt long block on ebay. 1650 bucks.. yikes, more then twice the price of the brat... what about a ea82 up grade or is that an up grade ? downgrade? Thats been the going price for quite a while for rebuilts. And a EA82 would be a downgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 the ONLY EA81 around here are in my BRAT and Rescue wagon, in SubieMechs car, and in McBrats SUBYOTA and his Blue BRAT. EA81's are not to be had if you ask me. But i can get a handful of ej22's for cheap. a ea82 would be a downgrade, T belts and other associated issues. The ej22 would be the best upgrade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Still lots of EA81's here -- I've got a running parts car, plus an extra running engine, and there are probably another dozen of them in town in various condition (250 people in town). They are pretty easy to find. Not nearly as easy as 10 years ago, but still not bad. EA82's are a little more common than EA81's now, and the old EJ22 Legacies are becoming the most prevalent, instead of the EA series. But it's still easy to get stuff for any of them around here. I'd consider the EA82 a step down. A little more power, but way more complicated (plus, I think it is too wide for the frame rails for the EA81 bodies). EA81 is much simpler to work on. If you're going for more complication, might as well go for an EJ22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petie Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 I have an '83 GL 4WD wagon with an EA81 with less than 105,000 miles on it. I've had this car (which I dearly LOVE) since 1985. The body is getting rough in spots, and because of my age and that I'm non-mechanical, I'm finding it harder and harder to maintain here where I live in coastal NC where there are few, if any, older Subies other than mine. And so, I'm contemplating giving it up very reasonably to someone who would restore it and love it, or, if I can't find that someone, maybe the low mileage EA81 and maybe some other parts would interest someone. Where are you located? Petie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivantruckman Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 I have an '83 GL 4WD wagon with an EA81 with less than 105,000 miles on it. I've had this car (which I dearly LOVE) since 1985. The body is getting rough in spots, and because of my age and that I'm non-mechanical, I'm finding it harder and harder to maintain here where I live in coastal NC where there are few, if any, older Subies other than mine. And so, I'm contemplating giving it up very reasonably to someone who would restore it and love it, or, if I can't find that someone, maybe the low mileage EA81 and maybe some other parts would interest someone. Where are you located? Petie i would go to outerbanks in a heartbeat, what a beautiful part of the world. its a 12 to 14 hour drive for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaru360 Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 EA82 is a downgrade for sure. In this part of the country EA81's are easy to come by. All the cars they came in rusted away and are sitting in the U-pull junkyards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 A 78 Brat would be a gen1, with (IIRC) the EA71 engine with the top mounted starter... a little tough to mate to an EA82 engine without the correct rear portion of the engine... or a tranny swap. Gen1 frame rails are closer set than the gen2s, so the EA82 is too wide to fit without cutting or bashing or possible very careful squeezing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petie Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 i would go to outerbanks in a heartbeat, what a beautiful part of the world. its a 12 to 14 hour drive for me Yep, the Outer Banks are nice but this would be a long way to come for a Subaru! One of the other guys posted that EA81s are plentiful in PA because the vehicles have rusted out. That's pretty much what's happened to mine. Actually, I'm surprised it's not worse given I moved here to this salt-laden environment almost 12 years ago. Matter of fact, yesterday, I took it to the local body shop for repair of the passenger-side hood hinge - while it was at another shop for ignition repair, sitting out in the open (for over 7 weeks, long, long story), the hood was opened at some point, the hinge weld failed, the hood was forced open and buckled the cowl above where rust had eaten through. Estimate on this repair is $235. There's what I would call significant rust in other spots, too, and the body shop people tell me that since rust works from the inside out, even if I spend a bunch on repairs to what's there now, it will just keep popping up in this destructive nvironment. So, now, with this, and after just spending $150 on the ignition switch rebuild, I am more than ever in a quandary as to whether to keep the car a while longer. If anyone came from far away to get it, I would certainly recommend trailering it back home. It has not been on a road trip for years. Knowing this Subie (which started right up after sitting for 7 weeks as described above), it would probably be okay - but I wouldn't consider driving it a long distance, on highways, until it was thoroughly checked out mechanically including the undercarriage, etc. BTW, this is a very cool-looking Subie, the red-orange wagon, with roof rack and front brush guard. Very distinctive! But in sort of rough shape now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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