Speedwagon Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 In doing so, am I better off sticking with the EA81 front struts? Or swapping in the EA82 front struts? Full information: I have a donor EA82 wagon that is complete, and is being used for parts. I want to SPFI the Brat, as well as lift it and swap the front crossmember, axles, and such to the Brat. Yes, I know the top mounts are different, but that can be handled with the lift. Is there an advantage to using one strut over the other? Do the EA82s do that annoying clunk that the EA81s always seem to do over quick bumps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 You can do an ea82 front suspension. Example: I had a 83 fwd 5spd wagon with ea82 front suspension. I was able to use the eaq81 strut top on the ea82 by drilling out the hole. The hole is D shaped, which locates it on the ea81 strut. The ea82 strut rod is round. You may have to put a vice grip on the strut rod to torque the nut. I went the routew of swapping ea82 control arms by chopping off the mounts form the ea82 crossmember, and welding them to the ea81 crossmember, locating the control arm back, to compensate for its curvature. The ea82 control arm is longer, allowing he use of the ea82 axle. What i have described has been posted on a brat build using xt6 suspension, same idea, less the xt6 parts. Otherwise, you could use the ea81 control arm and cram the ea82 knuckle in there, ball jount and all. But, you will not be able to use the ea82 axle, with a narrower track on the ea81 control arm. IT is possible to hybrid an axle using an ea82 cv end on an ea81 axle shaft. This is a speculation, based on the fact subarus fit like legos. The seal is a different You can use an ea82 rear trailing arm by drilling out the pivot bolt mount and using the ea82 pivot bolt. It fits the same, with the added bonus of a larger drum or rear disc brake(if on the donor part, otherwise the brake parts themselves swap either way) and rear swaybar mounts, but the same width of an ea81 track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedwagon Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Maybe I didn't explain that well enough: I am going to use the EA82 control arm, crossmember, and such for the front, while doing a lift to adapt the xmember from the EA82 to the EA81 frame. The question here, is whether or not there is an advantage to swapping in the EA82 strut as is while doing the lift, using the lift blocks to adapt the strut tower from EA81 to the 3 bolt EA82. Or am I better of staying EA81 for the front struts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1982gl4 Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 What i have described has been posted on a brat build using xt6 suspension, same idea, less the xt6 parts. That's my thread! Here is one of the links http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=118612&page=2 fitting the control arm mounts was pretty easy, I think that it was probably easier then fitting the whole subframe out of an ea82 with some ands some zzz they fit pretty well. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to use for CV's as I'm using a legacy trans, but I'm working out the kinks. If you have any questions about it just ask! As far as struts go I don't think it really matters the stock ones are pretty good in the brat, the fit the tower, and they have a built in hight adjustment, but the ea82 ones are decent as well, I have pounded them off road and they hold up pretty well over time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.