81EA81

Do you guys think $600 is too much for a halfdead ea81 Brat,I was told its been siting 10+ years. I know for sure the engine is shot(busted rod). I can here it clunk when I turn the engine by hand. The Tranny seems to run through all gears fine.4x4 lever too. no rust on the fenders, but a decent amount in the door jamb down to the rockers. Behind the rear bumper is pretty rusted also. tail gate is pretty well gone.(Its got jumpers) .the dash pad is all cracked out and almost looks like its swelled up. its pretty dirty from sitting so I cant tell its condition 100%.anyway I really want the damed thing for some reason but im not sure if i want to spent my hard earned money on it, and i dont even know where to find a good engine for it if i were to get it. Do I really need another project? But Its A BRAT, I almost can deny it. Please help me decide. Thanks

It seems odd the way they went about lifting that thing up, in the second pic it almost seems you could of backed it up out there. but i didnt see it in person

Nice deep blue color,looks good. was that done with a spray gun?

U should post some pics of the beast

I had a thought, I can buy 1 lift kit......or.......Buy a welder and make several.they might not be as pretty tho:grin: Plus once its lifted ill "need" to tap out sum studs and drill sum holes then get some tires and wheels. A few quick question for Scott, why is the 6" lift so much more beefier looking then the 4". its also boxed instead of the " [ " shape. How strong are these things? no offence to your intelligence/skills, but it the hardware going to hold up? I just want to make sure everything is all good before I drop all of my hard earned money on this. What if one component were to break? can I get single replacement part without buying a whole kit? Have you ever heard of one of these breaking? Lots more questions to come, but this should do for now. Should have the cash by the end of next week if yall can wait that long

To me it seems alot of people dont know not to engage or disengage the 4wd with the wheel turned, ive seen a few people smashing their 4wd lever with the wheel cranked, Ive told them and they think im bull************ing them. If i remember right I recall reading that in my 81 wagon owners manual

Just this past week ive been working for my friends dad, and ive been getting around 50 bucks a day. Ive got close to 200 right now, so hopfully in the next week or two I will have the money in hand. Could I just send you a money order, or do i need to do it online? I want a 4" lift for my Bro's ea81 86 Brat.:banana:Im so excited right now im having a hard time typing this:grin:anyway, so what all do i need on top of the lift kit to make the brat ready to roll? longer brake lines?shocks?skid plate? shift linkage? steering linkage? any random lines/hoses? and ????

Thanks for the damn near professional advice. very helpfull. now i know what a Oetiker clamp is:)

Honestly if it were my Brat that would spend 99% of its time on the road I would keep those stock size tires and wheels on it, im sure it would ride alot smoother (better milage)then those "nastier" tires would. The adjustable suspension will only give you about an inch more clearence, But ive seen completly stock brats mob it up off road just fine with street tires and the stock "lift".If I remember right all you need is a 21mm wrench. Most of the lifts are just body lifts with spacers between the frame rail and the suspension/crossmember/strutmount. It will make since when you are under your car looking at it. SJR makes good lifts for your BRAT. As far as redrilling hubs its fairly easy. this website gives ya a step by step process.http://www.subarubrat.com YOu might be able to fit 15s under your Brat with a little fender trimming:) I hope this helps. Also the search feature up top can be your friend

If the CV spins against the wheel bearing seal wouldnt that chew it up in a mater of no time? Also I have a few spare axels laying around that I would like to learn to rebuild,is there a special tool for removal/installation of the metal bands holding the boots on? I got them off no prob with a pair of needle nose, But they seem like a pain to back get on. Any ideas or tips?

Thanks for the answers.Looking from above, is the heat sheild whats stamped with "subaru" or is that the cat its self? So an EA82 CV WILL fit in an EA81 hub, its just a bit longer overall? What would stop it from working? I went to AutoZone to get a Cv axel and told him it was an 84 Brat not an 86 which it realy is. he looked it up and gave me a CV that had both male ends, which is not right. then I told him the EA81/EA82 deal EA81(80-84)wag+87 Brat, EA82(85-92?)wag. then he told me that they changed the CVs several times through thoses years, And preceded to tell me that I dont know ************ about my soob or any other cars And his computer is always right, so I just turned around and left before I hit him in the face with that CV:) Then I went to O'reilys then they gave me a CV axel for what they said fit 85-87? I measured it end to end compressed and it looked the same as the old one, so that night In my awsome gravel driveway shop I swaped the CV axel torqued it to about 200 ft lbs and it seemed to fit fine. Its had about 200mi since then and all seems good.I'm just curious if this could be an EA82 on my car?

Are all (81-84)EA81 CV axels the same all the way around? Do they change for auto trannies? Whats the difference between EA81 and EA82 axels? Can I use an EA82 on an EA81? Dose the CV spin against the wheel bearing seal? Has anyone had problems with the catt. cooking the passenger side CV? Hopefully none of these are stupid questions, Id love to hear some input. Thanks:grin:

Nice job for the first time, when i changed the clutch in my '86 Brat for the first time I thought I could just unbolt the tranny and leave it in the car, I was a little more then wrong. After a bunch of hasseling with it(a week later) i finally droped the tranny all the way out.Napa gave me the wrong clutch kit(EA82) 24 spline vs 21 splineEA81. I bolted that up to the flywheel, threw my tranny in, fired it up and no power to the wheels:mad:. I was angry and confused where I went wrong.(another week later) I pulled the tranny again(shoulda pullled the motor) and figured out my problem.(the shaft was spinning freely inside the friction disk) I got the right cluck kit for it which was 80 bucks less. For an 84 Brat not an 86 which NAPA had listed as an ea82? the clutch Its self wasnt that bad, The hardest part was lining up the transmission shaft with the Pilot bearing, after all of that was done I fired it up and it would not disengague all the way, It turns out my pedal box was bent not alowing full travel of the cluch pedal:-\ I bent it back the best I could then I ended up putting a spacer between the clutch fork and the end of the cable. Now It seems to work great with full travel

Thanks for the replys, they were very helpful.Where El Presidente says,"The PCV hose may work, but because of the design of the suub intakes, I'd use a vacuum port on each side and put a 1/6(thats half of a 1/3) of a can in each port to ensure one bank doesn't get more than the other" Will the PCV port on the top of either valvecover work fine. I'd think that would be the same as adding it to the oil Since it would go to your rockers,Right?. I think i might just go down the carb. I also herd that it will foul your plugs, usualy thats no biggy, but when I first got the Brat I changed the plugs and on the way out there was quite a bit of resistance, the threads in the aluminum head are on their way to being stripped:( the new ones went in O.K enough to work, but I fear if i change them one more time they will blow out on start up. has anyone experinced this with an EA81, I definitly dont want to do a head swap in my driveway,this is a nightmare for me to think about. anybody have any ideas?

My '81 Wagon with the center light has a mirror in the glove box. There is also a dealership paper from 1986 saying someone traded in a '74 Mustang for it.

So I finally got a can of seafoam for my Brat, Im still uneasy about this for some reason. In my mind if you were to pour Seafoam in your oil wouldnt that dilute it? I'd think It would raise your oil level causing excess pressure and then blow out all your seals?ON to the intake,Is it better to pour it through a vacuum line or straight down the carb? It seems like the carb would distribute the seafoam to the cylinders better, If I were to pour it down the carb should I pour it down both barrels?Ive herd to do this while it is running then use the seafoam to stall it out.Ive searched and couldent find any for sure answers because everybody seems to have their own opinion, some say its great stuff, others say its bad for older engines because it could break down carbon that is sealing a potential leak. I might be overthinking this but I just want whats best for my SUBARU. Thanks

164,600 on the '86 Brat,that sounds nice but the previous owner seemed to use it as a yard "truck". the bottom of the bed is all bowed in. 240,416 on my 81 ea81 wag. cracked block, dead for now:( '65 Chevy truck 250 inline 400,000+

I dont want to be the one to ask a common sence question, but what do you mean by torque steer on front wheel drives, Are you saying how the front end can pull side to side when your tires are spinning in deep snow. BTW we just got about 10" of snow plus high winds which equal nice snow drifts and my 86 Brat ripped it up everywhere, never had one problem at all, I never came close to getting stuck, It was a blast!. My friend in his 88 Toyota Corola got stuck left and right it was pretty funny when he got stuck in a little snow drift coming into his driveway and I was able to push through with ease. BUt when it comes to snow just remember to take it easy and make sure to slow down way before you have to stop because you might not be abel to and you could end up smashin your lovely Subaru:eek:

Has anybody used Seafoam in an EA81? The PCV T fitting on my 86 Brat was almost completely clogged with carbon, I cleaned that crap out by hand and it was bad!I thought maby seafoam would help so I looked it up earlier and found a video on youtube saying to pour 1/3 of can into the carb/pcv hose,1/3 in the crankcase oil, then 1/3 into your tank. It also says 1oz per Gal. of gas. The oil thing sounded a little weird to me but it says its "composed solely of three specially blended petroleum oils" Any one have an opinion?

When I first picked up my '86 Brat it was a mess for oil leaks. there was almost a steady drip of oil from the valve cover (which is DIRECTLY above the exhaust mani)running down the exhaust stud to the manifold its self then eventually burning off.So I figured Id swap gaskets,easly enough there is only 2 bolts holding the valve cover in place, Boom off, the hardest/most time consuming part was removing what appeared to be the original gasket from the valve cover its self. It was glued like an SOB. Once that was done I slapped a new gasket in there and reinstalled the valve covers and that took care of the oil leakage in that general area. There were drips of oil on the oil pressure sending unit(lower part of oil pump which is nowhere near the exhaust) and oil pan bolts, I just snugged up most of the oil pan bolts and that took care of 97% of my oil leaks. When I say snugged I mean be gentle, Dont be thinking your all manly and go reifing on it, Thats how you smash gaskets and make things worse. Hope this helps:burnout:

On my '86 Brat the nut stayed in placed as the stud turned its way out of the Head, This happened to 3 of the 4 studs. Luckly they threaded in fine and I was able to torque them back down. Remember that they thread into aluminum which is very soft so be carefull when tightening them up, If i can remember right they only torque to 15-25 ft lbs

DAM! You got a nice project going for being 19.I'd have to say youve been blessed to be able to do that, How do you find the time between school and what not to work on that lovely Brat. Well, good luck running that wireing harness

You should tell me more about the tilt front end,I was planning on mobin it anyway. I could try to email some pics, for some reason I cant post em here

I cleaned up the pcv system on the 86 Brat, The T coming from the pcv valve to the left valve cover/air cleaner was completly cloged up with 25 years of nasty carbon. the hoses were almost completil clogged too. also changed the fuel filter before the fuel pump

When I went to napa to get a new clutch for my 86 Brat(EA81) they gave me a clutch kit for an 86 GL wagon(EA82) which is 24 spline.The pressure plate seemed to fit on the flywheel fine, same with the pilot bearing, but the friction disk was 3 splines to big for the transmission shaft. The 24 spline 8 7/8 should fit fine. I dont know about the 7 7/8 disk for FWD, mines 4wd 8 7/8