raging squirrel

Time for a little reality check here: weights. I thought that this would be useful. The 4.3 chevy v-6 weighs in at 425 lbs. The ford 5.0 v-8 weighs in at 435lbs. The 350 chevy weighs 525-575lbs. The ford 3.8 v-6 weighs 300 lbs. and the 1961-63 buick 215 aluminum v-8 weighs in at 318 lbs. If you are willing to do the 4.3 chevy, you might as well have the 5.0 ford for only 10lbs. more. It is also narrower and shorter than the chevy v-8. The 3.8 ford is only 112 lbs. heavier than the EA81 subie motor and will bolt to any tranny that the small block ford v-8 uses. Handy if you want to swap in a 4x4 tranny and t-case combo. The buick 215 is the lightest of the v-8's and small enough that a good many of them have been swapped into MG "B" models, a very small car indeed. D&D fab specializes in these and has lots of adapters. 300 hp out of the 3.8 or the 215 is easily doable and 200 is child's play. If it were mine I would choose one of these two. Another interesting swap would be to add the ford 8.8 independent rearend setup. It will easily handle 300+ horsepower and would be like a subie rear on steroids.

A friend of mine who once owned several brats ( he also worked at a subie dealership as a young man) told me about the dual exhaust he ran one of his brats. He experienced very noticeable improvements in performance and picked up a few mpg's. I have read similar claims about single exhaust systems using 1 3/4"or 1 7/8" exhaust tubing. So this begs the question: which will scavenge better and yield the best torque? Single, dual, or dual with a crossover pipe? As I understand the theories, it seems that the single with 1 7/8" tubing would be the "sweet spot" for the EA81 engine with modest upgrades (no performance cam here). Any input from the experts? As cool as dual exhaust would seem, efficiency (both in terms of mpg and power per unit of fuel) is the ultimate goal here.

I was wondering if anyone here has ever experimented with constant velocity (cv) carbs on the EA81 engine? Fitting up a set would be simple enough and there are plenty of large displacement motorcycles that used them over the decades. I am seriously considering this in place of the more common Weber swap. Opinions? Anybody already tried it?

I am going to need to replace the door glass on a 1981 Brat. While I am at it I need to replace the window channel felts, rubber wipers , etc. Where is the best place to find these items? I am more accustomed to specialty catalogs for old Fords and was wondering if there are good suppliers for soobie stuff like this too. Or do most auto glass outfits carry/order this stuff since the cars are not really that old?

EA81's were great motors if they only would have made a EFI kit for them . . . I do know that people use the EA82's fuel injection system on the EA81. Last week I read an article online complete with photos, specs and all. It looked about as easy as an efi swap gets. The only difficult part is weeding out all of the unused stuff from the wiring harness. The rest appears to be pretty much bolt on. Definitely simpler than the 5.0 efi swap I did in a 62 Falcon.

Thank folks! I am pretty excited. The early brat is an 81! There is also a complete 85 model. The 82 is trashed (T-boned hard). There is even a topper! I have struck a favorable deal for all three ( I was told that I had to take them all) and am well pleased. It looks like I will have 3 engines to work with. I noticed that one had a decal stating that the valves do not require adjusting. Hydraulic lifers started when? I intended to ask for opinions on the later (82 and up?) heads with the bigger intake valves also. Port velocity versus flow. I am not sure which will be better for my personal needs. It appears that I don't need to convert the 81( the one I intend for a daily driver) to electric fan, it's already there. I am leaning toward the Weber carb right now, but still considering the efi since it is below zero here right now and I remember some of the issues I had with carb icing on the ranchero. Anyone else?

I had to read this twice. Lack of puntuation makes it real hard to decipher. Anyway, I believe you are asking if you can put the carb on your ea71 motor and then swap it to an ea81 later. I don't see why not. I have had carbs that I swapped on and off of several different engines. One carb I had saw service on it's original donor car, then a Studebaker, then was used several times on Ford motors.

I am looking at a trio of Brats, if I recall they are early models. Now that they are available I will clear out the tumbleweeds and verify the years. I am hoping one is the 1981 model because of the ea 81 engine. If not, I will swap one in. My goal is to build a long range traveler. I need max mpg with only mild performance gains. I already have an "extreme" type 4x4 project, so no massive lift is planed. I do plan to design some sort of air suspension for increased ground clearance when needed. I did this with a 64 ranchero and was pleased. I have a few questions pertaining to my goals: 1)Induction- I am looking at 3 options: Weber 32/36 carb (heard good things), CV carbs from a large motorcycle ( I have seen this double the mpg on a snowmobile), or efi. I am not convinced about efi always giving any improvement in mileage. My 2 Ford f-150's are a good example. The 1981 had the carbed 300 six cyl. and no overdrive. The 1991 has the efi 300 six cyl. and overdrive. The 91 has no better power or mileage. Efi wins for convenience, but not always mileage. How about in the Subaru world? 2)4 speed vs 5 speed. Any mileage improvements with the 5th gear? How much? Driveability at higher speeds? 3) Increasing compression: do the ea71 (1600cc) pistons actually fit the ea81 rotating assembly for a boost in compression? How much of an increase? The ea81 is supposedly a stroked ea71 with improvements, 4) Other torque/mpg mods? I already plan either a 1 3/4" dual or an 1 7/8" exhaust, 2wd distributor, and electric fan. Thank in advance!

I am new here so bear with me. If anyone here has spent time over at Pirate 4x4 or Zuwharrie's, then you may be familiar with me under the same name. I am looking to get into the Subaru game and have a shot at getting a trio of early Brats real cheap. Many years ago I was looking at getting one and ended up stumbling onto a 1964 Ford Ranchero instead. I modified that with various upgrades to the six cyl motor, a t-5 trans conversion (I had to build my own bellhousing conversion and crossmember for that one) and other upgrades to improve mileage and reliability. It was an amazingly versatile rig for a 2wd, but I eventually wore out and a friend wanted it for running errands close to home, so he now has it. I bought back my old 95 metro and replaced the motor and was somewhat happy with it, but needed ground clearance. I put 185/65r14 tires under it with a 2" lift that I built. It get's around Great for a front drive car now, but the power is way down and the mileage sucks for a metro at 35mpg when worked hard. It only gets 41 mpg if you baby and drive 55-60. So now that this has taken place, I have come full circle. I might as well have something better suited to my needs. 1978-1981 Brats actually weigh less than the 95 metro. I know that this creates great mileage potential. My 64 ranchero weighed about 2100lbs and got mid to upper 30's for mileage with considerable tuning when the motor was fresh. Getting somewhere in the 30's with the early brat should be doable. 4 wheel drive and air lift suspension seems to be the best combo fro my long journeys and two track adventures across America. Something mildly built for max mpg and mild offroad ability. I don't need to get carried away on the offroad part, I have a Samurai/model T pickup hybrid I am building for that. So the saga begins...

Type: Is there such a thing as semiprofesional shadetree? On what: Mostly old fords, custom suzuki offroaders, and metros. And whatever my friends break! How long? Started building bicycles in 1986 at a young age and went from there as a matter of necessity and then eventually started building to suit personal needs. Other skills: Welding and fabrication, gunsmithing, woodworking, art, anything requiring good hand to eye coordination and concentration.