GeneralDisorder

Everything that's good around the roof, and bed area - including t-tops, moldings, bed access panels, rear mud flaps, and as above tailgates, trim etc. Get the door window glass, and the rear slider, plus any headliner you can, and all the trinkets that go with the t-tops (sun visors, seals latches, etc). Oh !sht strap if it's not gone. If you are really down for some fun - grab the fuel pump and it's shelf under the Brat - that is distinct to the brat body.... MPFI XT engine.... maybe they bypassed the stock pump or removed it tho. Don't waste your time with junk that can be had off any EA81 unless it's really, really nice. The mentioned ign. switch for example - waste of time since any EA81 GL will have that. Door handles too. Don't mess with drivetrain bits unless you need them - again same as any EA81 out there. Everything forward of the doors (including the doors) is the same as any EA81 out there. Seats are slightly different than other models (still suck like all EA81 seats ), so if they are good grab them. Can you tell I've stripped a few Brats? . Owning one helps too.... GD

You are right about the disty, but the EA81T mounting plate (under the disty) allows you to use the EA82 disty without making the adjusting slot bigger. Not a huge deal anyway, but thought I would mention it... GD

*should be a 36*, but I've encountered rebuilt axles where the rebuilder included a 32mm nut (leganus style).... not cool, but ya never know with an old soob. hehe GD

Well - it's not actually the "axle" you are dealing with here.... First - I would do just what you did - torque it down (pehaps with a new cone washer, as they are usually worn too much to work at that point), and see where things go. If it comes back (ie: loosens up again), then you NEED to replace the stub shaft (actually a seprate part - NOT the axle. The axle is splined to the stub), hub, and cone washer. If you don't replace them all, it will just keep wearing out hubs and grinding the axle stub to dust. The cone washer is most important, but once the thing has been loose and driven that way, the washer is toast, the conical section of the hub is toast, usually the splines are ripped out of the hub, and the axle stub splines are sanded down the point where the fittment to the hub is no good (even a new hub) and the whole mess will repete itself. Just get all three from the junk yard, and with all that metal dust that has just passed by your bearing seals, you are going to want to seriously consider doing that wheel bearing while you have it apart too. I would go with a new bearing, but a JY one in good shape will do the job too - they generally last 200k or more in the rear if not contaminated and properly torqued. I've got 25k on one from a Brat with 193k on it.... I swapped the entire trailing arm to prevent the possibility of wrecking the bearing durring removal. They can be drifted out with a brass punch if you are careful. New they cost around $50 each. GD

Neato - thanks Mick! (No - I haven't forgot about the valve! ) GD

I've heard (but not tried myself) that if you rub about a 1/8" thick layer of vaseline on the dash and leave it there in the sun for a few days it will soften up the plastic.... been wanting to try it. Best option is to replace the dash.... of course you have to find one so that's going to be difficult. On ebay there is usually someone selling the carpet dash covers - they velcro in place and improve the appearance tremendously. I'm going to have one on my uncracked replacement dash that I have yet to install. BIG cracks in mine too - looks terrible. Once I have replaced it I may attempt to fix it just for kicks - good test subject since it's already toast. GD

Are you running a weber? Just curious as I've never seen a kidney bean shaped K&N... or have your rigged up something else for the old Hitachi? I totally agree on the slowing down thing - I've been using the cruise on my sedan, and I get the finger a lot too. The other day I got passed by a very angry lancer - he got pulled over about 2 miles later by an unmarked police Dodge Charger! Didn't know they had those here yet. I laughed as now that I have slowed down all my tickets have dropped off my insurance . The tire pressure thing is a excelent one as well - I've been upping mine - mostly in the front as the engine weight seems to be too much for 32 PSI. First I went to 35, but now I'm thinking more. I intend to do a contact patch test with some latex paint but haven't got around it. I think about 38 - 40 is about right for the front of an EA81. I seem to get a lot less wear, and much easier steering from it as well. Just going from 32 to 35 got me up from 27 MPG to almost 30. Also thinking about pulling off my tailgate on the Brat for a while - at least on long trips. Better vision that way too. Being that my Brat is street only, I'm going to take the "rake" out of the suspension by clocking the torsion bar down, and then adjusting the nut for more height till I get it level. I've got the thing all the way down, and it still sits high in the back. Hugging the ground will help increase mileage too. A front air dam would be sweet, but near impossible to find anymore. They did make them for EA81's back in the day. I'm amazed that you got 40 - that's really increddible - I'm going to work on getting there. GD

Look at the front of the block - is it stamped EA71 or EA81? If it's stamped EA81, then check the valve covers for a gold sticker that reads "Do Not Adjust Valve Clearance". If that is present you have a hydro lifter EA81 - best EA81 to have. If it does not have hydro lifters, then it's an early EA81 from a 80-82, or 83/84 manual trans. There are further checks to narrow it down if it has solid lifters. 83/84 had larger intake valves and the head castings are slightly different. As for the STD having the 1600 - yes it should have come that way. They made the STD and GL hatch's till 89... and if the engine blew up the owner would have had a very hard time locating a 1600 side starter - thus a replacment 1800 would have been fitted (educated guess). GD

The "new" weber kits are made in Mexico - that's how. Mine wasn't like that, but I don't like the "kit" as it doesn't come with several key peices, and the tall filter won't fit a stock height ru (unless you want it rubbing on the hood, or have bad engine mounts ). That, and it's $200 cheaper to rebuild your own. GD

Being a 4WD EA71 side mount starter it *may* have the very rare EA71 225mm clutch pack.... if that's the case, then his bell housing and flywheel are worth probably more than the car. hehe. But more likely it's just the 200mm clutch. GD

Yeah - you may not have noticed, but that's what I did to the one that's on my wagon right now. Short of a weber, just cutting the end off the air-box helps a lot. Mine was (is) moving pretty good with just a hitachi - even on 28's. That, and the lift makes it impossible to fit the air-box to mine as the end of it hits my upper radiator hose GD

My tranny mounts are totally blown. Trans is resting on the cross-member. Unless I can find a used set on Sat at the junk yard..... well I don't want to break my trans just yet. Anyone got any EA81 tranny mounts? :-\ I'm gonna order new ones, but payday (which is techinically Sat ) in reality won't come till Mon when I can actually lay hands on the check..... GD

Exactly! HP is a FUCNTION of torque and RPM. Just like I said - you'll have to move up the RPM range and improve flow up there (cam) if you want more HP. Personally, I use these engines for off-road, so high end is useless to me. But taking a look at the specs of the JDM dual carb you'll see that it's 108 HP is at a higher RPM than the 74 HP of the stock EA81 single carb. More air and more fuel is fine - that's exactly what you need for power, but the valve train will only breath so much without changing the cam and the heads to get more air. Forced induction is a possiblity, but the stock pistons will not handle much in the way of boost. Apparently there was a guy at SUB4 that supercharged a heavily modified EA81, and got nearly 200 HP out of it. It was in a Brat with SUB4 logos on the sides. Would love to see it myself.... GD

Nope - not true. FSM lists a single curve for both. The EA82 is the same way - not sure if the EA82 got the ND disty's or not, but EA81 got Hitachi and ND. Both have the same curve. I use the ND (2WD) personally, because I like the way it fits with the Weber, and the fact that the seal is better against water intrusion under the cap. But that's just my prefrence. It does have a slightly hotter spark as the ND coil is wound differently. All this only applies to carbs, BTW. the SPFI, MPFI, Turbo, etc use only one Hitachi model with a crank angle sensor. In fact the SPFI and Turbo disty's are the same and interchangable. Timing is completely controlled by the ECU - changing it will give you zilch. As for the weights - no - different brand so the parts are totally different. Turbo muffler is just refering to what muffler shops call a "Callifornia turbu muffler" - looks stock, but has a better flow to it. Jetting kit - HAHAHAHA. No. Wrap a wire around your linkage to make it mechanical rather than vacuum. GD

Justy and EA81 cars are the same. I only know this because I ran across a random junk yard EA81 with a justy wheel.... . Splines are the same. GD

Well - if you take the towers off (shouldn't have to unless you are doing a HG job) then you'll find there is no gasket there - only a small groove (about 1/16" wide) that you are supposed to fill with either anerobic sealant, or a lot of us just use RTV. RTV has come a long way in 20 years and has served me well for the cam tower seal as well. Anerobic is nice too if you already have some. There was someone a while back the used o-ring cord on that slot - apparenly worked well. I'm not sure where you would get such a thing tho. GD

That would be sweet - especially in a STD. Always have liked the STD hatch. Interesting tho - the STD hatch came with the EA71.... so perhaps he has a replacement engine already. GD

Cam covers can be made to not leak with a little RTV - at least that has been my experience with the EA82. Just make sure you remove the gasket from the cover, and clean it real well - use some alcohol to make sure there is no residual oil on the gasket and mating surfaces. Use some Ultra Grey on it. Less is more here - a 1/8" bead is plenty. If you do it right it will never leak again (till you have to remove it). I would NOT do the cam covers till you know for sure it's not a HG or you will ruin your carefully applied RTV. And for the intake - definately worth doing both the intake manifold gaskets and the SPFI base gasket at the same time. Good thing here is that if you have to do a HG later the intake manifold gaskets will still be reusable. The dealer ones will anyway - aftermarket carboard ones suck. GD

Sounds like you have a slow leak in your coolant system somewhere. Could definately be a HG on the way out, but intake manifold gaskets, and throttle body base gaskets also will leak coolant (and cooling system pressure) into the intake where it will be burnt. A new set of manifold gaskets are about $6 from the dealer (only get them from the dealer - others are extremely inferior). And the SPFI base gasket shouldn't be much - could always make one from a sheet of gasket material if it is. I would replace both of those before going all out with a HG job. Might be an easy fix GD

Wrong. Quote - directly from 83 FSM. Page 5-14, Section 4, Subsection 2: "2) Operational principle The exhaust gas pulsation is transmitted to the air suction valve (a kind of check valve having reed valves) through the air suction pipe. When the negative pressure of a pulsation is transferred to the ASV, the reeds of air suction valve are opened and simultaneously fresh air from the air cleaner is sucked by itself into the exhaust passage. When on the other hand, the positive presssure reaches the ASV, the reeds are closed to prevent the adverse flow of exhaust gas." I know you aren't much for this fancy emmissions stuff Ken - maybe you are mistaking it for some other system..... although other than the EGR I can't think of what. . Yes - I'm an a$$ sometimes. It's who I am, and I'm ok with that. . But I do offer help, and with it some advice - people need to READ. It's all about the books and the search functions guys. An I stand by what I said about the EA81. It CAN make decent power - The aviation community has shown 140 HP (dyno'd) with heavily modified heads, cam, forged pistons, MPFI, and dual plug ignition.... but at a cost of around $10,000 per engine it would be absolute insanity to put one in a car. I would say that 100 HP is definately possible with the stock heads, but you are going to move it up the RPM range quite a bit to get it. The JDM dual carb engines were 108 HP, but with different heads, cam and compression ratio. We can get the cam and compression, but not the heads. 100 may be possible. It's what I'm shooting for anyway. Torque is NOT HP, they are totally different measurements - just look at a small diesel to see that. A Weber, exhaust, and disty recurve will give you great torque, but probably only 1 or 2 HP - maybe not even that. The "seat of the pants" that you guys feel is the progressive linkage of the Weber - it jerks open instead of openeing slowly with vacuum. Giving a more "sporty" feel to your pedal. HP is the same. I can go just as fast with a Hitachi properly tuned up. Had my wagon to 110 with one when it was 2WD. Still did 110 after the Weber. Top end is the same. GD

150? HAHAHAHA GD

Fill it with coolant and run it to operating temp in your driveway - check for leaks (check other fluids too of course, and lights and stuff). If you don't find any leaks or other weirdness, take it for a test drive. GD

Airbag? No GL-10 that I've ever seen came with airbags. As for wheels - Any EA82 will fit. EJ cars are different (or is is just that the MOMO adaptor is different?), as are Justy's and EA81's (same)... I think Grant makes a hub adaptor (they do for EA81 anyway), and they sell some nice inexpensive wheels. MOMO has discontinued their adaptor. GD

Could be a year thing - the one I pulled off the coupe door that is now on my Brat was like that.... maybe depends on the year and style of the trim strip.... either that or it was painted or something and I didn't notice. Body shop could have put them on I suppose GD

They have little screws under the rubber - the track screws on. Little phillips heads IIRC. They leave holes :-\ GD