GeneralDisorder

That's why most of us cut the fenders out - thus allowing our tires to "fit" in the wheel well again. My tires fit just fine up in there. Rooinator makes good points - he knows what he's talking about. Independant suspension could be designed for better travel, but we just don't have the aftermarket that solid axles have, and so we are stuck with what we have, and modifications that we do on our own. The biggest barrier to a long travel suspension for the soobs is the axles - they just don't have the travel, and if you go more than their 12" or whatever they have, you'll pop the axle out of the joint.... better axles need to be designed, and the rest would be pretty easy - lots of fabrication, but pretty straighforward. GD

Shipping to OR would be nowhere near $15 each way. More like $8 each way via UPS I would say.... a disty only weighs a few pounds and it's a small package.... XSNRG was telling us about shipping - he shipped a whole set of rear discs for $30 - rotors, backing plates, calipers, and brake lines.... He also shipped TWO EA81 coupe doors for like $60...... I shipped a 50 lb LSD diff in a bannana box for $22.50...... GD

PKDavis does not make Gen 1 lift kits. Gen 1's are hard to lift - Mudrat schooled me on that when I asked him. Would be expensive I think.... never seen one with more than 3", and while I'm sure it could be done, it would require much modification. Your looking at probably $1000 for 6" is my guess due to all the fabrication that must be done, but exact numbers would have to come from John. Also - if you go higher than 3", you almost certainly will have to convert to a HiPo EA81, cause the EA71 you have isn't going to cut it pushing those big tires, and besides that you will want the 5 speed D/R in there anyway, and if your going to that much trouble, you might as well swap out the engine too..... On second thougth - it would be well over $1000 considering that you'll need the front cross-member and steering linkage modified to fit an EA81, and the trans linkage redone - as well as the cost of the engine and transmission - plus the lift and any fabrication that goes along with it..... Add to all that the cost of custom bumpers and brush gaurd.... and a roll bar with lights and everything..... maybe a winch. Not trying to discourage you - I think a lifted Gen 1 Brat would be awsome.... but you should know that the cost is going to be higher than a Gen 2 due to the difficulty, and it's lack of useable engine and tranny. I would say 3" is perfectly doable... still not going to have any power with the 1.6 and big tires - but would be driveable. And your lack of a D/R is going to be a killer off-road. Would look mean, but without the engine and tranny it would be all show. Or you could buy a Gen 2, and lift if for $375 yourself (PKDavis lift).... GD

He's not blowing smoke - they are definately rare. Worth restoring if the rust isn't horrible. They were technically made in 83, but most of the ones I've seen or heard of are 84's - not sure why, but the production numbers for the 83 model year may be lower. At any rate they didn't make many of these. It's not just the Brat either - they only made THAT ENGINE for 2 years - the 83 and 84 were the only years of the EA81T. The replacement to it was the EA82T, which is similar, but is OHC, with timing belts..... Thing is - the turbo motor doesn't make a good hard core off-road engine - too complicated, and too rare to find parts to easily fix. Plus they don't have the low-end. Too much restriction with the turbo when it's not spooled, and difficult to keep it spooled at low speed. And the turbo engine is only making 95 HP compared to the N/A engine at 73 HP. The N/A engine can easily be brought up to 120 HP+ with just a few mods (cam, deck heads, weber, turbo muffler, etc). If you want something to play in the mud, get a regular Brat that's in the same shape or better and let someone restore the turbo - I'll bet someone would trade you..... GD

I was told by CCR that it's very difficult to install those bushings without the proper equipment - the old bushing has to be ground out, and the new one pressed in, and if it's not done just right, the disty will be toast. I think the guy from CCR said he ruined about 10 before he got one right..... I chatted with him over email when I was looking at my options for doing the bushings or getting a rebuilt unit. I had mine rebushed by http://www.philbingroup.com - they are local for me, and the bushing was $35 (parts and labor included), and the vacuum advance was another $20 - so $55 total to have a perfectly working disty again.... And I marked my disty with a black marker - the guys at phibin saw my mark and actually put some white paint (paint pen I guess) over it to make sure it wouldn't rub off when they were working. Very profesional I must say. They even painted my vacuum advance gloss black for me - part of the service for $20. GD

There was no key code, but a good smith can make a key in minutes - they have a very simple key pattern - at least mine did. The pattern was so simple as to almost not be a lock at all. It was just a bunch of the same ridge over and over - not a complex cut. He made it from a blank with a hand file, standing next to my car! - no cutting tools required. GD

hhhhmmmm - the nippondenso disty's were 2WD. Will still work tho.... vacuum advance connection might be different. GD

I'm a little confused - which way are you going? You could put a 2WD EA81 tranny in, and use a 4WD clutch disc for an EA81..... I know the 2WD and 4WD on the EA81 have the same splines.... GD

I had mine keyed at a locksmith booth - cost me like $10..... There really simple locks, and can be keyed in about 5 minutes if he's taking his time... GD

He's talking about Jackmans - not regular wagon wheels, and they doo need grinding on *some* Gen 2's..... GD

Very useful to take pictures. The swap your doing isn't terribly common for the simple fact that most people with the older cars prefer the EA81 and it's lack of timing belts. But the EA82 is a great motor as well. Miles has a good idea of what needs to be done, as he has performed this swap - I've even seen his car in person which he drove to the West Coast from Indiana!! Good luck on your swap - sounds like you should have no problem at all. One thing - it's prefereable to use the EA82 flywheel if you can because this allows the use of the heavier duty clutch from an EA82 turbo car, or even one from an XT6, which apparently has the strongest PP of the lot. The hill holder - just to give you some background - was invented back in the 50's by Studebaker. To my knowledge, Subaru has been the only company to pick up on the idea and use it in modern cars. They just recently brought back the hill holder functionality on their latest 2004 model line (I think some - not all of them), which went away for the most part after the switch to hydraulic clutches instead of cable operated. GD

Hass - you have a PM. You too flow... GD

Ok - good, I'm not crazy then. GD

Dual EXHAUST ports on turbo and MPFI EA82's??!? I mean - I know they are on the intake side - with the spider manifold and what not, but I thought they were single port exhaust? GD

Absolutely Caleb - this is a discussion forum - if everyone was right ALL the time, then there wouldn't be much need for discussion. We all have our specialties - I personally know more about EA81's than anything else - you know about the turbo's. It was logical to think that there would be only one type of disty..... alas it is not so. 2WD differs from 4WD, and even those are different from year to year. Any of them should work, but I wouldn't expect timing to be the same at any given RPM. You can even use carbed EA82 disty's.... with a little work and modification - you have to cut off one mounting ear, and put the EA81 gear on the EA82 disty shaft, but it would work...... GD

Go post on the marketplace forum - when I needed one, several came up - then I found that local place that rebuilds them, and went that route instead. I figured it was best to just get it over with, and I've put a 10k on mine with the new bushing and nary a blip to be seen on my tach (it would occasionally read 7,000 RPM's while idleing with a bad disty bushing ). I think I spent a total of $55 to do my bushing and my vacuum advance unit. Drove my dads van for a day, and was back on the road the next morning. At least around here the JY's charge about $35 for a disty IF you can find one, which is a BIG if. There almost always picked. I'm not sure why other than people don't know you can rebuild your disty rather than get another - virtually the same price to have a bushing installed, and that seems like a lot better investment to me. GD

Well it's not as simple as that - IF he got one from EXACTLY the same model and year, he might be alright. But there are two different brands of EA81 distys, and about four or five different vacuum advance units, all with different curves in the disty, etc. So it *might* be right, but why not be sure about it? GD

Well - on most auto trannies, the filter is IN the trans, so you actually have to drop the pan to get to it I'm not 100% positive you even have a filter, but I think that at the very least there is a screen down there, and your pan could probably use a good cleaning of all the debris that has collected down there. The shifting diffuculty is almost certainly the governor. They get sticky from rough edges, and don't work as they are supposed to. This can be fixed pretty easy by removing the governor, and dressing up the edges of the mechanism with a whetstone or fine grinding wheel.... the online repair manual has a whole article with pictures etc..... I've done it before, and didn't find it that hard - take your time, and do the job right. GD

I wasn't being harsh - just jesting with Matt a bit. He IS confusing the situation by bringing in his silly MPFI turbo to a discussion about carbed non turbo engines with entirely different computer systems.... Are you refering to the AC idle up? It's an 84, and thus may very well not have AC..... do the carter webers have an idle up even if there's no AC? Wish I knew more about the carter weber so I could help with this one, but I still say switch to the hitachi..... GD

Yep - caleb your right. But he asked if he would need a gun to install a JY one - and since it did not come from his vehicle, I would say yes. Possibly you could do it without, but guesswork is not the way I work on my cars.... and I don't reccomend that others work that way either. Also - I personally like to do things the right way - and if that means I spend $19.99 on a timing light to do it right, then that's what I do..... or I borrow one from a friend or something. GD

Any EA81 axle - period. (the one exception being the 81 GL Brat - that's a no go). However - a TRUE 4WD axle is about 2mm thicker than a 2WD axle. Often when you buy a "4WD" axle, they turn out to actually be 2WD ones..... some of the rebuilders don't really care I guess.... And frankly, I don't think it matters - I've never seen or heard of anyone breaking the shaft of the axle - it's always the joints that break. I have 2WD axles in my lifted wagon right now with no ill effects. And there only $55 from http://www.cvaxles.com - which MANY board members recommend as the best. I don't think I would trust anything but theirs, or a new one from the dealer. GD

Oh - yes, forgot to mention - the place I linked above can rebuild your vacuum advance for $25 as well. And they even painted it, and polished my disty for me when they did the rebush. I was VERY happy with their service.... did I mention 24 hour turn around? Nice guys too. I think that a rebuild from CCR will actually have a NEW vacuum advance unit, and probably NEW ignition module too - thus the higher cost. And I hear they do great work too..... for this job tho, I don't really see the need to go to the expense of a whole rebuilt disty, when all you really need is a rebush.... your ign. module is working fine it sounds like.... course it wouln't be bad to have it lying around as an extra I suppose.... GD

Your governor may need some attention. These transmissions are known for their tendancy to blow up if you look at them cross-eyed... be very careful with it, and start changing it's fluid and filter often. Change your fluid - have the thing flushed. And check out the online repair manual - there's a good artical in there about how to properly "tune-up" your governor... Best thing you could do, is switch out to a manual transmission, but that may be more work than you are interested in doing. GD

I dissagree Eric - every car is unique, and just because you did not have a problem with any of your pumps, does not mean that someone else couldn't. Also - who's to say that all of yours were running optimally? If you never replaced a fuel pump with anything other than a stock one, then how do you know that it wouldn't have improved the performance or response in some way? Mine seems to be handling the stock fuel pump alright, but on sharp left turns (like REALLY sharp - into a driveway doing 30 MPH sharp) it leans out, so I think my 20 year old pump is no longer producing the volume that it once was. I will be switching to something like the carter 4070 just to see what difference it makes if anything. It surely can't hurt to try, and seemingly the Weber people agree that 2 psi is not optimal. It could also be a case that Eric is basically correct - our engines are at the smaller end of the 32/36's spectrum, and the larger volume and higher pressure may only really be needed for bigger engines.... it's hard to say without more Subaru specific test data to go on. GD

Yep - classic symptoms. Obviously your disty is working - cause it's still running. Best thing you can do is have your disty rebushed. Cost for me locally is about $35, and you'll have a basically new disty if you go that route. JY model is going to cost you the same, and who knows how good the shaft is on it.... These guys did an excelent job for me (they are local for me): http://www.philbingroup.com A rebuilt unit from CCR is about ~$145 ask them for details on exact price tho..... I don't personally see the point if you can have yours rebuilt for $35... On the JY one: Q: How do I tell if it will work? A: You can't Q: Do I need a gun to install it? A: Yes - absolutely. GD