GeneralDisorder

I have heard from reliable sources that there was indeed a turbo justy. Don't think I have seen one, but I believe the person who told me about them. GD

The EA81 is the 1800cc - the EA71 is the 1600cc. It's the stroke - the bore sizes are the same. You can use EA71 pistons and rods in an EA81 to increase compression. GD

check this post: http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2576&highlight=axle+removal Ed has a great writeup in there on it. GD

The EA81T is a RARE engine - came in only 83 and 84 wagons, Brats, and coupes - and only some of them. It's VERY different than a regular EA81 car. The battery is on the other side, the cross-member is different, etc. etc. It will bolt to the trans, but that is about the only thing it will bolt to. You'll want the whole car for an EA81T conversion. The engine is so rare, that even finding replacement parts is nearly impossible, so it really isn't such a good choice. The EA82T came in cars from 85 to 91 (?) here in the states. Tons of them out there in the yards for cheap - replacement parts are easy to get. Oh - and the LSD's were 3.7 - you have to convert them to 3.9 using a ring gear from a normal rear end. There's a bit of grinding and fitting involved, but it will go in. The company he refers to is Phantom Grip I belive that does the front diffs. GD

I'm running 28's on toyota rims on my 84 wagon. With some trimming, you should be fine. Mine are 215/75R15's which are 27.7" OD. GD

Actually - with a properly tuned engine, the 2WD 5 speeds are pretty darn quick. The weber helps a lot with low end torque, but the EA81 will spin the tires easily in 1st for a half a block, and chirp em going into 2nd. The last one I had would do that, and had 316k on the clock. The weber will do you some good on the low end, and just take the muffler off completely - you don't need one as it isn't that loud without it, and you can't beat a straight pipe for flow! You also live in an area outside of smog testing, so that's no problem at all for you. People always ask me what I did to make the exhaust sound so good..... "well - the muffler fell off about a year ago....." If you want better acceleration, you need to get the clutch to lockup harder - you could put at 4WD clutch and flywheel in it. They are an inch bigger around. Will bolt right in..... Also partly how you drive it - rev it to 4 or 5K and drop the clutch - it will move - beleive me.... Assuming the engine is hitting hard enough. GD

pretty sure nothing would be hurt by roll starting the engine - should be fine. Don't worry about adjustment - just get it tight, and it will work fine. You just don't want any slop in the cable. I just make it tight enough that I can't move the shifter fork by hand. And make sure to tighten the stop nut down REALLY tight. If that works loose, your in a heap-o-trouble. GD

You probably won't be able to get out of your own way... Still very cool that your have that 78 - restore it, and don't drive it much...... GD

You can do it, it will be the same as the wagon. The tranny tunnel on the 2WD manual's is REALLY small, and you will have to cut and beat to get even the 4 speed in. The five speed would be a nightmare from hell to fit into a 2WD manual tranny tunnel. I think the 2WD auto's were bigger - possibly. Even still - you will have to beat on it for a 5 speed. Possibly not for a 4 speed if it's an auto. I never did get mine right - I lifted it instead and solved the problem that way. Check out the pics on my conversion: http://usmb.net/gallery/albuo57 http://usmb.net/gallery/albuo55 You have to cut the shifter hole bigger, and mount the 4WD lever. The front struts are different, the sway bar is different, and the whole exhaust from the Y back is different. Here's a parts list I put together (more parts like the pedal assembly would be needed for an auto swap): 4WD gas tank 4WD rear torsion bar and trailing arms. Rear diff / diff hanger / diff hanger brackets Rear axles Rear drum brake assembly, and axle ends Driveline Transmission 4WD Rear exhaust heat shield (there's a cutout for the diff hanger bracket) Complete exhaust (at least from the Y pipe back) 4WD front struts 4WD front sway bar 4WD shifter, and shifter mount (welded in, but the welds can be drilled out) 4WD interior console's and boots (and their mounting brackets on the floorpan) All the nuts and bolts for all these parts If you have any detailed questions - PM me. GD

Caleb has the idea. Read the previous post. I'm not giving you bullsh!t, I'm just telling you that you are wasting your time and money trying to turbo a carbed EA81 that was never meant for it. It is my opinion - please treat it as such. And please don't compare soobs to civics - they are competely different - they have little more in common besides being 4 cylinder passenger cars. You CAN bolt an EA82 to your car - in fact it's so easy it's almost pathetic. There will be about 1/2" between the cam covers and your frame rails - you don't even need to cut, it's just a drop in conversion, using the same engine mounts, and just a mix/match of clutch components. This goes for the EA82T (Turbo version) as well. If you really want to turbo a carb - go ahead, but please start with an EA82 turbo block. It's built for it already. Make yourself a custom intake for it to mount those side drafts, and go to town. Trying to use an EA81 would be a waste of your money as you would have to completely redesign the entire motor. The EA82T block is already running boost friendly components, and has the correct compression ratio for boosting. Not to mention the overhead cams. I agree that it's cool to learn new things. I don't personally feel that turboing a carb is worth the trouble, as it's really just as easy to run a small supercharger with a carb, and you'll get more power, and easier tuning. The Turbo is really meant for MPFI. If your going to the trouble of manufacturing manifolds, why not do it right, and go with a blower? GD Oh - and Caleb - "Just bolting in" the EA81T (if you can find one) sounds simpler than it really is...... You really need the whole front clip of the car for that conversion....... Just sent one to John (Mudrat) so he can build a turbo Brat :-)

Ok - couple of BIG things: 1. Route the cable UNDER the steering column - the splines on the steering shaft will eat a hole in the plastic of the cable, allowing water and other contiminates in, and the dry lubrican't inside the cable out - VERY BAD. It goes under the steering shaft, and under the heater core lines. OVER THE STEERING SHAFT routing is the most common reason for cable failure in my experience. This happens because unless you know it's wrong, the cable will work fine, and it seems the natural way to install it when your in there working...... you just have to know better. BTW - if you don't route it this way, the cable will be a lost cause within a few hundred miles..... will take more than that to snap, but the damage to the cable housing will already have been done. 2. When installing the cable it's a real beotch to get that little pin in and out unless you REMOVE the clutch pedal. Much easier if you just pop off the retaining clip on the pedal pivot shaft, and pull the whole pedal out about an inch - no need to remove it from the shaft, but I always do, and put a little brake caliper grease on the plastic sleeve bushings for the pedal. Also a good time to check the operation of the clutch engagement switch for proper adjustement. It's activated by a little rubber pad on the pedal. 3. Make sure the little rubber stopper pad on the pedal end of the cable is properly fitted to the metal tab on pedal box - you will see what I mean. There are two little rubber arrow shaped peices that must be pulled through two holes in the metal tab - they lock into place, and it's a rather tight fit - you will need needle nose pliers for it, as they are too tight to insert by hand. If that stopper isn't properly seated, the cable can rub on the metal tab, and once again...... bad times. GD

Doesn't matter - you can use either - depending on what kind of choke you want. Also - many DGEV's are labeled as DGAV's probably because they were rebuilt by weber, and switched. But the casting still says DGAV. So it's all really a mess - you can't actually tell just by the writing which one a carb is. You just have to look at the choke to tell. There's also manual choke ones out there, and conversion kits to make the others manual. GD

None - the engine is non-interferance, and you just need to put on a new belt and time it. GD

I had an 84 turbo (EA81T) wagon that blew all it's forward gears going down the freeway. Got it for free cause of that. It had 192k on it when it bit the dust. I know someone who has an EA81 coupe that keeps eating governors - as in they last about a week. Saw a coupe at the JY the other day that had "Bad Trans" written on the windshield - it had 177k on it. And there's the power issue. Take an already weak engine (73 HP), and then lop off about 75% of it's HP lost through the torque converter, now you have a 2400 lb car that's powered with a 20 HP engine. Not good. Better than the EA82 auto's? Don't know about that, but I can't imagine that's true. Neither were very good. I think the main complaint with the automatics is that they seem very un-Subaru-like. They don't last anywhere near as long as the engine even when maintained. It's impressive to go over 200k with an auto. On the other hand, by then most of the manuals have syncro problems - but that is due to how they are driven. At least with a manual - even with syncro problems it will usually get you home. With autos there's no knowing when or where they will die. GD

Yeah - your right, we are blessed up here. Went to the yard today, and since it's been cold here, there was three EA81 wagons, and a coupe there. And I don't even count EA82's there are so many - probably 15 or more in just that yard. Too bad they aren't poular down there, but I don't suppose you have much snow or wet weather either - probably why you don't see a lot of them. (the older ones anyway) GD

In my opinion, if your looking to run 15 lbs of boost, drop in an EA82T. There's people on here that run at least 14 on those with intercoolers and boost controllers. Trying to build a turbo EA81 from a non-turbo EA81 is certainly going to cost a lot more than simply getting your hands on an EA82T, and doing a little frame rail cutting to get it in. The EA81 was not designed to be turbo'd, and the turbo version of it (the EA81T) is considerably different. And while turbo'd carbs have been done, it sure is a lot simpler to run MPFI with a turbo. In short - it might be fun to try if you have lots of money to throw away, but there are SOOOOO many EA82T's out there in the JY's for cheap that you would never be able to do it for less, and the same amount of money put into an EA82T would yeild more HP anyway. If you really want power, drop in an EJ20T or EJ22T and an EJ series AWD tranny. More expensive, but since these are the WRX style engines (the EJ22T anyway - the EJ20 being similar in design), there's TONS of aftermarket parts for them. At least once a week someone asks about this - to date, no one has done it (for a car). There's a reason. I bet you can guess what it is. GD

My Brat sticks in 4th sometimes - you have to get the car moving a little bit, and it will come out. Don't know if that's your problem or not. Try moving the car - put all 4 corners on jack stands to relieve any potential binding - see if that does it. Also - you did check the tranny fluid right? If it turns out to be gummed up cause of a lack of fluid, or bad fluid, try redline gear oil - really good stuff - fixed my shift problems within a few hundred miles. GD

Local place in Portland OR that does disty rebuilds, and recurves. Done a great job for me a couple times now: http://www.philbingroup.com/ GD

Well - your going to have to do some serious trimming and beating. A 12" wide tire is going to be really tight - especially while turning. Also - regular car rims I don't think would have enough positive offset to get the tires to clear the front struts - maybe, but I think you may have to go with the ATV rims. If you get enough offset, and enough beating / cutting of the wheel wells, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Oh - and can ATV tires do freeway speeds? I don't know if they are rated for that - and are they radials? GD

enki made 14's - I think they were for pugs technically, but will fit. GD

I've only been to one meet, so I wasn't aware of the comming / going nature of the old gen crowd - sorry to hear that. I don't blame you for not expecting us to show - I wouldn't have done any different in your position. The failure of the PNWSEC is not your fault, and I don't think anyone is blaming you for it. Maybe it was just too ambitious. I don't think you could just "sign it over" to the old schoolers at this point - it's now too ingrained upon the new gen crowd, and it basically IS primarily their gig. As everyone has noted - there's the Hatch Patrol, and the Oregon Off-Road Subaru Club, and the RallyX meets that have become the new meeting ground of the old school types. I would still like to see the once yearly show - but maybe as others have pointed out, it should be a group effort between several smaller groups. The only problem then is that each group needs a point of contact - someong who can speak for that group. I don't know who those people would be - but maybe you ( Jamie ) could be a contact for whichever group you are most involved in, and just close up shop on the PNWSEC as it stands now. GD

There's too much diversification from what I can see to easily have one club for everyone. First you have two major groups - the gearheads, and the show-n-shine people. Now - the gearheads are split into two more groups - the dirt people, and the track people. And each of those groups is split into new gen and old gen. The show-n-shine group is mostly new gen, and they don't like to get dirty, so most of them are track types as well - if they even participate in that. Now these are of course broad generalizations, and not everyone fits into a clear cut category - and there's some people that have multiple cars, and are in several categories. Also - these are just MY personal observations, so may be wrong to some small degree, and indeed may be wrong to some *large* degree, but I can't help observing, and this is what I see. A lot of the show-n-shine people could care less about the race events, and the older gen stuff, so it's no good cramming it down their throats. They need their own show events, and it's no good dragging the old gen people along when there's no event and barely any awards for them as well. Now this works in the opposite direction too - the old gen and the dirt guys want rally events and to play with their cars, but the show people aren't interested in bringing their cars around a bunch of mud and dirt if there's no show event for them too. Like the RallyX - if I had a show car, I don't think I would have even driven it into the parking area it was sooo snotty. I think what I'm trying to get at is that we are so diversified that if you want to do one big yearly event, it's going to have to incorprate all of us. I don't think you can take just one "direction" and expect to have enough people turn out to make it a reality. And as for people being involved and helping out with the event, you would obviously draw from a larger crowd of people if you were to cater to more than just one group. It has been my feeling that the PNWSEC has catered mostly to the new gen group in the past. At WCSS5 everyone seemed very "suprised" at how many of us old gen guys showed up, and there were very few awards for the old gen class compared to the new gen classes. This was just the feeling I personally got from the show. I did have fun tho - met a lot of cool people, and will definately be at the next one. Hopefully there will be more old-gen-centric planning going into it than last time. GD

There's too much diversification from what I can see to easily have one club for everyone. First you have two major groups - the gearheads, and the show-n-shine people. Now - the gearheads are split into two more groups - the dirt people, and the track people. And each of those groups is split into new gen and old gen. The show-n-shine group is mostly new gen, and they don't like to get dirty, so most of them are track types as well - if they even participate in that. Now these are of course broad generalizations, and not everyone fits into a clear cut category - and there's some people that have multiple cars, and are in several categories. Also - these are just MY personal observations, so may be wrong to some small degree, and indeed may be wrong to some *large* degree, but I can't help observing, and this is what I see. A lot of the show-n-shine people could care less about the race events, and the older gen stuff, so it's no good cramming it down their throats. They need their own show events, and it's no good dragging the old gen people along when there's no event and barely any awards for them as well. Now this works in the opposite direction too - the old gen and the dirt guys want rally events and to play with their cars, but the show people aren't interested in bringing their cars around a bunch of mud and dirt if there's no show event for them too. Like the RallyX - if I had a show car, I don't think I would have even driven it into the parking area it was sooo snotty. I think what I'm trying to get at is that we are so diversified that if you want to do one big yearly event, it's going to have to incorprate all of us. I don't think you can take just one "direction" and expect to have enough people turn out to make it a reality. And as for people being involved and helping out with the event, you would obviously draw from a larger crowd of people if you were to cater to more than just one group. It has been my feeling that the PNWSEC has catered mostly to the new gen group in the past. At WCSS5 everyone seemed very "suprised" at how many of us old gen guys showed up, and there were very few awards for the old gen class compared to the new gen classes. This was just the feeling I personally got from the show. I did have fun tho - met a lot of cool people, and will definately be at the next one. Hopefully there will be more old-gen-centric planning going into it than last time. GD

There's lots of small supercharged motors out there - I know some company made a blower for the miata, and the newer nissan motors are commonly blown from the factory. I think all the xterra's come supercharged now. Lots of options out there for blowers - I know a buddy of mine was looking at a kit for his audi 2.8L - cost was around $3,000 for the supercharger and all the stuff to hook it up. I'm sure someone out there makes a blower for the older VW motors - one of those might be made to work. GD

rock on man. GD