Ohkay, been looking through the archives, haven't been able to come up with a definate answer to this.

The question at hand is EA81 vs EA82 control arms. Are there any size differences, length, width? Do they mount the same? I've crawled around under my EA82, but haven't been able to really figure it out. Would it be really hard to swap a set of EA82 arms into an EA81 car?? Thanks.

The main difference is the angle off the cross member. They point more forward. I believe the length is the same.

Adam, you may want to contact Donald (a.k.a. M.F.) I believe he tried this swap by rewelding the brackets on the cross member

I did the control arm swap on my 81 wagon when I did the EA82T swap. I think the arms are longer also (to make up for the longer axles for the EA82 tranny) You do have to cut the bracket off the EA82 crossmember and weld it to the EA81 crossmember. Not a big deal if you have a sawsall and a welder.

Sounds like nothing that I can't do, I'm definatly no stranger to the fabrication world. Hrm. It's basically just a thought I've got milling about on a project that I've been thinking of. I'll definatly keep it in mind. Although I may go a different route.

rguyver did this too - both on his hatch, and on the Brat with the XT6 stuff..... try a search for posts by him, I'm sure you will turn it up. As I recall Miles had a small issue with alignment.... not sure if that had anything to do with it or not.

 

GD

here is a small write up on lower control arms

http://www.warpthree.com/milesfox/subaru/service/lowercontrol.htm

 

i have put ea82 lower controls in my 83. i weld an ea82 bracket to the ea81 frame. cause the ea82 AXLE is longer

 

i tried it first in the ea81 brackets, but the axle rubbed the frame, and it allowed to extend enough to pop the boot off

 

GD, my alignment was due to chopped tierods that were hastily built, and a wallowed out strut cap. all fixed now

 

the ea82 has the swaybar mount on the front, ea81's swaybar mounts to the strut brace

 

the ea81 ball joint holes are larger than the ea82's

 

to use ea82 control arms in ea81, you will need ea82 inner and outer tie rods. i suggest using the ea82 strut/knuckle assembly with a *slightly* modded atrut cap(spring tools required), so that way you dont have to ream out the tie rod and ball joint holes, and you get bigger brakes, too

 

with ea82 lower control arms, the wheels will be castered slightly forward, and camber slightly in, soo that will give you a better stance for cornering. the width of the track will be slightly wider, nothing that will interfere with the fender and wheels. i had 16 inch 205/55's with this

 

while at it, the REAR TRAILING ARMS between both will mount the same, but the ea82 has a larger bolt on the front part, and is *slightly* wider.

 

if using an ea82 trailing arm in an ea81, trim off some of the metal sleeve in the bushing, so it fits, and widen the holes on the ea81 brackets

 

the 3 bolts on the side will line up, as well as the shocks