I'm looking to replace my 84 EA81 wagon Toy with an EA81 hatch.I found an 81 hatch locally. It has 145K miles,its very straight,and it has virtually no rust.BUUUUTT its a FWD DL.I know its alot of work to convert to 4wd but Im wondering if its worth it.

 

BTW ANY Hatch I buy I will swap out the :ea82 front suspension,the DR 5 speed,and the SPFI, not to mention the off road lights and my front bumper.

So I know its alot of work but seeing as I am practically swapping the entire drive-train how much more work is it to convert to 4wd as well?

 

will the 84 wagon's rear suspension just bolt on?Will the wagon's fuel tank fit the hatch?

Has to be a hatch gas tank. Rear suspension is the same.

 

You will need a 4WD hatch fuel tank and exhaust (or custom), and without a lift the transmission tunnel will need modification to fit the 4WD tranny.

 

Driveline is custom anyway for all 5 speed swaps but you can't use the 5 speed two-peice on the hatch's - you MUST have a single peice driveline built for them since they are shorter.

 

Overall it's just too much work. I converted my wagon to 4WD and it just wasn't worth it. 4WD's are easy to find so unless it's something very special it's not worth the effort.

 

GD

a friend is buying it as a daily driver but it might get converted later.Just to be sure,but there are holes in the body for the suspension pieces right?

Some years yes, other's no. They existed on my '84 wagon and other's have found them to exist on their's as well but some do not. Investigation is the only sure way to know if the capture nuts exist on any particular car. It could be that the wagon got them and the hatch didn't in some years, etc - just no way to know for sure.

 

GD