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Swappingout an ea82 installing a ea81


chad barker
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i have been searching for info to help me with a project i took on and most of it has been trial and error as i have made numerous discoveries on my own that i am hoping to share with all to simplify the very detailed questions one may have to sway a mind to go ahead with a challenge or you may decide not to with this light shed on this subject.so i dont know most of the actual terms and proper names for these parts or items, so i will describe them as i see fit.im sorry for my poor typing as i am trying to hurry and get my project done and i also have a goal to have this car running with all or most bugs oust of its system by winter to enjoy the all wheel drive and toasty heater that my 74 vw beetle does not offer.you should know this car i am working on is a 87 gl wagen and have removed the ea82 and am installing an 1984ish ea81. i will be keeping the 5 speed hi/lo trans.all work will be done outdoors on workbenches or hanging by chain and hoist as i do not have a concrete floor, shop or engine stand.i am not after performance or serious offroading in this particular case, all stock for a reliable and durable daily driver. thought i would clarify a few things before beginning.

I am half german and will try not to type too much in germanglish, or at least keep it understandable.if you read this first, it should help as some of the things i discovered would be hard for someone to try to type to me, and i took photos to show mods.

So the first thing guys and fraus is safety of course. hurry! get in that hurry! i run out of patence too but there is some things that at the very beginning of this should be done very thoroghly and crefully to make it easier later. Like the first thing. mark every hose, line, and wire with tape and marker. i used yellow and white elec. tape as it stretches around hoses very tight and a sharpie. this took some time but all items were marked well, and i cant tell you how much this is uber important. i also took 40plus digital pics, as i used them alot for reference. DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!

I spent the time and money to hunt down a set of factory service books(5) and they have been helpful, but expensive, and the first thing i will start on is the book says nothing about removal of raidator or fans and you must do these steps as there is not enuff room to do this as you will poke a hole in your raid. as i did with the iol sending unit by the oil filter. as soon as you get your motor out and accessable, make shure you spend time as you are marking and numbering lines, check for bad ones. cracks, frays and splits can be hidden and these are very hard to change out later as they are buried by the intake.its so easy to do now and there is sooo many of them. and ive been warned to get them right or car may not run right. if you are installing a aftermarket carb, like a weber i have seen a freinds car and a major amount of these lines are abandoned. but im not doing that and i know nothing about this so dont be mad at me.just thought i would save you some time and boring reading.

I am going to be using the factory a/c system and power steering, and the motor i bought from craigslist did not have any pulleys or brackets as i have searched around and found most of my parts and am ready to do my project.the biggest difference of these 2 engines that we are concerened with is the distributer is in a diffrent place, the intake is very diffrent and all of the pulleys and brackets are all changed up on us. i have decided to use the 82 intake manifold with its carb left on it. you will not have to take the carb off unless you need to rebuild or work on it. this intake swap ive been told that will be much easier and better in many ways, simplir plugging in of electrical and vaccum, keeping precious hp up as high as possible. so.

with members of this site, google images andsubie freinds ive met at vw club meets, i will attemp to post this vital info for future subiedooers. i hope it helps.

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I will be posting this info in parts as i did the whole thing at once and it would not let me post it and it said the time was expired so i will start all over and do it in installments.assuming we have all lines marked and the intake is off(the first 15 hoses are just the air filter housing) so next you will notice on the 81 engine is all the threaded holes to mount our pulleys and brackets are mostly missing, nonexistant. so you NEED the setup from the 81 engine, and if they are already on the engine, remove them as they do not fit until the intake is on first or sorry, the intake HAS togo on first then the accessories last.we will be swapping the intake over first.and this is were i ran into most of the complications and modifications. The "hard lineset" that all the rubber vaccum lines connect to all over the place is bolted on the front, rear top and bottom of the intake. this needs removed as it will not work on either intake now, so i did not use mine as i simply used pieces of it, cutting the little angles i needed and straight pieces for couplers, only removing one piece at a time as not to loose track where things go, because if we took photos they will not match up well now, deleting the hardset, SO GO SLOW AND TAKE YOUR TIME. with the intake off this is a great time to do general degreasing and cleanup, spark plug replacment as there easy to access now,and remove the thermostat and check it in a kettle of boiling water, even if you bought a new one. its a quick easy test to make shure the part works before you seal it in place.

The oil dipstick tube on the 81 engine needs to be slightly bent but it has a bracket bolted on and you may want to remove this so it will bend the amount and direction we want it ti go, to the rear of the engine,so then i got the bright idea of removing the vaccum pot that is hitting on the tube. the one on the 82 engine appears diffrent as it has a "nut" part sandwitched in the middle of it, whereas the 81 does not,but when i measured them, they were identical,75mm tall.so no clearence gain here, dont waste precoius time.

The metal tube coming out from under the same vaccum pot housing and runs unter the 81s oil fill tube hits on the very rear of the trans?engine mount flange area.you will quickly see this and i began fixing this,.look at the tube and follow it, it has a bracket on the intake.drill a hole under the factory hole, lift it up with a punch or smooth tool in the end of the tube, rebolt it in the new hole and its done.The vertical hard vaccum line hose bracket right to the right of the top raid hose base needs to be bent to the reat of the engine as it hits on the top of the rear most spark plug wire on the dist. cap.dont bend it too far or it will contact the carb linkage.I used a large cresent wrench and pair of channellock pliers to twist it.

The black hose directly unter/in front of the carb is a problem as the carb hits on the hose clamp. simply take the clamp off and swap sides of the hose with the screw part of the clamp. mine is now on the left side of the hose, and it clears.AND JUST SO WE ALL KNOW, WHEN WE SAY ON THE LEFT OR RIGHT THIS IS ALWAYS FACING THE ENGINE, AS WELL AS FRONT OR BACK. alsothe "tab" thingie on the bottom right portion of the thermostast housing that hooks to the upper raid. hose, on the left side of the intake is for a bolt tohold a metal vertical bracket to hold metal vaccum lines, in fact the same one we just bent out of the way.well now we need to cut off a slant or angle to clear the vaccum pot that is on the side of the dist.do not try to remove the pot,adjust it or bend it as it has an arm and spring that goes into the distributer.so just get your grinder or as i used my dremel tool with a cut-off wheel and you will see that a corner needs to be removed. if you are looking at the front of the intake as it would be installed on the engine start at the bottom of this little appendage and scratch a mark in the soft alloy with a knifeblade or scribe at a 45 deg angle towards the sky and carb.

you will also cut through the bolt as it needs be gone and will not hurt anything.DO NOT LET YOUR GRINDER CUT DOWN AND TO THE LEFT as this is a water jacket area. do not ask me how i know this.Directly below this piece you just cut off and removed is a vaccum line or tube that is metal on mine and we are working on the 82 intake just incase boys unt girls!needs cut off flush or break off the damm thing like i did.get a drill bit the same size as the tube and drill it oust, i used a vaccum cleaner to make sure no shavings were in the hole. now look on the hardset were not using and find the tightest 90degree bend there is, and cut it off cleanly/if there is any sharp edges smooth them with sandpaper or file. you are going to need a pack of JB weld, a 2 tube 2 PART EPOXY OF SORTS. WUNDREBAR STUFF I TELL U, I MIX MINE A LITLE STRONG ON THE HARDENER SIDE OF THINGS, AND only GET THE 4 MINUTE STUFF AS NORMAL TYPE TAKES OVER NIGHT TO SET.LITERALLY.stick the 90 in the hole pointing it straight foreward, making sure u left room for a little hose to fit on, not poking it too far in the hole, then mix your jb weld- donot mix it until your ready because it sets up in 4 minutes and slobber it all around the tube to seal it off. very well done. AND FOR CRYING-OUT-LOUD DO NOT JB WELD YOUR LITTLE VACCUM HOLE SHUT. dont ask me howi know this.

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You may have to do some twaeking and adjusting all these next steps throughout to make it fit but its not been bad. this total process has probably taken me a full day aprox..i wish someone had done this research and story for mich... The larger metal tube unter the oil fill tube does not let the frontmost part of the intake set down, so, i temporarily bolted it down LIGHTLY to solidify the intake and used a smooth punch in the end of the female end of the tube and simply bend it where we want it to go up and away from the trans flange and make shur there is room for the hose to slide on later. DONT REEF on this, have a buddy, pal or whomever dont mind getting 9 of their fingers black and gently bend it.

The large copper (1/2") line that is kinda squiggley and crooked that bolts to the block at the rear left corner and into the back of the intake needs to come out.also remove tin heat shield.

After these modifications, my intake sat right down with some twisting and wiggling, but it fits purfect. I use a product called THE RIGHT STUFF available from NAPA AUTO PARTS stores and its amazing for gasket sealing, and can be used around fuel areas too, as most silicone products cannot. now that little 90 degree copper tube that is on the 82 engine needs to go where we took the larger suiggly one out. snap on the little heat shield.there is a bolted on heat sheild that needs removed in the same area of the tube,and the 3 bolts needs to come out as they will hold down the rear part of the pwr steering pump.you need to install the 81 thermostat housing instead of the 82s, as NO OTHER COMBO WILL WORK sodont waste your time, and even weirder yet, the taller housing of the 81 goes on POINTING TO THE REAR, OR AWAY FROM THE RAIDATOR. we wil have to make up hose assy later to loop back around to the front, when the engine is installed for a better fit.

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You have tocut a semi triangle out of the power steering bracket. on the 2 bolts on the front of the bracket(top part) that are paralell mit each other you can see the right sided one needs the chunk cut out directly above it and to the left nearly 1 1/2 inches . if this is done it fits unter the thermostat housing and upalong side of it.this was the only mods to make this fit. the vaccum lines took more time, as im done with mine now. but i cannot describe all the details as ther is not enuf time, room and clean words to get it across to ya'll. pay very close attention to your marked hoses and start putting them back together one at a time. do not be in a hurry, dont go see the wife or answer the phone with uncle bob. stay in the game-focus here as this is an easy spot to loose concentration. KEEP IN MIND that if you cleaned like i did with brakeclean and carb cleaner for a handy grease remover, it also softens tape and wip[es away sharpie marker, so take care of these things as needed. folks the homework we did earlier with digital pics and labeling is going to make you very happy now. i had to run to a freinds house that has another car like our test subject and take a few more photos because i lost track of 5 hoses and had to know where they go. just dissassemble the hardset as needed using little pieces of the elbows and couplers to put it all back, routing as much away as possible from the distributer as possible, as it builds up quick and its a spot we need to get to.not using the hardset worked out just fine.maybe we even saved some weight.

so now i am in the middle of formulatin the flywheel issue and clutch to combine and will post as completed. i just removed a dingy oil pan, made a new gasket out of a sheet of gasket material, and used a hole punch for making holes. right stuff sealed this up too, now keeping the bottom of the engine clean. i hope this helps the future subiedoobie dooers as long as there is a desire for these cars, just trying to help all. and if i stand corrected, by all means help and post it! dont just think my distributer is non advanced!(retarded) thanks and take care for now

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o thank you cmill189. why arent you working for nasa? you sound like a rocket scientist. if you would read at the beginning of this post i apologized for poor typing. we are all not like you. so get some eye drops, tuck your little girl parts back up inside and dont respond to this post, thank you very much. it took alot of time and effort in TRYING TO HELP other folks out. i just dont see why you have to respond so dumb and offensive when others have patiently helped.... and as always, thank you very much for the good assistance-help like that is the reason websites last and are of good value.

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  • 3 years later...

Sorry don't have the patients too read all your typing for the tranny side of things for the ea81 four speed to a five from an ea82 in my case ea81 83 brat with four speed what things from the ea82 tranny and parts in my ea82 87 gl base would I need cause I only need to do the tranny swap for mine not a whole swap?

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  • 5 weeks later...

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