I recently pulled the ea81 from my 82 brat, suspecting a blown head gasket, as i noticed oil and water leaking in the event which settled her into my garage for almost 2 years. could not find evidence of a blown gasket though, but i did find a broken piston and spun bearing in #1 cylinder. also some ring pieces in the oilpan. rod bearing on #1 completely worn through and significant damage done to the crankshaft(about .060" worn away). what else could this have damaged? i am wondering what my best/quickest/cheapest/most reliable option is for getting this project completed, not limited to keeping the ea81, rather making a cross-country worthy brat in the soonest way possible. i have much more info about my situation, just wanted to get this out there asap.

thanks

- cap86('s son)

Cheapest and easiest would be to either find a used EA81 engine to swap in or a good used crank and rebuild yours.

 

There are many possibilities to make it into a (much) better all-rounder by performing an EJ-swap but that will cost more time, effort (and possibly money).

precisely, i need an ea81 to swap in or take parts from, unfortunately,i'm having trouble with that.

There are still a lot of EA81's rusting away in the woods around you, it shouldn't be too hard to find a good donor engine.

 

Moosens is in CT, and I know he would be able to turn one up at a moment's notice. You could try PMing him?

 

You could also put a WTB post up in the classifieds section here for an EA81 in Eastern PA and see what turns up.