My 79 DL Wagon just threw a rod. (Sad day for me)

So i have to figure out what direction i should go with this.

Am I better off trying to convert a more common engine?

I have been looking on line today am getting a little discouraged about the hope of replacing or rebuilding the current on with an other 1600 due the lack of available parts and engines out there.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what a good solution might be?

move up to the ea81 1800cc engine puts off a little more horse power:headbang:and its pritty close to the same as the ea71 1600cc engine u have now and the ea81 are more common for Japanese imports, but u also could use the ea82. the ea81 and ea82 are the way to go if u dont want to do a difficult engine swap. but u could do a ej swap and double or triple your horse power but that would take alot of work, time, and money because u need to make a engine plate for tranny, hook up the ecu, and put the engine in and hook up every thing.

As another option I used car-parts.com and found a yard near me that had 3 ea71's on the shelf. I paid $500 for that and it came with a 90 day warranty. There were some other cheaper ones but they were too far away. You might get lucky. I was going to rebuild mine but ea71 parts proved difficult to source, especially the passenger side head(mine was cracked). I might go buy a second one just because.....

Thank for that Tip.

So, the ea81 and 82 will bolt right up to my trans with no issues?

the transmission is the front wheel drive 5speed.

I was told by a mechanic that an 1800 wouldn't fit.

I thought he was wrong, but not really sure.

yes my dad has some ea71, ea81, ea82 and all them are interchangeable and so are the transmissions but u would have to do custom work for fitting the tranny because they bolt on under the car different. if u put the ea81 or ea82 on your current tranny it would blot right on because all of the trannys and motors have the same blot patterns that mount them together:headbang:my dad said u might have to change the bellhouseing but thats it

As far as I know, you can't mate an ea81 or 2 to the gen 1 top starter bellhousing, unless you have the late ea71 fat case. I don't think the early 4spd trans will take the later bell housing either......someone who has done it might chime in. This is just what I have read. I think the swap is worth it due to parts availability, but with a new baby I didn't really have 10 freakin years to mess with it. I hope it works out for you.

and btw...the ea71 in my 78 brat with a straight pipe and weber will burn rubber.

Edited July 4, 201213 yr by Brat78

No, putting in an ea81 or ea82 is far from straight forward. I wouldn't bother with an ea82, and a ea81 swap would entail a very rare crossmember swapped in and then the tranny mating issue.

ea71 are not that hard to find, your location only has a town, what state are you in, maybe somebody on the board could help you find one. good luck.

the ea71,ea81,ea82 all fit all fit on the transmission my dads done it before

i have 3 good 1600 cores and one good running engine if stuck

the ea71,ea81,ea82 all fit all fit on the transmission my dads done it before

 

fat case ea71 ( from later years) ea81 and ea 82 will fit the same trasmissions but not the transmission in this guys car.

 

this problem is simple enough- you have a blown ea71, get a new ea71. That is the ONLY simple answer.