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New Brat!


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hey guys! just picked up a '80 brat on saturday!

This thing is in really good shape! The interior is in near perfect condition, the jump seats have headrests and seatbelts, and the carpet is still in the bed!

 

There is a little bit of rust on the passenger fender, door, and the wheel wells, but its not bad at all.

 

The biggest problem is the motor is seized, but i can put an ea-81 in there if i swap bell housings? i would imagine the flywheel needs to be swapped too.

 

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The EA71 bellhousing will not bolt to the EA81 block, been there tried that.

 

What you need is a D/R 4-speed, the tranny will bolt up to the stock crossmember, but unless you get one from a 81 Brat, you will need to modify the shifters and modify a clutch cable from a Gen 2 Brat, as the 81 Brat clutch cable was only made one year and is no longer available anywhere (also tried to find that too). Then you will have to modify the angle of the steering rack to clear the wider bolt pattern of the EA81 bellhousing. Everything else pretty much bolt together.

 

I've done this kind of swap so if you have questions let me know.

 

-Bill

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  • 2 weeks later...
I got the engine to turn over! but there seems to be no compression. :-\

 

What would go bad to cause something like that?

 

No compression at all? Could be stuck rings.

 

Low compression? Head gasket.

 

You say the motor was seized, thats pretty indicative of frozen rings in my experiences. Judging by what I have read: If youre not worried about keeping it "original" youre much better off with an EA81. I know I love mine :headbang:

 

Just my two cents though.

T.J

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  • 1 month later...

These guys sell rebuild kits for the ea71. It looks like they offer rering kits as well. Not too bad considering all the mods to make the ea81 work. With the engine out you could have the heads ported and polished as well as a cam grind to make up for any loss of power from not going to the EA81 swap. I don't need to rebuild mine but I am pulling the engine and trans for a paint job coming up. While the engine is out I'm going to replace all the seals, port and polish the heads and have the cam ground. Also throw away the hitachi carb and go with the weber and you wont be sorry. The electronic distributor from your ea81 would be nice too. Also if you get tire of those skinny rims that come on those, I know I did, I did a write up on how I made the mag wheels from ea82 cars work on this gen brat.

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I was going to rebuild my EA71 but one head was bad and sourcing a good one proved impossible. A lot of people had them lying around but I had no guarantee that I wouldn't end up with another bad head. I considered swaps but in the end for practicallity went with a junk yard shelf EA71 complete for $500 with a 90 day warranty. That was going to be cheaper than my rebuild in parts alone. Add labor into that and I am really far ahead. And now I have a reliable driver. Down the road I'll probably go EJ, but that'll be another time.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Sweet, a battery that costs more than the car, lol.

 

How'd you like that Weber swap?

 

The battery was free and the weber is on an ea-82 intake with the trans-dapt datsun adapter plate so it would clear the distributor. Havent gotten it to run right yet. I think i have a stuck valve.  <_<

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