Yeah, right.

 

My dad wants me to take the pushbutton 4wd slushbox out of his '84 Gl and put in either a 4 or 5speed dual range. It's a ea81 car, but you all knew that already.

 

I hate to do this, as it's been rehashed about a million times, but what do I need to do, what parts to get, are there issues like body clearance, which flywheel, blah blah blah.

 

Also, he is probably more interested in higher quality parts. I don't want to say that overall cost isn't an issue, but he'd rather spend more on a better part than have something cheap blow up on him. So if someone has had really good luck with a brand of something (like which clutch kit), please chime in.

 

This all started when I mentioned I'd like to buy his car so I could jack it up and drop a manual tranny in it and cruise it around like that. His selective hearing picked up part of it, it seems.

I am doing the tranny swap with my 82 brat and it is ripe with issues. But with an 84 GL you shouldnt have too many problems........

 

I would recommend a 5sp D/R.....overall more gearing options for hills and highways. You can get these from any 85-89 wagons that have a 5sp D/R at the junkyard. Make sure you are getting the front diff gear you need.......check the tag on the rear diff to make sure you are getting what you want. Make sure you match turbo or nonturbo.....meaning if yours is a non turbo then get a tranny from a non turbo......the front axle shafts are not interchangeable between the two.

 

You will probably have issues to figure out with the linkage.....if you currently have a pushbutton 4wd then you probably dont have the shifter holes line up correctly. I dont have any info on this but it seems like it might be an issue.

 

There are a few different ideas on what clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing and flywheel to use.......the USRP (Ultimate Subaru Repair Manual) has a basic description of the steps but there are others that advocate:

 

1. when swapping an EA81 tranny with an EA82 tranny use the following.

EA81 Flywheel

EA81 Pressure Plate

EA82 Clutch

EA82 Throwout bearing

 

Make sure you get several opinions before you go forth with the project. I dont have all the answers but hopefully this will get you started.

ttt

 

cuz i'm lazy.