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Can I?

Featured Replies

Hey does any one know if and how I can put a turbo in to my non turbo 83 brat gl?

Yes.  Given time and money, anything can be done...

 

...but not everything should be done.

 

There are ways to do it, none of them easy or straightforward.  You will end up with little power increase and an engine that will soon be dead.  MUCH more practical to look into swapping in a later (and MUCH greater) EJ22.  Actually less work, more reliable and far more powerful.

i'ts not bolt on or plug and play. I believe "no" was the answer you are looking for.

You will have to source a engine crossmember from a turbo 8a81 83-84 brat, wagon coupe, to acommodate the up-pipe for a turbo engine. It can be done, but you either need the right factory bits, or modify axles and bellhosing and chop down wiring harnesses. You essentially need a turbo donor car to do something like this.

 

Otherwise, you can fit a turbo manifold on there if you can figure out how to do so witih the carburetor. The original piece may be rare or unavailable, or you would have to build a manifold. Otherwise use modern engine.

Long answer:  You have 2 basic paths to a broken engine.  1) buy a EA81 turbo vehicle and swap most of the drivetrain, the engine crossmember, much of the exhaust system, much of the wiring harness, and most/all of the fuel system.  2)  Build a custom setup.

 

Option 1 needs all of those bits because the EA81T engine is multi-port fuel injected, with special heads to hold the injectors.  It is impractical to do multi-port FI in a standard head.  Most of the mods are needed to support the FI. 

 

Option 2 would probably involve either a carburetor or single-point FI, either in blow-through or suck-through form.  The standard turbo used on the Subarus does not support suck-through.  Blow-through requires sealing of the throttle body, and a backfire into the intake system can cause major damage. 

 

You will still have an engine that cannot tolerate much power increase, both structurally and cooling-system wise.

The retrofit subforum has TONS of info on this:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/forum/18-subaru-retrofitting/

 

Link in the first post here seems to cover what you are asking, I believe the swap has been done many time by people here, a little time with the search function should get you a plethora of data:

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/67098-please-read-ej-swap-write-up-ver-20-now-in-pdf-form/

 

 

Cheers

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