1. will an ea81 from a 83 brat fit to the ea82 4wd dr trans in a wagon?

2. will an ea82 from a 85 wagon fit to the ea81 4wd dr trans in a brat?

3. without swaping trans?

Yes in both cases with some swapping of clutch parts, but putting an EA82 in a Brat is tight. Especially around the HH (disty on the EA82), and the frame rails are about 1/8" from the valve covers, and might hit occasionally.

 

GD

Between EA81 and EA82 I would stick with the EA81 because it is a much more rugged and reliable engine, the difference in HP is easily made up for not much money.

ea82s fit reel good, i love them, and would recommend that swap. timing belts rule!

Depends on what you are doing with it, but basically the EA82 has more moving parts, and more stuff to break. Because of this situation, it's also more time consuming to work on. It's timing belts were improperly designed - lasting no more than 60k miles generally. They also have issues with their hydraulic lifters that EA81 hydro's don't have, and because of the bulky design, have trouble keeping head gaskets and heads due to heat. The clear choice for an off-roader is the EA81, but for a street ride an EA82 could be acceptable (although not my choice for that either.... an EJ22 would be my choice).

 

GD

Should be okay especially if you can keep the pollution/emissions stuff with the car and just move the blocks.

 

I am a lot bigger fan of ea81 than ea82's. You can keep the timing belts and minor horsepower improvements as far as I am concerned. They put the higher HP engine in a heavier car.

Seat of the pants feel, the ea81 wagon and ea82 wagon could keep up with each other equally.

just another reason to buy a brat - such as the one I am considering, dad highly opposed

the most non-stuck 4x fun is down at the river bottom, saw water, stopped, put it in 4lo, and backed out no problem, thank you fwd!

also the magnet mount on the roof is the only way to go