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1987 Hatchback Gl (Any body conversions?)


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It's a 2WD - that explains the chrome bumper - mine had that. If you take a look at my image gallery, you will see. They did a lot of wierd things. It could still be that you are correct, and the 2 square style went out after 84. I don't know, but I thought that was a standard DL thing. Your probably right, just a year off is all.

 

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Agreed - and I don't think he'll be happy with an EA81 either. Just too difficult for him to "rice". But then - we don't use them for that do we? :D

 

If you want to "rice" it, put an EJ22T in there. Course - you wouldn't have to do any mods to that engine really, as it's got all the power you need for that little hatch. Would get you in a lot of trouble man.

 

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speakin of eadlights, i hit the parts store last night to get all 4 lights for my 84' hatch.. the guys computer said it only had 2.. and after the third time of him askin me if i was sure it had 4, i told him to look up an 84' brat.. and sure enough got all 4 of my lights..

 

so just remember if ya go to Advance for headlights for youtr hatch. tell'em to look up a brat :eh:

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the guys at ram engines got an EA81T (MPFI Turbo) to 200HP dyno'd only with 8lbs of boost.

 

Peformance everything of course. Look at finding an EA81T out of a Turbo Sedan, and then buying about $1250 to $1500 in stuff, (already priced the parts) and you could get 200HP like they did. Only retained thing in that engine was the heads and the block...

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Don't hate on me because my other car is a honda... It was built int japan at one time, and rebuilt from the ground up at my house... Rice is something you cook, my car doesn't do that at all. It's a fully streetable drag car. Now my subaru, i bought it for one thing... And one thing only off-road rally type fun car all around... So don't hate... I would like to make it 4wd. Since i guess in 87 the body style of my Hatchback doesn't come in all-wheel drive... But 4wd will me more than fine and fun. Power is something i want so it's good all around... So when i hit the street it has some get up and go. But i want to focus all the power to the dirt... And handling....

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Then you want to drop in an EA81 with a cam regrind, and the EA71 pistons. That will get you more than enough power for rally. You can swap in 4WD pretty easy, but you will need a LOT of parts to do it (I've personally done this), and without a lift, the tranny will be VERY tight, and you will have to beat the tunnel back with a sledge to get it not to rub. The parts you need for 4WD are as follows:

 

4WD gas tank

4WD rear torsion bar and trailing arms.

Rear diff / diff hanger / diff hanger brackets

Rear axles

Rear drum brake assembly, and axle ends

Driveline

Transmission

4WD Rear exhaust heat shield (there's a cutout for the diff hanger bracket)

Complete exhaust (at least from the Y pipe back)

4WD front struts

4WD front sway bar

4WD shifter, and shifter mount (welded in, but the welds can be drilled out)

4WD interior console's and boots (and their mounting brackets on the floorpan)

All the nuts and bolts for all these parts

 

It's best to buy a beat up parts car, and then sell that car as a 2WD using your old parts (that's what I did anyway). I sold the car I bought for this for the same price I paid for it, so I got all my parts for free.

 

If I had to do it over, I would have just bought a 4WD to begin with. It's too much work to do this conversion, only to have the tranny not really fit. I lifted my wagon tho, so I don't have that problem, but it was still too much work. I know that now - hell, I could have bought a nice 4WD hatch for what I paid for my 2WD. You just have to know the right people.

 

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NOT true - an EA81 tranny will still be very tight. The floorpan sheetmetal is actually different, and may or may not be big enough. It depends on many factors - year, transmission type, and others. There's something like 7 different part numbers for the floor pan sheet metal. We've been through this before....

 

http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2944&highlight=tranny+tunnel

 

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I've got an EA81 88 hatchback in my driveway with an EA81 in it, and it's 2WD. My first Subaru was an 87 STD hatchback which was also 2WD, but it had a 4 speed and EA71.

That hatch that demonkid showed a pic of is definately a GL, you are probably confusing the quad lights with the EA82 DL, which did in fact have quad lights. EVERY EA81 DL I've seen has had dual lights, not quad.

And I have also successfully done a 2WD to 4WD swap, the car was originally an automatic though, not manual.

 

And as for the EA81 being a performance upgrade over the EA81, the EA71 is 69 HP, the EA81 is 73, go through all that work for a measly 4 HP?

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Andrew has an '87 hatchback GL 2wd 5-speed sitting in his driveway right now. It belongs to JonOfScio and is currently getting another passenger side head. It has the quad square headlight assemblies in it. Oh and my wagon has quad round headlights in it.......but its a 79:D

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