I have a 1992 Loyale and love every bit of it, a couple of opportunities have been presented to me recently the first being a 1970s or 1980s brat (it has the dual range but also has the rounded headlights so im confused), i want to buy it and fix it up with a lift kit as well as a more powerful engine which brings me to my second opportunity which is a 1984 turbo GL wagon that i can possibly get for free. I would take the engine out of that and put it in either my loyale or the brat if i buy it. what are your thoughts on this?

what kind of offroading do you do?

EA81T is 95 HP. Your Loyale is 90. Waste of time for 5 HP, and a huge mess to put it in.

 

The Brat is probably an 81 GL. That's the only year of the Gen 1's that came as a D/R. The EA81T will take a lot of work to fit in there - steering linkage is in the way, and the crossmember won't fit the exhaust, etc. Plus it would be a shame to modify an 81 GL as they are really rare.

 

I say put a 5 speed in the 84 turbo and drive it. Pass on the Brat unless it's in decent shape and cheap. Gen 1's aren't very popular. Or get both and keep all three.

 

At any rate the EA81T is not a very good candidate for transplant into anything. It would suck in the Loyale as you would lose low-end torque (low comp. turbo engine), and gain only 5 HP at near 5000 RPM. You wouldn't notice it at all.

 

GD

(it has the dual range but also has the rounded headlights so im confused)

Could it be a 82-87 brat with "Stardard" headlights? In other words, does it look like the same styling as the 84 MY wagon or older?

Ubaroo: I havent done any offraoding yet, my car has been stock since i got it. i live in colorado so i have many options when it comes to offroading.

 

GD: but if i can get the turbo engine for near nothing it will give me at least a little more something to get up and down these mountains and who knows i might stumble onto a bigger turbo

 

Phiz: i have no clue, the people say its a 1978 but it has the dual range tranny so im not sure.

GD: but if i can get the turbo engine for near nothing it will give me at least a little more something to get up and down these mountains and who knows i might stumble onto a bigger turbo

 

it's a ton of work to swap them (electrically speaking...). and you would have less torque for getting up and down the mountains. only a few more peak hp, and you'd only see that at about 5k rpms.

 

and the EA81 is not a good motor to go boosting. they just can't handle it.

Colorado = altitude. The turbo motor may have a larger advantage over the N/A one than you think.

GD: but if i can get the turbo engine for near nothing it will give me at least a little more something to get up and down these mountains and who knows i might stumble onto a bigger turbo

 

You would lose major amounts of low-end torque, and turbo's are not good up the mountain side. You have to keep the R's way up, and then they start to overheat..... yeah, bad juju. The SPFI engine you have is higher-reving, and produces insane amounts of torque.

 

Plus the EA81T is way antiquated as far as it's FI goes. Parts are expensive and nearly impossible to find because they only made them for 2 years. You are talking a 5% increase in peak power, and a loss of probably 20% in low end torque. The turbo is 7.7:1 compression, and the SPFI is 9.5:1.

 

Oh - and do you like the 30 MPG of the SPFI? I hope not cause the EA81T will get about 20 to 25 (usually more towards 18 to 20 though).

 

GD

Phiz: i have no clue, the people say its a 1978 but it has the dual range tranny so im not sure.

Does it look like this??

 

Or this??

this is it

 

except for the fact that im currently getting about 20-24 mpg at best with my engine now so it wouldnt really matter

what i ultimately wanna do is swap an EJ22 from a legacy, get me up to 130 hp. that would really help. but i need to find me one first.