i've got everything i need for the swap, 90 ls wagon 5spd awd as the donor,the labor and wiring are not my concerns, what i'm wondering is will the ej motor mounts and trans crossmember line up properly with the ea81's or will i have to drill and or fabricate new ones, and for the drive shaft will the brat shaft work or will i need to have the legacy's cut to fit in the shorter wheel base, and will my existing ea81 axles fit the splines on the ej trans and rear end?

 

 

also inthe future i'm going to upgrade the motor to either an EJ22T or an EJ20T and run more than stock boost, how much power can the cable EJ transmissions hold without failing

The EA81 Axles will not fit on the EJ tranny. Custom axles will have to be made. The rear diff though *should* be the same.

 

Searching revealed that early Legacy DOJs and maybe EA82T DOJs will fit on a FWD EA81 Axle, but not 4WD EA81 Axle. Legacy DOJ + FWD EA81 Axle = Axles that will work.

interesting, i'll have to get an axl from the advance and test it out, do you know anything about the driveshaft length i'll be lookin at

what trans are you using? the engine doesn't have any direct effect on axles. if you mate the EJ22 up to an EA81 trans, than you definitely can use the EA81 axles

using the ej setup, i've got pretty well everything in a donor car i gave 300 for, just tryin to straighten out the small stuff

ok, I was originally thinking just a 'traditional' EJ22 swap (just motor...)

 

yep, as mentioned, there are no EA81 axles that will fit an EJ trans. the EJs have 25-spline stubs, and EA81s are all 23. you may be able to attach the inner DOJs from a turbo EA82 (25-spline) onto the ends of your EA81 shafts....but I'm not sure.

 

 

also, keep in mind, putting an EJ trans into an EA81 car has a pretty long list of 'little' stuff to make it all work. like custom driveshaft (or at least modified length stock one), and linkage.

ok, I was originally thinking just a 'traditional' EJ22 swap (just motor...)

 

yep, as mentioned, there are no EA81 axles that will fit an EJ trans. the EJs have 25-spline stubs, and EA81s are all 23. you may be able to attach the inner DOJs from a turbo EA82 (25-spline) onto the ends of your EA81 shafts....but I'm not sure.

 

 

also, keep in mind, putting an EJ trans into an EA81 car has a pretty long list of 'little' stuff to make it all work. like custom driveshaft (or at least modified length stock one), and linkage.

 

looks like i'll be callin up my buddy at the parts store and see if i can sneak out the back door with an axle or two, lol

 

there is a shop about 30 miles away that does custom driveshafts so i'll probably go talk to them about that, any rough idea of how much different the length will need to be,

 

as for the linkage i figured as much, i'll look into that after i get the trans installed,

there is a shop about 30 miles away that does custom driveshafts so i'll probably go talk to them about that, any rough idea of how much different the length will need to be

 

I haven't a clue...

I haven't a clue...

 

 

it's been a long day, i pulled the motor and trans out of both the brat and the donor wagon today, i measured both of the transmissions, the ej is about 6 inches shorter than the d/r ea, so wouldn't i be semi correct in thinking that would be close to the distance needed, or am i just trying to think to late at night

try searching EJ22 swap driveshaft or something like that.. good luck!

alright, now for my next question, since i've got the car, the wheels and all that fun junk, how hard is it to fit the 5 lug on the back of a brat and keep my stock suspension setup

alright, now for my next question, since i've got the car, the wheels and all that fun junk, how hard is it to fit the 5 lug on the back of a brat and keep my stock suspension setup

 

5-lug's easy. same as a rear disc conversion. XT6 rotors and backing plates, EA82t or XT6 calipers. can't use legacy stuff, as they use struts and knuckles, so it's not even remotely similar to the trailing arm on the brat.

 

the front's the hard part...the legacy tophats have 3 bolts, and the brat only has 2. you may be able to swap tophats, but you may also end up drilling holes, which you'd probably need to re-enforce, not to mention get exactly in the right place.

i think there is an xt6 in a junk yard in the next town over, goona try to get there when i get off tomorrow and check it out, since the 6 still uses the front e-brake can i still use my cables?

 

i was looking at rguyver's brat and some of hes posts about what he did, i'm gonna try to emulate his strut technique for the front, using my existing struts and a clamping style adapter to bolt to the xt6's front hub, then its a matter of modiying the axles

 

will the xt6's doj and outer cv fit onto my ea81 axle shafts or should i just shorten a set of xt6's

i think there is an xt6 in a junk yard in the next town over, goona try to get there when i get off tomorrow and check it out, since the 6 still uses the front e-brake can i still use my cables?

 

i was looking at rguyver's brat and some of hes posts about what he did, i'm gonna try to emulate his strut technique for the front, using my existing struts and a clamping style adapter to bolt to the xt6's front hub, then its a matter of modiying the axles

 

will the xt6's doj and outer cv fit onto my ea81 axle shafts or should i just shorten a set of xt6's

 

once again, I'm not sure. I don't know much about EA81 stuff...but it's worth it. I'd be more worried about putting an EA81 axle through an XT6 knuckle.

 

if you're using xt6 front steering knuckles and calipers, you can use your ebrake cables.

Some have 5-lugged their EA81 cars by drilling out the EA81 control arms to accept the larger EJ ball joints. AFAIK noone's fragged a control arm from this yet. Then swap the tophats.

from what i've read about the impreza/ legacy struts will end up making the brat a couple inches higher off the ground, if i was an offroader it wouldn't bother me a bit, but i'm lookin for a "street truck" of sorts, i just don't want it to be towering in stature cuz i would just feel dumb pulling up to the track like that

yea, but if you're running EJ struts, lowering springs are easy to come by...

that is a good point, hey do you know right off about how wide the springs are on the back of an ea82 4wd, i was looking in the usrm at the adding rear struts to a brat thing, and they look to be about the same size around as civic/integra and i have a set of coilovers for them somewhere around here

Quick question: when doing the wiring harness, I see a lot of people that have the excess above the spare tire carrier. Where do you re-locate it of ever? Where does it all go? Thanks. I'll look through some pics as well.

"the excess" is best off being removed; this will allow for the harness to route either in place of or parallel to the original harness.

Quick question: when doing the wiring harness, I see a lot of people that have the excess above the spare tire carrier. Where do you re-locate it of ever? Where does it all go? Thanks. I'll look through some pics as well.

 

like...this

 

vs this

 

??

 

mine's all up under the dash, where the stock stuff was. I pulled the ECU out, and I replaced it with the EJ22 stuff.

and it fits pretty good under the dash? or is it all jammed up there.

and it fits pretty good under the dash? or is it all jammed up there.

 

a little of each. it fits pretty good, but not great. there's alot of zip ties involved...

yeah,but zip ties are a given.......

 

 

 

a little of each. it fits pretty good, but not great. there's alot of zip ties involved...

there're zip ties on every car from the factory