another thread got me to wondering:

What is necessary to do an ea81- D/R conversion in a 78 wagon?

(I'm sure this has been covered before guys, but I looked in the USRM, & did a search, but came up empty on this subject. If the info is readily available somewhere, please steer me in the right direction.) Otherwise....

I know an '81 Brat crossmember is required, but lacking one, would this be a custom fab-able item? Will the old axles work, or will the ea81 axles fit? Will the ea71's rear diff work? Is this a huge project, or really not too hard? Just testing the waters. Won't be undertaking this project tomorrow, but would like to know if it is realistically worth attempting.

Sorry if this is a total newbie-rump roast question. Feel free to smack me for bringing it up if it's been answered to death.

Mudrat79 has done it - you should ask him for all the particulars. The steering linkage and the engine cross member have to be modified to work around the EA81. I think he mentioned that all the Gen 1 Brat's had 4.11 rear diffs, or something like that.... maybe I'm smoking my shirt on that one tho.

 

GD

putting an 81 glf front subframe into a 78 brat over here....