The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hi all,

First time posting to this group. I've recently blown a head gasket in my 1991 Subaru Brumby. While I know I'll need to either have the engine rebuilt or replaced, I've been on the lookout for an upgrade. In the hopes I can keep my Brumby as stock and period correct as possible but upgrade it using some of the better performance parts made at the time, I plan on replacing the engine with an EA81S.

I'm located in Victoria, Australia but am willing to travel for the right (or any) engine. I'm happy to negotiate on price but willing to pay what they're worth. Please let me know if you have one or know of someone that does. I'm very interested to know what's out there.

Best of luck Lewmmarx! Ten, fifteen years ago these were already rocking horse poo… it’ll be harder to find them now - but you’re doing the right thing by looking, just factor in the time it’ll take to find one that someone is willing to let go of.

As for your headgasket issue, double check that it’s not a Welch plug that let go (they’re under the rocker arms, rocker covers will need to come off to inspect).

If it is actually a head gasket, these engines tend not to be a throw away unless they were completely cooked in the process (think dizzy cap melted kind of cooked).

If you can do the work yourself, it’s not expensive to do a head gasket. If you’ve never done one and want to try you really have nothing to lose - the EA81 is a great engine to learn on as it’s so simple, but you might already know this!

And welcome to the forum. It’s a bit slow here these days but it’s still here!