78TurboBrat Posted October 29, 2003 Author Share Posted October 29, 2003 Tom to answer your question i am using the 89 wagons master cylinder, and yes as you can see, it is very tight clearance between the disty and the master cylinder. was going to use a ford probe one which was 1/2 inch shorter but the lines didnt line up the way i needed them to. if you find something that works better, let me know, the booster was also changed. from the wagon to the brat. but still have the old ones, of course the master that came off that car was toast along time ago. good luck.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 my trashwagon is an 83, it has the brake booster and master cylinder off an 82, which has 2 reservoirs, which is the same unit in pre82 gen 1's. so you got the whole brake booster off an ea82, if i read correctly. from what i have messed with, i have noticed the pedal boxes for ea81 and ea82 bolt up to the firewall the same, and of course, the brake booster studs go thru these holes. so what is in the turbo brat for a transmission?, and where can i find the pics? milesfox@yahoo.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 http://usmb.net/gallery/albuo84 the above url is to the brat pictures. there are two pages to it. the brake setup was quite simple it just bolted in, and if i remember correctly i had to move one or two holes, cause the older was offset, and the wagon was a sqaure pattern. the transmission is the one from the wagon, a 4wd unit 5 speed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormTrooper Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Thats' awesome!!! You're living proof that when there's a will, there's a way!! Next thing I know, there's gonna be a post about a 302 powered wagon!! So what're your plans for the car, long term? Looking to put a lift kit or anything, or straight up spank ricers? Do the gen1 axels fit on the 5sp.? or are the axels off the wagon (EA82) the same length as the gen 1''s?? Man, you got me all stoked to take on some backyard wrenchin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 Well dont tempt me on the 302 powered wagon, i do hav a chevy 350 vortec motor not doing anything. i plan on keeping the car for a long time, dont know much abou the mudding part of the brat, like lifting it and so on, i would rather keep it low and spank the ricers, and make peoples jaws drop when they see that a 1978 brat spanked them and got taken to the cleaners:burnout: well as far as the axels go, that is a whole different ball game. the hubs are the same, so no problem there, but the problem is in the length, and on the tranny, with the 5 speed being wider, and having a different spline , the brat axels wont work. but the wagon brat ones are longer then they need to be so i am going to have the wagon ones cut and put back together, and then i can do 4wd burnouts in front of the mustangs and ricers. and laugh as i pull off in third with the assend slidding around smoke pouring off the tires passing the car i was racing, and waving at them, hitting fourth and getting some more rubber. and oh yeah, a 5 gear chirp, awsome. gotta watch the head on the back glass though, it can be hell.... i do have a clean 87 wagon,, to bad it is front weel drive only would be cool to make a v8 wagon like they do with the volvos but i dontknow what would happen to the suspension on that one. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 so, are you saying you are runing this thing in rear wheel drive only? or are you runing the ea82 axles even though they are too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 rear wheel drive only for now, a little too long would be like maybe a 1/2 of an inch, not like 4 inches. trying to find a machine shop to make some new axels. i even tried a 4 wheel drive place here locally who laughed and said good luc, and i shouldnt have tried doing something without doing all the measurements first. like any of us listen to that kind of advice. if it wont fit, i will make it fit and work one way or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam N.D.J. Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Have you tried flipping the inboard cups around? I haven't tried it with a gen one axle, but you can take the cup off the newer axle and put it on the end of the older axle so you have closer to the right length and the right splines on it. It may be a little longer but not so much that it would cause problems. By the way, I'm really liking what you've got going here. I've recently completed a major swap in a Gen II Brat. I put in an ER27 2.7L 6 cylinder out of an 89 XT-6. I can understand whot you've got going on with all the wireing and everything. I started with a complete wireing harness from the XT-6 and cut it down to where I just had the engine part of the harness, then put that one into the Brat as a stand alone system. It took me a while to get all the wires cleaned up, but now it's starting to look pretty good. I'm not too worried about it though, as it's not a show vehicle. Keep up the good work, hope you get the axle thing worked out. Oh yeah, you can check out my work in progress here. THE Brat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XSNRG Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 That's cool! Good thing you have a roll bar (and a Journey sticker!) !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 yeah it still even has the Frisco Coons sticker on the car, which have to come off, the roll bar, and the jump seats were with the car when i got it. that is how preserved this car was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted October 30, 2003 Share Posted October 30, 2003 Yo!, may i suggest that instead of chopping and shortening your ea82 axles, go ahead and do a ea82 lower control arm swap. but that requires cutting a portion of the ea82 crossmember and welding it to the brat. for example. imagine the brat with the lower control arm out. there are 2 sides to the mount, which the bolt goes thru. what you do is cut the rear side off the EA82, and weld it BEHIND the rear one on the brat. this will locate the lower control arm back. the reason for doing so is the brat control arm is straight, and the EA82 bends forward. by moving the mount back, you keep the suspension geometry the same. this will allow you to use the ea82 axles. this will also make your front track wider, and set your caster forward. there is a diagram floating around the board drawn up by one called RGUYVER. he is the one who pioneered the mod. but i havent seen him on the board for a while. he is the one who put spfi on an ea81 motor and turbo'd it! in a lifted hatch with the suspension mod I have done the mod to my wagon. also, with the ea82 lower control arm, it will allow you to use the bigger ball joint on the EA82 knuckle, using the larger EA82 brake rotor and caliper. i also used the ea82 strut and spring, modifying my existing strut cap to fit the new strut. and after doing that, you will need to use the ea82 tie rod. the mod is supposed to swap out the inner tie rod, but on mine, i had a manual rack, which that idea didnt work. you can lengthen your existing tie rods about 1 1/2 inch. you can use the ea82 outer tie rods, or use the ea81, but using ea81(from the brat), you will have to ream out the hole on the knuckle. in my opinion, do that rather than cut the axles! you can also swap rear disc to the back, just bolt on, or even swap in a set of ea82 rear trailing arms with a little bit of trimming. please respond to my suggestion, and let me know your consideration! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted October 30, 2003 Author Share Posted October 30, 2003 Well i think that would be too much, i have just got off the phone with a machine shop who said they make the axels, and all i have to do is bring them the ones i have so they can get the spline right for the knuckle to fit on, and they only need three measurements , wheels off the ground, wheeels on the ground with everything in the car, and thirdly the one where the suspension will be collapsed. whitch will be fun trying to collapse it, but then i can just put the brat on the car hauler, and pull the suspension down using the winch. and said only 75 bucks apeice, and if i ever brooke the joints, i just have to replace them from anotehr car or get them rebuilt. no problem here in the DFW area. and the axels would be balanced, so that would eliminate vibebration at high speeds. also have a set of hoosier pro's coming soon too, so maybe that will help with the traction problem. Yeah i have thought about doing something like that before, but i was just thinking it wouildnt see high speeds very often, and that we could just cut them and weld them, but i said wae can wait on it and see what we can find, and of course we found a shop who said no problem. let me get the address of the shop and i will post it for those who might need it too. BTW this pic has me thinking really hard about doing another one, better than this one. let me know of some motors and what they come in so i can get one of these built Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 that's cool. its your ride, do with it what you like. at least you can be driving it around instead of having it up on jackstands! but keep the mod in mind for your next project---its not as much as it sounds to be! as long as you already have all the parts!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted November 1, 2003 Author Share Posted November 1, 2003 very true , but if i was to do that i would do it to the rear also so the tracking would be right. you know the width of the tracks. instead of one frone being wider than the other. yeah i will keep it in mind though, thanks and i will save it for the next project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted July 20, 2004 Author Share Posted July 20, 2004 Well time to update the thread as more work has been done. Had the old cracked dash taken to a place and had them fiberglass the dash. what a nice job too. looks really good, but the only draw back to it , is that it is now smooth. was thinking of putting something on it like a rhino liner, but with smaller particles so that it wouldnt be so rough. any ideas on this one. Custom axels cost $85.00 a peice. and its a one peice axel with the correct ea82 on one end and ea71 for the brat on the other end. Custom 3 core radiator made with from the form of the stock brat radiator to fit in the stock place. Sand blasted bed area, rhino lined. Trim on side of car removed, holes brazed up, and ground smooth after giving the holes a beveled type edge to hold the braze. Transmission mount reworked to give better support. Couple of joints to make the steering colum clear the axels. although lifting the brat would fix the problem too. Pulled the wiring harness and ran more tape around the wires, then wire loomed them after extending some wires. Gave the front wheels some new bearings to ride on as the car sat for over 20 years. Boiled the gastank, ran new 5/16 inch steel lines from front to back with compression fittings at the tank with a 6 inch peice of flex line. and so many more little things like gauge cutouts in the dash for water, temp and oil. Boost not really needed as i dont really plan on pushing much more than stock as i dont think the car will hook up well with out some 40's on the back. or a ton of concrete in the bed. Will post some updated pics of it soon. Just really busy working and trying to get things together between this project and another one which is a 87 chrysler conquest with a 5.0 mated to a 5 speed done in time to go to new york. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachbum Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 hey turbobrat, what no a/c:brow: ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted July 20, 2004 Author Share Posted July 20, 2004 yeah i have the compressor and so on, i just have to get the lines made , i have the ones from the wagon, and so on, i just have to get them put together with the appropiate ends on each end for the car and compressor, and i am going to have them run a more frontal route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachbum Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 i was just kidding but i guess if u can go for it huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted July 20, 2004 Author Share Posted July 20, 2004 Yeah in Texas it gets pretty hot. A/C is almost a must. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty B Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Yeah in Texas it gets pretty hot. A/C is almost a must.On the flipside of that, in Tasmania I look at AC as just another belt to remove thats costing me horsepower!If its too hot - window down or roof off Too cold - Mr Fuji makes a great heater! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty B Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 Well done with the Brat mate, well thought out and nicely converted. I bet you are looking forward to 4WD when those fronts come onto line. How does it handle with the rears only driving it? You must get some amazed looks when the back steps out with some drift! Cheeers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78TurboBrat Posted July 22, 2004 Author Share Posted July 22, 2004 it was quite squirly at first, but now that i have the 4wd working it is quite an eye full to see an old car like that do something like a 4wd burn out. and take mustangs and so on. quite fun to drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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