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You could narrow the subframe... you could add fender flares... orrr.... you could cut the brat down the middle and add 6" of sheet metal!

Well, everything was sort of in place for me to get a first order test fit even with my bum leg. Doc says I'm good to do pretty much anything that doesn't stress the break through my new aircast boot, but no running, jumping, sprinting, wrestling, or heavy lifting. Basically I have to be deliberate with my movements and creative with the use of wheels and levers when it comes to heavy stuff. I'm not pushing it, even though this update so soon may appear otherwise. I had all the heavy stuff in place already, so today was just minor manipulation to see how things sit. The new diff does in fact mate directly up with the original front diff mount, exactly where it needs to be. The bolt patterns are exactly the same and the lengths are almost identical as well, so I will be reusing the OEM Brat front mount for the differential. I may need to figure out a replacement option for the rubber bushings that secure the front mount to the frame, but for now the originals are intact enough. There's a little interference on the tires at the front of the wheel wells which I should be able to counteract by placing the trailing arm mounts correctly in combination with narrowing the wheelbase. As far as the width goes, one could ostensibly leave that alone and just flare the wheel wells out to accomodate things, but that's not the direction I'm going to take with this build, as I'm going for a more subtle outward appearance. Lastly for the big rear diff subframe, it is a few inches too wide and will need some trimming and a creative solution to mount to the frame. likely more bracketry. In the spirit of the build I'm hoping to reuse what I can from the Impreza - I bet I can come up with something to allow me to repurpose the bushings that mounted it to the undercarriage of the newer car when I narrow the pivot points governing the rear wheelbase - the plan for which I've sketched in on the photo. Red dashes indicate cuts and shifts I plan to make to the pivots, green indicates the trimming of the outside edge so I can move the frame mount bushings to a place where they will be able to be attached to the frame. It looks like the original fuel tank will either need some serious modification to fit in the space with the new subframe, or I'll need to fabricate an entirely new cell. I suspect I should be able to find something serviceable that will fit behind the entire assembly and still meet up with the original fill spout. Just need to take some measurements once I've got the new differential subframe into place. It seems easy enough to put a new cell behind the differential, under the bed, but I'm a little concerned that may turn my Brat into a Pinto in the event of a rear end collision. There's also an empty space up behind the cab, but I'm not exactly excited about that placement, either. Suggestions for solutions are welcomed but as usual not expected

Hi I bought a subaru Outback Wagon with problems like the topic reads. It´s a 2.5l engine with a MAP sensor if it helps. At first i had a P0030 code and replaced the oxygen sensor and everything ran fine. A few days later i got a new code P0134. I had some leaks in the exhaust system that i fixed. I might still have a small leak before the sensors. Can this cause P0134? If so i don´t understand how that would work, it should still get reading right Another problem is the when i was at the car inspection that the co level was at 3.3 (ppm?) should be 0.2. At idle it was 0.2. Is this related to the error code?

Thanks mate, I’ll check out those links. Cheers Bennie

Since you're probably going to be fabricating your own, just make it fit whatever bolts you want.

That's super helpful, thank you. I feel like I'm close to solving this mystery. In that first image is there one or two bolts that attach to the transmission? Do you know what size they are? Another forum presented this parts chart: https://imgur.com/qu43AD3 Based on what I'm seeing on the transmission and the images it seems like it'd be No. 4 but if I'm reading that right it's for an Automatic and I've got a 4WD Manual.

What steps did you take to when replacing the bellows?

Interesting... It'd be interesting to see if it's possible to remove the splines themselves from the axles. It looks to me like the splines were broached and then pressed into the inner DOJ race. I wonder if they can be removed from the race, get a custom 23/25 spline insert machined or broached, and then pressing that back into the DOJ race. What I'd mainly be interested in swapping is the outer joint, as this is what seems to be making noise on tight turns (getting out of parking, etc). But swapping in a new axle and keeping the inner race does the same thing. I'll be experimenting with swapping axle parts this week. At the minimum they all need to be regreased. Haven't heard much from the transmission rebuilder, just that I may use my spare as a parts transmission if they end up needing parts. I gave em all the seals I could get ahold of and a copy of the FSM. I'll keep y'all updated with photos if I can snap a few. Thanks for hanging in there along with me :]

Could be the dust plate under the bell housing. On manuals it’s a small rectangular plate, I’m unsure about the setup on autos. Maybe something levered this into the flywheel. Other than that I’m all out of ideas atm. Can you tell us under what conditions you hear the noise? Eg: at idle/under loads/at or above a certain speed. Is it rotational dependant? Rough location of the noise? Cheers Bennie

Depends on the splines on the axles that the races live on. These could be different between the axles. You could try just swapping the inner cups but this usually results in a noisy cv joint. The 25 spline shafts are no thicker than the 23 spline shaft, just the spline count changes and the diff stub axle is thicker on the 25 spline units. You could swap your gearbox for the MPFI box with the 25 spline diff stub axles… Cheers Bennie

Here's two pics of an extremely mushed 4-speed d/r one, and a non-mushed 5-speed d/r + ej car: https://imgur.com/a/bUgpkRj I'm guessing your bracket is missing, if there's nothing like it hanging down.

Man, I'm just not seeing it if it's there. I can see on the exhaust pipe where the bolts would attach to a bracket, you can see it in the first image, but I don't see where the bracket would attach to anything. I'm wondering if the bracket rusted off at some point and this sheared area is what's left: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11zdb1sjc_dODNp6YoLSoJigjvWzudY8K/view?usp=sharing Google Image Search has some nice shots of the underside but I haven't seen anything with high enough resolution to really see what's going on. Thanks for the insight on the donut, that makes sense.

Couple more updates... some good, some not so good. The good - Late last week I managed to get the new subframe stripped of the coils, and rolled it under the chassis of the Brat. It looks like the original front mount for the differential will line up great - it is almost exactly the same size. This is super lucky in that it also appears that the rear wheels will line up with the exisiting wheel wells- at least axially, I'll still need to move the wheels inboard about 4-5" on each side to get everything to sit under the car. I may also need to flare the wheel wells just a little if I can't get the wheelbase shortened quite far enough. The not-so-good - 1) Fuel tanks don't clear. The impreza tank is far too wide to fit in the Brat frame, and the Brat tank interferes with the Impreza subframe. Current plan there is to remove the Brat tank to get the impreza rear diff subframe lined up and chopped to fit, then potentially modify the brat tank (hopefully some clever hammering and denting will be enough) to get it to fit over the new suspension mounts and components. 2) Annoyingly the neighbor with a penchant for anonymous code complaints is back, and along with several other neghbors I've received another note from the city about a number of minor infractions, to include the car. Called the compliance guy again and he's been super helpful. Made it pretty clear I'm not trying to litter up the place and that I really just want to work on my car and not have to worry about getting called into court over it, so looks like the car cover from the impreza is going back into regular service. 3) Lastly and most obnoxiously I found out today that I have been hobbling around most of the last week on a broken leg (due to activities unrelated to the car project) so I would expect major updates to be sparse for the next while. Fingers crossed for good news at the specialist visit in the morning, though i'm expecting not to be able to lift and shove brat parts around for a little while. Maybe I'll be surprised though. Either way - little pieces of progress are still progress, so I'm gonna keep plugging at what I can when I can, so stay tuned.

Its was a ebay sale from. https://www.ebay.com/str/mazdaphilsrotaryproductsrubber On this link they have the whole glass with the seal. It would probably be pricey to ship.https://www.autoglasswarehouse.com.au/subaru-leone-10-79-to-7-84-4dr-wagon-rear-windscre

Archives should have answers on mixing ends. I seem to recall folks swapping ends but be sure to verify. There should also be a reference chart that I recently saw.

Someone can step up now and be The Man. But again I’d make sure PRP isn’t going to stock themselves with a mass amount and act accordingly. But you guys should have no problem getting your money back on a batch of 200 Sucks that they went to 200 from our 50pc orders. But that generation has a much larger audience. You’ve got folks in various continents looking for them. Your place will smell like rubber so be sure you’ve got garage or shed space. Or a very tolerant family/room mates.

I've recently replaced ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, cv boots, shocks, and a wheel bearing. Then I noticed dark grease under the power steering pump, and realized I was going to have to replace the rack and pinion bellows. Now I'm getting peculiar noises though, a higher pitched whining or whistling and a scraping sound. What am I likely hearing, it wasn't there before the bellow replacement.

That looks right to me. The "gap" will shrink as the donut wears. There should be a bracket on the back of the transmission that the exhaust rigidly bolts to, not a hanger. This is a little newer, but shows how it works: https://www.subaruoutback.org/attachments/560913/

I haven't found any on eBay here in the USA. I contacted Phil's in Australia and they don't have them.

I have a question regarding axles. My D/R transmission has 23 spline hubs, I've been looking around and I found two axles that according to the photos would fit, turns out they're 25 spline axles. The neverending joy of finding the right axles. Is there any parts interchangeability between axles? Could I use the 25 spline axles for their inner or outer joints? Or are they differently sized parts? Or could I put the 23 spline inner races on the 25 spline axles and use a beefier axle? I'd assume they're completely different, but still worth asking. Thanks :]

Working on a 1985 Brat, I had a huge exhaust leak at the connection between the exhaust pipe after the converter to the intermediate pipe before the resonator, so I figured I'd replace the gasket and also try to address the sag in the exhaust system which probably caused the leak in the first place. I inserted the gasket (Fel-Pro 60566) and bolted the pipes back together but this just seems like too big of a gap. This model number is supposed to fit an '85 Brat but it just doesn't seem like the tightest seal to me. I'm new to this so maybe I'm missing something but does this look right? Driver side angle: https://drive.google.com/file/d/105GyNzLpYFJoks3KG9s_aT19iXtZzf50/view?usp=sharing Passenger side angle: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t7cSIzs9kHmFQHRBTQv4jEOzX9f-xZnl/view?usp=sharing Additionally, where are the exhaust hangers supposed to be on the frame? I'm only seeing one near the rear axle. I don't know if the others rusted off or what but someone before me just wrapped a piece of wire around the pipe and the sway bar: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11u0OvjgNDVYK-dmv_C4Y7_S13niNH4HD/view?usp=sharing Thanks for any tips.

Colorado and Hawaii. Welcome in both.

Thanks for this tip about the pitch stop. I was having the same issue and adjusting it on my 1982 EA81 gen 2 wagon helped get enough clearance to my CVs to stop them from rubbing.

I've done a few different restoration techniques. None of them terribly difficult, and look great at first. But I generally see them start to cloud again within a year. I did one that involved protecting them with Spar Urethane, which I think lasted 2 or 3. Lately I just put some fine polishing compound on my buffer, and do a couple passes on them. I try to do this for our daily drivers every fall so they're perfect for the dark winter. The hardest part is finding the tote of car wash stuff and getting it out and an extension cord out to the cars. It's about 1 minute of actual buffing per car.

Yes. There is a calibration procedure for the Eyesight cameras. I think many glass companies can do it themselves (or maybe most of them just send it without calibrating....), but we do get them coming into the shop just for the calibration.