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Not so much fabrication...persay, but adjustability. Granted there isn’t much adjustability with this rear end design from the get go. But she’s dialed in good trust me. I’ve been through the ins and outs of this before with the lifted impreza. Every lift component short of a few arms was made by me. Ain’t no biggie.

Well there you go, I didn't know about the design rule thing, that's interesting. I figured and most other people I've spoken to about this have the same opinion, that it was due to the fitment of the V8 diesel as that seemed to coincide with when the difference occurred in the wheel track. Am going to have to do some research on this as its the first I've ever heard of it. Nice work el_freddo, thinking we need to change your name to wikifreddo. Cheers, Al

Can you explain the original starting issue? Are you turning the key and nothing is happening or does it crank without starting?

For those else where in the Landcruiser Market, the track width is only an Australian thing due to our design rules with something about the distance the wheel bearing can be from the suspension mount. I didn’t know the rear end fought for the front wheel’s track in soft sand. Interestingly you can spend a couple of grand and have a certified kit fitted that brings the rear wheel out to match the front wheel’s track width. Cheers Bennie

Many vehicles have a narrower wheel track rear to front, both the new Landcruiser and the older Ford F100/150 (I think by memory the F150 was 15mm narrower at the rear compared to the front) had a narrower wheel track at the rear than the front.The new V8 Landcruisers where so bad that on soft sand you could watch the rear end shake its booty as the rear wheels fought over which wheel was going to follow the front wheel tracks. It may affect the areo to some extent but on these old girls, I'd doubt you would feel the difference. Most high performance sports cars have a wider track at the rear than the front, particularly mid/rear engine mounted vehicles Handling issues may arise if the rear track is off center or camber, caster and toe-in/out was incorrect but that would be a fabrication thing mostly. Cheers, Al

Yeah, sand blasting can cause more damage than its worth if you don't take your time but in my opinion, its still the best way to clean up rust and show how much cancer is really hidden under the paint work. Complete under carriage is being sand blasted, its covered in surface rust and any of the areas that are either rusted (To my knowledge I have to sections of semi severe rust, at the back of the cabin where the tray meets and a small section in the drivers foot well) or starting to are also being done. The body panels on these old girls is just not heavy enough to cope with the stress of a complete head to toe sand blast. I restored an old Landcruiser years ago and completely sand blasted the entire cabin, I swore after I finished blasting that old girl I would never do sand blasting again, the old saying about damn sand gets everywhere most definitely is true when it comes to sand blasting. I discovered even on that old pig you could only blast small sections at a time to help prevent the warping/rippling of the panels. Have also found that using walnut/almound shells as your blasting medium causes far less damage as well. He's a good mate, known each other for about 35 yrs now (Holy crap, working out how long we've known each other has just all of a sudden made me feel old LOL), we have been through hell and back with each other and to be honest, the only person I would trust with my life. He mostly works from home with 90% of his work being restoration work on older model Holdens and Fords. A couple of years ago he offered me space to build my own 6M X 6M shed on his property for myself to use as storage and a workshop, am seriously considering it now as I'm fast running out of room here and all I have to pay for is the shed and concrete slab. Another mate of mine in Toowoomba who is a qualified sparky will come down and wire it all up on the cheap. The bonus is that if I go through with it, the only conditions he has set is that I have to put a hoist in. What a bugger, having to install a hoist in a shed at my disposal. Seems a reasonable request considering that the shed will be mine to use for as long as I want rent free Cheers, Al

Did you use your voodoo can? I've got a Chinese tea can - I threw a bunch of dead (computer) chips, bolts, and chicken bones in and glued the lid on. If a problem is sufficiently baffling I shake the voodoo can over it and it's sometimes mysteriously solved without further frustration. I trust that's what you did.

Leaving one track different to the other would seem like a half arsed effort, and I’ve not seen any factory Subarus look like the Citroën from back in the day. Isn’t there a handling issue with the front track less than the rear? Cheers Bennie

Mine is missing an eye. But I still love it.

There is no reason, besides aesthetics, that the F/R track needs to be the same width. Aerodynamics will suffer a bit, but outside of that it won't really change too much.

This is the standard way to do it if going 5 stud and I totally agree. But jdmleggy has widened the rear track to “EJ spec”, so the front needs the same treatment to bring front and rear track width to be the same. I too did not know about the EA81 tie rod end swap when doing the “standard” 5 stud front end swap. Cheers Bennie