edrach

I haven't put it thru some "vigorous" tests yet. Actually, I wanted the rear 'bar there to help alleviate the significant understeer my Brat exhibits at rallycross events. I seldom push the car that hard on pavement so I might not have a real comparison there.

But don't let that stop you. The more the merrier.

If you check the Whiteline website, they have a chart comparing bar diameter to force (or some such). Here's the link: http://www.whiteline.com.au/docs/bulletins/010barup.pdf I would suspect that the lighter back end of the Brat compared to the XT6 might account for the smaller diameter of the bar. As another point of comparison, the rear swaybar on an EA82T is also 16mm in diameter.

Currently the explanation and pics reside in the Marketplace forum; I inadvertantly posted it there. Sorry. Hopefully a moderator will move it to the Old Gen Forum where it belongs.

No, because I screwed up; hopefully a moderator can move it back to the Old Gen forum where I thought I put it.

Qman and I mounted the Whiteline rear swaybar to my '84 Brat today. It took a bit of figuring as to the best way to install it, but it's on and doesn't rub anywhere or clunk on anything while I'm driving. I'm writing this up since there were no directions for specific installation on this model Brat and there may be more Brats (or early '80s EA81 models) out there that could use this modification. Once we figured out how to mount it, it took about an hour to complete the job. The swaybar looks like a large mis-shapen letter "V" and is mounted with the point of the "V" toward the front of the car and hung by u-bolt hangers to the torsion bar. The "V" has a slight bend near the front and that bend needs to be mounted to point upwards (down will cause the bar to rub on the driveshaft). Also, the u-bolt hangers shouldn't point straight down but rotate slightly toward the front of the car to allow the point of the "V" to clear the front of the torsion bar adjuster. The rest of the installation involved drilling two holes near the lower shock mounts to attach right angle brackets. We mounted the brackets upwards to allow more ground clearance at the end of the links that attach to the ends of the sway bar. Pictures explain this much better than a verbal description. See them at the link below: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=678

I have no idea what they charge but people in Portland have reported they are quite reasonable. Call them up, I'm sure they have a 'phone number on their website. Good luck with it. ---ed---

Thanks to qman for his help and expertise, the Whiteline swaybar is now installed in my Brat. Knowing how to do it now, it's a pretty simple installation and should take about and hour next time (well, maybe an hour and a half if you're my age). I'll be posting pics and directions later.

Gack! Corky, I'm sorry; I was so busy posting stuff in the marketplace that I didn't look here until tonight. Did you get it done? I'm heading south to qman's tomorrow around 10:30 so that makes the timing awkward. I should be returning about 3pm. I wish you had called; anything would have been better than trying to clean out my mess in the garage!

I finally found the remnants of the old kit that I bought to replace the brittle hoses on a EA82T. Find out the information at www.hosetechniques.com and get your car spiffied up for WCSS7.

Nah, Ken, it's the car!

Sounds like a deal. Thanks. I'll call first.

You can ask the people here (by email if you like): http://www.whiteline.com.au/default.asp?page=/yourcar.htm With luck, I'll be installing my rear swaybar this weekend.

Matt, re-reading your post again and #3 and #4 are most distressing as Kelly mentioned. Is there any possibility that the car might be in 4WD mode and you don't realize it? Certainly not anything I've heard of before, but #4 started me thinking. The other thought I have doesn't quite fit the symtoms, but a bad inner joint on a front axle can masquerade as quite a number of things.....and be so bad as to make me believe the transmission was about to fall out; but with a bad DOJ the vibration ceases suddenly on trailing throttle and returns when you accelerate again. Very mysterious. Good luck with this....swapping trannys is such a pain.

I'll echo northguy on that. SpeedyGlass in Bothell charged me $150 installed with tax included for a windshield on an '87 Turbo wagon a few years back. Hit the yellow pages and call a few shops and get a quote; it's a very competitive business and you can't go wrong with shopping around.

I'm going crazy paging though the samples. Anyone up to putting all the possible logos on one or two pages? Make it a poll that's easier to select and view.

Your best bet is to insist that they replace the vehicle with one of similar condition; that's the kicker to the "blue book scam." Glad to hear you're okay. Best of luck.

The late EJ22 engines (sometime in '97) became interference engines.

On the Board these should go for $75 to $100 for the set of four plus shipping. No telling what you'll get on ebay (or the Board for that matter). Please post the listing on the Board since I'd like to see what they go for. Thanks.

You should be fine for testing purposes. Bring a lug wrench and re-check them along the way if you're nervous about it.

Matt, I was one of the first to do the swap with Jerry's kit (as a matter of fact we did it at his place). Driving home I noticed more vibration than with the 4 speed version. After eliminating all the likely culprits, the conclusion was I had put in a bad tranny (from PAP). I replaced the tranny after about 3 months....it was my tranny that was bad. The replacement worked much better. Hopefully you have better luck than I. With the new tranny in place, I made two more modifications that helps "gild the lily" as it were. I ultimately installed a one piece drive shaft because the center bearing mounting on the Brat's chassis wasn't the most secure looking piece of sheet metal in the car. The new driveshaft was noticeably better than the two piece driveshaft. Lastly, there was a resonance that occurred right around 2800 rpm (cruising speed as it were, so it was quite annoying). Since the 5 speed tranny has a slightly different location for the support of the exhaust system near its center, I just left it hanging without support there. This created a long piece of exhaust pipe supported at the front at the end of the y-pipe and in the rear by the muffler hanger. This resonated quite badly; as a matter of fact my wife hated riding in the car at highway speeds since it really was too loud for her. After a few months of that I finally fabbed a piece so I could support the exhaust in the center firmly; that doubled the resonant frequency so it became much quieter during highway driving. I hope this helps. When the 5 speed conversion works properly, it is so much nicer than the original. It should certainly not be worse.

I've had very good luck with CV axles of Ocala; best price for seemingly best quality re-man. I have had very bad luck with re-mans from a company called ARI. Best bang for the buck has been "judiciously selected" axles pulled from cars at Pull a Part.

You might check out www.1stsubaruparts.com; check the website and you'll be surprised at the cost for axles. Not sure if they are new or re-manned since the site doesn't specify which. A quick 'phonecall to Jason (800# ) in parts should answer that question.

Another plug for www.cvaxles.com; they have both re-manned and new.

www.cvaxles.com; they are in Ocala, FL; tell them the USMB sent you. Older axles go for $55 each plus rebuildable core; not sure of the price for Legacy. Ask for Kevin.