bushbasher

Skipping 2.) for now other than to say go to http://subarubrat.com , find "MY BRAT MODS". The good lift info is near the bottom. -------------------------------------------------------------------- There are several transfer cases that can be used in your subaru: 1.) The Nissan 720 4x4 Pickup T-case. This is the most commonly used T-case, probably the most convenient t-case to use. -Shares subaru flanges for easy driveline work. -Outputs are in line vertically so driveshafts line up straight with the diffs. -Found in '80 to '85 Datsun/Nissan 720 4x4 PU's -Fairly tall, reduces ground clearance alot. As a result an 8"+ lift is needed to get good clearance. Specs: High range ratio: 1:1 Low range ratio 2.27:1 2.) Suzuki Samurai T-case. -Range of reductions available, from stock to aftermarket 4, 6, and 8:1 reduction ratios. -High range reduction ratio gives better gearing for big tires on the street. -Must be clocked upright due to offset outputs, but is still shorter than a nissan t-case. Good ground clearance even with 6" lift. -Does not share subaru flanges so custom driveline solution required. Specs: High range reduction Pre/Post '85: 1.58:1/1.40:1 Low range reduction Pre/Post '85 2.5:1/2.2:1 3.) Suzuki LJ80 T-case -excellent reduction ratios both in high/low range -vertically inline outputs to line up with diffs -easy to mount -may be weaker than datsun or samurai case -does not share subaru flanges -LJ80s are very rare in the U.S. -very small. Specs: High range reduction: 3.0:1 Low range reduction: 1.7:1 4.) Lada Niva T-case -compact size offers excellent ground clearance, can be used in a 6" lift -FT4wd with difflock allows 4wd on pavement -high range reduction helps on-road gearing -offset outputs add to driveline angles but are still acceptable. -funky mounting system -shares subaru flanges -very very rare in the U.S., as it is a russian car, imported to Canada. -Donor car is the Lada Niva 4x4, an imported russian 4x4 similiar to a samurai but with independant suspension. Specs: High range reduction: 1.2:1 Low range reduction: 2.0:1 Other known options are: Toyota 4x4 PU t-cases with divorce kitts from OTT? Marlin Crawler?? CHIME IN PLZ but really are overkill for stock axle strength. Maybe a consideration for subarus with toyota solid axle swaps. Divorced NP205 WAY WAY OVERKILL, heavier than a subaru block DRIVELINES: For T-cases with subaru flanges, use datsun 720 4x4 PU drivelines and cut to required lengths. For suzuki flange tcases, who knows? -Update: Information provided by ThreeEyedBandit, scroll to post #6

Heres a diagram to explain the drivetrain, courtesy of McBrat: One thing that might be confusing is the upside down label on the front diff. The diff doesnt actually have to be flipped upside down, but is instead rotated 180* horizontally.

That is totally bitchin. I'm amazed at how factory it looks. Good work! Im a moron, I just reread the photoshop bit. Nice photoshop work anyways.

Now thats a good one! Bucky thats a nice coupe, you could get that thing looking pretty sleek.

I met a subaru nut today, she was an old woman, who asked me if I could check her oil for her in the parking lot. I helped her, and asked her if she likes her subaru (it was a silver ea82 gl10 sedan). She goes "OH Do I Ever!" Really shocked me to see an old lady get so excited about her car which you'd think to an old lady would be just another means of transportation. Turns out she's had nothing but subarus for the last 28 years! this is her 4th one, and her 84 hatch lasted her 500,000km!

Yep, I think that the conversions and retrofitting could be one forum, named well, conversions and retrofitting.

I think its some sort of liability thing, cause tire places have been sued for causing accidents by allowing the non-factory size tires to be installed

The t-case lift is a method of lifting your subaru with the addition of a divorced (connected to the transmission by driveshaft) transfer case, out of another 4x4, and the use of a rear diff swapped into the front suspension to drive the front wheels, instead of the transmission side outputs. Using an extra transfer case has its advantages/disadvantages: Advantages: - Increased crawl ratio, which means that for a given RPM in your lowest gear, you will have a much slower speed, and much higher torque at the wheels. This will give you more controllability on obstacles because you can approach an obstacle with a lower speed, without having to carry momentum or ride the clutch. The chances of stalling are also much lower. -Tires beyond 30" can be installed while still keeping excellent gearing off-road. Tires beyond 30" on a non tcased subaru would cause the car to be extremely gutless compared to stock, meaning burning clutches and bouncing high speed attacks at obstacles would be a way of life. - The addition of a rear diff up front gives you more options for traction aids, meaning you can easily weld your front diff or install LSD. Welding the front diff is not recommended unless your vehicle has power steering and is a trail only vehicle. -Also you can more easily install different diff gear ratios, choosing from 3.7:1, 3.9:1, 4.11:1. and 4.44:1 gear sets. Disadvantages: -The increased torque at the wheels in addition to the larger tires means that your axles and diffs will be stressed more than usual, leading to breakage if you are too hard on them. More info on addressing this issue will be found under "Differentials/Solid Axles" -Since the motor is not dropped with the subframe as is done with standard lifts (this is to make room for the new front diff going in) the center of gravity may be slightly higher compared to a non-tcased sube. Its hard to say just how much difference this makes. I would say not much, my t-cased subaru can still lean REALLY far over. HOW DOES IT WORK? Okay, now how exactly is all this drivetrain going to work? We'll start at the transmission. On a stock subaru setup, the transmission has 2 splined outputs on the sides where the front cv axles are connected. Also, there is 1 rear output that normally drives a tubular driveshaft to the rear differential. This rear output only recieves power when the transmission is in 4wd mode. Now, when the t-case mod is performed, the 2 side outputs on the transmission go unused, only the rear output is used. It also means that the transmission must always remain in 4wd mode if the car is to drive. Now this rear output, instead of going to the rear diff, goes to the input of the transfer case. Then a driveshaft runs from the rear output in the t-case to the rear diff. You see now the t-case is running between the transmission and differential, acting to provide extra gear reduction. Now in the front end, the cv axles that used to plug into the side of the transmission are now plugged into the sides of that "rear" differential that has been mounted to the front suspension crossmember. The front axles are the same spline count as the rear diff, so it is simply a plug and play affair in that respect. How small/big can you go with a t-case lift? 6" is about the minimum lift, even if you can get your tcase packed up high. The reason is that space is tight when fitting the rear diff into the front crossmember. So far, the biggest lift really known is about 12-13" beyond this I would say is really impractical on stock suby independant suspension. Changes in gear ratios with a T-case: Lets say that 1st gear reduction is 3.55:1, The LO range of the subaru tranny is 1.56:1 reduction, the T-case reduction is 2.00:1, and the differential ratios are 4.11:1 So stock subaru, tranny selector in HI range (no reduction), 1st. gear. The reduction from the crank to the wheels is 3.55x1x4.11=14.6:1 Stock subaru, tranny in LO range, 1st gear. 3.55x1.56x4.11=22.8:1 This is lowest possible crawl ratio without Tcase. T-cased subaru, tranny in LO, Tcase in LO, 1st gear. 3.55x1.56x2x4.11=45.5:1 This is the lowest possible crawl ratio with Tcase. T-cased subaru, tranny in HI, Tcase in HI, 1st gear. 3.55x1x1x4.11=14:6:1 same as stock. Actual numbers will differ a bit between different models, what diff gears you end up with, and what t-case you use. As you can see a t-case can make your car crawl more than 2x slower for a given RPM, while still giving a close to stock gear ratio for road driving. Okay next installment will come later, time for a break.

Okay this is an FAQ for all those with questions on this mod. Keep in mind this isnt a thread to ask little questions in, just a reference article. 1.) What is the t-case mod, what advantages/disadvantages does it give, how does it work? 2.) What kind of fabrication/modifications are needed? 3.) What transfer cases can I use? 4.) Differentials/Solid axles. 5.) Differences in suspension between ea82 and ea81 models and how this relates to the t-case'd lift. If anybody finds errors, correct me by PM and I will fix them so as to not clutter the thread. If you want to add something small, I can put it in one of my posts with credit to you as to keep the thing organized. Im not just trying to play FAQ GOD :-p

The divorced transfer case from an 80-85 datsun/nissan 720 4x4 is required, along with the intermediate, and front/rear driveshafts. You might also want the tcase mount to adapt in or use as a guide. Other choices are the lada niva ft4wd tcase, and the suzuki case. Heres an earlier thread outlining the different transfer cases: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23478&highlight=tcase How tough? Much tougher than doing a standard subframe lift. In addition to making the 8"+ subframe/strut lift blocks, you have to incorporate custom motor mount brackets, brackets to hold a rear diff up front, and a mount for the tcase, which involves running tube from the front blocks to the rear in order to make a solid may of mounting the case. I chose to weld the square tubing on the inside of the unibody (through the floorboards). Another thing I'd like to add is that if you build a 6+" lift and don't want to go with the tcase initially, you can do the tcase conversion later without redoing all your blocks, you just have to add the brackets to lift the motor back to stock height relative to the body, and mount the diff/tcase. For pictures check out: Subarubrats: http://www.subarubrat.com AdamNDJs: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?ppuser=31&cat=500 Bushbashers (ME): Keep in mind this is an ea82 which means there are some differences in the suspension compared to the others. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=129 Rooinater: http://usmb.net/gallery/album132 "Unhatched": (bottom of page 1 and beginning of page 2) http://usmb.net/gallery/album118 Subadoom: http://usmb.net/gallery/album256 If anyone else has some underbody or techy shots of their tcased sube post up. im gonnna start working on starting a t-case faq that others can add to. also, a double doj FAQ as well.

Cool. Would this be the forum to ask questions about swapping turbo stuff into my 88 SPFI wagon or is this more intended to be an archive of information.

Basically you can keep it in 4x4 as long as you want, as long as you are not driving it on dry pavement. Wet pavement is ok. The reason is that when you turn, the total speeds of the front and rear wheels are not equal, and when you engage 4wd you force them to the same speed. On dry pavement the drivetrain will bind up and build up stress. On wet pavement or loose surfaces a wheel can slip easily to relieve the stress. oh and go as fast as you want.

Looks cool! The dog pic is funny, didnt notice till I read the caption.

all the body lines are pretty straight in the back, I dont think it would be any more work than bobbing a 4runner. im not sure how far from the back the gas tank sits but there must be close to a foot you could cut out before you hit it.

wow, you're really going nuts there eh! Looks cool, but I could see the grating being bashed in pretty quickly. I woul at least think about thicker structure around the outside edges of the grate.

well some datsun 2wd 720s came with 3.9 gears so that would be the axle to find to match the gears in the subaru front diff. Im not sure if there are any samurais or toyota axles that come stock with 3.9 gears.

They would be very useful for situations were it is one wheel in the front that keeps spinning consistantly on a certain obstacle. Ive been thinking about doing this too but its a little project that can always be done later. Id like to just get my wagon in perfect working order.

Looks like a good plan to me! what about welding the diff or lsd?

uh, its a solo II race car not an offroad suby

in the front you dont have room to get anything more without a lift, and most of the extra travel you can have is uptravel. A few people have made struts with longer travel shock inserts. In the rear, you can make double doj axles, custom coilovers and get about 9-10" travel max.

I can get the thing to spray gravel with 28:1, and it still rallies fine with the wider stance. Though on one occasion I oversteered too much and clipped a 6" rock wall. I barely felt it, thanks to the big tires. Im going to spend a few days at the yard carefully recording and organizing the parts as I take them off, because it may be some time before it (the turbo stuff) goes on the wagon. My goal is to get it streetable first (exhaust, good driveshafts, correct # of lugs on each wheel) check out this pic:

yep engine is mounted on a custom subframe, and the crossmember is way down there, holding a seperate front diff.

crossmember is not a problem since my crossmember is sitting 6" lower and 3" forward of its usual position I'll look for that post.

Okay, so I got a sweet deal on the turbo setup from an 86 gl10t 2wd sedan. 75 bucks for "everything I need to make my car turbo" including heads. However he (guy who owns/operates the yard) is unsure about the condition of the engine internals, he bought it as is with no description. Only about 170k kms. Im gonna try and get the car started before I start dismantling. So I have some electrical questions: I'm hearing that I have to completely swap harnesses, including dash and everything. The donor car is an 86 turbo (3at)with analog dash, and my car is GL SPFI (5spd) with analog dash. Is this going to be more or less plug and play? Im also considering compression ratios. Since my car is a total off-roader, I dont want to run 7.7:1 compression, because I need to have my motor able to chug along at 500-1000rpms or lower. So I'm thinking about turboing my car on 9.5:1 compression and maybe doing some work on the heads to eliminate the ridges in the comb. chamber. I would stick to premium fuel, intercooled, and stock boost. Or tear into my short block and put carb pistons in. I know that my short block is healthy, so I'd prefer not to replace or tear it apart. What do you turbo gurus think?

I ran one off-road and it was not loud enough to drown out the voices of spotters or the radio, and it sounded sexy. But it was loud enough that a cop would probably do something about it.