Mr Fishums

Those poor bettleS! :-p and all wheel drive subaru power bug sounds great! Though I have only seen people convert Nice bugs to Jeep drive trains, It just looks horrible, and totally defeats the purpose of a light weight unibody vehicle. In the end unless your planning on rock crawling, a plain bettle with a baja kit and a all around 3 inch lift and a bolt in rear posi/big tires, does better than the jeep conversion hand's down. Cost's 20 times less, gets great mileage, and is easy to inssure. Hop up the motor some, and it rides wheelies too! :cool: http://www.jipemania.com/plane/bugmil/1980baja.jpg The 4x4 bug posted though looks entirely different, and 100% sweet Before you undergo this Huge project of cutting welding bending, and telling of Mis-truths to the DMV/insurrance company. Find someone with a sweet Baja Bug, and drive it. Then take a Subaru hatch (close to same wheel base) with the EA-81 drive train you plan on using and drive that. The bug is weighs a couple hundred less, but it should give you a good idea of your end product. Worst case senario: You have slaughtered a beetle, and a subaru! a crime against humanity!!!!! and the god of opposing cyclendars himself! Hehehe, Hope this helps! Peace, Fishums

Hey! That's pretty cool, The stock VW tranny is the best way to go. Just get the adaptor plate and bolt away. There will be no issues of power handeling for the VW tranny using an EA-81, unless yours is really worn. I currently use a stock german case in my bug. Though I have a porsche 930 close ratio sitting in my garage. The only reason I am going to switch to it, is so I can have a 5th gear, and get a decent time on the 1/4. because 4th gear will top out to early 3/4 the way down the track with my 195/50 R 15's http://www.cbperformance.com/turbostreetengine.asp And as you can see people are throwing in quite a bit of power on top of that tranny without issue. Call the tech guys at CBperformance there if you exact power handeling stats. Look at some of those Turnkey's 340+hp with a 8500 rpm rev 310 lb torque! PUMP GAS to boot! You sure you want to frankenstien your Bug? Your biggest issue with the bug is having to find a place to put the radiator. I have seen two nifty ones that put vents just behind the drivers and passengers doors, and used 2 smaller radiators with electric fans. This would require removal of the rear seat. If I come across a picture I will post it for you. PEace, FIhsums

Operose, that is a cool site definately going to have to get in on that one. Though first I wanna make a motorcycle rack that goes on the roof of a hatch to hold my enduro You know like a bike rack? just on steriods (joking!) ST lawrence County eh? I have some relatives up that way! I'll be stopping in all right! Fishums

Just don't slam those brakes on too hard :-p It really looks like it could take a nose dive with that weight ratio!

Hey when I had my 1986 subaru up here like 3 years ago I ran no cat/y pipe! just twin cherry bomb dune buggy mufflers out this sides, painted black and hidden inches under the doors with custom hangers. It had almost no backpressure. I knew a guy I could get it inspected under :cool: too! If you do run low back pressure you need to re-jet your carb, and get a free flow air element you would be fine. The first beater hatch I had when I was 11, I turned the exhaust upward with some U shape pipes I made with a mig welder, nothing other than jerry rigged rat work. But hey I was 11 and I wanted bull horns thru my hood! They where straight pipes, and yes at night time the occassional blew fire at night when I over gassed it, I found out later an extra coil with and on/off switch and some spare plugs welded in the pipe helped;) (this car was not road legal by any means, no doors, no roof, no windows other than windsheild, no front fenders, and some carelessly drilled MGA rims for tall tires). The no roof option came from me wanting a convertable, there just happened to be a salzal near by that day! Though it had to be the sweetest off roader I ever owned. custom I beam front bumper! and tube frame supports! Not bad for a free rust bucket that an old lady didn't want anymore It always out classed my brothers Toyota 4x4 feild beater! Evertime, even when filling up for gas. The backpressure lacking didn't hurt the car, nore did hours of beatings that even local custom jeepers wouldn't dare do. It ran for 4 years with over 230,000 miles on it until the block finally cracked one really cold winter in barn storage (I must have not gotten all of the water out) it was a good 1800 though bless her! -judging from this I seriously doubt you would hurt you car with the exhaust off it. Though with the custom cheery bomb's it did often idle like a harley while warming up not to mention how freaking beastly it sounds while accelerating quick! PEace, Fishums

damn what I would pay for a hatch in that shape!!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$

yeah me and my dad where talking about that one :cool: It was a pretty cool trip! Nice meeting you Subie, Nice subie's too! If that wagen goes down real cheap, might be worth getting the motor and trans out of. Not really sure what that guy is on! Thinking he will get that kind money for it though! I mean you could practically unhitch your door from the inside, by reaching thru the rusted door holes and grabbing the latch on the outside. I'll wait for it at GARY'S YOU PULL IT:rolleyes: Maybe it is something a wife wants a husband to get rid of, so he is purposely asked to much for it, so he could keep it! Oh and for off roading man! We have some pretty sweet loggin trails, and an old ford backhole to make new obsticals wherever we want to! We aren't really talking like crazy overnight road trips, but you know there is some good space with at least 8 or 10 miles of trails for 4x4 freedom in my back yard! Plus I know a few guys with jeeps that go all the time at some local places. When the white stuff starts shrinking I'll let you know and you can head on up and join in on the mudslinging! We used to have this contest in a place called "the mud pond" where all vehicles from dirt bike, to quad, go-cart, toyota, and subie. used to go, we would fling mud on eachother till we got tired with it(normally dark). The guy with the most mud on his vehicle had to wash the others with the powerwasher Sadly the mudpond isn't in our property line anymore, but hey we could make a new one right? Peace, Fishums

I am just giving a shout out to all the New England region Subaru riders out there! I was wondering how many you are, and where you are all at. If you are in this area or close to it, post back and lets here what your ride is and your favorite trail. I have acess to state land power line trails, and pipeline. Also 46 acres of hill covered dense woods myself nothing to big. It can be fun though. Endicott New york! Peace, Fishums

I just got done reading the thing about the toyota 6 bolt rims, that is such a great idea! So nice! My work has a full machine shop so I should be able to make the other 4 holes as nice as the 4 stock ones. Brilliant! I never thought of that, thanks to whoever thought of that! Mr FIshums

:cool: damn that's some nice stuff, I am going to have stare at this and drule for a while. That allied armament site is definately looking nice. Also with that 4/3 lift that you reffered to with 27" tires on 14" peugeot wheels. Where would be a good place to locate the peugot's? I am going to try the local junkyard after work, but I doubt a french ride would have lasted that long there. I know when I was 12 I redrilled some MGA rims to squeeze on my 86 GL hatch back. They weren't what you would call road worthy, but for a car with no roof, doors, or windows they where just fine. At that age I had even welded in door rails with chicken wire, so my black lab bingo could ride with me :-p Thanks for the help, Mr Fishums

Hi I was wondering what I can do to the EA-81 1800 to beef it up? I am just researching it now, but this would be a list of any upgrades that could be done to a 1985 GL brat engine. I would like to compose a dream list for it. I have heard many people speak of Weber, of which I have in a Volkswagen Bug and very fond of. I would like all upgrades to be capable of driving onroad/offroad with pump gas. If you know any kits or shiny things I can look at with price tags! please send me links or pictures! Let me know of any ideas you have for upgrades to. Thanks, Mr Fishums

I was looking into some lift kits for EA 81's Found this site with a pretty nice photo section, and some decent looking kits. What do you guys think of this one? Know of any place that has a nice setup or an alternative? http://www.ozified.com/liftkits.htm I wanna go with that 4'" front 3" rear kit. It claims I can run a 27" tire without modification, using peugot wheels? Would this be true on a Brat as well? Also anyone know of a decent cost effective steel alternative to the elusive peugot rims? Thanks, Mr Fishums