Uberoo

So I ran out both gases for the torch and with no revenue coming thats gonna put a damper on things.I suppose I can chip away at some patch panels with the grinder at least until I run out of cut off wheels or welding consumables.Other than metal work the only thing I can do is strip the eJ harness or do some other various wiring work.crap.

Here is the other side stuffed full with a ++ size shoe. I need to clearance a little bit more of the bodywork to give it enough room but that is where the tire will be bump stopped to. At full bump the tire swings up and rearward to a point that it sticks out a couple inches further than the body work.

Then where would the corner marker lights go? I'm keeping that panel because it will make it easier to make some fender flares.At least having something solid to attach to.That side had to be cut the most because the gas tank filler area had to be cut out. That and I still need some weight rearward of the cab to balance out the engine and myself..

The back is more or less staying like that.The tailgate and the original lights are long gone.At the start of the project I decided I was just going to run some LED trailer lights because it is a wheeler,and I would feel horrible if I had one of the last taillights in existence and broke it.The tailgate is also gone to allow for the rear mounted radiator. So I started clearancing the back for the bigger tires and ho lee chit.There is an exponential jump in what has to be clearanced going from a 235 to 31" tire. Amount of clearance for 235's: amount of clearance needed for 31" tires:

How do you calculate spring rate so the body of the car more or less stays at a fixed point from the ground but the tires move up and down accordingly. Say for instance your bumper is 28" from the ground,and you encounter a 5" tall rock.How do you get the suspension soft enough to absorb that rock without giving any upward motion to the body?Or same scenario but instead of a rock its a dip.

I don't think i'll be much of a contender. Money greases the wheels of progress,and I'm all tapped out. I don't need alot of money but I need a steering rack,a rear 4.11 diff,and a fair bit of steel tube.If I can sell a car I have enough for all that plus some new interco shoes in + size. Anyone want to buy a 98 jetta with 139K?

WCSS 17 augest 28-30 Port townsend,wa? thats getting kinda close.

Shame that some of the weight loss will be negated with sheetmetal and toob work..

Shortening driveshafts is cheap, but lengthening them is expensive because it requires all new longer tube,plus the labor of cutting and welding both ends.

Like you said, with a lift you can easily adapt all of the EJ stuff under the loyale.It however might be better to adapt the loyale body to the strut tops then make a 4" strut bottom lift so you can run bigger tires.The rear suspension links could use some attention.Other than that your the man with a plan.

Someone should take that man's sawz-all away!!! First this happened: And then this happened: Weight reduction of 40 lbs plus alot better rear departure angle.Now to take the grinder and clean up the edges so they are square.Then the outer sheetmetal will be cut 2" back so the sheetmetal angles in slightly.

I have a complete "wooden" dash trim for a 78 brat.However, I would imagine that it would fit all other ea71's with the same dash.PM me with an offer.I had both of the brown pins that hold the heater bezel in but one of them went missing.

So an update of sorts: I finished the front bumper a couple days ago but I just got around to taking some pics of it. I still have some more work on the front end,like a grill guard and sheetmetal mounts but that comes after I have the engine mocked in place. Then I finally patched the rear most hole in the floor.I more or less threw a bunch of metal at and used the handy dandy metal glue gun to make all the pieces become one.After that I started taking parts from the bed and putting them in their respective place in the interior.Nothing is bolted down, but it gives me some insight on how it will all fit together. the driver side recaro seat needs to be adapted to the brat rails,but it also needs a couple inches of lift to see the trail better,but I can't do that until I have the steering wheel mounted so I can mount the seat so its centered in front of the wheel.With the interior so small I'm not entirely sure if I'm gonna put a passenger seat in,because with two seats its tight in there and I'm 5'2" so most of the population wont even come close to fitting in there.Maybe I could bolt a milk crate to the floor mad max style and not need a roof rack. Finally, with all the crap out the bed I started placing all the bed mounted items:Spare tire,battery,tool box,radiator...Now I need a jerry can. the tire is a 33 12.50 but it measures 31" in diameter so I'm using it for mock up,I have 2x4's under the tire at various places to give it clearance for various rims and tire combos...

And in other news I acquired a set of 31x10.5x15 BFG all terrains on 6 lug aluminum wheels.The tires are shot but they hold air and will work just fine for mockup purposes and to get it rolling at least.The main reason I got them is for the aluminum rims that are super lightweight. I'll set my jackstands under the rear of the brat so its level again,make the rear diff mount,and get the tires to fit+ a little more so they will clear tires that actually are 31" in diameter...these "31's" only measure 29.5" . I need to find something I can wrap around the tire that is .75-1" thick...

Most embarrassing stuck?1987 Gl wagon-100% bone stock, sway bars still attached,open diff,stock tires,yada yada yada.A section of trail had a small curb sized bump in the front and a small curb sized bump in the rear.Open diffs and sway bars meant those little bumps were enough to get the car stuck with air under the LF and RR tire.Put the car in neutral and pushed it until it was unstuck.Turned around,went home and promptly removed the sway bars.

Subtract eight dollar signs from that and you have my budget.Not to mention that swing set steering has horrible bump steer, its just for packaging reasons.

Don't the radius rods also get a 2" block if your doing a full crossmember drop?

According to my drawing in autocad the stock steering rack would need to be shortened 4.61" per side or 9.22" all together.Maybe the best solution would be to find a center steer rack and set the pivots where I need them.I only know of a few cars with center steer though: the 81-87 GM J platform cars(Ewww) or 93-04 chrysler LH platform(not as bad as the gm but still pretty bad)

So I tore apart the rack. It has 6" of travel,The max I can take out of the tube is 9.5", but the max I can take out of the rack is 9" and still have 6" of travel.So If I shortened the rack by 9" and the tube by 9" it should still have the same travel.Then the steering rack would have to be moved inward by 4.5" per side to still be centered.But I can only move the rack by 2" each side or it will interfer with the diff.Which means instead of shortening the rack to 17" it could only be shortened to 22" pivot to pivot, which is 3.125" inches longer per side than the revised control arm pivots so it would have twice the bump steer as stock. Phurk. Anyone have any other ideas?

So with the crossmember off, and the control arm jig in place I realize I need to find a different steering rack to start to mock it up.I can build new mounts that will work but they will be a bit tight to the rack.Right now its almost pointless to make new mounts because they probally wont work around the shorter rack..I'll take apart the factory rack and see if there is a way to shorten it up.Factory control arm mounts are 23" apart,the factory rack is 26" apart,and the new control arm mounts would be about 15".The factory setup has some bump steer but trying to use the stock rack would have some serious bump steer with almost 6" difference in rack length per side.

While the centered toyota diff is a thought,the reality is that I need to get atleast the subaru suspension under the brat so I can get it done sometime this year.So I will start making the front suspension mounts.If I move the control arm mounts 1" down and 3 13/16" inward it will set the control arm so it will always be parallel to the CV axle-greatly reducing plunging and increasing the suspension travel that is possible.At least in theory,At present I will be limited by the strut,but the axle should last a long time even with the 1.5" of suspension lift.I figured out that trying to make the new suspension mounts be perfect on both sides would be almost impossible by trying to fabricate the individual pieces with a tape measure while under the car, so I made a jig.The jig moves the control arm mounts down 1" and 3 13/16" inward exactly as planned. Now to yank off the crossmember and attack it with all of the fabrication weapons in my arsonal.

The coolant does not lubricate the water pump,by the time coolant is getting to the bearings in the water pump,the pump is shot and in need of replacement. The thing with antifreeze is it actually impedes heat transfer,thus making the cooling system worse.100% water would cool better than 100% antifreeze, but water freezes in low temps-hence,antifreeze.A standard 50/50 ratio of antifreeze gives a good compromise between cooling efficiency and freezing protection in a moderate climate.However, in a hot climate like texas that ratio is 25/75 or even down to 10/90.10/90 is just enough antifreeze to inhibit corrosion.I run about a 30% mixture of antifreeze because Lewiston gets HOT in the summer,and even that 30% mixture is enough to prevent the coolant from freezing solid.It might be slush but it still circulates.

First off, get a OEM thermostat. Aftermarket ones have a smaller internal diameter and may mean the difference in overheating with the already marginal ea82 cooling system. secondly,make damn sure you have 100% of all the air out of the system. thirdly, in texas heat you can run distilled water for coolant with a small percentage of antifreeze for its anti-corrosion properties. Fourth make sure that your electric fan is actually spinning the correct way.If its mounted in the engine bay it needs to be PULLING air through the radiator. Lastly, if all that wont help than look at degreasing the engine down to bare aluminum and installing some hood vents.Grease is an insulator,and heat rises.The best location for a vent is after the radiator to about the middle of the hood.After that, any opening in the hood will act as a scoop letting in air rather than letting air out.Unless the vents dip down at the front to create a low pressure zone. EDIT: this is a vented hood I made for my hatch.It dropped the temps by 1/8 of the gauge-so probally 10-15*F.

Like I said,its all about how shot the front diff mount bushing is.If you can take your mustache bar out and the diff will only move up and down with very little side to side pay you probably wont bend your bar.If on the flip side you can move your diff forward and back,and side to side,and diagonally you will bend your bar.Most ea82's wont have that sloppy of bushings,but ea81's due to the age and different rubber compounds will have that sloppy of bushings.

just go wheeling a couple times.The exhaust will self clearance. and make funny whistling noises.