The Beast I Drive

Nice tires Looks like with a 6" lift you wont have to do any fender mods at all to clear them -Bill

Actually I found a simpler solution: I dont drive EA82T cars anymore Never did figure out the problem, the compressor housing on the turbo melted into the turbine, along with almost everything on the engine. Never got the ambition to dig into it to find the real cause before I pulled all I wanted and could save off the burnt hulk. -Bill

Use the string measuring method, get a piece of string and wrap it around where the belt will go, measure that, and that's the size belt you need. Since it's an 81 brat, the compressor could be a York unit. Is it a large, kinda square looking unit with lines coming out the top? If so it's a York. -Bill

I had that hesitation too in my old 88 RX. Never did figure it out, but Im thinking it had a hand in this So you might want to figure it out ASAP..... -Bill

No, ALL Brats came with selectable 4wd, there was never a purely FWD Brat sold in the US, or anywhere else I can think of. In 1981 the GL Brat has Hi-Lo while the DL had just single range 4wd. The GL package for 78-80 basically meant you could get a tachometer, 2 tone plaid/vinyl seats, sliding rear window, and etc. Of course you could order all that on a DL as well. You could choose 2 or 4 headlights, tachometer or no tach, AC (pretty rare), sliding rear window, blackm silver, or wood grain dash inserts, 2 tone seats, stuff like that was available on all of them. Im curious to know if the 1bbl Carter/Weber carb we all hate more than the Hitachi 2bbl was a feature on the DL only, or if it was an economy option or something... Ive seen 81 Brats with both single and dual headlight setups that both had D/R, so just because the grille is a DL grill doesnt always mean the car is a DL, it must have just been an option. Ive heard that there was a 3rd eye available on the 80-81 Brats as well, IIRC I think Ive seen pics of one, but thats it. If it exists, its rare indeed. -Bill

Mufflers are over rated anyhow -Bill

I just use a 1/2" drive breaker bar, with no socket. Close enough fit for me, but I have more than a couple back-up diff covers if I strip one out..... -Bill

Lookin good man, The Beast has competition...... Might have to change Butter's name to Professor Chaos -Bill

Oh and your 6-lug hubs are in the mail Send me back the old hubs and drums when you get the new ones please -Bill

Check the tranny mounts, if they are bad replace them. If the clutch assembly looks good and works fine right now, I'd leave it alone since you arent swapping in the EJ yet. When you do the EJ swap you will need to replace that. You will need the 4wd Hi-Lo selector lever from a D/R car, that linkage bolts directly onto the stock 5 speed shifter plate. You will have to re-wire the tranny harness so you have back up lights and 4wd indicator on the dash, but you will not have any lo-range indicator unless you wire one in somewhere. Its a really easy swap, Ive done it in a DL which is exactly the same as a Loyale. -Bill

Wow, that brings whole new meaning to that nickname -Bill

The only problem is where are you going to find the pedal end new? Have you see the pedal end on a Gen 1 clutch cable? It's totally different from any ea81 or newer vehicle and I would imagine very hard to find a source for new ones. -Bill

You don't have to get that crazy taking parts off, Ive ADDED over 500 lbs of wieght to my 87 wagon, and swapped in an older engine, and I'm running 31/10.5 tires and it has no trouble in mud. I'd strip the interior and get all the sound deadener out, rhino line it, and it's good. Things like the grill and emblems don't add up to more than 5 lbs on the whole car, so no need to waste time with that. Just cam the motor, lift it, d/r swap and you will be very happy with what it will do. -Bill

I need some cores first, give me about a week to get some and then I will get more hubs done up. -Bill

Sorry for the Hijack GD I will do steering extensions when people bring the car to me, you being only an hour away, it shouldnt be a problem if you bring your rig down, depending on how high you want to go I can have it lifted in a week or less of evenings after work. There's just a lot more to a big lift than a steering extension and lift blocks, always gotta remember there are brake hoses to deal with, radiator hoses, heater hoses, wires, shifter linkage, etc. The little details are what take the most time. -Bill

If you have a welder, and know how to use it, and can do basic bodywork, you can make the fenders look a lot better and stronger if you cut/weld in the right places. If you dont, a hammer works just fine. 8 lb sledge to get things moving, 24 oz ball-peen to finish it out and make it look halfway decent. -Bill

The main reasons we don't include steering links in our kits is liability and every car is different. If someone orders a kit, and the steering link in the kit fails for whatever reason, it's back on me, and that's legal work I don't need. Not saying anyone on this board would do that, but there are other people out there who buy lifts for subarus. I am looking at making all-new steering links with new u joints and shafts from a racing equipment supplier, then it's just cut to fit, tighten the bolts and slap it in, no welding, less liability. -Bill

You need a disty from an ea81 and also the steel plate that bolts to the block under the disty, I've converted a couple ea71s this way. -Bill

Here's the deal with the 1981 Brat clutch cable It was only made for 1 year, and it was only made for 1 model in the lineup. It has a special end on it that no EA81 clutch cables match, and the way it mounts to the pedal is different from the EA81's as well. Basically it is a longer version of the EA71 Brat clutch cables. The part is obsolete, and NO ONE carries it. So, what you have to do is modify the end of the pedal to accept the EA81 clutch cable. It's the only option, unless you find someone who has a NOS 1981 Brat clutch cable in storage somewhere..... I ran into this problem doing a d/r swap in a Gen 1 Brat, and Im going to have to modify the pedal to accept the EA81 cable, which is the best option because those will be available for quite some time. -Bill

Actually, there was a 5 speed with 4.444 available in the Forester XT Turbo, for 2 years IIRC, like 2001-2002 or something, I dont remember exactly. But it was ONLY in that model. You can go to the dealership and buy the 4.444 front ring and pinion set for a hair under $400 brand new though, and convert any late-model 5 speed to 4.444 -Bill

Im also looking for extra rear drum cores, within specs on the wear surface, so if you have any good 85-89 wagon/sedan/coupe drums, or 80-85 wagon, hatch, Brat, etc. drums laying around or know where you can get some cheap, let me know, I need cores to keep product moving -Bill

I am that guy with the annoyingly loud car, so no worries, you won't be I get all my pre-made bends from summitracing.com, good stuff. Since you are running the stock spfi engine, you can get new cams from Delta Camshaft to give you a lot more low-end grunt (you will want as much as you can get) and they are only like $75 a pair. There really isn't anything you can remove from a spfi motor, they are pretty much as stripped as they can get and still run properly. The interior really doesn't have anything that wieghs a whole lot by itself, but if you strip the carpet, door cards, all the trim, and chip out all the sound deadener, it will make a big difference. The armrests attach to the door itself, so you can remove the door panels. -Bill

I can't do that at this moment, but it's a possiblity for the future. Right now I'm doing this conversion mainly for the off-road crowd. -Bill

For the mud, at the very least it needs a Y pipe if he doesnt have custom cams, with 2 separated pipes he will have seriously less torque (voice of experience here). If it were me, I'd do what I always do, run duals with an X pipe. Same great sound, way better torque. -Bill

The 6 lug pattern is 6 x 5.5", so basically any stock or custom/aftermarket wheel for Chevy Blazer/GMC Jimmy/1500 4x4 & Heavy Half trucks, Chevy LUV/Isuzu PUP, any 4wd and a lot of 2wd Nissan/Datsun pick ups, Isuzu Rodeo/Trooper/Amigo, Honda Passport, Toyota 4wd pick up, Mitsubishi Mighty Max, and some light Dodge trucks from the 80's. Im sure there are others, I cant remember them all off the top of my head, but basically any 6 lug wheel EXCEPT Dodge Dakota and Durango, those have a smaller 6 lug pattern. ALSO, DUE TO THE PRICE OF NEW STUDS, effective April 1, 2010, the price for these will be $75 with core, $135 if you do not return a core, and $20 shipped anywhere in the lower 48 states. -Bill