The Beast I Drive

with the right mods, for light off-road, the 1.6 will be fine. If you want to do any real wheelin with it, you will need a D/R and either a side starter bellhousing for a 1.6, or a newer motor with a side mounted starter. You wont be able to run anything bigger than 185/80/R13 tires unless you get some wheel spacers and run 14" or bigger rims. Thats 4" with 185/80 tires -Bill

Gen 1's are totally different to lift than Gen 2's or 3's, so the smallest lift kit I can make for them is a 4". But, I could lift it 2 or 3" with some tricks, but its not as easy as bolting on a 4".... -Bill

If you get serious about having an EJ swap done in your brat, keep me in mind. There is a lot more to it in the 78-80 Brats because the tranny needs to be changed out as well, and that requires more mods than you might think. Im always willing to make a deal -Bill

I gained 6 hp by installing these on the Beast -Bill

Installed! Bask in the glorious shine of these babies! I like where I put them, but they would have fit better if I didnt have so many dents in that arear :-\ But they still look great! Im sure I gained about 6 hp with this mod -Bill

For $10K I'll do it, I have the facilities and skills, just need the cash. -Bill

I try to swing in there a couple times a week, some weeks Im real busy and dont make it, others Im in there all the time. Great way to kill time -Bill

6" lifts for Loyale/EA82/3rd gen L-series are $500 plus shipping, 6" for EA81/Brat/Hatch/2nd gen L-series are $450 plus shipping. Im going to try out a new business model, where I will start building what I think will sell, then put them up for sale in the For Sale section for my going price. For the time I will no longer be taking orders, so that I can get caught up and ready to start taking orders again by fall. Input/opinions appreciated, but remember, Im only one man working a full time job, building awesome subie stuff in my spare time -Bill

Well, just an update. Ive been lazy and still havent gotten around to getting the necessary machinework done yet, so I still dont have 4.444's installed, but with the Walker off-road meet coming up soon, It's time to light a fire under my rump roast and get it done More updates when I actually do something... -Bill

here ya go. You have to start with a RX tranny. Its a bolt-in conversion as long as you use the Legacy viscous center diff and rear half. If you want to keep the RX locking center diff you need to have the 4.11 pinion gear welded on to the RX pinion shaft by a good machine shop. http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=106140&highlight=tranny+teardown -Bill

throw some octane booster in the gas tank and top it off with the highest octane gas you can afford, and see if it still knocks. If it goes away, then it was probably bad gas, if not, then at least youve ruled out the gas theory. Check the ECU for codes, is the CEL on? -Bill

Hey, I would be interested in buying that EA71 oil pump from you, so if you could hold on to it till the Walker meet this summer, I would really appreciate it! -Bill

I've got a few ps racks layin around, if youre interested we could trade something, then just figure how to get it to you... -Bill

Oh Jeff, if you swap a PS rack in it, the manual steering link it has now will be the perfect length for the 6" lift blocks so no cutting and welding required. -Bill

hehe, Ive driven on worse -Bill

I will be making another run of these very soon, Im just trying to get some other things out of the way and tie up some loose ends. I'll let everyone know when I have the next run ready -Bill

I hope you learned a valuable lesson.... Or maybe you just need a taller lift -Bill

I just might make the yellow one into a beater off-roader, I will know more when I get the paperwork from the kid, IIRC the yellow one is the one with the good title, so I will have a look under the car tomorrow, see if the rust is bad. If its good, then I will make a trail rig out of it Yeah, sold a pair of EA82 wagons to make room for these beauties Got kinda lucky the motor is in the back of the yellow one, it took all the weight off the front passenger tire (which wouldnt seat back on the rim) and enabled us to push it, instead of having to winch it onto the trailer -Bill

Personally Im not in the Gen 1's for profit or return on any investment, I just really like them, they are my favorite Subaru's ever made Which brings me to my reason for collecting such examples as these, I need to keep my nicer ones on the road, and buying up old beat up Brats at near nothing prices is about the only way to get some of the parts I need anymore -Bill

The grey one is a bondo bucket with rust under the bondo, with a questionable title situation... The Yellow one has a bad spot of damage around and behind the rear wheel well on the driver side, and a huge dent on the passenger side behind the door, as well as some underlying rust... For what I paid for them I have no problem parting them out, there are a lot of good parts between the 2, and they ar both '79s. -Bill

IMO, I would restore the body to pristine condition inside and out (including somehow repairing the didgi dash) but modify the running gear a bit. Stock engine, but with an 87-89 RX FT4wd D/R trans with Diff lock, Clutch LSD rear diff, rear disk brakes, and suspension upgrades (poly bushings, new struts, rear antiroll bar, etc.) And a new stereo in a slant center consol of course. Basically make it all apear to be stock, but it will be a lot more fun to drive, and to me more valuable with the more desirable parts. -Bill

I picked these up this morning, they arent really anything to brag about, but they have a lot of good parts between the 2, and a full set of 4 5 slot aluminum mag wheels, which look way better than the 4 slot sport mags IMO and are rarer too The mags are in really good shape, NO curb rash at all, no pitting from what I could see, just really dirty. I plan to clean them up and *maybe* try to sell them, but I might just keep them cuz they are so hard to find -Bill

It's all in the thread I linked, look through it from the first page, it's got the lift and all the mods I've done so far. -Bill

I welded 3/4" thick tabs to the bumpers in-line with the mounting moints on the body, then attached 5/8" clasps to those at each corner. The way I did the front end and the rear end, I gaind almost a whole foot of clearance under the radiator and I gained 8+ inches of clearance under the rear of the bed. When you have a small lift (mine is only 3") you need all the clearance possible. -Bill

I did this a while back on my Brat. http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=104790&page=2&highlight=workin If its not on that page skip ahead till you get to the part where I rebuild the lower radiator support. -Bill