The Beast I Drive

The front bumper is pretty much done! I still need to get a 5000lb winch, and make a small skid plate that will go from the bumper to the rad. support, and paint of coursed, but its pretty much done! When I did the lower radiator support, I also re-routed the wiring below the rad. to above it Im heading back out in a few minutes to install these And replace this With a pushbutton start setup. -Bill

I was the guy with the rusty, red Gen 1 Brat... I have a platform to start with, and I have a car to test my first kit on. The ones I have will be for Gen 1 and Gen 2 Legacy/Outbacks, I dont know if the 01's are different or not... -Bill

No, it looked like a banana though :-\ Someone at one point must have made a crash landing on a good size rock... Before After Now I have a straight one, and I also gained about a foot of clearance by cutting the towhook BS off at the bottom of the framerails, and making my new rad. support out of 1 1/2" x 3" tubing with a notch cut out to fit the radiator, as well as nuts welded in to mount a skidplate. Im just about to finish the front bumper, so Ima go try to do that before it gets dark, then Im gonna wire in a push button start setup so I can stop using the screwdriver -Bill

I will be getting set up for EJ lifts over the course of this fall/winter, Ill let it be known when I am ready to sell them -Bill

I like it, lets do it! Where in Ellensburg would be a good place..... Might have to talk to Robbie, he lives there... -Bill

Ive made a little more progress this morning, just finished the lower radiator support Now Im going to eat, then Im going back out to put the frontend back together and finsh the front bumper. -Bill

Indeed a good lookin hatch... A lift would be a good addition -Bill

Got the rear bumper built tonight, its pretty much done, eventually Im going to build a swing-arm that will mount to it to hold the spare and a gas can, but other than that and paint it is done! Also replaced the tranny mounts, which turned out to be more of a PITA than I had expected, but it made the car feel like a totally different rig. Here's where I welded the hinge back to the tailgate (both bolts broke off, and the tailgate is F****, so I dont care, I just wanted it to work) Tomorrow Im going to tackle the lower radiator support and build the pushbar for the bumper, then sometime in the next week I will get the skidplate made. -Bill

I will be making this one this year I hope, can't see why I wont -Bill

Pics from this morning The bumper is about half done, still need to make the pushbar portion of it and replace the lower radiator support. This bumper was a PITA to make, lots of angles, there are like 4 compound angles on each side. If I ever offer this style for sale, its not gonna be cheap And my temporary mudflaps, Ill make new, nicer ones when I make the rear bumper More to come when I get more done -Bill

Yes, I was hopin I could pick that up while I was in the area -Bill

A guy in DC was going to put a Jetta TDI motor in his GL-10, even made the adapter plate for the trans and everything... Concluded that in order for it to fit, the car would need a 6" lift as well as a fairly hi cowl-induction style hood, or some other way to make the hood close. This he did not want. The other thing, the gears in Subaru trans are so low compared to the TDI gears, that he would have to run 31" tires just to get a semi-reasonable gear ratio back. TDI motors rev to like 4000 RPM redline or something like that, and for an old Subie, thats just the halfway mark... Perfect if you want to do this for off-roading though, tons of torque, low speeds, great crawling. Here's the thread, idk if any of the links/pics are still good, but its a good read and might be able to ask him some questions http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=94908&highlight=diesel -Bill

Scott, You lifted a Gen 1 Legacy Sedan. I think you know how big a tire you can put on there But in all seriousness, I have no clue. Im not into the Legacy/OB stuff yet. With some wheel spacers though Im sure you can get around that spring perch issue... -Bill

Check to make sure you have 2wd rear struts, someone may have replaced them with 4wd ones at one point. The 2wd struts are about 2" longer than the 4wd ones... Otherwise I would suggest trying some wagon springs or RX springs... -Bill

If the FWD fuse is in the holder, it is in FWD. Take it out, and it *should* be in AWD... Try taking out the fuse? -Bill

The purpose of the dual E brake setup is to aid in offroad situations, its a separate lever for each front wheel, so when one wheel comes off the ground and I lose traction, I lock the spinning wheel with the E brake, which transfers all the power to the other wheel It could also be handy for drifting/rallying, but I wont know until I try, I dont know of anyone using this setup for that purpose... -Bill

Well, decided NOT to take this to Walker Valley on the 7th, its just not going to be ready, and the beast is already setup... So I dont have to rush/half-rump roast anything. Finally got my shocks sent back and am awaiting the correct parts, as well as my exhaust bends so I can rebuild the exhaust. I have done a little work on it lately, but I dont have any pics :-\ Got the front bumper about half made, just needs the pushbar part built now Welded the bad hinge that broke off the tailgate back on to the tailgate, and bolted it back to the Brat. Tailgate works right again! Lengthened the headers to just past the trans xmember, so I can drive it without worrying about dropping a valve Its Waaaaaaaaaay too loud, but it sounds awesome. Put some half-rump roast mudflaps on the back (no bumper yet) so I could drive it around. I also figured out what Im going to do about the lower radiator support, and Im going to be able to raise it about 3" or so when I fix it Pics will come tomorrow -Bill

Im gonna tow it up on a trailer, I plan on headin up the night before so I dont have to get up at 3 to be there on time Id drive it over, except it would prolly take me 10 hours and this way I know I can get home (hence I can have more fun ) -Bill

Ive decided to take the Beast instead of the Brat, I dont think Ill have the Brat ready by the 7th, and the Beast is already all set up, just need to tweak a couple things on it and it will be ready to go Happy Eric? -Bill

DO NOT DRIVE IN 4WD ON PAVEMENT!!! Its NOT AWD, its 4WD just like any 4WD truck, ONLY use it on loose/slick surfaces. When you engage the 4WD, it locks the transfer gears and sends 50/50 power split to the front and rear diffs. its NOT AWD, there is no center diff or viscous coupler, and it was not designed to be driven in 4WD on pavement. -Bill

Here are my offerings for 2" lift kits This is the Stage 1 kit. 2" blocks on all the body mounting points, 2" blocks on the front and rear struts. This one is $200 +shipping w/mustache bar core, $250 without a core And here is the simplest, quickest, easiest way to gain clearance on your EA82/Loyale, the Stage 3 2" lift. This is $100 +shipping The front blocks are cut at 18 degrees, so you should have no camber issues. Available in any solid/common color you want. Thanks! -Bill

Probably not, but I want to get the more important parts done... things like the rear disks and some of the plating/reinforcing can wait... -Bill

Got the tail light problem figured out tonight, it was a combination of horrid wiring from a previous owner, and the plugs being exposed to water/mud from me hacking off the quarter panels... So I replaced all the plugs, and it seems to be fine, the tail light fuse doesnt blow anymore... The whole car is going to be re-wired eventually, there is too much half-rump roast work done to the harness from previous owners, that and I am swapping in a guage cluster from a 1980 wagon as well as wanting to eliminate completely the wiring for any circuits Im not using or going to use. But that will all come later. The List (in no particular order): -Fix driver side rear shock mount (broken bolt) and install the CORRECT shocks when they come -Build front and rear bumpers Done! -do some cleanup trimming on the front fenders -clean and paint the body -modify/enclose/reinforce the rear quarterpanels -reinforce/enclose the rockers from the door to the framerails -replace/reinforce the lower radiator support Done! -build skid plate for the engine/exhaust/tranny -build the new exhaust when the tubing comes -replace the old 4 speed tranny mounts (new ones on the way) Done! -replace windshield and gasket -replace the lower control arms with reinforced ones -rear disk brake swap -weld the rear diff -build 2 sets of EA81 hybrid axles with EA82 DOJ cups -build skid plate for the rear diff/stubs/inner DOJ cups -mount fog lights and some kind of winch Fog Lights Done! -mount mudflaps of some kind Done (for now) -Install CB radio -setup Dual E-brake handles (halfway there ) -Bill

You are talking crazy. There are really only a couple of options if you want to get serious about going Turbo with that Brat. 1) Find a true 83-84 EA81 Turbo car and pull the motor and all the wiring and accessories and swap that in. Probably the easiest way to go, about 110 HP or so 2) Do a ton of work and go through a lot of BS to try and get a EA82 Turbo motor in there and be super pissed when nothing works right and it has no power and watch the car burn in flames when it blows up on a pass..... About 115 HP when it runs right... 3) swap an EJ22 Turbo from a Legacy or a EJ20G turbo from a WRX using an adapter plate and make a custom wiring harness and slight modifications to the car, about 180 HP stock, easily upgraded to 600+ hp 4) Pay out the a$$ at RAM engines for their Uber-built Turbo EA81 (built for aircraft usage, so you know it is built right) around 300 HP or so Other than that, I would say there's not much else you could do reasonably, the EA82 Turbo parts will not fit on an EA81 motor because of the different head designs. -Bill

Thanks, love constructive criticism man! -Bill