The Beast I Drive

Yeah, those pipes suck. Soak them with PB blaster or some kind of penetrating oil, and you might have to use a little heat to get them to come loose. They are for the EGR system, I typically take them off, remove the pipes from the threaded parts, weld them up solid, then put them back. No more pipes that way, cleans up the engine bay a lot. There is also one on the back of the passenger side head that has to be undone to remove the manifold... -Bill

I was gonna try out the armor plate/ Flying Tigers paint scheme back when I got that turbowagon, I figured it had the perfect base coat being silver to make it quick and easy... Never got around to it, decided the car was better suited to be a parts car... Leaving yet another awesome paint scheme available to another Sube owner... Shouldnt be hard, can make it look pretty good with a little masking tape, a round hole stencil, and some shadow effects I always kinda liked the early Luftewaffe camo on Hitler's planes, same traditional colors, but with the sharp jagged edges like the Swiss snow camo. And typically with a bright yellow nosecone or hypnotic dealio painted on the prop -Bill

Wait, I know the only possible solution... You must sell it to me Jk, but seriously, I think you're on the right track, try the ATF. I run 15w40 oil in my cars, but thats because I get it for free at work... My mom's car had the TOD a little while back, a little seafoam and some high-rev pulls and it was back to normal... -Bill

IIRC, that guy is a member here, and he lives (lived?) in Yakima. Dont recall his boardname, but i remember a post with pictures of the car and trailer you described. -Bill

Check it -Bill

Ive seen Ed's car, and he has a stock EA81 with stock EA81 manifold on it, with a Maxima alternator and a home rigged power steering bracket. It all works quite nicely, he did mention having to grind/file down a little off the ear of the alt to clear the air cleaner... I myself am partial to the GM alt swap, I have a parts guy that gets em to me for less than cost, and it took about 15 minutes to mount it, using one of those chrome adjuster bars for a small block chevy that I offset just a bit. With the GM swap any autoparts store will have one in stock, they were the same unit from the 60's all the way to the late 80's. The Maxima swap is the perfect, bolt-in, minimal modification needed swap for the DIY'er, or the novice car-tinkerer lookin to upgrade his charging system. -Bill

ATM I dont really have access to anything newer than my cousin's 91 legacy for cool accessories... I have an upsidedown Outback that Im going to use to make lift kits, Ill see if I can find an Impreza hulk in a JY cheap and go from there -Bill

what kinda style you looking for? I have a design in mind that has kind of a rear tailgate on it if you will, making easier access, as well as built in light mounts and guards so they dont get busted off on a tree. -Bill

I can also do custom stuff. Here is a project of mine, Ive reinforced the front end with 3/16" diamond plate and 3/16" angle iron. This is a work in progress, its a 4" lifted wagon with a lot of custom stuff, but what I am sayin s if you can dream it, I can probably build it for your rig Also, if you would like to let me use your rig for a testbed for a new part or custom work, I can make great deals -Bill

One of my innovations... This kit allows the use of an EA82 power steering pump on an EA81 engine. Perfect if you have swapped an EA81 into your 3rd gen offroad car and want your power steering back, or if you have everything you need to put power steering in your Gen 2 except the pump. Its designed to work perfectly with Weber carb conversions and SPFI swaps. Comes with everything seen here installed on a motor Price is $60 plus shipping, but Ill waive shipping if you send me back your non-AC EA81 alternator bracket and the little round spacer that goes with it. -Bill

Hey ya'll, guess its about time I post this up in here. If you are looking for something custom, beefy, durable, and/or stylish for your Subaru, off-road or road-warrior, chances are I can make it. BOSS (Bill Omlin Subaru Specialties) is the name I will now be building my subaru parts under. Current products include my Bill Omlin Monster Lifts as well as my EA82 power steering pump kit for EA81 engines, as well as custom fab work, such as bumpers, roof racks, skid plates, light bars, frame bracing, you name it, I can probably make it. I soon hope to be set up to make EJ adapters, hub bolt pattern adapters (i.e., 4x140mm to 5 on 5.5", etc...), EJ lift kits 4" and up, as well as other neat and useful parts to customize your offroader, beef up your street beast, or make your custom motor swap go a lot easier. Everything I make is hand-fabricated by me and me alone, so sometimes it takes a while for somethings to get made, but I hope to be all jigged up for my lifts very shortly. My lifts are the strongest on the market, and at an affordable price. I can also do other modifications and custom installs, and I am open to trades and willing to negotiate. I will have pics up soon of some of my work, if you like what you see, give me a call at (509) 391-5903 or leave me a Private Message. We can work out a deal. Soon I should have a website set up, but Im just getting started right now. Thanks! -Bill

I would ditch the sway bar, I take it off all my rigs, once you get used to it its like you never took it off. If you do try to re-attach it, it will be a PITA cuz the holes wont want to line up due to the new angles on the control arms. Take it out and dont look back! -Bill

On EA81s, *almost* everything on the front end is the same between 4wd and 2wd models. I swapped the whole front suspension (lower arms, struts, hubs, axles, brakes, etc.) from a 1980 GL-5 2wd wagon and put it on my 1985 4wd Brat EA81s are possibly the most interchangeble cars there are... -Bill

I got an Idea... Make that one a clean daily driver and sell me your Touring wagon... I like that one Nice lookin rig though -Bill

That would be sweet with the old Power Wagon look on the front end, it will be an off road Hotrod, and I dig it! But it will need at least a 340 Mopar motor at some point... And pistolgrip shifter -Bill

Those on the left were some of the rear blocks and the 2 in the frontmost left are for the front for the back of the radius rod mounting plate. I do paypal, Ill PM you. -Bill

Nice, very nice... Might need a gusset, cuz its quite a drop, but looks fantastic man! -Bill

If you want to go to manual brakes, like absolutely have to, for clearance issues or what not, the old old '71-73 EA series cars had manual brakes, i.e. Gen 1 stage 1s with EA62 or EA63 engines from 71-73 at least. Other years may have had them too. I dont know if the brake pots will work in a later EA car like your Sedamn, but you could look into that... -Bill

Well since Im late to the party... And since I didnt read the whole thread because it got insanely long... From what I read you have the control arms off the engine crossmember and they wont go back in. Bolt the struts with 2" blocks attached back to the towers. Get everything on the hub all bolted together, and make sure your axles are back on the trans stubs and the roll pins are in. Then, with the car on jackstands, put a floor jack under the jack plate on the bottom of the engine crossmember. Undo the 2 14mm nuts on each side of the crossmember and lower it with the jack until you can attach the lower arms. Once you have a bolt in each arm, jack the engine back up and put the nuts back on and tighten them good and tight. You will have to loosen the steering shaft u joint for this, but thats 1 12mm bolt. You shouldnt have to undo anything else in the engine bay though. It will take all of 15 minutes if you do it right -Bill

It appears 1" is the way to go, its less stress on the CV joints, and you wont have to move the engine crossmember. There will be extra stress on the pivot bushings on the lower arms though unless you modify the control arms or slot the mounting holes on the crossmember. You will still need some gracious bashing/ fender cutting to clear those big meats, and they still might rub a bit... -Bill

That is going to be pretty sweet, 120hp, it has more power than the stock motor! Should have plenty of torque with the extra trans, enough to turn those 32" tires eh? Here's those pics of the extended radius rods I forgot to post :-\ sorry bout that Those are extended 1 1/2", which was too much, I had to move the motor crossmember forward 1/2" to make them work. I cut the rods, cut a piece of stock 1 1/2" long, slid it into the pipe, then plug welded both sides of the pipe to the radius rods. Should be plenty strong, but I have yet to test it, gotta finish the wiring and get an EJ22 in it. This car aslo has a 4" lift and 31" tires on it -Bill

They do indeed bolt to the top of the struts, they are made of 1/4" thick steel with Grade 8 hardware. They are lightly used, got a little dirt on them, but I can clean them up a bit. They are the ones on the right, they are upside down in this pic, when i was painting them. -Bill

I like it, it looks killer, even with the stock wheels on there. An RX trans or Impreza 5 speed would be a good trans to put behind the EJ22 in that car. I dont see it being real practical for rallying, but if it handles good I could see it being a decent autocross rig. Sweet pavement pounder nonetheless, Ive never seen a Subaru hatch that low and still driveable Not really my style, but it looks sweet! And not all cars have to be practical to be cool -Bill

I am putting my time and money into parts that can be transfered onto a less rusty body when the time comes... The rust isnt near as bad as some of you midwesters, but its infected the entire chassis... As long as it is safe to drive Im gonna drive the crap outta it and love it Also this way, if this rusty body gets damaged, its no big deal, its demise is inevitable, but I might as well give it a good run as long as I can Plus I just love to work on it, its not hard, just frustrating at times :-\ but its fun to play with it, this car just does something for me, its like going back in time every time I sit in the seat and turn on the stock AM radio and blast classic country 1460 -Bill

Well this rig proved itself out in the mountains just south of Satus Pass east ouf HWY 97 yesterday :banana: I love it, its so narrow and without a lift it was able to go places no vehicle had been in over 30 years There were a couple spots that I wish I had a low-range, and some spots where a 4" lift woulda been nice, but overall I was quite pleased with its performance. Ran great the whole day! The only problem i had was a short on my possitive starter cable, the spare was pushing it down into a bolt on the anti-pitch rod and it burned up the ground cable for the tranny, but I made a makeshift repair and went on our way, fixed it when we got home. On a side note, me and my buddy covered a lot of terrain, saw tons of tracks, and a flock of wild turkeys Now I have to get my 78 Brat running (it has an EA81 and D/R 4speed swapped in) so I can see if they used an 81-82 4 speed. If it has the low gears I want, and it shifts good, its goin in Rusty Gotta finish up the roll bar, I have it mocked in the car, but I still need to weld on my new light mounting tabs and get the stacks mocked up, but Im waiting for my exhaust cutouts before I do that. Then I can paint the roll bar white and fully install it -Bill