DPDISXR4Ti

It's admitedly a little early to realistically discuss putting the new Boxer TD engine in something "non-native" - heck, it's not even available here in the States yet. Nonetheless, does anyone have any dimensional data on this oil burner, primarily the width? Everything I've read indicates that it was engineered to be the same size as the gasoline engine (despite the longer stroke), but I don't find the actual dimensions anywhere. Weight would be interesting to see too, as that was another area that tried to trim the fat. BTW, Subaru has a pretty good site dedicated to this engine: http://www.boxerdiesel.com/engineering/en/index.html

Nicely done! If you're at all inspired to get experimental (you've certainly already done enough though), one of my alternate ideas was to do a 2-tone, with the upper half black - the color line would be just above the door handle. Again, thanks for the efforts. :cool: Edit.... Don't know if it's easier at this point to "re-spray" the car, but here's a couple alternate shades of burnt orange I was considering.

Nicely done Chux! It's like you're taking it through the same steps that my paint guy will, laying down a primer coat first! At the risk of being picky, the color's a bit too much of a pink/salmon shade vs. "burnt orange", but you've done a far better job than anyone else of capturing the overall look & feel. Thanks!

Depends which end you look at! You can read more here... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24401&highlight=XRBrati

I know the Baja has that spring-loaded license plate frame that swings down if the bed is left open. I'm just wondering if that whole assembly is self-contained, and could thus be used in a similar manner on another vehicle ...like a Brat, for example.

I've just about convinced myself to keep it simple and paint this thing one color. The black carbon fibre hood and bed-liner will be enough of a 2-tone effect. Here's the shade of orange I'm currently thinking about, if anyone wants to give it a go w/ Photoshop... And here's the color on the native vehicle, complete with black accents. Anyone good with Photoshop want to give it a go, using this as the base picture to "paint". Don't forget the black hood!

Thanks for checking in and providing some details. Doing some quick searching, I'm guessing that's its UHMW plastic. Do you have any pics of what you fabricated? I'm thinking I could do it in black on the straight sections and then just paint the curved portions as close as possible matching black. What did you do for the corners - just miter them at a 45? Look forward to seeing/hearing any further details. Thanks...

For the straight sections, not so difficult - might even be able to use some stock Aluminum channel. But for the shaped sections - all but impossible for a one-off piece. I don't really like the idea of a mixed bag of stock trim for the shaped sections and something else for the flats, but it might come to that. The cap touchs the body a couple inches outside the pinch-weld seam, so as long as I don't go much taller than the stock trim, nor much wider, I wouldn't have a conflict there.

Yea, that's the part that makes this so much more difficult - it's not just a simple, flat rectangle like most other truck beds. The other twist is that I'd still like to be able to use the camper top every now and then, so I don't want to build something out that makes that impossible.

Hey Paul! Progress has actually been miserably slow on this project over the past 7 months. I sorta plateau'd out after Carlisle and only took some baby steps to finish off a couple minor stages. I've found a body guy now, and before I hand it over to him for paint I need to do a couple things, so that's sorta got me back on track.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24401

Not a lot of progress since July, but enough to have a couple pages of banter and pics over the course of the last 6-7 months. http://forum.merkurclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2639&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=405

I just stumbled across this thread. Here's a link to the project thread on my XRBrati project. The BraTrailer project was an unintended side-project that became reality once I had a Brat rear suspension in hand with no real intended use. You'll find pics on pages 4 and 5.... http://forum.merkurclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2639&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45

Oh yeah!

Right, that's the driver for this - the stock trim is really not "truck-suitable" at all - it's decorative trim. The problem is two fold... 1) That seam is structural, so just cutting it off is a bad idea unless you significantly build some strength back into it. 2) Because the Brat bed is not flat like a typical truck bed, most all of the rail solutions won't work. I really wish they didn't build this thing the way that they did - it's quite annoying when it comes to stuff like this.

Herculiner is a crappy 1-part product - this will be getting a sprayed-on 2-part urethane bed-liner that will outlast Plutonium. But that doesn't address what to do with that seam. I considered cutting it out at one point, but there's just too much strength in there. Turning my attention strictly to the tailgate for a minute, anyone ever try fitting a spoiler on one? Nothing over-the-top, just something like what you see on some Dodge trucks, like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2003-2007-DODGE-RAM-OEM-TAILGATE-SPOILER_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a1205Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a0Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem120362665750QQitemZ120362665750QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

Project XRBrati is finally getting closer to a paint job, and thus I'm finally going to need to figure out what I'm doing to cover up that oddball pinch-weld seam that surrounds the entire bed. I have a complete set of the flimsy factory trim (less the tail gate portion), but I'd prefer to use something else, for several reasons: 1) Looks tacky, fragile and cheap (not at all "truck like") 2) Most of the factory clips are gone/broken 3) I wouldn't be able to use most of the factory clips any way, since I've filled several of the square holes in the body with structural foam. Has anyone found any sort of thick rubber trim that could do the job? The only thing I can think of is filling the back cavity of the trim with structural foam or bed-liner, and then cut out a groove so that it fits in place over the pinch-weld seam. Then I'd just use the screws to retain it. But that would be a timely venture, no doubt. And even after all that, I still need to figure out a solution for the tail-gate. Here, I'm thinking about cutting the pinch-weld off entirely and then structurally bonding a diamond-plate Aluminum saddle in it's place. Any way, there's my current thinking - I'm open to any and all ideas. OBTW, here's a couple links to what the car looks like today. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/DPDISXR4Ti/Brat/Brat-010409-2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/DPDISXR4Ti/Brat/Brat-010409-3.jpg

I did a little more searching and it's looking like the change occured with the 2000 model year change. Here's a link to a 2001 that shows the straight edge all the way to the wheel well.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Subaru-Legacy-Outback-w-GB-2001-Burgundy-Legacy-Wagon-AWD_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ31869QQihZ006QQitemZ160247548884QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

I may have my year ranges wrong. Maybe it's the '99 - '?? that is different from the '95 - '99. Or maybe it is just a model thing? Here's a pic of what I'm talking about - this one came off a '95. Do some of the '95 - '99 covers NOT have that little angled end at the wheel well edge?

I'm looking at using a 90's Outback Wagon rear bumper on my XRBrati project, and I've noticed that the mid-90's cover is a little different from the late 90's version (not sure of the year change). The earlier one has a little angled down-turn where it meets the rear wheel-well, while the later one just goes dead straight horizontal until it ends at the wheel arch. What I'm questioning is whether that is the only change between the two. Is the actual bumper core the same? Reason I'm asking is that I already have a bumper and cover from a '95, but the cover from the late 90's cars would likely work better. I'd just like to be able to grab a late 90's cover from the junkyard and use it with the '95 bumper core. For a look at what I'm talking about, go to the page below and page down about 80% of the way... http://forum.merkurclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2639&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=330

Yea, I figure I had to leave some evidence of Subaru-ness on it.

Okay, 700 miles on this thing and it hasn't broken in half:grin: , so I guess I better post a pic. You can see more at: http://forum.merkurclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2639&start=375

Thanks, good link! Here's the direct link to page 3, which specifically covers a rear "back light" as they like to call it: http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/dent11.html

Thanks Tom, appreciate the idea.

I know I've grabbed some spares from the junkyard, so I think I have enough - depends how many I break, I suppose. I thought about using some Terocore structural foam in the same way you talk about using the Bondo, but I hate doing things that way. I'm just wondering if new speed-nuts might be more compliant.