tallwelder81

where can i get some lighter, lower-friction, high-compression ej18 pistons? everytime i search google for "ej18 performance" or whatever, i get a ton of links, i open the links, and CAREFULLY read the pages, but they always seem to be for parts that fit an ej22. any info on what folks on here have done with their ej18s? portmatching? compression? intake work? headers? balancing? i am on a tight budget. but as time goes by, i can come up with funds to have machinework done. is there any reality behind my theory that BORING the ej18 cylinders bigger would add power, AND lighten it up, based on my impression that the block casting walls are relatively thick and heavy?

so what kind of power are we talking, with the solid lifters? another 1%? does anyone know if the delta torque cams ADD power? or do they just move it down the rpm range? does anyone have pics of the ej22 intake? are the runners BIGGER? or just straighter? cuz i know bigger runners hurt response. ej22 intake manifolds just bolt right up and fit it like a stock ej18 intake?

how does the whole "pitchstopper" rig work? is that totally fabricated? or does it ummm-----tie into the spare tire mount, maybe>? anyone have pics? i know this is a somewhat dated thread. and i realize that its not specifically about the pitchstopper. but they are at least semi-related. also, does anyone have SPECIFIC and exact lengths of the studs to the plates?

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sounds like a LOT of pulling apart an engine MUCH more complex than the ea81 i just pulled out. lol..... but whatever, thats life. delta torque cam, already planned to do that. the rest, mmmmm, we will see. sounds like so much work for a couple horsepower. but the cam, yea, pulling down the curve sounds perfect. i dont care about MORE power, i just want it to come to me sooner when i step on the GO pedal. i cant complain about the ej18s power, really, i havent even tried it yet. working on getting the adapter plate from scott. no ideas on how i can find out WHICH ej18 i have? or how many angles my seats have?

are they like 3 angle, factory stock? any ideas? also, anyone know where a power curve chart is for sooby engines? i know the PEAK power of ea81s and ej18s and all that. just wondering when the power starts to show up. ive heard many on here complain that ej18s need to be revved pretty high to get their potential out. but compared to what? an ej22, of course, less displacement means less low rpm power, of course., of course. but how about an older, pushrod, equal displacement engine, like the ea81? is the come-on comparable, in HP and torque? to put it another way.... the ea81 lists a hp PEAK of 73hp @ 4800rpm --------------------------94trq @ 2400rpm but the ej18 lists THREE possible models, and i have zero clue which of those i even have in my garage right now??? ej181 108hp @ 6000rpm ------- 110trq @ 3200rpm ej182 113hp @ 6000rpm ------- 114trq @ 4500rpm ej183 118hp @ 5600rpm ------- 121trq @ 3600rpm ------------------ i got it from suberdave, an impreza, i THINK it was a 1994?? he told me, i just forget. anyone even know what made the different performance factors between the 3 ej18s? intake? different port design? cam duration? maybe compression? i dont care much about horsepower, or going over 70mph, 70 feels pretty fast in a brat. but i DO like to get going, and i Do like to handle hills without dropping to first damn gear EVERY time. so a fairly low torque response is a priority in my mind. if i already have the ej183, awesome. but thats a one in three chance. and even less, cuz i find that your odds of having the most ideal of 3 possible options is RARELY 33.3%. maybe 10%, on a good day. lol so here i am, i typed like 2 sentences about my subject line, and 3 paragraphs about my "p.s."......

I officially bid 80 dollars!!!

awesome, thanks for the extensive advice. thats a lot to respond to in an organized way, but first off, i must say, you may have misunderstood what i meant about the exhaust i had done. it is shrunk at the bends by maybe 10%. not the krinkle "accordian", just a smooth but restricted "pinch" sort of. as far as mt vernon, YEA thats far for me. but im gonna need to go up to Bham to see scott soon anyhow. only problem is, id nee dto bring my actual brat to you, in order to do that. but the catch is, it would be most convenient and "efficient", time and gas -wise, to combine a trip to mt vernon with a trip to Bellham. but my reason to go to scoot in Bham is my trans plate, to actually physically install my engine. until i do that, i cant drive the car, and so you see what im getting at, yea? lol..... dang..... life is hard. couldnt agree more on getting a GOOD quality exhaust. i love my brat. ive gone thru a fair number and VARIETY of cars. and of all of them, my brat is my favorite. brats are a great combination of FUN, PRACTICAL, PRODUCTIVE, FUNCTIONAL, AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE, and SPORTY. yea, they are not a 2 hundred mile per hour car. hell, a brat isnt even a ONE hundred mile per hour car. with the ea81, i was working it fairly hard just to see 75mph, lol..... but it FEELS fast. its quick at REAAAAASONABLE speeds. so what if your car can do 256mph, bugatti, you never will, that situation just doesnt exist. my brat is about as fast as i feel a need or desire to ever go. truth be told, im a big believer in survivalism, self-reliance, producing your own food supply and potentially your own power, living simple. and along that line of lifestyle, a Brat seems to me, one of the best tools/vehicles a person could ever own. more so with the original ea81, because of simplicity and weight, ease of repair and maintenence. but whatever, these days, i dont think many small-town mechanics would have any problems fixing an EJ18, be it Tibet or Peru or a remote fishing village in newfoundland. whatever. im working on maybe hping SKR scott will trust me on advancing me the trans adapt plate ahead of time, so i can then drive up to him to pay him back. not sure how that will go, and i have no right to DEMAND it, or whine if he isnt willing to do that. im just hoping, because it would streamline my effort to get this brat back on the highway, including to you, for example, to get my exhaust in order. im thinking that i can cut off the impreza exhaust, maybe a foot on each side, just so i have SOMETHING to bolt on there, for that minimal backpressure. ive heard the ZERO backpressure can damage your valves, and recess the exhaust valve seats. we shall see how scott feels about all that hope of mine. i want to be clear, i have no DEMANDS or pressure against him, and if any friends of his, or himself reads this, please dont think i am aiming to manipulate or guilt-trip or ANYTHING like that. its like the lottery. i HOPE i win it, but im not gonna talk smack, and badmouth or spite the lottery if i DONT win.

also, in my previously chosen exhaust shops defense, they work on real nice cars, and i basically showed him a relatively small amount of cash, and asked him if he could make it happen. the welds are goods, and he lined it up nicely, and tucked it away, up higher, with more clearance than Fuji/subaru built it in the first place. my guess is that, correct me if im way off track here, but i think maybe that if you have like 4 or 5 feet of good, smooth, high flow exhaust, from the engine, to the Y, thru the Cat, and 2 more feet after the cat, if the last 5 feet are less than perfect, maybe the exhaust has already cooled and slowed enough by that distance from the engine, that a few pinches arent even a measurable factor??? just my pet theory.

thank you for the detailed response, by the way. i appreciate that. my understanding of exhaust and backpressure was that you could get the best low and mid power, and quicker throttle response, by using the smallest possible tubing, with the smoothest run, front to back. i know for sure that a long straight narrow passage creates the highest velocity and smoothest escape. thats bernoullis principle. thres been a lot of car craft articles knocking the trend toward 3 inch exhaust on chevy 350s and such. i know because of my buick, that, as you said, a big bad boy like a 60s big block iron beast can get plenty of fart out of a 2 inch pipe, as long as your mufflers are decent. my brat has a 2.25" inch cherry bomb. but not the stereotype "cherry bomb" glasspacks. its the turbo type, like flowmaster uses, but WAAAAy cheaper. boggles my mind how some guys will throw away 2 hundred cash for a damn muffler. just shows that the hot rod crowd often has more dollars than it has sense. i think the subaru crowd in particular tends to think things through, and make a habit of UNDERSTANDING how and why things work. and not being so quick to jump to the biggest is better philosophy. some might even take the freudian view that subaru owners, as a general group, may have bigger than average ummmm.... tools. and so we dont feel the needs, unlike the Hummer and escalade crowd, to prove anything to total strangers. we like subarus, and subarus are a well-designed, and efficient machine. excuse that tirade, lol, just thinking thru my keyboard again. but yea.... sounds like you personally do exhaust for a profession, 3eyes. i would send the work to you, but the name of your town isnt familiar, so i assume its far away, and i dont want to deal with shipping all that ************e. and anyhow, id prefer to get it built ON my brat, turns out better that way. any chance that you know any specific shop in seattle/bellevue/tacoma area?

yeah duh, my bad..... i had that file in my hard drive, the processor just wasnt accessing it. or, another metaphor would be: i knew that floor was on my building, my elevator just didnt stop at that floor. i guess AMC is kind of a little known and little understood make of cars. no disrespect meant to the amx or javelin though. they are bad rump roast cars. ambassadors are kind of an ugly turd though. buick had a 401 nailhead in the early and mid 60s. i think up until like 64. then there was the 425 nailhead after that. im a buick man so my mind automatically went to buick.

a 401, eh? is that on a wildcat, or a riviera? i dontthink skylarks came with those from the factory. or GS's. skylarjs, iirc, only came with 300s or 340s. my riviera has the 430, and it had no engine options in 67. one possible engine, one possible tranny. that 401 is a 4 barrel? or a 4x2?

hey mr. brat. i just today saw a clip of you at wcss 11 doing donuts in the mud, on youtube. sounded great. then again, computers really dont do car exhaust sound much justice. im not sure why youtube has so many short clips trying to show off their fancy exhaust sounds, because its never impressive. a 1967 426 Hemi sounds pretty bad on a youtube video. but whatever. what im trying to say is, your brat sounded at least as good, if not better, than any other nice performance car ive ever heard on a computer. lol... p.s. that wa smeant to be a compliment, but came out confusing..... whatever

i just got a nice magnaflow front exhaust <from the heads to the Y and cat, and then another 24" after the Y>. i paid a lot, at least by my financial standards. it was great, i was happy, proud of my nice exhaust, then i took my ea81 apart for various reasons. <spfi pistons, port+polish, head decking, new gaskets, clean crud+sedinment out>. so i never got it back together, lame, pathetic, whatever, i know, i suck, shame on me. but WHATEVER. now i have a very nice ej18 THANKS SUBERDAVE!! its not in yet but soon will be. got a trans adapter lined up for tomorrow. which gets me to my point: all i need now is a nice exhaust for my ej18. what have people done in the past? i know for sure a few of you guys have ej18s in your brat. jerry does. not sure if ej22 has the same exhaust set-up. but either way, can someone tell me what they would do about that? is there a good shop with a mandrel bender, and reasonable prices? i got mine done at a small local shop in maple valley. it has the pinches at every bend, i had planned to eventually get the back half redone nicer. the front half, as i said, had the magnaflow, which had VERY nice smooth bends. sounded better, looked better, WORKED better. i got that part on ebay for maybe like 185+shipping. it was specifically for a stock brat with ea81. they have the same thing right now for a 95 impreza. but its almost $100 more than the ea81 part, even though they are identical except for the dual port head design. also i have no clue if it would actually FIT my brat, where the one a bought was designed for my exact car, this is for an mid-90s impreza..... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MagnaFlow-Direct-Fit-Catalytic-Converter-23875-/370522932331?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ASubaru|Model%3AImpreza|Year%3A1995&hash=item5644e3446b so i guess i should just cut off the first 12", or so, of the y-pipes, and get a whole new custom exhaust back from there? any advice or previous experience would be UBER-appreciated.

[ATTACH]8770[/ATTACH] the tube bumper might be improved with streamlined ends like THIS:

also, on a side note, no rush, but i am definately excited to see what your skid plates end up like. mine is strong but really cheap and heavy mild-steel plate. i had thought about aluminum diamond plate cut off a junkyard truck bed-box. weak but easily and cheaply replaceable. but if you make some nice ones i will probably line up to get one.

just like mudrats design. but less expeeeensive. heh... anyhow i just asked you because you mentioned a few months ago that you plan to make a tube style rear bumper. maybe it was THIS thread, i forget. id post a pic of the one i had in mind. seems rude though. im already asking his competitor to make me a product of his design. posting up photos i assume you are already familiar with, that seems a bit much, you know? thats just my take on it. also have a question about the lifts. if i go minimal, like 2", does that affect the steering column? camber? brake lines? i dont want it real tall. im a rally man, not a crawler. good center of balance and being able to take a gravel road curve at 30 or even 40 is MY excitement.

anyone still into this thread? i know its kinda old. i would DEFINATELY be into some mandrel bent stuff. nobody mentioned rollbars?? something with wraparound protection in the rear would be good. like an extra 2x2 extending to the back of the rear wheelwell? rocksliders? a really slick, but not real heavy, front bumper that ties into the frame in a few places. p.s. im aware that some of these pics are from mebers. i hope they dont take offense to me using them. i just felt they best illustrated my point. also, the wheel well box, i can make those. somewhat off the subject of this thread, but yea. let me know. i havent tried diamond plate yet. no promises

brat back bumpers are SO much fun to remove!! the bolts are so easy to get to. it doesnt just make you want to use a sawzall and a torch on each one.... <cough cough> royal pain in the butt. but anyhow, whats wrong, you dont like that tube bumper? i thought it was cool. cant really say when id have a barbecue at my house. not exactly the most predictable june ive ever seen..... i have a MASSIVE brush pile waiting to be lit. kinda thought brat owners could appreciate the oh so classic pleasure of a cold beer and a bonfire, and random car talk. mid-july is my best guess. my backyard has some decent offroading spots. just big enough to play with 2nd gear for a minute.

well no offense meant. i was more of a guns and roses fan in that era. then i eventually transitioned into alice in chains, sooo yea. lol.... totally off-subject. congrats on fixing the problem. good feeling. people with new cars never have to deal with these probelms. but they never enjoy the satisfaction and pride of SOLVING it, either? its worth it. and if you DO have any probelms with a 2000 or newer ride, and it DOES happen, even in my 2009, GOOD LUCK WRAPPING YOUR MIND AROUND THAT SPACE SHUTTLE ENGINE COMPARTMENT!!! lmao.... stephen hawkings crap.

anyone have any pics of the TUBE style rear bumper? my factory bumper is toasted. they are crappy anyhow, like a recycled beer can or something. the box bumper looks awesome, just toooo..... heavy for my taste. im a rally man, not a crawler. more like pooparus rear bumper, maybe. lean and mean and slim. again, im not saying its BETTER than yours, just more to MY brats style. a tough daily driver with some hair on its grapes. not a full on cliffhanger and mississippi river wader. so if you or anyone on here could let me see a couple pics of the tube style rear you mentioned, id love it. p.s. your website doesnt mention lifts anymore. do you still make em?

i thought that was bon jovi...... a quick thought. electrical is probably my weakest point of skill in older cars. but having recently been poking around the exhaust and the bumper/tow package, i repeatedly noticed this: the fuel pump and its wiring, and a lot of the brake/signal/license plate lighting is very exposed and hangs very low, and loose. mine all works, but it DOES make me think theres a huge potential for snagging it. even in pretty mild trail play. your brat doesnt look like its been beat hard like say qman or worse yet, one eye. <no offense to them, its an offroad vehicle.> but its still a very rare brat thats NEVER been trailed at all in thirty years. so maybe the wires didnt come loose at the terminals, but often the wire itself, or more specifically the inside, the copper threads, can wear out from a good violent snag, and yet show ZERo evidence of damage on the outside. my classic xbox controllers are a good example. the plastic cover looks fine, but the wire itself is more wore out than ozzy osbourne. lmao.... just a thought??

looking great, BOTH of you..... i like the back bumper. if you want to get rid of it, id like it, but no pressure. i am trying to have a sort of one time casual meet up at my property in maple valley. not too big, 5 or ten people. preferably just 80s soobs. bon fire, barbecue. mainly an afternoon/eveneing thing. but if anyone needed to crash in their car or a tent, cuz they came from far away, thats okay, my yard is twelve acres. maybe some mild offroad play. dont mean to hikack the thread. just letting you know cuz you are <i assume> new to the area? <oregon plates>

oh yea, i also have some nice welding facilities to play with. a carport and a professional lincoln mig, and oxy torch. an a few other older welders. so if anyone wanted to whip out a quick project, i wouldnt mind. itd probably be fun for me to watch.

im willing to take credit for a lot of that shortcoming in brat population. thought my damn engine would be back together. it runs great all year, and then 2 years in a row, mid-april rolls around and something farts out. then, abracadabra, no brat meet for mat. guess i coulda just gone anyhow, but my tacoma has may-5 tabs. maybe wecould all do a mid summer get together? im not aware of any laws that say people can only meet up in late may. i have a big yard, we can have a bonfire, barbecue, loud music. few decent mudholes near me. and my property is right off of 4 major roads <I-90, hwy-18, hwy-410, I-5>. people could camp in backyard. i have about 500 feet of riverfront on the cedar. if anyone is up to that, just let me know. i suppose i would even allow showers if y'all clean up after yourselves, lol.... later