dec0y13

Some more updates to the BRAT chassis. This is revision D. Almost ready to cut some steel. I've been held up a few times. My wife's car blew the engine, and then I had to do battle with my Ex. I'll be done paying offf Lawyers in June. Sooooooo Hopefully I'll acually get to work on this thing this summer. (everyone keep your fingers crossed for me) Here's the frame. The orange and purple parts need final measurement or design changes. Here is the frame with a (REALLY ROUGH) mock body. The body is not measured for accurate scale, but gives an idea of the final stance. Keep in mind this is with a level suspension. The real world vehicle would run and inch or 2 taller with the suspension loaded and the arms at loaded angles. This Illustrates 17" rims on 205/60 R17 tires and stock fender wells. EDIT: As an afterthough. If anyone has some 3D software and wants to inspect/ advise on design, I could upload a file for ya

Perfect! Thanks so much everyone. I'll be doing this swap after Christmas. Looks like it won't be as much trouble as I was worried about. Hopefully it will go smoothly.

I'll be cutting out the stock wheel wells and adding an aftermarket upper brace. This will connect the 2 rear strut towers across the bed. It will intrude into the cargo area, but all you haul in a BRAT is mountain bikes anyway! lol. The fuel tanks an BRAT body gen in the way of having any other brace options. The same thing will be happening in the front end. Although, this will all be under the hood. Personally I'd like to have a front lower brace. I'm hoping the lower cross member and tranny brace are enough to tighten up the front end. Hey, Mix? Do you have some pics of your ride? Love to see what you're up to.

Since the BRAT is quite a bit lighter than the legacy (especially in the rear) I think I might have to go pretty light on lateral torsion. I have 2 different sway bars to try out of different strength. it will take some tweaking to get the balance and feel just right. this isn't a impreza, legacy or forester and it's likely to have some unique habits. it may come to going all the way to Whiteline upgrades. Some of the other advantages to the updated rear end are also wider track, better brakes and FAR more durable axles. it's hard to say no to such a long list of positive attributes, Especially when your taking a curve in your stock BRAT wishing it handled as good as a shopping cart. I'm hoping to get some of that "gravel Peppered" rally car goodness myself

I actually I want the slightly longer wheelbase and I want the updated suspension, so mods are gonna happen. I will be trimming back the fenders anyway for the over-sized tires so I'll be re-centering the arch ascetically. The speed limit in Idaho is 80mph and they are talking about raising it higher. If I want to do highway speed (and I certainly do) the longer wheelbase will make for a more stable highway ride. Also, if you look at the frame design, it has the option to be shorter if someone wanted the stock length. In the center if you see the red joining plates. The frame can be shortened there. simply drill new bolt holes. I hope then explains some of my madness lol!

OK, I mentioned my Frame Designs that I'll be machining out. I'll have to make some more detailed ones where I show the installed hardware, but for now I have the naked frames. I started with this one. I realized as I was building it that I was going to use the newer legacy fuel tank so i had to redesign. In this one the tank will fit and then I realized I would need to build a rear suspension because I'm extending the wheelbase back by 3" (to use a stock Impreza drive shaft) and using Struts on all 4 corners. (Gone are the rear shocks) I'm not sure how everything will fit into the front of the BRAT body, so I did a mock-up for the front struts as well. I also had to drop the front crossbeam for access the engine belts. you can see the struts roughed in for fit. I'll still need to work out a final revision. I need to make a final decision on how I will do the suspension and design some mounting points for the BRAT body on top. I want a front crossbar to keep everything square, I'll have to test fitment for that as well. the suspension will link up with front and rear strut braces for added rigidity. In the end it will add 3" of body lift, basically fit any stock Impreza components and will fit any GL or BRAT body with some mods to the rear.

WOW! this is MY old thread! I actually bought a pair of knuckles and brakes for my BRAT, but never got around to putting them on. the ones I bought were from a car with anti-lock brakes and I went another direction rather than fight with them. If I were do this I would seriously consider Gloyale's approach. get a lift and make an adapter all in one. Parts are sooo cheap on those cars you could probably get a whole front cross-member and suspension for less than $100. It's beefier cross-member and almost anything will make the BRAT handle better LOL

OK, So I scored a 99 Outback. As I understand it the 99 is a phase 2 and I have a 2.2 from a 98 Legacy. (99 car and 98 engine) I wanna drop the 2.2 into the outback. The outback had a EJ25D DOHC. What do I need to do to make that work?? Will the 99 2.5 sensors work/ swap over or do I need to get some stuff off a phase 2 2.2 engine to get this to play nice? As always, thanks so much for your help.

HA! I forgot about the Franken-Motor builds!!! That might be an option! I do have both motors I'll get some pics up once I have something to show...guess I could post my frame design anyway. I'll get something up when I get home.

Just an update! the BRAT project is STILL ongoing! I have pulled the whole Engine+drive-line/ suspension/ and some of the fuel and brake systems from the 98. Now I have a Subaru skeleton in my garage bay. I have ordered the steel for my sub-frame and have designed the Frame in CAD. I have a machine shop the will be milling out and cutting the parts for me as soon as I can put them to work. I had a setback and had to drop $1400 into my wife's Toyota. (she blew an engine... she needs to stop racing!) Sooo, after Christmas I hope to get back on track, get the frame cut and then start welding it together in the garage. I Also bought another Parts car. So I now have a 99 outback and a 98 Legacy. The 99 is a VERY welcome addition. It should have the phase 2 wiring harness and its a 5 speed manual with a 4.11 final drive. I'm also excited about the engine. It's an EJ25 DOHC. as is, it has slipped a crank bearing. I don't know of any other issues. I hope the engine is rebuild-able, but I'll need to split the block and see how bad the crank is and hope the cylinder walls can be machined. This changes my plans quite a bit. I wasn't expecting to attempt putting a 2.5 in the BRAT, but now that I have one, I sure wanna try! The plan now is to notch the frame in the BRAT and cram in this 2.5. The 2.5 will hopefully be getting oversized pistons and a little shaved off the heads. I gotta see what I got before I dream too big. The current hang up is my wife likes the outback! It gets better gas millage than the truck we run the baby around in and the only running issue it has is the engine, otherwise it's mechanically sound. I have a 2.2 I think I can simply drop in there. So, she wants me to fix it up...... hmm I guess I'll have to wreck it later so I can get my parts back LOL Well, either way, I'm on track to have a rolling chassis by Spring (Suspension, frame, fuel tank and wheels) to go under the BRAT. Once I wreck the outback I can add the engine and remaining drivetrain. Right Now, The BRAT is still running along happily in it's stock configuration, not knowing what is going happen to it this coming summer. WHAHAHAHAAAA!! On a side not I have a Toyota 1ZZFE engine with a easily repairable slipped Bearing in the #3 cylinder AND the new bearing kit. (the crank is GOOD. should just be a crank polish and reassemble) Anyway it's going cheap if you need it.

I found and Aussie forum where they go into "notching" the frame. It's not as bad I I thought. I will likely do that just so I have the room for future upgrades. Should leave me enough room to add some extra subfraqme strength in that area. Should be a nice stiff frame when I'm done. I'll be strripping out the entire body anyway. It's gonna get a rust removal, patch and repaint. I want to do all of my body Mods at that time. It's is almost possible I'll be happy with the 2.2 with a few mods

ha!! i LOVED this!! Thanks soo much!

Welcome Forster XT is a nice ride!

You're asking a good question. I have a 98 I'm ripping apart and reassembling on a project and I have similar questions. Any way to answer your question; I would run to the salvage yard for the trailing arms and I'd buy the struts new. OEM parts new from the dealer might be worth more than the car. (I remember the dealer wanted 400 a peice for BRAT axles. ) Due to the ease of this paticular mod I don't know of any kits until you start climbing a bit higher for lift.

I'm excited to see where ya go with it! If ya wanna trade off those rims you should get a pic up As far as your engine goes, any Phase one 2.2 should bolt right in (up to 98). Allthough, I'm not the professional.