Adam N.D.J.

One of the things that I missed not being on the board for so long was some of these gems of threads. It did give me a little insight to some of the people that I do not know so well as of yet. In just meandering the top posts I was kind of afraid that the "extremafile" group may have died out. Nice to see that there are still some that are in to the higher end of the "wheeling" spectrum. That said, I thought it was a little funny in the original post the the budget was 10-30k because I have set myself a limit for my Brat of 20k. (one of the reason that it taking so long for me to finish). Up to this point I have already crossed the "$100-5000" that was stated most spend on their Roo's. So yes, if I had a large budget to spend on any wheeling project that I could desire it Would be a Subaru, in fact it would start as an 82 DL Brat, and slowly evolve over the course of 16+ years in to something to rival a "high dollar" 4x4. Keep the good stuff coming, I may not come out and chat as much as I used to in the past (something to do with a job that consumes 45+ hours a day, and 3 project cars, a house, a kid and a generous size "honey-do" list) but I do really like to see that the Subaru community is alive as ever, and sometimes some of do still shoot for the moon. Remember, keep the rubber side down!! Adam Oh, oh kay. More can be found at http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/141024-phoenix-my-82-brat/

A favorite of mine, Old School meets New School.

If I am going to be running 33 inch tires then I really want power steering. So I got started on that road today.

Got a little bit of work done this weekend. Started working on the steering set up. The intricate mating of a six cylinder boxer on an inline four frame does pose some interesting challenges. I want to use a power steering rack, but at the moment do not have one or a way to mount it yet. While I was at the wrecking yard looking for a rack I picked up some power steering pumps to tackle the mounting method, as the ER27 did not come with a standard engine driven pump. I started with some angle iron, fitted it to the block in the place of the A/c mounting location. The pump is off a 91 Bonneville, has the right pulley and a pretty simple mounting scheme. I still need to get a belt that will fit and then make sure everything is all plumb and even. Next week hopefully I will get a rack in, and maybe even the body mounted to the frame.

The diff is not really the problem with them, it is the axles, the cups shatter once you start getting higher in the horsepower. After I put the ER27 in my Brat and switched to rear wheel drive I could not keep a set of axles in it for very long. Anything over half throttle and it would just shatter one of the cups. I used the same differential that came in Brat with no problems. Perhaps if you used the Gen 2 rear suspension components with the Datsun u-joint axles you would have a reasonable set up. I have seen some of those early Z cars with some pretty high horsepower.

I do not have any hill holders left on my stuff, but a search of the board brought up http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/76679-adding-a-hill-holder/ There are several pictures in the last post. Hope that helps.

That is going to be some pretty good change for gas... Setting aside lunch money now!!!

You can run the trans in "RWD" but one thing to watch out for is that the rear lock up coupling with give way over time. I have my Brat feeding a transfer case for a couple years then one day it just wouldn't move any more, completely shredded the dogs on the rear output clutch. The other issue with running with the welded rear is that is will eat rear axles more often. It tends to stress the cups on the outward joints quite a bit. Don't let that deter you though, these cars are a kick in the pants as a RWD!

Thanks BR, there really isn't a need for a whole harness, analogue swaps really are not "That" difficult, just really more time consuming. All the the "stuff" is there in the digi cars, it's just a matter of getting everything in the right places. I spent the day with a handfull of jumper cables, a DVOM, and Pandora turned up loud in the garage. Took more hours than I would have liked, but I now have a temporary dash in place as I can't seem to turn up a proper GL dash: Does suck in that the Odometer doesn't work. And I still need to get the analogue sending units for the fuel and temp to work right. However I do have a speedo, and all the telltale lights work. So now with just a little polishing things up here and there, I'm going to have a manual tranny EA81 Turbo for a daily driver!!

I am looking for a wiring diagram for an 84 GL Turbo with a digital dash. Finally got my Turbo Coupe up and running now I need to tackle the lack of gauges. Could be FSM scans or even a hand written note with pinouts on it, anything would help right now. Thanks a lot. Also, if anyone has a Gen 2 GL analogue gauge cluster, I seem to have lost the ones that I had in storage. Thanks.

Really the only thing you should use on exhaust fasteners is anti seize. The heat cycling will beak down most anaerobic adhesives. The same goes for split type lock washers. A well seated stud with a flat washer and a torque prevailing nut (the kind with the pinched threads at the top) has held the exhaust on all my roos for many years. -Adam-

I started last week resurrecting my 84 Turbo Hardtop for use as a more family friendly alternative to the BRZ. First thing is swapping out the auto for a manual. Once I have power to the ground again and can actually drive her then I’ll work on getting some form of gauge cluster either converted or built to replace the pile of digitals I have in the back seat. It will be nice to drive her once again, I pretty much just parked it in a corner when the dash died in 09. I was really cool jumping the battery and having the engine start right up on the second crank. Hope to get some real wheel time this weekend. Things are looking good, new parts are rolling in, just got the clutch in and received the new “rear motor mounts”, as O’reilly’s calls them.

I seem to remember something about taking the passenger side lock to a dealer and them being able to make or order or something a key based off the numbers on the lock mechanism. That was a while ago, someone else here may have more details on it. However if it is a matter of just needing a new key and the lock its self is not the issue that may be the way to go.

LoL, Great work. My progress has hit the same snag as yours (I'm just down the 5 in Medford, we got up to 22° today). Can't wait to see more, this should be one heck of a wheeler!

Was going through some of the old Hi8 tapes and came across some footage of WCSS6 in Hood River back in '04. Loaded up the video converter and threw em up on YouTube for everyone to see! Coming from almost 10 year old tapes the sound is a little off, and mono, so you might need to turn your speakers up quite a bit, I know I do.

Hey poor, welcome aboard. If it turns out that your threads are ok, O'reilly's sells a "help" kit for toyotas that have the proper thread studs, some with nuts also. Loctite doesn't work too well on exhaust due to the heat cycling. I personally use the pinch style of locknut on my exhaust without any problem. From someone that works on HMMWVs and LMTVs ever day I think that you should have no problem with the Soob, and will even like the interchangeability of them. So many Soob parts cross years and models. Lotsa luck!

This thread seems to have snuck under my radar. This is one of those things that I have had on my mind for nearly a decade now. It most likely won't go a way for a long while either. Every generation of my Brat is just one small step closer to an ultimate goal, but it does take a bit of "infrastructure" to get going. I have spent many years compiling tools, and equipment to built what I have in my imagination. This is what I've had in mind;

A little turkey day work done, it is amazing how much work one can get done when you don't have to go make a paycheck... One thing that I had been wanting to do is getting some fishplates made up and in place over where I had sectioned the frame back together. So a little .1875 sheet steel, a plasma, and an afternoon of waiting for the food to get done an people to show up got em done. Also got the frame cleaned up a little better and some more sheet metal taken out of the front.

Finally back to working on the Brat, took a bit of time to get my shop space a little more ready to some of the heavy fabrication tasks ahead. Added in a new("er") air supply and way more bench space; The tank was a craigslist find, came with a shot motor and the compressor. I cleaned up the compressor, repaired some gaskets and put some new oil in it. Then I built the new supply pipe, rebuilt the check valve, bolted on the motor off my little Coleman compressor then rebuilt the regulator block and put in new plugs, drain valve and added a line to my old 27 gal tank. So now I have the two stage pump putting out 150 psi and over 105 gal of reserve capacity. I can run the die grinder for a solid 35 min before the pump kicks on. Then after getting all that mess cleaned up (which took a considerable amount of time).... I got to getting the exhaust header pipe finished up. I found a "repair" kit for a toyota that had 4 studs with the same threads as the ER27, so two kits later I've got all new studs in. Then I got the pipe bolted up, and started working on putting together the mid pipe.

Hello everyone, it's been a long time. I had a great time at WCSS 15, and it was a great motivator for me to get back to work on my Brat. Here is a little history for everyone that may be new: I picked up the Brat in 98 after I got back from basic training. I started playing around with fixing it up, and then modding it a little here and there. In 2000 after I got home from a deployment to Saudi Arabia the real modding started when I picked up an imported Ozified 4" lift and put some "bigger" tires on. Around '02ish the USMB saw a great influx in the wheeling scene, we saw a lot of lift, tire mods, engine mods. I took a lot the ideas and started assembling them together, and after getting home from Egypt in '03 I tore the brat down to just the body. I built a 6" "framed" lift, to that I added a Nissan 720 pickup divorce t-case, a 5spd dual range trans fitted behind an ER27. The bed was bobbed a little over a foot and I built whole custom "slide off" front end. A year of tweaking and a couple coats of "Midnight Metallic Blue" paint and she made her way to her first WCSS (and my second), #6 in Hood River. She remained virtually untouched (no more modding) for over 6 years, with the only work being done was fixing what broke, which was of course every time I took it out I broke something. So in 2009 while I was in Iraq I decided that I wanted to make it more reliable, and able to handle more power, so I had my wife start looking for an early 80's Nissan 4wd pickup. When I got home in 2010 I had an 84 Nissan sitting in the driveway right behind the Brat. I started stripping apart the Nissan and then stripping apart the Brat. I had the cut the frame of the Nissan to put the rear tires under the wheel well Then came fitting the engine and trans, that was a bit of a challenge as the frame was designed for a straight 4 And that was where it sat for over a year. I got caught up with work, and other "hobbies" and doing a lot more "family stuff". So the Brat just sat in the driveway, half assembled, waiting. Then the show came a long, and seeing all the other Roo's playing in the mud got something coursing through my veins that had been missing for a while. I came home on Sunday, and that night I started working. Got the newly formed oil pan bolted in, then started working on the exhaust.it is a bit tight moving around in there, so had to get creative with the plumbing there, finished off the header pipe this last weekend. Once the rain lets up I'll get back to it, I hope to fire the engine again before the end of the month, then only a couple page list of things left to do.

I had a great time this year. First show since Hood River's WCSS6. Had a blast, and took a lot of pictures and vids, here ya go!! http://www.youtube.com/user/AdamNDJ http://www.flickr.com/photos/9388059@N07/sets/72157635448478640/ It may be a while before all the vids are up on youtube as there is 22 of them and it is only about 62% done uploading as of this typing. They are nice high def 1080 with good sound vids though, well worth the wait.

It does sit a little low, but it has an almost massive skid shield under the motor, and not just some plastic thingy, full on aluminum. I just got done doing a 250 mile run from Medford, OR down to Crescent City, California. The whole trip had a mix of well maintained asphalt all the way to some really dilapidated falling apart concrete/asphalt mix and it only barely scraped once or twice. The trip down to Crescent was really fun, it's a really windy canyon road through the woods. The BRZ handles like a dream, I found myself many times wishing for a passing lane cause the care in front of me was only going 35 around the 25mph corners, lol. I had an 11 Sentra before the BRZ and after a day long trip I was rather sore and uncomfortable. 250 miles in the BRZ and I'm ready to do it again.

I recently purchased a new BRZ Premium, 6MT (of course). There has been joking that a BRZ owner won't come to this board, am I the only one? Well, in the 2 weeks that I've had the car I was gone for a week of it, so I haven't had too much time with it. I can say that this car (at least to me) has certainly lived up to all the hype. I went in knowing that the HP and torque weren't the highest coming from a Subaru, so I wasn't expecting muscle car performance. Plus I'm still in the break in phase, although another day or two should take care of that. So far the biggest thing that I love is the handling. Everything about the steering and suspension is so crisp and tight. In my years as a mechanic I've driven some pretty nice cars, and I can say that the handling is up there with some Porches. The sitting position I can liken to the Supra, it's got a real nice feel to it, and there is plenty of adjust-ability. The seats grab you just right without making long drives uncomfortable. Controls are minimal (at least on the premium). Sports cars shouldn't be too overburdened with "stuff", it has your basic HVAC controls, the headlight leveler, and the NAV/Radio unit. Guaging is nicely set up with the center mounted Tach and digital speed callout you have everything you really need right there in easy viewing. The only real "gripe" that I would have about the interior is that the speakers are not the best sounding at higher levels (I don't listen to the music that loud so not a huge gripe) and the "plasticy" center dash piece. The pseudo-silver plastic trim piece around the NAV unit and next too it is not the best looking, when I get a little time I will probably cover it in something more fitting to the interior. All in all, I absolutely love this car, it is fun to drive, whether on a back road or through town and even on the "boring ol 5" it's not too bad.

Yes, Yes I do.

Speaking of swapping stuff around, am I the only one that thinks about the potential of a 6spd RWD trans that bolts to an EJ?? Really makes me think that my dream of turning my 84 turbo in to a drift car that much closer to reality!