Adam N.D.J.

Ive run the stock Brat rears, modified (welded steel bands around cups) stocks. EA82 modifieds. I just don't have good luck with Soob axles, I've got a whole box of cups that look like Elmers gun after he fired it with Bug's finger in the end of the barrel. The travel and angles are all right around the same as stock, may be over a little on the travel by an inch or so.

I'm running 30's on mine. Haven't had a problem with stub shafts, have yet to actually break one. Axles on the other hand, if I burp the throttle just a little too much, BOOM!

Not really too much to it. Just take off the old plate, trace it out to the metal, then useing a template lay in the new part for the Soob flange. Then do it again for the other side. Can be done with a torch and grinder, just takes a lot longer to get it more precise. This isn't rocket science though, can have a variance of a MM or two.

Ohkay everyone, guess it's time to step out and show ya what I've been working on. This post was spawned by Rollie's post about the rear locking hubs. This is something that I've been working on for a little while now, although not for the locking reason, but for stronger axles and hubs, cause my Brat is a rear axle eating beast. Here is how it works. If you have examined a Nissan 720 front hub, the caliper bracket and steering arme bolt onto the hub, from the back. Basically what I am doing, is unbolt that bracket from the back, machine a new one that is virtually the same, except the opposite side of the caliper mounts is a 3 bolt flange that matches the flange on the Subaru trailing arm. So it would bolt in place of the subaru rear hub assembly. I still need to work out the lateral link (The one that runs to about halfway between the axle mount and trailing link mount.) Plus I need to get off my tuchkus and actually machine out the flanges for the hubs, and rebuild the hubs I got. I'm still not sure on which axles I"m going to be useing, as it would have to be the Nissan ones, (not a problem, the flange bolts right into our diffs, so that wouldn't have to change.) It's just a matter of getting the length right. Here are some pics for reference: This is the complete Nissan hub, from the back (axle) side. You can see the two caliper bolts on the left, the steering arm on the right, and four bolts that hold the flange to the hub surrounding the center hole: Here is the stripped hub, the very inner ring is the axle bearing, a simple little roller bearing, not much needed as the hub rides on it's own set of bearings, and none of the load is on the axle. 4 bolt holes plainly visable: This is the flange point of the Subaru trailing link. Simple flat plate, not really complicated at all. Just need to be pretty precise to make sure everything is lines up all right: Here is a rough drawing of the new flange that would bolt the Nissan hub to the Soobie arm: I'll get some pics up what it's all done and assembled, but at the rate that I've gotten to work on it, that should be sometime next year.

That is how I would go about it. You could take the cover plate off the drivers side, use it for a template to cut out a piece of sheet steel, then form it to fit on the body, then drill four holes so it will bolt on place of the stock cover plate. Then cut the circle for the exhaust pipe, then weld in the pipe to the plate. Perhaps it would be best to weld in a flange on the backside of the plate so that you could unbolt the rest of the ehaust from it.

I go two for that number, looks like it's what you want though. Front bumper - Bumper assembly - Valance panel Valance panel - 1982 gl, 4wd 1980 - 1989 Cooling - Radiator - Lower reinf - 2wd 2wd 1980 - 1989

Not going to happen, not with stock stuff. The rear hub is splined directly to the stub shaft, which is in turn supported by the bearings. You would have to come up with a way to support the rear hub in it's own set of bearings, then make a pass through that the stub would go through, then make the clutch assembly that would bolt to the hub and lock in the stub to supply power. Unless you have a CnC machine, mill, lathe, and a lot of time on your hands, it's not something that you can do in your garage on a weekend, or a month of weekends.

Looks like you have a little oil leak there Brian. Hehehe I know how that feels. Although not with an EA82, just 2 EA81's and an EA71. Number 3 seems to be the one that likes to go. Lotsa luck with the rebuild.

Ya, had the spark plugs out during the coolant pressure test. Before I changed the intake gaskets there was steam coming out #3 (which was on the intake stroke at the time, hence my conclusion for that fix). But now, after the gasket change, I don't get any steam from any of the cylinders. I'm thinking that my conclusion of the cracks is a little more the way to go now. I started up the motor, then opened the radiator cap, and put my hand over the exhaust pipe, pressurizing the exhaust, and coolant started puking out of the radiator. Guess I'll just have to pull the heads. Tomarrow. Time to go home now.

Mine is a little different though. Kinda interesting that other people have the same problem as me though. Ok, here's the details: 1989 GL SPFI, first thought it was a head gasket. Checked the coolant with a block tester, no combustion gasses in the coolant. Compression test turned up #1 170 #2 160 #3 145 #4 155. Leak down turned up nothing. Did a pressure test on the cooling system, found it leaked down 13psi in about 30 seconds. At this point I'm thinking it's the intake gaskets. Put a set of gaskets in it, (found the old ones were rock hard, some evidence of leaking). Filled the cooling system, and started it up. It's still puking out coolant through the exhaust, and still looses pressure pretty fast with the tester on it. So here is where the big question comes in, do the SPFI heads suffer from "THE CRACKS" like the turbo heads are so notorious for? Cause I'm starting to think that that may be the problem with this one. Thanks for the help.

The stock EA82 gear reduction starter is pretty beefy. However when they get old the windings will wear down and they can get weak. The best way to go is to rebuild yours. You can pick up plenty of books at the library on how to build electric motors/starter motors. What you want to do is replace the windings, then resuface the stator, commutator, new brushes, new bearings. Then clean lube everything up real good. My starter will move 3200Lbs of Brat up some pretty serious hills without a hiccup. From the starters that I've had apart, there really isn't much difference between EA81's EA82's or EJ starters. It's one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of things that Subaru likes to do with (the same reason that they have almost the same engine/tranny/rear diff today as they did back then.

Is the A/c not comming on at all without the blower, or is it coming on for a second then turning off? If it's the first one then I would go after the switch it's self. That would do that. Not the rotory fan speed switch, but the push buttons. They can get abused pretty good over the course of a lifetime. And that is what actually controls your A/c and blower. When you push the off button it deactivates your blower relay, also activates it in any other position. That is where I would go first. Not too hard to pull out, just pop off the buttons and remove the screws. Lotsa luck, keep us informed.

The first three gen's can be a little tricky at first. You have Gen I's that are dived up into Stage I and Stage II's. These are usually 1.6L (EA71)and less, and built before 1980, except for Brats, they changed bodies in 82. Gen II's are the EA81 body style (although some did come with EA71's). These are like the 82-87(92 over seas) Brat, 80-84 hatch/wagon/sedan/hardtop. The longest production older gen cars. (my personal favorite) Then you have the Gen III's. These are the 85-92 wagon/3-door/sedans/RX/XT, commonly called EA82 body style. (Most common older gen on the road today) The New gen's are Legacy/Impreza/Forester/Baja/SVX but there is another forum for them. The EA is the code for the engine. EA71 is 1.6L (1600cc) Overhead valve EA81 is 1.8L (1800cc) Overhead valve EA82 is 1.8L (1800cc) Overhead Camshaft ER27 is 2.7L (2700cc) Overhead Camshaft H6, found in XT-6's. The first generation 6 cylinder. Some generation similarities are as follows. The EA71 and EA81 share the same bore but not stroke, pistons interchange. Gen I EA71 and EA81 bellhousings do not, Gen II EA71 and EA81's do. EA82 and EA81's share same bore, and stroke, pistons do interchange, as well as Carb'd and SPFI intake manifolds. Bellhousing same as EA81. Most brake parts swap. Axles are longer on Gen III's. ER27 same bellhousing and pistons as EA82/81, different injectors/alternator/timing belt set up. (As well as the obvious, it's a 6 and the others a 4) Tranny's come in various styles. (I'll only cover 4WD's) Starting with the Gen I's, there is a single range (S/r) 4WD 4 speed. The Gen II's (some Gen I Brats) has a Dual Range (D/r, high and low) 4WD 4spd, and 3spd auto push button (P/b) 4wd's. Gen III's have S/r P/b 4WD 5spd, D/r 4WD 5spd, Fulltime 4WD (FT4WD) 5spd, D/r FT4WD 5spd, 3spd auto P/b 4WD, 4spd FT4WD auto Hmm, I think that should cover it for now. Hey guys, do we have a FAQ for the board? We should....

The rod running up the drivers side of the tranny is the actuation rod for low range. Low range is actually a gear splitter that reduces the input before it even gets to the tranny. If you pull your shifter up into low range, you should see this one move. The 4WD op-rod can be adjusted a little bit. But I don't think that it's enough to prevent clash like you are talking about. Perhaps there are other problems with the shifter. Could be that the sleeve has follen back a little on the rod, and then got stuck there when you fixed it. Lotsa luck, let us know what you find out.

That too could be your problem in it's self. Junk yard parts, especially electronics are iffy at best. You don't know the history of that part, or how long it's been sitting out in the yard, exposed to the elements. I used a J/y alt once, that was it, it lasted about two weeks, then died on me. Took it off, copletely rebuilt it, then threw it on my Brat, it lived there, putting up with 2 sets of 90W halogens, plus quad 55w headlights for 2 years, then it moved to my 84 turbo when it got the XT-6 alt. Has been on the Turbo since (almost 3 years). And the turbo ain't light on electronics, digi dash, headlights/defrost/heater always on in winter, plus it's got a pretty good stereo in it. So the moral is, don't trust stuff you know nothing about.

Found this badge a while ago in a wrecking yard. Turned up the other day when I was cleaning out a car that I sold. It's pretty kewl. Not going to mess up the origonal, but will make a new one based off the one I got. The Brat is going to be a 2700 DL-5!! Here's what the badge looks like. I tried a bunch of different shots, this is the only one that even comes close to looking ohkay. The problem is that the 1600 (on the left) is in black, it's kewl that the DL-5 is in brushed aluminum though:

mine are similiar to Samo's, but they are 90w's. They are the perfect backup/cargo light. I usually don't drive my Brat on the street after dark, so don't really have to deal with tailgaters.

You can do it with less than 8"s of lift, I'm running only 6"s on mine, no problems, no cutting, and no less ground clearance. A 4" would be pushing it, although technically you could do it. What you would have to do is unbolt the tranny and engine from their crossmembers, move them up as high as you can get them, the fabricate up a new crossmember for them to sit on at the higher location. Then you need to mount a rear diff under the tranny, to the the stock crossmember. Technically, with a bit of work, it can get done. Although your engie would be sitting a little higher than normal in the engine compartment, and quite possibly you need to have an intermediate shaft made for it to work right. Here is a link to a gallery with a bunch of pictures of my lift, the T-case attachment, and diff attachments. http://usmb.net/gallery/albun96

Depends on the year of your car, and what 5spd you are going too. But as a basic list of stuff: You will need the tranny (of course) pedal assembly, clutch cable, shifter assembly, flywheel, clutch disk, clutch cover (pressure plate), possibly throw-out bearing, depending on if there is one in the tranny, rear driveline (specially if your an EA81). As well as the matching rear diff ratio (unless you use a 3.70 ratio trans). Could be other things in there, but can't come up with those without knowing the details listed at the top.

My friends have always been die hard chevy, ford or IH guys. But from the very first time that I took the Brat out on a trail, even in it's stock form, they have been quite impressed. For the longest time I was the scout vehicle (Even though we had 3 IH scouts in the crew, go figure), on trails. I would bomb down them, and report back on the CB as to how wide, tall, and sloppy it was. Then they would follow. But now, in it's latest evolution, they don't even really think of it as a weird Soob, it's just one of the crew. Acceptance by a lot of different people with lots of different rigs has been one of the greatest accomplishments of my Brat.

8 feet of water? Hmm, sounds like a challenge. I haven't even actually seen a stryker in person, that may change next year when I'm in Afganistan though. I will hopefully have more (and better) pictures in the next two weekends. I'm tired of not wheelin, haven't done enough in the past year or so. That and I'm leaving the country soon, so I need to get my fill in now!

All your going to need is the tranny and the shifter assembly (pulled with the tranny is pretty easy). Not much to that swap. Take out old tranny, put in new one.

Coulda done better, the cheap Bridgestone MT's are that great in the mud. Of course if I had air'd down, they woulda done a lot better. Sako, thats out in Lake Creek. Out 140 about 20 minutes or so. Was an interesting day. We ended up trying to find a way off the mountain, cause we came DOWN one trail, real long and steep. Welp, after the two automatic trucks failed to make it all the way to the top (Specially the Burbon w/ a front locker) We had to find a new way out. Ended coming back on Antelope.

Went out wheelin. Perfect day for it, overcast, sprinkling rain. Good, wet, sticky mud!! Little bit of snow, but not much. It was a good day, definatly gotta get out and do it again soon!! Whats funny is I'm not sittin still in any of these picures, my speedo said I was going about 20-40mph, although I was only moving about 2-4mph! You can definatly tell in the first pic. Anyone else got any recent MUD shots. I like to see Roo's tearin up the sloppy stuff.

I'll keep my tradition of every 3rd show. Mostly cause of the fact that I'll be sittin somewhere in Afganistan next summer. Where ever you have it this upcoming year, you should have it in Oregon the following one.