monstaru

what?that one needs more explanation .....cheers, brian

the petrochemical discombobulator failed,betcha money.........:lol:sorry, i could not help myself.cheers, brian

at no point did anyone mention just cutting one of each axle in half and sleeving it.......geez, rookies........:lol:cheers, brian

ok, so i got another day of fab time with the woman gone......... before i got started i wanted to check out the options for new radius rods.after a bit of deliberation i chose DOM tubing at 1" .120 wall.these will be coupled with rod ends and mounted how space allows.... i had to weld test it to see if the machine could do it.i should have never doubted...... i then decided after a short visit with a friend that i was going to tackle the rest of the engine crossmember,well, i at least got it tacked together.... i will be gusseting the back 90's,but i have to order some gussets that i want.......i will take it all out and finish welding in the next couple of days......i am actually working again tomorrow.......cheers, brian

i also have had this thought,but have you looked at the price of those lately?:rolleyes:a bit spendy for me right now. besides,coilovers are the way to go..........cheers, brian

front wheel drive,then 4wd.....

the stock one has about 4 inches-ish,and the one i am using is about 6.5 inches of travel. someone claimed at one point to be getting about 8 inches of travel out of a vw strut. but i have contacted KYB and they say the only configuration of that basic insert is the longest they have. the research has just started.i did a bit a few years ago and built the first prototype.it is even possible to make a simple adapter to attach to the knuckle. i cut and welded the two tubes together for lift reasons. i think what i have is going to work, but i did not have a test fit yet.i may have to make it shorter.it is just however big you are going as to how long you cut an ea strut down........in other words the bottom section of tubing is almost all free space.a "false leg" per say.hence me wanting to reinforce it.cheers, brian another photo

here ya b........ i am going to put tubing around the entirity of the housing.it will have to be cut to do it but the weldeing will tie it all together nicely.they will be hell for stout. the cartridge=vw the spring=vw the housing (with addition of the bottom of the ea series strut.)=vw strut top=ea actual mount to knuckle=ea very soft,so i have come up with the idea of an inner spring,to act as a bumpstop.....more on that later. i built my original one about 2yrs ago.the last couple of days have had thoughts off it again.i may have to have one more prototype before i manufacturer the proper set for the rig..cheers, brain

thats funny, iwas building some of these today.well, i got the first stages of one built.needs assembled.if she has jury duty tomorrow,i will build the other one..if not, i will have to wait until this sunday. i will get it put together later tonight and take a pic.i need to add some reinforcement.but none the less.....cheers, brian

what he said^^^^^....i can never keep my foot out of it,and averaged25 with bigger tires....cheers, brain

with four inches it is not completely necessary to get brake line extensions....i have removed them from the "mounts" and never had any problems. the steering extension is simple.if you have any common sense at all it should be easy.cheers, brain

to those i saw,cheers again,to those i did not........piss off:lol: it was fun to hang out with the old cats(yes, i am talking to you ya old bastards),and meet some new ones.had a damn good time.thanks for the parts...... thanks for the coffee,zap, you the man!the warmth was nice ..........cheers again.brian

leavin in a few.......last chance:lol:muwhwhw ahhahhahaaaaa!!!!!!!!cya in a bit seattle..........and surrounding areas........cheers, brian

i have sold one for $200 before.....that was completely cleaned up,polished cover,new oem seals,and fresh fluid.so, i think it really depends on what condition you are purchasing it in.do you expect to have to reseal it?clean it up?etc.....cheers, brian

how the hell did the stub come out of the rear assembly anyway? it is a mated unit,has a special mounting all to it's own as far as i understand.i have never had one out because of it.how the hell did that happen?cheers,brian

that is the one i believe i used......there are no marks on the drill bit so, i am going off of memory... once again ,search is your friend:)cheers, brian

that looks awesome fizzy...... i was just trying to keep it as simple as possible....as my fab skills are still growing:lol:.it just made more sense to me to go the "bolt on" route as i need all the help i can get at this point seeing as how i knew i would "actually" work today,and will like three days next week.so my time once again may be started to get limited. i am really excited about the transference of this "little" rig into a "big " rig....:grin:cheers, brian

yeah, i have always used a come along or redneck ingenuity to get out of stupidity ridden situations. always wanted a winch:lol:.............of course the winch situations i have been in have had over 150 foot of cable and easily over 10,000# winches as well. so i am just trying to draw on the experience i have had with very heavy machinery...mainly 2.5 ton trucks and above.when i was in, we had to learn how to utilize "treesavers" and such to get our humvees out of sticky situations. i have to admit my experience is not with smaller vehicles,but the same principles should apply.but good point ken, as i did not realize smaller winches may have as little as 50ft of cable.cheers, brian

i have a 5spd kit that allows me to use the 5spd mounts.so that is not a problem.thanks though. "For your radius rods I would do something like what I did for my suspension links on the Turd wagon, weld a mounting point on each side near the center of the wheelbase and use beefy Heim joints and 1" Schedule 40 or thicker pipe. This will also give you bind-free flex " what part of "link" did you not understand?:grin:that is the way i am going seeing as how i have wanted to forever anyway .once i cut the crossmember down i pulled out my cut up radius rods and did some figuring as well.where did you order your heims from again?cheers, brian

rear axles do not go through the bearings.they go on splines.like they do on the diff.it sounds like you are doing something wrong.cheers, rbain

technically since a snatchblock doubles the pull, a 2500 pd winch would work well with 2 snatchblocks...... a comealong works very well in almost all stiuations though.with some treesaver straps and a coule of two straps you can't go wrong.cheers, brian

bolted,if they were welded i would not be able to change struts.jerry(bratrus1) has had them on his hatchbrat for years no,and never had an issue.cheers, brian

ok, so i was not satisfied with the fact of having to use blocks for the tranny/radius rod crossmember. so i went downstairs and put together some radius rod plates and a transmission crossmember i had layin around.sos i could get an eye on it. well , as i was thinkin and lookin at it(don't say a word) ,it occured to me that the rearmost bolt hole was simply an extension provision for the sway bar mounts.so, i can utilize that body hole mount for the subframe mount....... and keep the radius plate/tranny crossmember piece.hence allowing me to leave the front at stock level.WOOT.....less blocks.......... should work as the top holes in the picture will be closest to the engine. i was comtemplating the use of the 5 spd crossmember as i have one of those as well,but as you can see the fabrication would have been more involved because the mount lengths on the sides of the crossmember are not the same(not centered). cheers, brian

i am kinda leaning that way myself mick,i will be "stuffing" the zooki case much as you did......as i want to be able to add some flat sheet metal as far back as i can and make channels for the drivelines to run through i like the idear of being as flat bellied as possible.it will be a little over 6 inches though....:)cheers, brian

so, many of you know what i have been up to gathering parts and what not. here is the basic list...... what parts i have: 1987 hatchback EJ22 carbied motor one locked 4.44 diff one open 4.44 diff(i have an lsd for it, but it may get traded for something even cooler) low mileage 5spd d/r suzuki transfer case 235/75/15's hankooks rear discs custom bumpers 6 inch bill omlin monster lift several of my own lift pieces that i have been constructing to add into the suspension umm.....thats basically the parts. i will be adding some pics ,but most of them will be hosted on photobucket. ok,so far i have started the engine crossmember...seen here and i redrilled some front hubs so that i could have 6 lug all the way around then today i started installing the lift for the front,i have the lower pieces inthe struts,and the steering rack crossmember down as well,i mounted some frame rail reinforcement to be able to weld the engine crossmember to something.... steering rack crossmember stuffs^^^^ strut extensions,i am adding some to the top to not only help with camber,but give me just a bit more. i am still trying to decide how i want to mount the tranny,i left the radius rod plates/tranny crossmember mounts in the stock location as this is where i want the drivetrain to be. the options at hand are to leave them where they are or lower them with smaller 2 inch lift blocks and run the subframe off of those blocks..and make new radius rods out of the originals with sleeves of schedule 40 or,make some new ones with .120 wall DOM like the big boys do it for their suspensions. or, to use the 6 inch blocks and just use the radius rods as they are. i am leaning towards "links",but i do not know if i will be able get the heims quick enough to accomplish it.we shall see. welp,its official.:lol:cheers, brian