Mike W

Once it's updated etc, may I suggest a "places to play" section (similar to what Jared has on his site.) We could have major destinations as well as local mudholes and such.

Well I got home from work and can't find those pictures so you'll just have to visualize the setup or see if Brian has a pic. As far as the removing the buttons goes, for me it works fine as is. A few times I tried driving with the ebrake partway applied to see if it'd help with front end traction. Can't say it worked miracles but in theory it should work as well as putting one foot on the brake pedal. Sure it looks funky having two levers there but for everyday driving (or parking) it actually wasn't that weird or awkward pulling up on two levers at once or pushing in two buttons at once to release the brake. Just different. I'm not going to preach that dual ebrakes are the ultimate ghetto mod, work better than a true locker or whatever. But if you're bored and want to try a quick McGuyver project, it's cheap entertainment and might just help sometime you're sorta stuck.

With a little practice I did learn to work the dual ebrake locker and it does work as long as the cables are nice and tight. Not sure if I can dig up pictures but I do have some somewhere. Simple mod though. I just moved the existing ebrake handle over a little and bolted on a second handle next to it. Then I made a couple of little hook like gizmos that go on the threaded shaft. The hooks pull on the lugs on the end of the cables. Definitely not a ARB air locker....but better than nothing at all if one front wheel is just sitting there doing nothing while the other spins.

How about an insurance totalled car and rebuild it into a monster? Seems like I heard somewhere that Oregon is much easier to do this than Washington? But then I've heard something about WA being easier now than it used to be? Any rebuild experts out there?

Hey nice looking Hatch. Now if you start with a virgin car or mutate that one, either way I vote for the custom long travel front and rear indy suspensions. It might perform better than solid axles in some situations or might not. It might break or not articulate as well, but then who knows...you haven't built it yet. I've been wanting to experiment with this myself but can't right now and probably never will. So I dare you... Hah! I Bet you can't build a trail tough independant suspension Soob that will climb waterfalls without breaking axles, that will flex and crawl it's way over the gnarliest stuff and is small and light and capable enough to get up trails passable only to full-on rock buggies or maybe highly modded expensive rigs with four times the horsepower! But your Subaru will do it and traditionalists with wonder what the heck is that Subaru looking thing and what helicopter airlifted it to this insane location? So I dare you. Hope that helps. And whatever you decide to do, be creative, be sick. Let the sparks fly!

I haven't talked to Mudrat but a couple years ago I talked to Phantom Grip about front diffs and they said "send us your stock open diff and we'll convert it to a Phantom Grip and send it back to you." As for Subaru front LSD's, as far as I know, none have ever been available for our old EA style dual range trannys. New style trannys (like WRXs etc) sure they have LSDs.

Like you said, anything is possible. And if you're already doing major mutations like a frame, big lift or whatever...go for it. I've been figuring on moving the front end forward I ever get to build another car, but for now my whole life is on hold so it's all just a daydream. My plan was to basically hack off the front unibody and build a tubular structure off of the frame from the firewall forward. In my plan the unibody car would end up mounted to a frame basically like the cab of a Yota truck.

Next mod... Custom bodywork by BF Stump and Associates! Looks good man. I didn't believe for a second that you weren't going to offroad that Hatch. They just gotta get muddy and that's how it is.

If I get to build another Soob, I'd probably do a race style cage to protect from side impacts and just go door-less and hatchless in dry weather. Doors and hatches weigh as much as camping gear and tools.

That tire carrier I installed was off a Cherokee and yes I did have to beef up the inside of the car for that upper hinge mount. It came out looking ok considering it's just bolted on and I didn't have a welder and was just making it work. Inretrospect I should have build one from scratch. It is a minor pain having to swing the tire out to open the hatch. It also blocks vision and would do some damage if back into a tree or something. But I didn't want the tire on the roof because it'd either block my sunroof or hog the cargo basket. Then there's the weight distribution issue. On the roof the spare tire could make the car more top-heavy. Hanging the tire out back... the tire carrier and steel bumper added a bunch of weight and I could really feel the change of balance in the car. Pros and cons either way. If I did it again I might put the tire above the hatch sort of like Lumpycam did on Unhatched or else build an "L" shaped rear mount tire carrier that hinged off the left side of the bumper like other guys have done but with the tire up high so the bumper would hit first if I back into a tree. Or maybe I'd stand the tire up on the left side of the cargo area...hmmm might have to try that.

Red! Looks like my Fubaru before steroids and body damage. $100... gotta like that! Nice grab.

Hey Dante, if you haven't already, a visit to NSI Aero up in Arlington might help. The company founder (Lance?) came to WCSS2 and seemed friendly toward us automotive folks. This guy knows pretty much all there is to know about EA engines since he used to buy JDM engines by the cargo container and mod them for aircraft use. Even though the engine you're building is very different from an aircraft engine, some insite from NSI might help a lot and who knows what treasures you might end up buying. A tour of NSI...oh man that'd be cool...I've wanting to go there for years. http://www.nsiaero.com/aero_home.html

I owned a "Washington native" 82 DL brat that was badly cancered. Rockers, floor pan and bed were like swiss cheese. And I almost bought a '82 GL wagon that looked sweet until I became curious about the fuzzy white corrosion on the waaay to clean engine. I started poking around and found that the whole car was bondo and the shock & strut towers just barely intack. Upon questioning the seller, it came out that the car was a Washington coast surf-mobile and spent most of it's life cruising the beaches. Some other chump eventually bought that POS.

What about working up a budget and everyone tossing money in. Build it and auction it off with proceeds going to the USMB?

If you do the bigger intake and improve the exhaust, consider going with the 38/38 Weber instead of the 32/36. It'll eat a bit more gas but the low end grunt is nice. Regarding exhaust, don't make it flow too well. Some back-pressure really helps low end torque. I did 2" tube from the heads back and actually lost HP and torque. I'd recommend using the stock skinny tubes from the heads back to approximately where the cat is. How about a EJ engine swap...that'll help!

I wonder how many of us have been thinking of a machine like this? Tires...Come on and go bigger. 33's at least and everything else stout enough to drive them up a waterfall without busting. Fenders? It don't need no stinkin fenders. Just enough body to look Subaru'ish. R200a, R230 or bigger. Maybe cheat and go non-Fuji on the diffs? Does Fuji make PTO shafts? Great idea in any case. Axles are the part that's been bothering me. I've got a set of Datsun 510 axles but the U-joints don't have much flex and the Nissan truck axles don't flex much than Soob axles. How about a UD turbo diesel? I hear they're made by Fuji.

Cut the ends with bushings off and weld them onto your custom hanger bar. There are poly bushings available that'll work if you chose to burn out the old ones. Look on Nissan sites to find them or maybe on Ebay. Or use the diff hanger off the front diff of a Nissan truck. It'll bolt up to your R160 and has bushings there near the diff, not out on the ends of the bar.

Hey Jerry that thing looks truckin' good. Does it still have the air-raid siren?

It's bad enough that I missed going to the show but did I miss all the photos too? Where's the pics? Gotta see all the mutant Soobs and folks I haven't seen in ages!

On the disty, you might consider switching to the vented cap style and add a snorkle hose to let moister evaporate out. RTV or regular silicone sealer works well and then add a rubber glove over the outside to keep splashed water off. Run the wires out the fingers of the gloves and secure the glove with wire ties.

Hi Mick. Seems like I heard something about Rob doing that on the Unhatched/LittleBrownMule. Powered an A/C pump for onboard air or something like that. Certainly would be novel entertainment for Jeepers met on the trail.

So speaking of dinosaurs:rolleyes: When did that old Mudrat guy start his "Clarking" expeditions in Oregon? And how about Todd and the Northern Aliance crew, when did they start 'wheelin old Subarus? What about Larry Owens? Did he offroad his Subarus down there in New Mexico? What do the original Subaru engineers think of all this offroad stuff? When did Subaru Stomper toys come out?

It's my opinion that people everywhere have been modifying them ever since Subaru came out with four wheel drive. The Internet has simply connected some of the people doing it and allowed us to share information. When I got my first Sube and took it offroad, I said hmmm...what if I put some gnarly tires on it and lifted it for some ground clearance. One check of the Internet and I quickly found that the Aussis had been doing the same thing for ages. And then I found BYB Bret selling lift kits. Much lobbying and begging by me and others and some waiting and we finally had mass produced lift kits shipped to the US. Things just took off from there. But before all this there are stories of guys lifting and big-tiring Subarus even back in the 1970's. Examples: A VW mechanic working in the repair shop at Bow Wow in Lynnwood said that in 1978 or so he had big tires and a suspension lift on his Gen1 wagon and used it for "billy-goating around in the mountains." And then there was that mechanic at Superior Service in Burien, WA... he put SuperSwampers on his unlifted Hatchback. Wonder what ever happened to that car...it had a Weber, Justy seats & steering wheel and a cut down Brat rollbar among it's mods. SubyBeast built his own liftkit and ran big treads on 15" donut rims with no knowledge of others doing the same. I'm sure there must be hundreds of guys around the world who built offroad Subarus but didn't even know they were members of a cult. Didn't Fred Flintstone drive a Subaru? Or was his 2wd and Wilma had to get out and push?

Hey Deathhatch, after thinking it over, I've got a roll bar for that I was gonna put into my Hatch that I'd sell ya' for cheap. Give me a call if you're interested in checking it out. I'm in north Seattle. 206-890-1522

The spare tire space stays very dry even when you swim up to your windshield. Before building an external snorkle, try a cone style filter inside a can in the spare tire space. Another method that's been done, is an intake off a Caravan...the filter can sits nicely in the spare tire space.