GeneralDisorder

It's 1/4" thick mild steel flat bar - about 1.5" wide I would guess. I just bent it to the shape of the bar, and welded it in place - making sort of a half I-beam out of it. Gives it rigidity in more than one direction. The original bar is very strong up and down, but extremely weak forward and back. The other end (and the center) is no different, but I can take a picture if you want.... GD

I'm sure we could find a cheaper tranny than that. I know some JY's that are pretty cheap..... 650 sounds expensive to me. If she wants, I'll do the manual conversion for pretty cheap... cheaper than a shop for sure. Heck - I'll put in the automatic if we find one for cheap too.... only take me half a day. PM me. As for swapping the front diff guts....doesn't look like an easy job. You could attempt to pull the front diff out of a JY car just as an experiment, then you would have a cheap diff, and the knowledge to pull it and replace it.... GD

Yes - you need to beef the diff hanger. They bend if you even look at them cross-eyed. Even the one on my stock Brat that's never been off-road is bent.... Pictures of the massive reinfrocing I did (before paint): As for turning on asphalt - that's a no-no. I turned into my driveway (fairly wide street), and busted one. You can't turn tight at all with big tires. The bigger the tire, the less you can turn before you snap one of the joints like a twig. Rock will probably be the same way. Gravel and Mud are fine usually, but high speed even on these can snap one. GD

While it may be true that a spool is stronger, the way we welded ours, there's just no way it will ever break. I'm breaking axles, and Tex broke a stub... so did Ken as I recall. When they are that strong already, what's the point in paying for a spool? Pull axle = jack up car (tall jack, or a block of wood since the car is so damn high now), knock out inner and outer pins, pull off axle. Simple. If everything goes correctly, I can do it in 5 minutes. GD

Tex - you'll have to see my reinforced mustache bar! It's pretty knarly. I too bent the sn!t out of my bar, and had to redesign that peice. Did it myself with a little help from a friends welder, and some direction on how to bend the 1/4" plate steel to the shape of the bar. Bugaru bent the hell out of one of his front lower control arms a while back.... the stamped design is pretty strong, but we fail to understand why they didn't plate over the last 4 inches of it up where it bolts to the cross-member?? weird. At any rate, he plated over the replacement arm just as a precaution. Looks a lot stronger now. We just keep breaking things and each time more reinforcement is added durring the repair.... GD

Again, the 5200 series bolts up the same as a DGV weber. No - neither one will bolt directly to the EA81 - you'll need an adaptor plate. You can buy one from Redline Weber for about $30-$40. If you are really crazy, you could make one, but I personally wouldn't bother as they aren't that expensive. The throttle linkage is tricky as some of the 5200's have a bolt on throttle, and some are welded or peened on. But for low-budget I'm sure you can figure something out. A bolt on style would be easiest. Weber sells jets for them, so rejetting is no problem. The DGV and DFV (5200 style) are quite similar, and even use many of the same gaskets and such. The venturi's are considerably smaller, and while you may in fact see a performance increase over the Hitachi, my bet is it will be pretty small. The only realy performance increase that a DGV gives you is increased throttle response due to the progressive linkage, and the torque from the BIG barrels. The DFV still has the progressive linkage, but the smaller venturi's coupled with it's lack of proper jetting for the soob engine will probably negate any real performance advantages you would otherwise gain. Also - the EA82 Hitachi's are bigger, but you have to use the EA82 intake manifold. That's the route I would go if you want a bigger carb, but don't want to spend a lot. Do the linkage mod on it, and bolt it down. GD

I agree. Buargu and I have some nice footage of us attempting a short hill climb where it's all covered with slick under-brush, and grass. I think he took about 5 runs at it with the open diff, and I went up it a couple times in a row with the welded diff. He's totally a believer now, and welded his too. We did a hill climb on our last run that NO ONE without a welded diff would have made. Even with the welded diff, His hatch had to make 4 runs at the hill to get up, and finally made it in 4 hi. I took one run in 4 lo and made it, but I do have better tires which I think helped me out. I have broken 3 rear axles so far - 1 on pavement (I had to see what it would take!), and 2 off-road. 1 of the ones off-road was because of a bent mustache bar. The other I just plain busted doing a nasty hill climb at high speed. While I have never personally used an LSD in my Subaru off-roader (used them in other brands over the years), my review of the technology, and the design of the Subaru LSD's specifically led me to beleive that they wouldn't work all that well for off-road conditions, as they were tuned mostly for rally style racing, or even track racing. IE - high speed, with both wheels in contact at all times. Some types of LSD's work well for an off-roader, but the Subaru version wasn't really designed for low speed, or situations where one wheel is totally free from the ground. That said, it's of course going to better than and open diff. But since my choice was welded or LSD, and the welded cost me nothing but the sacrifice of an open diff, which are plentiful, I just went that way. And pulling an axle is no biggie as Zap said. It only takes a few minutes, and besides it keeps them from rust-welding themselves to the hubs! Besides - it's right there in the name! "Limited Slip" - screw that! I don't want ANY slip. GD

He's probably talking about Malcolm Bricklin - the guy who brought Subaru's (and Yugo's!) to the US market (late 60's actually). He did have a lot of trouble getting dealerships to carry them. The dealerships didn't want to anger the american car manufacturers, and were reluctant to sell the mini-cars. Although I remember hearing that for a time, you could get a brand new 360 with the purchase of every new Buick! Hahahaha. (something along those lines anyway) GD

The 5 speed D/R won't bolt to the EA71 unless you aquire a late 80's or JDM EA71 bell housing. I sugest you get a used EA81 if you want the 5 speed. As for suspension lift's, you can do it on the rear a little, but I sugest you swap in an EA81 model rear end with, and then use EA82 coil-overs to lift it. Your camber will be pretty wacky, but that doesn't matter so much for off-roading. I have about 3" of suspension lift in the back of my EA81 wagon using this method. As for the front, I'm sorry to say that with the stock axle's, there's not a whole lot you can do. I was just talking to McBrat last night, and with the suspension on his 82 Brat all the way up, and using RX springs, he's eating axles like mad. They just don't have the travel for any kind of suspension lift in the front. You could get about 1" maybe 1.5", but your axle life will be dramatically reduced. Gen 1's are notoriously difficult to lift. It's been done, but not many times. It's just too much trouble, and Gen 1's are getting rare. Get yourself a Gen 2 wagon (80-84 body style) or hatch and lift that. You should be able to easily trade the Gen 1 to someone who will love it for what it is, and not beat the hell out of it. GD

Your fuel pump delivers 1.35 to 2.06 psi (http://usmb.net/albums/albun40/scan.jpg), and probably less than that due to age. I have heard people on here test out at less than .5 psi. Weber's need anywhere from 3 to 5 psi depending on who you ask. Early model fords had the holley/weber 5200, which bolts up the same as a weber (actually IS a weber). It's a 32/36 DFV series, which looks like a mirror image of the DGV. However, the venturi's are smaller in the DFV, and it won't give you as much torque.... One thing that people have failed to mention here - the 32/36 DGV *never* came stock on any car - it's not street legal. Anything you find in the yards was most likely adapted. But since the carb has been made for a LONG time, you can sometimes find them anyway. GD

Sounds like it was just a bunch of un-lifted types that turned into an unfortunate "goat rope" (technical term), and the lifted rigs were too few, and too busted to save the day this time. GD

The 81 GL Brat had no different a bell housing than any other EA81. If you get a cross-member from an 81 GL Brat, then you can bolt any EA81 into any of the late 70's Gen 1's, or 80 Brats, or 81 DL Brats. Still hard to find, and no reason to need it if you just do a little modification to make it fit. I know a guy that has an EA81T in his Gen 1 Brat, and is about to do it again with his other Gen 1 Brat. He's got rear discs on it too.... and no, he's not on the board - doesn't even have a computer I don't think. GD

A 3/16" pin punch would be more advisable for the roll pin on the DOJ. GD

I generally use a big screwdriver, prybar, or a claw hammer and the ground to hold the flywheel via the PP alignment pins.... GD

Sure sounds like a vacuum leak - try spraying around with carb cleaner to see if you can find the leak. The engine will speed up and smooth out when the carb cleaner gets sucked into the leak. The intake manifold gaskets are known for leaking sometimes..... GD

The throttle will not fully close until the choke has pulled off completely. You should also not do ANY adjustments to the carb until the choke is fully heated, and no longer engaged. You will need to rig your own return spring for the throttle as well if you haven't already done so. I just attach mine to the air filter housing, in front of the clip on that side. The 1-7/8" air filter's are made by EMPI, and you should be able to grab one for about $10 at any VW performance shop. Backfireing is likely due to improper timing, and incorrect idle mixture. Dieseling is generally caused by this as well. The timing and the idle mixture are insturmental in a properly tuned Weber setup. You'll just have to play around with it. GD

Yeah - I have chinese 28" Mud Terrains on my wagon right now - they have held up well, and the price was quite good. GD

Very true basher - they did bring a lot of these things to the mainstream.... that doesn't mean they invented them tho. Take VVT for example - The first VTEC engine in production by Honda was in the 91 NSX. Other cars of that vintage were also premeiring VVT - such as the Mclaren F1. And Ferrari has a unique system that is quite a bit better than VTEC, using a continous sliding 3 dimensional cam profile instead of just two. Most car companies are now working toward electro, or electro-hydrualic valves. The leader in that technology is in California, and Lotus already used something similar a couple years back - alas it was too expensive, at nearly $1000 per valve. So they are STILL copying - but the real point that should be made is: *so is everyone else!* GD

There's some pics up here from when I first installed mine: http://www.ultimatevirgin.com/cropperr/ Are you sure you have the idle adjustment correct? Try starting it with the pedal fully depressed. Weber's are pretty simple - just keep telling yourself that. GD

Just to clarify a couple things.... I never said VW invented any of these things, just that Subaru based their designs on VW drivetrains of the period (60's). They did attempt to improve upon them (water cooling, front wheel drive, etc), but the similarities are so encompasing that even the distributors will swap between the OHV EAXX engines, and the 1600 VW engine. And I wasn't talking about who invented 4WD, I was talking about specifically the rod-shifted transaxle design being used in conjunction with 4WD and AWD. And Porsce, VW and Audi for those who don't know, are divisions of the same company, and their parts are many times interchangeble - even on new cars. The new Porche and VW SUV's are the same rig - with different body panels and the porche having a 450 HP engine. GD

Sorry Zap - your right, it could have been shared. That I don't know for sure. Seems like I heard a rumor about the EA81 being pulled from certain markets because VW was angry that is was too similar to their engines. But that is just a rumor. I think it's more likely that it was shared tech as you sugest, but the only thing that's holding me back on that account is that I'm pretty sure the flat 4 (at least on Subaru's side) post-date's the war by quite a bit. The 360 wasn't using that design anyway, and that's into the 60's.... GD

The origin's of the AWD and 4WD, and the Subaru flat 4 engine still used today are actually rip-off's of what VW did many years ago. The rod-shifted, transaxle and flat 4 is essencially a VW beetle setup with the differential reversed, and water cooling added. Bugaru tells me that the 4WD thing started with people machining into the end of the VW transaxle, and making 4WD Bug's! Audi capitolized on this in the very early 80's (80, 81) with the quattro AWD system used in their rally car's of the day. But yes - Subaru is Japanese in origin. But like many Japanese companies (Sony), they simply reverse engineered, and improved upon the technologies that more tech savy companies had invented. Austrailia has nothing to do with Subaru at all really - as far as the origins of the brand or it's tech. It's all Fuji Heavy, which as previously stated is a direct decendant of the aircraft company from WW2. GD

It's also where the coolant temp sensor is located - which is important on FI and feedback carb models. They will run like crap if that sensor thinks the engine is cold.... It's not easy to bypass - you will have to make a custom manifold, or heavily modify the existing manifold. Wouldn't be terribly hard to just block it off completely. Not sure if that's a good idea tho. GD

Yeah - and make sure your fuel pump is working.... and properly connected. GD

Always good to hear the board has helped someone. Sometimes we are wrong tho - it's happened before. Usually not on the common stuff thankfully. GD