death_and_taxes

turbosubarubrat and 86BRATMAN I agree, I expect to have to cut and reinforce the unibody rails with the bigger engine. I anticipate even more cutting when trying to get the larger transmission to fit. The lift will be a spacer lift (similar to the SJR kits) which will space the transmission out from the body a little,but probably not enough. I think I will end up having to make a transmission tunnel.

I'm certainly getting into this project to learn! Professionally I integrate diesel engines into industrial equipment, so custom engine mounts, cooling packages, wiring harnesses and drivelines are problems I encounter regularly. Custom suspension not so much, so the learning curve is going to be steep there :-/ I also live with a diesel mechanic who works on heavy duty trucks, so I'm hoping between the two of us (and USMB support) we can figure it out.

Hello fellow Subaru fans, Backdrop: So a few years ago when I still lived in Indiana, I saw a 1982 Subaru BRAT on craigslist for $2700. I had never seen a Subaru BRAT before. A truck with T-Tops and seats in the back? That's pretty 80's! I looked around for how many there were for sale in the area on craigslist: 0. Surrounding area: 0. United States using searchtempest: only about 20 at the time and most were beaten up or rusted. This one had spent most its life in San Diego and then a garage, had no rust, 4 year old paint job and still ran (not well, but ran). I bought it that night. I realized pretty quickly after driving it that it was a dog... 73hp from the factory and after sitting for as long as this one had, I bet it wasn't topping 50hp. With the rebuild path requiring a decent amount of work only to get back to 73hp, I figured an engine swap was the better choice. I've been shopping for EJ22's for months now when I came across a deal on a wrecked 2002 WRX that I couldn't pass up: so it looks like I'm going to be building a Subaru BRAT WRX :-) The Build: Death and Taxes: I did some research after buying it and learned that the jump seats were installed to prevent a 25% tax on imported trucks from Japan (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_BRAT), which I thought was pretty clever. The import tax for passengar cars (which is legally what the BRAT was thanks to these seats) was only 2.5%. Maybe this makes me a bad citizen, but I love it when I find a way to pay less taxes! Once I had the BRAT in my garage I sat in the jump seats of the BRAT and realized that if this thing were to roll over, you are most certainly dead. I'm 5'11" and my entire head sits higher than the top of the cab. This reminded me of a quote from Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789 (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_taxes_(idiom)) "Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." My goal is to lift the BRAT ~6" in the front and ~4" in the back (this should level it) and use the full drivetrain from the impreza: from the engine to the wheels (eventually upgrade wheels and tires), including suspension and brakes. I'll be designing brackets to mount everything and attempting to fabricate them myself. I'm a mechanical engineer so I'm not too worried about designing the brackets, more so my fabrication skills :-/ Worst case I'll outsource the fabrication. The fab shop I use at work is full of car guys so hopefully they'll give me a good price when they hear what I'm doing... I've never blogged or posted to a forum before, but I'll try to keep this updated as I go. I've already read a lot of the threads on here for similar builds but if anyone has any specific advice feel free to post it!