Free Range

dealer kit is both bearings and both dust seals for one hub rebuild. (2 kits per car)

Yup, generally great advise here. Just did a front end on an 83 wagon, its been a long time since I was in one of these old tanks, refreshingly simple. I was replacing everything, so I pulled the whole hub. Its fairly involved, but easy to knock out the axles, ball joints, tie rods, and pull the whole hub and do it on the bench, just tap the bearings out and new (with new grease) in slowly and dink from side to side to keep em square, only hitting the outter race of the bearing with the drift. but I was replacing everything else up front at the same time. whatever works... I always use new dust seals. Be sure to clean everything well, some grease doesnt mix well with others. Dealer has rebuild kits for $50 per side. Be sure to remember the anti-sneeze going beck together.

I plan to run a fuel pump from an EA82T on a custom mount next to the fuel tank, well first i had it in the engine bay, but it growled and hated life, I'm a long way from getting mine back together(too many projects), but the parts are slowly coming together. Good to see your progress, old scoobies rock! You can find me at fallingoats at g****.com

Yup, use all the parts from the 5spd d/r instead of the original 4spd. use gen 1 axles ea82 clutch/press/throwout/fly wheel/pilot, or upgrade to xt6 clutch and press plate and get ea82 flywheel milled to xt6 spec(they might be the same, its been a while). you will want to hybrid the 5spd and the 4spd trans mounts together. might be easiest to put trans up in tunnel, on the motor and eyeball the two mounts and chop/cut/weld cut the trans tunnel to accept the 5spd d/r shift linkage, custom shortened driveline It is a tight fit without any body lift, might require hammer massage.

lego rear axles are side specific, the rear diff is offset slightly, I'm assuming this is why the left and right are not mirrored. If your using lego axles then this shouldn't be a problem, but it sounds like Scott needs options to work with EA series axles/outters. One should be able to offset the diff mounts to overcome the width issues. Personally I like the idea of using the slip fit EJ inners, they have been very durable for me. I can measure the stubbs on my extra vlsd when time allows

Get a 3.90 V-LSD from a '91 Lego SS. This rear diff has the stubs you desire. Might even still be able to order them new.

Note: The green and gold '78 hooligan wagon still lives! the 1800/dr swap in a gen 1 wagon is a sweet swap if you have a donor 80 or '81 brat. a 2.2 in front of a 5spd d/r in that frame is a sweet sleeper, i have a '79 brat setup like that. any way you go, do it!

The first pics on the thread are of my 79 brat, those pics are deciving, there is a 3" block lift on the x member in with that 2.2, so the motor is sitting very low. framerails were cut and 2x2" 1/4" wall square tube was sleeved in and boxed. My dohc 2.2t would fit in easy, but I don't want to mod the suspension to Handle that much power, too much fab time for a front heavy lifted brat, albeit badass... If I was to do it again on a gen 1, I'd get the motor/trans, and just mock it up, cut it and box it, get a jdm half cut or a usdm wrx wreck, forget about the new school suspension unless your really bored and worry about getting it to run proper first. There was a beautiful forest green gen 1 wrx brat in NZ... I'm never on this site, fallingoats at gmail

if you can find an ea81 (gen2) with p/s it's possible, either turbo or n/a would theoretically mount up, actually the n/a will be easier, but a pita still. You'll need to cut the inner tie rods down and re-tap them, and as for the motor, as mentioned above if it's an 1800 the bosses will need to be drilled/tapped, 1600, idk I could check my parts brat... You could fab a mount for an ea82 pump kind like the gen1 ac setups and that rack should fitthe x-member just cut the tie rods down... Put in a 1800 motor/trans (or fat case bellhousing) and the gen2 x-member/a-arms, fab the radius rods to stock location, camber will be an issue. then power steering would be as easy as finding a working ea81 pump/mount/rack/hoses. Let us know how it goes.

close, that was 'Forester Ranger's ride, it's still driving around logging roads in the Eugene area, I've got a '96 d/r outback...

search, it's all been covered... my camber is still perfect You don't need the body lift, and it sucks (read $$$) to install, but it does flatten the axles a fair bit, better angles is better MPG and axle life, but straight suspension lift is better offroad. the only reason I'd ever run the outback body lift is so that I could run king springs... Axles, heck you don't even have to beat the axles out of the hubs to change EJ axles:rolleyes: seriously tho, they seem to hold up just fine and I've done seven lifts. here are the 3 basic choices, (this roughly shows the different perch heights) outback (blown) Forrester (new KYB GR2) Legacy (note angle of strut rod, not so healthy) and yet another before and after for all those who are bored and or curious, '90 LS sedan, bone stock, auto pile ( yeah I know the angle of the shot shows nothing): "The Dog Taxi" w/outback GR2's & outback coils, rear '94 wagon tops, BFH inner fender massage, 225/60/16 M+S's- they only rub at full lock in reverse: so hurry up and get your awd rally pile (or show car for that matter) lifted, b/c it ain't gonna lift itself. oh and get new swaybar endlinks and strut tops and a bottle of blinker fluid while your at it.

Q: how much of the lost rally ability is due to the swampers, and how much is from the tall struts?

longShot, but the ea81turbo cars have a very simmilar, if not the same pump and mounting location as the ea82's, so that turbo ea81 bracket would do it.

really worn out tophats caused plenty of knocking in the rear with the outback coils. When I replaced those hats I also did some bfh massage, hasn't rubbed since. Havnt had the wrx sprung car on the road with good tophats yet, blown boost hose.

my original wagon top hats that I swapped into my 90 sedan with outback coils& came from a 94 wagon. not trying to cause grief just saying what works in my cars. You can most defintly get top hats that are nontapered, maybe they only came in 92-94, but they bolt up to any 90-94 Lego and accept almost any ej coil. I've got three legos, 90 sedan: outback coils& struts-94 wagon tophats. 91 wagon: forrester strut&coil-94 wagon tophats. 92t sedan: wrx struts&coils-92 turbo tophats.

to Gloyal, the only legacy rear struts that are tapered are on NA sedans, all wagons and turbo cars should have non-tapered coils... had to swap strut tops from a 90 wagon to fit outback coils into my '90 sedan last year, and yesterday swapped my legacy turbo(sedan) strut tops onto WRX struts and coils in my 92 T-leg. Outback v legacy coils, my seat of the pants spring rate meter says the outbacks are definitly tighter sprung than the legacy wagon springs, but the legacy's will give you slightly more lift... somewhere on nabisco there is a chart that breaks down the usdm coil spring rates/options, I'm just too lazy to go find it... -N

Here is a link to the 4" lift, 4x4 1800 D/R 79 GF coupe I built about a year ago http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=72496&highlight=79+gf+coupe+free+range car gets all kind of looks, but I gave it up for a D/R outback. you could get away with about 2" of lift to fit the rear diff in, or make a custom floorpan, but the gas tank sits behind the rear seats in the trunk, so custom fuel cell would also be in order... best of luck remember, go big, then go home, b/c you probably gonna need a nap. -Nels

Body: 79 Brat Engine:odb1 ej22 Trans: 3.90 5spd d/r Other: 3" body lift. 83 wagon front x-member, a-arms, power steering, brakes, 81 wagon rear torsion tube. Rear disks, welded rear. Six lug hubs, 15" nissan steelies...

I'm all for the 4eat if it's setup right. Big external cooler, I'd be wary of the duty cly 3 switch, I've killed two auto's that way, definitly a huge skidplate is a must, those 4eat pans are flimsy whimsy. -N

it's just like mine, same color and everything...

sweet on the diff angle scott, I've always heard to keep them flat cuz of bearing up front, but the driveline angle benefit is way cool. keep us posted

Tire size really depends on what motor I end up running, if I keep the 1800 with the weber then they wont get over 26.5" it just makes the ride gutless. Plus I hate to cut the fenders on this ride, they are almost perfect. But if I go to forced induction or more dispalcement then who knows.

disk brakes are by no means required, just nice, there is no auto adjustment on the drums, and they tend to not stop very well, but you can always swap later on.

car badly needs radius rod bushings, likes to drive wherever the power pulls it... now for some decent seats. 5spd 2wd is still around I did the red/orange/rusty brat, not the green wagon Dain, the mustach bar looks plenty strong, what angle did it leave the rear diff? you want it to be dead flat or leaning forward a little to keep oil in the front bearing. Get the disc brakes if you plan on boonine crashing or getting bigger rubber or both... Nice progress... is this the rams head brat?

'79 GF Hardtop coupe Before: Seized 1600, 2wd 5spd, 155/60/13, lots of mold, hornet nests and rotten seats: After: Drivetrain from '81 brat EA81+weber, emmissions deleted Equal length header, out the drivers side 4spd D/R 4" blocks in front 3" lift on gen 2 rear torsion tube custom mustach mount rear discs 15" steelies 195/60 M+S (they will get bigger) bumpers and skid... Needs: Rear trunk, the top half is mostly gone from rust, you got one I can cut up to weld in? either a coupe or a sedan. Weatherstripping between the front and rear windows on both sides, I have the chrome (attaches to back window), but the rubber is gone, must be roll down rear windows... A rear seat lowbar rollbar from gen 1 brat, doesn't need the arms, just the hoop