Free Range

Nice looking sedan, did you retain the factory springs and strut tops, or put in the outback parts? I run 215/70/14 m+s on my forrester lifted 91 legacy (Right), still factory tires on the outback lifted sedan(left) they only rubbed a little up front, none after pulling front mudflaps, one broken splash guard and a little bfh love... not to mention the cheesy plastic gas tank guards that fell apart in deep snow. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/data/500/74110-31-05_-med.JPG

do note that you will need to reatain 90-94 legacy strut caps in the rear, or slot the holes to accept the wider spacing on the bolts from the outback tops, the fronts don't change. Lifted SS-YEAH!

I'll try to be there in dec with a 78' wagon. Anybody wanna ride from missoula?

Leg 777 is thinking right... use old gen legacy axles 89-94' they are the same as your axles on the outer side, but the inner side mates to the stub axles out of the rx diff, watch out though, the drivers side rear axle is 3/16" shorter than the passenger. swap the internals into a old gen legacy rear diff with the appropriate ring gear and shimms. good to go!

to keep it real easy just make the motor run on the ej harness and leave everything on the car side alone, then when your all done link the ignition switches(wires), or do it like a boat, dual keys-my brat was like that for a few days... wiring turn signal and headlights into the ej harness is very possible, just like everybody says it's time consuming.

Yay, thanks garner, just what I needed, well that is after I weld my tranny mounts back together, (too much power and rust in the brat)... seriously, great for this guy and you, but I personally like my dash cracks, they match the dents, rust and cavities in my lil' nasty brat, plus I can store nifty exra screws, pocket lint and used gum there, why would anyone ever want a dash cover. maybe I should just rant to myself. -N P.S. I'm in the area, and will now request a tour of yer craftsmanship, but not till next week.

this was outside of Oakridge Or, driving waaay to fast, went about 2.5 car lengths up enbankment, flipped onto hood, then back onto drivers side when we hit the drainage ditch, good thing we didn't go off the downhill side, steep and lots of trees. my buddy brian (pictured, I had to treat him for psycogenic shock right after this picture, check out his headlight) and I tried to flip it back over, you can see the sliding the car did in the snow. We had to hike up to the top of the mountain to get cell service, called in the recovery team, john, randy and jay (thanks again guys) once righted we let the car sit for 20 minutes, fired right off, but the powersteering pump was trashed, so we just trailered it back to eugene, This was the leftovers (motor, IC, exhaust, hood+scoop, wheels, boost gauge) of Sean and Erik's 87' RX rally car. The roofline was totalled so I parted the car, the wheels and exhaust went to Msslageko's 83 t-wagon, and the rest into an identical donor shell. It's still rolling around p-town last I heard. makes me nastalgic, I loved that car to death!

noah, you've got the ea82 turbocharger, or just the water jacketed ea81 turbocharger on you ea81T? I ask becuase the ea81 turbo unit is a little smaller to begin with, so it spools faster... To get real fast spooling, just make smaller diameter headers, but your top end will suffer of course... I like the raw fuel between shifts WRC style...

4EAT TO 5MT swap is very straightforeward, look at the very detailed write-up on legacy777's websight. did the swap to my first legacy, very happy.

yeah, good ol' frozen boots I wear em; 2-1/5 sizes too big with iclandic wool socks, make sure your socks are not tight fitting at all, cuts off blood circulation. You actually going to cut yer fenders, thought that would be against your ethics, messin up that pretty lil green and red brat... -N

screw the fairgrounds, that involves $$$ and way too much time, but do as you see fit. -N

yeah the Missoula fleet is growing, seen a few lifted ea82's, and a few outback lifted lego's around, even a 2.5 turbo in a 93' legacy. My fleet at home is growing too, 4 ej22's and one ea81. About the rally scoop, no thanks, my hoodscoops have only been fully fuctional, I'm all go and no show... lights on the other hand are always good. offroad pic's are cool and all, but I'm usually going too fast in the lego's, and my camara got ripped off with all my rain gear a few weeks back. here is one feeding the sheep jan 04' early in the morning: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=6175&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

Finished lifting my wagon, sedan has been around for a 18 mo. 90' LS sedan, 5MT swap, outback struts, factory coils and tops, 185/70/14" 91' LS wagon, 97' 2.2, catless, 4eat, Forrester struts, coils, and tops, LSD swap, 215/70/14" http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=8697&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 In the wagon, the rear strut tops were slotted to accept the forrester strut caps, front struts bolt right up. The limited slip swap was a pain without air tools, but it works well. The 215/70/14 tires only rubbed a little up front after the mudflaps were removed, none after a little love with the BFH.

I'm around missoula and pretty busy, but I'll be toward bozo in early/mid december for a few days...

easiest, get another ea71(1600), gutless, bulletproof, good mpg, cheep, bolts right up. harder, ea81(1800), keep all sensors from the 1600 with car and harness, will have to mod the belly pan (for steering or exhaust?), or find a 80' or 81' brat(only) with the 1800 and d/r 4spd to get the right x-member, then you could get the factory d/r4 spd linkage too (wouldn't need to cut/weld anything). will need to match bellhousings to trans if you keep the old trans... EJ 2.2 into gen one car: not for the squemish. yeah the motor mounts right up, but nothing else does, and with 3mm of clearence at the valve covers to boot. can anybody say 'hot knife' -N

They call these cars lego's for a reason... keep the EJ axles, only way it will and has worked w/o fabbong axles. note, the rear axles are side specific on early legacy, don't know about newer ones. Right is 5/16" shorter, messed this up last week on a rear lsd swap, made a nasty howl, but only above 70mph. don't know if the rear 3.90 ring gear will bolt up to the slip fit style rear diff of the new gen EJ's.

[/url]http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=6432&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 3" lift, tired front struts...

Mmmm, so does this mean you'll lift it... that's the biggest and bestest reason I can see for doin' the bob job, hatches suck on the autocross course, but they do love the submarine impressions... I say do it up offroader style with the ea81 torsion bar and the 3.90 5spd d/r mated to the 2.2, first gen 1 2.2 hatch (i'd like to see it unhatched), but then you'll prolly have some frame width issues with the body lift and the motor combination. if your going to keep the awd gearbox and go street ride, just slam it to the ground and leave the wheelbase alone. my .02 best of luck, -N

try slightly heating the filter, then cooling the whole thing with penetrating oil, so as to get the oil deep inside. propane torch? (have fire extinguisher handy) Other things I've seen done have been to make a turnquet style wrap around the filter in the direction of loosening, inside the wrap have a breaker bar tied in to essentially make you own filter strap, with some good clean fabric, and the already gnarld filter this may work... worst case, just replace the whole oil filter with another from the J/Y, or dealer... on an ea71 it's just bolts and gaskets/seals

being in the J/Y, I say just whack the axle as hard as you like (don't mushroom it too bad), then when you get the cone washer and the rotor off, clean the crap off outside edge of the spindle to make the backing plate removal easier, they can be frustrating to walk off the spindle, again penetrating oil helps, and a crowbar in the foreward (motor) side prying, while hammering with a bfh on the rear (trunk) side is my favorite. Also check to be sure the bleeder valves are still functional, 10mm on backside of caliper, they like to rust into a solid piece and ruin the caliper.

1979 Brat, 4 generations of subaru: 1979 brat: body, radiator, moustach bar 1981 wagon: Entire running gear+ea81 power steering rack 1987 wagon: 3.90 5 spd D/R, welded rear (LSD for the street) 1987 T-wagon: Rear discs, LSD, fuel pump. 1989 XT6: Flywheel, clutch pack 1994 Legacy MI, 2.2 N/A+harness (250k mi, wrapps out like a dream) Mudrat adaptor plate, flywheel, six-lug, skidplate, 3" lift, rust repair. Other mods: one piece driveline, 2" straight pipe exhaust w/expansion chamber & thrush muffler. Frenched the frame rails to clear the motor with the body lift, custom radius rods, powersteering lines. Car is an absolute blast to drive, soo much torque, recent problems: blew out some old fuel line recently, fixed that, then I tore the tranny mounts clear out of the body, picture captive nuts not so captive anymore. there was a little rust down there, but I've not been nice to the car, a possibly weak spot, I know of others that have done the same thing on lifted rigs. So I'll be welding in some 1/8 angle iron when time allows. there's some pics in my gallery -N

just learned that green car is up for sale as a carcass, the rear torsion tube setup is also around, contact mudrat... Cabobaroo, I totally agree that to go 2wd to 4wd on a gen one is not a bolt on process, but with a modified rear end like this that bolts to the angled mounts just in front of the rear tires... it should fit right in... I'll confirm on thursday at the j/y

Clutch: Watch out for those ea71 pilot bearings, they are recessed into the bellhousing and suck to get out, a slide hammer is best for the job. Be careful when pulling and re-attaching the motor onto the trans, don't put undue stress on the trans input shaft, I've seen a few of those old school trannies trashed that way.

Here is ryan's pickle flexing in a back yard near you, done up by mudrat. its a 78' wagon, ea81, 4spd d/r an 82 brat rear torsion tube and 3" block kit, gives it a funky, wider in the rump roast look, not going to win any beauty contests, but it drives down the road pretty good last I checked. Like they say, 'anything's possible, note the far from stock rear suspension and fender flairs. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=6179&sort=1&cat=500&page=1