mka

Busy workweek this week - but I got some really wonderful weather today and took the opportunity to get the next notable step dealt with - making the threaded mounting points for the impreza diff subframe. Also before I get too far into it, a protip/safety tip: if someone finds themselves recreating this, or if I decide to do it again - make sure you're using plain, non-galvanized tubing. I'm sure someone has spotted that already and was kind enough to keep their yap shut about it 😅 I used what I have on hand and looking back at it the prep work involved to safely weld this stuff with my setup quickly wiped out any minor cash savings I made by not just going to buy another stick of tubing. I'm sure I don't have to go into details about the dangers of working with galvanized material, but it's worth repeating that Zinc is bad for you in gaseous form and if you're gonna encounter it to take the proper safety precautions. With that out of the way - the photo essay goods: After everything was tacked up and nominally square - I clamped the new frame in its place on top of the bushings, and marked the first hole location for the threaded inserts ( M16 nuts I'm welding in), then center punched and drilled out the hole. I had access to weld the outer half of the nut since it's pretty close to the end of the tube and I used a technique i learned involving some clever placement of smaller access holes to get the inside faces of the nuts fused in. Like the other channels, this will all get boxed in and closed up when i'm happy with the fitment. After this I continued marking and drilling one hole at a time, using the Impreza subframe as a jig to make sure things ended up where they needed to be. I also drilled these holes slightly oversize so that I have a little wiggle room in their placement. Their final positions were dictated with tacks on the welder and then fully welded off of the impreza subframe so as not to melt or damage the bushings. After the new weldment and sheet metal subframe were temporarily assembled together, I put the diff back in it, put it on the transmission jack and then bolted the diff to the front mounts under the car. The original holes and features made for a really handy reference mark and wouldn't you know it, things came out super even. So even in fact, I couldn't help but loosely bolt the lateral links in, prop the trailing arm up, and lean the coilovers (not pictured) up in there without any bolts to get an idea of how things are going to sit. I can almost see it on the ground again! (It'll still be a while). I don't know if I'll be able to narrow the rear wheelbase quite as much as I'd have originally liked, though with a quick google having a slightly wider rear track isn't uncommon and can actually help with certain handling characteristics. I might have to flare my rear fenders, as I do not think I'm going to be able to reduce the rear width the full 9" (4.5" on each side) or so I originally measured without some pretty significant clearancing wizardry beween subframe and coil. I'll have a better plan of attack here once I've got everything semi-permanently affixed to the frame but either way what this is telling me is that I'll probably need to refrain from fully welding in this frame modification until I've got the suspension completely located. I'm also eyeballing putting in a set of rear discs rather than these drums, as I'm not a huge fan of drum brakes and well... I'm already really in the weeds so why not just do it from the ground up? Might get a little more in on this over the weekend, but I'll be playing that by ear. Until the next one! -M

Took an hour today to tack everything up and get started boxing stuff in. Small steps but I'm excited to get this part done.

Pre-holiday update - went a little further with what I'm jokingly calling the subsubframeframe. I'm building up a small weld-in subframe/frame extension to locate and mount the impreza sheet metal number to. Fairly straightforward for the most part - to keep the parts somewhat simple I've had to clearance cut parts of the tubing to be able to maintain the ability to construct it out of straight tubes and right angles. Bends may be a slightly more robust approach with less material, but my fixturing capabilites are somewhat limited. Sometimes I think I'd give a kingdom for a good welding fixture table, but then again my brain works pretty well designing and fabricating this way so for now I'll use what I've got. This assembly looks to me like it will end up fairly robust. A couple more brace pieces to guard against torque / shearing are in process, and all open ends and channels I've cut are all going to get boxed in prior to final assembly and welding. I'll also be adding a few more pieces on the top to both provide more footprint for welding to the truck and to center everything between the original frame rails. I gotta go dig out my box of fasteners from the disassembly process and see if I still have the bolts from the impreza suspension and subframe, because next up is getting some threads welded in. I think I labeled everything but things got hectic in the last few days before its removal so I'm going to have to see what's still around.

Subframe got here Thursday - broke away from work a little early on Friday to get things swapped out and to do a little more clearance trimming to fit. Kind of a bummer that I had this exact functional part and ruined it, but hey, at least now it'll have some clean paint, new bushings, and no rust. easy swap onto the diff - I've got a small block of wood wedged in at the front between the diff housing and k-frame to approximate the proper angle without having everything bolted up. Here's where stuff gets interesting. In order to get the diff to sit level/parallel with the original front mounting point, I'm going to not only need to weld in some more width in the frame rails themselves, but I'll also need to add about an inch and a half to their height, extending the body of the rails downward towards the axles ever so slightly. My first step here was to trim away enough of the pinch weld to be able to make a roughly flat surface to weld in my frame modifications - the bulk of which I'm planning on making from 3x1.5" rectangle tubing or similar. The sharpie marks in the above photo indicate some symmetrical features in the sheet metal I'm using as reference points to keep my cuts somewhat even with each other on each side of the car. I ended up trimming too much towards the back and not enough to the front - this was a result of me poorly eyeballing the end location of the front diff mount while marking up my cuts. No biggie - cut a little more off the front, I just have to be sure to reweld up these pinch welds when I go and box in the rest of the frame and mounts in. Almost got lucky enough be able to reuse another feature - the middle mount hole for the moustache bar, but it's about 3/4" too far to the rear, and there's too much vertical space to make up for anyway. Rough plan here is to use a boxed-in section of rectangle or square tubing to take up the bulk of the vertical and horizontal space between the existing frame and the subframe, and then use a CNC-cut plate welded to that to take up the rest of the remaining clearance and to get the mounting holes in the right place. Once I have all the pieces loosely made, I'll start bolting and tacking things together starting from the frontmost mount of the diff, ending with the bushing mount plates. Theoretically this should put everything where it needs to be as far as the diff is concerned as long as I'm careful to measure along the way to keep things even from side to side and perpendicularly. I considered taking another semi-reversible approach here and design a bracket/adapter that would require less of a significant welding operation, but considering the forces involved with suspension I decided to bulk the frame itself up and keep things as stiff as I can, and let's all be honest with ourselves here - at this point there's no way this Brat is going back to stock anyway so beyond the aesthetic preservation of the exterior, I'm giving myself leeway to adjust what I need to to get things functional. I'm gonna make a trip to the metal depot this week for some other pieces and parts - should have another update on this soon. Once the diff is mounted securely, I'll be remixing the lateral links, then finding a good mounting solution for the trailing arms, before finally moving back to the wheel wells, CVs, and strut towers. Really hoping to have this thing back on its own tires by the end of the year. Probably kind of ambitious, but hey, so is this whole endeavor. Until next time! -M

small update - no photos. I bought a new subframe, can't put it off any longer and I'd really like to get this thing back on the ground on its own four wheels again sometime this year if I can. I'll likely need to end up buying or modifying the lateral linkages too, but like I've been saying - one thing at a time.

Other side repeated today. Also took the opportunity to fit up the impreza wheel wells and strut towers I've saved. I cut the middle sections of the angle iron frame I tacked on when removing them, then using some more angle as a bridge I clamped them back together. I ended up somehow sacrificing a tape measure doing this, but I'm getting some momentum back in this project so if a cheap tape measure is the cost to get this back on the ground sooner over later I'm glad to pay it. I'll need to do a little more surgery to get them to fit truly properly, especially since the filler neck is on the opposite side of the vehicle, but I suppose if I'm doing this much fabrication that will be somewhat trivial. I'll also likely be cutting a lot of them out to fix some rust in them anyway, but it's a good start. Going to set this aside for a little while and return to the subframe setup. Any permanent install of these towers here is severely premature. Once I have a base I can measure from to get the strut towers to a proper height and location, I can start poking at this in more detail.

Been away from the project for a little bit - but I got your DM- we can chat about it there. Finally got back to a little bit of progress - Bit another bullet and decided to do a little exploratory deathwheel surgery to get a better perspective for the rear subframe mounting solution. I chopped out the passenger bed wheel well and I think I will likely be widening the rear frame slightly to accomodate a stock subframe and subframe bushings (hooray, buying more parts... 😶) This will end up being a much cleaner solution to my problem and I think the creative use of some welded captive nuts and box tubing will yield pretty great results. I kind of half-assedly leaned the new coilover through the wheel well cut after also chopping off the stock bumpstop - and I think the space will be tight but sufficient, especially since I'm planning on using the old Impreza wheel wells as a base for the new structure. There'll probably be some reinforcement of the stock bed sides too, but I'm gonna approach this as close to one problem at a time as possible. Like i said - tight but doable. Everything is also just loosely stacked in place, and the rear end is jacked up about 8" higher than it probably would be so everything seems short at this perspective. I only need about another 1.5"- 2" of real estate to mount the forward bushings, and I think I have a pretty good idea how I'm going to get those in once I've got a new subframe to play with. If anyone has a '98 or thereabouts Impreza subframe handy with the bushings still intact (I botched the original by being hasty - see previous posts), reach out quick or I'm gonna get impatient and go to ebay for one 🤣 Gonna repeat the procedure on the other side of the bed, then it'll probably sit for a little while again while I locate a suitable subframe replacement.

The weather was finally somwhat bearable (if humid as hell for my tastes), my leg is 99% healed, and I had a day off to play with, so I started poking at the rear suspension again. Pulled the subframe apart and separated the sheet metal piece from the diff, and removed the knuckle assemblies including the CV's and lateral arms. Also I think i made my first obnoxious mistake. Nothing too unrecoverable but still... annoying. Made a couple of test fits and chalk marks with the whole assembly to get an idea of what I thought I'd be wanting to chop. Actually chopping was the mistake (sort of) - but I'll detail that shortly. The diagonal marks indicate roughly where the frame ends on the brat where I need the subframe to sit. Did another test fit with just the diff and subframe, determined it would be easier to fit where I needed it to if I just cut it straight where the stock bushings ended. The intent here was (and I guess still is) to re-fabricate mounting points to the frame with new bushing locations to fit in the smaller chassis. Got everything tucked up in and sort of leaned in place where I think It will go. The diff is bolted to the subframe, and then also mounted to the original Brat front diff crossmember. Fits pretty close to where it needs to be - only thing now is that it looks as if there's about 1.5 - 2 inches of height I'll need to make up to keep everything sitting level. It was at this point where looking back I think I maybe made a bit of a mistake cutting off the bushings. Funny thing is - mere minutes after completing all the test fitting and cutting today, a friend sent me a youtube video from a guy doing a similar subframe swap in on a later gen brat where he just...*widened the frame and used the stock bushings.* Shocker, this would have been a much simpler approach and I think there would still be enough clearance for me to narrow the links and CVs to tuck everything back in under the stock wheel wells. Granted, the gentleman in question had to refabricate his whole rear frame, and appeared to be planning on adding a widebody kit setup though so maybe he didn't need to be so concerned about the wheelbase width in the back. Lack of access to the "frame" from a different perspective was also a reason for me not thinking of this - I'm still using the bed as a demi-storage locker and haven't cut the bed floor or wheel wells out yet. Might change that and get the ol' death wheel out for the bed soon to, but that metal is in pretty good shape and I'd rather not cut into it if I don't have to. I'm deciding to look at the silver linings here - It's probably for the best I'm still going my own way of it - I'm definitely maximizing the room i have available to move the wheels inboard for a more stock look. I'm thinking I might be able to get clever and integrate the original moustache bar mounts or something... We'll see - I have to sleep on it. Absolute worst case I go to the junkyard and try to source another rear subframe and then widen the frame rails similarly to the other builder. A quick Google looks like one can be had for about $150 used. Maybe less if I find a pick and pull with one nearby or get lucky on marketplace. Mounting problems aside - having put everything roughly where I want it and looking at the bare underside of the subframe itself I think I'm going to have to take a slightly different track and shorten both the CV as well as the lateral links - chopping up the subframe more than I already have is going to prove much more complex than I initially assumed. I'd wanted to try to save on parts money and maintain stock impreza parts wherever possible, but in this case I think it will end up becoming much more expensive in terms of my time to relocate the pivot points instead of just changing to an adjustable link setup (It looks like I can get some of those for my GC model year for about $200.) Hopefully adjustable links will be adjustable enough to where I don't need to modify those to shorten them sufficiently. Anyways, looks a lot like it did when I started today but now I have more information to play with. Ever onward!

Thanks for the check-in and the compliments, all. In addition to the busted leg, the absurd heat of where I live and some other personal life stuff has held me up more than anticipated. Other paying work also got delayed as a result of the bum leg, so this took a backseat for a bit out of necessity. That being said I'm out of the boot now and I am the proud new owner of a higher-clearance jack I got on sale recently - so I'm hoping to get a couple early-morning sessions in on the rear subframe here in the next week or so. Progress will also likely speed up again around October when temperatures generally start to come down a little and I can do driveway fabrication without cooking myself. Anyways, long story short, I'm dipping back into it - updates of more significance soon.

Truly the realest most impressive approach.

Well, everything was sort of in place for me to get a first order test fit even with my bum leg. Doc says I'm good to do pretty much anything that doesn't stress the break through my new aircast boot, but no running, jumping, sprinting, wrestling, or heavy lifting. Basically I have to be deliberate with my movements and creative with the use of wheels and levers when it comes to heavy stuff. I'm not pushing it, even though this update so soon may appear otherwise. I had all the heavy stuff in place already, so today was just minor manipulation to see how things sit. The new diff does in fact mate directly up with the original front diff mount, exactly where it needs to be. The bolt patterns are exactly the same and the lengths are almost identical as well, so I will be reusing the OEM Brat front mount for the differential. I may need to figure out a replacement option for the rubber bushings that secure the front mount to the frame, but for now the originals are intact enough. There's a little interference on the tires at the front of the wheel wells which I should be able to counteract by placing the trailing arm mounts correctly in combination with narrowing the wheelbase. As far as the width goes, one could ostensibly leave that alone and just flare the wheel wells out to accomodate things, but that's not the direction I'm going to take with this build, as I'm going for a more subtle outward appearance. Lastly for the big rear diff subframe, it is a few inches too wide and will need some trimming and a creative solution to mount to the frame. likely more bracketry. In the spirit of the build I'm hoping to reuse what I can from the Impreza - I bet I can come up with something to allow me to repurpose the bushings that mounted it to the undercarriage of the newer car when I narrow the pivot points governing the rear wheelbase - the plan for which I've sketched in on the photo. Red dashes indicate cuts and shifts I plan to make to the pivots, green indicates the trimming of the outside edge so I can move the frame mount bushings to a place where they will be able to be attached to the frame. It looks like the original fuel tank will either need some serious modification to fit in the space with the new subframe, or I'll need to fabricate an entirely new cell. I suspect I should be able to find something serviceable that will fit behind the entire assembly and still meet up with the original fill spout. Just need to take some measurements once I've got the new differential subframe into place. It seems easy enough to put a new cell behind the differential, under the bed, but I'm a little concerned that may turn my Brat into a Pinto in the event of a rear end collision. There's also an empty space up behind the cab, but I'm not exactly excited about that placement, either. Suggestions for solutions are welcomed but as usual not expected

Couple more updates... some good, some not so good. The good - Late last week I managed to get the new subframe stripped of the coils, and rolled it under the chassis of the Brat. It looks like the original front mount for the differential will line up great - it is almost exactly the same size. This is super lucky in that it also appears that the rear wheels will line up with the exisiting wheel wells- at least axially, I'll still need to move the wheels inboard about 4-5" on each side to get everything to sit under the car. I may also need to flare the wheel wells just a little if I can't get the wheelbase shortened quite far enough. The not-so-good - 1) Fuel tanks don't clear. The impreza tank is far too wide to fit in the Brat frame, and the Brat tank interferes with the Impreza subframe. Current plan there is to remove the Brat tank to get the impreza rear diff subframe lined up and chopped to fit, then potentially modify the brat tank (hopefully some clever hammering and denting will be enough) to get it to fit over the new suspension mounts and components. 2) Annoyingly the neighbor with a penchant for anonymous code complaints is back, and along with several other neghbors I've received another note from the city about a number of minor infractions, to include the car. Called the compliance guy again and he's been super helpful. Made it pretty clear I'm not trying to litter up the place and that I really just want to work on my car and not have to worry about getting called into court over it, so looks like the car cover from the impreza is going back into regular service. 3) Lastly and most obnoxiously I found out today that I have been hobbling around most of the last week on a broken leg (due to activities unrelated to the car project) so I would expect major updates to be sparse for the next while. Fingers crossed for good news at the specialist visit in the morning, though i'm expecting not to be able to lift and shove brat parts around for a little while. Maybe I'll be surprised though. Either way - little pieces of progress are still progress, so I'm gonna keep plugging at what I can when I can, so stay tuned.

Yeah, the initial plan is to chop and shorten the stock Impreza CVs to get things rolling . If need be later down the line I'll get some custom built but I'm a decent DIY-er in my own right so I'm hoping to get lucky and not need to outsource.

I've managed to keep the momentum I've built this last few days by removing the hull of the Impreza from my shop. In the interest of clearing the walkway even more I've decided to start preparing to transplant the rear end, which means removing the old one. This turned out to be easier than expected - probably in part because of the practice I had pulling the subframe from the Impreza, and partly because this one had fewer and more accessible bolts holding the thing on. I've learned a few things from today's endeavors. 1) the Impreza fuel tank is too long/wide to fit in place of its original counterpart in the Brat. This "too wide" feature seems to be a trend and for good reason - the wheelbase left to right when measured before removal were a good nine inches different, give or take. As such I'll likely either end up needing to reuse the original tank and run an aftermarket pump (most appealing, easiest on my wallet), or building/locating/modifying a new fuel cell to fit. Whether or not I will be able to use the original tank largely relies on item 2. 2) While the wheelbases are different, it looks like the differentials and housings themselves are very similar in size and shape - so much so that I'm tempted to think they used a modified version of the molds for the diff cases - or at least a very close one. The only visual differences I've been able to scope out at a glance are a few missing bolt holes on the Impreza cases vs. the Brat. There will probably be something more significantly different that I find as I dig into it more. The big "what if" that stands currently is how much fabrication I will need to do in order to get the Impreza differential and subframe parts onto the Brat without causing interference problems with the original fuel tank. If I'm extremely lucky I might even be able to reuse a couple of the mounting bolt holes and front crossmember from the original brat - albeit with a bushing refresh. My plan here is to remove the struts from the Impreza rear end next - which should then allow me to roll the existing crossmember under the Brat bed to check and see what lines up and what doesnt. 3) Lastly and certainly not least - if the preceding items line up, I believe that again with some creative angle grinder surgery I can, similarly to the front end, move the pivot points for the rear suspension inboard far enough to maintain the stock Impreza components without completely custom control arms. Adjustable arms may still be smart and will probably end up being necessary to keep things tracking straight but at least this way I can still drop in off-the-shelf components for an Impreza instead of destroying my bank account. Onto the next one...

LIkely so 😅. I do own a reciprocating saw, but it is a battery powered model, and the sole remaining battery i have for it is tired. I got through one support rib with it before it decided it had had enough. Probably time to start consolidating to a singular brand of battery tool anyway, so that'll probably get replaced sooner rather than later now. In other news... I'M BACK TO ONE PROJECT CAR. I bought this brat from an enterprising young man who runs his own scrapping and junk removal service. We kept in touch a little after I brought the Brat home and he offered to pick up a load of scrap from me including the impreza hull last week. Later in the afternoon the day of loading he sent me the following: Bittersweet, but now I've reclaimed a great portion of my workshop floorspace. Granted I've still got a huge pile of parts in the place where the roller once sat but at least now I can walk around it, and that pile will slowly and steadily decline as I shift pieces over to the Brat. I suspect this is going to be the last major step achieved for a while - it's fixing to get really hot here for the forseeable future and I'm working on this in the driveway, so I'm going to have to start getting up early and invest in a shade tent to get much done on this for a while. As long as I'm making baby steps in a forward direction though, it'll get done.