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Brat 5Lug?


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Can I put xt6 Suspension under my brat to get the 5 lug? Stupid question I'm sure... but Just wondering out of curiosity..

 

 

zach

 

 

Lots of info on it found in search. Type in "5 lug swap" and a ton of threads come up. I tried to link to it, but the search apparently expires after a certain amount of time. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Da

Edited by BEECHBM69
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Which year Brat are we talking about here? Its a lot easier for the gen 2's (82-87). Here's a pic of mine:

 

8321_183706109049_559234049_3918942_4891304_n.jpg

 

The Rear is easy on a gen 2 - its the same as the rear disc swap.

 

The front is a little harder, I needed to ream the ea81 control arm out a little for the xt6 balljoint. Then I got some struts from a 1993 impreza (2wd or 4wd - 2wd for a lower stance) and took the tophats from the ea81 struts and put them on the imp struts. And thats about it, you might have to get custom axles made.

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Which year Brat are we talking about here? Its a lot easier for the gen 2's (82-87). Here's a pic of mine:

 

8321_183706109049_559234049_3918942_4891304_n.jpg

 

The Rear is easy on a gen 2 - its the same as the rear disc swap.

 

The front is a little harder, I needed to ream the ea81 control arm out a little for the xt6 balljoint. Then I got some struts from a 1993 impreza (2wd or 4wd - 2wd for a lower stance) and took the tophats from the ea81 struts and put them on the imp struts. And thats about it, you might have to get custom axles made.

 

are EA82T and XT6 rear discs the same? i already did the rear disc swap on my brat and i'm wondering if XT6 hubs will now bolt up.

 

if so, about all i need to get to 5 lug my brat is some EJ front strut/spring assemblies, rotors, balljoints, (using impreza knuckles/front brakes) and a pair of XT6 rear hubs.

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are EA82T and XT6 rear discs the same? i already did the rear disc swap on my brat and i'm wondering if XT6 hubs will now bolt up.

 

if so, about all i need to get to 5 lug my brat is some EJ front strut/spring assemblies, rotors, balljoints, (using impreza knuckles/front brakes) and a pair of XT6 rear hubs.

 

 

Nope sorry. The problem is that EA82 rear disks are 4 lug...hub, rotor and all. So to do it you would need new rotors and hubs. Im not sure about the backing plates and calipers but i would go out on a limb and say they are probably different as well. Could be wrong on that last part since i never took a close look at them.

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Nope sorry. The problem is that EA82 rear disks are 4 lug...hub, rotor and all. So to do it you would need new rotors and hubs. Im not sure about the backing plates and calipers but i would go out on a limb and say they are probably different as well. Could be wrong on that last part since i never took a close look at them.

 

i thought about that after posting the question. i'd still like to know if they're compatable but it'd leave me without a handbrake so i think i need to read about maybe using EJ rear discs.

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i thought about that after posting the question. i'd still like to know if they're compatable but it'd leave me without a handbrake so i think i need to read about maybe using EJ rear discs.
I know the XT6 hubs have handbrake provisions; I'm just not sure whether it's front or rear. I've got the parts in the Brat waiting to be installed so I can look. I'm just waiting to get an answer to the axle question and deciding what's the best approach to the cross member questions for the subsequent entire EJ swap.
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looks like Gloyale fit an EA82 crossmember to an EA81 chassis to use EA82 control arms in this thread.

 

i wonder, could i use an EA82 crossmember to widen my front track enough to not have to use custom shortened axles?

 

I believe he did it by building it into his lift kit. I have been looking into the axle issue as well and have come to the same conclusion. The best I can come up with is that possibly 83 Turbo Coupe are the ONLY ea81 axles that have a 25 spline inner, as far as the outers, I don't know what would work. There have been rumors that ej22T inners work on ea axles but I haven't found anything conclusive. Impreza FWD inners/outers seem to work on FWD ea81 axles, but they are a smaller diameter shaft. It doesn't seem a great option to me when running a 2.2 in our lighter cars, but could possibly work. I have yet to call rockford cv to see on the cost of making some custom axles as my funds have been minimal as of late.

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my point is to avoid custom axles - i am not interested in buying multiple sets of custom axles to be able to offroad safely...then buy more custom axles when i inevitably break cv's. screw that, i'd rather leave it 4 lug.

 

If you're into offroading, then you'd probably be wanting to do the 6 Lug conversion instead, so that you could use the stock axles with bigger/different wheels. Going the 5 lug way is more for upgrading the suspension and brake systems for our older subies.

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If you're into offroading, then you'd probably be wanting to do the 6 Lug conversion instead, so that you could use the stock axles with bigger/different wheels. Going the 5 lug way is more for upgrading the suspension and brake systems for our older subies.

 

i'm not building a weekend warrior, my brat has to be dual purpose. i have to deal with traffic and highway driving more often than i get to offroad - which is actually quite rare and obviously nothing hardcore. also, i'd like to be able to feel safe about others driving the brat so i won't put bigger wheels on without bigger brakes to stop them.

 

i don't want to use expensive hard to find XT6 parts or expensive custom shortened axles, i can get EA82 and EJ parts easily and i have been waiting to build my measly 2" lift forever now so i'm just trying to be creative i guess. i have a set of legacy 14" steel rims with nearly new tires and a set of impreza knuckles with brand new oem bearings begging to be used.

 

i have been daydreaming of 2" crossmember blocks of a couple different designs as "adapters" to bolt an EA82 crossmember to my brat, reamed EA82 control arms, EJ ball joints, kuckles, struts & brakes then FWD impreza axles or AWD EJ axles with EA inner cv parts (idk). i'd stuff some EA82 P/S in there too if i could find an EA81 pump and know it'd all work.

 

i'm still reading about the rears.

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Do a search on what S'ko did on his BRAT. Pretty sure he had EA-82 crossmember under the front for PS, also had the 5-lug swap on it.

 

And just doing the 4-lug rear disc conversion will greatly improve the stopping power over the drum brakes. A plus for running bigger tires.

 

 

i'm not building a weekend warrior, my brat has to be dual purpose. i have to deal with traffic and highway driving more often than i get to offroad - which is actually quite rare and obviously nothing hardcore. also, i'd like to be able to feel safe about others driving the brat so i won't put bigger wheels on without bigger brakes to stop them.

 

i don't want to use expensive hard to find XT6 parts or expensive custom shortened axles, i can get EA82 and EJ parts easily and i have been waiting to build my measly 2" lift forever now so i'm just trying to be creative i guess. i have a set of legacy 14" steel rims with nearly new tires and a set of impreza knuckles with brand new oem bearings begging to be used.

 

i have been daydreaming of 2" crossmember blocks of a couple different designs as "adapters" to bolt an EA82 crossmember to my brat, reamed EA82 control arms, EJ ball joints, kuckles, struts & brakes then FWD impreza axles or AWD EJ axles with EA inner cv parts (idk). i'd stuff some EA82 P/S in there too if i could find an EA81 pump and know it'd all work.

 

i'm still reading about the rears.

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