New to subie stuff

I am new here so bear with me. If anyone here has spent time over at Pirate 4x4 or Zuwharrie's, then you may be familiar with me under the same name. I am looking to get into the Subaru game and have a shot at getting a trio of early Brats real cheap. Many years ago I was looking at getting one and ended up stumbling onto a 1964 Ford Ranchero instead. I modified that with various upgrades to the six cyl motor, a t-5 trans conversion (I had to build my own bellhousing conversion and crossmember for that one) and other upgrades to improve mileage and reliability. It was an amazingly versatile rig for a 2wd, but I eventually wore out and a friend wanted it for running errands close to home, so he now has it.

I bought back my old 95 metro and replaced the motor and was somewhat happy with it, but needed ground clearance. I put 185/65r14 tires under it with a 2" lift that I built. It get's around Great for a front drive car now, but the power is way down and the mileage sucks for a metro at 35mpg when worked hard. It only gets 41 mpg if you baby and drive 55-60. So now that this has taken place, I have come full circle. I might as well have something better suited to my needs. 1978-1981 Brats actually weigh less than the 95 metro. I know that this creates great mileage potential. My 64 ranchero weighed about 2100lbs and got mid to upper 30's for mileage with considerable tuning when the motor was fresh. Getting somewhere in the 30's with the early brat should be doable. 4 wheel drive and air lift suspension seems to be the best combo fro my long journeys and two track adventures across America. Something mildly built for max mpg and mild offroad ability. I don't need to get carried away on the offroad part, I have a Samurai/model T pickup hybrid I am building for that. So the saga begins...