was thinking today about tha brat i might get, its a 1980 4sp, 4wd. by the way, the reason im stuck on a 1st gen is because they look sweet, and i can get it for pennies on the dollar, running and driving.

 

what i was thinking was a EA81 rearend with suspension, front crossmember off a EA81 car. put in a EA82 hitachi powered engine, with a d/r 5sp tranny.

 

would this work, plus put a 3inch lift on it with some 27's.

 

wouldn't that cover all the problem area's that i would have over lifting the stock 80' brat?

an ea81 front crossmember will be slightly too wide to fit the gen 1 body, but could be modded to fit without too much effort

 

if building a lift, yo can use the lift to adapt the width difference

 

same for lifting the back, the lift will have to be designed to fit the body on one side, and the ea81 suspensipon on the other ide

 

MAY I SUGGEST using an ea82 rear suspension, and modding the ea81 front crossmember to use ea82 lower control arms, inner/outer tierod(or custom lengthen ea81's inners) so with that setup, you can use the bigger ea82 brakes, have more travel, and get some positive camber. also, you will be able to use ea82 axles, since they are more readily common for replacement, and with the option of using a82 axles, you can use an full time transmission with 25 spline axles

the trailing arms on the rear of the brat will not clear any tire that is not close to the stock size.

well i ope to be gettin a 87 wagon, if thats true then i might build up the wagon, or the brat since the brat wouldn't need any more emissions.

 

just swap on all its suspension, engine, and a 5sp d/r tranny.

Just remember that ANYTHING can be made to fit, just depends on time and money. I would use the EA81 running gear with the lift functioning as lift and adaptor. I would further go with a 4 inch lift rather than 3, it will help you clear 27~28s and prevent you from doing any signifigant trimming.

You will have to adapt the EA81 rear suspension as suggested above. The 1st Gen rear arms are straight and will not acceot bigger tire and wheel combinations. Anything is possible if you dedicate enough money to it.