Here’s my 87 Brat. It was purchased rust-free in Arizona,
but is starting to get some rust from life here in Montana, time to keep that
at bay and do all the mods I've been planning:

 

• EJ22T engine from a 94 Legacy    
• FT4WD D/R transmission with locking center (hybrid XT6 and 5 sp. D/R with helical front diff) 3.9 final ratio, clutch pack rear LSD       
• Complete XT6 suspension including changeover to struts all around with coilovers built around Audi and Camry struts, 150 lb/in springs.·        
• 4 inch lift with 3 inch drop blocks
• 15” wheels (Outback or Forester), 28” AT tires, some fender trimming will happen·        
• Tube bumpers, roll bar and jump seats
• New light harness and lights and LED signal lamps
• XT6 seats
• new carpeting, sound deadening/sound proofing and stereo

 

Another angle with most of my Subaru stable; not pictured is an XT6. Yes, I may have a problem.

 

Edited July 14, 201411 yr by mcgarvey2001

you've even got that chrome tailgate trim that someone is trying to fetch $1,000 for on eBay. clean brat!

Edited July 15, 201411 yr by nick1208

It's got a few dings, probably would only fetch $900 

 

I pulled apart all the XT6 bits to clean and paint.

 

Deconstruction. Most of this along with the motor and transmission will be for sale. In the mean time I wish I had some place to put parts. I have a fair sized two car garage but it's got a lot of camping/backpacking/rafting/kayaking/bicycling/Christmas decorating/miscellany that fills it up.

 

 

Rust-proofing and painting.

 

Rear cross-member modification.  In the front, offset holes in the lift blocks work as adapters between the XT6 front crossmember and Brat frame rails but in the back it's more complicated as the attachments are completely different and the XT6 cross-member wouldn't fit very easily anyway. So I'm cutting off the old bits.

Edited September 22, 201411 yr by mcgarvey2001

 

Fabricating the new attachments that will utilize the Brat's vibration damping hardware. The square tubing paralleling the cross-member and attached angle is a jig for welding.

Edited September 22, 201411 yr by mcgarvey2001

Ok subscribed! Nice brat to start with you have a long road of work ahead don't get burned out. This project deserves to be done. I was born and raised in Kalispell (kowsbell is what we always called) but left along time ago. I like the winters in Salmon much better the sun actually shines here in the winter.  I do miss Moose's pizza though.

Born and raised here myself, FHS class of 79. Long road indeed; if I actually knew what I was doing it would be quicker but it takes me a long time to figure out how things are done. This site is amazing though, I just pulled some rear axles in about a fourth the time the book method would take by just lowering the differential (thanks to Miles Fox).

Verifying fit of the modified cross member prior to welding. The outer flanges aren't in these shots.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 201411 yr by mcgarvey2001

Marking holes for lift blocks with offsets for new cross member.

Edited October 2, 201411 yr by mcgarvey2001

Duplicate post... Doh!

Edited October 2, 201411 yr by mcgarvey2001

Measure twice, drill, rinse, repeat. Done with the lift blocks.

Looking forward to see where you go with this. Seems like you're taking your time and doing everything right, and it looks like you have the skill to back it all up. I love watching these threads progress as they inspire me to one day do something similar for myself.

Best of luck and thank you for sharing all the photographs of your progress!

Edited October 2, 201411 yr by l75eya

I picked up the donor car for the engine. It was hit on the passenger front corner hard enough to wrap the frame around the engine, so I borrowed my buddy's Porta Power.

The right side cam sprocket is broken which makes me worry about the cam shaft. I guess I'll have to pull the rocker assembly for a look see. Any advice?

I've been busy notching the cross member, welding, and painting but sadly no longer seem able to post pictures with either my phone or computer although I've tried a number of solutions found through searching. Any ideas?

Hmm... Uploaded to facebook and that seems to work. Here's the notched cross member:

 

 

Edited June 24, 201510 yr by mcgarvey2001

A little welding and painting and here's the finished product:

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 201510 yr by mcgarvey2001

I've finally gotten back at it and have a few things done. Installed the vibration dampers on the rear cross member: 

 

 

Final install with boot protection:

 

Cleaned up the engine bay, primed and painted (Quartz Blue J8U):

 

 

Three of the four axles had boot tears so I decided to rebuild them all.

 

 

 

 

I'm doing coilovers in the rear so made up some strut mount brackets for Audi mounts.

 

Got the 15" rims sandblasted and painted:

 

Here's a pic of the XT6 seat rails modified as described by bratsrus1. The lower Brat rails are welded to the lower XT6 rails (with bits removed):