Will 14" pug wheels work with stock height, or do they require lift? 

 

Either way, I'd love to see pictures of your first gen brat with 14" wheels. Most pictures I find are late model.

Thanks for al the info!

Never really considered the lack of power that this would cause. I'm surprised that just a 1" bigger wheel would create so much resistance from a stop.  Maybe I should just stick with the 13's... 

 

I've been looking at the 6 lug conversion, and that seems like the easiest way to do it. 

Edited October 2, 20169 yr by hunterkey

I have steel pugs on my 1981 Brat. No lift needed. 185/75/14's. Gained about an inch of clearance. I just used street tires as the only off-roading I do is really just dirt road excursions in the desert where there may be some nasty ruts and fairly big rocks, but nothing like what serious off roaders take on.

 

I had the rims powder-coated, then put some caps and stickers I got from Ebay on them. The center caps wiggled just a bit, so I glued them down with some silicone from the back. If someone didn't know what the stock wheels were (white spoke), they would swear these were stock with brand new centers. The look fantastic.

 

All that being said, the downside has been a greater loss in power when starting from a stop than I was hoping for. Way noticeable and I can see why people put in EJs. I have to use 4wd low a lot more than I used to. Also, for really slow rock crawling... well, you can't really do really slow rock crawling with the new gear ratio. I definitely miss that. So, I'm not completely sold on the setup, but it's a trade-off. When we go out to the desert I really like having a bit more confidence that I'm not going to bash up the oil pan.

 

One last side note: I always get a kick out of how my little Brat can just maneuver around things instead of needing a huge truck to go over them. I get quite a few comments a) about how cool the car is with lots of stories about some relative who had one, or they always wanted one, etc. and 2) people have often said "wow... you made it up here in that?!?!" Yep. It's from going around things and straddling ruts instead of  driving through them.

 

Unfortunately, my Brat has not seen the light of day in many months (life has been busy), but it's due for a smog check, so I need to get all the crap out of the back and make a path to get it out of the garage (It's in really great shape, BTW :-) ). No guarantees, but I'll try to get a pic with the rims.

Edited October 1, 20169 yr by bendecker

One other thing. You will likely need some 1/2" spacers on the rear wheels to keep them from rubbing. I got some aluminum ones on Ebay. If I remember correctly, they were spacers for the same rims that everyone uses for 6-lug conversions -- where they drill two more holes in the hubs to match the lug nut pattern. I had to do the opposite of the conversion -- drill two holes in the spacers so they would fit the 4-hole pattern. Super easy to do with a drill press.

One other thing. You will likely need some 1/2" spacers on the rear wheels to keep them from rubbing. I got some aluminum ones on Ebay. If I remember correctly, they were spacers for the same rims that everyone uses for 6-lug conversions -- where they drill two more holes in the hubs to match the lug nut pattern. I had to do the opposite of the conversion -- drill two holes in the spacers so they would fit the 4-hole pattern. Super easy to do with a drill press.

 

Since my initial post, I have been looking at drilling out for 6 bolt rims. I guess finding 14" 6 hole rims with stock subaru offset is hard to find? 

Have any pictures of yours? 

 

Thanks for the advice!