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Making 300 whp


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I’ve had my brat which is a ‘83 for about 2 years now this December last year my engine went out on me. Before I do anything apart from take out the ea81 I’m wondering if this dream I have of a 300whp brat can become a reality if anyone can give me an idea if this is even realistically possible I’d be very appreciative.

Edited by Subiedude.12
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That's at the upper end of a WRX EJ257 can handle, above that you'd be going to a brand X engine and a whole new drivetrain to support it. By which stage there isn't much BRAT left...

Why 300whp though ? A BRAT is a light-weight vehicle, and even half that power will be enough to make the vehicle fairly twitchy.

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Well it’s more of a competition see my buddy has got himself a ‘07 mustang gt and I’d like to be able to compete with him but the issue is not many build brats so I’m not sure what figures I’m really looking at to be able to compete, 300whp honestly just seems like a safe bet. I may just be ignorant tho 

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Half that much HP at the wheels will twist the Brat chassis up like a pretzel.  We did a rally build that was in the neighborhood of 175 WHP and after driving it around the doors no longer closed properly and it had to be fully caged. Even with proper instruction and quite a bit of experience the driver put it hard into a tree and killed it. I personally lost control of the stupid thing twice on test drives. Ended up in someone's lawn narrowly missing a mailbox and on another occasion I spun it around 180 degrees into the grass adjacent to an on-ramp......

Honestly terrible handling vehicles if you give them power and the chassis is limp like wet tissue paper. 

Just don't. It's a Japanese farm truck. 

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An EJ swap in an EA body makes a fun ride, it's like a whole new car. I have 2 EJ swapped Subarus right now - both with stock EJ22s in them. One is a AWD '92 Loyale and the other is an '83 GL 4wd wagon.

@Subiedude.12 do you have any pictures or a thread up somewhere?

@GeneralDisorderI am glad no one was hurt! "Ended up in someone's lawn narrowly missing a mailbox" - I did that in my friends moms Datsun B210 Honey Bee :grin:

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On 11/14/2022 at 1:32 PM, Subiedude.12 said:

Yeah she’s got rust I basically ain’t got no rockers but apart from that and the where the battery goes I don’t have an issue with it.

That's all structural and further limits the viability of the chassis for performance purposes. 

Go buy an STI if you have lots of money to burn and actually want results. Or buy a 4th gen Camaro with an LS1, or a Cadillac CTS-V, etc. Plenty of good budget performance options without throwing money at a Subaru..... but you go die on that sword if you must. Many have and many more will. 

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