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offroad subaru buggy/crawler


archemitis
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ok this is my plan, use the suspension and steering and vin# from this xt6 i have. build a tube frame, bolt all the subaru xmembers to it. i want 32s or 33s, so i need hp and an xfer case.

im thinkin about a 2.2 with a awd 5 speed, mated to a transfer case.

 

anyone of you guys done anything like this with a 2.2 and xfer case? any ideas would be great! =]

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Build it!

 

The beauty of a Tube Frame is you can endlessly change it and it doesn't matter.

 

However, if I was going to make a buggy specifically designed for Rock Crawling.....I'd start with something else .....Toyota or Samurai would be my choices?--Simply because of the proven track record and product support needed for making a true crawler exist for those platforms and Subarus have nothing.

 

I have a friend who built a Sammy crawler for $2,500. It still needed a little more gearing at that price though. (Note: he is an owner of the crawler shop that built it and probably had access to freebies that brought that cost way down)

 

Having said all that there is One UROC Competition Crawler powered by a Subaru Motor and I believe it's N2O injected.

 

My .02

Glenn

82 SubaruHummer--poor crawl ratio

01 Forester--no crawl ratio

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Since you're going to be using a transfer case (or 2), why bother with an AWD tranny? I'm thinking I'd go with a tremec T5 and an adapter from transdapt. Then again...if I was REALLY serious about building a hard core crawler, I'd use an auto..probably a Ford C4, but some others are possibilities. An AWD tranny is just going to be more expensive and result in your car haveing extra weight that it doesn't need. So why not go to a lighter RWD tranny, add your t-case(s) and use R-160's at each end (if you REALLY want to keep the IS).

 

As I think about it, I think you'd want a reasonably light weight tranny that can handle the power and weight of the target buggy. With a 2.2, you really aren't talking about a ton of power and given the fact that you'll have a tube-frame vehicle, overall weight shouldn't be too high either. Figure you'll have...oh...I dunno...2200lbs of XT carcass on 7-800lbs of tube frame. Realistically, you're only looking at a MAX weight of 3 kilopounds. You wouldn't need an AWD tranny, just a way to get power from the engine to the t-case(s). A GM Turbo-200 with a manu-matic shift kit MIGHT be up to the task...Turbo350 DEFINITELY would, but its a REALLY heavy tranny. Ford C4 is somewhere in the middle and should work fine. Then again, since this vehicle doesn't need to be particularly fuel efficient...a Powerglide might work beautifully. Powerglide doesn't weight too much and can be built to take ANY amount of power that a 2.2 can be made to put out without grenading itself. Soooooo......EJ22, Powerglide, 2 sammy t-cases and 2 R-160 LSD's. Sounds like a winner. :headbang:

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wouldnt an aluminum subaru tranny be lighter than any cast iron rwd tranny?

The Ford C4 he's refering too might be the exception. The C4 is SOOOOO light its just scary. Only reason I know this (I'm no Ford guy!) is becuase I helped Stepka pick up a core from King Cobra a few years ago when he was building his '69 Mach 1. I easily lifted the whole C4 myself.... it was lighter than the 4WD Dual Range I swaped into my wagon :slobber: Now the TH350 (like the one that was in my Cadillac Regal) those are prerdy darn heavy :-p but tough as rocks!

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wouldnt an aluminum subaru tranny be lighter than any cast iron rwd tranny?

The C4 is light as anything, as Morgan said, probably lighter than the D/R trannys. The POwerglide is cast iron, but I believe there are some aluminum casings available for them now. either way, it is just a 2-speed slush box and, as such, really doesn't weigh anything either. I've seen powerglides survive behind engines putting out more than 800 ponies at the flywheel, so durability shouldn't be an issue for this application. Another nice thing about the powerglide is that there is an ENORMOUS aftermarket support for it and custom gearsets aren't terribly difficult to get. Use a relatively high-rpm stall converter and a low set of gears in the trans. Add in double reduction in the t-cases and your crawl ratio gets HUGE.

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