ninefourteener Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Obviously these are the 13x5.5 wheels...... but I REALLY like the stance of this picture I found. I'm going with a 15x7..... but I need to find a tire with the same size outer diameter of this tire.... so that the stance and the fender spacing is the same. anyone wanna take a guess what size tires these are?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Those could very easily be 14" - they look to be Jackman's..... GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninefourteener Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 I thought they we just painted stockers..... still like the stance though. Guesses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Those are the Jackman wheels, they are either 13" which was common, or 14 inch which are uber rare... If they are 13" rims, odds are the tires in that pic are 175/80 R13s, if they are 14" rims (which they could be cuz thats an advertising photo of a showroom model) then they are probably 175/70 R14s. You are going with 15x7 wheels correct? With the Toyota offset, I think you could get close to that look with 175/70 or 185/70 R15 tires, but you might end up with more of a street look than a beefy all terrain look... -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninefourteener Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 Kinda like the street look.... my original plan was to lower the brat, but after closer inspection of the rear struts, I have no idea how I'd do it. I found some 15x8s that I really like, with a 4-inch offset... but I'm worried they will stick out too far, and rub the fenders on turns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 If it is a Gen 1 Brat, you can re-clock the torsion bars in the rear, they dont have struts like the EA82s. You might get a little negative camber when you do that too, but Im not sure, I know you get positive camber when they are re-clocked to lift them, and have to be shimmed to get it straight again... The fronts are a different story, you would have to come up with shorter struts and springs... EA82 struts DO fit in the Gen 1 knuckles, so theoretically you could modify Gen 1 or Gen 2 top hats to fit 2wd XT front struts, and that would lower the front..... -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninefourteener Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 My 78 Brat does have struts.... Or do you mean they just aren't the same as a later Brat?? What do you mean by "re-clock" the torsion bars? Looks like my rear suspension is just 2 simple struts, with zero adjusatability whatsoever. I was considering just cutting the front springs..... I know... not optimal, and it decreases strut life..... but the car isn't going to be driven much, and I'm only looking at cutting 1-inch or so out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4_Welder Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 You do not have rear struts- those are just shocks. The actual load bearing piece of the suspension is the torsion bars inside the crossmember. There should be an access to adjust that, and being that it's 30+ years old, you should have no trouble getting it to adjust down an inch or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Obviously these are the 13x5.5 wheels...... but I REALLY like the stance of this picture I found. I'm going with a 15x7..... but I need to find a tire with the same size outer diameter of this tire.... so that the stance and the fender spacing is the same. anyone wanna take a guess what size tires these are?? Just to use as comparison. We know the 2nd brat HAS 14" rims. The first Brat is still kinda iffy. I would think they would be 13" myself, but it is still hard to tell. This article of DRIVE (http://www.drive.subaru.com/Fall06_attic.htm) has additional images of the same Brat, at differnet angles. They could be 14". But compared to any other Gen1 Brat, the stance and tire diameter does not look that much different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 My 78 Brat does have struts.... Or do you mean they just aren't the same as a later Brat?? What do you mean by "re-clock" the torsion bars? Looks like my rear suspension is just 2 simple struts, with zero adjusatability whatsoever. I was considering just cutting the front springs..... I know... not optimal, and it decreases strut life..... but the car isn't going to be driven much, and I'm only looking at cutting 1-inch or so out. Trust me, your Brat does NOT have rear struts. Those are shocks. Ive owned 7 Gen 1 Brats and a 76 4wd wagon, and have had these suspensions completely apart. There are 2 independent torsion bar assemblies in the rear, one on each side. What you are saying is a strut is a shock, someone may have put a coilover on it but the rear suspension of Gen 1 Brats is the independent torsion bars. Now, these are NOT height adjustable like the Gen 2 Brat torsion tube assembly, so the only way to lower the rig in the rear is to re-clock the bars, which entails removing the bolt that secures them in the tubes, pulling the bar out until the splines disengage, then rotating them in the direction you want to get the desired ride height. My 4wd wagon was lifted using this method, but like I said, it made the camber goofy so the inside mount was shimmed to correct it. -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 You do not have rear struts- those are just shocks. The actual load bearing piece of the suspension is the torsion bars inside the crossmember. There should be an access to adjust that, and being that it's 30+ years old, you should have no trouble getting it to adjust down an inch or two. Gen 1 Brats do not have the same torsion tube unit that the Gen 2s have, they are independent bars and are not connected like the Gen 2s. Gen 1 Brats have no factory height adjustments on the rear suspension at all, so if you want to lower them you must reclock the torsion bars or disable them and make custom mounts for coilovers. -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Torsion bars on the gen 1 cars are external from the subframe tube whereas the gen 2 are internal. I'm willing to bet the tires on that Brat are 185/70R13s on Jackman wheels. The tires look very close to the tires I had on my gen 1 Brat that were mounted on EA82 steel wheels. They're not thin enough for 155 or even 175 tires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninefourteener Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 I've been avoiding this.... because now I'm officially going to make myself an idiot. Where are the torsion bars on a Gen 1 brat..... what do they look like, and what do I do to them to lower the car. There.... I said it.... I'm an idiot.... are you happy?? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 They're not very easy to adjust if you've never done it before. I don't have my FSM in front of me either so I can't step you through it very easily. From memory, IIRC, jack up the back end so the suspension is unloaded, take off the wheels and there's a small 10mm bolt on the end of the trailing arm up where it mounts to the trailing arm. If you were to crawl underneath the car, you'll see the subframe tube but you'll also see the torsion bars as well, since they're external and they mount up near the center of the bed. Ok the 10mm bolt is the bolt that basically holds the torsion bar in the correct position, so take it out. The use a hammer and chisel and drive the torsion bar out from the mount underneath the car. You'll be driving the bar to the outside of the car. Then use a jack and preload the suspension where you want it, either lift it or lower it. Then drive the bar back in put the bolt back in, bolt the wheel up and check the height side to side. It took me about 3 hours IIRC for both adjustments but I slammed my Brat to the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninefourteener Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Nice..... you don't happen to have any pictures do you?? did you do the front? If so, how? I can always join the spring cutters society.... but I'd like to avoid it if possible. If I take pics of the underside of my car...... can you point out exactly what some of the items are you're talking about? Maybe it's easy..... I'll take a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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