bushbasher

Thats cool, as long as the faq doesnt disappear on us. As far as the search goes, it doesnt come up right away because of the way I wrote "t-case'd" I cant seem to edit it anymore, but I would like it to be changed to simply t-case or t case. It would come up earlier then I think.

just a bump and some quick q's. Hey Off-road forums mods, think this could be a sticky? I think it answers alot of questions that get asked about this stuff. Maybe we could combine it with a lift/tire faq? Just throwin around some ideas. I could write it up in a document so we could put it in the USRM.

awesome! Sounds like you know what you're doing then. I've thought about how to do the 4wd with a midengine sube, and kind of gave up just thinking that it would be too complex and bulky. It looks doable now, and I can see theres plenty of refining that could be done to make it stronger, simpler. On yours I guess it was kind of an afterthought. Next time around the frame can be built to incorporate the shafts more easily.

thats a neat machine there! quite a bit of ingenuity to be found. I'd have to ask why the toyota motor? Sticking an ea82t would probably have been less work, no worries about adapters, and around the same hp as a 22re with a few mods. Also, I would be careful about the rear CV angles, they look to be nearly at the max just at ride height. lifting a wheel could equal boom in midair or on landing. Also I see you are welding to the hardened axle shafts. I would be wary of that, I did that on my lifted wagon, and had them snap the first time I went up an obstacle in double-low range. They are hardened, and so welding weakens them greatly. You say that an improved version is in the works. Is a tube bender going to be involved in the next version by any chance? It could use it. Just some constructive criticism, overall I think its cool, its definitely got some wheels turning in my head now. I have a dune buggy frame lying around that I've wanted to 4wd.

and running your airbags all the way up would equal hardly any downtravel at all, which would suck for off-road and if you go far enough, could cause you to even lift wheels on the street on hard corners.

grossgary that would be a suspension lift, it would be body if the subframes moved down. I doubt you can go more than 2", and thats all you can do in an ea82. The problem is that the axles go over top of the suspension arms in the front (Im not sure on xt6s you should check to make sure) which causes them to hit the arms when you push them down too far. I went to great lengths to modify my front suspension to eliminate this problem.

sounds like a waste of time to me. Oil and water dont flow through the heads at high velocity, so a little flash here and there isnt a big deal. A good oil pump, water pump, and rad are more than capable of cooling the motor.

You should make the trip to visit some stores. You often dont get their full interest when you're on the phone.

very nice, those are easily contenders for the best subaru 4x4 pic. Nice car, awesome scenery, and excellent camera-work!

as long as your battery is charged that shouldnt happen. Like edrach said, a bad ground, or maybe a dying alt and a weak battery. It doesnt take much to turn over a sube motor so batteries can continue to start the car even when they are next to toast.

Well, chances are the passenger side isnt good, it just hasnt broken through to the outside, since this rust starts from the insde. Anything can be fixed with new metal, it just gets more and more involved as the rust penetrates further and further into the inner structure. On my MGB GT I'm replacing nearly the whole bottom half of my car by drilling out the old spotwelds, dissassembling the bottom half of the unibody, and welding in OEM replacement panels, starting at the floorpans and crossmembers, then inner rockers, jacking points and spring perches, and finally the outer rockers and lower fenders. When I'm finished the new panels will be rustproofed in and out and the car should last another 30 years at least. You could do the same to a subaru, but I'm not sure about the availability of replacement subaru panels. You could even cut out portions of a rust free subaru shell and weld them in. Its just a HUGE task, not really worth it in the end for a subaru because they arent rare or collectible cars. My subaru doesnt have nearly enough sentimental value to justify that much work. But the MGB GT body is a work of art, penned by pinninfarina, and I want to keep it alive.

Did you get to drive the car enough before the teardown to know whether this problem occured then?

Good to hear youve got it back together. Im not sure what exactly you mean by surging. I think more description is needed. Is it hesitating or bucking, or does your car just get a strange kick in the pants when the turbo starts spooling

how far will you be upping the boost? beyond 15psi? so does this mean you are running around 150-160hp on nearly stock boost?

leave the downpipe on, but you can take off all the exhaust behind the downpipe without problems. With nothing but the downpipe my old turbowagon was loud but not ungodly loud. (the 8" of exhaust sticking out the front of my present car would be considered ungodly I think )

This was a home-made 4" lift? did you do the bolt-through style blocks or ones with seperate hardware for the bottom half?

unless your car is fuel injected, it doesnt have one. SPFI hotwire MAFs dont have burn off, MPFI ones do. I think thats how it goes. I think the SPFI MAF is an aa100, and the MPFI is an aa110 if these numbers are correct than I should be correct on the burn off feature.

if your doors dont close, its not safe Bubbling on the fenderwells is not really an indication of how rusty the structure of the car is. Check the frame rails right under the footwells where they start to arch up into the engine bay. Undercoating hides stuff well, so tap them with a light hammer or a screw driver. if you feel any crunchyness, the tool goes through, or you hear lotsa flakes rattling around inside, you should probably pass on it. Also check the inner fronts of the rear fenders. For ea82s anyway, if it is rusted through the chances are the rear seatbelts wont be doing much in an accident. Another thing to consider with salt related rust damage is brake lines. One of my rear lines rusted through in a place where it clipped onto the body. The rest of the line still had its grey paint on.

ouch. I had it happen on my turbo wagon when my ill-designed home-made rear lift ripped out (fixed it with rebar ask me I dare ya!). rust was a factor as well. I've seen pics from someones ru that ripped them out of the front. rust was the main cause if I remember right. See any rust under your car??

I say you should go for it (ea81). Your brat sounds like it has lots of life left, and buying a new motor from CCR aughtta make it good for another couple 100k miles. The general consensus is that the ea81 is the most reliable off-road motor of all the choices. Its also going to be the least work to put in. The other option is to find another ea81 from a junkyard. It will be cheaper but no gaurantees on how much life the motor has in it. edit: whatever you do, dont send the brat to the junkyard!

I just went looking for photoshop but realized I havent put it on since reformat

I just drilled some holes in my hood to mount my old squirters in the new hood. Either way, I've been thinking about hooking up another set with its own pump. I've got to find a different washer bottle that I can hopefully mount inside the engine bay, cause I chopped up my fenders and ripped out the original. Then I will run 2 inline pumps wired in parallel, 1 pump per set.

Hey, we'd be glad to include you guys in the next meet. I didnt even know about you guys, I only figured there was a few USMB guys on the island. More the merrier!

hey thats a good idea for shock mounting. I just might have to copy that sometime.

Upgrading ignition will only get you so far, basically you are upgrading it to what is truly adequate, after that is just overkill. The stock distributors work fine. You need to increase the air flow through the engine so that you can use more fuel. The SPFI system is very restrictive through the MAF and through the throttle body injector. You can swap in the MAF from a 87+ turbo car, port the throttle body injector housing, and buy some delta cams (which will give you more top end power) Or swap an MPFI setup from a non-turbo XT (lots of work) You havent mentioned exhaust. The stock exaust system is really restrictive. Running a 2-2.5" pipe from the Cat back with a high flow muffler will help alot. Running a completely custom system right from the engine is even better, but a more complex job. Have you played with the timing to advance it as much as possible (stop just before it pings on accel)?