torxxx

Mine is crossbraced...... I just started looking at it one day and figured it would be a good idea to weld a piece of 2x2 1/4" wall tubing in there The issue is 3 layers of sheet metal is all that holds the captive nuts in place. I'm guessing its maybe 3/16" thick where the rear crossmember attaches. 3 layers of 1/16" sheet metal (or what ever the metric thickness is they used) Had I known that the metal back there was that thing, I would have rebuilt that area before the lift went on. Now I'm doing surgery in my yard with limited tools cuz thats where the car stands. My lift came with the lack of any instructions what so ever that came. The one piece of writing that came with the kit was a bag of 4 washers that said Rear crossmember.. Funny cuz they go inbetween the tranny spacer and the control arm spacer. a $1000 dollars spent and I couldn't get a piece of paper with some writing on it? Makes me wonder if the kit was ever tested, or if Tron was the first one to get that lift and I was the second? Bolt in brackets for the rear could have been easily welded on by the guy building the lift, (and then the consumer installs the bar after the lift is put on) Nothing was mentioned to me about putting the brace back there, I will say it now, Do not buy a 6 inch SJR lift for the 95-99 EJ body styles, unless he makes some drastic design changes. At least AA lift came with a guide on what was the easiest/fastest way to install the kit. And they have reinforcments welded in at stress points. I can say I beat my GL wagon to hell and back in the 8 years its been lifted and the body point failures were minimal compared to the destruction thats happened to my Outback in 6 months. The Outback got babied everwhere I went and yet I still see major failures in several areas? holes in the lift blocks having to be remilled because they we not drilled true, having to replace bolts that came with the kit with new bolts that actually fit tighter to limit movement. Oh heres some strut tower blocks, but I'm not going to tell you which direction they need to be installed..... So I'm open for suggestions, do I weld some C channel in there and reinforce everything or start from scratch and make a Solid axle rig? I'm so fed up with this that I might just start up my chevy project.. at least there will be a frame to bolt to

so you are going to tear apart a completely good 5MT to convert it to 4.44...... ? Or is the car already an automatic? IF so you need a 98 Forester tranny and rear end. And flex plate. Problem solved. 5MT is a completely different story. Have you ever had a 5MT apart before? Do you understand anything about sideload on bearings and pinion depth and how to set up a ring and pinion? If not I dont recommend getting into what you are talking bout. You have a 3 inch lift, meaning you might be able to fit ~27 inch tires under that car. A 2.2L with 3.9 gearing will turn those just fine. If you were trying to turn 29 inch tires with a EJ25D (where the power doesnt come on til 4500+rpm) then I'd say its time to regear. I have 29 inch tires on my outback with 4.11 gears and a EJ25D and it has no issues getting up and going. Your car is gonna most likely have a EJ22E and they make their power at the bottom end. Just sayin look into what you are wanting to build a bit before you start talking about major surgery on a tranny. Have you addressed the top hat issue with the struts yet? Legacy and Forester run the same size top hats on the struts, Impreza runs a smaller pattern.

short end goes to the rack longer sleeve goes to the steering column Thats commonly found on the Gen 2 Outbacks/Gen 3 Legacy (2000-2004) And on some of the older EA cars (power steering rack IIRC) I would avoid using that style because of the rag joint. Its gonna get hot when you weld an extension on the center of the shaft. The most modifiable ones are found on the 96-99 Outbacks

235/75/15 cheap tires that hold up good for a year or two. I'll get some pics tommorow after I vacumn up all the metal shavings and sound deadener chunks.

I just got done cutting into it, to see what all is involved. I think I'm gonna get rid of all of Subarus crap back there. The spare tire place is getting cut out completely and plated off into something useful like a toolbox. as for their so called floor back there, I'm gonna get rid of any single layer sheet metal (I dont see single layer being a structural support) but none the less I will be replacing what I cut out with 3/16" flat stock. I may add a crossbar in as well to keep the "frame rails" (Where the unibody is the thickest) and make a upper crossmember just to tie everything back together. C channel will be placed into the existing channel where the crossmember bolts up, then bolt the crossmember back in place, drive it to the shop where I can start welding everything back together. Now back to more cutting!

yea I checked with the megasquirt guru in town and he said no problem. Order the kit, help him on his 5.3L twin turbo El Camino project and he will do all the wiring and tuning for me.

just got back from the fab shop. Sounds like my fab guy is down to tube up the outback. So now I'm at a crossroad... Park the OB thats only seen maybe 5 days of mud since the lift and rebuild/transfer parts from my 86 GL to my 92 Loyale so I have something to wheel this summer. Found a set of Yota axles for 80 bucks. Rear and Steer. Fab guy has the tubing for 4 link and just happens to have a sammy T-case sitting on the shelf for me. EG33 + solid axles+sammy tcase + 33" swampers? hehehe

if I had a place to park it over the weekend, the entire rear lift would come off and be redone. Everything should be tied together as far as the front goes and then the rear on its own. I've found a few of issues with SJR 6 inch lift that needs to be improved on if the car is planned on being offroaded. It managed to baby it through the winter but now that its not just all wheel spin and crashing into soft snow all the weak points are starting to show. Lift blocks bending, not saying Scott did a bad job, the lift installed semi-nicely but there is definitely parts that could/should have had some reinforcements welded in. This cars never been jumped, mostly just snow bashing in hood deep snow. taken some hits in the front but never the rear. Makes me wonder if any of the guys that make track cars ever run into the fastener failure issue on the body? One would think autocrossing would but a fair amount of stress on a lot of the same locations. Rounding up the tools now, guess the good news is I get to rip the SVX today. hehehe time to listen to the catless system scream

replace the main o-rings to the compressor and evaporator and run R134a. But the bigger question is why do you think you'll lose whats in the system? The AC compressor bracket unbolts and lifts completely up off the motor. you can bungie cord it up to the hood hinges to hold it out of the way. And its a EA82 oil pump reseal, IIRC the AC pump doesnt get removed do the the job, you just have to take off the tensioner bracket.

thats kinda what I was leaning towards. I first thought of just plating it, but the C channel with give it a little more strength, and I can weld some reinforcements between the C to help strengthen it. I'm wondering if I just fix the one side, or do I get nasty and do the entire rear of the car? we just got mud and its time to play!

so what you are saying Monstaru is dish out a bunch of money to get custom coilovers built for a 500 dollar car? Logic isnt there mate. Which is why everyone's started modifying these cars at home in their garage. Everyone started somewhere, I'm sure you've had a rig with a rigged or sketchy part on it? How can it not be safe? The dangerous part is already done. There's no ill effect to a blown strut other than bad handling. Yall are making it sound like the car is going to randomly explode going down the road because he welded a strut.... Read the title above your avatar... "Bought And Built?" Kinda misleading. He bought a part, and built it to work for his car

Just wondering if anyone else out there has had any issues with the EJ cars and ripping out the captive nuts in the unibody? I ended up breaking off both captive nuts inside the unibody on the rear crossmember. Gutted the interior of the car last night, gonna goto the shop and drill into a junk Gen 2 Legacy body and find out exactly where those captive nuts are inside the body and try and figure a way to plate it and reinforce it. started getting a weird knock/clunk last night after wheeling. Had my wife grab the roof rack and shake the car side to side. Play @ the lift block and all bolts are tight... wooohoo for breaking stuff I guess

gotta realize, he basically did what others have already done on the board as far as welding on struts. I can think of a few rigs that have been on there that have welded struts. They may not have been designed the same way these were, but they were welded on none the less. The same exact "safety" thing and being on the road could be said about lifting these cars. Theoretically creating a part (even it being a strut spacer) creates more wear on the factory body, which could be considered just as dangerous. I know if I snap one of my drop down brackets on the rear of my front control arms, I'm going off into the ditch, possibly rolling my car, catching on fire and the story continues from there.... Or some of the "homemade" lift kits that guys have done, everything has its failure point somewhere, either it be a welded strut, or a SVX control arm welded onto the end of a EJ control arm. I'm not calling anyone out, or saying their work is crap or anything so dont read this the wrong way. I enjoy the hell out of a lot of these builds I've come across on the forums and I hope to continue seeing people pushing the limits of what a "grocery getter" or a "menopause mobile" can do.

Megasquirt as a stand alone system? Would stop the issue with the factory ECU trying to readjust everything. I was thinking Delta low end cams, and PnP the heads before they goto the machine shop to get surfaced and cleaned. I've got a buddy thats made an airplane run on Megasquirt, I'm sure we can make something use-able for a subaru 200hp @ the crank with an N/A motor is kind of my goal. I'd like more use-able power, (dont get me wrong I love my EJ25D above 4k rpms. Just sucks the TQ doesn't start til 3k or so)

well ya pistons hitting heads aint good, thats why I figured I'd ask here first. I'm not trying to make a non interference engine. I want this motor to be close enough tolerance that belt breaks @ high RPM, valves go thru pistons. Idea basically is max power output When you say the valve will protrude above the surface you mean at fully open correct? Got I wish there was a way to get a cutaway design on these engines, or a computer simulator to play with to see just how far we can go with these engines. I have access to a 99 2.2L but iirc they used oddball pistons in those, which makes me wonder if the valve quench area is different?

read this thread http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/125377-ej25-with-ej22-heads/ and started thinking about what else could be done to that setup. What compression ratio does the engine end up at with 22 heads on it? How much can or has someone taken off the heads? local machine shop said 95 22 heads the max is .05 but they've done .08 before. 0.1 possible? Basically what I'm getting at is how close can we get the valves to the block deck? I should know where the pistons sit @ TDC on a EJ25D block but I've never paid attention when doing HG's because I never turn the crank once the belts off. And I'm guessing I would use 22T headgaskets? And from what I've gathered it ends up being ~180 hp? So compression ratio is gonna go up so Its going to need higher octane fuel and maybe water injection? Kinda would like to see what could be gotten out of one of these setups with out a turbo or supercharger. Its going in an offroad rig so I dont need all the extra bs that goes with forced induction

you would have to use your 2.2 harness unless u want to pull a dash. Stick with the 2.2L. I have a 2.5L, they arent worth the hassle. HG issues, more prone to bearing failure. a 2.2 will run to 350k miles

ive put 13k miles on my car with my lift/struts/29" tires. axles are the least of your worries If you drive normally, not much is going to fail much faster.. Even with CV axles, they are 65 bucks and take 15 minutes to change.

only one EJ chassis on that run the "extra weight" that you add with a skid plate isnt going to hurt anything. Use one off a loyale and cut and reweld it to fit. I think mine weights under 10 lbs and if it wasnt on there, I would have replaced a dozen oil pans already in the 12k miles I've had my OB. Not to mention the EA oil pressure sender sticking down and out.... ouchy...

take the nuts off the motor mounts and lift the engine up an inch. if its a auto pull the TQ bolt out first, and when you separate the bellhousing the torq converter stays with the tranny sometimes the bellhousing and dowl pins will be stuck together do you may have to hammer a flat head screwdriver down in the gap to start separating them.

I'm going to be redesigning the rear diff mount, I dont like how they hang down with a big lift on it, Going to grind off the top of that mount, I saw rub marks from last light where getting highcentered pushed the driveline up enough to score a line into the shaft. Just checked the weather forecast, another week of snow and a possibility of rain. this crap needs to go away so I can get this project done.

~20 Psi Problem was the hard and soft spots. you walk 2 steps and fall in 2 feet, I dont think a subaru could have stayed on top unless it was on 35"s under 10 psi

thanks for the info. I may be having to hit him up for a few D/R's. I wanna get my stock pile of them before they are all gone. not to mention the RX rear diffs as well. Does the guy build turbo subaru's? I met a guy up here at one of the local subaru meets that was from wasilla and knew a lot of stuff about the newer soobs. I cant remember his name thou

perfect Gloyale, that should work. thanks!

Scored a 500 dollar Outback this last fall, 150k miles on the ticker. Car was driven to Alaska from New York. I expected a lot of rust and what not coming from the East Coast, but this thing was clean. So first thing I did to it was got rid of the factory exhaust, Forester struts/springs. SJR lift, 29" tires, skid plated up the front. Got rid of Subaru's horrible plastic bumpers, rockin the metal reinforcements atm. 2 10" light forces on the front, all Sony sound system with the exception of the sub. 1700 Watt Class D amp going to an Obcon Hidden chamber box with a 12" sub in it. Scored a factory receiver hitch and a bunch of other accessories that were an option for the OB. Blew reverse out on the first tranny, rolling on my second tranny now, Gotta say the forester 5th gear is nice when you get on the highway with 29" tires. 55 mph @ 2250 rpm Plans for this car: Dual Range EA tranny, possibility of a EG33 in it (doubt I'll find a clutch that will hold up to the TQ and HP the EG33 made thou) Probably going to switch out to SVX spindles/ball-joints similar to what Subafreak did. Receiver mounted winch is another item I'd like to get a hold of. And make a front bumper/skid plate thing with a receiver hit in the middle and on the outside edges along with a few handiman jack points. I wish I could find a VTD 4EAT and the 4EAT wiring to put in the car, I think the EG33 combo'd to a 4.44 with VTD would be an amazing off-road rig. building line pressure > dumping the clutch. Less shock on everything. Tested the 4.44 in my SVX for 2 years now of VERY hard driving and ice racing and the 4.44 seems to be one hell of a tranny, I dont know what they did differently in them compared to the 3.54, 3.9 and 4.11 4EATs but to me the 4.44 is the auto equivalent of the 6MT vs 5MT as far as strength/longevity