Uberoo

The first part of the thing would be to source 4wd EA82 rear suspension, and a 4wd transmission.Lifting a FWD is teh silly.

Like a bolt of lightning I was struck by inspiration on how to proceed. Damned noise ordinances or I would be out there right NOW!!!!! cutting and grinding stuff.Now to wake up early and get a head start on this.

The more I think about it, I'm not even sure why the cross member needs to be removable.I'm building a tubular "frame", and I'm building a tubular crossmember, why would the cross member have to be removable? On my dodge dakota there isn't a removable engine cross member.The frame itself has a engine cradle built right in that also mounts the suspension and steering rack.Exactly as my tubular cross member would do.

So yesterday my mom asked me what I wanted for christmas, I'm pretty well satisfied with what I have right now,if anything I need steel to finish my brat.So I told her I really could use a couple dollars worth of steel to finish my projects.Long story short my christmas gift was a stick of 1.5x095,2 sticks of 1.5x083, and a 2'x3' section of 18 gauge steel.So with new steel at hand I went right to work making progress* on the brat.*Progress that looks suspiciously like destruction. So I cut out this section of the floor to make room for some TOOB that will form the basis of a subframe that connects the front and rear together, and gives me a sturdy place to mount the Tcase and its assorted hardware to. Heres what it looks like from inside the car. the tube will pass under the seat mount and sit on top of the floor in that low hanging section behind the seats then it will punch through the back wall to where it can connect to the rear blocks. I wanted to cut out more of the framerail on that side to make room for tOOb but I'm kinda stumped on how to make the crossmember bolt holes in the tube.Before I cut away all of the frame rail I should make something that locates those bolt holes in each frame rail. I'm not sure if having the crossmember mounts on a gusseted tab off the tube or having the bolts pass through a sleeve in the middle of the tube would be better.

So Ive been busy with school and other various life BS so I just have't had much time to even look at it let alone work on it.Whatever free time I had to used it on other less productive activities like sleeping or playing video games because I was kinda in a slump.I need money to buy tube for the underbody and front end, but with no money to do those things I just kinda put it off.Then my sister asked me if I would house sit their house and pets while she was away for her honeymoon at the tune of $100 a day,so of course I said yes.It will be nice to have some money coming in as I get a ton of free time.So anyway, today I was supposed to study for my final on monday, but things got in the way,at 8PM I said screw it and finished most of the RR fender on the brat.I also stuffed a tire on to help me visualize shock placement. That tire is a "31x10.5x15" but its wore out so it only measures about 29",that is about an inch lower than ride height. I might need some fender flares. lol. Here is a shot of the mostly completed fender,I still have a little patch panel to make up at the top of the wheelwheel, and make the piece that the lights will mount into. a shot showing just how far the tire sticks out from the body work...

Oddly enough to get more front end grip especially on gravel or other loose surfaces the ideal setup is no sway bars with stiffer springs.

Do you even know how to google? 5 minutes with google answered all those questions.

Air time.You mad bro?

Wait, I thought you were supposed to hit them that fast.

My definition is when 50% + of the drivetrain by weight is not the original manufacture. A jeep with a 350 chevy v8, atlas transfer case, 4 linked prorock dana 60s,etc is not a jeep anymore.Still cool,but at that point I don't really think it can be considered a jeep anymore.At that point rather than a "jeep", making it to the top of the obstacle it would be a "creation" of the owners imagination. But on the flip side, use a mopar engine/transmission/transfer case in the jeep and it is still a jeep. Dana axles on a toyota would be a downgrade,unless your talking 60's. Even a divorced Tcase subaru is still a subaru because if its running the subaru engine/transmission(from any year),and rear diff(X2).With only the addition of a transfercase changing power delivery. My hatch was still mostly subaru,using mostly subaru parts in a combination that subaru never intended. like I said though.That brat is just barely in the category of what could still be a subaru, because it has a subaru engine,and transmission(I think), but then has toyota axles.Its on that razers edge and could easily swing both ways.

That would be subaru +++,but its a little close to the edge of what could be called a subaru.

That may be alittle high but now you have a fantastic place to run the exhaust y pipe. If I may though did you weld that or did a shop do it?If a shop did it how much did they charge? Also do you have any moar pictars of the tcased beast?

You might be able to retrofit deeper R&P gears in the transmission, then just change out the rear diff.I think its possible to put 4.44 gears in the 5 speeds with out the dual range stuff in the way.That or the 5 speed transmission in the 04+ forester xt's have 4.44, verse the 4.111 you have now.

Defeating the crumple zones of the factory brat front end is a bit "fun".Newer cars are designed so that the entire front end balls inward to progressively absorb the energy from a collision.After looking at the brat it was designed so the lower "framerail" from the firewall forward would crumple so the engine would go under the passenger compartment (good).Its a shame I have to defeat it to make the front section strong enough to survive stuffing the front end into the dirt or a boulder while off road.All this discovery came about after cutting the lower front frame rails to just before the rearward most cross member bolt hole so I can move the engine rearward 7".I would move it back further, but that would need major firewall surgery and the engine would try to occupy the same space as the heater-no bueno. Heres what is left of the lower "frame rails" What the "structure" inside looks like. Finally a view from the top. It looks like in order to make the front end strong enough I will have to remove that "framerail" section from just under the firewall,and rebuild the structure with tube and plate the firewall. Unless anyone has any other ideas. *progress has been slowed to more or less a halt due to the wonder combination of no free time and no income.

Stockish subaru: EA81 hatch,EJ22,29" tires,welded rear diff. Subaru + : Same as above but divorced transfer case, and 31" tires. Subaru ++: Same as above but modify suspension for better travel.

I have a friend that for his senior project he fixed up a 78 mercedes 300CD(with a great deal of my help) to at least a running,reliable,daily driver status.He has been driving it for a year,but he is not really an enthusiast when it comes to spending time behind the wheel. With the way the weather looks to be shaping up it looks like we could be getting alot of snowfall around here this winter.With as much time and effort I have invested in the car I would hate to see it in a ditch the first snow storm.Although to be fair he could probably drive it through a house with nothing more than a scratch.Still though I would like to head up to gravel parking lot up in the woods(doesn't everyone know where one of those is) to have him practice hard stops, emergency lane changes, and skid recovery in a reasonably controlled environment.Not enough for him to become a rally driver by any stretch of the imagination but just enough that he doesn't wreck it when "drive slow,and leave plenty of stopping distance" fails him.Problem is traffic cones are damned expensive,and I was just wondering if you guys could recommend something that would be cheap enough to get lots of and flimsy enough to break lots of them with no damage to the car?

after a full day of cutting,forming,and welding patch panels, I got 1/2 the fender done.Yes, I know my welds suck.My mig machine doesn't really make a clear arc at the settings for 20-22 gauge so I set it for the 18 gauge steel I was using as patch panels and ending up almost spot welding the whole thing because otherwise I would burn through.Or there was still undercoat contaminating the weld, or it was upside down...On well, as soon as I get a new flap wheel the welds are getting knocked down again.

So I'm thinking about shortening the front end,if I can think of a way to shorten the front and still have all the body lines to line up, I'll do it.I need to go get a fender and maybe a hood to experiment on first though.While I am mulling over the front, I started the long process of piecing together the rear of the brat.Here is a construction pic of a patch panel and some of the gap filling that I need to do to make it as structually sound as it was before i hacked everything up.I'll make patch panels for the larger gaps..

Anyone know any old school hotrod sheetmetal type work?I'm looking at everything and if I have to modify the front tube work/frame rail I might as well shorten the front as well.With the engine shoved so far back and no radiator up front,there is no reason for the front to be as long as it is.I'm stumbling on how to actually shorten the sheetmetal have have the body lines line up.I messed around in paint and it looks like with 4-6 sections cut out of the front fenders I could shorten them.The front fenders slope downward so to shorten them the corner marker lights would need to be moved back and upward slightly to meet up at the body line at the top of the fender.Then the body line in the front section would need to be moved to meet up with the existing line. Like so; the red lines are cut lines and the grey lines are body lines. Shortening the hood would involve a lot of cutting and sectioning to get the raised center portion to line up.

Pictured is a EJ22 starter,and right now I'm trying to figure out if there is any reason why it can't be used because it is shorter (and fatter) than an EA starter.I lined up an EA82 starter and the EJ starter and I'm not really seeing why it couldn't work. Both pinion gears seem to stick out the same length(pushed out/sucked in) from the mounting flange,and both have 9 teeth.

So I re-enrolled in college to learn drafting and work on my math while I am there.The plan is get a job drafting at least until I can get a degree in mechanical engineering.Anyway, college started back up and I've been a little busy as of late.In order to even think of building a rollcage I need to get the engine semi-permanently mounted in place to figure out where to run tubes to tie everything together.One thing I didn't like my tcase hatch was how far forward the engine ended up being,because I mounted it 8" above where it normally would have mounted with out moving it rearward.So today I set out to address that and I moved the engine as far rearward as I can,which as it turns out is roughly 5-7 rearward of the original position.It required bit more cutting of the transmission tunnel and while I was there I cut out the original shifter holes on the tunnel to make room for the suzuki samurai transfer case.Here is roughly how far back I can stuff the engine,its about a foot from the where the grill will sit. and there is just enough clearance for starter removal It will require more "frame" modifying and reworking my tube front end because the engine will need to sit offset to passenger side a couple inches so the starter can clear the brake booster,and the entire combo will need to point toward the center of the car to keep drive shaft angles from getting too extreme. Next project I'm gonna write down everything I want to do and how best to achieve those goals before I ever pick up the torch/welder.I'm tired of having to redo my previous work.

looked like fun,but your rig has alot of creaking and banging going on.Did you strap a couple frying pans to the side of it?

and weigh 70 lbs. Nah, the low seat height gives me alot more room to install a rollcage.

351,4 speed manual,spooled toyota rear axle,and from a pic I saw of it without the wheels on-coilovers in the rear,and springs/shock combo in the front.looked like toyota hubs/brakes connected to mustang suspension up front.

So I have an 83 mazda RX7 that I would like to put a phase 1 ej22 in.While I am at it there is a few issues with the front suspension I would like to address. 1: despite the car's sporty nature it has truck type recirculating ball steering which is sloppy and lacks steering feedback. 2: the entire front suspension is weak and failure prone when abused in gravel or rough roads like those around here. 3.The car has a 4x110mm lug pattern on the wheels,and the cars with 4x110 are : old rx7's and 626's.Neither option came with 14+ wheels.My RX7 is rocking the 13" alloy wheels it came with,but to get good tires I would need to step up to atleast a 15" wheel. To address all those problems I was thinking of just getting a 89-94 legacy or 92-94 imp and swap its front crossmember,engine/transmission,and rear brakes into the RX7.No, the awd is not being swapped. The front track width on a lego is a mere 0.9" wider than the rx7,and the lego has rack and pinion steering and rally proven suspension. While in stock form the rx7 has a respectable 6.1" of ground clearance, I would feel a bit more secure driving on the roads around here with a little more ground clearance and some strong and durable LT tires.The smallest LT tires I can find are about 27" tall needing about a 2-3" lift to clear them.With that much lift, I bet it would look pretty sweet dressed up like an old safari rally car: like this: or like this: so with that being said is there any practical differences between lego and imp front suspension that would make fitting 27" tires easier?