Uberoo

I wasn't fed enough fertilizer growing up and I can't seem to find any that works so adjusting driver height isnt much of an option.

because if somehow I screw up wheeling a subaru enough to need a rollcage, id like to think that I would atleast pull my head back in the car.

yea but the padding still needs to hard enough to stop my head from hitting the steel tubes.Soft padding just crushes too easily to be any use.

How much strength would I lose if I put the main hoop as close as possible to outside edge of the cab wall rather than inside the cab?A normal internal cage would make the car a helmet only vehicle because right now there is about 7" from my head in any direction.A rollcage + padding could easily reduce that down to 4" or less.I'm thinking I could run the A pillar bars so they punch through the roof by the windshield then run along the roof before meeting up with the main hoop.Than it would still have a windshield bar and a dash brace the same as normal. something like this: it would still be tied into the front and rear bumpers,as well as shock/struts, just the main hoop and part of the A pillar bars would be outside the cab.

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I took some pics of my friends truck for inspiration.I thought it was a class 8 but its just a chase truck built in the 90's.Still though it was built to 1990's score rules so at the very least its still usefull as a play thing.

Why? its an offroader the body is supposed to get damaged.I'm more worried about the A pillars collapsing during a roll than I am about body damage.Besides its very difficult to brace an exocage enough so it doesnt crush.A couple diagonals with a rollcage and its set.

So this is what I had in mind.I modified this rollcage image with red tubes to show what I was thinking. my paint skillz suck so bear with me. I'm thinking 1.5 x.095 might be a touch small so with extra tubes it should make up for it.

What was that cage built for?

So what pieces on the roll cage need to be made from a single piece and what tubes can be branching off the main tubes?Ive seen designs where the A and B pillars are Inverted U's with everything else fitted out of other tube.Ive seen where B pillar is a inverted U and the A pillars are a continuous piece from the floor up to the B pillar.Another design is B pillar is an inverted U with a roof hoop.Finally Ive seen designs where the A pillar and the rear supports are one continuous piece.What is right or strongest? Also is 1.5x0.95 strong enough for a subaru?The next size option is 1.5x.120 and .120 wall anything is heavy as !@#$.

So I found a new friend who could help build a rollcage, as well as advise me on other things, for more or less free other than the cost of tube.Back in the 90's he was involved in desert racing,and has a kick a55 class 8 68 ford truck.In addition to his technical knowledge on truck design he might have a way to make some income by helping him lay down vinyl and/or carpeting.. Anyway, on to the meat and potatos of the story.He could easily bend up a rollcage for the brat,better still that rollcage could be incorporated into the entire vehicle.After a bunch of mockup and head scratching I found a place that I could punch tubes through the firewall to tie the rollcage to the front bumper and suspension mounts.My next question is how can I reinforce the lower "frame" of the brat to take the abuse?He liked my tube work up front but said that the sheetmetal behind it will just collapse the first time the bumper is tested against something or the skidplate hits the ground hard.He suggested that we run a tube from one end of the brat to the other and tie it into the existing unibody structures.While that would would it would also be heavy.Instead of that do any of you have any ideas on how to brace the lower frame so between them and the other body structures the front end is strong enough.Here is pic of the "frames" in question.The driver side "frame" already buckled slightly from some previous abuse.In the upper left corner you can see a "circle" I drew to indicate where the upper tube from the rollcage could come from.

See the thread "lift block height" for more pics of it.I started that thread to ask questions and it turned into a build thread.Eventually I will make its own dedicated build thread once its done..

From the lack of responses I'm gathering that no one has modified the hood like that. A quick drawing in autocad tells me that in stock form there is a roughly 13.6 foot blind spot from the front of the car to the ground.Cutting the hood down just 2" would reduce that blind spot by 2 ft. I can see how it might help something like a full size truck but I'm not really sure if it would make much of a difference on a subaru.It would improve visibility by 15%, but I'm not really sure how much of a real world effect that might have. Edit:A bone stock subaru would have blind spot 3" longer than the modified hood. In other words a subaru that is 7"(lift+tires) taller than stock increases the blind spot by 2 feet.Interesting.

I found a new friend with a tube bender and technical knowledge of building rollcages so I was thinking of putting a rollcage in my 78 brat off road project.However, one thing that is scaring me is the thought of removing the windshield and the rear window to get to all the various weld joints.Despite many attempts I have yet to remove an original windshield from any car without cracking it.One of the major downsides to my brat is the fact that body parts like glass and seals are virtually impossible to find anymore, so one little slip up and I wont have a windshield anymore. So I am looking for advice on how to remove the windshield and rear window with the greatest chance of success. Also rather than punching holes through the floor and main structure of the car to weld the tubes together I was thinking it might be easier to just drill out all the spot welds holding the roof skin on, but I am wondering if all of the spotwelds are accessible once the windows are out?I briefly looked at it and it looks like there are roughly a billion little spot welds in the rain gutters,and presumably in the metal lips for the window seals.Any other spot welds in weird locations? thanks in advance.

Looks like you still need a bit more massaging at the rear of the front fenders and front of the rear fenders,but other than that MUCH BETTER!

The biggest problem with the oddis is they don't have a low range,any they are also more expensive VW's with many of the same problems. However, with the torsion limited slips it might do ok offroad,assuming that you never lift a tire because it needs resistance from both tires to work,lift a tire and your back to open diff.

If you look at a stock hood it is reasonably flat, then it bends downwards to meet the grill.I'm wondering if anyone has ever modified the hood so it more or less goes straight from the windshield down to the grill without the downward bend at the front.The old baja trucks based off 70's fords and what not had something similar to what I am describing because the factory hoods on those monsters was 6-8" taller than the grill. Essentially it ended up looking something like this: the hoods were modded like that,because it would give you an extra 5-6 ft of visibility to avoid something.5 ft of extra visibility offroad would do wonders for showing the trail up a head. With my brat at best I could drop the hood only about 2" at the front. Basically cut out the large section of the hood in the middle,then cut alone the tape line where the hood starts to bend down.flatten the bend out and reweld the center piece of the hood so its a straight shot from the windshield to just above the grill.Its the basic gist of the idea. Yesterday I saw an old class 6 baja chase truck at a car show and I liked how the hood on it looked,and it got me thinking again.

Still have it. $20 shipped.

EDIT: Remembered how much suck that is flux core welding.5 minutes of flux welding and it set me back a good 1/2 hour.Id rather do nothing that let flux core wire go through my welder again.

So due to the fires/smoke and 100*F+ days I haven't been able to get much done.The garage is needed to park a car next to the brat so I have been working on the rust repair on the right rear corner. I cut out all the rust and welded in a patch panel Then I remade the inner brace Then I made the lower edge of the sill. I made some pieces to connect one of the inner layers with the outer skin but I neglected to take pics of them.I did weld on the outer skin,somewhat, anyway. The ground down area in the center of the plate is where I cut a slit and welded it to the inner layer.Then I ran out of shielding gas. I have a little bit of flux core I could use,but other than that I'm broke and with no money coming in progress is essentially stopped.

no luff for trackers huh?

Here is the pics of the little critter as it got it. Its been offroaded a bit but it was never beat on too hard because it was a daily driver..Now to clean it up and see what I got.

I just picked up a 91 geo/chevy/suzuki tracker.Its a 2dr hardtop with 4wd and a manual transmission. It.It has the stock 205/70/15 tires on 3/4 wheels, while the RF tire is a 215/70/15.I have some 10-15% tread 31x10.5x15 that I will throw on it just to get all of the tires roughly the same size.. My goal for this little tracker is more of an "expedition" vehicle than all out offroader. For the mean time I will use it as a light and nimble vehicle to explore some local trails. Eventual plan is a 2" suspension lift,some decent tires and some stronger bumpers. However, my two tone tan and brown dodge dakota has spoiled me with its +10 stat bonus for stealth.Ive gotten away with some amazing stuff in the truck because it looks like something an old guy might drive and its quiet.It just doesnt look special in any way. My question is how can I make the tracker still be reasonably effective offroad,without drawing unnecessary attention to it? I'll post some pics when its light.

Its not just autozone that remanned stuff is crap,it everywhere because only a few national companies rebuild the various parts.For example CV axles are rebuilt by A1 cardone, from there they go to the local autozone/orielies/napa/etc The only difference is a part in a "napa" box can charge a premium over a box that is "duralast" even though 9 out of 10 times its the exact same part made in china or taiwan.

1. struts don't use grease.Way to heavy and would cause your sticking issue.Instead try 10 or 15w motorcycle fork oil. 2. remaned parts store ANYTHING is crap.A used OEM alternator/cv axle,etc would be better than a reman. Rebuild your stock alt if a used one isnt available. 3.OEM thermostat.PERIOD.END OF STORY.