The Beast I Drive

There is a company called AuVeCo and they make almost any fastener, bolt, clip, screw, nut, etc. that you could ever, ever possibly find on almost any car. I know that Fastenal and Tacoma Screw both go to them as a source for obscure parts. Ive seen all the plastic clips ive ever seen in a Subaru in their catalog, so check them out -Bill

Well, I would, but I dont have any made up yet. But I do have some in the works, Im thinking of mailing them out to ya'll free when I get them made -Bill

Ok, shipping will be $70 anywhere in the lower 48. Im PM'ing ya'll my Paypal info now Scott, how do you wanna do the trade? -Bill

They are in transit, they just have not arrived yet. They are Metric bolts, an assortment of M10x1.25 and M12x1.25, I plan on including all new Metric bolts to replace most of the old ones that get removed when the kit is installed, the bolts I ordered are EXACT replacements for the factory bolts (lockwasher and flatwasher pressed onto shank, smaller JIS heads) and are aparrently VERY hard to get, at least in my area... For the most part you *could* re-use all the bolts that get removed, with the exception of the 2 that hold the front of the diff, the stockers are about 4 1/2" long, and with the lift they need to be about 1" long. -Bill

Well, still no bolts yet so I am quite irritated over that, hopefully they will arrive before new years though. The lift blocks are finished though The strut blocks are marked with a P and a D (passenger side, Driver side) and an arrow that should point to the front of the car when installed. Most of the other blocks are completely interchangeable left or right, any that arent will be marked. I will get this kit on the scale tomorrow and get a shipping quote and then its just a matter of waiting for my damned metrics to come. -Bill

They will all be ready tomorrow if my bolts come, thats really all I am waiting on, I just have to finish welding up a couple strut tops and get some pics and wiegh them for shipping. I definitely havent forgotten about or deal -Bill

Ok, one last proposal for you guys, let me know what you think. Due to the weather, it going to be hard for me to actually go cut up my parts Brat to make the jigs to brace the tranny blocks and rear inner torsion bar blocks together within my deadline, so I am asking if you wouldnt mind taking a raincheck on those parts. I have a full kit installed on my Brat, and I do not believe that not having the bracing will be any problem at all, as I know these rigs will not be hardcore wheeled like the EA82's. Its more than stable as it sits right now. So, I intend to ship the kits with individual blocks as seen in the photos above. In the spring, when I can get my car cut up and jigged up to do all the bracing, I will offer the new connected parts to you all, and I will ship them to you at no charge, just send the individual parts back to me when you get the new connected pieces. Let me know if you like this idea, if not, then I will bust rump roast to get them all braced now, but this would definitely make things easier for me right now -Bill

Try out the Search box, up in the task bar next to the New Posts button. Several people have done EJ swaps into Gen 1 Brats. You will more than likely need to notch out the framerails to clear the valvecovers, and you will need at the very least to swap in a D/R 4 speed from a '81+ Brat/any other 4wd, but a 5 speed is the best transmission you will find. The 4 speeds are known for losing 3rd and reverse, bad synchros, noise, grinding, sloppy linkage, and just an overall weak design, whereas the 5 speed is pretty much the exact same internals as the early Legacy or Impreza transmissions, and typically do not have the problems normally associated with the 4 speeds. The 5 speeds will not just swap in like the 4 speed though, you will have to do some clearancing in the tranny tunnel to clear the wider box of the 5 speed (unless you lift your brat at least 2-3") and you will need to make custom shift linkage and modified transmission crossmember. The 5 speed linkage is nothing at all like the 4 speeds (which mount on the actual transmission) and it mounts to the underside of the trans tunnel. You will also have to have a custom driveshaft made to use a 5 speed, as they are about 9 1/2" shorter (or something like that) than the 4 speeds. For wiring you will just have to get some good diagrams and merge the legacy engine harness and ECU into the Brat harness. Numchux here on the board makes conversion harnesses for EJ's into the later EA82 style vehicles, but I do not know if he will make one for a gen 1. You can buy EJ-EA adapter plates that will mate the EJ to the 4 speed D/R or the 5 speed D/R from Rguyver and SJR, or you can make one. You will need the flywheel that matches the transmission, whatever you choose. -Bill

To add to that 5MT Turbo, 2wd/4wd - 25 spline axles 5MT Non-Turbo, 2wd/4wd - 23 spline axles 3AT Auto, Turbo, Non-Turbo, 2wd/4wd - 23 spline axles Not sure on the 4EAT Auto cars, but I *think* they are all 25 spline axles as well. -Bill

Looks to me like he is only going to be using the clamp bolt on the knuckle to hold the bottom of the Miata struts in the front, and he has custom strut tops for the front that gave him some nice - camber and a little extra - caster. If it were me, I'd prolly try to weld a tab onto the struts like on the stock EA82 front struts. the rears, from what I read in Chux's threads are pretty much bolt-in with minor mods. EA82 front knuckles are almost identical in design to the EA81 knuckles. -Bill

Gen 1 Brats here only came with 4 speeds. I know what part you are talking about, it attaches to the pitch stopper bar with a nut and it looked like a cable, and it attaches to the tranny with a little bracket and a rubber bushing. I have no clue what the intent of it was when designed, other than *maybe* to take stress off the weak transmission mount design. I know that some early 78's did not come with it, they just had the pitch stopper bar. As long as you have good tranny mounts you are fine with taking it off, but I might have an extra laying around if you want to fix it -Bill

A couple more teasers for ya'll With this kit, you will go from this: To this: Im having a small issue with my Metric bolts, I got them ordered, and they shipped about 3 weeks ago. The nuts have come in, but the bolts are still in transit I am told so hopefully they will be delivered come Tomorrow morning, or some heads are gonna roll. Partially due to the bolt setback, the estimated shipping date will be the first week of January, no later. I will PM all of you when I have the kits wieghed, PM me with your shipping info and I will get quotes for the shipping. Thanks! -Bill

I dont know about the 81's, but in my 85 Brat there is a fuse that covers the dash lights and tail/marker lights. Mine kept blowing all the time, so I checked it out and it was the tail lights grounding out because they were caked with mud, and when they got wet it blew the fuse. Check all the connections at all your external marker lights and the tail lights. -Bill

I didnt think of it before, but you might have to upgrade your fuel pump to a MPFI EA82 pump, what year EJ ro you have? the SPFI pump works fine for most, but Ive seen cases where it cant pump enough fuel for WOT and the engine starves, but that was with EJ25 4-point injectors, not the stock single point injectors of the early EJ22's. -Bill

Its pretty straightforward, take off the plastic hatch cover, carefully as to not break those precious plastic clips, then undo the 2 10mm nuts on the handle, and you will have to dink around with the actuator rod from the handle to the latch, but all in all its super simple. -Bill

I fixed that problem -Bill

Looks great Scott! This thing should be a beast, Im curious to see what kind of torque it will make with the Delta cams -Bill

3eyedwagon, you sir, have fully voiced my exact opinion of the people of Seattle. I applaud you Its true, if it weren't for the huge population of overly demanding, pathetically ignorant, and sometimes downright stupid people, the world would be a better place. And salt would not be sprayed on the roads. Most of the people who "want" salt, dont keep their BMW's and Lexus's long enough to realize what salt does to cars, so they just dont care. Factor in that the EPA and the Auto industry would rather have you trade up to the newer, more effecient models as soon as possible, and its just a tough, tough fight for car enthusiasts of every kind everywhere. On a side note, I actually love the way the county handled our first snow, by doing absolutely nothing to any road that is not a state highway It keeps the idiots away from my house and I get to have a blast! Sometimes I feel like the only one in town who actually enjoys driving on ice and compact snow, when you know the limits of your vehicle and are aware of your conditions, there is nothing more dangerous about winter driving than summer driving. Unfortunately, many, many people dont understand. I watched a guy 2 days ago, he couldnt keep his explorer on the road in town, driving straight, at 10 mph. He almost front-ended an oncoming pickup, after which I and the driver of the pickup both silently acknowledged the Explorer Driver's winter incompetence with the symbolic head shake -Bill

PM me, I make them. If you want bigger tires, the only sizes you will find for the stock 13's will be 185/80R13, and those are getting hard to find anymore. You will want to keep on the lookout for a set of 14" Pugeot wheels, you can get up to 29" Super Swampers in 14" rim size. -Bill

If you already have the PS rack, you can avoid trying to find scarce EA81 PS parts and install the much easier to find EA82 power steering pump using my adapter kit This will give you 2 advantages over the stock EA81 setup. First, the parts are easier to find for the EA82 units, and second, there is no tensioner hanging down in harms way on the passenger side head to get reipped off off-road. Here it is mounted on a EA81. Works with SPFI conversions and Weber carb conversions. -Bill

if you adjust them all the way up, you gain between 3/4" to 1" of lift. -Bill

You could use the front suspension out of any EA81 car, FWD or 4WD, the only thing different is the FWD didnt have the adjustable front springs. IIRC, it will all bolt-in, you need the EA81 control arms, knuckles, balljoints, struts, and radius rods. I believe the stock axles would still work, I think I measured all these parts because I plan on doing the same on a couple of my Brats as well. -Bill

Are you getting just the struts or the springs as well? the struts for your Brat will not have adjuster bolts under the spring perch, and the tab for the bolt that atached it to the knuckle will be facing the center of the car, not the front like on the Gen 2's. What do you mean by swapping an EA81 frontend into your Brat? Like, the suspension? Or the whole drivetrain? -Bill

What are your plans for the parts car after you have removed what you want? Does it have a title? How rusty is it? I might be interested in buying the leftover vehicle from you, let me know! -Bill

You need a combination of XT6 parts and ideally some Legacy/Impreza parts. You need the XT6 front control arms, Legacy/Impreza front struts and knuckles, XT6 front axles, and XT6 rear hubs. You can use XT6 front knuckles and struts, but they are slightly different from the Legacy/Impreza stuff, and you will be limited to the stock XT6 brakes. With the Legacy parts you can put WRX calipers and rotors on. At least so Ive heard. Im not a 5 lug junky, I lift my rigs and drill out Toyota rims But from what I have seen in person and read here those are the ideal parts for the swap. Numbchux and many others can help more if you have more questions. -Bill