The Beast I Drive

I just run them out the sides because thats how I like them, but you can run them to the back no problem. Also, I used 18" long glasspacks -Bill

I think you have a problem with the vacuum secondary on the carb. I had a similar problem in my Brat when I drove it home from Idaho, I was cruzin about 60mph on the highway for about a half hour, and I let off the gas for some reason, but the car didnt slow down I finally got to a rest stop with a parkinglot and lights, and it turned out the rubber diaphram in the vacuum pot for the secondary has sealed itself up, so it just stuck open. I poked a hole in the diaphram with my knife, and it was fine from then on, no more problems at all. -Bill

Ok, its gettin about that time, and Im going to make a first run of Gen 1 lift kits These will be 4" kits, and will include 4" lift blocks, new Grade 8 USS mounting hardware, and new Metric bolts for the body You will be responsible for the steering link extension, shifter mods, and longer brakelines, as well as any related hoses/wires that might be needed to make it work. This is a special deal, for the first run, and I will sell these at a ridiculously low price of $200 plus shipping, but only for the first 5 buyers. Thats right, the first 5 kits will be just $200 plus shipping Good luck finding a deal like that ANYWHERE but here. Place your orders here, after the first 5 the price will be $350 for these kits. I dont have paictures yet, as I havent built one yet, but if you've seen any of my other lifts, you know this stuff will outlast the car, no questions. Everything will be 1/4" thick steel, boxed and braced where it needs it. This Offer ONLY applies to Gen 1 Brat/4wd lift kits. These kits will fit any 4wd Subaru from 1977-1979, Brats from 1977-1981, and possibly 1976-1977 Stage 1 4wds as well, but I'll have to check on that one. I will try to have these built and shipped before Christmas, at the very latest before New Year's. -Bill

Yeah, about that. I just use a knife and dig out under the nail. As it stands, the nail will be coming off soon, I am sure. If it doesnt fall off, Im pulling it off. I had something like this happen when I smashed my finger one time, when I lanced it, all kinds of nasty s*** came out, but then it kinda got real nasty under the nail, and I hade to remove a good chunk of it to clean it properly. Nasty stuff. Kinda gettin grossed out typing this. Thanks guys -Bill

For the EA71 in my Brat, I built my dual exhaust using 1 3/4 Primaries, an X-pipe under the trans crossmember made of 1 7/8, and I ran 1 7/8 pipe back to a pair of glasspacks, then 1 7/8 back to the back of the passenger compartment, where they do a 90 degree bend and go straight out each side. Its not loud until I REALLY get on it, but it has a ton of torque, and Ive had it up t0 over 75mph (stock 4 speed 4wd, fairly low 3rd and 4th gears) You dont want anythng bigger than 1 3/4 for the primaries on a EA71, you will lose all low-end power. It accelerates better than my RX did, and it has plenty of torque for off-road and such. I also am running a Weber carb, on a early 1400 manifold. -Bill

If you would be willing to wait for a month or so, I should have 4" Gen 1 Brat lifts ready to sell. Also, for 14" off-road tires, look for Maxxis Bighorns, Interco TSL's, or General AT2's, or if you want strictly off-road tires look at ITP Mud Lite XTR's. The Mud Lites are UTV tires, but they are radials and rated for 1000lbs at each tire. -Bill

Amazing pics, I dig the RWD drift Sedan and the white/blue lifted Sedan I want a Sedan to lift, I almost had one too, but I currently do not have a Sedan... -Bill

Lol. The Beast refuses to take T-case implants, its not part of it's contract Besides, thats what the Brat is gonna get built for -Bill

It could be a malfunctioning VLSD, like its working like ABS, only backwards, which isnt cool. Also, on a side note, VLSD are sealed units, IIRC you dont need to add LSD additives to the diff fluid. Other than that, I dont have any ideas -Bill

^ this x1000. I just need to learn to get off the gas The rear stubs are hollow because a bolt goes through them to secure them into the diff. Legacy's have solid ones because they are held in with circlips, and would most definitely be harder to change on the trail if I broke one. EA82's arent near as bad ablout splitting DOJ cups in the rear as the EA81's, I read somewhere its partially because the EA81 cups are cast, whereas the EA82 and up ones are forged. The axle length is a factor too, as the EA82 axles are quite a bit longer and can move a lot more at the trailing arm than the EA81 ones, without contacting the DOJ cup, hence breaking it. My problem right now is that I spin the wheels, and when they catch, something's gotta give. Id rather it be the stubs than the axles, so I think I'll just keep a full collection of stubs going until I think of something (or get setup with lower gears and more low-end power) -Bill

Welding the diff is 100% worth it, trust me. Breaking axles is not a problem, I have yet to break a rear axle. What happnes is the stub shaft on the diff will shear (being hollow and all ) and that saves your axle and your diff. It seriously takes about 5 minutes to change one out if you have a good jack and the right tools, usually the sheared end will slide right out. As for removing the stubborn stub, I found a pair of punches at home that I can drive into the hollow inside of the sub and they get wedged pretty good, then I just grab them and pull it out. Im keeping them in my tools from now on. The thing that breaks stubs is wheel spin. I learned that at Walker, if you get the wheels spinning and it catches traction all of a sudden, snap. Im considering making some late-model Legacy/EA82 hybrid axles, basically EA82 axles with late model innie-style stubs, because they are solid and *should* hold up a bit better, but that would mean something else would have to be the fuseible link. I guess I could just put shear bolts in at the pinion flange, cheaper and easier to replace than any other part of the driveshaft -Bill

I welded up my rear diff, so I have direct power to each side. Well, I got them spinnin good, and when the passenger side hit the rock it snapped, a lot like at Walker when I snapped on at the gate. Jeff, you should bring your wheeler over when you come get Butters, Wheel it once out here I might have a buyer for it when you decide to retire it too -Bill

Went out playin around at a little spot (40-50 acres or so) out East of Sunnyside with a couple buddies, its a neat place, not real huge, but its pretty challenging in places cuz some guys with a 12" lifted F-250 on 44's and a couple Jeep guys with huge tires tear it up pretty good. Its all sand, wet sand, and trees, so nothing is as easy as it looks Had a pretty good time, but my buddy with the shortbed Chevy got stuck good for a bout a half hour - 45 minutes or so, then I broke a diff stub trying to go around a rock pile. I will say though, my first time with a welded diff and Im never going back to anything else. Luckily it rained last night so I didnt have to ari down in the sand either Some shots of one of the short trails. You cant see it real well, but there are some ruts that are about 3 feet deep in the first and second pics, and remember, its all sand, not mud and dirt There is a LOT more, but we didnt really play in the other parts cuz we ran out of time and I ran out of space on my camera (128mb card, but I bought a 8G card immediately after this) At this point, he was REALLY stuck I was just chillin up ahead waitin for him I spent a lot of time Hecklin' and givin him a hard time about being stuck where the Subaru made it through (they always give me a hard time for driving a Subaru) But I got what I deserved in the end Snapped my Pass. side diff stub right there. Pretty much killed my day, cuz I couldnt get the sheared splined part out of the diff till I got home. It was still pretty fun while it lasted, hopefully next time Ill get more pics and some videos -Bill

Broke another diff stub here today -Bill

28s? Please, 32's FTW. Anything less than 30" wouldnt be appropriate for this rig, it has EJ power -Bill

I bought a regular E10 socket for 3/8" drive, then cut the drive end off it, turnd it on the lathe so it would fit in the stub, then welded it to a short 3/8" drive extension. It works perfectly, being able to use the extra leverage of the 3/8" ratchet is a big plus. I tried the 8mm 6 point socket, but for me it only worked 50% of the time, so I said screw that and made my own. -Bill

Yep, I welded up another hoop like the one on my Brat for Robbie's rig, its almost done now, headlight guards are next He's been wanting a lift now for a while, but i have to catch up on a few other kits first. Here's what I made last night The clutches in the LSD I had were not strong enough to be as effective as I would have liked at Walker (which is part of why I blew a couple stubs) so I sold the LSD and welded me up another diff Got it installed today when the Canadians came to pick up the Datsun I had for sale -Bill

Today's Safety Tip Of The Day today is wear steel toe boots when you put heavy S*** in a bench-top vice. Or clamp the vice tighter than you normally would. I just dropped a welded centersection of a 3.9 rear diff on my big toe. It hurts like a Mother******. Might have fractured it, but I have no health coverage, so I dont wanna find out. I can still move it, Im fine. But be careful people, s*** happens. -Bill

For your Imprezza, you want to use Forester struts, and yes, you have to replace all 4. You want first gen Forester struts, not sure what years those are though -Bill

You have to make the blocks with the 12 degree angle that the stock strut towers have. If you dont cut the blocks with that 12 degree angle, you will get massive F'd up camber, worse than you already have. If you make the blocks straight-cut, when you install them they will sit like this looking from the front of the car / \ which will push the top of the wheels out and make your camber look just like this \ ______ / 12 degrees is the factory angle, if you cut them a little more (say 15 degrees) you can get some negative camber, which will make the car handle better in turns. -Bill

I know for a fact the EA82 axles are much longer than the EA81 axles, both front and rear, which is part of why you can do a 2" suspension lift on an EA82 car (longer axles = less angle at the CV and DOJ). The rear axles on EA82's also have longer and stronger DOJ cups, which is why anyone who wants to wheel a Brat with a stock rear setup and a welded diff needs to build Hybrid axles (EA81 rear axles shafts with EA82 rear DOJ cups) or the stockers shatter like glass. The problem with trying to use EA82 axles on a EA81 car without modigying the suspension is that EA82 axles are too long. The track width of the EA81 is like 2 or 3" narrower than the EA82, making the axles at least 1" too long. This would be fine for full suspension droop, BUT under full compression, the axles will bottom out in the cups, and you get binding, grinding, and limited flex from the suspension. EA81 tranny stubs and N/A EA82 trans stubs are the same size and splines (23 splines) But I believe the axles may be different splines where they go into the race, I know there is a problem like that for converting EA81 axles to work with an RX trans that requires a conversion race, but cups for EA82 Turbo axles are different than regular ones (25 spline, also larger) In order to run EA81 axles reliably for the forseeable future on a car with 1" over stock lift on the front, longer DOJ cups are needed. So, first thing to measure is the length of the EA82 front DOJ's. If they are say 1/4"-1/2" longer, then the next step is to take measurements inside the cup, to deterimine if the EA81 ball and cage set will fit properly. If it doesnt match, then the next step is to see if the diameter and splines on the EA81 axle shaft match the EA82 axle shaft. If they do, then just pop on the race/cage and balls from the EA82 shaft. If they dont, then a conversion race would need to be sourced. Now, to go with, say, 2" if suspension lift, you would need even longer cups, longer than anything you will find on a Subaru, but you would also need high-angle CV joints (I keep hearing Porsche 930 CV's will do that) THEN figure out how to attach the non-Subaru parts to the Subaru axle. One other thought is dual Porsche 930 CV's with a slip-yoke shaft, then you couls run 3-4" of suspension lift as long as nothing on the engine crossmember or control arm will get in the way of the axle under full flex. -Bill

Paul Moosens has a kit for a Hitachi for sale in the Classifieds forum, check with him, see if it is for that carb He deals almost exclusively with Gen 1 and Gen 2 parts -Bill

Ive found that the rears on the EA82's can handle 2" over stock better than the fronts. The fronts run better at 1" over stock, but they do just fine at 2" over too. Ive been running the rears on the Beast at 2" over stock for 3 years and Ive never blown an axle. Ive torn the boots off the originals, but never broke one in any way. -Bill

Im planning on looking at the EA81 and EA82 front DOJ cups I have laying around, if the EA82 cups are longer, then I will try to find a conversion race to attach them to the EA81 axles, but if they are the same length then there would be no point in swapping them, as my problem is overextending the DOJ's. The CV's held up fine this time... What I plan to do for now is swap EA82 parts in the frontend, basically widening the track by about 3 inches, which will take some of the extreme angle out of the axles. I know EA82 axles can handle the 2" suspension lifts. Basically Im going to swap in custom plated lower A-arms, EA82 knuckles, EA82 axles, EA82 brakes and EA82 front struts, Ill just make custom lift blocks to go from the 2 bolt strut top to the 3 bolt. All this is really temporary anyway, but I want to drive/wheel the thing for a while until Im ready to build the custom suspension along with the T-case. -Bill

Hmmm, almost sounds like you have a bent strut stud at the top, or the strut top might be warped/bent, or something. I tried to look at the pics you had e-mailed to me, but I didnt want to register to a site I wont ever use... Next time have him attach the photos to the email from the computer Sounds like its almost taken care of, keep me informed -Bill