The Beast I Drive

Well, the stacks were connected, but I had to take off the exhaust, to repair the damage, make a few upgrades, and to fit the lift. Hopefully by next week Ill have the oil pan fixed and the new exhaust rigged up and drive it a little (on the street tires of course, these arent street legal ) -Bill

I got the 3" lift blocks installed on my Brat. I still have a ton of work to do to it yet, but its starting to look like a real Brat now Summit Racing sent me the wrong shocks though so Im off to re-order those now -Bill

Got some progress done tonight, I got all the lift pieces installed, now I just need to fix a bolt that broke off on the upper driver-side rear shock mount, modify the shifter a little, and lengthen the steering link, then I can re-do the exhaust and replace the oil pan. UPS surprised me today, my new Rancho shocks came that was fast. BUT, the catch is, they are not even close to the shocks I ordered.:mad: so I have to return them ASAP and get the right ones. I also got the steel to make my bumpers, Im doin something a little different and I have never seen before for my front bumper, so we will see how it turns out. Also still need to replace my lower control arms with modified and plated ones, and lengthen the radius rods 1" as well as bracing them with a sleeve of pipe or tubing. -Bill

IIRC, the EA81 cable has a different mounting affair at the firewall than the EA82 cables. Also, i dont know if its long enough. There are 2 or 3 different cables for the EA82s, I know the Turbo MPFI cable is different than the carb'd cable. Did you ask the parts places for a 88-89 GL throttle cable? -Bill

Jeff, do you have to pass emisions in that car? If not, just take off the cast iron spacers and use an EA82 Y-pipe, and cut the flange to rotate it 90 degrees and use the other pair of holes. I always take those stupid spacers off my EA81's. -Bill

Shortcut to the chart that matters http://www.innovativebalancing.com/BigTirechart.htm -Bill

http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=84873 In this thread, I found this link http://www.innovativebalancing.com/ There ya go -Bill

The tires should be grippy in almost any terrain, and they are ATV tires. The plan is to get this rig out of the shop ASAP, then build a couple EA82 lift kits and other parts, then do a lift and some other custom work on Schatzi's Hatch, make a prototype lift kit for Monstaru's Outback, then I will roll a Gen 1 into the shop to begin making Gen 1 lifts... Im shooting for before Christmas on the Gen 1 Lifts The stacks are my thing, They look really tall right now, but when I make my hi roll bar and mount the off road lights they will be the perfect height. Not to mention they sounded totally awesome before I screwed up the passebger side header.... -Bill

Well, as most of you know, I have a lot of projects that enter my shop and must be put on hold well before being finished. Well this one is less-extreme (for now) and I should be able to have it done before the snow hits. My '85 Brat is in dire need of some attention, after I ripped off an exhaust header and punch a gaping hole in the oil pan. I then traded the chrome wheels and 185/80 tires to Robbie, and the Brat was relegated to storage duty. Well Ive finally got it in the shop, I moved it in mostly to get it out of the rain (really bad leaking windshield) and have begun some work to it. Its getting a 3" lift (for now), and 27" Maxxis Bighorns on 14" Pug steels, and as a bonus, I had my 27" ITP Mud tires mounted on some FREE 14" Mazda chromes that I redrilled, so it should be a blast in the snow I got my oil pan gasket today, so I need to coat it with RTV, then drop the exhaust (im re-doing it with an X-pipe and to fit with the lift) and then I will install the lift and the rear disk brakes from my old RX. After that, I will track down the short that keeps bloing my tail light/dash light fuse, then I will make some HD bumpers and a skid plate (in addition to replacing the lower radiator support ) and it will be off to the glass shop for a new winshield and gasket. What I have to work with now The carnage In some of its former glory And now some teasers (no lift on it yet) Ill post updates hopefully this weekend -Bill

That thing is F**KING NUTS!!!!! I love it! Lemme know if you want to upgrade to a 6" lift for some extra tire clearance.... What are you going to do for the lower ex-radiator support? Are you gonna make a badass Mad Max bumper to help protect that beast? -Bill

Talk to Jerry and Robbie, they have done at least one successful EJ harness swap, and Jerry is usually more than willing to help. If you need more help, I can try my hand at it, but Im going to be pretty busy with my fabrication and lift kits and stuff... -Bill

I would definitely pick it up, EA81 coupes are one of the coolest Subarus of the 80's IMO. EA81's are THE most reliable Subaru motors ever made -Bill

I dont have a Gen 1 kit as of yet, but Im hoping to have a couple of 4" kits made by Christmas, Im planning on having 2", 3", 4", and 6" kits for the Gen 1 Subarus. Price for those will probably be about the same as the EA81 kits, but I will have more details when I get to that point. -Bill

There are always ways aound things like that... But yes, 410 is going to be closed indefinitely for at least a year, apparantly the road has to be re-routed around the slide area -Bill

Thanks Bratman18, yes, I do make and offer other parts as well, such as the power steering bracket kit (allows the use of EA82 power steering setup on an EA81 motor) Now here's my prototype 3" EA82/Loyale lift kit This is what I would call a Stage 2 3" lift, it uses 2" blocks on the crossmembers and diff, and 3" blocks on the struts, giving you 1" extra clearance over a Stage 1 lift (which would be everything blocked 3") As you can see, the EA82 lift kits have about 2 1/2x more pieces than a similar EA81 lift kit. This kit will sell for $300 with a rear diff bar core, $350 without the core. Plus shipping of course More to come, stay tuned! -Bill

What about the Naches trail? I dont really know any off-road areas, but I have heard of that one... Or maybe Manastash Ridge? Just throwing ideas out there...... -Bill

Don't everyone forget that Albie (from Allied Armament) is still making those 15" wheels with the 4 x 140 pattern, I think they are $400 for a set, powdercoated, and I believe he will make them any offset you want at request. -Bill

What?! So, pretty much, this is cancelled? Im not a member so I can see the thread in the link, how long is it going to be closed? Is there an alternative? Plan B? -Bill

Yes. It will run like ************, but it will run. -Bill

Hey ya'll, Im getting more orgabized now and Im starting to get back into production mode with my lift kits. Right now I am ready to produce 2", 4", and 6" lifts for EA82 and EA81 vehicles, and Im working on some 3" prototypes as well. I also hope to soon be able to make Legacy/Outback lift kits as well, in addition to Gen 1 lifts. I can also make strut blocks in any size you want, from 2" to 20" or more Here are some pics of my protoype 3" EA81 lift kit, a pair of 4" strut blocks, as well as a few vehicles that are sporting a Bill Omlin Monster Lift. I will have more pics of my other lifts up soon, I suck when it comes to taking pictures, and I forget to take pics before installing or shipping out a kit, but I will have more pics soon. These parts are in bare metal, but i can paint them just about any color you want. All kits come with all new Grade 8 mounting bolts, and soon I will be including all new Grade-8 equivelant hardware as well. My kits do not include the steering link, so you will have to make that yourself, for liability reasons. Thanks for looking, and be sure to come back when I get more pics up! 6" lifted '85 GL wagon 6" lifted EA81 wagon 6" lifted '87 GL wagon 3" lifted '85 Brat 6" lifted EA81 Hatchback 6" lifted '87 GL wagon 6" lifted '85 GL wagon/truck thing 4" lifted EA82 Sedan 4" lifted EA82 wagon -Bill

'Bout time for an update, eh? -Bill

I tried GD's method, and for some reason it did not work in my 85 Brat, the slop was still there, just not as bad. So, since I had already tapped the shifter rod, I removed the sleeved shifter mechanism thingy and drill the holes out to 3/8", then cut a slot on each side of it. When I installed it, I use a 3/8x1 1/4" bolt. I put the bolt in from the bottom, and tightend the piss outa it, then I put a 3/8" lock nut on the top, and tightened the piss outa it too. Basically, I combined the old method with the new method, and it completely fixed my shifter slop on the rod. My shifter still felt a little sloppy though, so I took the metal sleeve out of both of the shifter bushings, and filed a few thousandths off the end of each one, and reinstalled. Voila! No more shifter slop, my 4 speed DR shifts tighter than a new Ferrari! -Bill

I also make lift kits for your car, at very reasonable prices. PM me for more info. -Bill

Just adding this as well. The clutch type LSD diffs DO NOT have ANY spider gears. When you spin one wheel, the other should spin the same way. The VLSD units DO have the spider gears and NO spring-loaded clutch packs. It utilizes a VISCOUS coupler to transfer the power to both wheels just like an AWD tranny transfers power front to rear. -Bill

Probably when they were new, they did work like that. After years of daily use though, the heat and usage breaks down the silicone fluid and makes it not work like it used to. Hence why when Brian would test them at the JY the wheels spin in the opposite direction. Once the fluid heats up though, they should still lock up, if they havent been worn out completely. The viscous unit can fail just like the viscous coupler in the AWD trannies. Its pretty much the same concept. -Bill