The Beast I Drive

With me and Robbie doin the work, the structural integrity of the body will be retained. We went over a few ideas while I picked up some parts from him the other day, and there wont be a tailgate per say, too much work and he wont really need it anyway. The plan is so far to start with a Gen 3 coupe, which will also be the easiest to modify to make this work. The C-pillars are going to get moved forward and modified to be straighter, and the Hatch will be cut out below the glass and used to make the bed sides and the lip over the tail lights. We talked about what to do with the back wall/C-pillars, he wants them straight vertical with quarter windows, but I am more partial to the Brat look, so that brought to mind the '80s El-Caminos, which have the little quarter windows, vertical back wall, and angled C-pillars. Nothing is set in stone yet, just tossing around Ideas. He needs to find a donor car to cut up, he dont want to do it to his daily driver... Prolly gonna use whats left of my RX to try out some styling ideas as far as the C-pillars and quarter windows go... -Bill

Mine not really a horror story, more of a comedic anecdote, the result of my stupidity and my dumb friends egging me on Anyway it went something like this Basically, I tried to cross a ditch out in the hills that I had crossed 2 times before, but this time I hit it at the wrong angle, and got hight centered. Well while my buddies got out to push me off, when I gave it gas it caught traction and launched it up the opposite bank, resulting in what you see here. Luckily I was prepared, had my tools and my High lift, and using the High lift, spare tire, and 2 tow straps, we got it unstuck. This was the only damage, besides busting off a Gen 1 Brat mirror I had on the fender Put some oil in it and went on our way One of the scariest moments though was in the same car, a few months ago, my buddy and I were puttin around the range at night cuz we were bored, and I decided to go down a finger into the valley off the ridge we were on, but my buddy said there was a better way... Well his way wasnt better, and we got the car so sideways that a slight breeze coulda pushed the car tumbling about 400 yards down into the rock bottomed valley below. I told to get the ************ out of the car and proceded to recover the rig safely Lesson learned: My buddy can navigate, but he dont know ************ about how to wheel Oh another time I took the grey Brat I got in Idaho a while back out into the hills. Only catch, it was in RWD, no front axles. it made it down the finger into the valley just fine, but I couldnt get it back out. I had to wheel a stock height, rwd small tires Brat out of 3 miles of boulders in the bottom of a canyon at 2 AM by myself. That was... Interesting. But I did it Had to keep up momentum so I wouldnt get caught with one wheel in the air (open rear diff ) Like I said, no real horror stories, just some stupidness -Bill

The bosses I used to make the kit are present on any EA81 block, it bolts to the factory alternator bracket location. It should work with what you want to do -Bill

Way to go with the hand made bushings! I might have to get ahold of you to make some for my projects... I dont have a wood lathe, only a metal lathe... -Bill

Its still on my plans for sure -Bill

Never had a problem with dripping oil catching fire, but I know first hand that when a turbo explodes after climbing a long grade, and that oil touches that glowing-red Turbine, all hell breaks loose and your car burns to the ground while you sit and watch for 20 minutes for the fire trucks because you dont have a fire extinguisher... Yeah. Oil on the exhaust is not bad though. -Bill

Lift it. Join us, you know you want to -Bill

Front and rear diffs are very different, the rear diff is an R-160 Nissan unit, while the front diff is a Subaru piece. a rear LSD unit will not fit in a front diff, and a front LSD will not fit in the rear. Actually the fronts you can buy brand new for around $400, and you can get either Viscous or clutch type units. As for the rear, find someone parting out an RX if you want clutch type, or find a Turbo Legacy or some other EJ series car with the Viscous unit. -Bill

Wow, thats like 5 subes for every 6 miles, or something like that I used to count them, but there are just tooooooo many around here, your head will explode -Bill

You shoulda kept that Brat backwall I traded you, this would have been perfect for it... We will get it all figured out when you get over here, plenty of stuff to play with -Bill

Right on, I have no problem cutting that RX up, hell I could paint it up and make yard art outta it -Bill

I know a coupe is a better starting point, but I dont know if he wants to chop up his daily driver just yet, I havent seen any coupes for sale around here lately, but wagons are plentifull, I have like 5 parts wagons and a coiple have clean titles, so thats why I was wondering... -Bill

I like the way you think... This time Gonna start with a wagon again or a coupe? We could chop up the remains of the RX to get an idea of what you want... -Bill

All you have to do to put an EJ trans in a Brat (providied you are not also going to 5 lug) is split the trans case and swap in 23 spline stubs. The front diff in the EA box and EJ box is reportedly the same, and while you have it open you might as well throw an LSD in there (they are available). Then modify the crossmember, drop the trans in, and slide the axles on just like stock. -Bill

Dude, you already did this, remember??? Remember how well THAT one turned out :lol: -Bill

I guess its hard to explain without pics, but everything on the 1400 head is just, smaller. The ports are the same size, the the pattern around the combustion chamber is smaller because of the smaller bores, and the head itself is about 1/4" smaller all around then the 1600 head. The head bolt holes line up perfectly, and the heads fit the blocks, i did a test fit to be sure, but the coolant passages are not aligning perfectly, they arent completely blocked, but they need to be opened up some to line up. Ill borrow a friends camera this week and show you, its kinda hard to explain without pics Other than that, the EA63 block, pre-80 EA71 and post-80 EA71 are all the same dimensions (except the 1400 has less girth to it due to the small bores), the only difference on the post 80 motor I can see is that it has an EA81 style waterpump with internal coolant crossover, and the pre 80 block is essentially a bigger version of the 1400, same waterpump, same coolant passage, etc. -Bill

That parts availability list sucks but Im sure there are some of those parts available in the aftermarket... I pulled a head off a post-80 block today, and did some other lookin and comparisons, and here is what I have found: Post-80 and pre-80 heads are the same. Nothing is different, they are identical. The Post-80 block had the same flat top pistons in it that I have new in the box, so IDK whats up with that, I didnt look to see if the Pre-80 motor had the flat tops too or not, but the 1400 Also had flat tops :-\ so my compression ratio may not be as high as I thought, but with the small cc of the 1400 heads and the shaving of the block, it will still be high The 1400 bores are considerably smaller diameter than the 1600. Now, this creates a problem. While the heads do physically fit on the 1600 blocks (I test-fit both a pre-80 and post-80), due to the smaller bores of the 1400, the coolant passages are NOT lining up. They are in the same orientation, but the pattern is smaller than the 1600. With a little dremel/machining, i think the passages can be made to line up, but I am concerned with taking off too much metal and creating weak points, which would not hold under the higher compression. Once this obstacle has been solved though, the heads are a bolt on affair. If I had a digital camera, I would take pics, my phone won't cut it for this stuff, Ill take some pics and post all this up when I get a chance. -Bill

If you are sticking with 4 lug hubs, and changing the diff stubs, you dont have to do anything to the axles. As long as you are swapping 23 spline stubs into the tranny, they will go right back in like stock. If you are going 5 lug then its a whole nother story. -Bill

I plan on keeping that one, the motor isnt in it but i do have it, so Its pretty much complete. Its a 76, so it has the Datsun rear axles. Someone lifted it about 4" but I dont like some of the workmanship, so I will need to fix that and get a title for it. Amazingly the 4 speed in it is still tight -Bill

One thing that should help prevent us from losing a connecting rod is have the rotating assembly ballanced, to like 8,000 rpm. That and Jerry said polishing the rods is supposed to make them stronger too... I need something that can handle the high compression though, i dont think stock rods will do it :-\ -Bill

I was talking to Jerry the other night when i picked up a Fat case bellhousing and a full set of flat top EA71 pistons, and it looks like the 85+ EA71s were also HYDRAULIC LIFTERS... which I would assume means they have bigger valves in the heads... BUT, for a hi-po motor, adjusting the valves after evey oil change really isnt that big a deal I have to get out there and check out that post-80 block and make certain that the heads will interchange, Ive been busy last couple of days, so I havent been able to... And if you need a block, let me know if you can make arrangements and I can get one to you, I guess I could do like last year, send it back with Brian at WCSS? Ill have to make sure i have a good one though... Also, something to look into, we need some stronger connecting rods, I have a stock EA71 here that threw a rod, so maybe we need to see if there are some H-beam or other rods out there that might work and are stronger than the stock pieces, if one of these can break in a stock 70-ish HP motor, who knows what can happen with almost double the power... Does anyone know anything about Kryo-treating? I think some info on this would be good, and Im also really thinking about having the pistons either kryo treated or ceramic coated, I figure Ill be pushing close to 11.5:1 compression with shaved heads/block, flat top pistons, and the much smaller cc of the 1400 heads... Im gonna want to reduce heat-fatigue/damage as much as possible... -Bill

I decided to part out the blue wagon, its donating parts to my other blue wagon, the lifted one. Ive made a few changes to the Brat, I got the exhaust hooked up a month or so ago, and it does roll black smoke when I get on it and in the morning when before it warms up I took out the seats though, they just arent comfortable when the stacks are right where your arm should be :-\ and I could use the bed space more. I also took out the 2" lift blocks I made, I believe those helped destroy my first axles, and I decided I didnt want my EMPI axles to see the same fate. I also now have a slanted radio consol waiting to go in it, just needs paint and some speakers, and Im getting the parts gathered to swap in a 5 speed and lift it 6" hopefully before the Evans Creek meet. The shifter is still tighter than new and it shifts beautifully. I did have some electrical issues, but a new starter, ignition switch, ground cable, starter cable, and a distributor fixed that -Bill

Vacuum first, then compressed air and vacuum again -Bill