The Beast I Drive

I really considered the T-case Rob, but Im interested in trying this out first, and if I dont like it, it wont be hard at all to add the T-case, all the rear work will be done already. To be honest, with no glas stubs to break I wont have to watch the gas as much, and with the more powerful engine and an XT6 clutch and flywheel, and the 4.11 gears it will be a HUGE improvement over what it is now. Ive wheeled this rig a lot, and it does really good with what it has, so this will only make it better... Even if its not a leap, its still a step forward... Oh and this is what I have for a skid plate and exhaust right now, and it's taken some serious abuse on some nasty rocks and still going strong, I might fab up something that looks a little better though, this one was just a quick hack job. -Bill

Looks like its gonna be a sweet rig once it's ready to wheel again, Im just getting into my Toyota, there's a ton I want to do to it, but it all costs money... Gotta say even with stock gears, stock motor, and just 32" tires and a 3" lift, my Yota constantly embarasses the Beast, but it IS a straight-axle Toyota... -Bill

Well, Ive been tinkering around with this idea for a while now, but I put it off because I wanted to do all I could with the independent rear suspension my 87 GL wagon came with. Well, with a welded rear, 8" of lift in the back, and 31" tires, it likes to eat those glass stubs these old rigs have. Also, flex is severely limited by the short travel of the shocks and the angles at which the axles can safely run. So its time for the IRS to go. For those of you who dont know my rig, here it is as of today: A couple weeks ago I got a hot deal on a rear axle from an Isuzu Rodeo, like a 97 or something. Disc Brakes, 4.10 gears, and beefy looking construction, I think this will do quite well. looks to be about the right width too. I just need to change the brake lines to work with the Subaru setup, cut off the spring under perches, and weld on some brackets for my 4-link and rear coilovers. Then Today, These beauties came..... These are Heim joints I bought from Speedway Motors, they are used on competition rock crawlers and high-HP racing applications. They are ************ing huge, and flex to some mad extreme angle. I bought 4 right hands, and 4 left hands so I can have alignment adjustment in the rear. Just an idea of how big these are, here's one next to a joint I bought for the Turd wagon. The small joint has a 3/4" shank and hole. Yeah, overkill, but it's my style So now I just need to get some LH and RH 1" jam nuts, about 30' of 1.25" .120 DOM tubing, some long travel rear coilovers, and I can get the axle mounted to the car. Then I will need to modify the Isuzu driveline, build my 4.11 AWD D/R trans, and re-build the front half of my lift to incorporate a new front suspension using modified VW Superbeetle struts and new custom lower control arms, and more lift. I will also be building a sort of sub frame to connect the front lift to the rear mounting points on the body, for the 4 link to bolt to. The Superbeetle struts will give me an extra 2-4" of suspension travel in the front, IIRC. Also will be dropping in a Hi-Po EA81 that I am getting in trade for a Hatch (I hope ) With all this, The Beast should be *almost* as capable as a stock/slightly lifted 1990's Toyota pick up with IFS. I might have a gear shop make me a custom set of 3:1 Low range gears, and modify the body of the trans to acomodate these, but not any time soon More updates as parts are acquired! -Bill

The engine stamp on the ea63 and older motors is on the back of the block near the oil filler tube. Also the intake will have almost no vacuum hoses or emissions control equipment, and typically will have a single barel carb. -Bill

Sweet, sounds good to me -Bill

RWD Brats are fun to drive I couldnt help but break the rear end loose on every turn when I had my black Brat in RWD for a couple months... It was a blast -Bill

Easiest thing to do is make a bracket that adapts the late ea82 rear coilovers to the stock shock mount, then disable the torsion bar. Fitting the entire rear assembly from a ea82 car can be done, but only If you plan to lift it and make adapter blocks, or do some custom fab work to reconfigure the mounts either on the body of your car or on the ea82 subframe. -Bill

Bighorns FTW Run them on my Brat, the Beast and my Yota, they rock! Nice rig -Bill

If it comes down to needing storage space, I have that kind of space..... I just dont have much cash to drop on this, or I would be all in. I could put up $500 and store the parts, with free access to the parts for anyone else who pitches in... -Bill

Im fully in, might be bringing a buddy and his truck too... -Bill

I dont know exactly, but IMO it was because the tranny wasnt designed to be used behind a 230hp motor and pull around a car that weighed 50% more than a fully optioned Legacy... Just overworked the trans. The solution seems to be to add an auxiliary tranny fluid cooler in front of the radiator, and keep up on the fluid and filter changes. A lot of folks who have done that have kept their stock trannies alive. -Bill

Toppenish, Washington -Bill

a couple more, still have about 10 videos to load :-\ stupid Clearwire internet speeds FTMFL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QSlnRNTdfk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5I6wPOgjUc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3wBfnWxXKo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmCVml9PBYc -Bill

Both the 2 1/2 ton and 3 ton versions they sell at harbor frieght have proven to be amazingly durable and versatile for me, we have 2 of each, and both sizes have enough lift to get the Beast off the ground jacking from the rear diff, and I have 31" tires plus an extra 2" suspension lift in the back I dont recall what we paid for them, but it couldnt have been much, they arent the fancy quick-lift aluminum ones, just the orange heavy steel ones... -Bill

With the EG33 and your stock 5 speed, in mud with bigger than stock tires, you will destroy the tranny very quickly... Since you are considering an Auto, I would get one from a 96-99 Outback (4.444 gears). The main problem the SVX's had was... Blown auto trannies so get a tranny cooler and keep up on the maintenence with that setup and you should be ok. You would need the TCU from the Outback, and there are 2 write-ups on the board about modding the ROM or whatever to set up paddle shifters and custom shift modes, if you want to get into that stuff.. Mount all the electronics to a bracket on the headliner so it stays out of harms way, and you should be good. The EG33 will bolt up to any 4EAT auto. -Bill

A couple more vids, still a lot more to come... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7vd8dVAq-Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io81jrzjMO8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7gLf2LCVow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8va2r3-uLis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qYalsFP-HI -Bill

Finally, a couple of the videos loaded! I still have a ton more to get up though, this was only the first 15 minutes.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jkg7ynCAbY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZyoc8w6_Ok http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UymynKacJFM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lT10xBEoJM Much, much more to come, I promise -Bill

Pics! Videos to come soon Dereck's flat tire My flat tire I never take as many pics as I would like, mainly cuz Im too busy wheelin or taking video... Vids to come as soon as they load -Bill

Went back to our little spot today around 2, it was me and my Toyota, my brother in his Yota, my buddy Dereck in his Chevy, and Andy in his Brat. It was a pretty fun day, I am fully impressed with my toyota, and the Brat did really well. For his first time wheelin my brother did really good too. Both me and Dereck blew out a tire on a stump, luckily I brought spares and jacks Andy's Hakkipalata snow tires were pretty awesome in the powdery sand, and my brother's Toyo A/T's kicked rump roast in the sand. I'll have pics and vids up later tonight -Bill

Thanks Brain, sounds like this project is a go then -Bill

I put mufflers back on the Beast so i could wheel it, then promptly proceeded to finish off my clutch. No more wheelin till the new tranny is built and the straight axle is in, well, at least not with the Beast...:-\ -Bill