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Lovely work, shame you used pinterest so I can't see any more than 20 photos without being asked to "sign up".

What type of tires can't you find ? If you can't find them locally try tirerack.com or similar. You're in the PNW so a disc brake setup shouldn't be hard to find, I see plenty of suitable donor vehicles on row52.com. Any loyale turbo should do (look for a 4 or a 5 in the VIN from memory on row52.com). 5 speed from the same donor vehicle should also be easy (be careful of MPFI donors as the diff ratio may be different than your BRAT).

For the EA81, it has to be the ancillary systems that bolted on. The AC bracket is just crazy heavy for what it does. The power steering on the other side is almost as bad with the boomerang shaped bracket. The AC is a pain to bolt up too, I believe all AC's were dealer-fit (at least in Australia) which explains the mix-and-match combinations found during the model run (80-93 here). The lack of power in the EA81 limited how Subaru could sell the MY platform - if they had actually used the twin port option in the upper-range and sports (coupe) models instead of just using the basic engine in all versions they could have had a sales winner AND been successful in areas other than AWD. The short life of the EA81T. They got on board the turbo revolution quite early, then gave it away with the migration to the EA82. I blame the EA82 for effectively limiting the EA81 to an economy engine, and at the same time not being a better engine in any way than the engine it replaced. It also started Subaru down the path of needing to make the car wider, which made it heavier, which means it needed a bigger engine, which made the car wider again, which made it heavier, which means it needed a bigger engine. I don't have any issues with the body, beyond the obvious rust issues. The design of the MY, while not outstanding, were clean and simple throughout (and the dash layout in particular was great for the era). The L-series started down the angular and plain path, which became just plain for the Legacy/Liberty.

Used this today for my incoming 4-pot WRX front caliper rebuild - best price online for the piston seals and the retaining clips - just a pity the stock comes from two difference warehouses and I get hit with double shipping (and the two parts are made by the same company!).

The 1982 bezels are unique to that year, in that they are chrome finish. 1983 onwards was black finish. I am running the 1982's (see my pictures). 1981 is different again, with the >=< grille, which can also be found with the Cyclops setup.

Fitted some new wheels to fix the offset issue I had with the old Impreza wheels (modern Subaru's are +48/+53 offset, which doesn't suit MY's with 5-stud). These are 1st gen Audi TT, which are +31 offset on 7" wide wheels. Starting to think I might need to install power steering, the tyres are only 205 instead of 195 but it feels a lot heavier.

Use FreeRARExtractFrog to open RAR files (don't DL from CNET). Watch out for a lot of the other "free" programs (or the insanely expensive WinRAR) as they are loaded with malware. For $20 or so, just buy the hardcopy off eBay. Saves printing out a couple hundred pages.

Totally illegal, they are just selling someone else's work in scanning it (also illegal, but morally a bit better). There are links to FSM's around (and yes, the FSM is so much better than the Haynes) for free.

Ultimately the EA81 isn't powerful enough for an MY in today's traffic. Which either means you end up with idiots in Commodore's (for the non-Australian's reading, think of the vehicle most commonly associated with poor drivers and substitute for Commodore) tailgating you in traffic, or you end up pushing the engine harder to try to keep up. Which equates to more fuel use and more wear on the vehicle. And even with factory exotica the EA81 isn't going to be more than 10-15% more powerful that stock. The EJ was Subaru's move from 1960's design to 1990's (I'll skip over the half-baked EA82), and gives a decent base point to develop with. If you want basic performance, throw in a EJ20/EJ22 SOHC. Want more power, notch the frame rails and you have EJ20T and EJ25 DOHC. I don't buy the argument that the MY can't handle the EJ engine - weight is similar, and yes an EJ25T is going to be dangerous in the wrong hands but as long as the rest of the car is upgraded in terms of brakes and handling then the inherent safety shouldn't be compromised. In my case, I have taken a SF Forester donor and transposed the entire brake system - and adding the EJ20 from the same donor vehicle isn't going to make my Brumby unsafe. Yes, it will be faster than stock, but it's also going to be more fuel efficient, more reliable, and ultimately a more modern vehicle that is now sharing the road with a majority of cars from the era of the Forester (1998). I know I'd rather stand on the brakes of the Brumby with the Forester brakes than with the stock setup - the difference is just amazing, especially when the Forester weighed 50% more than the Brumby. Yes, if there were power options for the EA81 I'd be keeping it (hence why I looked into SPFI several years ago), but ultimately the flexibility of the EJ means I can drive the Brumby on the roads more enjoyably for another 10-20 years instead of it being a weekend-drive only when weather is fine and traffic is light...

You can still grab it from JesZek's link...as he says, click on his avatar and then paste the link in (hosted on mediafire)... If you can't get it this way PM me your email address and I'll send it across...

Here's my black wheels on red Brumby :

I had white on my 14" pugs, and powder coated ($400 ? I think I paid something like $100 for the set of 4, but I did have them fully sand blasted and ready to coat), but that was to match the white canopy (topper to the US guys). I don't have the canopy fitted any more, and now run gloss black with chrome lips (like greg454, but I have alloys rather than jackmans/wagon wheels). In hindsight I think gunmetal grey would have been a bit more modern looking.

AC pipes. Note this is a RHD layout, not sure how LHD routes through as your heater/fan is in the middle of the dash while ours is on our passenger side / your driver side. Relay system for AC. Note the relay in orange is not stock (added for a light bar). Side on the US passenger side shock tower. Again, all of this was from a RHD car. I haven't included the in-car stuff as hopefully you have it (and it's all different for LHD as your dash layout is completely different than RHD).

AC bracket. Weighs about 30 lb. Dryer bracket and crank pulley. The pulley is either a 2 or 3 belt version, middle belt in a 3 belt design is for power steering. Compressor Condensor. There are 2 different types, depending on the way the pipes were routed by the factory. The section in orange I believe is a hack job by a previous owner.

No idea on the thickness for a winch, but that is going to be a heavy duty bumper. Have you thought about using just a c-channel across the front, and using factory corner pieces at each end ? This saves on fabricating the corners, and means you just need to either find the right profile, or getting it folded to the right thickness. You then just need to drill a single locating hole at each end, and two drilled and tapped holes in the top and bottom corners at each end.

I've had my Brumby (BRAT) for about 8 years now, and have done about 40k miles on it in that time. Apart from upgrades, the only thing it has cost me is one CV boot, oil and filter every 6 months, registration (crazy expensive down under, $500+ a year), insurance (3rd party, $130 a year and hasn't moved in all the time I've had the vehicle), and that's it. Of course, I've upgraded quite a few things along the way - rear discs cost me $100 + shipping down under, bodywork and paint last year was spendy but I traded the panelwork for other things and only paid for the painting, upgraded stereo (second hand from a junkyard), 14" steel rims and tyres to suit, new front and rear bumper bars (front from an 82 for the chrome metal finish to replace the later-model plastic, and back from a US as our local release didn't get a full-length bar), 2 sets of car seat covers, and retro-fitted complete AC system ($300 or so plus my time and a regas). Apart from when I bought it back in 2007 it has only been to a mechanic once, and that was for the CV boot which cost about $80 from memory (and again, our wages are high so that is probably 2-3x what you would pay in the US). I paid $3500 for mine, it's probably still worth something around that figure. Not many cars keep their value like that.

Not a good idea to target the Z and now-defunct RX8 - declining sales on the Z shows the market has moved to US domestic platforms (Mustang / Cuda / Camaro) at that price point. I can see the BRZ being replaced in the Toyota line-up by a Supra at the performance end (more $$) and a FWD 2 door at the cheap end (based on the Corolla platform like the Paseo of the mid 90s). Where that leaves Subaru is the big question. The logical step is a 2 door Impreza, which could be used as a starting point for a 3G Brat (shared front end and doors). A shooting-brake wouldn't be out of the question off that platform too. I could see a near-WRX powered 2 door wagon as being quite desirable if Subaru put some effort into the quality of the interior.

There are a LOT of threads on this, but nothing that covers the job from end to end as there are so many different Subaru donor cars. I am doing this myself with a SF Forester on to a Brumby at the moment, and from what I have researched the critical part is the XT6 rear hubs (which were copied for the Crossbred kit), and the rest is a combination of parts from the donor car and the existing car - with some drilling of the rear EJ backing plate, and reaming of the front knuckle. The short answer is, no you can't simply use an EJ-based late model Subaru and fit them to get to 5 studs - the front can be done (with the above mentioned reaming), but the back needs the XT6 rear hubs. I was lucky enough to get the latter from the B/S/T section recently from a member, and am now waiting for new lug studs to arrive from the US (unique to the XT6, smaller knurl size than the other models)...

No worries, let me know if you want dimensions before I chop this one up.

Here's a photo of the underside from a 1998 SF Forester. As gbhrps says, you will need to shape it around the roof braces.

pm zebisko (Nick), it came from him originally. From memory it was a 1988 system. I know the 1986 was the one to avoid.

Mattel have dropped the Hot Ones line (replaced with the Flying Customs, which is a throwback to the late 70s HW line instead of the early/mid 80s), the last run of the series was supposedly short so these BRAT's are likely to remain pretty HTF as they vanish into collections. No news yet on whether the casting will pop up in the mainline this year (the green is from the Boulevard series, which is a bit more premium (rubber wheels)). In non-HW, just saw this Zee toys one on eBay : http://www.ebay.com/itm/ZEE-PURPLE-SUBARU-BRAT-4X4-PICK-UP-TRUCK-FRICTION-TOY-CAR-/281053144765?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item417012a6bd

Out at retail (in the US) now.

I was running 185/60R15 briefly under my Brumby/BRAT and had rubbing at full lock. I think you'll need to go 55 profile. I wouldn't see much value going much wider and dropping to a 50 profile though... Handling with 15's is just night-and-day better than the stock 13's. I run 14" steel pugs and they are far better than the stockies too, but the 15's make the Brat handle sweeping corners beautifully.