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Early MY's had a metal with plastic insert winder (at least on the GL's). Maybe first gen is the same ?

OP, you are best posting in early gen as this section is for 1979 or later (82 or later for BRAT). That said, you will need to look at making your own coilovers. The main advantage is you can adjust the camber. I know a guy in Queensland who makes them for his gen 2 Brumby (BRAT), but the basic concept should be the same (I'm assuming gen 1's have essentially the same front suspension). (Don't cut your springs, that is a ghetto solution). For the rears, ferp420 is partially correct. You can adjust up/down by about 30mm from memory by adjusting the bolt sitting under the car, basically behind the seats. For more extreme drops you can `clock' your axles and then adjust using the bolt previously mentioned to get the right stance.

Yes it is. Can be a fiddle getting the trim around the end of the seat belt, might be easier to unbolt the seat belt first and then remove the trim. Be careful removing the plastic cover that is just next to the front/side of the seat as they have a tendency to split along the middle.

I haven't been impressed with Grant customer service in the past. I bought a reproduction steering wheel (for another brand) from them a few years ago and the laser cutting was very rough - I sent them photos of the poor finish where the cuts joined, and what I had to do to fix their workmanship (which admittedly was only 5 minutes with a dremel), and got no response at all. Hopefully they come through with a solution that is used on a different vehicle, it might make it a lot cheaper and easier for people looking to change to after-market wheels.

As far as I know there are only two brands still making them - Autotechnica and SAAS. I bought the Autotechnica one about 2 years ago for a US member in Guam, and it was about $45-50 US at the time.

I use a 3-jaw puller to remove rear hubs. Then just turn them out until they pop. Pity you're so far away as I have 2 used hubs with good bearings sitting here from the Liberty (Legacy) I scrapped earlier this year for its (EJ25) crank.

You'll need spacers for WRX wheels on to a Brumby, at least 20mm and I recommend 25mm. If you're not planning on going 5 stud brakes there was a guy on here looking at 4x140 to 5x100 adaptors, and I can't see a reason why they couldn't be 25mm thick. Not road legal in VIC, not sure in SA. No factory Subaru 5x100 wheels have the right offset for a Brumby, you'll need to look aftermarket or VAG (or possibly Dodge Neon, if you can find them). Something around +25 to +30mm offset, Subaru is +48 to +53.

Singularo, if you're not confident with electrical wiring I suggest you contact an auto elec in NSW who does wiring cut-down's for EJ's-into-earlier Subaru's - this is what I did. It then became a matter of just connecting up labelled wires to the EJ ECU (which as you wrote is a small box sitting off the engine on the early EJ20). I have his details somewhere, just PM me. For the rest of the Forester drivetrain, I used the front struts, hubs and rear brakes (minus the hubs, I used XT6 hubs), and I could also have used the wheels but ended up with first gen WRX wheels (still 15's). I have since upgraded to WRX brakes and EJ booster, which is overkill but I like having more brakes than necessary I'd recommend the EJ booster even with Forester brakes as the stock EA doesn't give good `feel' with an EJ setup.

Read this : www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/60514-rwd-conversion/ I wouldn't trust an EA box with 250hp. I'd think 150 would be about their limit (assume the highest rating of a factory model and add 30% for engineering factor). But I'm about to try a bored-and-stroked EJ20 running to 2.35L in a second gen Brumby (BRAT) with a MPFI EA82 box to test that theory (assuming I'm going to be around 170hp).

Jim, given you are in Vic the easiest (read: no engineering certificate required) option is a phase 1 EJ20 plus an adaptor plate from Scott in Bellingham on this site (shipping from the US to AUS on these plates is pretty cheap as they aren't heavy). At minimum I would recommend upgrading to RX rear discs to support the ~30% increase in performance. You may be the only recorded person to say the EA82 has `plenty of power' !

Vkbikes, I checked some EJ hubs and the hole is right on 14mm. I'd suggest starting at that size for fitting EJ studs and maybe reaming out if the force required is too much.

None that aren't allocated, unless someone drops out. I'm sending out a PM to the first three Aussie's on the list shortly as I fitted studs to three sets yesterday. The next 3 sets are still on their way over.

Bringing this back from the dead, but does anyone know where to obtain these `oddball' 30mm caliper rebuild kits ? Rockauto have the Centric kit on backorder, along with Summit and a few other places. There is a seller on eBay who offers a knock-off of the Centric set but at $25 a set is pretty steep for a 30mm seal and o-ring. The only other thread on here I could find is even older (2008, thread 83572), where the OP had the smaller size set and was looking for the larger size! My other option might be to go searching for a similar size caliper off another brand and buy that rebuild kit (30mm can't be that uncommon)...

VKbikes, I'll double check on the stud hole size. I confirmed with Dorman some time ago but will need to check email history.

​I am ​currently o/s (Santiago) but will be home tomorrow and the first parcel of hubs to AUS arrived while I was away so I will fit studs on Monday and start to contact those in order of initial interest. The second parcel is in transit but should arrive in a few weeks.

Why remove it ? If it rattles either the exhaust has been modified, or the cat is shot and needs to be replaced.

You know STI struts have different spacing for the hub/knuckle than non-STI ? So are you going full STI brakes with the STI knuckle and then STI struts, or all non-STI ? And early STI (5x100 PCD) or later (5x114), in which case what are you doing for the rears ? If you're going with the not-too-exotic option I'd stick with non-STI and go WRX 4-pots (or the later WRX 2-pots) and matching 2-pots on the rear. If you already have STI struts you can modify (elongate) them to fit non-STI knuckles.

It's been done several times. I believe Tony Reig (owner of the red Brumby-turned-BRAT) has an EA82 bar on his Brumby and could show you what needed to be modified.

Will be shipping from Taiwan on Saturday. I'll have the tracking number for the 2 US buyers. I doubt I'll have them (the 6 sets coming to AUS) in hand until the middle of Sept. One set will remain in TW until they rework it (not to spec), which will be for Belgium.

Pulling the engine and transmission is easy if you can jack the front of the car up. On both the EJ vehicles I have gutted (98 Forester and 02 Legacy) I dropped the engine and transmission as a complete assembly. Support both with jacks/stands, punch out roll pins for front axles, pull axles out of box, disconnect tailshaft, undo transmission bolts, undo engine mount bolts, then undo engine cradle (K-frame). Lower engine and transmission at the same rate. Slide out from front of vehicle. (Obviously you have to disconnect AC lines, radiator hoses, etc etc etc prior to these steps). You could even keep the engine on its cradle and just swap cradles (inspect your engine mounts before installing).

Ritchie, yes correct. A 4x140 version would be best supplied from an EA82T vehicle.

Most sparky's buy cheap DMMs the second time around because they get left in roof spaces, under houses, etc, at a job. A $20 meter will do the job 99 times out of a hundred for those who work with them day-in, day-out. If you work in electronics, then a Fluke 179 (or the US equivalent) is my preference. The 177 is also fine but misses a couple of nice-to-have's (but it's $50 less).

No worries. The guys in Taiwan now have received the cash for postage so I'll be getting them on their way in the next day or so. Still looking for a third US buyer as I have 3 sets shipping there and only 2 buyers now (one of the three dropped out, and the poster from Alaska didn't respond to my PM). I have the studs in-hand for the AUS buyers, hubs will be here in about a week I'd guess and I'll have final amounts then depending on location.

Rear swaybar can be fitted from XT I believe.

I don't think over-filling your oil is going to cause a major problem. I'd be draining it, refilling to the correct level (which it sounds like you have already done), and start it up. You'll get white smoke as you burn the excess but it should still run and will clear up. I certainly wouldn't be spending another $7k on another car - Subaru or otherwise - given your financial situation.