Twitch de la Brat

Good points. I forgot about the A-arms. I bet they probably had a beam axle in those Dolphins. Handling wasn't as big of a concern as weight hauling. If it does have a beam axle, that would be a lot easier to deal with than IFS. I wonder how much space you'd have to work with if you had to lift the transmission up to meet the engine. Those tranny tunnels can't be that big :-/ And custom fabbing something in may be more difficult if not impossible because of it being a motorhome (extra lines and wires and such). Where is the clutch fork located on those? Is it aimed downward, upward or sideways? And shifter linkage can't be different from a Subaru.. Twitch

And with a 2WD that space is pretty much empty up front, unless it has a beam across the front for stability purposes. I've so far been unable to study the dolphin chassis. Notching the frame shouldn't be too difficult nor too structurally dangerous as long as the gaps are filled and everything is shored back up. And if its a little scary you can always add reinforcing plates/beams. Any other thoughts from the Yota guys? Brian? Zap? If I can find a cheap Dolphin (they're pretty prevalent around here) I'll be looking at a motor swap for that poor underpowered 22R... Twitch

So now that we have Bill's epic bellhousing adapter, I was thinking. People like to put 4.3 vortec's into Toyota pickups. A Toyota Dolphin uses their pickup chassis. A 3.3H6 makes more power than a 4.3V6 and probably gets better mileage. We have a bellhousing adapter to bolt a 3.3 to a Toyota W series transmission. The Dolphins often came with the W series 5 speed. Can you fit a 3.3 between the frame rails on a Toyota? And if not, is it that difficult to cut out the notches and weld in fresh steel? So, in all that rambling, do you think it'd be reasonably possible to shoehorn a 3.3, or any Subaru motor for that matter, into a Toyota Dolphin (motorhome)? Twitch

Well, this motor has at least 270,000 miles on it and its been rather abused (extended periods at 4k or above) and for some reason since the mudpit at WCSS, I've been losing bolts left and right :-/ And they all have been baffling. Lost a tranny detent bolt and now my valve cover bolts. I'm going to go through and tighten everything. Next thing I'll lose will be a headbolt :-/ Twitch

So far only angry lifters. No real carnage to report unless I lose a rod bearing or a main. The angry lifters have settled down so far and no major issues aside from an ongoing cooling issue (bad radiator cap). I have newfound respect for the EA81. Twitch

That Did that to itself while driving. I was wondering what all that clatter was under the hood. I'll have any carnage pictures in the morning, I'm so done right now I don't want to even look at it. Twitch

@Subynut Oh come on, you didn't want your car to sound like the BRAT I don't blame you. I'm probably going deaf from the thing anyway. Haven't done much aside from drive it, look at it, spray it with a hose and abuse it :-/ Twitch

I read your build thread and was most impressed by it. Very valuable info and I may link to it for another variety of a frankenmotor. The reason I'm not going the route you did is because I have an EJ22E in my car from the factory, not an EJ25D. Swapping out the heads and the intake and the exhaust would be more hassle than to just swap the block, plus the lower hp number. And in my case with fresh heads and a shot block, I'm not going to keep the crap and toss the good, if you know what I mean Thank you for replying and you may see your info pop up in this thread. Twitch

The only reason why I was thinking a hone was because of some crud that has found its way into the cylinders (open block, no heads, not the best storage conditions) so a basic hone would be more than enough to clean the crud out and take any surface rust off. But I guess Brillo pads will do the same with less work Anyway, it didn't need bearings when I received the block and sitting around probably didn't kill them, so I think I'll just clean up the block and put it together. Any recommended cleaners for oil passages and coolant passages? Twitch

Now that I have this thread up, I'm going to post my question. I have a block with 140k on it (unknown history but still in good shape visually, no known specs on the tolerances yet) and recently rebuilt heads (15k or so) for my frankenmotor. Now, it was recommended to me to replace the rings, rod bearings and main bearings before I do the swap, because he claims that there is a good likelihood that I'll be replacing them in a year or so anyway because of the upped compression. It was running when pulled, although it may have been overheated once. The cylinders do need to be honed, but I may be able to do that without cracking the case on the engine. So, would you say to pull it apart and rebuild it? Even for a backyard mechanic like myself or should I just hone it and throw it together? Twitch

Figured we could use a frankenmotor thread in the NA performance forum Now, for general information to those who don't know what a frankenmotor is, its (typically) an EJ25D (96-99 Legacy/OB 2.5L) short block with EJ22E (90-97 Legacy 2.2L) heads and EJ22E intake and exhaust. There are variations upon this basic setup (reversal of the block and heads for example) but this is generally what people refer to when they say "frankenmotor" in the EJ section. Now, here comes the why. Why would somebody take the time to do this? Well, most of the time its because somebody either needs to rebuild an EJ22E and they want more power or because they simply want more power without a turbo. Because its a high compression motor and builds more power (typically) than a standard EJ22E and is less complicated than swapping in the rare (but impressive) EJ22T or the EJ25D (which is headgasket prone). Some estimates put it at 170hp and 180ft lbs of torque, making it one of the most potent NA 4 cylinder engines you can put into a Subaru, not to mention there have been (unofficial) reports of improvement in fuel economy (as long as you can keep your foot out of the throttle ). Let the discussion begin! Twitch

I know it may seem odd, but a lot of the girls on here like to talk about cars and wrench on their own I read the description of your site and did a little browsing and it seems like a well thought out, decent little forum Unfortunately, from my interaction with most of the girls on this site, they're not the kind to sit back and talk about "girl stuff". Most of the chicks on here seem to be more apt to slide under a car and bloody a few knuckles vs slide into a salon chair and get a manicure. Not bashing your site, just saying its in a little different market than USMB. Twitch

If you're looking for a fancy model, there is a Bluetooth, USB and aux input JVC on clearance at some Best Buy's right now for a little over 90. Its a pretty nifty little model. Just another option Twitch

Well, grab a rear brake swap and some EA front calipers and have at it. See if you can make some brackets to fit or use front rotors along with the front caliper or something. Let your imagination run wild and then pick the good ideas out and work with them Twitch

Unfortunately, the only way you can get rear e-brake with a rear disc swap (aside from making front brakes fit the rear) is an EJ 5 lug swap or Nissan 240sx rear brakes. I think the idea of putting EA front brakes on the rear is pretty cool, albeit a little more difficult than using another vehicle's rear brakes. Just some input (plus if you look around the mod forum it'll give you some more ideas). Twitch

Check your grounds and make sure all of your connections are clean. Attaching a ground strap to your alt would be a good idea as well. I have one connected to the mounting bolt. A ground strap on your engine would be a good idea too, as your starter amperage has to go back to the battery and the longer the trip, the harder the start. As for the Voltage regulator giving you fits, I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you start seeing your voltage go too high or your voltage start to stutter and jump, I wouldn't worry about it. A nice upgrade to do if you're tired of your blinkers dimming your headlights is the Maxima Alt swap. Bolts right in and it all connects up with some spade adapters if you want to keep your factory plug on your car. Hardest part is grinding down the spacer for the pulley and keeping it flat. GD has a full writeup on it in the USRM I believe. Well worth the money and time. Twitch

I can adjust for EA82 knuckles. What's the benefit of the EA82 knuckles over EA81? I'm looking to upgrade to a different strut. Probably EJ if anything. Is it easy to swap in EJ spindles? I'll drop 93 FWD Imp axles in if its easy to do EJ knuckles. I like the thought of dropping EJ (see:STi) struts under the front end. Maybe long travel struts... Twitch

So I'm considering building new swing arms/A arms for my BRAT. I'm going to widen the stance a bit (less than an inch so as to not mess with axles too much) add some extra adjustment points for camber and caster and maybe adjust the lower spindle mount to allow for a better/sturdier ball joint mount. I'll get a picture up once I draw it. I'll probably use the factory mounts so that bushings don't change or I may go with an upgraded bushing design. Depends on what I can easily acquire. Any suggestions before I start drawing? Twitch

I know, second thread about camber and castor I've posted in. Just looking for a little clarification. Positive camber is stock, makes them better on dirt and offroad. Has anyone noticed any differences with flattened out camber while driving on stock wheels? Also, if my mental picture is correct, positive castor (strut top ahead of the axle) makes the suspension apply more positive camber as you turn and negative castor (strut top behind axle) gives you flat to negative camber in corners, right? So with a lengthened radius rod and camber adjustment/1" lift plate on an 85 BRAT, it should flatten the suspension out in the corners and stop eating my tires from the outside in, correct? And this shouldn't have too negative an impact on my ability to drive like a madman on dirt, right? Twitch

Hmmmmmm... How about a BRAT-astic cruise through the national forest sometime? We'll have to bring a BBQ since there's a burn ban. But its a quaint area out by where I live and its all fairly nice trail (all Subaru friendly) with some fun spots to play in We'll just have to stay on trail (not hard, lots of trails) and maybe go for a walk/hike to some of the awesome streams and paths out there. Any takers? Camping would be possible too, albeit kinda cold and possibly windy at night. Twitch

4 speed or 5? 5 speed has a keeper, but that's only engaged with 5th gear. Have you checked the adjustment on your clutch cable? Reverse is the pickiest of the gears as its not synchronized. It'll sounds awful trying to get it in gear with even a slightly loose clutch cable. Also, check your gear oil level. That lack of a synchro also makes reverse the first to act up when you get low on gear oil because of the lack of lubrication. Twitch

Thanks for the quick response. Mind if I ask how many washers and what size you used? I really need to kill this tire burn. I prematurely killed a set of toyos with that crap. Also, how close are your tires to rubbing on the front? Anything major? And have your torture tested this mod? Like, rally/streetcross or light offroading? It just don't want to rip out a radius rod midway through a corner and eat a tree. This and my 1" lift should fix my camber issues. Thanks again. Twitch

I like the design. I'm curious. With the caster adjustment, did you notice less tire burn on the outside? I'm really getting sick of eating off the outside edge of my tires before the rest of them. And with the push forward, have you seen any extra bushing wear or stress on anything else? Twitch

You make the rest of us look wimpy, driving a couple days vs our few hours. It was awesome hanging with you guys during and afterward. Maybe my BRAT will close to as cool as your Wagon next year I didn't mind the arrangements. The venue was nice, and I understand the car placement issue. A little frustrating at first, being shoehorned into the back, but it made mudpit access a breeze The lack of a quiet place was kinda frustrating for sleeping arrangements and whoever cody is, he needs to be found and duct taped to a billboard that says, "Cody is Here". And the new gen guys, while typically annoying, are fun to mock when a little dust gets on their precious paint. The lack of handbuilt rides in the new gen is saddening but typical of the new crowd. Lets just outdo them next year. Invite all the EA and early EJ's you know. Lets make them realize what Subarus are really about Lets hear it for next year! Twitch

So, me GWAL and Txakura are stuck at the Bainbridge Ferry. We're waiting for the 9:00 ferry to come in. Anyone else stuck here? We'll be at the grounds as soon as we can. Twitch