Kostamojen

The head studs on the old school EA motors are just normal bolt sizes, so no special tool is needed. I HIGHLY recommend using Subaru Three-Bond sealant. Its whats used at the factory on all the modern motors, and works just as great on the old Subaru motors. I tried using some generic sealant on my wagon and it just ended up leaking from wherever I used it I'm going to be using Three-Bond on several things for my FF-1.

Which transmission are you using? Really though, if you want traction, it would be easier/cheaper to get proper RWD "sticky" tires instead of doing the AWD swap.

Well I'm going to try and change that when I finish my FF-1. But i'll only be taking it to west coast shows.

Went and install the front suspension so they could start working on all four fenders. Plus, I mentioned the front suspension bushings, and he says he can do those in urethane no problemo

Continuing from previous discussion, I test fitted the rear tires (185/70/13's) with the Enkei rims under the rear fenders. As you can see, they don't clear the fenders! It does tuck in there, but I had to SQUEEZE them in. So i'm going to raise the fenders for sure, It will just make life easier, and look a hell of a lot better. I was talking with the shop about the fenders today, its basically the last thing to do minus some minor dent touch-up, alignments and such. We will be doing the fronts and rears in the same style, and it won't be stock. Probably a small flare, but nothing drastic. I've got to mockup the front suspension so we can test ride height and such too... I'm going to ask if they can do some front bushings for me, since the rear ones they made turned out so DAMN GOOD!

Alright, time to get this thread caught up after being offline for that period of time... Pics from a week ago: Pics from today:

AWD won't help. You have a higher top end speed due to the RWD, and the AWD launch won't help that much. How do I know? Well your 2.2l Brat is only .2 seconds slower than my 2.5l AWD Impreza, which runs a 15.1 and thats including almost every bolt on mod (including a lightweight flywheel/sticky clutch)! I say stick with RWD, get some REAL tires, and run lower tire pressure and you should be fine

I kind of wanted to keep the sides of the car flat, since well, the whole side of the car is basically flat... but if I do need to go with significantly wider fenders, there is always the option fender flares. BTW, my Impreza has "bulges" to fit the 225's I have on it, so I know what you are getting at.

This is true. However, I still have X amount of space between the suspension and the fender... And I'm still not sure what we will about modifying the rear fender yet for more tire clearance, or at least not until tomorrow when we test fit everything on the car and take a closer look.

So I'm borrowing a set of 13" enkeis with 185/75/R13 tires from Subarujunkie (supposedly they are actually Jibs wheels/Tires? No big deal though, i'm just borrowing 2 of them for a couple weeks ) for the test fit of the wheels on the suspension at the shop, and decided to check and see how they fit on the suspension... I was surprised to find out that they BARELY cleared the suspension! Here are a few pics: I was pretty shocked how close these were... The offset is actually lower than stock (+38 vs. +51) but the width of the wheels are indeed wider (5.5" vs. 4.5") and the tires are 185's instead of the stock 155's, but the Pugeot 15" wheels with 205 tires had about the same inside clearance than these did (Probably due to the very low Pugeot +24 offset). So it looks like 205's are out of the question, as are stock wheel offsets... I'll probably have to go with custom made wheels, or run narrower tires/smaller wheels than I want to (although the 15" superlites might work with a 185 tire?)

Progress from this vacation-shorted week

Although you have to admit, they are rather pretty for drums The wheel options I have all pretty much block out whats behind there. So a silver or black color (whether being polished or painted) wouldnt show. I also need to paint the backing plates, and i'm not sure if I should match the drum or just paint it black as well... (that goes for the rear AND the front brakes, I plan on keeping the front/rear backing plates and drums the same since they will be worked on at the same time)

They aren't really visible behind the wheels, but the front drums will be visible in the engine bay.

So just to let you guys know, i'm not sitting around doing nothing while the car is at the shop. Here is the rear suspension that i've been working on for little while now. Now its not 100% done... The bolts still need restoration, the bushings still need some major help, and the Koni shocks need some touch-up paint. But it does give you a better idea of where i'm going with this. Oh, and I'm still not sure what I should do with the brake drums... Should I polish them, or paint them with caliper paint (silver)? BTW, it looks like Aspen White won the poll.

I should get more photos of the shop, the cars in there are insane! Its by far the cleanest, nicest shop i've ever seen, and those pics I have are from the "dirty work area" :-p Oh, I just dropped off the door hinges and window frames they are going to use for aligning pieces and such.

LOL! Ya, they said they are way ahead of schedule for the bodywork, might even be done in a couple weeks! That won't give me enough time to save up for the roll cage though I might have to take it back later for that.

I only got the first issue because I ordered it extra, but no haven't received the 2nd issue yet...

Well I ran through a couple hundred part numbers the past couple days looking to see what part numbers are still valid and such, and just put in an order in the stock order for next week to see what happens... My guess is that most of the numbers will end up being canceled on the packing list, but who knows, maybe a few will actually work.

Vote!!! FINAL ROUND!!! Vote here: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1583645

Woot! I was just digging through a pile of old parts catalogs my boss gave me yesterday, and I found the COMPLETE original parts catalog for my car

The white on other-color two tones would still have a white interior/engine bay/etc., but the exterior colors WOULD dictate what the color accents would be in the engine bay (although I can't change the color of some of the components I have, like the coilpack and MSD ignition).

Round 2 of Voting has started!!! Finalists: Vote here: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1578312

Its not going to be cheap. But this isn't an "on the cheap" project either.

I'm thinking just a standard 4-point cage with a harness bar, but it all depends on how the bodywork goes. Speaking of that, I just got back from talking to the bodyshop... I have to say, i'm even more excited now Their process is exactly what I was looking for, and EVERY idea I had they basically thought of too and were on the same page I was! I didn't expect that. Plus, their process is basically one step at a time, IE we are going to start with the rocker panels and rebuild those, but instead of doing the whole car, we will stop and re-asses at that point and basically its a pay-as-we go deal, which means if it starts to get too expensive labor wise I could stop if need be. I can't wait to see the initial results, and i'll be meeting with them about every week to discuss progress and i'll take pictures too of course