86hatchback

Licenseplates.tv not really cheap but gives you a replica of your old plates if your looming to stay with the vintage plates.

Yeah I have that exact page bookmarked on my computer. Funny thing is I ended up getting the same wheels and my hatch is the same color. Ok so hears some side by side pictures of the two cross members and their bracing. Seems like a lot of work to move all the ears vs just adjusting the bushing tube, or cutting the end off and adding a heim joint like all the rock crawler guys use. Just as a reference the clean one is ea81on top ea82 is on the bottom ea82 backing plate ea81 backing plate Looks like the ea82 has a bit of a jog in the main down bend of the cross member

That would be with ea82 or xt6 arms. I was looking at both ea81 and ea82 turbo crossmembers and it seems like you'd need to transfer the outer ears and internal brace from the ea82 to make it strong as factory. Hoping the experts chime in on this.

Hey this might sound crazy but why can't you just cut the bushing tube off the control arm and pivot it so it would be in the right spot and the reweld the bushing tube back in place? Might have to elongate the radius rod holes.

The xt6 arms are used if your doing the five lug swap on an ea82. With the ea81 you need to get the control arms reamed out to fit the xt6/ej ball joint.

GD: Since your having custom races made does this mean that combining the EMPI shafts is a no go? Last I'd heard this was a workable option.

Yeah I keep trolling craigslist to see if I can find something. Lucky honda coilovers sell pretty cheap. Just need funds lol

The wrx thermostat comes out really close to the line of the timing belt cover. It looks like the hose would be a pain to route unless you got tricky and had a 90 welded onto the ea81 radiator Here's a shot of my ej22 bolted in with the ea81 radiator in place. Hope that's useful. Picture I got off google search that shows that the thermostat housing on a wrx

yeah I'd like to do coil overs when the budget will allow. How much do you have into your set up? I'm probably just going to buy cheap coilovers for the stock struts or go Sentra strut combo since the springs are pretty close to the ea81 size. Measured it in the car in a junkyard so it wasn't very scientific.

Sorry if this is a hijack but if I used my ea81 turbo coupe crossmember on my hatch and a turbo header which run under $150 bucks on ebay vs $275 up. Then had a connection pipe made up at an exhaust shop that in theory should work right? Plus it would tuck the exhaust up a little higher.

Nice, I keep hunting craigslist hoping to find something that would work. Nothing that cheap has come up yet.

I've seen those as your hatch has been the inspiration for mine. They're for a 90's VW right? What did you pay and where did you find that set up?

Hey my hatch has the same stance. It's been sitting on jack stands for far too long. Started to change the water pump ended up in ej22, custom transmission, powersteering and a five lug swap.

What springs are you running now?

Do the sti springs lower the car at all? Be curiosity what you come up with.

So is there as factory spring that will fit the legacy strut and fit up in the ea81 strut tower? Or is cheap ebay coilovers my option till I can afford good springs?

Yeah I've got the whole vented rotor knuckle kyb strut and turbo spring combo, what's something like that worth?

I'm doing the five light swap on my hatch and wondering if it's bad to put the ea81t springs on legacy struts with the turbo tophat? I know most guys are running coilovers, but I have these springs. Any thoughts? Matt

This is the post I was thinking of. So it sounds like Empi axles and maybe other brands might have the same splines as legacy shafts, I'll have to try the axles that I have I've got around the house. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=98829&highlight=shawnw&page=13

I swear I saw a picture of a set of blue axles that somebody had made or found that fit the ea81 chassis with legacy knuckles and brakes. Is anybody making or selling these. I've searched like crazy and can't find the post again.

I'm pretty sure the gear trains are interchangeable with those transmissions. You can use a Toyota g52 gears on the jeep ax5 main shaft. I know for sure the fifth gears swap I'm pretty sure the gears will fit the main shaft as well. I would assume that the ax15 and R series transmissions are the same way.

Figured I'd post some pictures of the transmissions I have torn down today. So when people wonder what the PT4WD guts vs the FT4WD guts look like. So here's the PT on the bottom and the FT on top Here's a close up of PT pinion shaft. Here's the FT pinion shaft bare This is what the FT center diff and lock out look like. The transfer gear sits on top and is one piece out to the rear output. Last is the combo I put together EJ cases 23 spline stubs and FT4WD single range gear train.

If I had a whole awd trans I'd use it but at this point with the budget closing down I'm kind of stuck with what I have. If I have funds the future I'll switch over. I got a deal on a fwd legacy trans to steal the cases off of for cheap.

I've been bouncing around on how to do my hatch since I got it. So now after asking a lot of weird questions I just decided to stick with the stock mfpi ej22 thanks to Gloyale for offering to do the harness for me. The transmission will be a bit of a twist so I'll take pictures as I build that. I'm going to be putting ej cases on a ft4wd single range transmission with diff lock. That way I can use the better clutches and no adapters. I'm gonig to lower the car to 2wd height and make a canyon carver out of it. So tomorrow the fun of guttin the hatch begins.

I seem to remember that one doesn't clear the hood on a stock height rig. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong in the picture it looks pretty tall.