tallwelder81

lol yeah, I used to drink a lotta pbr. now I been on the redhook esb. local stuff. my ej18 is already dropped in. suberdave has been very helpful. problem is, everytime I get going on it, family stuff happens. its been offline for over 2 years now. lots of other hurdles. I ordered a magnaflow y pipe/cat. waited FOREVER, like 12 days, to get it. the last one, almost identical, but Siamese port for the ea81, but other than the inlet, identical part, came to my porch in under 3 days. this one took 12 days, and then, I get this box that's like 12"x8"x4". without even opening it, I knew it was way off. so I dealt with customer "service" for hours. oh, no problem, just send it back to us!! well, theres a no returns policy. so they wanted ME to pay shipping, for THEIR fuggup. hell no, I said. so finally they covered it. Summit is horrible. the ad had a CRYSTAL CLEAR PIC OF THE CORRECT PART! and they said "the part you want doesn't exist, it never has". "illustrations are for general purposes, and may not be exact". ohhhh, okay, so someone supposedly took the time to make a high-def picture of a product that never existed? THAT makes sense. whatever. so eventually I got all my money back. and left them a horrible feedback. and complained to the guys manager. long story short, that took 34 DAYS. and accomplished nothing. here I am, a YEAR later, and still I have no exhaust. I just ordered a 23871, this morning. 237 dollars, free shipping.

thaaaanks, pal! when you say there is one in your lifted wagon, and your ladies loyale, those weren't original, right? your wagon is like... a legacy? why did YOU go with ej18 versus the original engine, versus ej22? did it just come along in front of you? that's partly why I got mine. suberdave posted an ad for it, and he lives pretty close, like the next town over from me. and the price was right. and I know he knows his stuff. I had NO desire to figure out any wiring, and he was selling it Already made for an EA body.

HA... touché....

LOL yeah, I know. I have a bad tendency to get a keyboard under my fingers, and just start wandering randomly. sorry folks.at least, in this case, I started the thread that im rapidly flooding.

"ramblings"? HOW DARE YOU!!!???

4130 also never ages. in 200 years, assuming that RUST hasn't attacked it, it will still have its original strength. and its fatigue strength is also very good. that's why its popular for motorcycles. cuz if its stressed, once, twice, a thousand times, its not as ... whats the word... compromised?? Tuesday night in class, they were testing another students DualShield 3/8" test plate. I was about 15-20 feet away when it reached its breaking point. man... even with earplugs on, that sucker POPPED loud. not really a "boom" or a rifle "crack". kinda, I guess comparable to like a 9mm pistol. that was pretty cool.

I was told by a few people that the wiring harness on an ej22 was MASSIVE. like twice as much wire as an ej18. I also was concerned about the extra weight of the bigger engine. I don't understand how ej18 heads can fit on an ej22 block, and vice versa, if the BORE is different? are the chambers the same cc? and yeah, I figured the ej18 was mpfi, cuz the fuel rail looks like it goes to each cylinder. but the wiki article says they are all SPFI. and my ej18 clearly has a throttle body. and the guy who sold me the engine, suberdave, as I think we ALL can agree, really knows his Schmidt, and is NO dummy, mechanically, stood in my garage and told me, "THAT engine is mpfi", and he pointed with his finger at the wiring going to the little cubes, that he says are the injectors, one for each cylinder. and I know Wikipedia doesn't create reality. Wikipedia is a handy reference, but hardly 101% accurate. so my engine is definitely mpfi? anyone know how an ej22 compares to an ej18, in weight? if an ej22 is just a bored out ej18, maybe the ej18 actually weighs MORE? at least, in my head, it seems possible. since the ej18 is famous for SUPER thick cylinder walls. flashing back to the buick 430... the 400, 430, 455, 455 stage 1 family is INFAMOUS for being ultra lightweight. often compared to a chevy 350, because the buick engine uses "windowed" block. they are plenty strong for hot rods or street racers. lots of guys have gotten 300,000 out of them if they keep em oiled and don't race TOO hard. but one of the first things a serious track racer does to a 455 stage 1, is to bolt on a "halo girdle". they are like this high-strength steel reinforcement, about as thick as two thumbs, that goes on BETWEEN your block and oilpan, using longer oilpan bolts. so what do you mean when you say "ej18 and ej22 are the same exact engine"? the heads and block and intake are different? interchangeable and identical are different things. I can put my left shoe on my right foot. that doesn't mean they are the same shape. and PLEASE don't take offense. I have a snarky attitude, but I genuinely appreciate your input and advice. arguing is how im used to tearing apart things, concepts, to get to the core and see how things go together. sometimes I even like to argue AGAINST my own beliefs. playing devils advocate is a great way to see things more clearly, some times.

and to answer your query about tungsten for aluminum, my teacher Dave Parker says that all the books say PURE tungsten is the right tungsten for aluminum, but thoriated is actually much better. the thoriated tungstens can handle a lot more juice before they turn to butter. im no tig expert, but that's what I was told.

that's a lot of info!! thank you!! and yeah, I hear you about the stainless. ive NEVER worked with it at all. but I have a friend who is a major welder, self employed, and he has 2 big Grumman workhorses, and an F250 diesel worktruck, retired king county police truck, actually. 10mpg, lol... actually he says the HUGE Grumman workhorse, which, empty, weighs I would guess, over 10,000lbs, and LOADED with his tools and materials, over 18,000lbs, gets BETTER mpg than the F250 pickup truck. anyhow, im off track. he has told me, on MULTIPLE occasions, that stainless is VERY prone to rust, if you use the wrong wirebrush, <I already knew THAT>. or even if you just work mild steel in the same 18x20ft room, the airborne particles can ruin a major project that he spent thousands of dollars, and dozens of hours on. and he says he has just taken some of these major projects in the past, with a deadline ticking down just a day or two away, and chopped them up, and scrapped the whole thing, because it patina'd. same thing with aluminum. he has a bunch of old retired bedsheets and comforters, and he covers EVERYTHING, anytime he works mild steel in that room. so none of the aluminum or stainless gets "polluted". but 4130 isn't stainless. stainless has like way more chromium. like 9-12 percent. chrome-moly <misleading name> only has like one percent chromium. and 4130 is what they make great bumpers and rollbars from. cuz its lighter weight. well, in a sense its lighter, cuz you use less of it. also, another advantage most of these rollcage websites don't know, or at least don't mention, is that 4130 keeps a lot more strength after an impact. like, lets say you roll your car off a cliff, and into a big tree. and it rolls 3 full flips, and slams into the trunk of a big fir tree or maple, say like 8 foot diameter tree. well, mild steel will often be JUST as strong, on the FIRST impact. it will protect you, pound for pound of material, as the expensive 4130 rollbar. but then your car flips again and again, and slams into that tree. well, on the second impact, that same rollbar has like <just rough guesstimating again, here> 60% of its original strength, or integrity. say, like.... damn, its a hard guess, but lets say that, assuming the mounting points are literally INVINCIBLE for the sake of a simple calculation for me. well, lets say the rollbar can take the first impact, and LOOk to our naked eyes to be perfectly solid, and not even have ANY visible dent or damage at all. well, if it starts out at say.... 16,000lbs of capacity. <hard thing to measure in a tube structure, versus a simple rectangle billet>, well, that original 16,000, STILL looking like brand new to our eyes, is NOW worth about 10,000lbs of integrity. but the 4130, even though it is THINNER, is rated about twice as strong as the mild steel, pound for pound. and so, if we assume it started out as capable of taking a 16,000lb impact, NOW its only good for about 13,000 or 14,000lbs, for the second impact. then the 2nd roll happens, and you bounce off that rollbar again. well, now the mild steel tube is only worth about 6,000lbs. and the 4130 is maybe 10,000. both are probably noticeable deformed at this point. then it flips again, and the mild steel tube is worth... maybe like 1,500. I know that's a lot bigger drop, relative to the first drop. but keep in mind, its not just the metal itself, now, its SHAPE has been compromised. that convex or straight form, is now riddled with stress risers. think how fragile and weak an eggshell is, once its already been compromised.... egg=ultra strong. eggshell, extremely weak. in fact, to elaborate on that point, I raise chickens. free range, they just wander my entire yard at will, and lay their eggs in the bushes, blackberries or wherever they feel like. so I am well aware of how an egg works. typically, they INSTINCTIVELY know to somehow lay their eggs, smaller point UP. never on their side. sure, they might shift later on. but anyhow, even natures miracle shape, the birds egg, has strong sides and weaker sides. the LONG sides, a.k.a. the waist of the egg, is MUCH weaker than the top and bottom. its a much broader curve, and the unborn chicks instinctively peck at THAT specific part, when they are ready to be born. <also, they are pecking at the INSIDE of the curve, the concave form>. try punching your windshield from the inside or the outside. I guarantee you, you will shatter half the bones in your fist, if you try it from the OUTSIDE, the convex curve. but even as a 85lb wimpy 6th grader, I could easily punch out a windshield from the INSIDE.... where was I? oh, okay, assuming you are still reading this long ramble... don't be too quick to add uneccessary weight to anything automotive, because theres more to gain from proper and efficient SHAPE than there is from just dumping more and more metal into it. everyone laughs at SMART fortwo cars? well, im not personally planning to BUY one, myself. but if you watch videos of the crash tests, that little smart car does BETTER in frontal impacts, than a ford explorer or a jeep grand Cherokee. with like, half the weight, or less. a rectangle is a CRAP shape. eggs or triangles are so so much better. and 20lbs of QUALITY steel is always stronger than 50lbs of recycled soup cans.

I dunno about the carbd ej. im not knocking it. I literally mean, I "don't know about it". ive had friends who carbed various 80s and early 90s Fuel Inj engines. a guy who sold me my two most recent rivieras, had a mid90s coupe deville, very stock LOOKING. if you walked up on it parked at the store, youd just assume it was some old mans or churchy grandmas white mid90s, stock common, unimpressive wimpy grocery store Cadillac. but he put a 600cfm edelbrock 4 barrel, and cherry bomb glasspacks on it. it still wasn't exactly "fast", it was still probably like a 16 second car. but it SOUNDED awesome. and a few of the local hillbillys have turned their mid90s F150s into carbd farm trucks, on 33"s, full of dents and bullet holes. I don't think it was a hotrod purpose. just, like you and I were talking of, for ease of maintenance, and simplicity. but another reason I went with the ej18, is because, <yes im aware that the ej22 is WELL proven as a bulletproof, 300k mile engine> I heard many views, that the ej18 has such THICK cylinder walls, that its virtually un"cook"able. in other words, you can basically ruin your radiator, or run out of water, or lose your fan, and the engine WONT overheat. which brings up a funny story: when I first got my brat, the guy had done a few mods. spray-bedliner. weber carb. stereo. amp, custom boxes. dome light mod. late 90s mazda bucket seats. and for SOME reason, my fan didn't work. but I didn't even KNOW it didn't work. i played around, a little mild offroading, some 30 minute drives up thru seattle, this and that. maybe 1,000 miles, give or take. ALL without my fan. well, guess what?? I NEVER overheated. I popped the hood a few times, for friends, to show off my new buggy. and within ten minutes, my radiator, intake, and heads were all as warm as your forehead. not even warm enough to melt butter. the EA series was based off of air-cooled engines, like the VW pancake. I think that, if anything, the radiator was just an afterthought. and I don't think that, at their basic heart, the first gen EJs are much different. the ej22 is a VERY popular airplane engine. almost always used in an air-cooled context. on that note, have you ever checked out the engines STRATUS sells? verrrry nice, but how many Subaru guys have 8 or even as much as 12 grand to spend on a 4-cylinder engine? I AM tempted to, in a couple years, whenever I kill this ej18, have CCR rebuild me up a nice 1997 ej22. they want $3,050 for the 97 ej22. which is only like 900 bucks more than they want for an ea81.

yes, I know what an interference engine is. which brings up a good question. an ORIGINAL ej18 is NON-interference. how much would the cam grind need to be "upgraded" before the valves share space with the piston crown? I know displacement affects torque. but then again, a buick 430 makes SIGNIFICANTLY more torque than a chevy 454 or a ford 429, or dodge 440, of the same year, and roughly same compression and carb cfm. so I don't think its fair or accurate to just say, cut and dry, a bigger engine makes bigger torque. I think that same article I quoted, from Wikipedia, said that the ej22 wasn't an interference engine until 1999. but most of the engineering changes came in 1997, and didn't affect the valve/piston relationship. and to the guy who said "get an ej22".... thank you. sincerely. but I have an ej18. I bought it, already having heard all this. I PREFER the spfi, obd1, and sohc. im a survivalist. and, even getting an EARLY 90s ej18 was a conflict for me, because ULTRA simple repair and maintenance is a very high priority for me. I don't want a turbocharger air conditioner. power steering. cruise control. etc etc.... 110hp is enough. but 125 horsepower, at 500 rpm LOWER than I get 110 horsepower, WOULD be nice. the fact is, when somebody asks you how to fix a hole in their roof, telling em to get a new house isn't that helpful. I HAVE a house. I just want a remodel. a new house means money, time, sweat, and finding a way to dispose of the previous house <ej18>. but the truth is, at least you both RESPONDED, and said something. and I DO appreciate that. lol... I suppose I could raise the compression. but that's kinda counter-productive to my survivalist attitude. high compression means picky fuel. and as anyone who has read history, or even been in America for over a decade, has learned, one of the least stable or dependable resources in America is.... quality fuel. I don't want to NEED anymore than 89 octane. I don't mind spending an extra quarter or 4 dimes for a gallon. BUT, I don't want to NEED it. cuz if I run 87 octane NOW, it may lose a few horsepower, and it may cough and fart a bit now and then. but it runs fine, and its not at risk of a heart failure. if I put regular in my 10.5:1 buick 430, it will barely even start. even with my hot rod coil, which could probably electrocute an elephant. d'ya get what im saying? y;all hear where im coming from? on a total side note A.D.D. tangent, ANY FANS OF VW Baja Bugs? seems like they fit in with the whole 80s EA-series philosophy and attitude. small, simple, practical, fun, and extremely durable, reliable buggys, that LOVE abuse and dirt. all the Baja bugs I see online are pretty and shiny, and the sale prices are ridiculous. kinda defeats the purpose of a cheap simple git-er-dun hillbilly-mobile, when the guys on craigslist are putting a 2,000 dollar paintjob, and 1,000 dollar rims on em. showcars are for fairies. leave that attitude to the Abercrombie crowd. Brats and Bugs were DESIGNED specifically for blue collar Joes. the pabst drinkers and the dirty fingernail types. do you guys think an ej18 could benefit much from a portmatch on the intake and exhaust manifolds? and a quick and easy bowl cleanup? in all the pictures ive seen, EJ engines seem to have a pretty ideal chamber. just the layout, shape, geometry of it all. ive never done portwork on anything except old 60s American cast iron.

if nobody helps me, im gonna drive my brat to the scrapyard, sell it for fifty bucks, to be crushed and melted down. then im gonna buy a Honda, and add a HUUUUGE tailpipe and muffler. and put 22" spinners on it. and chevy bowtie hood ornament. with tiger stripe shag carpet dashboard.

12 views, zero responses? a$$holes.

hey david. you live pretty close to Sube101..... and he is very good at what he does.... however, he doesn't make house calls. so, that's a plus in your corner. why don't you post a few good clear pics of some of your recent projects? a picture is worth a MILLION words. have you worked with 4130 or stainless? I do a lot of welding also, but I don't have some of the importamt equipment. I HAD a very nice, MINT condition Miller 375 Xtreme plasma cutter, and a Miller maxstar 150s. but some gutterscum junkie tweaker stole it, so he could go get another hit of that toilet cleaner they call meth these days. at least with stoners, the worst they will steal is your lighter, or MAYBE, at worst, the change in your couch or on your coffeetable or center console. anyhow.... I have the LONG style brush guard, with the separate tranny support piece, and the heavy steel skid plate. and the factory lowstyle rollbar. the one that fits clean to the cab roof. so it fits under a canopy. so now, im trying to SPEC up and blueprint the brush guard and the rollbar, on paper and on autoCAD. so we can all have EXACT, accurate dimensions. then, im going to practice Tig. ive already done Tig in the past. ran some pretty acceptable and attractive and strong beads, on lap, tee, and butt joints. vertical and flat. haven't tried Tig overhead yet. and I only did mild-steel. never tried 4130 or stainless, or even aluminum. long story short, my basic plan was to get the rollbar and the front bulbar spec'd up, and recreate them, just like the original factory units, in chrome-moly 4130. they should be roughly 30-40% lighter. 4130 is too expensive for skid plates, and aluminum diamond sheets are SUPER common at the scrap yard. I think id steer towards just looking at the skid plates as a disposable unit. bash it up too much? ten dollars later and 20 minutes of labor, and you got a brand new. any thoughts, as a fellow welder? I live up near renton/auburn.

well, first off, let me just quote Wikipedia. everyone here is probably familiar with this article.... Beginning in the 1997 model year, the 2.2 liter engine for 1997 Legacy and Impreza models had internal and external changes that yield an approximately 10% increase in power and 3% increase in fuel economy. Accomplishing this involves many factors, one of which is engine friction reduction. The pistons were coated with molybdenum to reduce friction. The thin coating reduces moving friction and reduces cylinder wall scuffing. The piston skirt was reshaped and the piston weight was reduced by approximately 100 grams. Compression ratio was increased to 9.7:1 by reshaping the piston crown. This eliminates the clearance that was available between the piston at TDC and the fully opened valve. Piston pin offset has been changed to 0.5mm (0.002 in). Piston to cylinder wall clearance has been reduced by increasing the piston diameter. so, my question is fairly obvious. CAN I BENEFIT FROM THAT UPGRADE, with an ej18, rather than an ej22? having like <rough guesstimate> 125 hp at 5600rm, instead of 110hp at 6000rpm, and 120 trq at 3600rpm, instead of 114 trq at 4200rpm, sounds like a NICE upgrade. Specifications [edit] ⦁ Displacement: 1820 cc ⦁ Bore: 87.9 mm ⦁ Stroke: 75.0 mm ⦁ Compression Ratio: 9.5:1 - 9.7:1 ⦁ Valvetrain: ⦁ SOHC ⦁ Fuel Delivery single point fuel injection EJ181 ⦁ Horsepower: 110 PS (81 kW; 108 bhp) @ 6000 rpm ⦁ Torque: 149.1 N·m (110 lb·ft) @ 3200 rpm EJ182 ⦁ Horsepower: 115 PS (85 kW; 113 bhp) @ 6000 rpm ⦁ Torque: 154.0 N·m (114 lb·ft) @ 4500 rpm EJ183 ⦁ Horsepower: 120 PS (88 kW; 118 bhp) @ 5600 rpm ⦁ Torque: 163.8 N·m (121 lb·ft) @ 3600 rpm -------ea-81 specs: Horsepower: 73 bhp (54 kW; 74 PS) at 4,800 rpm Torque: 94 lb·ft (127 N·m) at 2,400 rpm why does the old, primitive, simple basic EA engine make so much torque at 2,400rpm, but it takes the <relatively> advanced and much more complex EJ18 4500 rpm just to get 114 lbs of torque? what is the difference? is it simply because of timing chains and overhead cams, versus pushrods? or because the ea81 has a 92mm bore, and only a 67mm stroke, versus the ej18 88mm bore and 75mm stroke? I know that bore vs stroke affects torque. is that it?

HA!! mandrel bender? good luck, buddy. hope you got about 25,000 sitting around gathering dust, for a USED mandrel bender that can do up to 2.5inch. I looked into it. just make your own bender. if you fit all the pieces up tight and clean, and you warm up the tubing a bit, and you keep all the dies and shoes real slippery with white lithium grease, the bends come out pretty damn smooth anyhow. we bend tube at my school every day. a few guys, including the teacher Dave Parker, are building their own custom Choppers, from scratch. and their bends look fantastic. we have a whole bending setup, that cost about 250 dollars to make. yes, two hundred and fifty American dollars. that INCLUDES the price of the hydraulic unit. they just bought one from Harbor Freight. and we all know how crappy harbor freight is. but the bender gets used literally every day, for at least half a dozen bends. and its worked great for over 12 quarters of school. with old pros, young punks, burnout stoners, and total clowns using it. and trust me, half those guys do NOT baby the school equipment. they thrash on it. I could take a picture if you want to build your own. I know there are plans online. it takes about 160 dollars worth of steel. its mostly 2x2 receiver steel. like they make a truck tow package out of. 1/4" wall. maybe 200 or 250lbs of steel material. the expensive part is the dies and the "shoes". some of those are up to 300 dollars each.

I bought that same exact y-pipe for my 83 brat. I have nothing but GOOD reviews. the material quality was fantastic. smooth. kink-free bends. thick tube. great fit-up. great flow. the sound was smooth but "ballsy". not wimpy and neutered like a moped or Segway <spell?> and not irritating or crude like a Harley. just right, like goldilocks pudding. I HIGHLY recommend the part. I ended up swapping my ea81 for an ej18. so I have 4 exhaust ports, and had to dump that unit. so I ordered the CLEARLY ILLUSTRATED ej version of the identical part, from ebay. waited foooorever, like 14 days. then it gets here, and its a box about 14"x8". right away its obviously the wrong part. I mean, duhhhhh...... derp de derp.... so I call and call.... got a bunch of runaround, and then a bunch of excuses.... "that part doesn't even EXIST!!". okay, well then apparently someone took a lot of time out of their day, to DRAW up a clear and detailed graphic of a part that doesn't exist, and then used it in your ebay ad, to sell a completely different part, even though your ad ALSO clearly said "inlets:2 outlets:1" and the part you sent me was just a converter that fit in the palm of my hand, and has 1 in, and 1 out. either that, or im SO dumb, that I cant look at a converter in my hand and count the tubes coming in and out of it. id hafta be pretty fudging dumb. like, cant tie my own shoes, kinda dumb. and, just for y'all, as a warning, this wasn't some tiny ebay nobody, this was SUMMITRACINGS ebay store. who sells hundreds of items every day on ebay alone. so, I handled all that, got my money back. chewed them out until THEY paid my return postage. damned if IM gonna pay the 15 bucks to rectify THEIR stupidity. now, months later, im still sitting here with no exhaust, and wondering. if there is a Magnaflow graphic illustration of a specific ej22 y-pipe/cat conv, then that part must exist? or at least, it existed at some point in time, like the late 90s? any thoughts? and p.s. sube101 makes GREAT stuff. he is a helluva fabricator. I cant claim any personal experience with his exhaust work. but he made me a very nice lift kit. it all fit up, strong, solid, clean, sharp, and very nice Tig beads. most people don't use tig. its not "necessary". but tig is very nice. and looks much prettier. it takes more time and practice and patience, tho. most people just mig. mig is just fine. but tig is better. if anyone knows where to get the ej22 y-pipe, id pay for it. its the last piece if my puzzle, to get my baby back on the road and the trail.

well, an EASY 5 minute answer? nothing will help fuel economy, easily. but if you want it bad, then yeah.... all comes down to this: how MANY hundreds of dollars are you willing to spend, to save a dollar per day? if you get like, 24mpg NOW, and you get a turbocharger for somewhat cheap, used, for say... 400 dollars, and it gets you up to 27 or even 29mpg, how long will it take before it SAVES you money?? one thing that would probably affect your mpg noticeably, good or bad, would be taller or shorter gears. or, if you don't use your 4wd mode, like, EVER, converting it to full fwd mode would help a lot. even if the transfer case isn't engaged, it still creates a slight drag. parasitic loss. and the rear axle drive capability adds a lot of weight. like, as much as another grown man. I think this is most likely your daily driver, if you care about a few extra mpg. so that rules out my other suggestion. porting and polishing your intake and heads and exh. it can be done for basically free. it just means taking apart your engine for a week. and a new set of gaskets to re-assemble. people usually associate a ort and polish with more performance. not mpgs. but, think about it, anytime you add more power, without adding more fuel thirst, you always have the option to put a little less foot on that old pedal. don't look at it as more power at the same rpm. look it at equal power at less rpm. a nice exhaust can help a lot with midrange power. and, surprisingly, freeway isn't high-end rpm. unless you are really out of tune or tired, or tragically underpowered. most likely, you have enough power that, once the weight gets moving, 55-65mph, your engine is not working at full throttle, its simply maintaining that already earned inertia. hence, big heavy V8 trucks, being able to shut down half their cylinders even going 60mph with 6,000lbs. I bet your legacy doesn't weigh 6,000 lbs. sure, your legacy doesn't have "variable displacement" capability. but the logic is the same. once you get going, its not working very hard to KEEP going. so if you get an exhaust and a cam profile that helps MIDrange, freeway driving is improved a LOT.

anyone who wants to PLAY, text me. Mat. 206-914-1246. and hey, Hobart is like twenty feet from where I grew up, born and raised on the cedar river. come on down, the priiiiice is riiiight!!!

I don't have an ea82 to work off of. so no. if you want anything like that, major stuff, its gotta be ea81 so I can crawl under my brat and get ar eal, solid, accurate feel for what to do and how to be efficient and get a decent result. sorry. I cant work off numbers. I don't function that way. some guys can. but not me. quarter panel guards? yeah I think I could do that. tubular? do you mean built off the.... ummm..... hmmmmm are you talking like sheets of diamond plate aluminum riveted directly to the quarter panel? that's easy.... and yeah, id be into that project. I think a lot of these guys would want those. I hadt thought of that, so much, but have put a LOT of thought into rocker panel armor. like the diamond plate you see under the door-area, on pickup trucks and Cherokees and stuff. just be aware, it wont be bulletproof. but it would definitely help with like sticks and gravel. and also just look cool and tuff. and maozebong, if you are skilled with welders, and are moving to seattle area, lets hang out. if you dot seem like a jacka$$ or a gomer pyle, or a punk who thrashes other guys expensive and importat tools, shoot, you can probably just get your own butt in my garage and do a project, if you throw me a few bucks for materials. I use fluxcore wire now, its like 80 bucks for a 11lb roll. just buy me breakfast up the road. if you seem kosher, you are welcome to use my welder and plasma cutter.

on ANOTHER note, im working on designing some nice ROCK SLIDERS for an ea81 body. nothing cheap tho. high-end steel, and slow, detail-oriented labor. im not saying im close to having them done. im just saying im working on a design. the only ones ive ever seen on an ea81 were on that huge beast, the McBrat monster. and i know 99% of us arent planning to go in that extreme direction with our builds. i think 2 or 3" lift and 27inch tires is pretty typical. not many are going up 8" and throwing 33s underneath. NOT that its not cool. thats a sweet sweet ride. its just not realistic for most of us. does ANYONE have sliders on a more mild built brat or ea81 hatch? or at least some pics of how they attached to the "framerails"? i dont know what you call those main structural ribs on a unibody. when im jacking up my brat, i just call em framerails.

also, y'know, the thread TITLE actually specifies king county. meaning local. im not into shipping anything over 12" inches. if i wanted to deliver a huge package, id just call up my girlfriend. lmao..... but seriously, folks.... i meant, y'know, simple stuff for guys around town here. anyone between shoreline, wa and tacoma, wa and north bend, wa. not ohio. no offense to ohio. i think i could make a good tube bumper. i really think i could make a great one. but a 3 inch tubing bender is a serious tool. i dont own that type of stuff. i DO have a very nice manual hydraulic exhaust bender. and ive done a fair amount of exhaust work. my own on brat. my buddies souped up mid-90s rice racer Civic. friends beat up farm F150s.... stuff like that. i HATE working with galvanized. if you want any galvanized welded, the new rule is: GRIND AT LEAST TWO INCHES BACK FROM ANYTHING YOU WANT WELDED. im done killin myself with everyopne elses zinc poisoning, laying under a car where even MY skinny butt barely fits, with no way to NOT breathe that crap. if YOU clean up the area you need welded, im happy to weld it up. you want one or 2 joins, and its almost ready to be welded, just needs a clamp and 20 minutes of work? hell, i will do it for anyone on USMB for like 20 bucks and a cheeseburger. or whatever. if your wife cooks good, im open to other entrees, lol.... bottom line is, i say food cuz i like to eat and i know we are not all a RICH crowd. typical subaru guys arent usually drowning in piles of cash. i want to help. people on here have been real patient and generous with their time and knowledge. and in my experience of the married, blue-collar crowd, most of us can often afford a 5 dollar casserole or whatever, even though we dont have an extra 5 dollars in paper cash.

the tube bumper, talk to sube101 or beastidrive, they make great bumpers. don't ask me, I wont get it right. just being honest.

1/4" skid plate? id recommend it 1/8". the whole purpose of the skid plate is to take some serious abuse, take off and scrap and replace. if its too strong, all that abuse needs to be swallowed by SOMETHING along the line. and that 1/4 inch plate is NOT taking the abuse. so whats next? your 16 and 18g unibody. which CANT just be unbolted and replaced in 5 minutes for 20 bucks. I have no way to bend 1/4 anyhow. very few sheetbrakes will do anything over 18 or at best, 16g. I had a project last year that needed a 14g sheet folded. 14g is less than .08 inches thick. and nobody around, even with hydraulic assist, could bend it for me. I finally just used my dads 4 cylinder diesel john deere tractor. but point being, I spent a week asking around at local fab shops. nobody would bend 14 gauge. and that's .08. LESS than .08. 1/4 inch would be .25 versus .08 my advice is to let me make you an 1/8 inch plate. and id consider even that to be pretty overbuilt. I cant sheetbend 1/8 but I can clamp it to a 2 foot length of railroad track, and then park my truck on it and use a 8lb sledge. done it before with 1/8. it works pretty good. and I can put your bolt pattern in it just fine. if you are TRULY doubtful of 1/8 skid plates strength, I could throw some parallel 1/8x1" bars lengthwise, for structural ribs. wouldn't add much weight, but it would add a ton of rigidity and pure hickory toughness.

I am getting quite good. and have recently acquired a few new tools. very nice Miller plasma cutter. a new Miller dual voltage stick welder. let me know. im around a lot. I wont charge you the typical rate, like 40-80 per hour. how about a cheeseburger and 25 cash per hour?