tallwelder81

soooooo........... just to be completely clear, then....... king springs doesnt make a LIFt spring for a brat. tempo springs dont even fit a brat <ea81 body> and RX springs dont LIFT a brat, theyre just stiffer? so theres no way to suspension lift a brat an inch or so? the ONLY way to lift up my running gear, is to run tall-rump roast tires? seems like a catch 22, you would want more clearance for offroading, but the taller the tires, the less effective your already minimal torque becomes.

mick stubbings at kings springs SPECIFICALLY told me they dont make anything but standard springs for the brumby/brat. so im left with RX springs. or the tempo, maybe?> but what i read on here, it sounds like the tempo work for an ea82, not a brat. so..... RX, then. who has some rx springs i can buy? please please please? are those STIFFER than stock brat, or just taller? because i figure i HAVE thrown on a little extra weight. not as much as some guys, but still.... i swapped an ea81 for an ej18, so maybe 60-75lbs. the pushbar/bullbar/A bar, call it what you want, maybe 50-60lbs, 80lbs with the thick-steel skidplate and tranny midmount. and then im planning on adding a small electric winch, so.... 30-40lbs. if i assume for the MIDDLE weight guess, thats still at least 180lbs. not a literal ton, but still, enough to affect things. please soooomebody help me score some front rx springs? or tell me clear if they work for a brat? anyone on here used them on their brat?

i like the bigger bottle. and he said something about blah blah cheaper in a larger exchange. you can see for yourself, the math doesnt even out. 20 for 100 is 5 per CF 80 for 180 is 2.25 per CF

thanks, drugh. thats the kinda advice i was hoping for.

i dont mind some minor cutting, as long as it looks clean and professional, not ghettofied. oh yea, mcbrat, i am well aware of YOUR blue brat. it is VERY nice. a bit customized, but subtle and smooth. your big bad red brat is killer too, but totally not what IM going for. phizinza has a nice brat, ive seen that one around. not in life, but online, i meant. sjr doesnt seem to be that interested in anything under a 4". he used to advertise 2 and 3. but he told me hed still make one on request. maybe theres just not much demand. what do you think of a 4, mcbrat? why did you go with a 3? my mind is getting glued up with all these details. like when i buy the typical lift, whether SJR, AA, or BYB, that lifts EVERYTHING, yea? so then for some reason <camber and cv health?> the crossmember and pumpkin need to be lowered an equal distance? so if i used a 2 inch body lift, and a kingspring in the front, which claims 1.5" suspension lift. my whole drivetrain<engine, trans, shaft, and pumpkin> would be 1.5" higher than factory stock? and i assume if it lifts the engine, the exhaust would be in the same place, relative to engine, etc, but the exhaust would be higher relative to the road/trail? sorry for so many questions, and THANK you all very much for the help and input.

any advice what to do about a radiator hose? my ej18 is 1.5 inches, and the factory brat ea radiator is 1.25 inches. schuck/oreillys wants a BUNDLE for a hose with different size ends, like 30-35 each. i dont feel right spending 70 dollars on less than 24" of rubber hose. and as im sure you all know, the stock radiator fan is too thick to fit back in the car between the belts/pulleys, and the actual car frame/unibody. where have you ej swappers found the best slimline fans for the job>? any help is MUCHO appreciated!!! its bad enough i missed wcss13. i dont want to miss the last years of internal combustion engines while i get this ding dang brat back on its tires.

in my experience and word of mouth is this, flux cores ONLY real advantage is in bad environments. windy, greasy, dusty etc.... and even WITH flux core, you ALWAYS want to prepare the surface as MUCH as humanly possible. standard mig is the way to go.

thanks a lot uber. youre right, its a very low quality pic. but it helps. and the fact that you looked for it and sent it means a lot. basically im trying to get an idea of what a 2 looks like, versus a 4". since i dont want to go over about 26.5-27", i dont want it too high. hate the look of lifted rigs with small wheels, looks.........weird. of course theres a lot of practical logic to my choice. but from a visual standpoint, yea...... but im thinking 205-70-15s would look and work great on a 4" lift anyhow.

whats the width on those? 15x6? and what do they weigh?

i specifically want to see a 2" lifted brat. i know a lot of the aussie guys use a 2" on their brumby. due, i assume, to the fact that, from what ive heard on here, 2" is the legal maximum, down under in roo-land. i know phizinza has a 2" on his cherry red brumby with fat chrome rollbar. i was hoping someone in the northwest might have a 2inch setup on their brat, locally.

thats the ticket. if you go mig, dont go cheap. harbor freight isnt even worth the price if they were free. a power tool isnt worth cutting corners on budget, cheap tools cost more than quality tools. lincoln, miller, hobart. another thing you may consider is a flanger. looks like a vise-grip, but it has a wide L shaped jaw. basically it just presses/bends a flat edge into a 45 or 90 degree fold, the way a lot of unibody pieces need to be. eastwood sells em, im sure lots of places sell em. maybe 15-30 bucks. a good strong rivet gun is handy for sheet metal work also. around 35-50 bucks. maybe 75 for a nicer one.

any input on how spacers Vs. springs affect camber and CV wear/stress? is 1" enough to even matter? or could the spacer be slanted, the way some people do with the lift blocks? 17degrees or whatever it is? ACTUALLY, incidentally, i was just looking at the king website. under their catalog they only list a std spring for the brumby. nothing lowered or raised.

i kinda figured the 4 new kingsprings would cost 40-50 each. 180-200 total.

thank you man. but daaaang, i wasnt expecting to pay the same price for 4 springs as id pay for a nice new full body lift kit. thats a bit ridiculous, dont ya think? 430 U.S. cash dollars? i think ill stick with hunting down a pair of the rx springs. i kinda wish there were springs that raised it LESS. instead of 1.5", maybe just 1 inch, or .75". anything like that exist?

oh, and the other obvious question. where can i actually SCORE those new springs? or maybe some reasonable priced spring spacers.

just want my front end up a hair. and stiffer would actually be a plus in my book. how much does it lift, and will that little bit REALLY trash my CVs as bad as they say?

actually, danbennet, thats where youre wrong. by 2025ad, robots will be using humans for fuel, and only keanu reeves can save us.

i am a huge believer in conservation and minimal living. not just for the environment, but for myself and my own independence. but what electric car promoters dont mention about their environmental advantages, is this: how healthy is mercury, or lead, or cadmium, etc for the earth, and for the ocean. my take on environment, in regards to personal vehicles is that we dont need some magic alternative to gasoline. millions of acres of corn, fed on labor, fertilizer, plowing up topsoil, and taking vast amounts of good land, isnt the answer. america just needs an entirely diffrent lifestyle and attitude towards driving everywhere. hopping in your suburban to go grab a pack of cigs a mile away, every single day. dropping off, and picking up your kids from school every day, 5 minutes from the house. the only answer that will ever really solve any problems is to CHANGE the way we look at cars and how we use them. commuting an hour every day is stupid.

two point i wanna make. 1: they seem to keep applying this hybrid technology to cars that, small, light, and compact as they are, wouldve gotten 35-40mpg ANYHOW. does it seem a bit pointless to market better gas mileage to a market segment in search of a tiny, 3,000lb geo metro style car? much less when a prius costs about twice as much as a ford focus? if you really look at the gas mileage of a prius, its not THAT much better than a VW jetta TDI. my ex gf had one, it was a very nice car. it was 12 years old, and still in awesome shape, and its not likeshe had it locked away in a garage. she drove it a lot. ten minutes to work, ten minutes home, from seattle area to portland every month, long road trips from like seattle to denver. and it was comfortable. and roomy. not roomy like a mid 90s lincoln towncar. but definately comfortable. i sat in the vackseat just to see what it was like, and i can wear 36inch leg jeans, that justreach my angles. i had plenty of room. it got up to 42mpg going on latenight cross state freeway runs. and no, i dont mean it hit 42, it averaged about 42. even in serious downtown city driving going up tacomas seriously steep sanfrancisco style hills, it got at least 24mpg. and it was decently fast. point #2: the market is already saturated with little 2 seater mini cars with weird looking designs. why not another BRAT style rig, with some rugged "abusability" and hair on its "undercarriage, if ya know what i mean"? a brat is small, fairly efficient back in early-mid80s. now you come along, almost 30yrs later. they could put a simple, efficient, somewhat powerful 1.8 NA engine in it. it could be very cheap, cuz they could throw in their soon-to-be retired EJ technology in it. duel range 4wd would be nice, but an AWD would work, too. basically a base model impreza, with a different body, kinda butch/masculine, more of the 1st gen forester look, than the wrx look. built to take bangs and dings and scratches on the trail. nothing too fancy in the cab. just 2 airbags, and a simple stereo, vinyl upholstery to handle the dirt. subarubrat.com has a nice photoshop along the right lines of what would work. and NO, im not just riding his imagination. he is not the first person to think america needs a small, tough, take-a-beating, simple, unibody suv/pickup in the 18-22,000 dollar range.

the great thing about lighter battery isnt just the overall weight savings, its also in the EXTREME front corner. so lighter battery means better weight distribution. i dont know if it rains much where you are, but a lighter gas tank seems to make my rig kinda scary in hydroplane situations. good riddance to A/C, air cond is lame. not only does it add a lot of pointless weight, it creates drag on the engine, EVEN when it is off. dump that s.o.b. and you wont miss it.

and just for those wondering, ive felt that way for decades. but what more recently reminded me, is this: my friends mom doesnt own a house. doesnt own land. doesnt have a retirement fund, or any savings worth mentioning. but she just traded in her very nice, very comfortable, very good condition 2008 mustang GT, for a 2012 mustang gt cobra or whatever they are called. it was like 68,000. and why? her mustang gt, it was fast, id bet my left arm that she never used more than 90% of the potential, im sure she had it up to 120 or 130mph for a couple miles once or twice in the 4 years she owned it. okay, great. that was fun im sure. but here youve got a nice, respectable, fast good looking car, worth maybe a years income, after basic living expenses. youve owned it about 3.5 years, and still never REALLY used up its full potential, performance-wise. but now, you feel a need to <keep in mind you still dont own a house or property, or have any rainy day savings> go out and trade that car you havent even pushed to the limit, for a car more than twice as expensive. maybe 2.5 times the price. call me a dumbas$, but i just dont see the motivation for a choice like that. how often have you been thru the parking lot of a dumpy, welfare craphole of a section 8 apartment complex, and saw 5 or 10 cars that must have at LEAST 35 grand dumped in them? granted, its "ghetto fancy", like 22" rims and such. says a lot about the current mindset of your average americans these days. meanwhile half of them are on foodstamps, complaining how expensive gas and rent and groceries and toilet paper have gotten lately?? cry me a river, genius. if anyone takes offense at my rant, kiss me where the sun dont shine.

more powerful, yes. longer lasting/more reliable, no. easier for owners to maintain themselves, and work on minor problems? NO. its just gone downhill since the ea81. and really, am i the ONLY person who thinks 300hp is more than enough? people are paying 20,000 to 50,000 for those extra 2 hundred or 3 hundred horsepower. and WHY do you want or need 5, 6, 7 hundred or more? im not saying im one of those grandmas who thinks driving fast is for drunk high school trash. i LIKE to have power. but ive DRIVEN 130 or even 145 in american muscle. its really not that amazing. the amazing thing is how fast the fuel needle drops, and the weight loss in your wallet everytime you go to the gas station. bugattis dont even look that cool anymore. 500hp ferraris and lambos werent enough? 12 cylinders werent enough? well then with that attitude, a w-16 veyron just wont be enough to make your lil insecure weiner feel any more chuck-norris-ish. a f350 with 4x4 and duallys just wont be big enough for your daily stop at the espresso stand and cruising the strip mall. the 2007 wrx sti was plenty powerful. when do we reach the point of actually ACKNOWLEDGING, gee, my neighbor has a cool car with plenty of power, maybe mortgaging my house and making payments at high interest for TWICE as many years as the car will even seem cool and fresh, maybe thats just not gonna make me happy, or make my life seem any better. hmmmmmm...... so to be clear, this isnt a rant at those of you who dropped a turbo 2.5 in your 80s EA sooby. this is a rant at the insecure little J/Os who feel a need to pay more for a literally 8-litre engine, than they paid for their college degree. all winning a pro drag race proves these days, is that you have more money to waste on a car that cant even steer, or take you anywhere interesting. so blehhhh!!!

thats pretty sweet, dude. i woulda went with a brat, myself. seems more obvious, but maybe that is what makes YOUR project even cooler. brat is just, you know, less weight, and itd be one solid unit, instead of all the side doors creating flex. plus it already has a bed, instead of being originally designed for passenger seats, armrests, footwells, etc. or was that part of the appeal, actually hauling passengers sitting upright? is it for laying down sleeping, and hauling camping gear, or what? are you planning on doing the empty, rough firewall/engine bay area in sheet metal, or fiberglass, or what? i for one am very interested in seeing this progress over time. i know you have a history of fabricating stuff and making it work well. if you can also make it look good, thats even cooler, man good luck!!

oh, and also, be aware that a soob hi-lo 4wd is built to engage while driving, if needed, but that doesnt mean you gotta treat it like you stole it. 30mph is one thing, 50 is a different story. i try to never engage 4wd, or switch from hi to lo, over about 25mph, unless its an emergency. same goes for actually USING any 4wd faster than around 35-40mph. it will take it for awhile, maybe a year or two, IF youre lucky. but honestly, better not to push your luck.

oh yea. most 4x4 are rear wheel primary drive. so they ALWAYS suffer the drag/friction/parasitic losses of both differentials, the transfer case, and the weight of the driveshaft itself. whereas, soobs, on the otherhand, use the FRONT wheels only, 90% of the time. and the driveshaft and rear axle is only engaged, and creating resistance, when you engage the 4wd. if you really stop and think about it for a minute, even on a BRAND NEW, showroom floor vehicle, with new oil, new grease, shiny new bearings, thats still a lot of extra metal to be pushing/spinning/ rubbing together/ stopping, starting, stopping, starting. if your vehicle REALLY seems to slow down a lot when you drop it into 4th, my advice is, change out the oil in your rearend, and your tranny, and regrease all the grease-points in your chassis, and also have a buddy ride in the rear and listen carefully to the hubs, its possible your bearings are dry or a bit "chewed-up". im not the biggest expert on soobs on this board, not by a LONG shot. but i HAVE used and abused a lot of cheap, 80s 1/4 ton pickups over the years. s10s, rangers, yotas, mazdas, etc..... an s10 isnt exactly IDENTICAL to a brat, but the principle is the same. bearings and differentials etc are pretty similiar between hyundais and rolls royces.