tallwelder81

believe me impreza girl, im bummed about missin it too. uber frustrating. grrrrrrr....... looks awesome. that area looks a lot like where im from. did anyone go swimming? it would be cool to fab up some sort of air tubes up high, and ballast down low, so we could cross short spans of calm water. even if we had to use a paddle thru the drivers open window. how cool would an amphibious 80s brat be? better luck next year for all of us poor saps that didnt make it.

i am working on a major redesign on my brat. ej18, exhaust, new wheels/tires, and importantly, a lift. ive seen more 4 inch lifted brat than i can count on my fingers and toes. whats up with the 2 inch brats? mcbrat has his beautiful 3" lifted brat. very nice. what im aiming for is a barely lifted brat, with maybe 120hp, plenty of low rpm torque, and like 27x8.5x15s and some nice tube bumpers, and a small electric winch. and laser cannons. and a bikini model, healthy, not too twiggy. maybe a cowl hood, like qman has on his silver brat. but im getting too deep. i just want to know if anyone has any pics or input, opinions on a TWO inch lifted brat. how they handle vs stock, and vs 4" lift, how the CVs hold up, how the tires wire evenly or unevenly, and how a 2 inch lift feel going around a loose gravel bend at 40mph. also, im kinda surprised nobody runs yoko geolandars on their soobs. are those garbage? any thoughts on a michelin ltx? like 205/70/15?

i dont care that much about pretty. but the sjr strut tops DO look sweet. im just saying. my rig is in a lot better shape than those walker boys. and i aim to keep it that way. lol.... that being said, my brat has some rust, the carpet looks like i found it in a homeless guys camp, and it has a few spots of not-quite-matching primer. also a crack across drivers side windshield, top to bottom. few minor golf ball type dings here and there. you know. its not a show car, and its not a 200 dollar junkyard heap. its a decent looking, mildly abused survival rig. and being that it IS my survival rig, that is why i want to stick with a very practical and strong design. no sky high lift, no overdone swamp tires. reliability is KEY. so if you hang out in mt vernon, i guess its safe to assume you dont hail from the WISCONSIN sauk city. consider me officially wanting your lift blocks. can you make the rest of the set? by which i mean, you specified having the FRONT gear. i want all of the pieces i need. i dont know HOW to raise the torsion bar. a couple friends agreee with my view, that theres an important item missing under that area. up right under where the jumpseats would mount, there are 2 large nuts, maybe a 5/8 or 3/4 nut, welded to a roughly 4x7 1/8" backing plate, which is welded directly to the corrugated bed material. it looks like the torsion bar should somehow be attatched to that, i cant see what else it would be used for?? brats never had an underbed spare tire mount, did they?

i dont know where sauk city is. so i dont know how id get you the material. BUT 3/16th would be strong enough for my needs anyhow. i just need the full meal deal, front AND rear lift. and id like the SLANTED design. the 17degree, 15 degree, whatever, ive heard both numbers now. i think even 10 degrees would serve the purpose, considering the fact that a few people have clearly worked up the zero-slant blocks pretty hard, for many miles. i guess sjr is not going to respond to my email. thats okay, he probably thinks im a flake, and with fair reason. long story, not really relevent to this post. im going to buy that 4" from spanky pete. 3eyed wagon, if you are willing to deal with that whole 2" lift, front AND rear, in 3/16th, WITH some slant, i would like to buy it. i do lots of fabricating myself, but never done anything that held my car in one piece when going down the freeway. if youve done it before, truth is, id rather lean on your experience, than lean on my luck. throw me out a price. maybe if sjr eventually responds, i can just get the front strut tower blocks, because they look hella cool. and i like the whole idea of a ONE piece strut tower, versus 3 seperate rectangle blocks.

i understand this thread was last posted on when ronald reagan was still in office, but i am gambling. does anyone near ME <seattle-ish, southeast suburbs> have this type of lift on their rig? i really want a 2" lift. sjr doesnt seem to respond, i know hes a busy guy. and he doesnt list anything under 4inch these days anyhow. spanky pete agreed to sell me his 4" AA lift. and he already knows that im aiming for a 2inch, preferably. im a man of my word, i told him i would buy it, and i am a man of my word. im sure its a nice quality design. AA has a strong reputation. i figure ill just run the AA 4" for a couple months, and in the meantime, slowly get myself a 2" package ready to throw in. i want to run the usual 27x8.5x14s. those michelin LTX m/s tires look real nice also. im of the philosophy that making 95% of your build choices to favor hardcore offroading, which is, at the most, for anyone who doesnt TRAILER their trail rig, 10% of the miles it drives, more likely about 2%, seems ridiculous. and with the pacific northwest, particularly the cascade foothills i live in, being a soggy, dripping mudhole half the year, aqua channels in my tires sound like a helluva plan. call me a sissy all you like, its ok. but when i feel that total loss of steering-control while doing 50-65mph on the freeway, my heart locks and my balls turn to icecubes. hydroplaning is scary. lifting my rig, im guessing, will not help controlling hydroplaning at high speeds <by 4wd brat speed standards>. so yea, point being, im a huge believer in trail tires that are as freeway friendly as possible. swamp lugs dont sound like much fun.

well, its official. im NOT coming to wcss. my ej18 swap is too far from complete. still gotta source a fuel pump, fuel line, get the ecu inside the cab, etc etc etc....... fuggin depressed. since i fell in lust with, and bought my 83 brat, ive missed two brat meets, a wcss, and soon to be another wcss. maybe i can catch a ride down, but thats not the same. hmmmmmmmmmmmmm................:-\ :(

hey pooparu, those look KILLER. but do you actually drive those on pavement, over 40mph? aside from the feel of riding on a mechanical bull, the rubber MUST wear out in about 7 hundred miles, right?

geo straight 3cyl. naw u know what ID like, and yea theyre expensive, and probably heavy, inconvenient to obtain/install. an ee20. thatd be a ton of low rpm grunt for acceleration, steep hills, getting out of 18" of mud, breaking those damn parking boots that meter maids put on when you dont pay for parking, etc......

i dont think 6,500 for a brand new, advanced diesel boxer of high subaru quality is really an unfair price. seems reasonable to me. but its not in my budget at this point, so...... id definately want the turbo, as the stock ee20 has a ton of torque, at least for the displacement, but not much top-end. i figure, down low where the turbo doesnt function, you have that diesel grunt. up high, where the diesel is weak, the turbo kicks in and gives you your second wind. honestly, anyhow, im the type to just lean back a couple years, until the rich guys try and test out the new design, and THEY can deal with the bugs and gremlins of that engine. and when the second gen, the version 2.0, if you will, comes along, ill snatch THAT one up for myself. i have a high faith in subaru design, but a brand new design is still a brand new design. and japanese reliability took a big hit in my book with the toyota recalls. i have a 2009 tacoma, with all the tough options, that i use as a TRUCK, not a glorified minivan to make my penis feel bigger, and i have NO complaints. well, the toyota paint is crap, if a butterfly lands on your hood, the paint gets scratched. but whatever, i dont buy a truck for a paintjob, i could care less. the new tacomas are a great truck, and i wouldnt go back and buy american, for any price. toyotas are more american made than fords or chevys, anyhow. sad but true. got off track there, i get in these typing moods, and away i go, lol.... the ee20 seems, by all appearances, a killer engine, with a lot of offroad potential, given the low-rpm preference of a small diesel.

i dont wanna bash that much. maybe a very gentle trim and some fender flares, if its absolutely necessary. i think im just gonna stick with the 14s for awhile. craigslist has these 195/75-14s, either dunlop axioms, or cooper discoverers. not only could i keep my wheels, and save the 500 i woulda spent on those new AA 15s, but i can also save the extra that i was HALF considering paying for NEW dunlop rover rvxts. like aother 500 cash. thats a thousand bucks i couldnt honestly throw around, anyhow. miata calculator says that 195/75 14s will be like .60" taller, and a half inch wider also. and then i will be able to have more of an a/t tread. qman sold me these michelin X's and they are a great tire. but ultimately, i always had planned on going a hair bigger and knobbier. on a side note, what do you think the weight difference between a peugeot allow 14 and a steel AA style 15 would be? i think between my wheels and tires, im running pretty light. im sure those cooper discoverers are a fair bit heavier. not just the size diff, but they are also 6 ply instead of 4 ply.

are dunlop good quality tires? anyone have experience with these rovers? they kinda look like a bridgestone dueler. anyhow as far as ive seen, theres no MIDDLE ground between a 185-75-14 and a 205-75-15. so its either a 25" or a 27 inch. is there any good middle ground? id kinda like a 195 anyhow. i wish there was some kinda highway friendly a/t around 195-85-14. or 80.

thinking of replacing my pug 14s with 185-75-14s michelin x radials with the same brand/model, michelin x radials, but in, you guessed it, 205-75-r15. i figure, its not a HUGE tire. just a decent upgrade in height and width. just 24.9" up to 27.1". pretty mild and conservative choice, i think. my question is, does anyone know if 205-75-15 would even FIT a stock brat? how about when i get my planned 2 inch lift? any suggestions on a better freeway friendly a/t for good mileage and some occasional trail play? i do about 75% highway driving, 15% yard driving, an 10% real trail riding. i kinda like THESE: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic.jsp?sidewall=Outlined+White+Letters&tireMake=Dunlop&tireModel=Radial+Rover+RVXT&partnum=075SR5ROVXTOWL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes but they are out of my price range. and not common enough to hope for on craigslist used.

post up a photo and a solid price. i may want some. depends how they look.

how much for an ee20? and would that fit in a brat without hacking it too much?

HIJACK ALERT!!!!! i want the lightweight pistons for MY ej18. mine is a 1994. cany anyone hook me up? and just so i can claim i contributed to the thread, my 2 cents is that a super light flywheel is too twitchy. an engine hypothetically doesnt even need a flywheel to function. they put it there for some reason. it steadies the powerband and the firing order. especially in a boxer, the firing order is so UNbalanced, i dont think taking out the one part that was put in place to STEADY that twitchy power supply, should be tampered with or altered. my 2 cents. im far from an expert.

also, the final end all question is, im set on one of the two ebay links gd sent me. WHICH one would you guys grab up? they are teh same price, same shipping, same seller, same brand name. but one has a nice steel box to hold it all, and an extra 2 dies, i think 1 inch and 3 inch. plus the core, whatever youd call that piece, the core of the whole machine, the skeleton thing that holds the pipe itself and the dies bolt into it, that part is bigger and looks more.... solid, stable, substantial?? so one has 1.25, 1.5, and 2". the other has .75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, and 2". could one of you read both of the ads, and tell me what YOU would pick, please? the one with more dies, better "core piece", amd carry box CLEARLY looks better. but my hesitation is that they are both same price, same shipping. and yet, from the same seller, with the same website. maybe the bigger kit has more wear or time on it? so the more basic kit costs the same cause it is newer, meaning "less miles" PLEASE help, it would be much appreciated.?

very nice, but way more bender than i have a need for. when i said i want to do exhaust professionaly, what i really meant was maybe 20 hours a month, or even less, of actual exhaust work. a question would be, gd, when you say a cheaper model wont bend thin wall as good, what do you mean? im not sure how thick your typical aluminized 2" exhaust would be. 16g i am used to, not sure what the inch measurement would be. isnt typical exhaust tubing 16g? i know the nicer brands of headers brag of 14g in the magazine ads. so 16g seems likely in my brain????

got the sachs. its DEFINATELY less solid and built cheaper than what i had. there are only 4 spring in the plate, and its just clearly cheaper in a way thats hard to describe but obvious to look at. oreillys wants 299 for the beck. i think thats what i had, which came with it. the sachs was 99. 108 after taxes. but one point is that i DEFINATELY plan to swap to a 5spd. and i think you guys told me i will need a new clutch,. so why invest in a nice one now when i doubt ill get more than 1,500 miles before the swap.

im on phone THIS minute with oreilly, they say the clutch they carry is sachs. should i steer clear, or should i buy it? i want a good strong clutch. is sachs garbage?

hate to throw out a hundred today, drive a thousand miles, have the tranny itself crap out, and need to get ANOTHER new 100 dollar clutch to fit the 5spd.

just the normal 4 spd ea81 run of the mill tranny. about due for the grave, im guessing, but replacement isnt an option this second, sooooo..... new clutch. question, if i swap in the 5spd, will i need another new clutch? or do the 4 and 5 share that part?

i have the ej18 in my brat now. and my clutch is pretty worn out. pressure plate has a couple decent hot spots on it, and the disc has some glazing. disc material is pretty close to gone anyhow so it doesnt matter, its just time. so oreilly wants an even hundred for the whole kit, and doesnt offer any of the parts seperately. im not sure what brand it is. ebay has mostly 1.6 clutches. what is a good or decent brand of clutch? any other stores i should steer towards? if the pressure plate has "hot spots", how do i know if the whole thing needs replaced, or if i can just shave it?

dang, look at G.D. with all the useful responses. im gonna have to give you a thank you one of these days..... just kidding..... heh..... yea ive built temporary tables and junk, but i AM about due for a long-term, pro quality table/workcenter. my prob is that my access to 220v is kinda limited. its there but in the far corner. kinda at the far opposite corner of my shipping container/carport of where would be most convenient and obvious place for me to do my major work. whatever, i deal with it. i swapped out to a long long power cable for my lincoln Mig. and its pigtailed with BOTH common 220 males. 3 prong and 4 prong, so i can use either the residential laundry style outlets, OR the industrial style.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GREENLEE-883-HYDRAULIC-BENDER-1-2-3-INCH-GREAT-SHAPE-/380355477289?pt=BI_Electrical_Equipment_Tools&hash=item588ef3ff29 what do you think of THIS one? twice the price, same seller. looks sturdier, and it has more dies. the other ones, the actual frame/bracket dealymahoozit it so small, i dont understand how it stays stable during use. does it bolt to the concrete floor? or a worktable? im confused....

thanks! i dont mind hand pumping it. im 95% positive i want to buy this one. does anyone else think $150 is way too much for shipping a tool from new york to seattle? i shipped a 5x10ft teardrop camper trailer from milwaukee/chicago to seattle for 200 bucks. thats practically a small car. this bender would fit in a wheelbarrow. hmmmmm..... maybe the seller will work with me on shipping. whatever...... so OBK, that notcher is decent? frankly 60 bucks sounds about right. a notcher is such a simple device, i dont see why any of them cost 500 dollars. its really just a frame to hold a tube steady and then a hole saw. and you dont even get the hole saw blade or the motor to turn it. its basically a glorified jig. ill definately check it out. thats just one less thing to ship across the galaxy. i got a harbor freight/ tool town just a minute away from me.