Adam N.D.J.

Caster angle is what gives a car straight line stability. The caster angle on soobs is set by the for/aft angle of the strut. If the struts are not installed properly that will throw off the caster and make the steering. When you make a turn, then let go of the wheel do the tires self center to straight? If not then I would be even more suspect of the caster. Hope this helps. -Adam-

Currently my ratio of money to time favors the former, so while that stays it will most likely be an extremely long term project. One time starts to favor me I hope to spend more time enjoying the fruits of my labor. However, I am almost certain that there is not going to be a finish to the project, it will most likely be upgraded continuously as newer and better technologies come around (fusion drive Brat? lol). Most likely the only thing to slow me down would be old age (and my medical problems), but of course I have my daughter to do work for me! -Adam-

It is a little off dimensional wise, but it was pretty close to where I could mod things to fit. I did choose that spot because several body welds meet up there, and after some seam welding should be plenty strong enough. I do show off pretty much everything I do, just over in members rides, where I have a whole post dedicated to it; http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/141024-phoenix-my-82-brat/ -Adam-

One of my first lifts on my Brat was just simply 2 inch blocks. Just get some longer bolts and bolt them in where your suspension connects to the body. (4 at torsion bar mounts, and 2 at the rear diff hanger mounts). Then just get some longer shocks, I no longer remember what ones I used, but I think they were late 80s Nissan or Toyota pickup shocks. I did it as a full lift (front and back) but would not be hard to do just the rear. The 2 inch did not effect my handling any, it drove just the same as with no lift, although that was also with a slightly larger tire too. If this is not something that you would like to fab up yourself there are a few lift builders on here that are quite cool to work with and you could most likely talk to them about a rear only set-up. Hope this helps some. -Adam-

Steering sure is a bugger. It is not something that you want to half(donkey), and have it throw you in to a ditch or traffic because it broke. So it is something that I have been fighting with for a while. One of the biggest problems is that the stock steering box was bumped out of the way in preference of a flat 6 head. I started with a saturn rack, in rear configuration, and that proved to have issues with space involving the exhaust, torsion bars and front diff. So I moved on to an Explorer steering rack, in front steer configuration. This mounting served easier, but the connection of the column to the rack proved to have a serious problem in that I would need at least 4 u-joints to make it work. Also I had forgotten some of my basic geometry and physics when dealing with this sort of thing. Ackermans principle and bump steer. In order to make the steering work right I would need to preserve the already engineered aspects of the steering. This includes the length and angle of the stock tie rods. Now the Nissan used a steering gear with idler and pitman arm connected to the crossover link and two tie rods. After tons of late nights looking on the internet at different steering systems I had almost settled on getting a full hydraulic system (read very expensive). While a full hydro is not illegal in the State of Oregon, I did not know the regulations in Washington or California and was thus a little wary of going this way. So back to the net. More research let me to some hot rod forums, as they have steering gear systems that sometimes people convert to R&P, and this lead me to the GM K (or was it J?) body steering racks. These use a center tie-in configuration and allowed the hot rodders to make up their own center link and tie rods to fit the application. So after some hunting in the local yard I came across a 95 Grand Am with said R&P in it and now it is sitting in the garage. I spent the day pulling out the stuff I had already started to weld in (and of course ran out of acetylene and the store is closed till tuesday) but luckily the explorer stuff is all in the front and the GM rack is a rear steer rack (my preferred configuration) so I will be able to at least start mocking up mounts and stuff this weekend. I am thinking that building a mount to use the nissan centerlink bolted to the R&P should solve my ackermans and bump steer problems. We will see though. -Adam-

It will not effect your grounding. If it does then there is more there to worry about than a leak. The purpose of the tape is to squish in to the threads and fill any small gaps, the majority of the thread will cut through the tape and make good contact. I always use thread tape on all pipe threads and/or fluid containment plugs. Not to mention it is cheap stuff, you can usually get a roll for less than a dollar and will last for a fairly long time. I keep a log of rolls in the garage as it has uses not just on cars but around the house too. -Adam-

The RE4R01A (Nissans transmission) is very similar to the 4EAT on the inside, however the case is very much different, it is designed to be bolted to a V6. It has been a while since I have been under my Pathy, but I seem to remember the case being a single casting, so the bellhousing would not be able to be swapped. That being said, there are number of shift kits and heavier duty valve bodies out there that could prolly be adapted to give better shift patterns and whotnot to get the power to the ground for you. One of those things to mull around for another time, the 4EAT is a pretty good trans and will most likely be a while before you outgrow it, if ever. Keep it up though I love seeing other T-cased rigs. -Adam-

My internet was down for a couple of days, so to kill the boredom I spent some time digging through some old CD's I had found out in the garage. Dug up some really old pictures of my Brat, 1998 to about 2004. Shows some of the early changes that took place. Pretty neat to reminisce. Here she is when I brought her home. She had been vandalized, to include set on fire. But I rebuilt her. Here is when I first started playing with paint schemes. We have had some good fun through the years. Like going to WCSS 6 in Hood River in 2004; I think my next paint job is going to go back to something along the lines of this; This TBT brought to you by boredom! -Adam-

The past week has seen the creation of body mounts for the Brat. Sure is nice have the body actually attached to the frame! -Adam-

Welcome aboard. I notice you are just up the road from me, I am in Medford. What you can do with the car has a little bit to do with what it is. One could assume that it is a Gen 3 (you are in the 80s forum and said timing belt) what which body is it (wagon, sedan, three door, ect.). Through the forums you could find nearly every idea that you could think of to do with you car. A lot of what can be done with these generations though require a little more of the work to make it fit modification rather than just the bolt on the new goody that the newer ones do. Once again, welcome aboard, look around, have fun. -Adam-

Another thing that can cause this, as I have had it happen to me a few times now, is the negative cable. It may look fine on the outside, but over time, they start to break down inside. Everything else on the car will run fine through it, but once you hit it with the load of the starter it just will not handle it. I solved this by adding a new dedicated ground cable to the bolt on the starter mounting flange. You can test this by hooking a jumper cable to the stud on the starter and the other end directly on the battery negative. -Adam-

Starting to lose the sun earlier, had enough time to cut out some more gussets and throw down some more welds. As luck would have it though, I get half way through the left side mount and run out of gas in the welder. Arg! Well, I did at least get the right side done and installed. Still have some cleaning up to do, it is a bit of pain getting the welder stinger in to place to get some of the welds. Here is what it looks like all installed. -Adam-

Yours would be the Beck/Arnley 1520568 one. Little square box.

Had this happen to me once. You can split the engine like you normally would with the exception of that cylinder. Just pull the other half off that side, then pull the con-rod cap off to get out the piston. At that point it will most likely take a machine shop to fix the sleeve issue. Lotsa luck. -Adam-

Got started on the mounts. Some how I forget to cut out the gussets for the upper mount. Of course I am all out of oxygen to boot. Trying to steal time here and there, too many other things to get done before the rainy season hits. Anyway, before I digress, on to the pics! I am also starting to make videos of my work. I have not gotten in to doing any serious editing and stuff yet (mostly cause I still have not picked up a good program). However it is on the list. Most likely be a winter time activity. I did fab up a dual camera mount for my tripod, so I can do real time and time lapse at once. And a quick time lapse of the front body mount going in. This is about 30 minutes real time. -Adam-