Cyfun

If only we could attach enormous tires that would allow us to lower the diff to the point that the axles are level when the car is sitting still, but then gearing would become a major issue. The one thing that really bugs me about Subarus is the limited choices in diff gearing and the low-range gearbox that isn't low enough

Yeah, you can get that much travel out of a lot of things if you lower the diff far enough and have room to stuff massive shocks in there. It more comes down to how high you can keep the diff in relation to how low your CVs will let you drop, not to mention if you've got bigger tires, how far they will go before they hit a fender. I've always thought that to get the most travel, you would lower your diff as far as you could, like 10 inches, then mount up some stiff shocks angled so that you get a lot of travel without raising the height too much, but keep tires pretty short so that they can stuff back into the wheel well. You wouldn't gain much clearance, per se, but you'd get enough travel to gain decent articulation and dampening ability.

Yeah, take the console and boot off and there should be a funny little button. Try unhooking it and see what happens. However, dunno about your Brat, but on my EA82 wagon, that button merely controls the LOW light and not the 4x4 light. The 4x4 light switch is somewhere else.

Ah damn, oh well. Crappy gear ratio anyway. Guess ill make do with the ea82 lowrange

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=86493&page=2

From what I've been researching, a 4.11 from a 90-94 Legacy will probably bolt right up, but a 4.44 will require the radius to be trimmed down a bit to fit. I'd love to rock a 4.44, and if I can find the gears I'll hafta look into having a machine shop turn it for me, but in the mean time I'm gonna look for a 4.11.

This?

Is that on your wagon or your brat? Looks different from my 86 GLW. I'm thinkin of replacing my lights with red LEDs, esp the backlights on the instrument cluster. Red is so nice and easy on the eyes, and kinda futuristic lookin.

Damn, that stinks. I'm not really seeing the drama you're referring to in that thread. Looks like it mostly came down to a price issue. Just out of curiosity, any rough idea of what shipping and cost of the trans would be these days?

Sounds like a good plan. The EA82 5mt never really changed.

Do I have to switch to 5-lug? I'm running a 6-lug setup right now.

Probably wanna stay away from a 2.5 due to the reliability issues. And bear in mind that having an entire parts car might be a good idea, especially if you're swapping to a manual.

With a 2 inch lift, those tires would fit, but you'd have to trim fenders quite a bit, and some hammering on the firewall part of the front fender if you wanted to be able to turn sharply. A 4" lift would make for a better daily driver cause your axles and control arms wouldn't be at such a steep angle, and your tires wouldn't rub as bad. I'm probably going towards a 4" soon myself cause I'm getting a bit of rubbing and this is my daily driver.

If you can find an EJ22 for a good deal, might as well go with that. The engines are basically the same except for the EJ18 has about 110hp and the EJ22 has about 135hp.

Even $1500 seems a bit steep to me. I'd say $1000 tops. Here in Montana Subarus are very popular, and there are a ton of early-90s Legacies around. Most with some minor dings and dents, maybe hail damage, but rarely rust cause they don't salt the roads much here. You can find ones that are a bit beat up but in good mechanical condition for $500-1500. Cars without any body damage, especially Outbacks, tend to go for $2500-4000. Having said that, I think even $1500 is a steep price on that because as other folks have said, it sounds like this wasn't very well maintained. Probably gonna need a timing belt, brake rotors, wheelbearings and possibly axles soon. I would rather have a more beat-up car that's in better mechanical condition. If I were you, see if he will take $1000, otherwise keep looking. Might not hurt to pay a mechanic $50-80 to have them do an inspection on it.

Interesting, how wide are your tires?

Are you referring to the EA82 dual range 5 speed, or the EJ AWD 5 speed? The EJ trans will swap straight across, but I think you'll need the driveshaft shortened. The EA trans will just need an adaptor plate, and probably a new clutch while you're at it.

They do also make a 205/50r15 and 205/55r15, which are a tiny bit shorter and taller than stock, respectively. Why do you want to change rims if you don't plan on lifting or offroading? Having less sidewall will make for a rougher ride.

It's not too difficult, just gotta find a parts car. There were two kinds of cruise: factory installed and dealer installed. One had the cruise buttons on the steering wheel below the horn, the other had the buttons to the left of the wheel over by the rear defrost buttons. Just gotta steal those buttons, wiring, control module, and the throttle actuator, I believe. There are a few threads on this lying around.

That's what I was thinkin, just buyin calipers new instead of tryna pull something used. Those Hondas are pretty pricey new, but I might have better luck finding some at the JY that I could look at before I buy. As far as that caliper bracket goes, anyone have a spare bracket lying around that they could give me some measurements on? I'm starting to think that it doesn't matter, that I can probably eyeball it enough to work fine. The holes just need to line up on the trailing arm and the caliper, and the caliper doesn't need to be super precise in how it lines up with the disc. My only concern is that the thickness of the metal may matter. Also... what about just using an EA82 front caliper? Has anyone considered that?

Some coolant heaters can just splice in to your lower radiator hose. But an oil pan heater would be a good place to start, and is less invasive. Block heaters aren't necessarily to warm up your entire engine for you, but to warm up certain components enough so that the damn thing will start. Once started, the rest will warm up fast. In my experience with cold start problems, it was that my oil had become too viscous, preventing the oil pump from turning, and thusly the rest of the engine. I started putting an incandescent lightbulb under my oil pan every evening, and it put out enough heat to warm my oil just enough so that the bastard would start.

Believe me, with those tires you're running, you'll love having both an EJ22 and a dual range trans. I just finished mounting my 235/75r15's this weekend, and am very glad that I don't have the stock motor. At 80mph in 5th gear I'm only doing 3000rpm.

Interesting, ill have to look into that clutch idea.

I read a bit about that idea on some toyota forums. Apparently, for one its illegal in some states cause your emergency brake can't depend on the hydrauling system. Plus, then you're messing with something far more complicated than a few cables. Maybe the thing would be to have a line lock for the fronts, so you could just hit the button to block pressure to the fronts, then mash the brake pedal to send all force to the backs.

You prolly mean the 4x140mm pattern, as toyota chevy is 6x139.7mm or 6x5.5in. But yeah, you're stuck with 13" subaru stock rims, or the rare peugeot or subaru 14". Convert to 6 lug and you've got all kinds of 14s, 15s, 16s in aluminum or steel and various offsets. Right now I'm rockin some 15in chevy steelies that I got for like $30. Prolly worth more in scrap, ha! If you get a spare set of hubs, you can always go back to 4 lug, too.