TajMan

There are lots of Loyales in the junk yard I may snag a 2-piece driveshaft and try to install/fabricate a center section mount.. to see if it fixes my issue.. because it may be the simplest way of attempting to do so first.

Sounds like he may have sheared them off with a wrench before/now so he does know how it happened. Involves dis-assembly, hammering out the broken wheel stud, hammering in new from behind then TQing down the wheel lug to fully seat when together. outback guys for specifics? I'm not sure

nice work, perfect turbo beater car

I really don't think it is^ but yet to diagnose properly.. With this 5-speed swap, one part of the rear of trans tail shaft is basically touching the body sheet metal on the side of trans tunnel (tight fit w/ these custom trans mounts) SO... if something causes the driveshaft to vibrate, its just going to shake the trans and AMPLIFY the sound/vibration. I am going to try to hit the body underneath with a bar and a big sledge, try to bend a little and create a bigger gap there. AND then my next task will be to try and measure/re-mount the rear diff at a slightly different angle. If I'm unable to stop this issue with the 1-piece, I suppose I may always try a Loyale 2-piece driveshaft..

They balanced the driveline, has a small weight on it. should be ok balance Driveline angle only changed because driveline slightly longer now... I know you'd think the angle slightly less steep now, with the longer driveshaft.. HOWEVER, if you look under both the 4-speed and 5-speed brats, just judging by eye, it appears the angle between driveshaft/rear diff is slightly steeper on the 5-speed car!?

REALLY!? You're saying you have 5-speed swap, with a one-piece driveshaft, and steep driveshaft angles, AND you say your trans and rear diff are not parallel? I don't know what to think about that.. but I talked to guys a six-states here who had built my custom driveshaft. I am very disappointed how little help the offered, basically just left me on my own zero help (because they don't know how Subaru Brats are built or what changing the rear diff angle would take) My problem now is, The angles seem to be multiple vertical & horizontal- I need some kind of tool to properly calculate these angles, a pro-tractor/level under the car on a lift measuring the vertical rise/drop is NOT sufficient enough. What point of relation do I have to go off of on the trans to tell what is 'straight'!? Its a big odd shape without a flat plate on bottom that looks parallel with the driveshaft yolk, difficult to measure.. It seems I could add washers to the 4 bolts/nuts on rear diff mounting, and change the angle more in the WRONG direction pretty easily... but it seems to change angle in the right direction may take some cutting/drilling/modifying to the bar that runs BEHIND the diff and mounts with two bolts. With those two bolts mounted lower the angle between driveshaft/diff could be less-steep. I KNOW the angles are not steep now! I just thought the difference in angles was surely causing this..

I'm surprised nobody came back here to confirm I'm just teaching myself about modifying 4X4 vehicles here.. At this point I am very confident that aligning my rear differential so it is about parallel with my transmission should fix this problem..

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I had an experienced mechanic working near me at my shop JUST tell me, what's most important is that the angles between the driveshaft/rear diff and driveshaft/trans are the same or very close to each other and that must be measured with a special driveline tool! Even if angle is more or less than it was stock, I guess what matters more is that the two angles are close to the same? I've got 4-speed and 5-speed Brats sitting right here, I can see with my eye that the angle is a little steeper with the 5-speed driveshaft than with the 4-speed (between rear diff. and driveshaft)...... so I can only imagine that this could be a possible problem until I get Brat on a lift somewhere that can measure with the correct driveline tools?

There seems to be between 1/2" and 3/4" space between my driveshaft and my diff when I unbolt it. Is the rear differential itself acceptable to have so much play in it between the drive-shaft and the rear drive axles when you change directions? It seems my problem occurs regardless of 4th or 5th gear pretty much above 60mph when I let off the throttle and so under deceleration or low engine output. Also I believe doesn't matter if 2WD or 4WD-HI would still do it in these deceleration situations at those speeds. Like a chatter that can come on stronger and stronger for a sec, driveshaft whipping back and forth at the trans snout near under the shifter? If I accelerate hard all the way past 75mph in 4th/5th gear I can prevent any major vibrations from occurring, BUT if I make it to 60mph then am just accelerating barely or maintaining speed, the chatter can come on. So.. I can drive this car even on the freeway, and feel like something bad is happening less than 5% of the time.. ONE-PIECE driveshaft made at Six-States driveline shop, 51" of new tubing. I've had these wheels on two different brats here, 15" Pug alloys with newer Goodyear tires, problem shouldn't lie in any wheel balance alone.. This '86 car drove ok previously with no vibration issues on stock driveshaft/4spd trans.. Stock Brat height not lifted (rear does sit higher than front, must be at highest adjustment in rear), alignment of rear diff and tail of trans seems straight no bad angles..

Thank you educated forum members, just need to reiterate my important questions. If I could get any answer today that would be awesome, you guys are pros.

I agree, awesome, more finished than I was guessing

Hey guys, been driving my new '86 Brat here a bit after the 5-speed D/R swap it just received. All seems pretty great most of the time. Found that I'd sprung a leak from one of the heater core hoses last night, fixed that this morning. For this build I just had one of my old radiators patched/cleaned up at local radiator shop for $80 I didn't feel great about paying, car still wants to run pretty damn hot sometimes in these hotter than 95 degree summer temps but not to the point of overheating, I'll try some redline water wetter, also may need to adapt a small coolant overflow bottle into this engine bay the radiator can take from/give. My old black Brat uses a bottle like that... Waiting for a new A/C condenser to come in like wednesday so that hopefully my A/C can work after that. Trying to diagnose a vibration noise that comes and goes, pretty much above 60mph, would seem to be driveshaft (custom for swap, 51" long tube I believe about 10.5" longer than stock). Driveshaft made & balanced at local Six States driveline shop. From all external appearances, I don't think the driveshaft is rubbing against the exhaust pipe or anything close, everything is at least 3/4" away at its closest and exhaust pipe is mounted firm with two solid 'hangers' in the middle of car. So my next question is, how much free-play is the driveshaft supposed to have to slide in and out of the trans? It's a long splined shaft on end of driveshaft that slides into trans.. if you remove the 4 driveshaft bolts mounted to the rear-diff. and slide the driveshaft all the way into the trans (with car on its 4 wheels), how much space is supposed to exist between the driveshaft and the surface of rear-diff. it mounts to? 1/2" gap or bigger? I would think if driveshaft is slightly too short it could cause a vibration issue like this.. I was going to unbolt driveshaft again to check that space next, and I was thinking about an AWD dyno run to help diagnose if I need to. Also, if engine is just idling in neutral, I can hold the 4WD shift lever down slightly further towards the trans tunnel (in 2WD) and cause a slight trans noise to go away, like two sets of gears aren't slightly rubbing anymore. I know for the 4WD shifting there are two rods, one that connects to the 4WD lever (modified for my swap), and another that is attached at two points coming out of the trans slightly ahead, connected together for shifting between 2hi-4hi-hlo. Probably I need to make slight length-adjustments with adjusting nuts at the end of one of these rods to keep this slight-rubbing noise away when in 2WD??

I always pull the brake booster hose and suck into that hose going directly into the intake manifold while engine running, pouring/sucking slowly for like 10 seconds then have your assistant kill the ignition IMMEDIATELY when you tell them then, (let engine sit for 10-15 minutes), re-start engine use the throttle and watch the smoke show! Rinse and repeat like 3 times.

yes I have an extra tailgate, I only need to keep one. So one of mine was technically a '84 and one on my '86 that needs a slight bit of body repair at the rear of my truck bed (the tailgate is fine). both light blue, the '86 I'd probably get rid of would just need minor body-paint work on the tailgate.

I have a custom Gem Top that is flush with the roofline, just like yours. It's neat and I like better than the other factory style tops, but I think I'm taking it off because I don't like how it covers part of where the BRAT text is on the sides, and I want to be able to carry a motorcycle in the back of Brat.

I'm a car guy, a motorcycle guy, I'm on many forums. Own a Brat still and a Eagle Talon and a Lancia Scorpion and a Fiat X1/9... My Mitsubishi buddies, most of them former 3000GT/Stealth owners, one friend in Pennsylvania (former Stealth TT owner) just traded in his Chevy Volt, and bought a BRZ and he LOVES IT! just needs more HP of course haha

Weld-up the exhaust 'tubes' coming right off below the cyl heads for EGR? And the EGR tube that connects into what was it the pass. side cyl head? I cut/welded those all closed, so everything eliminated correctly and no exhaust leaks.

Yeah, I gave someone a great deal on the lock set from my '84 Brat parts car I sold them previously

My custom parts all seem to mount up in the '86 with the 5-speed DR trans! -custom driveshaft the correct length -shifter & 4WD shifter modified correctly -trans crossmember w/ trans mounts bolted up -Custom TOB solution, feels like a normal working clutch Only waiting for some brake caliper rebuild kits on friday, otherwise its all ready to finish coming together & drive. I need to assemble the front axles/suspension still, and I need to weld up my new exhaust- I'm using a factory Subaru Y-cat-converter. What I REALLY need is a full lock set with ignition & keys & both door locks for a 2G Brat..

Yeah, about 3 quarts of a base coat color plus a half gallon of clearcoat should be enough if you're going dual-stage paint.

If you buy one gallon of single-stage paint, that will easily be enough to paint the car and have leftovers to save. I would probably get a couple quarts of primer/sealer to lay down a full light 'base' coat of that on the roughed up surface before you start to spray your color, that will give you the best adhesion.

That's what I'd think also, a dist./timing issue still. Is an ea81 manifold a 1-barrel and a carb'd ea82 manifold a 2-barrel?

I found some post in old threads So yes, ea81 uses smaller bolts but if TQ'd corretly you shouldn't run into a problem. I guess to fit ea82 flywheel to ea81 engine just requires a small amount of grinding on the block case, and re-scribing the ea81 timing marks onto the ea82 flywheel to be able to properly set ignition timing.

Haha that rocks so hard! I can't believe you put that together even with the little old 1.8 clutch/transmission!