88HatchMonster

Why don't you do an EJ25 with EJ22 heads?

This has happened to me twice. I let the wheel bearing go for a few months, ruined the tire... fix the wheel bearing... still makes noise because the tire is cupped... time for new tires. It's hard to really tell from which side a noise is coming from. If the bearing is bad enough to be killing the tread on your tire then you should be able to get down on the ground, grab the tire with both hands and rack it in and out and it will have a significant amount of play. If you can get a friend to look at the hub side of the axle under the back of the car they will probably be able to see the outer CV cup wobble around in the spindle as you shake the wheel. Impreza Outback Sports are notorious for rear wheel bearing trouble. Search the board for it.

Yeah, we've all got a month and a half to get our subies road-worthy for long treks on the highway... and then off-road-worthy for when we all get to wherever it is we're wheeling! I'm working on mine every day now. I hope everyone else is too! We've gotta make it happen this Summer!

JB Weld will not seal a leaky gas tank (or much else for that matter). POR15's POR-patch sealant WILL permanently seal a tank from the outside. I've used it for this purpose--it really works. Here's what to do: Run the tank down. Scrape/scuff/clean the area. Use some solvent to degrease and remove any trace of fuel. Squeeze the POR patch into the seam/hole. Force it in so that it is at least doing more than just sitting on top of the leak. It takes a minimum of 72 hours to completely cure. While it's drying, make sure to leave the gas cap off so that the captive fuel vapors dont try to escape through the wet sealant, forming tiny holes in it as it dries. You may want to apply a second layer of sealant within 24 hours of the first. This is just a little insurance in case you missed a spot...

Excellent! And thanks for the pic, that was definitely a bonus. A few more general questions: Would you rate the braking ability of your brat as adequate with this much power on tap? What is the ride like at speed? How greatly has the handling been improved by the 5-lug swap, swaybar etc.? Whatever info you can give is appreciated... I'm gonna be doing a similar build with a hatchback soon, and I just want to get a feel for what the car will be like all around. No doubt it's gonna tear up the 1/4 mile, but I want to know is if it's gonna be just too scary/squirley for anything else or what...

Thanks so much for the write-up! Would it be possible for you go into a little more detail on exactly how you made your custom axles? Also, the link doesn't seem to be working for me, it says the page may not exist or access is restricted...

If he's tying the lift blocks together, then he will be able to reuse the stock bolts to bolt it up into the body, and the only bolts he will have to buy will be 1 1/2" long bolts to bolt the subframe to the lift. These will be much cheaper than the long bolts that come with a PK or AA lift. As far as the thickness debate goes, here's why I say 1/8" will be fine. First, it's only 3" of lift. Second, all blocks will be joined together. Once the blocks are welded together, even with 1/8" wall you'll end up with a framework many times stronger than any other peice on your rig. I just took some measurements off of my kit. You will need 18 2" long 2x3" blocks. That is 36" of 2x3" For connectors you will need about 116" of 2x2" box (this includes a long piece to run across the rear over the torsion bar). So just to be safe, lets call that about 4 feet of 2x3 and about 12 feet of 2x2. http://www.metalsdepot.com has that in 1/8" wall for $73.36 total + shipping. Usually my local steel yard runs about 40% cheaper than them, yours should too.

If you're NOT planning on connecting each of the lift blocks with 2x2 tubing, then 1/4" is definitely the thickness you want to go with. If you are going to tie it all together then you can go with as thin as 1/8" thick for a 3" lift. BTW, you should only need about 4 feet of tubing to make the 14 to 18 (depending on how you build it) lift blocks. Should be well under $80 for all necessary steel even if you buy 2x2 to tie it all together.

Yeah Volvo's dominate in the DD, they're such bricks. But you should keep the Sube 4WD if that's allowed, when you're down in the muck you'll be able to hook up and get up to ramming speed faster then anyone else! Also, I wouldn't bother with the LSD... they really don't do much more then you're open diff. And get us some before and after pics!

What a beast, 75! Nice offset on those rims, makes it look really burly even without a lift.

Coupes and brats have the same doors as the hatchbacks. There is a lot more rear overhang on the wagon compared to the hatchback and the rear gate and taillights have a different look as well. I feel lucky we got hatchbacks in the US, even though they all rusted to nothing up here in the Northeast.

I don't think the EA81 kit is a "high clearance" kit. Above it says the subframe is dropped equally with no extra axle strain. If that is the case then the rear wheel will not get any closer to the front of the fender well. With the EA's trailing arm suspension, the wheel will get closer to the front of the fender well when the suspension is cranked up or drooping, but when it compresses it the wheel swings back away from the front fender well (but not by much). I have a 4" lift (not AA, but exactly the same idea) on my EA81 hatch and I run 28.5" Swamper TSLS. There are NO clearance issues in the rear, whether either side is drooping or completely stuffed. So basically, what I'm saying is don't worry one bit about that rear wheel clearance! It's the front end you're gonna have to go to town on to make the big tires fit.

Wow! BUY IT! Even if it looks rusted to hell... The rockers, doors, wheel arches etc. were gone from rust on my '88, but the frame rails and suspension points were still solid as a rock. If the hatch you're looking at is the same way it could still be one heck of a fun wheeler!

Since you're a new-gen guy you might not be familiar wiith this write-up: http://www.subarubrat.com/hasseylift.htm I'd say it's the granddaddy of all diy lift write-ups His front strut top extensions don't really work great for a 4" lift (or probably even a 6"). Bad camber issues. The best advice I can give anyone building a lift is to buy your front strut top extensions from a lift-kit manufacturer. As far as lifting a new-gen... don't ask me. Too many lateral links and McPherson struts and such... Supposedly there are "lifting blocks" on the outback models (like 1.5") and the idea is to replace them with taller ones... But I'll stop blathering now about things I know nothing about. I'd certainly be interested in knowing how a new-gen body lift is done, though.

The 15th is a saturday, so it should be fine for me.

Wish I had some great advice for you... When I did my wiring I ran 4 or 5 ground wires from all the points that needed to be grounded off the ECU and harness straight to the negative battery terminal. In other words I didn't really trust that they were getting to ground through the harness. There were two wires that were vaguely labeled in the Chiltons diagram, I traced them to the ignition switch in the donor car. I believe one was powered up in ACC, the other in start. I wired those in directly to the EA81 ignition switch. Are you using a Chilton's manual for the wiring diagram? They aren't great, but they will get you there. I can upload a copy of it and post a link for you if you still need it. Don't lose heart, it really doesn't take much to get these engines going, whatever it is you'll figure it out. Just start going back over it, wire by wire (not fun I know, but you'll get it). There is literally nothing like hearing your EJ beast fire up for the first time!

Ditto. I replaced both fronts with 3 1/2" JBLs. I tore apart the OEM speakers (junk) and cut off all but the metal ring around the outside and mounted my new speaks to that, and mounted that into the dash like normal.

PK/Ozified is a body lift. Period. The running gear/suspension is untouched, and the body is literally raised 3-4 inches. I guess you could say that the AA lifts are a somewhat of a combination body/suspension lift because they lift the body and also tuck the rear diff up higher increasing the resting angle of the rear axles. Phizinza's point was a good one. A lift kit on a Subaru will definately improve your approach and departure angles, but it won't give you any more ground clearance because the body is not the lowest point on the car. The rear diff is in the back and the Y-pipe and oil pan is on the front. Larger tires or cranked up suspension is the only way to elevate those points.

Wow, that's nice of you to offer to do that, but first I think I will call some US places and see if they can get them. If they can't I might take you up on it. Thanks a lot!

Any idea where or how to find a USA distributor? Or did you actually buy direct from the company? Thanks so much for the part #, I'm just at a loss as far as how to actually get the item.

Word is you can use FWD auto impreza axles - they are supposedly 23 spline. I have some in a parts car and can check that out for you sometime...

Wow CB, checked out the pics over on nasioc! It really is a "hatch" your working on, I assumed you were mistakenly calling an EA82 3 door coupe a hatch. That's SOOOOO cool! Anyway, I'm doing a similar build also with an EA81 hatch. I've been down the same road with planning an entire suspension conversion. I'm currently leaning toward not doing it, and just doing engine/drivetrain. Why? For one, because the track width is a lot wider on the EJs compared to the hatch. I think it's going to look very off... I'm not sure, but the tires may end up sticking out past the fenders. This may be a cool look for an offroader with a lift, but on a street machine I think it's gonna look ghetto. I've only done eyeball guesses on this though it may not big such a huge difference. At any rate it should work fine if it's engineered well, if you're making a serious race vehicle you're probably not too concerned about looks, but what's your take on the track width issue?

I'm in, especially if we can do some off-roading! Two hatches and a brat so far? That would be awesome to see.. I vote for somewhere in NY, too, I'll drive my hatch with swampers 3 or 4 hours on the highway, but 7 or 8 to get to NJ I'm not too keen on, least not yet. As for a name... I'm sure once we hang out someone will come up with something funny and it'll stick.

A "business-letter" sized envelope is just big enough.

I'd like to know that part# and where to get it, thanks!