Subaru Scott

Oh, I meant to add, I had an 86 hatch that I put an EA82t in which was stock except for a brake spring on the wastegate (12 psi). It had manual steering so the torque steer was terrible in FWD. Had outer front axle stubbs that I swapped in every summer and did that 4 or 5 years. Took plenty of holeshots and even had 15" pugs, never had a failure. Now if I could have found an LSD... that might have broke something!

What that means is that when the suspension goes into compression during heavy cornering, the bottom of the wheel will be tucking under bringing it into positive camber. That, combined with body roll, may have you plowing straight ahead, skating on the edge of your rim, when you have to swerve or take a fast corner. Now, having the car lowered is going to offset this, to a point. As is the stiffness of your springs. But it's something you should be aware of and, at the very least, test out in an empty parking lot in slow, careful increments. Ideally, you should relocate the inner lower control arm mounts up equivalent to how much it is lowered... I know, stuff is in the way and it involves welding. I think there are also adapters to lower the outer end at the ball joint, but that sounds sketchy to me. Anyway, what you want to achieve is getting the bottom of the wheel to thrust out on compression to corner safely and counteract the positive camber that body roll inevitably brings with it. Good looking Brat though... brings back memories...

Good choice on the EJ... power + drivability + durability + pass emissions

I never put nothin on mine. No lockwashers, just always used the oem stainless hardware. Yes, sometimes the studs come out when they get rusty, just double nut, separate, clean up and re-seat in the head. Some good anti-seize probably would be a good idea

I realize this is old but GD, could you please tell me if you still feel 03 and up are crap? I'm shopping for an STI donor, 2.0. I have found some 02s but they don't seem to have anything special in the brakes dept. Thanks.

I remember adapting a motorcycle electronic ignition into my first EA71 distributor back in early eighties while I was a financially embarrassed bike mechanic. IIRC it was pretty easy, came off a Kawasaki I think. Used the bikes dual coil setup with longer wires installed so no more distributor cap Worked great!

Yes, I know... Ironically these are the best looking wheels I've ever had and yet, no practical way to channel 300 HP through them Will make someones day if I decide to let them go... Not necessarily going 5-lug... the wheels I want will be a surprise!!

So out of the 28 Subaru's I've owned, and strangely enough, 28 non-Subaru vehicles, not counting motorcycles or parts cars, these are all vehicles I drove, this is the very first convertible! I did have a Fiat X19, which was close, but it's so cool to look over my shoulder backing up and see nothing! Makes me smile every time Thanks again to Roger for selling me this great car and for driving 5 hours to come rescue me in sub-zero temps when I got stranded by the airline trying to get there!! Always loved the EA81s but never thought I'd ever own one again, much less, THIS My numbers would be a lot higher if it were not for my current 91 Legacy platform creation getting me through the last 13 years and 400k miles. And it's been a long time since I've even wanted to build a hot rod, but living in SW Florida the last couple of years, where there are car shows weekly and musclecars all over, including Cobra's (Cccooobbrraass ) I've been getting the bug again and THIS is the car. So, I'm thinking: STI, replace the turbo with a supercharger + header, 6 speed, RWD, big fat tires and everything (Deep Purple - Highway Star)... can you say "Rocket Sled?" Now, if that proves to be too ungodly, I always have the AWD option, I'll lock the center diff in a way it can be unlocked. I put an EA82t in an 86 hatch loooong time ago (I might have been the first) stock except for a brake spring on the wastegate (12 psi) and pulled the front shafts in non-snow months. That thing was a barnstormer and would roast 15's Now I realize I'm talking a lot more horsepower in this case and also realize I may have to do some chassis beefing. The box beams that were added during the conversion look pretty substantial but... A friend of mine had a 289 Ford Falcon ragtop that would get a 1.5" gap at the drivers door when he did a hole shot The rockers need work anyway so I can cut the outer off, weld box beam/tube in and re-cover. A 6-point rollbar would do the job nicely too! So I've been shopping rolled/totaled STI's and trying to get up to speed on what's what because I kind of stopped paying attention to new stuff back in the early 90's but I'm thinking an 02 or newer for the engine, wiring, brakes, suspension pieces, seats, etc. and a JDM 6 speed if the donor I end up with doesn't have one. Just thinking out loud here, still lots of research to be done. Not asking anyone to figure this out for me... that's half the fun! I WOULD like to ask if anyone has a nice EA81 4WD rear suspension they would sell because the space required for the top to fold down leaves no room for strut towers. Also, I'll be needing to replace the top in the next year or so if anybody has one laying around... Stay tuned! And thank you USMB for my new favorite Sube!! Hopefully I can make it into a mini "Cobraroo" :headbang:

The package has arrived! Merry Christmas to me! Unwrapped Yes, that is what you think it is... Loaded in my basket and headed for Florida... all this delicious JDM dual range goodness... we live in good times! So, to confirrm, I spun the flywheel around 3 turns to 1 turn on the axle shaft. Don't know what gear I was in and only one axle shaft was turning, just fooling around when it arrived but it worked out perfectly because when I shifted into low, I got 4&4/10 to 1. I'm definitely no math genious but I think that has to be the 1.41 ratio. Trans # SG-TY755XS1AAIs 411 fd, 1.41 low range... happy hunting everyone else. And thanks so much to everyone who helped me out here!

how bout Schleparoo?

Roger! The brown is descent, but if you don't like their samples then my suggestion would be burgundy! It's very forgiving, matches brown nicely and is a little sportier. I've had a black car before... wouldn't go back...

When I made the adapter plate for my boat, I bolted the plate to the EJ, doing the dowel holes first, and drilling them slightly small so I could finish them by hand with a round file, until they were perfect with no slop. Then bolted a steel arm on the crankshaft and attached a scribe on the end of it. Doesn't matter how far out, you just want to scribe a circle on the plate to give you a dead-center reference. I then took the plate to the boneyard and found an engine with the pattern I was adapting to. I stood the engine on end, laid the plate on and bolted another arm with scribe to the crank. Spun that around and adjusted plate till it lined up perfectly, then clamped it down and drilled the holes through the boneyard engines holes. That's about as close as I think you can get being somewhat... primitive. If you try to use a transmission to index the plate... well, just grab the input shaft and see how much you can move it off center with your hand.

Go to ebay and search JDM Subaru transmission, then you'll physically have to look at the pics to spot the dual range lever on the passengers side of the tranny, just above the dipstick. Searching "dual range" gives no results.

Well, I fall into 1) and 3) and I've worked on practically everything. I've owned many different makes and models, but I can say without a doubt, there is nothing on this planet easier to work on or cheaper to maintain, hands down! I've got more invested in my stereo!! And if you have a problem driving one... you need lessons!

Hey man, great looking car and nice build! Love the water tube! Did you get the D/R linkage done? I'm expecting my JDM D/R tomorrow But DUDE... I would TOTALLY redo that steering shaft!! That's absolutely the LAST piece on a vehicle that I would want questionable welds on! I have done a few myself and always extend with a pipe that fits over the factory shaft stubs, pin it, AND weld it. With cold water rags on the joints to keep from baking them.

Nice work bertman!!! Excellent tip on the porting tool! Done the same thing to the threads on a bolt with a cutoff wheel to make a quickee thread chaser. I've polished ports with a Dremel, chucked a stem with a screw in the end, poked the screw through the corner of plumbers strapping cloth and wound a few layers around the stem. Doesn't last very long but it polishes quick! What I'm really interested in is "self ground cam" I've thought about trying that myself. My motto is "how hard can it be?"

Dats a niiiiice!!! Great hatch man, and those wheels are cock! Lowering the back CAN be easy... start soaking with PB now! You just need to take the flat plate off the trailing arms and move it up a couple splines on the torsion bar. Just be sure to mark it first, so you know where you started. If you cant get the plate to come off the outer end of the torsion bar, you can pull out the bar with it and reclock it on the inside, it's splined on both ends. It's much harder to gauge where you move it to that way, but if you have the car jacked up evenly, you should be able to measure off the ground. May have to try a few times to get it where you like.

Ea81: valve adjustments (most), carb rebuilds, distributor issues, leaky oil pumps, pans and valve covers. And crank thrust bearings never made it too far with manual trans. EJ22: timing belts and pulleys... drive it around the world

As far as steering wheel adapters, I once just cut all the stuff off an old wheel down to the hub and drilled & tapped for the aftermarket. But that was on an Opel GT that I put a '63 Olds aluminum 215 CI V8 in... I may try that for my recent EA81 purchase (the wheel adapter, not the 215) I'll let you know!

Hitachi's were my preference as the electronics NEVER went bad. They would, however, wear out their bushings if the owner let oil changes go and the spiral grooves on the shaft, which supply oil up to the bushing, gunked up. I had a local guy with a lathe making those for me for 15 bucks.

Aaaahhh yeeessss! Another thing I really DON'T miss about working in a dealer. Worst one was a dead mother + 5 babies... smell was so bad the passenger hurled in the floorboard on the way to the shop They stopped at a carwash and "cleaned" the floor before dropping it off... added an extra hour on that one Easiest fix for me was screen under the cowl. Had a mouse pop out of the wiper shaft hole when I was doing about 35, he ran around on the hood for a minute, freaking out, then popped back in. Pretty funny but had to stop and evict him!

Still have to take a BFH to the drivers side frame rail on an EA81 body to clear the EA82s distributor extension. Did 3 of them. I would do an EJ22, plentiful, powerful, better mileage, and bulletproof. JDM EJ dual ranges are out there, I just bought one... expecting tomorrow!

Well... just ran across this thread this morning and now the day is mostly over because I couldn't look away! All I can say is WOW!! Steve, what a fantastic thing you did with that body, truly impressive. I must say I had my doubts at the very beginning... I remember being in high school and going with my auto mechanics teacher to work on a pair of these for one of his regular customers. They were a black family with 12 KIDS and wanting more I remember they had one of those big cast iron pots in the backyard hanging over a fire cooking beans, which were delicious and I think maybe was all Steve, my teacher accepted for payment. We changed the points in both cars, a wagon and a 4 door and checked them over. These were the only vehicles the family of 14 had and Steve had hooked them up because they were the cheapest, most reliable thing to drive on the planet! I also remember checking out the suspension and inboard brakes and wondering why they changed that?? Steve said "if we have to do a front brake job for them, you'll know why." Subaru has always cared about making their cars easy to work on. On another note, about the hole drilled in the new block, Subaru has an "obsolescence" program, or used to at least, which allows the dealers to get rid of parts that they believe will never sell. When I had just started working at my first dealership, one day the big fat slob parts manager came waddling out the parts dept with a brand new drivers door for a hatchback. I HAD a hatchback with a dented, rusted out drivers door (and 3 kids at home that took precedence over car parts). Before I could ask him about it, he asked to borrow a hammer, I gave him my 4 pounder which he immediately swung and caved in the side of the door!!! He handed my hammer back and said "Here, can you throw that in the dumpster for me?" I fell to my knees and let out a yell like Belushi in Animal House when the case of booze got smashed! And I know that waste-of-space knew I needed that door But at that point, he and other old timers working there didn't think a kid my age had paid enough dues to be working as a dealer tech. So for the next couple of days, the parts dept kept trying to break things and throw them out for a percentage of what they had paid for them, and thinking it was the best deal they could get, (oh, the humanity!) But I was dumpster diving every night!! Some stuff they just got lazy and didn't hurt, like complete front axles, which back then were several hundred dollars apiece! But who knew back then anyway? I know I didn't either because I had a garage full of '70s engines and trannys of every flavor including a couple of 1000's! One day I got tired of moving and taking care of them and scrapped it all, thinking if I didn't want them, no one ever would Anyhow, sorry for the ramble... Subie Gal, congrats and keep us posted! I'm sure the weld up will be just fine. I have a 360 van too, but I'll save that story for later Cheers!!

Thanks Rusty! I try to keep it "well informed crazy." Nice Brat, I had a couple '79s and miss them. One with studded snows all around that would climb trees

Thanks Grossgary! And thanks as well for the A/C compressor o-ring tip, fixed my SVX right up!