Subaruist

Yes. I know.... you're right, and that is probably just what I will do, but I wanted to explore the possibilities to the fullest. I was also wondering about rims to a Ford Fiesta - they look similar, although I bet they are too small.

The Subaru below has been seemingly abandoned in Medford for 3 - 4 days according to the business owner who says it is going to get towed within the next couple of days, possibly as early as tomorrow. If anyone knows who the owner is, please tell them ASAP, as it looks like it has had some serious electrical, cooling, and possibly other engine-related problems, and as such, if they cannot afford repairs,they likely will not be able to afford getting it out of impound or the towing yard if it is towed. Otherwise, if the owner DOES abandon it, and it gets towed away, maybe one or more people here on the forum in the Medford vicinity would like to pitch in a few bucks each to aquire it for parts. No need to let it potentially go to the crusher.

Even on pavement, an impact against a curb ( lol ) or even a pothole can destrot alloy rims, and a broken rim can cause serious damage when that sid eof the front end comes crashing down - to the whole front end and especially the hub assembly on that side, the oil pan, etc. etc. If I was desparate to get fancy, either I wuld paint the steel rims creatively, or get them chrome plated. I think the old star/spoke style steel rims would look cool chromed. - Let me guess, you can;t chrome-plate rims for some reason, right? - I mean....that's about how it usually foes with my dearest ideas, lol... I know how Peugeot ort whatever it isis pronounced, but it looks like Pidgiot to me, lol. - Like that other thing, named after your patio with an awning - what is it... a Porch... Porche? Porsha? whatever... lol - oh and those really cool sports cars the english so love - tha Jag - U - Ars.... lol...

I think I just figured out one of the secrets for the Subaru's and Brat's engineering and capabilities !!! I don't know what the official scientific terminology would be, but I call it atomic scale. They say that we could not have giant ants (and similar insects) because they would collapse under their own weight, and might burst out of thier exo-skeletal bodies. Also, ants can supposedly lift and carry 50 times thier own weight, which is extreme. Also, you can drop an ant from various heights up to several feet without it being seriously injured, and this has little to do with aerodynamics, as ants are not very aerodynamic, and are fairly dense and compact in their structure. A Subaru Brat is much smaller than the average pick pick-up of its day, but was made of the same common steel, of the same general thickness and density. Most of its parts are also smaller, but again, the same general density and often the same thickness. For one example, if you put one large object of steel in the bed of a standard pick-up of its day, it would tend to flex the corrugated bed a little more in that standard truck, but less in a Subaru Brat, because the bed in a Brat is much smaller, and a more condense space, and in a way, more re-enforced, because the walls and uni/body and suspension, etc are closer together, as opposed to a standard truck bed that is several feet long with little or no more support. Another simpler example is that a long pipe is easier to bend than a short piece of pipe of the same thickness and diameter. If you were to shrink a standard contemporary truck of the day to the size of a Subaru Brat, its metal would be thinner than that of the Brat, and many of its parts would also be smaller or thinner than similar ones on a Brat, and to the converse, if you were to enlarge a Brat to the size of a standard contemporary pick-up truck, many of its parts would be thicker and more heavy-duty in comparrison. So what I am saying is that somewhere along the scale of things, a Subaru Brat is a little like that ant that although small, is able to carry a great deal of weight, withstand stresses, and be 'stiffer' due to its scale of density and strength of construction and structure. Or, in other words, they are tough, strong little buggers !!! lol...

I one time had a dealto strip some equipment that used big slabs of aluminum in thier fames, each being 4-6 inches thick, 2 feet wide, and 4-5 feet long, each one weighing almost 100 pounds. On one trip back home many miles with a load filling the bed that must have weighed 600-800 pounds,in a vehicle classed as being an 1/8th ton, which I think equals abut 250lbs. I had to watch my clutch, gas and steering, because if I was not carefull it would start doing a whleelie, - and no, I'm not kidding! Try putting 3 times the maximum load in your average pickup and see what happens!

Oh... so THAT's why nobody can find them anymore! You're hoarding them all! lol... - and I feel gulty for scrapping/parting out two or three !

In any case, it is fine, honrable and prctical hobby to work on a Subaru, especially a Subaru Brat !!!

I did a google image search, and the VAST majority of Peugeot rims I saw had no hole in the center, but who knows, maybe the results were not accurate. It is good to know that they will bolt right on. The only problem is that Peugeots are not very common, and spare sets of used Peugeot rims are even less common or available, although I am sure they could be found and bought new. What I don't understand is why they would name a car after such a common bird as a Pidgeon, and then mis-spell the name. ( Lol...) How do you pronounce that anyway? Pid-giot? Pew-giot? - like in Puget Sound, WA? (Just kidding) Stil looking for any other coincidences in any rims at all that can be bolted onto an older Subaru with little or no modifications..... I still like the idea of split-rim tractor rims, but I assume that they wouldnotfit regular street tires...

You had me going there for a minute.... In neither video was the incident due to the fact that the rimswere split rims that in any way failed or were defective, etc. Both videos concerned very large, hgh-pressure wheels with multiple piece split rims, consisting of 3 or more pieces, which are nothing like whatI am talking about at all. In the first video, it was a test, and the explosion was due to intentional over inflation, the over inflation was done intentionally to deliberately cause the explosion, in order to demonstrate the protective cage. In the second video, every incident had to do with worker or procedural errors, and the only defect had to do with individual bolts (48 in all) in a very large, high-pressure specialized rim and wheel for a large specialized peice of heavy equipment, with 48 - that's 48 bolts holding it together, and once again, is was an error on the part of the worker taking the wrong bolts out in the wrong way. We'er talking about small wheels with 13" - 14" inch rims on (or off) a Subaru,with normal/common range of pressure. What happened in the videos above would be virtually impossible with this, with the one exception being if they were not watching what they were doing, and let the pressure continue to fill the tire without ever checking it, and even then ANY tire would explode if you did that, and even then, it would be the TIRE itself exploding, and not the rim. You have done a very good job of convincing me to never have anything to do with, or be anywhere near large, high pressure wheels/tires from heavy equipment being serviced though.

I have taken some time to cruise through various threads on this forum, and have seen a lot of the interesting things Subaru has made. I have seen cool Subarus like the XT, the Alcyone, and others. I have seen and heard about other Subarus that are performance cars, super fast and agile, and all that we have all done with, for and to them. But there is nothing... nothing like a Brat. They don't just belong in a class all thier own by name or type or model. Even though they have many similarities to other Subarus, similar front-end body styles, etc. They are a singular marvel in the toality of thier unique design. Its not just that they have utility in being a sort of mini pick-up, its not just that they had seats in the back, as fun as that was for many people, especially kids, and its not just in how good they are in off-roading. They have a different and unique balance and weight and handling; how they react to your driving, how they react to the road or terrain or environment, and how they react to anything in nature conspiring against them meeting the expectations of their driver. As I have said to people many times; sometimes something is designed, that just happens to be intrinsically great in its design, beyond even the intent and wishes of the designer. I think they are a quintessential example of being greater than the sum of their parts. Something in its dimensions, proportions, size, and shape; Beyond inspiration in design, they are synchronicity in operation, super synergistic, magic in coincidence, serendipity bursting with energy and an innocent, wild abandon to please its driver and to go anywhere it possibly can. It is jealous only of dogs, for its love and want to be your best friend, but love to have them along for the ride... It cannot always survive a hard crash, but it doesn't care - it is fearless... It does not defy or laugh at death, it simply does not recognise its existence, and doesn't know how to die... It can suffer loss or lack of fluids, bent this or broken that, and limp as much as it has to, to get you back home... It cannot not speak, but hears your every wish and awaits your spontaneous whim at any fleeting moment... If it could, it would take you to Shangri-la, Shambala or Avalon, and if anything could get you there, by damn it would ! It cannot fly, but by God it wants to with all its heart ! There is nothing like a Subaru Brat.

Ok, I have to ask... You have a fantastic vehicle there, but will it come to a point where you are done, and will just enjoy it outside of any injuries/repairs that may happen, - or is it an unending hobby bordering on obsession, in which either this vehicle will undergo improvements reachng toward the nirvana of perfection, or will you then move onto rebuilding another Subaru into another beast of nirvanic perfection in some way? lol... - Few people have gone as deep as you into the deep-end of this pool of Subaruness, lol....

lol... Thanks

Just for curosity sake, I once wondered if I could take 2 sets of rims and cut them aroubd thier diameter and recombine in such a way as to make split rims... The purpose would be foroff-roading, that if you used tubes, in a pinch, with a difficult flat or tear in the tire, where the usualmethods would be inadequate, you could take the rim apart and fix a flat via the tube; and/or otherwise, might also in the same way be able to fix a flat with tubeless tires if once you re-assembled the wheels, you could apply enough air to get the tire to seal to the rim. I have had to fix side-wall flats, when it was notsupposed to be possible, and once, out of desparation and lack of cash, and a lack of available tires,once a tire was removed, I actually sewed a tear closed with true rubber cement (not that 'sniff-proof' garbage they sell now-a-days) and kevlar cord. - I know, once ina million situation that never happens to anyone , and a type of repair that is not supposed to work, and one that almost nobody wouldever recommend doing under any circumstances, but the situation was what it was. If that situation had happened in the middleo of nowhere, I'd be totally out of luck- unless of course, I had split rims. When I previously inquired about this years ago, I was told that there would be 5 issues: #1: Balance/Balancing - The rims would have to be cut precisely to have any hope of properly balancing them. #2: Gasket - The two halves of the rims would have to be joined with some kind of gasket and/or sealer to prevent leaks from between them, which might be tricky if the spoke/star or similar style of rims were used. #3: Resulting width - They could end-up being 1/8" to 1/4" wider than normal rims, assuming standard steel rims were used, which might not be too much of a problem, most tires would go on with no real difference. On the other hand, being a little wider would help with tubless tires to get the tire to seal against the rim when air was applied. #4: Weight- That the resulting rims would weigh a little more than usual. But then again, they might also be a little stronger, both due to the center of the rim(s) essentially being twice as thick. #5: Some tire shops might refuse to work on such rims, expecially if they could tell they were modified rims. This would not necessarily be a model of efficiency of course, but if you could use split rims, fixing a difficult flat might be a real life-saver in a really bad situation.

- Split rim ?!? - SPLIT RIM ?!? I would LOVE split rims!!! Are there such things as split rims that can be used, especially without modification ?!?

- Oh, now that was just too easy! lol....

If it has not been done before, I wanted to start this thread, as I received an uncommon tip about what kind of rims, with or without slight modifications, that can be used/adapted to older Subarus... We all know about Toyota 6 lug rims, and thankfully, I was told that it is possible to get 14" 6 lug Toyo rims, which is what I personally would prefer. I think standard 13" Subaru rims are just too small, and 15" rims are more for off-road style, wheras I want to change habits and make my present Brat a street vehicle. The tip I recently got was that you can use Peugeot rims, with the caveat that you might have to grind the center hole a little bit. I did a quick google image search, and aside from a very, very few, like those below, most do not even have a hole in the center. These look like pretty standard designs anyway, so you could probably find rims that look this good that are meant for Subarus. I personally have never really liked aluminum rims, but I don't mind exploring possibilites. However, I think this may not be a good idea unless someone is capable of properly enlarging the center hole, without compromising either the Centering/balancing or structure and strength of the rim, IF they even had a hole, especially in aluminum rims. For another example, there is this pic I found: What are these? What are they from? I checked the website this picture came from, and I could not find any reference to what kind of rims these are. The guy did claim that the wheels were street legal. They look like 6 lug, but it also looks like not one of the lug holes matched! lol. I would also figure that there might be centering and/or balancing issues. I think this is a case where maybe the guy had rims with tires and just made use of them, but I think it would have been better to just get some used 6 lug Toyo rims and drill two holes. I have also been told that one could use ATV / ATC rims, but that sounds doubtful for a number of reasons, the fact that they would likely be pretty small in themselves being the first. With typical tires,they might be great inthe sandor mud or snow, but would almost certainly not be street legal or even look street legal enough to pass casual scrutiny at a distant glance, lol So, I thought I would start this thread as there are probably other rims out there that may be useful, if not really cool looking, with variations on the size of the rim/tire/wheel relationship, and expanding the selection of tires availablefor larger sized rims. What have you other guys found or modified sucessfully, hopefully with minimum modifications, that the rest of us might be able to swing?

Thank you!!! - Just the kind of input I need! I am guessing that I will need to lift the rear end 3 - 4 inches to get the effect I am looking for. I was wondering about the very points you made. Such things do concern me. I am not into high speed, so that may not be much of a factor, - depending on your definition of high speed. Aside from this likely project I have never noticed what some people complain about regarding weight in the back. I once bought a Brat for parts that had a 100+ lb custom bumper for that compensation, but honestly, I have never had any such problem with any weight or lack thereof. If I am able to do all that I want, there will be a secondary fuel tank across the front third of the bed, at the front end of the wheel (swells? inner fenders?, can't remember the term) -But that would be almost centered in the vehicle, slightly biased toward the front. I will have near 100 lbs or more cargo in the bed, but I am trying to cut down on that, as I love how these things can be driven with little or no extra weight. I'm not sure about how to move the front struts forward, seems likeit would be impossible at the top end, so maybe I should assume you mean down at the hub? I hope I will not have to, I already have a long list of mods I want to do, lol. Thanks again.

Sorry, I meant to comment on this when you posted it... I love how you did this! They are simple, and pretty much maximum strength/construction. Well done! I guess its no accident that you chose a chassis with a frame that is a perfect width to match your brat body for aligning the two for such modifications. - You should post pics that show the overall chassis under that body! It begs for some creative painting to show off its details; not the usual ugly chassis with a mis-matched body slapped on top of it! You have quite a creation you are building there - you should show it off on the forum more!

I may be wrong, but I didb't notice anything about EA81 engines... I am perhaps experiencing a false perception of prejudice such engines? It seems that everyone loves the turbos and other engines, while the poor EA81 engines may feel under-valued, unappreciated, and discriminated against. - Although I know that is imparting consciousnessand emotion onto inanimate and adjuct objects or sub-assemblies of objects, lol...

Actually, my idea is to fab the pipes myself or buy cheapees and modify them. The idea is to turn the whole exhaust pipe into a glass pack muffler. Narrow inner tube, of a diameter to accomodate back-pressure, 'scavenging' / etc. full of holes, and maybe with a coupleof improvised baffles in it to help with soundand backpressure, then wrapped in fiberglass or similar, then inserted into a larger tube, maybe 2 1/4" to 2 1/2" to accomodate the fiberglass and needed space. I might even go too far and use stainless steel scouring pads fromthe dollar store instead of fiberglass, but notentirely likely. There would of course be a cross pipe there somewhere just after the engine. Although narrower than a proper glasspack, it would be like 4 to 6 times longer, thus maybe either compensating and not being too loud, or possibly being a lot quieter than regualr glasspacks. The real benefit being that it solves my custom/duall exhaust problem, is something I can do myself if necessary for the most part, will look real cool, and I can make the outer shell/pipe with stainless steel, which I like, will match other acessories on the Brat, I already know where I can get it pretty cheap, and it will look super cool. If I get the right size of tubing, I can use regular after-market exhaust tips for the ends. I think it would be quiet enough,it might even sound very different and cool, the main concern I have now is that if I hi-jack the rear end, then rain/water may run down fromthe end, but I may be able to prevent that with the right exhaust tips put on at the right angle. Question #1: If I choose the right diameter of inner pipe/tube, even if it is a clear pass-through glass pack design, will it still have back-pressure / scavenging issues? Question #2: If I put a few improvised baffles into the innner tube/pipe, will that satisfy the back-pressure/scavenging issue? Thanks again.

Thanks. - So how do I find these guys / lift kits?

Thanks for the genuine input!... Here's the deal with my fussy preferences... Normally I might not care, even if the suspension was affected... but in this case, with a Subari Brat, and the phenominal way it handles and just does whatever I want it to do, I would rather not screw that up. I like being able to do super-tight turns at speed, or half-donut U-turns, etc. Its just so fun! BUT... what if I were to change things, and then when I try such or simlar manuvers, and the rear end would skip-skip-skip-skip sideways instead of either gripping or sliding? What if the center of gravity + leaning was seriously affected? I could even guess that in extremes, it would be more likely to roll, and although raising up the rear end would increase that chance just a little, maybe HOW I raise that rear end up could either compensate a little or at least not make it even worse... On one hand, I could tweak/extend the torsion bar, and then I would have to of course extend the shocks as well. But maybe I could add some kind of extension to the torsion bar that keeps it as stiff as possible?, or I could add something that gives it some flex? Should I keep it stiff or give it extra flex? Extra flex could mean more leaning into a turn, keepingit stiff or making it stiffer might cause it to skip-skip-skip-skip in a hard turn. There is also the possibility of angling the shock absorber a bit if I have to use a different mount... - Am I making goodly sense???

- Update - Just looked on Ebay and found these for a quick, crude sample of something I could work with... (Pretty cheap) http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/abacene/media/LakePipes_zpsa04e9da9.jpg.html

I still don't understand this "Back pressure" thing.... The explosive force coming from the engine would push the exhaust out without a doubt... regardless of what is firing when - so as long as fresh air does not get to the vales, etc what's the actual problem??? Why would it cause the engine to stall??? I have a mechanical and conceptual mind,but this baffles me....

Very good point and idea! In fact,you have inspired another idea, like what you were saying maybe, with a twist... Momentarily forgetting that any muffler exists, I COULD run the pipes right under the doors, (door frame/openiing) on the side/underside of the Brat, all the way to right in front of the rear wheels, where they would be visible from the street for almost their entire length, and look super cool like older hot rods! - Now back to reality... where to put the damned mufflers..... This is a stretch, and probably would be a lot of work, ( Lots 'o drilling lol ) but what if I had that exposed pipe/tube of as large a diameter as I couldget away with, ( mostly for clearance and appearance ) with a smaller pipe/tube inside, riddeld with holes, and wrapped in fiberglass, the tubes being joined/seald at the end, thus making my own very long but narrow glasspack, essentialy turning the whole damned pipe/tube into a glasspack? That way I could keep the relative narrow pipe inside for the back pressure... -??? - Hell, I have a 5 -6 foot long piece of 2" stainless steel right now that I bought for the front crash bar/ towing rig, that only cost me $15. I could get maybe get some at 2 1/4" or 2 1/2" for not much more. Being used for the outer pipe, stainless steel would out-last chrome plating! - and no, I don't care if it's legal either! Only if it would work... It would look too good to get a ticket! lol.. I would probably have to have some kind of cross pipe for this damned back-pressure issue though. A - ha! like these! "80s Running Board Style Side Pipes"..... http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/abacene/media/brat1_zps38dce3d7.jpg.html These MUST be legal... dothey have some kind of glasspack internal structure? Otherwise they would be loud, right ?!?