Uberoo Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 weight reduction tally thus far: -40 lbs bobbing the bed -*45 lbs for cutting off the front end -6.6 lbs for bobbing the front sheet metal -2 lbs for removing unnecessary wiring -11 lbs for the HDPE adapter plate *removing the front of the brat to the strut towers lost 34 lbs,but I've removed it all the way to firewall and I didn't weigh the metal that came out. But wait theres more! The front tube frame weighed roughly the same as the front metal that was removed so I would say the front end weight reduction is a wash. I added 2 58" 1.5x.087 tubes to reinforce the floor + 12.5 lbs + the 1/8" plate to brace the tubes on the firewall etc It seems right now its an even trade between strength and light weight,there is no question that the tube front end is stronger than the couple pieces of stamped tin the factory used,same with the various reinforcing elements added.It just seems like no matter how hard I try to keep the weight down it keeps creeping up.Maybe I should practice what I preach,I could stand to loose 10-15 lbs myself. On the other hand I still have yet to replace the heavy factory stamped k member or the control arms so maybe there is hope that it wont become a total porker when I get done.I will also be removing the front diff from the transmission so there is some weight to be lost there,Then I will remove extra bosses from the engine for a couple ounces of weight reduction.I would love to remove weight from the front and rear cast iron diffs because those damned things are HEAVY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 So after the smoke cleared I hung the various parts on the car.The proportions look about right from the side: but the bad news is I ruined an otherwise perfectly usable hood and the fenders arn't too bad but without a lot of bondo there is no way to hide that they were cut/welded together because of the various curves of the fenders.ie flat sections mating with curved sections etc.Every looked good tacked up but it all warped pretty damn bad,the hood espeically because I tacked the skin together and starting welding it together without tacking the supports together.By the time I relized my mistake the hood was warped upward by a significant amount where I cut and spliced the outer edge together. The goal was NOT to have it all look like a total hack job and thats exactly what it turned out like.So I will need to find a new hood because this one is too warped to get it close to where it needs to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 you can unwarp that hood , auto body guys do it , theres methods or shrinking metal , just look it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 I was thinking of cutting that weld and straightening the panels then try it again.I was told to tack one side then go to the other side and tack it and repeat the process until it was done.Even welding like 3/4" at a time was too much I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontoontodd Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 If you cut some of the ribs loose from the underside, I think Scott is right. You can probably just take a torch to one side and let it cool. If you think it's already junk, just play with it. Otherwise maybe you could clamp it rigid on the car in the shape you want and weld it that way, but it's liable to spring when you unclamp it. If you wind up at a wash in the weight savings vs reinforcement, I'd say that's pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 the way guys do this from the start you make you seams on the most bent of curved shape, that's hard on a hood, then you only weld a short distance say 1/2" then you move to a different spot, also you hammer and dolly the weld as you go along, all this done right gets good results, its quite a art and will take many hours days years to master Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 the wheelers I run at walker a few dents a warped panel and a few scratches add to its caricature with this project if it was me id get the major parts together get that thing rolling then running then sweat all the little details like finish body work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontoontodd Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 the wheelers I run at walker a few dents a warped panel and a few scratches add to its caricature with this project if it was me id get the major parts together get that thing rolling then running then sweat all the little details like finish body work THIS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 (edited) Dents, dings, and smashed panels are one thing but I will not have the brat leave the garage looking like I got stoned and drunk and did some hacktacstic body work late one night, because who knows who might see it,especially after I get my welding certificate and begin to look for a job.It doesn't have to be perfect but I would at least like the brat to be 20/20 before I hit the trails(looks good at 20 ft away at 20 mph). In other words I would like it to look like I atleast gave half a spoob about it when I built it. Edited October 30, 2016 by Uberoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 So Ive been slowly cleaning my garage,and in a round a bout way cleaning the garage involves fixing the pin holes in the fenders and un warping the hood. Round about because the corner and marker lights were inside the brat,while the fenders were just kinda strewn about the place.So by fixing my mistakes, I was able to paint the fenders,install the lights,and bolt the fenders to the car,thus taking up *Less* space... The fenders were straight forward enough I welded them from the back side using the string o tacks method to keep the heat down.Then I ground down the welds from the shiny side of the fenders using a flapdisk. Then I painted the fenders,the only thing I had on hand was some OLD flat brown paint so I used that,I had to stop a couple times to clear out the the tip by spraying the gun upside down.I think the fenders turned out fairly well. The hood took abit more work.I cut out the weld where it caused all the warping.Then I bent the hood the other way and tacked the supports first.Then I tacked the top skin in a few places.I welded the the supports first,then welded as much of the seam from the underside of the hood as possible.Then welded the hood from the top in the areas that I couldn't weld it from underneath.Then ground down the welds and painted the new weld seams just to keep them from rusting.Eventually the whole thing will get painted, after all the fab work is done and a figure out what color it should be. heres the hood.You can still see the weld seams in the hood and fenders but it doesn't look like a tree fell on it. I also did some welding underneath but that was just finishing tieing in the tube frame into the floor panels so nothing that changed the appearance of anything so no pictars. I also bolted the seat adapter to the rails so my recaro seat can now be bolted into the car. If I work on the interior a bit more I will be able to mount the seats,the steering column, and the dash inside the car and that will help with cleaning up the garage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontoontodd Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Looks like good progress "cleaning". Definitely better than before, hard to tell on the hood exactly with the different paint colors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 So I was thinking an interesting idea to implement into the brat would be rear steer.In my head it sounds great, rear wheels are locked straight ahead, hit a lever and the rear wheels turn opposite the front wheels with the steering wheel.Problem is I have no idea how to set up the hydraulics to do that.Still right now its just an interesting idea and with a wheelbase of 100" I'm not even sure it would be needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Rear stear is just something else to go wrong even the rock crawlers are stearing away from it better off with cutting breaks if your not locked and using front dig and besides that how sharp do you want to turn anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Rear stear is just something else to go wrong even the rock crawlers are stearing away from it better off with cutting breaks if your not locked and using front dig and besides that how sharp do you want to turn anyway When your in tight trees there is no such thing as too tight of turning radius.Rear steer also helps in deep snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Just use one of the trees as a pivit point lol ohh But then you need body armor tube fenders and sliders they dont play well with light weight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontoontodd Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 So I was thinking an interesting idea to implement into the brat would be rear steer.In my head it sounds great, rear wheels are locked straight ahead, hit a lever and the rear wheels turn opposite the front wheels with the steering wheel.Problem is I have no idea how to set up the hydraulics to do that.Still right now its just an interesting idea and with a wheelbase of 100" I'm not even sure it would be needed. I'd think there would be a way to tap into the stock power steering rack to operate some kind of valve to the rear. A simpler way would be to wire it into your turn signal stalk, switch it right and it opens a 12V DC hydraulic valve to steer the rear to the left. I'm not sure how you'd easily re center it when you're done. You'd probably want some kind of paint mark on something so you know it's straight. Maybe you'd be able to tell just by driving it down the road. I'm trying to think of the times when we've been on super narrow trails that are probably mainly traveled by ATVs. I'm not sure rear steer would have helped us navigate many of those. You guys seem to have more technical trails with big rocks and trees to avoid though, I could see it coming in handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Been 3 years on this , just get it on the trail then think about rear steer or other big mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted March 4, 2017 Author Share Posted March 4, 2017 (edited) So I was cleaning my garage and after looking at the rear EJ struts and the front EA81 struts I think I came up with an idea on how to mate the EJ rear struts to the EA81 knuckle.I cut off the bottom of the EA81 strut just after the bracket that bolts the strut to the knuckle.Then after cleaning out all the oil that was left and also cleaning the bottom of the EJ rear strut I rotated the EJ strut so when it was mounted up the spring perch went AWAY from the tire so I shouldn't have any clearance problems.Then I positioned the EA81 strut bottom on the Ej rear strut and eye balled it until it was straight.Tacked it on,liked what I saw and then I burned it in good and solid with the strut upside down so all the oil was at the top of the strut.Hopefully it will work.Last time I tried making a long travel strut I couldn't burn it in good and solid and it failed in short order but this time its solid.However no pics,let me mock up the front crossmember back into the car,and then mock the strut in place to see if it works before I post pictures.Completed strut looks to be 7" longer than stock which oddly enough is how much I dropped the original strut top mounts. Edited March 4, 2017 by Uberoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 So a friend came by and we set about getting the front suspension mocked up into place.Took us about 3 hours to get everything square and set exactly where I wanted it.Tacked up the strut towers back into place.I also cut off the front bumper so I can move it back 6" so it lines up with the new sheetmetal again. now the plan is to get the front bumper where it needs to be, and brace the crossmember so it can't move,then move the strut towers up 7" so the new longer struts can fit.Tack up the front diff and assemble the front suspension on one side without a spring and see how the suspension works with an axle installed. I feel like I I went one step forward and two steps back even if getting the front suspension crossmember sitting where it needs to is a big step. time for food,and maybe a lot of grinding later on,then find my spring compressors and see if EA81 top hats will fit on the EJ rear struts.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 So another friend came by and we we talking about how best to proceed and damnit but my suspension mockup is not square.I dunno the relationship between the strut towers and the suspension crossmember must have shifted at some point but its skewed diagonally about 1/2". So new plan is to build something that holds the front diff,suspension,steering,and engine just like the factory crossmember but with the correct long travel geometry.Seeing my geometry is all sorts of screwed up I need a baseline.I need to know the stock caster angle for EA81 4wd vehicles,and I also need to know the distance from level ground to the center of the stub shafts that come out of the transmission for a stock height vehicle.Assuming your tires are the same size and your on a level pad of concrete measure one side than the other and average the two numbers. My plan is to set the front diff at the correct height then build the suspension around the axles and the long travel struts I made.With a known location for the diff and the upper and lower ends of the strut it should just be a matter of connecting the dots and building new lower A arms.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 (edited) So I was at an offroad event this past weekend.It had rock crawling,mud,hill climbs,etc,I ended up taking my geo tracker to go play in the rocks.Its got a 2" spacer lift,a spooled rear diff,235/75/15 mud tires,and a STOUT front skidplate to protect the aluminum front diff.Just like last year it did pretty good,all weekend in the rocks with no breakages other than body damage.Last year just the rockers and rear bumper cover got mangled,this year the rockers,both side mirrors,RH taillight,rear bumper,front bumper cover,and passenger door got trail rash.The little tracker went everywhere,rocks the size of bowling balls where no match for it,but rocks the size of beach balls started to cause problems for it.The thing is though my tracker is supposed to be my offroad scouting vehicle, just something to check out an area and see if its worth hauling the subaru to.So with that in mind a friend planted the idea of solid axles under the brat, because while 31+ tires on IFS is cool,it still won't go over beach ball+ sized rocks, so he was saying get some toyota axles,4 link front and rear,and some 35" tires, then some 5.29's and lockers.For two reasons, capability and ease of setup.While I love the IFS, I'm having a hard time picturing it surviving with tires bigger than 33" and 12"+ of suspension travel.So what are your thoughts on all of this?Will toyota axles hold up to an EJ22+sammy T case+5.29's+lockers+35" tires or would I be better off going to something with a bit more beef to it like a dana 44 or even dana60? Looking for an axle setup that I can treat like a Las Vegas hooker rather than baby it. Edited May 16, 2017 by Uberoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 So I went to the winter wonderland gambler 500 and got in a lot of trouble.Long story short my gambler is stuck on the side of a mountain and it will stay there until someone removes it with a piece of tracked equipment.I'm out $1200 for a tow bill that the only thing happened was they told me the truck would be impossible to get out,and in exchange for paying for this my mom told me my projects have to go out of the garage.So the brat is for sale to anyone who will continue my work on it.It will be on a trailer soon to go to its new home with one of you or the scrap yard by next week.It goes with a bunch of parts for it, couple extra doors, an ej22+ wiring harness,dr 5 speed transmission,dana 30 HP front axle.I dont have a title to the shell, but I do have the title to another 78 brat and its complete dash comes with the car.Not sure if its the same where you live but around here they just check the dash vin. It has a ea81 rear suspension under it set up for 7" of lift,and currently no front suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted November 14, 2017 Share Posted November 14, 2017 Damb you have the worst luck maybe you should move to scale rigs lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 If it wasn't for bad luck Id have no luck at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferp420 Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Im dieing to know the whole story behind this i realy thought you were gona finish this every time you posted it made me feel better about my own slow a$$ build you are alot further along than i am it realy sucks you wont be able to finnish it hopefully the next owner will make it real again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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