skishop69 Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 That front suspension looks suspiciously like a VW IRS assembly. Damn good idea! Custom axles I assume? Did you eventually do the disc upgrade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 That front suspension looks suspiciously like a VW IRS assembly. Damn good idea! Custom axles I assume? Did you eventually do the disc upgrade? Which rig? My XT did require custom axles. Isuzu trooper outer joint mated to EA81 axle and inner cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagonist Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 When you go with the T-case this allows you to move the engine and trans back up to where they would be in relation to the body as in when it is stock. That is why most recommend a 6 inch plus lift. This allows for plenty of room under the transmission to mount the diff. On mine I cut the center out of a mustache bar, then removed the bushing ring from the front mount. I welded the mustache part to the front cross member and the front mount to the transmission cross member. This put the axles in a flat plane when the truck was sitting neutral on flat ground. You can see the center of the mustache bar here and barely two of the four bolts for the, now rear, mounts. One thing that I can say about this method, that I would change if I did it again is that this produced a lot of harmonics with the solid mounts. Especially after the front diff was welded. -Adam- I'm curious why you wouldn't use the crossmember back up where it's supposed to be (to hold the engine up on its original rubber mounts, then use a 2nd one spaced down below to hold the suspension & diff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comatosellama Posted September 15, 2014 Author Share Posted September 15, 2014 I'm curious why you wouldn't use the crossmember back up where it's supposed to be (to hold the engine up on its original rubber mounts, then use a 2nd one spaced down below to hold the suspension & diff? Because the steering rack is in that lower crossmemeber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Turbosubarubrat's rig.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbosubarubrat Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Turbosubarubrat's rig.... Not mine the first one i posted is Adam N.D.J Brat and the second one im not sure who's it is i know its a brumby so its from Australia maybe some one knows? Although i do plan on eventually putting a frame on my hatchback. I will either build one out of tubing or just use a truck frame since i want a 6 inch lift or bigger on it. Maybe even a hatch brat will come to life with t-tops if i fill ambitious. I also have a 84 brat that i've been thinking about turning into a wheeler since it needs a front clip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam N.D.J. Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Actually the dual cross member idea has been brought up before. For me it was a matter of I usually have quite a bit of steel stock around, and at the time I had a severe deficiency of spare cross members. Really all you would need to do is remove the steering rack, and maybe cut in some reliefs to allow the lift block to sit inside the cup that the frame end of the member has. One big thing to consider between just lifting and doing a frame transplant is the type of wheeling you are going to be doing. If you are going to be running fairly big tires (30+), and upping the power and torque, you have to consider that these unibodies were built with a 75 hp engine in mind. Once you start stepping above 150 hp/tq then things start to get compromised. In my case the power that the 2.7 through the t-case into the 4.11s with a 30 inch tire caused the frame to twist and eventually ripped the bolts and blocks out of the unibody. (that is why I am now going to frame, and there is no more stock framework from about the firewall forward.) In hind sight, if I was to do it again, I would reinforce all the mounting points. Most likely I would weld in some like 3/16 plate steel, and add in couple more mounting points to spread the load more. LL -Adam- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Yeah, the yellow framed pic is using a VW, rear IRS swingarm assembly. Didn't clink the link the first time. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagonist Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Because the steering rack is in that lower crossmemeber Yeah, but considering that the upper crossmember would now "only" need to hold the engine, and nothing else, you could cut holes & reinforce it without too much dramas. Already got the welder out to do the blocks, etc But, like all old cars, bits are getting hard to find... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 a Samurai frame fits inside the soobie (Hatch) frame rails and would help remove the "put a uni-body on top of a full frame" redneck look. should work the same for a Brat, but the rear axle mount points would need to be moved back and maybe frame extended. I would never go back to Independent suspension for a wheeler for my area, but your build should take into consideration what kind of wheeling you will do most, and what kind of reliability you want. Is your primary focus to have a great wheeling rig, or to have a reliable soob wheeler that you can get by with. and how deep is your wallet, and how available are the parts that you will keep breaking if you stick with IFS... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 You could also build something like this. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2658126/1984-subaru-brat/ This is all Subaru suspension. There is no VW stuff anywhere on this. Adams front ifs is Nissan 720. Mine, the XT, is '86 trooper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Yeah, after looking closer, I can see that he used the rear torsion bar set up in the front. Still a d*mn good idea! I'm not any closer to my off road build. I have everything except the EZ30 I want to use for it, but it seems like one thing or another comes up that I have to deal with that steals time from this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Yeah, after looking closer, I can see that he used the rear torsion bar set up in the front. Still a d*mn good idea! I'm not any closer to my off road build. I have everything except the EZ30 I want to use for it, but it seems like one thing or another comes up that I have to deal with that steals time from this. You're looking at it backwards. The rear is the rear. Closest in the pic. There is no engine in the front. This frame looks setup for regular lift, no t-case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Good lord don't I look like an idiot. I kept thinking the little frame extension was the skid pan/engine mount. Ooops.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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