Building my own EA82 brat

[Fish-N-Fool]

So here is a photo shop type drawing of what I plan to build.

I will start with a good running 1.8 L.  EFI motor in a Loyale 4 door SW  body

and add to it with a 5 speed tranny with the Hi low transfer case.

 I plan to do a homemade 3" lift. 3" on the springs and 2" on the
engine,  tranny, and rearend mounts and the  custom truck conversion I will do
myself.. I will weld the rear hatch directly to the cut off roof and weld in a triangle

plate to fill the hole. I will also weld the rear doors shut and fill in all in to look like it

came from the factory that way. I think I may add an old pickup bed floor to it so It

looks nice and clean inside the bed, as well as make it water proof. Then from the

wrecking yard I will cut a second hatch down to make a functional tailgate. I plan

to do a complete bedliner paint job on this so I can beat the brush with worring

about scratching it. I will be doing a 6 lug wheel conversion as well, with 235/70/R15

tires on chrome spoke 15 X 7 wheels. I will be cutting out the wheel wells and flaring them

to make enough clearance for the oversize tires. I want to do a rear disk conversion also
if I can find a GL10 donor car This will be more of a off road work truck then fancy. 

To cut wood with, look for huckelberrys and just play 4X4. I plan to use this to tow

a small bass boat so I can fish remote lakes that are to far away to fish otherwise

and the Hi-low tranny is a must top pull the boat in andout of the water.

 

Anybody else out there ever done this?

 

So What you guy think,  COOOOL or no cool?

 

Edited December 26, 2014 by Fish-N-Fool

[Crazyeights]

I am sure with enough time and money it could be done. It will never be a Brat though.  It would be much easier to just buy a 4WD pickup

 

Good luck and please post pictures when and if you get started.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Crazyeights

[subarubrat]

I think it would be an interesting "what if" Subaru built an EA82 Brat, I say go for it. But I would rethink the lift a bit, I would suggest an off the shelf 4in lift and less spring lift. I got 2in lift with double shocks and proper geometry but had to rebuild it as a coilover to get the job done, and your at the limit of the axles around 2in (use OEM subaru). You will get the same lift but with allot less trouble.

 

[skishop69]

The roof adds rigidity and structural support to the unibody. You can't just cut a roof off a unibody car and run it around, especially if you're going to wheel it. You will have to reinforce the body and frame in other places along the entire length to compensate.

[colemanapp]

I like the idea and look of that project. My only suggestion would be the room for the driver. When I'm in my wagon, pretty sure my head and part of shoulders is behind the pillar putting it close to being in the bed of the truck. Just a little more room there and your good. Looks really cool though.

[Gloyale]

It's been done by a board member here. Search.

 

SubaGuru I believe.

 

It was pretty cool but he made his from a 3 door hatch so there was no Tailgate.

[Fish-N-Fool]

The roof adds rigidity and structural support to the unibody. You can't just cut a roof off a unibody car and run it around, especially if you're going to wheel it. You will have to reinforce the body and frame in other places along the entire length to compensate.

By welding in the hatch and welding the doors up it will make up any structural problems it would have, I may also add a rollover bar at some point.  I also plan to weld sheet metal on the top of each bed side to cover the cut marks from the roof pillars but it will add water proofing and extra strength.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Fish-N-Fool

[Fish-N-Fool]

I like the idea and look of that project. My only suggestion would be the room for the driver. When I'm in my wagon, pretty sure my head and part of shoulders is behind the pillar putting it close to being in the bed of the truck. Just a little more room there and your good. Looks really cool though.

I'm tall too 6'3" and I have to have the seat all the way back and reclined some to fit. That's why I am using the rear hatch for more seat and head room as the glass bumps out some and the angle its at. I checked it out with me in the stock wagon and I  think I will have some room to share with this setup, but i can just move the hatch back a few inches if i need more room.

 

 

 

See how easy that was

Edited December 27, 2014 by Fish-N-Fool

[ferp420]

i think the angle of the back should be steeper and maybe some glass to break up the huge space left over i think it would need custom doors and glass to look right but nomater what im sure it would be a fun project and will be cool no mater what because u built it your self go for it if you dont like it f¿@k it tube it up and wheel it to death

[Crazyeights]

How about using doors off of an EA82 3 door. They should be a bit wider.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Crazyeights

[skishop69]

By welding in the hatch and welding the doors up it will make up any structural problems it would have, I may also add a rollover bar at some point.  I also plan to weld sheet metal on the top of each bed side to cover the cut marks from the roof pillars but it will add water proofing and extra strength.

 

Silly me, I would have thought you'd like to be able to get in and out of the front doors. lol That's what I was referring to. Loss of structural integrity at the B pillars. Simply welding the hatch in is not going to reinforce the structure enough with a longer wheel base like this. You'll need some box tubing welded inside the roof, connected down through the B pillar and terminating in the bed wall so that the structural load is properly distributed along the same force vector. I'm not saying go gonzo with steel tubing at all. Have you ever cut up a Brat? Sadly, I have. The B pillar has some box reinforcing in some areas while others are just double walled. You'll have plenty of material from the roof left to scab in reinforcement. I love the idea and the rendering. I just want to point out areas that need special attention so that things don't go horribly wrong if there's ever an incident.

[Fish-N-Fool]

How about using doors off of an EA82 3 door. They should be a bit wider.

The only way that would work is to use the 3 door car to start with otherwise it's would be far to much work to be worthwhile. Plus i can get in and out of the wagon now with 4 doors so welding the back ones shut will have no effect on that.

[Crazyeights]

Gotcha, well it will be really cool if you get it done. At least one other member here cut the top off of the rear of an EA wagon and made a pretty cool rig out of it too.

[rrgrr]

Not a brat guy, but I like this.

My convertible had square rails welded to the subframe underneath the length between the front and rear wheels to make up rigidity. Very solid car with the top cut off, no pillars- seems like that would work well for this.

[turbosubarubrat]

If it's lifted first and the whole lift is tied together to make a frame it should be fine. A good idea would be to have a roll cage in the cab just in case of a roll over crash.

[turbosubarubrat]

[Crazyeights]

Now that ^^^ is pretty sharp!

[skishop69]

Not a brat guy, but I like this.

My convertible had square rails welded to the subframe underneath the length between the front and rear wheels to make up rigidity. Very solid car with the top cut off, no pillars- seems like that would work well for this.

 

Yep, that's the easier way to go. We did a few convertible conversions back in the 80's and didn't think about the unibody flex on the first one. Eventually, it sagged enough that if you did manage to get the doors open, you couldn't close them. DOH!

 

Turbosubarubrat.... Is that yours? That is awesome looking!

[turbosubarubrat]

It's not mine just found them on google images, but i probably will eventually make a hatch brat out of my hatch. The first pic is one of Bills rigs he had and the other i don't know.

Edited December 28, 2014 by turbosubarubrat