New to the message board. Looking for information on my brat, and part interchangeably.

[Chance]

Looking to find out what parts car i need for rear suspension and ej 22 swap into my 1981 brat. I know the later subarus are a little wider. But there's not much room for lift or maint. Parts for the first gen rear. What parts car should I be looking for  to get the parts i need? 85-98 impreza? 86-98 legacy? Baja? Please help. Im an experienced fabrcator and car builder with a great shop, money and time. Im just new to subarus. 

[idosubaru]

17 hours ago, Chance said:

Looking to find out what parts car i need for rear suspension and ej 22 swap into my 1981 brat. I know the later subarus are a little wider. But there's not much room for lift or maint. Parts for the first gen rear. What parts car should I be looking for  to get the parts i need? 85-98 impreza? 86-98 legacy? Baja? Please help. Im an experienced fabrcator and car builder with a great shop, money and time. Im just new to subarus. 

None of that has any compatibility. All of it requires significant customization and fab work. so it doesn't matter. take your pick.  90's impreza/legacy/forester front and rear are all interchangeable so it's the same geometry with very little differences.  baja rear is the same as 00-04 outback and isn't going to be any more advantageous. 

Gloyale (maybe under a new username, i think his account got screwed up and he changed) was doing an EJ (legacy/impreza) retrofit to an old gen 80's Subaru.....he posted pictures of his progress, find his thread, maybe that will help. 

 

[idosubaru]

I can't find his new gen to old gen conversion thread - maybe someone else can find it?  

Nakedbuell is another user here with an EJ suspension under his brat currently, one thread has pictures of it, but I'm not sure there's much information about it. 

 

[Chance]

Thank you,  im looking more now and getting educated on these subarus.  I may just start looking into the EA82 stuff from the 80s. Not sure, just doing research. I have a truck project to complete before we get into the brat.

[idosubaru]

SJR has lift kits for these too, so maybe he's got some stuff that would helpful.  He's who I buy my parts from for Subaru lifts:

https://www.sjrlift.com/

[el_freddo]

Are we talking the ‘70s shaped brat or the 80’s version? 

If it’s the earlier one (f88?), you will have difficulty fitting an EJ in there, but it can be done as I’ve seen one on the net here in Oz that was done. Can’t remember where I saw it. I do remember it had discs all round and I think a 5 stud conversion. 

The EJ suspension will have about half of your tyre hanging outside the front and rear guards from what I understand of the track width difference.

Cheers 

Bennie