what can i do with this damned suspension!!!!

[Numbchux]

who gives a damn momentum is key:Flame:

 

on the rocks up here....momentum will get most of the car over the obstacle.....but you'll probably leave your wheels and much of the suspension before it

[s'ko]

I'm going to go out on a limb here.....and guess your subaru still has the front sway bar, and is resting on the bump stop in the rear.

 

that's pretty crappy travel. hardly comparable.

 

 

the shocks won't lift the car.....

 

chevelle shocks are very soft

 

the rancho/rough country ones I listed are designed for offroad use, and are valved as such.

 

and since you're still using your stock torsion bar, it won't effect it that much, because your "spring" rate doesn't change, just the damping

 

I was unemployed when I was doing the rear part of the project. I have yet to really take it off roading. It does eat up the bumps and dips in my area nicely.

 

Once it get it back together I will take it for a romp and see how it works out.

 

Bw

[subynut]

on the rocks up here....momentum will get most of the car over the obstacle.....but you'll probably leave your wheels and much of the suspension before it

 

Exactly! Momentum helps in sand and mud, but rocks breaks things.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here.....and guess your subaru still has the front sway bar, and is resting on the bump stop in the rear.

 

But, I thought the bump stops are to help smooth out harsh landings? All of the big off roaders leave them in; last time I looked, that is.

I suppose I could pull the sway bar loose again, but the cars' sloppy at highway speeds as it is, now.:-\

[Numbchux]

But, I thought the bump stops are to help smooth out harsh landings? All of the big off roaders leave them in; last time I looked, that is.

I suppose I could pull the sway bar loose again, but the cars' sloppy at highway speeds as it is, now.:-\

 

bump stops keep you from bottoming out your shocks, which is extremely hard on them.

 

do what you like, but your comparison is hardly relevant. your car is still setup for street use. while your SUV is engineered (even if it is a Kia) for offroad use much more than the subaru.

 

but remove your bump stops (or install a lift....effectively same result) and sway bar, and you'd get another 4-5" of total flex....easy.

 

do this with your sway bar and bump stops (which....as far as travel goes, is the only difference):

[subynut]

hummm.....I'll try that

[crazy D]

ok so lets talk about what can i do so that the car has an overall nice ride.......is 5 lug the only option? can you use outback struts and springs on an 84 GL?(with 5 lug)........

[75subie]

uhh 5 lug is not going to improve your ride dude.

 

 

you can have stiff susp that comes with good handling, but will shake your guts out or.....

 

you can have marshmellow soft susp that glides but doesn`t handle worth a damn.

 

there are not too many bolt on options for ea81s, but i have heard of people using newer ej stuff with fabrication.

[86BRATMAN]

Using the ej struts is a challenge. You'll never get Legacy front struts up in there withough making about a 3-4 inch lift block. The top of the spring hits the car before it comes close.

 

I tried a pair of impreza struts on the wagon that your bolts came from. They fit, I had to drill new holes for the top hats, and beat the snot out of the hole up there. And they rubbed when I would turn the wheel. Not to mention that the camber was \ / even with the adjuster as far straight I could get it. In order to use ej struts, you'd need to use a coilover setup, and it would be best to modify the ea81 tophats to fit the ej strut. And then use xt6 or modded ea82 lca's to keep the camber livable.

 

The rear, for 5 lug, xt6 is the only reasonably priced option for brakes. And you are pretty much stuck with ea82 style struts. Which will give the car a rake like hell. To lower it all even you can use aftermarket coilovers just like you would do on the front. This will give you a good handling, good stopping experiance over all. Other supporting mods are needed like sway bars and such to maximize the drivin experiance.

 

 

-I don't know jack about offroad. I was made for the twisties.

Shannon

[Rooinater]

nice ride? offroad? hmmm... never riden in a plush riding subaru in the dirt. except on dirt roads. race buggies! now that's plush riding. but your talking 60k to build and 10k to 20k in suspension alone. x2 on what brian said...

 

as for the ea81 stuff. remove and fab longer travel upper shock mounts for the el cheapo rancho 5000's or nicer 9000's or rock some bilstiens that we use on the yotas. with the shocks removed, flex out the rear suspension and measure from the new long travel upper shock mounting hole to the lower mounting hole at full compression and and full droop. take the measurements to your local 4wheeldrive shop. and tell them you need a shock between those dimensions. install and start blowing out them cv's! strongly sugest limiting straps, and talk to turbone about the ej82 doj mod for the cv's.

 

as for the front. don't torque up any of the suspension. leave it soft and remove the sway bar. removing the sway bar only helps with lower speed obstacles. any higher speed stuff with it removed, is going to be a noticable lack of control over having the sway bar. just get used to it and drive it. also weld the rearend. only real option, don't use an lsd in the rear. but if you give it a second tcase, put an lsd in front...

[Uberoo]

since you want to do custom work all around why not try to engineer a twin A arm suspension all the way around.Set it up so it lifts you to your desired height.run porsche 930 CV's and you would have a lot of flex.Then just use shortish coilovers mounted at the same spot on the body.The coilover then bolts to the upper arrm which then controls the hub which is also bolted to the lower A arm.When it comes to flew you just arnt going to get alot with macpherson struts.More or less try to copy the 4wd front suspension on baja trucks.Those have insane travel and still have 4wd independent suspension.

[Rooinater]

 

just realize how expensive this would be. the prefabbed kits that still need a lot of parts, cost upwards of $7k... and they don't make them for a car. so it's from scratch, which i understand you want to do. and especially if you intend to to use the soob at race speeds you'll have to reenforce the unibody with a subframe. i've seen a few unibodies tweak and ripple the roof, under regular wheeling conditions... wheel lift is a fact you will always deal with in an ifs setup. which is why the rock crawlers that were trying to pioneer with using ifs, went back to solid axles. ifs is meant for control at high speeds,

[monstaru]

and they also use cornay joints.which are extremely expensive.........i actually contacted a company about having cornay joints made for the brat.after i got them to reply,(like 6 months or so),they finally told me that they did not make a model for it so they would have to do a run and it was like 15 or 20 thou for a run of like 8 or 10 axles.i was gonna do it ,but i'm not ************in rich.

[s'ko]

 

just realize how expensive this would be. the prefabbed kits that still need a lot of parts, cost upwards of $7k... and they don't make them for a car. so it's from scratch, which i understand you want to do. and especially if you intend to to use the soob at race speeds you'll have to reenforce the unibody with a subframe. i've seen a few unibodies tweak and ripple the roof, under regular wheeling conditions... wheel lift is a fact you will always deal with in an ifs setup. which is why the rock crawlers that were trying to pioneer with using ifs, went back to solid axles. ifs is meant for control at high speeds,

 

This is the type of offroading I eventually want to set my BRAT up for. I don't intend on racing it in a BAJA 1000 or something like that, but I would like to do some dune blasting and desert wash driving.

 

Scott F and I were kicking around the idea of redoing the rear suspension/drive system so that you take the rear diff and move it forward to where the EA82 carrier bearing sits. Then have the axles go to a sprocket at the pivot point of new trailing arms. Sprocket turns a big chain down the length of the trailing arms and powers the rear wheel at the end of each of the arms. So you could get massive movement in the rear w/o having to worry about your axles over-extending b/c they will practically not move at all.

 

The front is a whole different story. You would need to make new arms and then get custom longer axles.

One thing I noticed is that the lift blocks in my engine crossmember would be the perfect place to mount top a arms.

lots to think about and play with.

 

BW

[Sweet82]

That's why you weld the rear diff. That way it doesn't matter so much if you're lifting a wheel.

Which part of weld it didn't you understand:confused:

 

Weld first, ask questions later...

 

...Remember axles are cheap!...

 

I think you'll be suprised:banana:

[subynut]

That depends on how much trail time you spend and how far the junkyards are that have them {here, it's 90 miles away}. If it's your daily driver/weekend warrior, I think a LSD would be the better compromise. A welded rear puts a tremendous strain on the axles and stub shafts when your on any hard surface: pavement, solid rock, or clay. Now, if you don't mind pulling a rear axle while your on the street, and putting it back in when you hit the trail, then, yes, a welded diff would be best.

I dunno.....that rear driveline is not very stout at all. I currently have my roo in RWD and after about 2 months of hot rodding I got one that now clicks on shifts. Not to mention the front bushing on the rear diff is now totally gone. (I'm working on that one)

[monstaru]

i've read and read......what exactly do you want performance wise out of your car?just a good ride?start by replacing all of the suspension bushings.then struts and shocks,tophats,and accessories.then monitor your tire pressure .

[crazy D]

i've read and read......what exactly do you want performance wise out of your car?just a good ride?start by replacing all of the suspension bushings.then struts and shocks,tophats,and accessories.then monitor your tire pressure .

 

well first of all lets replace "wagon" with "brat".

 

i want something thats gonna be a good ride around town and up to the slopes(snow roads) and still be able to make it to my house (17 miles of dirt road) i was reading uberoo's thread on tempo springs. and i think that would be good for the highway. and then i could probably just do somenice shocks in th rear(like what renisanceman(mike) did ).

 

the subaru kid

-Dalton

[subynut]

There ya go.