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Documented: The 1970 FF-1 Project car...


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Even the top of the line EA81 RX only made 110 horsepower with dual carbs, reversed valve heads, more aggressive cam, and free flowing exhaust. Your not going to be able to squeeze 100 horses out of that and you would be lucky to squeeze it out of an EA71 or EA81. Before trying to mod it for more power just try it out and see how it feels. My suby is not exactly stock (free flowing exhaust and weber carb) and it MOVES..well for what it is. Your car is lighter than mine by far. 65 horses or how ever many that puts out will feel like my 75 or so horses. Im sure once you get it going well that u will decide its strong enough as is.

 

If it isnt strong enough..did they make a dual carb intake for that motor? If so..that would be sick to toss on and tune.

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Like Paul said; Don't make a joke out of it. Keep it real!

I really don't understand what you guys mean by that...

 

I'm 100% serious about cars, and I do value everyones input and opinions on this.

 

However, if you are expecting a 100% return-to-original-condition restoration, you might be in the wrong place...

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BTW, what do you guys think about this paint scheme for the rear?

 

testinggraphics2b.jpg

 

Note the black in the "indented" part of the rear of the car... Seems like theres too much space back there between the lights, and i've seen a couple other model FF-1's with black accent pieces between the rear lights that seemed to help.

 

Heres the original for reference:

 

05.jpg

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My 1300g sports i had, i retro fitted a 1400 GSR motor and used to sit on 80mph all day long and average close to 40mpg at that speed and was good for over 100mph. The only reason i swaped motor was the original was low on oil pressure, but the 1300 was nearly as good. I had a modified 1600 with early 1400 heads and and cam with dual carbs in a 73 coupe body and i stopped excelerating at 118mph. What more do you need in HP.

Thierry

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I really don't understand what you guys mean by that...

 

I'm 100% serious about cars, and I do value everyones input and opinions on this.

 

However, if you are expecting a 100% return-to-original-condition restoration, you might be in the wrong place...

 

I think what they mean is dont mod the hell out of it and modernize it to make it something its not. It will lose what is special about it if you do that. Period mods are awesome though like the pictures of the car that are shown above. Take my EA81 for instance. I have thought about dropping a more modern engine in it but decided against it. It would lose that special something about it that makes an EA81 suby what it is. I dont think they are saying dont mod it. I think they are just saying dont try to make it something that it was never meant to be. Is that about right guys?

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My 1300g sports i had, i retro fitted a 1400 GSR motor and used to sit on 80mph all day long and average close to 40mpg at that speed and was good for over 100mph. The only reason i swaped motor was the original was low on oil pressure, but the 1300 was nearly as good. I had a modified 1600 with early 1400 heads and and cam with dual carbs in a 73 coupe body and i stopped excelerating at 118mph. What more do you need in HP.

Thierry

Thats all I really want/need out of it... I'm just not sure how well it will do with the 1100 until I'm at the point when I can get it out and drive it and see how it does.

I think what they mean is dont mod the hell out of it and modernize it to make it something its not. It will lose what is special about it if you do that. Period mods are awesome though like the pictures of the car that are shown above. Take my EA81 for instance. I have thought about dropping a more modern engine in it but decided against it. It would lose that special something about it that makes an EA81 suby what it is. I dont think they are saying dont mod it. I think they are just saying dont try to make it something that it was never meant to be. Is that about right guys?

I don't want to do any EJ or even EA81 swaps at this point or anytime in the future... In fact, I'd like to keep it as one of the dual port head EA engines no matter what I do.

 

Theres really no other ways to "modernize" the car... I would like to find a way to upgrade the brakes somehow, and for sure get better struts on there, but other than that theres not much that can be "modernized" on this car without major MAJOR redesigning that I can't really do nor do I want to.

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I really don't understand what you guys mean by that...

 

I'm 100% serious about cars, and I do value everyones input and opinions on this.

 

However, if you are expecting a 100% return-to-original-condition restoration, you might be in the wrong place...

 

I am new to the board, but firmly in the camp that you have already done a great service by rescuing this beaut from being scrap metal. I dig the paint scheme by the way. Keep up the good work!

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Don't worry the 1100 goes very good, had one of those to in the sport as well as standard sedan, the sedan would sit on over 70 easily and my dad's car would fit the family of 5 and still tow the caravan to the beach over a 1 hr drive then, i am going to see if i can post that picture here, i have on file, if it doesnt appear that means i don't know how to post.

Thierry

post-15145-136027625327_thumb.jpg

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Don't worry the 1100 goes very good, had one of those to in the sport as well as standard sedan, the sedan would sit on over 70 easily and my dad's car would fit the family of 5 and still tow the caravan to the beach over a 1 hr drive then, i am going to see if i can post that picture here, i have on file, if it doesnt appear that means i don't know how to post.

Thierry

 

Dear god that poor little engine...hauling that big camper.

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IMHO, there was no better setup for suspension and brakes on old Subarus (all the way through the stage2 leones) than the FF-1. The four wheel independent torsion suspension combined with the in-board front brakes and lightweight steel wheels made for one of the lowest unsprung to sprung weight ratios for a production car.

 

You have to drive an FF-1 to feel and understand how well they really handle and how much fun they are to maneuver. Even assuming it was possible to do it, reconfiguring the brakes or suspension (toward disks and struts for example) would be step backwards in fun and handling performance. The car is so light that even adding 5 pounds to each wheel would be noticeable.

 

At least try the stock setup first (for a comparison to anything else), and see how much fun it is.

 

-Cheers

 

P.S. I drove an FF-1 for 8 years (from '76 till '82) and did all my own work on it. Let me know if I can help with anything. I still remember the car quite well. I really wish I still had it:

 

470MoonUnit1.jpg

 

470MoonUnit2.jpg

 

470MoonUnit3.jpg

Theres really no other ways to "modernize" the car... I would like to find a way to upgrade the brakes somehow, and for sure get better struts on there, but other than that theres not much that can be "modernized" on this car without major MAJOR redesigning that I can't really do nor do I want to.
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At least try the stock setup first (for a comparison to anything else), and see how much fun it is.

The stock struts are shot. I just need replacement shots, preferably upgraded shocks too if possible.

 

As for the brakes, the 1300G did have the inboard disc brakes in the front, so finding those would be ideal and not really change the car at all other than improve the braking.

 

I'm hoping to drive it a little more this weekend, but don't expect much...

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Day 8:

 

I didnt have much time today due to dealing with smogging my daily driver Impreza, but I did get a couple things done...

 

1) Removed the front carpet and side sill pieces

2) Removed the "cardboard" shifter console

3) Removed the rear seat interior side boards (popped right out)

4) Removed the erroded door and window weather stripping

5) Removed what was left of the vinly headliner and a couple other roof pieces that were screwed in

6) Vacumed a heck of a lot of crap out from all those areas...

7) Removed the front blinkers that were on the hood

8) Ran the car for awhile, then pulled it up front for pictures in good light

9) Removed the front grill last and i'm starting to clean that up to give everyone a good idea of what kind of restoration I plan on doing for some of the car...

 

So anyhow, heres the pics from today, probably the best ones yet:

 

ff1day8passanger1.jpg

ff1day8driver1.jpg

ff1day8driver2.jpg

ff1day8passanger2.jpg

ff18day8ariel1.jpg

ff1day8enginebay.jpg

ff1day8inside1.jpg

ff1day8inside2.jpg

ff1day8inside3.jpg

 

Note: The rear of that shifter linkage is not connected to anything! :eek:

 

 

Oh, and I finally got a good idea of how small this car is after pulling it out onto the street... VERY small! Which rocks! :D

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