Any Subaru Gearheads around here?

[punkskalar]

A good friend of mine owned this car, and built it himself. Lots of cool touches, and he parked it in hopes to get it ready for paint. Sadly, he passed away way too young (38), and the car was unfinished.

It is now in the hands of a good friend of mine, and it may works it's way into my hands. I was hoping maybe somebody had seen a build thread, some pics, maybe a username for the original builder on a suby forum, etc...

Its a 79, with an 86 Turbo Engine and Megasquirt. He built the flares himself, and it has some healthy suspension mods.









This thing is soo extensively modded, It would be cool to know a bit more about it. I know it has the blue color in the door jambs and under the hood/firewall, but the inside of the bed if brown.

If it ends up in my hands, I'd like to build it as the original owner would have intended, and if there is any online history to it, it would definitely help.

[JParuBob]

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org

[NYCEGUY01]

It needs to be blue with gold wheels....

[TheRedHorseman]

Originally Posted by NYCEGUY01

It needs to be blue with gold wheels....

Agreed, subaru blue with gold wheels.

[jeepman775]

Back in. Highschool I had an 88' gl liftback I swapped a turbo'd motor into. I got an 8 dollar boost controller, a boost gauge, an intercooler, a window washer motor and reservoir out of a ford I believe, and a cold start injector out of a vw rabbit. Window washer and cold start injector were wired to a pressure switch at ten or so pounds. Window washer on the intercooler. Stock turbo would run 14 pounds or so and was way out of effiency I am sure. Intercooler was from a junkyard Volvo.
Heavy car lift back. But was fun as shit. Quick for what it was.

Iirc 86 was the first year of hydraulic valves. And the first year of a timing belt instead of chain. Don't rightly recall.

I typed the shit out of this while dinner was due to start burning. Will edit in a bit.

I will add real quick it was 2wd/4wd/4hi/4low gear box. Fun as shit little car.
Also looks like a wrx intercooler on it. And Pressure bypass also.
I also had a machine shop buddy turn the inside of the throttle body and make a new butterfly for it. Made a big difference.

[1st Recline Bn]

Originally Posted by TheRedHorseman:14072900

Agreed, subaru blue with gold wheels.

Or you could try Rally Blue. Juss sayn

[yotasmob]

That thing is sweet!

[Mo]

agreed. I would not do a thing to it.



Subaru Brumby - YouTube

[Juztyn00]

Looks pretty well built, just needs cleaned and finished. Sweet looking little cartruck. ......


TWIN PHASED XS ENGINES!!!!

[RanchTruck]

The engine that's in it is known for being a tempermental POS. As a turbocharged 1.8l it made 110hp. The timing belts needed to be done every 60k or the drivers side one would snap. They loved to overheat and blow headgaskets or crack heads.

Now... about the one that in the brat. It has an xt MPFI non-turbo manfold, which flows better than the turbo one. It has a WRX intercooler and turbo. Running Megasquirt with EDIS. Has Delta cams in it. It's about as well set up as an EA82t can be. It's probably capable of 170hp.

The suspension is from an xt6.

EDIT: Found Him.
USMB username "Garner" http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/member.php?u=1808
Pic of the Brat 6/11/08

[JParuBob]

Are you a USMB member or did you go looking??

Sent via 2 cans with string.

[jeepman775]

I beat the hell out of mine. It outlived me, buddy totaled it. Also the intake horn is tiny. I wouldn't push more than 150 or less. IMO like 140. The old suby motors like to leave town. Although always wanted to try a sohc block on a mpfi turbo with stock boost. Scratch the intake horn comment. I see it's already got an intake.

[itsadog]

looks cool as f**k as is, in dirty grey primer

[RanchTruck]

Originally Posted by JParuBob

Are you a USMB member or did you go looking??

Been a member of the USMB since 04, lurker before then. Had a 4" lifted Loyale wagon in highschool and a couple years after that.

[det107]

It looks like a vehicle from "The Road Warrior" (Mad Max 2)-

[punkskalar]

Originally Posted by RanchTruck

The engine that's in it is known for being a tempermental POS. As a turbocharged 1.8l it made 110hp. The timing belts needed to be done every 60k or the drivers side one would snap. They loved to overheat and blow headgaskets or crack heads.

Now... about the one that in the brat. It has an xt MPFI non-turbo manfold, which flows better than the turbo one. It has a WRX intercooler and turbo. Running Megasquirt with EDIS. Has Delta cams in it. It's about as well set up as an EA82t can be. It's probably capable of 170hp.

The suspension is from an xt6.

EDIT: Found Him.
USMB username "Garner" http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/member.php?u=1808
Pic of the Brat 6/11/08

Wow, thanks man - Garner was his real name, and he was a good friend of mine. For those of you who remember my XS650 build (the first one) he ran the metals department when I got a job there. He taught me how to TIG weld (kinda, he mostly was a "try this and see what happens" teacher, which I loved) Great feller, always talking fabwork, and loved that subaru... It's really cool to see all his posts on that forum, and learn more about his hobbie and the car...

I knew the car was too cool to not have some threads on it...

[JParuBob]

Originally Posted by RanchTruck

Been a member of the USMB since 04, lurker before then. Had a 4" lifted Loyale wagon in highschool and a couple years after that.

Awesome. I was there around 01. Was the same name over there.

[punkskalar]

Reading through all of his old posts is like getting to know my friend all over again

[yozsi]

Ahh, the ej18et... i had a 87 gl10 4x4 with that motor in it. What a pain in the butt trying to keep head gaskets from blowing, not only its the head gaskets, its also the intake manifold gaskets blowing out too. Don't try to make too much power on those. With MS it needs a damn good tune or a wb02 with data logging.

[punkskalar]

Originally Posted by yozsi

Ahh, the ej18et... i had a 87 gl10 4x4 with that motor in it. What a pain in the butt trying to keep head gaskets from blowing, not only its the head gaskets, its also the intake manifold gaskets blowing out too. Don't try to make too much power on those. With MS it needs a damn good tune or a wb02 with data logging.

EA82t is what I keep reading it has. Some folks are hating that engine. Would it be "Ford 6.0 Diesel" terrible, or worse/better? If thats the case, what would be a good swap to do instead?

I know the 2.0 WRX Motor has bottom end bearing issues, and it seems all the 2.5 NA motors blow head gaskets like crazy. So where to go?

[cj5.5]

Originally Posted by NYCEGUY01

It needs to be blue with gold wheels....

Car is too cool for that.

[yozsi]

Originally Posted by punkskalar

EA82t is what I keep reading it has. Some folks are hating that engine. Would it be "Ford 6.0 Diesel" terrible, or worse/better? If thats the case, what would be a good swap to do instead?

I know the 2.0 WRX Motor has bottom end bearing issues, and it seems all the 2.5 NA motors blow head gaskets like crazy. So where to go?

yep sorry i meant EA-82T, brain fart. just keep the motor, dont expect much out of it tho.

[punkskalar]

Originally Posted by yozsi

yep sorry i meant EA-82T, brain fart. just keep the motor, dont expect much out of it tho.

Doing some research on his build, it looks like that motor was pretty well assembled

Even 150 HP would be fun in that light of a chassis...

[jeepman775]

150 in that thing will rip. One problem with these thing is most of the heads have cracks between the intake and exhaust valves. Mine had 'em and it didn't effect much. I always shifted at near redline. I was young. Wrx turbo and the better high boost efficiency will be an awesome setup for a cheap in-closet sports car.

Also it is an easy junkyard motor to get.

That thing is lighter and set up better than anything I had. Makes me want to find a cheap late '80's wagon to fuck around with. Or a brat. Hhhmmmmmmnnn

[RanchTruck]

Originally Posted by punkskalar

EA82t is what I keep reading it has. Some folks are hating that engine. Would it be "Ford 6.0 Diesel" terrible, or worse/better? If thats the case, what would be a good swap to do instead?

I know the 2.0 WRX Motor has bottom end bearing issues, and it seems all the 2.5 NA motors blow head gaskets like crazy. So where to go?

The EA82T is like a turbo charged 6.2 diesel. Sackless but reliable and fairly efficient in non-turbo form, lukewarm performance but a problem waiting to happen with a turbo. EA82t's are worse than a ford 6.0 diesel because you can't make them reliable no matter how much money you pour into them.

The first gen brats are tight between the frame rails, and I think I saw mention of him notching the frame rails to fit the EA82 in. If so, you could fit a 90-94 EJ22 turbo engine in pretty easily. Those are 160hp stock with room to go up a lot more. They're also probably the most solid block subaru ever built, and the only USDM one with oil squirters for the pistons. The heads are the limiting factor, but they're still miles ahead of the EA82's in flow.

All the other factory turbo engines have DOHC, which I think you won't be able to fit in the brat without a lot more frame notching. The 2.0 turbos only spin rod bearings when they have high miles and have had the shit beaten out of them. Or, if the oil pump pickup cracks and it starts sucking air instead of oil, which was an issue for a few years.

The headgaskets are all on the non-turbo 2.5's. 96-99 DOHC blow the gaskets internally, so you get exhaust coming out the radiator, 99-05 SOHC start leaking coolant out of the headgasket and onto the ground, so you can fix that with stop leak, I mean "subaru coolant conditioner" sold in little blue bottles from the dealership.

Putting in a 2.2l turbo out of a legacy and using his megasquirt to run it would keep the theme of the car true but make it more powerful and more reliable. Use the legacy 5spd too, the AWD is better than the open/locked center diff full time 4wd that it has in it now. With it open, it sends all the power to the wheel with the least traction, with it locked it drives like a 4x4.