The next job was to mount the calipers and figure out how I'm going to route hoses.
I already had a set of braided hoses for the Brat, but obviously these weren't going to be perfect due to the changes so I bought a pair of rear WRX braided hoses to see if I could get any to fit.
None would fit straight on, so I had to mess about, chopping and re-ending to get something suitable along with welding brackets onto the trailing arms.
Anyway, they came out alright in the end.
So, that's the back end sorted out for the moment, time to move onto the front.
I already have WRX front hubs along with B&C coilovers installed on the front, these were easy enough. I just had to change the top mounts to the Brat ones and ream out the bottom ball joint hole in the bottom arm with a nifty ball joint reamer to change the taper angle so there wasn't much to do there.
However, I really wanted power steering, and it's not easy to do on these things.
I had managed to hunt down a couple of PS racks which should be suitable (the WRX rack physically fits but it's too long which buggers up the ackerman angles so it scrubs like hell on tighter turns and handles weirdly)
The racks I had managed to get were out of a 1986 Subaru XT Coupe and an 1991 L Series, both of these looked pretty much the same but the L series one looked in better nick so I went with that one.
Although these physically fit, a suitable column coupling is a bit of an unknown and the tierods are longer. You can't just screw the Brat rods into the rack as the fittings are male on the Brat and female on the L Series rack.
So, a quick measure up, run a die down the L Series rods and a quick chop with the grinder and they are ready to fit.
Next issue was the column coupling.
As I mentioned, the WRX coupling is the correct splines but to long to install. There was no way I could find an L Series or XT Coupling so I had a good hunt on ebay for Subaru couplings to see if anything looked like it would fit.
This turned up a '97 Legacy coupling, which looked a good bit shorter that the WRX one, but I was still unsure if the splines would be the same but took a chance anyway.
This is the WRX coupling..
And this is the Legacy one..
After a while it turned up and bolted straight on!
I would say it is a ball hair too short, but as the bolt is still engaged in the groove on the column, I'm happy enough with it.
Next on the list was the PS pipes. luckily the WRX fittings are the same as the L Series ones so the pipes screw into the rack without issue.
They took a lot of bending and manipulation to get them to fit and I'm still not entirely happy with them at the moment, as the pressure line is quite near the turbo but the will do for now and I'll look at getting adaptors in the rack and get some JIC hoses made up later.
So, steering done(ish).
Onto the exhaust.
I didn't want to fit the original cat downpipe so I had a look around for an aftermarket one.
The trouble is, they all seem to be 3in, which isn't much use as it clashes with the brake servo.
I decided to get one anyway to see if I could do something with it.
Lets just say, I don't think the guys at Retro Power have anything to worry about, those of a nervous disposition look away now..
It's not quite as bad as it looks with regards to it being restricive, keep in mind that this was a 3in pipe and the original smaller pipe had a cat, I think it will be ok.
Anyway it fits, and that's the most importand bit, I'll wrap it before it's finally installed.
It'll do for now, I'm starting to notice a trend here.
Ideally I'd like to fit a custom made V-band 2.5in downpipe at some point.
I had decided some time ago that I fancied doing a side exit exhaust, and had ordered up some stainless oval tube, a straight through box, bends, a flexi and a 3in-2.5in adaptor.
Unfortunately I didn't get much further with this, as I was waiting for more parts but I couldn't resist propping up a bit of oval pipe to see what it would look like.
Hopefully it will be straighter than that when it gets welded up.
Front anti-roll bar next, easy, right?
Wrong, it hits the box.
So, after a bit of head scratching I came up with these slide in spacers to fit the extended brackets.
And these are them installed, the bar is a bit lower but not enough to cause any ground clearance issues (I hope).
Next stop, engine cooling. No pics I'm afraid.
I bought a new standard rad for it, there is no way the WRX rad will fit.
The port sizes are different, 32mm on the rad and 38mm on the EJ lump.
I took the rad to a rad place to get it altered, the top hose is now ok(ish) but the bottom port is still too high and there is no way of stopping the hose from hitting the timing cover.
I have bought some copper fittings and when I get a chance I'll chop it off and have a go myself.
Some work has also been done on the transmission tunnel.
There were two options with the gearshift, shorten the assembly of extend the hole back, I opted to extend the hole back and re-locate the centre console as I thought the original gearshift was too far forward anyway, much like a 90's Hilux or something, not ideal for my purposes, this is still not finished.
So, that's about it, spaced out the wheels correctly and set the ride height.
Still to do -
1. Sort out the cooling system.
2. Finished the gearshift / centre console.
3. Install the low and high pressure fuel systems.
4. Install the Legacy chargecooler, pump, rad and associated wiring.
5. Install the loom.
Not much then.
