1988 Subaru Brat WITHOUT Mazda turbo rotary

[niterida]

Just about to start serious work on my Brumby (Brat).

Plan is to run a Series 5 13B Turbo motor with AWD running gear from a Liberty or Impreza. The only thing that will be left of the Brumby will be the body ;D

I've got the Brumby - cost me AUD$200 - has good body but no running gear - Perfect !!



And I've got the motor - complete motor with injection, loom, turbo, front mount intercooler - AUD$750. Came with a 5 speed box too but I won't be using that.



Just need to find a Manual AWD Liberty or Impreza with a blown motor now for the rest of the gear I need. Although I might buy a Japanese Import WRX front cut, put the motor in my 99 Outback and find a rear diff and suspension setup separately.

Just finished setting up my workshop and buying most of what I will need tool-wise so now I can get cracking on it. Got 2 weeks off from tomorrow so will start stripping the Brumby and the engine. Will post pics as I go.

[mdh]

Cool project!

Why did you choose the rotary over a Scoobi turbo?

[niterida]

Apr 26, 2011 10:48:17 GMT mdh said:

Cool project!

Why did you choose the rotary over a Scoobi turbo?

POWER !!!!

I am a HUGE Subaru fan - not only do I have 2 Brumbyprojects but I also have 99 Outback and a 96 Outback and have prefiously had another 2 99 Outbacks, a couple of WRX's and an RS Liberty wagon with a V2 STi RA motor and DCCD box ;D

But I am also a HUGE Rotary and 2-stroke fan and just love the simplicity, power and noise of a Rotary, And it is also an unusual conversion - I only know of 3 other Subaru AWD setups running a Rotary motor in the world. One of which is in a WRX and the other 2 are in a Brumby and a Leone but neither are running full Liberty/Impreza AWD running gear.

The plan is to get into the 10's without spending a fortune - you just can't do that with a Subie motor.

[mdh]

That'll be awesome

I always wanted to build a triple rotor 13b, maybe one day.

Well jealous of your shed too

[vindi49]

Very cool!! Looks like this will have the engine it deserved!! Shame you don't see these in the UK that often.

Russell.

[niterida]

Apr 26, 2011 12:03:50 GMT mdh said:

That'll be awesome

I always wanted to build a triple rotor 13b, maybe one day.

Well jealous of your shed too

Triple rotor 13B would be a 20B

And I have just finished setting my shed up so I thought I would share a couple more photos.









Now the building can commence - woohoo !!!!!

[mdh]

Sweet shed! :-)

[insanebrain]

Would the easiest way of converting the box to 4wd be to use the 4wd Mazda ute box and transfer case? I know the 2wd box is the same as the Rx7 one (with different ratios and gearstick position) so am assuming the 4wd is the same. Likewise there are plenty of adaptor bell housings for toyota boxes to rotary available or is there a epecific reason you want to keep it 'baru?

[yoeddynz]

Hey wow- cool idea. I love these little brumbys after owning one in England. (and it had no rust!)

And I like rotaries too..... hmmmm match made in heaven. As much a i love rotaries I prefer the sound of wrxs though but hey- sounds like you have enough of them to get that fix.

Is it really that much more expensive to get big power from a WRX motor than it is a Rotary?

And man I love the size of your shed. In WA will that get really hot in the day time or will the roof reflect the heat? How hot is it there in WA now as here in sunny marlborough, NZ its just starting to get frosty in the morning and around 15 in the shade during the day.

[Brat-Man]

They are great little trucks,here's mine,i've had 2 mag features with it & i've fitted 1996 WRX STI running gear & it's currently running 350bhp @ 15psi of boost which in something that weighs in at 1160 kgs is great fun to drive!

[niterida]

Apr 30, 2011 21:03:14 GMT insanebrain said:

Would the easiest way of converting the box to 4wd be to use the 4wd Mazda ute box and transfer case? I know the 2wd box is the same as the Rx7 one (with different ratios and gearstick position) so am assuming the 4wd is the same. Likewise there are plenty of adaptor bell housings for toyota boxes to rotary available or is there a epecific reason you want to keep it 'baru?

Just keeping it Subaru because I like the way the AWD is setup plus its a reasonably easy job since the body is already designed / shaped to take it if that makes sense and since I am using the entire running gear then I will have big brakes and coilovers etc avavilable off the shelf and there will be no modifications to any of these parts. This will keep the cost down and make me feel safer that it won't break and it should handle and ride OK.

[niterida]

Apr 30, 2011 21:19:50 GMT yoeddynz said:

Hey wow- cool idea. I love these little brumbys after owning one in England. (and it had no rust!)

And I like rotaries too..... hmmmm match made in heaven. As much a I love rotaries I prefer the sound of wrxs though but hey- sounds like you have enough of them to get that fix.

Is it really that much more expensive to get big power from a WRX motor than it is a Rotary?

And man I love the size of your shed. In WA will that get really hot in the day time or will the roof reflect the heat? How hot is it there in WA now as here in sunny marlborough, NZ its just starting to get frosty in the morning and around 15 in the shade during the day.

Yeah you canget power from WRX's but its not as easy or cheap as most other J piston motors. I have loved Rotary's since I first got into cars 40 years ago. You just have to look at all the 6,7,8 sec 'street registered' cars here in Oz and they are almost all Rotary powered :-)

In Exmouth it rarely goes below 10 degrees even overnight in the middle of winter. During the day it will still be high 20's low 30's in winter too. However in Summer it doesn't go much below 30 overnight and gets to high 40's during the day. A couple of years ago we had 3 months where only about 7 days were under 40 !!

But I have moved 400kms south to Geraldton so it is a bit cooler here by about 3 degrees............

And yes the shed gets HOT HOT HOT

[niterida]

Apr 30, 2011 22:11:15 GMT Brat-Man said:

They are great little trucks,here's mine,i've had 2 mag features with it & i've fitted 1996 WRX STI running gear & it's currently running 350bhp @ 15psi of boost which in something that weighs in at 1160 kgs is great fun to drive!

yeah I saw that on here already - so you did a full running gear swap - suspension, crossmembers brakes etc ? I would assume so looking at the wider stance.

Would love to see build photos to see exactly how you've done it. I have seen a couple done before but they haven't been done the way I would do it. Not badly just not what I would want in my car.

My aim is to get into the 10sec bracket on the 1/4. Should be easy with just a mild working of the Rotary and boost. Although my utlimate aim will be 9's

[yoeddynz]

geez that is hot! Nup- my jandles would melt.
Will you insulate the shed?

[RetroMat]

awesome project looking forward to seeing it progress, mates bothers got a XT Turbo engine for his Brumby/Brat!

[Brat-Man]

May 1, 2011 2:05:02 GMT niterida said:

Apr 30, 2011 22:11:15 GMT Brat-Man said:

They are great little trucks,here's mine,i've had 2 mag features with it & i've fitted 1996 WRX STI running gear & it's currently running 350bhp @ 15psi of boost which in something that weighs in at 1160 kgs is great fun to drive!

yeah I saw that on here already - so you did a full running gear swap - suspension, crossmembers brakes etc ? I would assume so looking at the wider stance.

Would love to see build photos to see exactly how you've done it. I have seen a couple done before but they haven't been done the way I would do it. Not badly just not what I would want in my car.

My aim is to get into the 10sec bracket on the 1/4. Should be easy with just a mild working of the Rotary and boost. Although my utlimate aim will be 9's

No i used the stock truck suspension,brakes & cross members but i've got uprated discs specially made for it & i made some custom front coilover struts to improve the handling....it looks like it's got a wider stance due to me fitting 8j x 15" wheels!
PM me an email address & let me know what areas of the build you would like photos of or advise on "how to" ok
Tim....

[mdh]

May 1, 2011 11:33:18 GMT yoeddynz said:

geez that is hot! Nup- my jandles would melt.
Will you insulate the shed?

Mmmmm hot!

Id rather be sweating in my overalls than be working with fingers that I cant feel!

[niterida]

Quick update - have sourced a Gen 2 Liberty for the running gear - and a set of Genuine STi Forester forged BBS rims in 16" and they are unbelievably light. Pics when I get them home next week.
So far total cost of the project is AUD$1500 - and I have a good body, suspension, rear end, gearbox, front end, brakes, motor and rims - only thing missing is a radiator and exhaust and the usual bits and pieces for making it all fit together.

[niterida]

Picked up the donor car and the wheels yesterday.

The car :



The wheels - which were bought separately and then put on the donor car so that the missus thinks they came with the car and I haven't spent as much money as I have :-)
These wheels are just so light - even with the big 21/5/60/16 offorad tyres they still weigh substantially less than something like the std WRX rims.
Will be getting low profile tyres on them when they go on the Brumby.



And the engine - which may be temporarily fitted to get the car registered :

[retrobastard]

The wheels - which were bought separately and then put on the donor car so that the missus thinks they came with the car and I haven't spent as much money as I have

Very devious, must remember this in future ha ha ha!

Cracking project bud!!