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Vw to subaru rail slow transformation


crewzin70
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thinking the same thing; a hub on that spindle only moves the wheel out a little, thereby increasing the "leverage" on that spindle, increasing the chances of a break. Spindle mount rims save you weight up front, and unless you plan on a lot of hard pack riding, you shouldn't need the brakes, or the hubs to change your wheels. I had those concerns with my old car, but after a few years in the sand, IMO, spindle mounts were just fine.

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Badass! Great job.

As for the spindle mounts, don't even sweat it. Me and a many of my buddies I run with all have spindle mount wheels on our cars and they are plenty strong. We put em to the test too. Trust me. lol

Now, older design Short Sand Car spindles...that's a different story. :think::unsure:

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The only logical reason I could think of that a hub could be beefier is that it might be made out of a stouter material and be a thicker chunk than what a spindle mount offers in that area of the rim. Never really looked into it just knew I wanted front brakes.

Reason I have brakes and beadlocks on the mind are the car weighs 390 lbs up front and 1300lbs in the rear.... lets just say it pulls the front pretty easily! I like to dune and not big on wheelies with my 091. I'm not saying ADDING weigh is a solution to equal things out but I was already planning on them and they could not hurt a thing with the way i have to drive to keep up with my buddies with LS cars. Otherwise I would have looked for some beadlock spindle mount rims to begin with.

Andydew what engine do you have in that Rail?

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Andydew what engine do you have in that Rail?

The car in my avatar has an LS1; but the car I was referring to in my post(My first car[for sale]) , had a Porshe 914/type4 2.0 liter, turbo-d and innercooled.

Good luck on the maiden voyage, I'm gonna be at glamis this weekend, otherwise I'd look for you :unsure:

Edited by andydew
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  • 3 months later...

Maiden voyage went well, never got stranded or broke down. Had a bunch of good rides in it. Front end was great!! Can't believe the difference, just shocks need to be dialed in. Only problems were: having no brakes for a bit due to a shot master cylinder. Then I had no clutch on the last day prez weekend cuz of a crapped out slave cylinder, that was fixed by taking off in 3rd and running between 3rd and fourth.

After 3 good weekend trips the fourth I loaded up got out to dumont and unloaded, after warm up started up a dune and the engine started knocking. Rolled over the dune and shut it off. After examining and seeing nothing wrong to the eye went to start it and it would barely turn over. Had no cell on me or my buddy and no radio so knew we were walking or driving it. Waited a bit and it then fired and with a bunch of knocking and crappy power I cruised back to the trailer and loaded it up knowing it was toast. Rode the quad and in my buddy's car for the remainder of the weekend.

Turns out the used shortblock I had bolted my heads to had dirt in it from sitting and transport that ended up eating out all the bearings and killing one on the rod to crank.

Here's a couple pics of the damage and kinda where I sit now. Work is slow so no extra buggy money, I already ordered a new crank cuz turning the old one is questionable and cost would prob be about the same as the machine work so I might have a spare for a backup motor later. Engine will be going to John at Outfront when funds come available for a shortblock rebuild and a head cleaning and inspection. Then I'll bolt it all back together and keep my fingers crossed.

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ah crap...that sucks. :( Sorry to hear that. Hope you get her back up and running soon. Did it spin any of the rod bearings or just junk them?

Glad to hear the front end worked good though. That's gotta be a great improvement! :usa:

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ah crap...that sucks. :( Sorry to hear that. Hope you get her back up and running soon. Did it spin any of the rod bearings or just junk them?

Glad to hear the front end worked good though. That's gotta be a great improvement! :usa:

The one pictured with 2 pieces was actually 3 when I took it off and peeled them off the crank. All 3 pieces were mashed up together. 2 slivers under one larger one and the rod was beat kinda out of round, I don't think they spun it was more like this one went dry then got ate up. Then with the extra space it went to hammering it to nothing. All the other bearings are just all scrapped up really bad. I shouldn't need too many new parts and pistons should be fine with new rings and a hone hopefully.

Really was a blast to drive and with this new engine and a close ratio trans it was worth all the time I have into it. Just wish the economy would pick up so I can finish!

Edited by crewzin70
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  • 3 months later...

Dropped the engine off at Outfront Motorsports in Cali this weekend for a rebuild with a new crank forged pistons and race bearings in the STI block. Heads will be torn down and gone through and prob shipped back by the end of the week so hopefully by Sun I will have a running buggy again and work on finishing my PS setup! Can't wait to get this thing in the sand again.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finished everything up today(well almost everything) and fired it up for the first time. Engine ran for about 30min. 10min of idle and 15 at 1700rpm's. Good oil pressure and stayed at 180 degrees, should be a good one. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for a good season. Gotta wait for some road time till I have my PS hoses made to finish up the steering. :headbang1:

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My buddy had house of hose make his at their shop fitted directly to the car. Just black and then they put both hoses in a sheath so if it were to burst it would not get on the occupants like on the heavy equipment. Gotta call this week and set up a time prob.

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  • 2 weeks later...

House of Hose ended up saying they couldn't do it to being short handed and they don't work on ppls cars.... I tried to explain how it just needed to be fitted to the car and it was all in the open but they were retarded. Granberry didn't want to do it either so next was All Hose I used to go to them over off Craig and 15 when i built my old ford and when I looked them up they now have a west location that was just right down the street from me. Called and John I believe it was said they were short handed also but we will take care of you just bring it down as early as I could. Loaded it up and hung out while they did it. Great customer service and came out nice with fair pricing. Will be going back there for all my hose needs.

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  • 1 month later...

Made it out for halloween! Car drove out of the trailer and back in at the end of the weekend. Have some work to do on the shifter and play with some springs and shocks but all in all it ran great.Kids had a blast riding it it all weekend. one short vid with the cell. http://www.youtube.com/user/crewzin70#p/a/u/0/JIjxSlnt0Ro

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Made it out for halloween! Car drove out of the trailer and back in at the end of the weekend. Have some work to do on the shifter and play with some springs and shocks but all in all it ran great.Kids had a blast riding it it all weekend. one short vid with the cell. http://www.youtube.c...u/0/JIjxSlnt0Ro

Must of been a great feeling taking it out for a Dune run. A lot of hard and it is paying off. How do you like the power no compared to before? I am sure a huge difference.

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Like night and day, it's alot more user friendly with the subi in there, thinking I will put the old lady behind the wheel next trip and getting her broke in putting around in it, she turns green in the passenger seat so I'm sure I can convince her to drive it and maybe she won't get sick. LOL

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Made it out for halloween! Car drove out of the trailer and back in at the end of the weekend. Have some work to do on the shifter and play with some springs and shocks but all in all it ran great.Kids had a blast riding it it all weekend. one short vid with the cell. http://www.youtube.c...u/0/JIjxSlnt0Ro

Sweet! Looks to be working pretty good. Driving into the trailer under it's own power after a weekend of duning is always a bonus! headbang1.gif

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well after further inspection after the halloween trip I noticed my exhaust wrap looked messed up. After unwrapping it discovered my headers had almost spit in 2 under the turbo along with some leaking gaskets at the heads, that sucks. But Outfront said it would be covered and to send it back in so ended up not welding that back up myself, going to have that re jetcoated in black this time the polished silver does not last for anything. Also going to be adding their heatshield and maybe I wont have to put the wrap on there to save my timing covers this time.

While it is apart I decided to have my couple of pulleys powdercoated to match my valve covers. Little bit of bling never hurt right?

It never ends, trying to get all the kinks out this season so in the summer I can paint or powder the frame.2010-11-12_14-28-14_680.jpg2010-11-21_19-12-29_299.jpg

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