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O.C.D.'s 1980 Brat - "The Squirrel"


O.C.D.
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Where did you order your wheels from? got a direct link?:headbang:

there trailer wheels so there probably easy to find my dad found some 14's like them but he needs one more to have four but we have a extra set of 15's like his but need tires, so i need to drill the hubs for 6 lug swap so we can have a 14's and 15's for my dads brat or for mine:brow:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been busy with work projects but have finally mounted the headrests I got off of a gen 2 brat. here they are as received in great condition.

 

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But as gen 2 rails are longer I had to modify them. Since I am really OCD I cannot make new mounts or drill them out.

 

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1 and 1/2" is exactly what needed to be removed to fit.

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All cleaned up and ready to weld.

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Also got most of my engine rebuild parts from Subaru. Amazing how much all the OEM parts are!

 

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And I also finished cleaning and mounting door cards on drivers side. Scraped all the old crumbling plastic off of steering wheel and added a steering wheel grip.

 

But I have to take pics today for those.......:popcorn:

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Lol, I am trying. Time is getting scarce and we have a little one on the way in a few months. They way I see it I have til January to finish this and then my free time is over. But I can always work late at night.

 

Not a really big update but I did want to show you all what can be done with some ingenuity.

 

My steering wheel was atrocious, period. It was cracked all over and that odd flaky crap was coming off of it all. I found that you can scrape off a topcoat of this stuff with a razor blade. So I scraped down the spokes of the wheel and the back housing. It is smooth as can be now and looks soooo much better. I then sprung some supreme 80's nostalgia on The Squirrel, a Sport Grip wheel wrap.

 

Before.

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After - I love it!

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Edited by O.C.D.
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Ha ha ha!!!

 

Thanks to Turbosubarubrat for the great heads up on some fenders!

 

Called the place in Boring Oregon and they indeed had two fenders that were OEM and new, well kind of.

 

Light surface rust and a pretty $$$$. But, I am now complete with parts once these arrive.

 

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Thanks again Turbo for the time and help.

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Wow, this is cool. I basically have a thread for my own enjoyment. Guess posting all of this is not worth responses?!

 

Oh well, I will keep it going for now.

 

Got my jumpseats figured out finally. I had to grind off all of the old mounts and some other odd welds that were in the bed. There were two large bolts going through the middle and they were all rusted and needed to go. But these also gave me the idea of where to mount the main tie-in for the frame of the jump seats.

 

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I used some angle iron to make new mounts for the two outside supports of the frame.

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To make the center mount though it would need to contour the bed lines. What to do? I decided to get some flat bar and get creative. I needed to fill those two large holes fairly well so I knew I needed 1/2" bolts. Grade 8 of course. I made some measurements and had at it.

 

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Gotta love cutting and torching some metal!

 

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And Voila!

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Made sure every measurement was perfect and welded it in.

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But I kept thinking I needed even more support so I decided to use a flat bar on the bottom as well for the perfect sandwich.

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Everything lined up perfectly and the seats clear the headrests by about 1/2" as I wanted. I will finalize the welds later today, clean it all up, prime and paint. This will look awesome and function as well. If I ever need to remove the seats they come out with 4 bolts in a few minutes.

 

Jon

Edited by O.C.D.
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I considered the route you went with the angle iron. But I wanted to make it look (almost) stock. With the seats mounted all you will see is the front hoops on the frame.

 

That and I had to use those two huge holes in the center.

 

Heck, I don't even know what they should look like stock now that I think about it, lol.

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Finally have the jumpseats mounted. Since light is getting scarce here in the Rockies I had to do some night pics so they are not the best.

 

But you get the idea. Frame sanded down to bare metal and primed. Used the same flat black enamel as the headrests.

 

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Some new OEM hardware - gotta love it!

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And here we are, finally!

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So I have my first issue of noticeable merit.

 

Go to start the Brat and she won't go and battery dies. No big deal I put a tender on the battery for a day. Well I come back and the battery is crackling and expelling air/gas I assume. Maybe the dead cells are getting too much too fast? I have 12.9 volts by the way.

 

Go to start the Brat and the the key turns and I have lights and chime for a half second and nothing. Not a damn thing coming through. I check fuzes and all are good. She is completely not responding.

 

So because I am learning an old car is it the starter solenoid? Could the battery have done this?

 

Can you all lend an idea please.

 

Thanks.

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