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Proud New Owner of a 1985 Subaru BRAT!


tdodge41
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So after seeking out a vintage Subaru for about 3 months thanks to The_Mechanical_Misfit getting me obsessed with getting one I finally found something. I bought a 1985 Subaru BRAT from forum member TomRhere (thanks again Tom). It really is the best car I have ever driven and couldn't be happier with it. 

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Thats her after getting home from the 170 mile drive home. In the rain, of course. 

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And there is one of myself and TomRhere taken by The_Mechanical_Misfit while picking it up.

Since the day I brought it home I have been in the middle of giving it a basic tune up: air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs and wires, belt, a little seafoam for good measure. 

The only thing that has gone wrong so far is I had to replace the alternator. I found a way to totally split the pulley down the middle, making it not turn completely and wreck the bearing. Ended up getting a reman from O'Reilly because this is my main vehicle now and I did not really have time to look for something else.

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So thats it thus far. In the future I hope to get a topper and/or a roll bar, maybe find a way to redo the stripes on the sides with something that will pop a bit more, and fight the rust battle with all my strength. 

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Good to hear the seats are back in it. Just never got around to doing what was needed to do so.

Did you have any problems getting the seatbelt bolts out? I had been soaking them down with rust penetrant every now and then.

 

Never rode in the back of the '82, but Christopher has, many times. Couple of his friends did also. All say it was "FUN" to do so.

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looks very close to mine even the same color i haven't seen to many of this bright red so nice score, minus the fact mine is disasembled for painting and head light swap so it will look like a 82 and that. also because i already have a roll bar and a canopy :P my advice on the roll bar would be get one made from some one because they sell for about $200 used plus shipping(also it still would need a repaint) and it would probably be cheaper just to get a custom one.

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SO jealous of your roll bar and canopy!!! Seems that here in Michigan those two things are more scarce than the BRAT itself. Wish I could post pictures from my phone to this thread, we did a ton of work the past few days, with a huge thanks to Mechanical_Misfit. Let me tell you, that guy is a artist when it comes to working out body work. Tom we pounded that dent out almost 80%. I will try and do some updating sooner than later. Got a lot of cosmetic stuff done, still gotta get to the exhaust and axle soon. And gastank. More to come later.

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So in the past few days myself and Mechanical_Misfit have been hard at work on the BRAT. First thing we did is took off those Loyale hubcaps (on his advice) and give it a little bit more style. 

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Then we finally got down to getting the jump seats in the bed. There was a bit of battling with some rusty bolts that came from the bed of the last BRAT those were in. The two male ends we were able to PB blast and they loosened up. The female ends took a bit more work, eventually having to cut off the old bolts and re-drill holes. Attached the seat frame with 4 grade 8 2 inch bolts and nuts. Thats our buddy Kawaii from Hawaii. Dude chose to come to Michigan for school. We don't get it either.

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Finally we took some pictures of it next to its West Michigan vintage Subaru kin, The Desert Fox. 

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And last but not least, painted the air filter top. 

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Lots to do in the future. Gotta fix the loud exhaust number 1 this week. Probably just going to have to take it to a shop. Also getting some wheels powder coated white with the emblems I have. And next weekend maybe taking Saturday and spraying the bed with a truck liner. Also possibly buying a webber carb swap from TomRhere. And still looking for a topper, high roll bar, and a long push bar. All in all though, i am learning a ton about mechanics and could not be happier to be driving this ride.  

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Good to hear/see the work being done.

 

Got to admit that she looks better with current rims than with the Loyale hubcaps.

Can say that she looked great with a set of H style rims on her. Had a set on there until the tires wore out. Just swapped to the next set of good tires on rims.

 

Kinda figured the PS fender wouldn't be to big of an issue to straighten. I've un-bent a few fenders over the years, many in worse condition. That was on the "to-do list", just never got to it.

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Bratman: Yea, rust repair is gonna be the next few weekends I hope. Probably going to do a spray-on liner of the truck bed. Mechanical_Misfit was working on a rust repair technique for his wheel wells which if it works for him I will probably give it a shot as well. Something about painting the very first few inches of the wheel wells with a truck bed liner after sanding down and cutting out rust. More pics to come, promise.

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Bratrod: It was at one time equipped with cruise, and I hope it will be again. Don't know much about how the cruise hooked up and stuff, but I believe it was taken off by the previous owner, TomRhere.

Edited by tdodge41
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Is this Brat equipped with cruise control? I haven't seen that black sphere thing on the passenger side on the firewall before.

It had CC, dealer installed option I believe, as it was all under the dash.

Didn't work, couldn't find info on it. Pulled it all out when I swapped new accelerator cable in.

That is what that plugged hose is for, laying in the drivers foot well area.

 

Like I told T.. I may still have everything here, just need to stumble across it.

Pretty sure I've stuffed it up on one of the shelving units, buried under many other items.

Have to have the time to un-load the shelves and resort everything, get it in boxes labeled as to what it fits.

I have way to much stuff here. Not as much as some Members, but still..........................

 

You guys only seen some of the surface stuff when you were down here. Got 6 engines, 4 trans in the garage, plus rear diffs and such. Better 1/2 of a BRAT and XT6 up in the rafters. Parts stuffed into/under the '82 BRAT. Just found some items today, I had been searching for since early Spring last year, buried out in the shed.

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Thanks a lot Indrid Cold. I just got a set of the flat spoke wheels that Mechanical_Misfit is going to powder coat white for me, and that will be my full size spare.

 

And thanks for the info on emissions testing and stuff. Hopefully I can simply that engine even more.

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You can get a full size spare in there... 

Also, General Disorder did a good write up about some emissions can be removed, carberater adjustment for better performance if youre not in an emission testing area. 

 

Nice looking Brat... 

 

Any idea where that post is? I did a few searches and couldn't find it... but I'm pretty awful at searching.

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