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So just got my first car. Its a beautiful 1986 subaru brat bought off a guy that kept it in the garage and had been using it daily for three years. 175,000 miles on the clock. Car runs strong and I just had the original carb rebuilt. A mechanic at my local garage (expertec in Hood River,Or) Also told me that the exhaust system would need to be worked on due to the first owner bypassing the catalytic converter and the muffler starting to go out, it would also need to be tuned to the new exhaust. The exhaust pipe is currently disconnected before the cat and the mechanic told me that it would be 500-800 dollars to be repaired at a muffler specialist. I know this is only supposed to be an introduction but how critical is it that the engine be tuned? How hard would this be to do myself? and is 500-800 a reasonable quote for such work? thanks planning on keeping this brat for a while and there will be many more annoying questions in future. :)

 

I'll try and attach pics

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Cool, cool. Welcome.

 

This place is a priceless honey pot of information that will serve you very well with you Brat. There are a few of us younger folks on here. Me. 85 brat was my first. It got addicting, so a got another one. Then there is Turbosubarubrat. He's had a bunch of brats and a handful of wagons. Then RustyBrat has a wagon and brat.

 

Anyway, your exhaust problem isn't as bad as it sounds. If you don't have to do an emissions test, then don't worry about the cat. Or just hollow it out. 5-800 seems kinda high for what it sounds like you need.

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Why would it be better to leave the cat off? the car has already passed emissions. Will leaving the catalytic bypassed effect how the engine should be tuned or back pressure?

 

I will also be fixing various oddities around the car including one of the current latches for the shell door has been "fixed" with a wood block to hold it shut and minor rust under the battery and the front right cv boot is torn (but the cv is still working) and so on. But overall the car is extremely clean almost no rust anywhere interior is still pretty good apart from rip in the seat, exterior is perfect no bumps dings or scratches, bumpers look a little discolored. Im looking forward to working on it and accumulating some of the vast knowledge that this message board has. Oh and the ignition barrel is super annoying and fiddly but thats no primary concern....unless the key breaks but i don't think it will. thanks for the suggestion for rockauto ill be posting pictures soon still trying to figure out how to do it on a mack. thanks again

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Interesting and would they exhaust pipe and muffler need to be cleaned out at all. I believe the mechanic also said that there where two catalytics on the brat for some reason which confused me as i've never heard of such a thing. Would having the first bypassed cause the second one to clog up or fail if there is such a thing?

 

 I hope the picture worked, i have a feeling that it won't be viewable by a mack as its an attached file and not a picture. However the picture attached is also my profile picture so you can view it that way i'll be posting more directly off my computer when i figure it out the pictures are currently to big to attach so anyways, thanks for the info

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I'm not really sure on 80's brats. I own a 1st gen brat which didn't have any cats on it, and I also own a 2006 STi... which came with one catalytic converter. I know WRX's and other impreza models came with 2 cats, but I do not know if the 2nd Gen brats came with 2 cats or not. It's not unheard of, but it's usually pre and post turbo. Having zero cats in the line is best for performance as previously mentioned as it doesn't restrict flow, but the downside is you'll have trouble passing smog unless you can get around it, or they just flat out won't test for it (classics). And additionally, if you care about emissions and trees, you're polluting more than you would be if you had a cat. Those are the ups and downs.

 

As for the muffler, you can get a new one welded in for less than 500-800... Maybe he's including a tune up in that price too. I'd personally buy one for around 100 bucks and weld it in, or better yet if it was a direct fit, just bolt on. If you want cats, then you're probably better off having it professionally done... but most people opt out of them if they can.

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I'll ask around i've just currently moved here so i don't really have friends that could weld it but there are a variety of garages and mechanics around that might be able to help me out. I'm also trying to get in touch with a local subaru mechanic who seems to be the guy to go to for any work and parts for having quite a few older gens on his property.  Thanks again for the suggestions.

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