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84 BRAT drivability issues


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ok heres the latest. Brat starts up and idles fine. Typical off idle hesitation . I can drive the car around in my yard through first and second gear. Once it shifts into 3rd gear(automatic) sputters out and dies. Continue cranking will get it fired back up for the next 100 foot run. I have a new pump, filters hoses. No kinks in lines which initially i thought was causing the problem. filter has fuel in it when it does out. I also noticed that on 2 occasions the fuel was making it to the top of the diverter on the under hood filter. Anyone had similar issues? ideas? thanks

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Lets start over, I do not remeber the details of your car. Hitachi? Whats the status of you vacuum system?

Any number of things could cause this and after all you have been through so far it would be easy for all of us to get tunnel vision. Since the car sat for some time the carb could be plugged up. The choke might be poorly adjusted, unhooked, etc. The float may have something in the seat, causing flooding, or it could be getting stuck closed causing a run dry situation.

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ihscout starts and idles fum . just dies when i get up to peed  after going into third. The car sat up for 3 year outside while getting painted. I actually drove it over there initially. Like you i think the carb is gummed up, somewhere even thought drive  it around in first and second at low speeds. The choke actually works and pulls off like it should. I did spray t some carb cleaner around the base and it does smooth out a little but i cannot located the source of a vacuum leak unless it the egr valve. Luckily there is an old Subaru expert about an hour from me and i may just let him rebuild it. im scared to touch the carb. 

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Could also be the base gasket or the throttle shaft/s. If you spray carb cleaner on the throttle shafts of any old carb you will often get some reaction. These carbs really arent worth rebuilding, or at least not in my opinion. I do like the look of the stock air cleaner tho. Is your car a feedback model?

Have you confirmed if there is fuel in the bowl when it dies?

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its an original 85k mile car that my dad bought new and i am restoring it. There is gas in the filter under the hood. Not sure about the bowl. I guess it would be hard to check without disconnecting everything. I think it is a feedback model.. diverter on the filter?

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Do you know which carb you have carter 1bbl or Hitachi 2bbl? There is a sight glass on the side of the bowl, but its almost worthless. Its not that hard to pull the top of the carb... The vapor separator style filter has nothing to do with being a feedback model. Do you have an O2 sensor and an ECM?

Since it drove in fine 3 years ago and it sat undisturbed Im leaning towards a plugged circuit in the carb. You can handle this, its a low mile great shape unit, pull it apart and clean it well, assemble with a kit. Webers are under 350 bux tho. Another option is to look online for a rebuilt hitachi and roll the dice.

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If the choke works and it starts and idles fine and goes ok in the lower gears then the jets are not blocked or it would not even do that.

 

It does seem that possible it has an issue with the fuel tank breathing or the cap and it builds up a vacuum which eventually overcomes the fuel flow, You masy check the actual fuel in the carb.

 

Another possibility is there is some loose crud in the float bowl and the jets do not draw enough fuel to suck it in and block the main jet until you hit third and the extra load in a higher gear means more fuel flow which then lifts the crud of the bottom of the float chamber and into the jet.

 

I have also come across believe it or not a leaf in the tank of a Mitsubishi Starion (Conquest in the US) and it did the same sort of thing but only on hills longer than half a mile when it had enough fuel suction to lift it off the bottom of the tank to block the fuel inlet in the tank., Then blah no power because no fuel flow.

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  • 2 weeks later...

ok all i finally solved the mystery. Pulled the filter off underneath the bed that had already been replaced twice.I had replaced all the hoses except the one the goes from the tank side to the filter. Looked inside and had what appears to be small piece of the rubber fuel line. Im thinking that since it sat so long some of the hose had desinagrated  over time because it still looked good on the outside. Still running a little sluggish but at least it  run more than 100 feet before stopping

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  • 6 months later...

well new update. The  brat will run for a mile or 2 under 45 great. Omce it warms up or of i try to rev ot oer 3000 rpms it bogs down and dies and i then it acts like it is running on 2 cylinders until i limp it back home. Gonna try a rebuild and see what happens. Thanks for all the responses. Styill starts up and idles fine. i think the bowls are just full of crud from sitting

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i had a 63 ford van that had so much gunk in the tank even after droping and cleaning the tank i still had to replace the filter every 100 miles or so ran great then would slowly loose top speed that was back when vw filters where 10 for $3 so it was cheap and it got better with time but i still carried a pack of filters in it just in case gelled fuel can clog a filter instantly so can mold that some times forms in old gas tanks from organic material colected over the years you could try a boat tank set up as a test i did that on my scout as it was stored out side for years with no gas cap till i cleaned the tank if it works it will give you time to fix the tank and lines and still drive it around it could be as simple as there is rubber partialy blocking something and its not getting the volume it needs at.high speed

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