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2 BRATs


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Hello.  I'm new to the forum and am in search of information.

 

When my wife and I got married, she had a '79 Subaru wagon she got from her grandmother that we ended up both driving for many years before the floorboards rusted through and we ended up selling it to a Subaru fanatic who was happy to get it and quickly made the repairs needed for his wife to use it in her house cleaning business.

 

We currently have 2 BRATs I've inherited from my father-in-law.

 

One is a '79 and the other is a '85.

 

The '79 ran once 10-15 years ago over the last 25 or so years and is the rougher of the two.

 

The '85 was his daily driver and started to run poorly in about 2005.  I had a fresh tuneup done to it for him, but by then he had gotten another truck from his father and parked the BRAT in 2007. My daughter and I are currently trying to get it running again for her to drive to school and work.  So far we figured out it would start when gas was poured in the carb, and it would mostly run with gas gravity fed to the carb.  So the main thing we need to do right now is get the fuel system back up to snuff and check out what sounds like a stuck lifter.

 

That means we still need to:

- Clean the carb

- Clean out the fuel lines

- Replace the rusty/crusty fuel tank and sending unit as it looks like there was a fair amount of water that got in there while it was sitting.

 

Anybody know where to find a new fuel tank and sending unit?  The BRAT units seem to be model speific and non-existant in the land of replacement parts.  Is it possible to mod a new and available tank from another model to make it work?

 

Thanks for any insight.

 

Scott

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You can use any 80-87 "MY" model on your 85 - not sure if a 2wd tank will fit in a 4wd vehicle ok though.

 

Assuming it's a 4wd version, a hatch has a 45L (11.9 US gallons) tank and the rest has a 55L (14.5 gallon tank)

For a 2WD, it's 50L (13.2 US gallons) for the hatch, 55L (14.5 US gallons) for a BRAT, 60L (15.9 US gallons) for the sedan/coupe/hatch.

 

In terms of new I have no idea, but there are plenty of second-hand units out there (try the southern states for less rusty examples!). I'd personally try to find a 4wd wagon as that should be fairly common at a JY.

Edited by dfoyl
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The 4wd tanks have a big hump in the bottom to clear the rear differential. Many people have had old tanks cleaned with an acid dip, and any holes soldered up at a radiator shop, if you can still find one of those.  <_<  Some have also had an epoxy coating applied to the inside.

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Thanks for the responses.

 

The BRATs are both 4WD.

 

Just because I know the tank that came out of it will fit back into it, I'm tempeted to cut it open, clean it out, and weld it back up myself as has been shown on this forum.  But with my lack of experience, it will likely take me longer than I want it to.  My daughter would like to drive it sometime this year. ;)

 

I'll have to see if I can find a radiator shop willing to do this for me.

I'll also have to look more into the feasibility of using a tank from another model since the sending units on the BRAT bolt into the back of the tank while the others appear to be on the top of the tank.  The sending unit is definitely something that needs to be replaced and new ones seem to be as non-existent as the tanks.

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They have relay unit that controls the fuel pump when the car is running. If the relay is bad it won't turn the fuel pump on. I had to wire the fuel pump to come on with the key in one of mine before.

 

I've also had the rear fuel filter completely clogged.

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In a pinch, temporarily, you could strap a plastic boat tank in the bed. I almost hate to suggest that because I know mr. safety will probably pop up here and flame me for it. 

Obviously, you would have to exercise safety and common sense with this setup. My temporary 13 gallon boat tank is going on 5 or 6 years now.  :rolleyes:

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Brats are 4wd they never we sold as a 2wd in the US. You have to have at least a 4" lift to run a 2wd tank on a 4wd. A 81-84 4wd sedan, coupe, and wagon all share the same tank as 2nd gen brat. 80 was a weird year where they didn't have a fuel return line and the pump was in the engine bay.

Edited by turbosubarubrat
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Brats are 4wd they never we sold as a 2wd in the US. You have to have at least a 4" lift to run a 2wd tank on a 4wd. A 81-84 4wd sedan, coupe, and wagon all share the same tank as 2nd gen brat. 80 was a weird year where they didn't have a fuel return line and the pump was in the engine bay.

 

Excellent.  Thanks.  My daughter will be driving this, so a permanent solution is the better route to pursue.

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So whats up with the 79 brat.. Selling?? Parting out?? you have any pics???

No pics of either one yet, but I'll work on it.

 

No plans on the '79 yet, although after helping work on the '85, my son is a bit jealous of his sister and is now eyeing the '79 for himnself.

 

I checked all of the fuel supply, return, and vent lines, flushed them with carb cleaner and blew them out with compressed air.  There was one hard line under the bed that was plugged that is now clear.  It actually had a small bit of what looked like plastic wrap in it that I'm sure helped form the clog.

 

The two supply/return lines in the tank that aren't vent lines are plugged.  Further investigation shows the rusty/crustiness in the tank to be mostly varnish, so I'm going to see if I can manage to clean it out myself to the point where the internal lines are clear and it's clean enough to use.  The plan is to use a few gallons of E85 and a couple handfuls of different sized hex nuts all shaken around and rotated every so often while suspending the sealed tank from the backyard playset for a few hours.  From what I've read that should do the trick to emulsify the varnish.  We'll see where we stand after that. 

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Tank cleaning in progress.  I'm amazed at how well the E85 is working to emulsify the thick accumulation of varnish in the bottom of the tank that originally looked like some sort of undercoating.  I'm equally amazed at the quantity of rust particles embedded within the varnish that we are removing.  Two rounds of soaking, agitating, and dumping are done and will do more until we no longer get any crud out of it.

 

Didn't take any before photos of the tank, but I have one showing it hanging from the playset in the backyard ready for agitation.  That picture is posted below along with one of the exterior.

 

gallery_67206_810_168042.jpg

 

 

 

 

gallery_67206_810_180480.jpg

Edited by mhisstc
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