edrach

Anybody seen or heard from Bratcrazy recently? I'm trying to get a hold of him.

Dave, I like http://www.carbsunlimited.com/ for my weber parts and information. They are fairly local to me and don't snicker when I tell them I want a weber for my Brat.

I'll be there. Wonder how they are defining classes? Great to see an event closer to home. Go NWR!! Sorry about my posting a duplicate in Off Topic.

Anyone heard from him recently?

Ship it to Portland. Best price on a rebuild you can get. http://www.philbingroup.com/rebuilt/distributors.htm

http://www.cvaxles.com/ You won't get a better price or better product than here. $55 plus shipping plus refundable core charge. Even "special order" axles are less than the price the dealer quoted you.

Chris, please get in touch; email at edrach@spamcop.net would work; or PM if you need to. Thanks.

CV joints (outers) will start to click under hard lock when turning. Inner (DOJ) will cause vibration while accelerating which goes away when decelerating (sometimes so severe, you'd think the transmission is about to fall out). However, as long as the boots aren't torn, you're unlikely to see either symptom.

Everett yard has a '90 2WD Turbo sedan with automatic and 140K on odometer. Turbo gone but rear disks are still available. Engine pretty intact and probably okay since tranny probably went south. Around row 11--silver grey. Lynnwood yard has two '89 turbo wagons with full time center locking trannies and rear disks still there. LSDs and turbos are gone of course. Cars have 160K and 185K. Both are real close to the Honey Pot; one is silver grey and other is metallic blue.

Local (for me) supplier for webers, parts, and gaskets. But they have an 800# and do mail-order also. http://www.carbsunlimited.com/ in Fife, WA (just off I-5).

Add me to the list of people who's had a tranny stick in 4th if not disengaged before coming to a stop--my blue '84 GL did that all the time. If at all possible try to get it rolling in reverse with clutch depressed. Once you have some forward room, put it in four low and see if you can get it rolling forward and up to a bit of speed. While at speed back to FWD and then let the clutch out again. Hopefully you can now get it out of 4th and back to normal. If so, start thinking about a newer transmission. Best bet is to do a 5 speed d/r conversion. Best modification ever done to my '84 Brat.

Yea, I'm beginning to think the short is under the dash since the kid recently installed a radio (I did assist so it could have been my doing also). I was hoping it'd be in one of the feed throughs in the body around the bumper, but I can't get at the bumpers right now since I'm really pressed for time (still trying to get the old house on the market in a timely fashion). No, no trailer wiring.

I have tail-lights and front running lights unplugged from the car. DMM tells me a dead short at the fuse connection.

'83 GL wagon. Suddenly began blowing fuse 11 (taillights, front running lights, dash lights) after hitting chuckhole. I've looked for the short til I'm blue and haven't found it yet. Anyone else have any suggestions? Fuse blows instantly after turning on lights with ignition on.

Skip has the right idea. If I remember correctly, it's a round cylindrical, aluminum unit attached to the steering column. Listen for the sound and then "feel" which unit is making it.

Use Lysol or some such spray to kill the mold. A fan with a small electric heater for a few days will dry everything out again. To get the smell out cut up some apples into sections and lay them on the floor front and rear to get out the smell. Don't laugh, I had this problem and the apples got rid of the smell in about a week or two. Just don't use rotten apples.

I thought I was the only one who used tie-wraps for the throttle return spring!

Brian, does this mean your Brat is up and running again?

Far away! I live in Bothell. Still wouldn't spend $100 for it!

Any chance that the ASV reed valve is toast? If so, that's something that needs to be fixed ASAP.

Actually, that's only the jump seats; not the car.

Take the passenger side door lock tumbler out of the car; it'll take you less than 20 minutes. You'll find a number (e.g. W138). Take that number to a good locksmith and he'll cut you a master key from which you can make as many keys as you need. Local locksmith here charges $15 for that service. Driver's side door tumblers don't always has the number stamped on them. GD has the right idea with the mirror thing; sometimes you can't read the numbers that way since it's hard to get enough light in the right area to read the number.

Chris, fight them. Two years ago they totalled out my son's '83 wagon and offered $600. I pulled every receipt we had for parts, started clipping ads from the paper, checked NADA prices, checked Edmunds prices and Kelly Blue Book and found a range of prices for the car: $900 to $1800. 'Finally settled for $1430. Good luck with this. When you have time, drop me an email. Thanks.

Of course there's the approach my youngest son had. He swapped the upper panel for the lower one. Now the radio is where the heater controls were and the heater controls are where the radio was. It only took him about 20 hours with his little dremel tool to accomplish that. I'll have a pix one of these days.

Some of the early hatches ('80 type I think) had a center console where the radio was mounted at a 45 degree downward angle. I think that can be adapted to your Brat. My '84 Brat has the standard console with an adapter plate for Subaru (check the car audio places) that works just fine with a DIN size radio. I did have to trim the existing opening for the radio in the console.