shortbus

Hi all, I have somewhat of a dilemma. Its looking like I'm going to have to sell the Brat. I just don't have the time, money or motivation to mess around with it anymore and I need the room in the garage. My dilemma is this; I discovered a few rust spots in the bed awhile back (not the dreaded wheel well rust, those areas are great), its nothing too serious but I went ahead and cut out the bad spots and ground all the iffy spots out, treated it and primered it to keep it from getting worse. The damage is not really bad and probably not too difficult to fix for someone with some bodywork experience but it does look ugly. Other than that the car looks like this: My question is would it be worth it to put the money into getting a body shop to fix the issues before I e-bay it or should I just go with it as is? I've seen some in worse shape go for quite a bit on e-bay but then I see what the exceptional ones go for and think all this needs is some body work, a new set of axles all around and some exhaust work to be very exceptional. Then theres the fact that I know I'm not going to want to sell it once it all shiny and pretty again . Anybody got any suggestions?

Ha, never seen that before and on top of that he's local! Its nice to see the old Soobs outside of the Oregon / Washington area

I found one of those on Ebay awhile ago, got it for $2 or so. It didn't have the keychain though.

I run across them from time to time in the yards down here but they always break when I try to get them off. If I go back out there and see one I'll let you know.

oooh Ooh, I need the chrome trim that goes around the front bumper on a Gen 2. I have an '85 with pretty much everything but thats the only piece I know of that I'm missing. I might also take the body side moldings (black plastic pieces on the sides) if the chrome on them is in good shape. Hope I'm not too late but I figured I'd give it a shot. Thanks!

Droooooooooollllllll, and not that far away either. Hmmmm... house, Subaru, house, Subaru....????

Sweet, my Brat is an '85 but I'm just beginning to get into the restoration of it. Looking forward to any tips or help I can get.

Forgot to mention I changed the PCV valve as well. Its pretty much any right turn from a sharp 90 into my neighborhood to a long interstate exit ramp. I'll have to check the carb float, is that something I can adjust easily?

I have an '85 Brat, 160k, 5-speed, 4wd, all stock EA-81. I started having problems awhile back; it would run fine at first but idle really low (wouldn't stall but seemed like it was going to) after warming up. It runs fine while I'm driving, just the idle thats acting up. I changed the EGR valve (used a clean JY one as the new ones are $99) and tried as best I could to clean all the gunk out of the manifold while the EGR was off. I also replaced the plugs (NGK) and the coil (Accel). It ran a little better after that but still wants to idle rough and now it will stall or almost stall when I make a right turn!? It is fine with left turns, just doesn't like the rights. I can't seem to find any vacuum leaks though I haven't checked with a pump or anything. Any idea what this could be? The Brat is off the road now for a little bodywork and to try to fix this issue so any help is better than what I'm going on now. Thanks in advance!

he he, welcome to the club, wait till you go to the yards and start finding parts! THATS a bad addiction! I've got all sorts of goodies in the garage that I just couldn't let go to the crusher.

The Brat is tucked away in the garage waiting for me to get the free time to do some work on it but I'd be game for a meet if you don't care about me showing up in a Honda. If we do something closer to Tampa I could probably take the Brat out, its insuranceless right now so I don't like to drive it more than a few miles down backroads. Keep me posted... COSubie, if you read this shoot me an e-mail, I can't respond to your PM's addy is aquaholic901 at y-a-h-o-o . ( 0 M

Ugh, I knew which Brat it was before I even clicked on the link. That was truly one of the nicest if not the nicest one I've ever seen. It was actually that page that inspired me to take mine off the road and start to restore it (and also paint it red!). I'm sorry about the loss but very glad to hear she is alright, thats the important thing.

Knowingly putting false plates on a vehicle in FL gets you a free ride in the back of a cop car and room & board for awhile. I unknowingly got my registration mixed up with my brothers awhile back; I had a 97 Prelude & he had a 97 Civic but the registrations didn't say that only 2 dr 1997 Honda . The cop that pulled me over was cool though and said he could haul me to jail for it but he understood that it was probably just a mix up.

Sorry I couldn't make it guys, I got up this morning, weather was ugly but not raining so I got the Brat all cleaned up, jumpseats in...etc. ready to go and the $%*&%^ thing wouldn't start. Battery is fine, starter is fine I just couldn't get it to fire. So I spent most of the day car shopping again. Couldn't find a decent Soob around anywhere so I wound up with a '94 Honda Del Sol. I believe its time to retire the trusty Brat for awhile. My parents and my GF want me to sell it but I'm trying to find any excuse I can to hang on to it. maybe by the next one I'll have a nice clean restored Brat to bring. Hope ya'll had fun and took lots of pictures.

yuk, I'll see how it is in the morning. Hopefully it won't be too bad.

Weather looks like it might be kind of icky this weekend :-\. If its a torrential downpour I'm not sure we'll make it. I'll do my best but a fussy brat in the rain on an hour+ trip isn't much fun. If the weathers ok though (not torrential dp) we are still in.

Bring the Honda, who cares what you are driving. There are so few of us Soobie nuts down here it'd be nice to meet everyone. Also, I've found a great place to do some wheeling afterwards if we want. Its on State Rd. 50 just a bit west of Clermont in the Withlacoochee Natl. Forest. I've taken the Brat out there a few times over the past 2 weeks or so on the way home from work and it really nice. The stuff I've been on is just dirt trails through the forest, any AWD vehicle should have no problem getting through, even 2WD should be fine (I've never put the Brat in 4WD). Plus its not as far as Ocala but still on the way (granted, its the long way) home for us left coasters while not being too far away for the Orlando and East Coasters. I'd be up for that if anyones interested. I may also wind up going to Gainesville afterwards so Ocala might not be totally out of the question either. I'm looking forward to it...

You wanna talk about ghetto, I ran over a log yesterday and it pulled the exhaust off of my headers. It bent the bracket and pushed it back into the rear axle which tore the boot. So now I have a brat that stalls at red lights sometimes and sounds like an airplane/'69 El Camino when its not stalling. I'm seriously thinking about getting a Legacy or something for a grand or two now that I've sold the Jeep. Something that can tolerate the 150-200 miles a day I'm having to drive for work and be comfortable too. Have you had any major problems with yours?

Drive the Brat! I would love to go wheeling but the Brat has been acting up for the past week or so. Its having idling problems that I can't seem to track down. This may be the first and last meet for it for awhile, I think I may give it a little restoration, rustproofing and maybe even a shiny red or yellow paint job for its twentieth birthday. I want to get it cleaned up and protected so that I don't have to worry what might be lurking behind the fenders or shock mounts. Plus as these things get more and more collectable it might be fun to take it to some local car shows or something.

I adjusted the idle (I hope I got the right screw) as well the other night, mine has actually always run high (about 1000 - 1100 RPM). I didn't even realize that was high until I got into my service manual and saw that its supposed to be around 650 or so. After driving a bit today it seemed somewhat better but still stalls out occasionally, I also noticed that my fuel economy has gone to crap, I used to get between 28-30 MPG, I just filled it up last night and after 188 miles I'm already down to 1/4 tank. I've been thinking about just taking it off the road and spending some time restoring it, I'm beginning to think I may just do that. I've found a couple of minor rust spots that need some attention and I'd really just like to take it all apart and rust proof the whole thing, clean & reseal the engine...etc. I wanna make sure it will be around for another 20 years (Probably won't but I can always dream ;-) Thanks for all the help.

Ok, Plugs have been replaced, cap & rotor had some minor oxidation on them but nothing too bad so they were cleaned and reinstalled, found one very minor crack in a hose to what I think is a vacuum sensor (fixed that), also changed the fuel filter under the bed and the PCV valve which seemed ok anyways, I just got to the EGR valve tonight and it was almost completely clogged up with carbon deposits so I changed that out with a pretty decent one I found in a yard today and tried to clean out the manifold side of that system as best I could (lots of crud built up in there as well). I got all excited thinking surely that will fix it but it still runs like crap. I've looked all over the vacuum hoses and they all seem ok. One thing I'm wondering about is the small filter thing in the upper (rear) of the engine bay on the driver side. It looks like a fuel filter but I can't seem to find a replacement for it. Is there a secondary fuel filter? I can't even find anything about it in the service manual. Also, I've noticed that if I turn the AC on the engine will idle high (~1500 RPM) and get hot but it will be steady (no surging or stalling), maybe that will help someone recognize what it is. I'm about to go nuts trying to find it. Thanks

Thanks so much for the replies, as for tune ups; I'm sure it needs one. It runs fine but I really have not done much other than change an axle (and oil, filters...etc) since I got it over a year ago. I just changed the oil pan gasket last night (those bolts in the back were a P.I.T.A.!) and I wanted to get to the valve cover gaskets and plugs tonight but got suckered into shopping with my SO and her sister. I'll check the EGR valve and do that water bottle check tommorow night and probably get the plugs changed out as well. Hopefully I can get it tracked down; thanks again for the help.

Hey guys, I'm having a problem with my Brat (85, EA81, 4-speed, stock carb). A few days ago it started having problems at idle. It will run fine as long as I'm driving or the clutch is not depressed but as soon as I press the clutch and it gets down to idle it will idle way down liek it wants to stall before surge=ing back up. It will continue doing this until you press on the gas or start driving again. Also, if you repeatedly press the brakes while idling it will actually stall which leads me to believe it is probably vacuum related. I've looked over almost all of the hoses, plugs and lines under the hood and don't see anything obvious, anybody have any ideas that might narrow the search? I need to get it tracked down ASAP since I'm selling my backup driver tommorow and wil be relying solely on the Brat for transportation for awhile. Thanks in advance!

Yeah, I just started having a problem yesterday. The Brat runs fines as long as I'm driving or its under a load (let off the clutch and idle forward) but when I'm just idling it runs way down like its going to stall then comes back up to normal. It hasn't actually stalled but comes really close. I'm thinking maybe a vacuum line or something carb related. Any ideas???

Sweet, another Brat!