casm

Thanks! I'm actually thrilled with the way they turned out - the old ones were great, but these are a major upgrade over them. Can't wait 'til the heaters are wired in. Give me a day or two and I'll do exactly that I wish I could give you more info off the top of my head about them, but as I had a shop do the work it's pretty much an area I know squat about right now. Just remember these are the non-power seats - mounting power ones may be more difficult due to the motor positioning. Having said that, I highly recommend the swap - it just makes it that bit nicer to live with.

JDM == Just Dump Money.

It's done, minus the heaters. On a quest for glycerine soap in order to clean them up a bit more - they've still got some junkyard dust on them in the photos. Click images for the larger versions.

Oh, yeah, that's worth opening up the wallet for Good luck!

Sounds like the last two Brats I've had - both with Rock Auto-supplied OEM oil pressure sensors. Cold pegs the gauge at 70, warm running is typically around 45-50, and idle is 30-ish. Guess we're all just victims!

Nah, just check the basics yourself first. A lot of this doesn't require specialised knowledge, just the ability to pull spark plugs, unbolt a coil, etc. If you can get us whatever you can, it helps to track stuff down - which in turn can end up saving you money even if you decide to have someone else do the work.

Okay... What have you checked so far? I'm not really up on the EA-82s, but here's what I'd go through on pretty much any car; modify recommendations as necessary to suit your situation: - Is the math on the fuel economy correct? (I've got this one wrong before) - Is the fuel you've got OK? (drain / run out tank, fill up at a different station) - Spark plugs (cracked, worn out, what sort of colouration?) - Plug wires (are they oil-soaked, cracked, and / or showing arcing?) - Distributor cap (check for cracks and broken / worn contacts) - Rotor arm (check tip and centre for wear) - Ignition coil (if you shake it, can you hear the oil sloshing around inside? If not, time for a new one) - Fuel filters (clogged / cracked?) - Fuel lines (cracked?) - Vacuum leaks (got any?) - Timing (no misses or flat spots, distributor / shaft bushings OK?) - Carb / FI (is it running rich or leaking; injector(s) & sensors OK?) That's more or less the order I'd check it out in. Need some more info before we can really give you an idea, though.

Very cool! Just one thing wrong with it... ...It needs more of your white Brat in it; it reminds me of my last one Thanks for sharing that - it's probably the only time I've ever seen an XT, SVX, and FF in the same place at the same time. Like I said - very cool.

Bah, old news... http://www.mibv.com/Mini/Misc/TwiniMini/index.htm Check out how gear shifting was accomplished...

Just on the subject of keyless entry for a moment... I was fooling with a '98 (IIRC) Legacy wagon in the junkyard yesterday, and it had a tag on the front body crossmemer above the headlights stating that the vehicle had a remote keyless entry system installed. I'd never seen anything like this before, but it was there. My guess is that if it was on a '98, it's available on a 2000. This car's in the for sale section there and I may be picking it up shortly, so I can't do a strip & ship on the system.

Overall it sounds like you've probably done OK on this one. Coolant leaks are typically the usual things: rotten hoses, cracked radiator, bad cap, etc. What part of the engine does it look like it's coming from? Also, check under the carpets at the front. If the heater core is leaking, you could be losing it under them and never see it. Oh, and replace the thermostat and acid flush (the kind you drive around with in the system for 8-12 hours of running) and refill the cooling system with pre-mix 50/50. Others will probably have something to say about the pre-mix, but I'm keen on it since it's just easier to deal with. Point is: EA engines in particular need good coolant, and you don't know when it was last done. Ditto the thermostat. It's cheap insurance against one potential point of failure. Don't neglect sedans, wagons, hatches, or coupes for stuff as well. Interchangeability between models is pretty high on mechanical and trim bits, though Brats are closer to hatches than the others. As an example, the hatches and Brat used different struts and mounts to the other models (ask me how I learned that one).

OK I'll start with this one: Doesn't look too horrible, assuming it's just in the fender. Do you have any photos of the bed, particularly ones showing the shock towers / wheelarches from the outside? Not a big deal as long as it's been looked after. My last one was sold with 187,000 on the clock (IIRC) and had excellent compression. Drive it and see what shakes out. If you've done 100 miles without any major issues, that's not a bad sign - you just need a little more time to figure out where any areas needing attention might be. New oil pressure sender. $30 from rockauto.com, and they've got the OEM ones. I've actually got one on the shelf waiting to go in. Easily adjustable as long as you've got some jackstands. Remember that the handbrake operates on the front wheels on these things, so you'll be fiddling around with that end not the other. Door replacement's already been covered, but keep your glass - IIRC, Brat glass isn't quite cut the same as for other 2-doors of the same era. I may be wrong, though. Use a hairdryer to warm up the decals, then peel them off. Lighter fluid to remove any adhesive left behind. Nope. Just gotta find a good one in the junkyard, or put a dash mat over it. I'd love to hear what that means once you get it figured out. Good choice

Decided I wanted to try something not in the EA-81 realm. Here's a preview; click for the full-size image: I figure that I can widen the space between the jumpseats so that the existing rear headrests can pretty much be used for passengers facing both directions. True, they'll sit low to the floor, but they're really only intended for use by kids anyway. Seatbelts should bolt in fairly easily, and by forward-hinging the jumpseat frame everything under the cargo area floor should remain accessible. I'll need to lose the cargo cover to make it all work, though it may be possible to adapt it to pull out rear-to-front. Note: pretty much everything I've said in this post is a complete fake. But I couldn't resist taking the photo while the jumpseats were back there.

That's odd - I drove the 2010 a few weeks ago, and the salesman said it took regular. Not that I would put it past a salesman to be economical with the truth, but are you sure that that's not a requirement for the Turbo? It just seems strange that they've gone that way, especially when the 2010 OBW with the six-cylinder now uses 87 instead of the 93 we have to put in my mom's '07 OBW.

Not to be a jerk, but you may want to start a thread on this in the New Generation Forum - it's more appropriate for your model and I'm actually at a loss for the wiring part myself, so you'll probably have better luck over there. Besides, I'd like to see the replies as well since i'm going to have to go through the same thing at some point.

Not strictly Subaru-related, but it does apply here. My Jeep has the overhead console that does all the temperature / compass / fuel consumption stuff. In all honesty, I've never found the instant fuel consumption readout at all useful except for telling if I'm driving into a headwind or not. Sure, it'll tell me I'm getting 10mpg uphill and 45 downhill - but it's really the average that counts, since that points more to a potential issue. Frankly, doing the divide-distance-travelled-by-gallons-in-the-tank is likely going to be a lot more useful for him. Also, from looking at the site for the device, it won't work on a carbed vehicle. My old Peugeot 505 (which had mechanical injection) had a device called an Econoscope that purported to tell you if you were driving too hard, but it was frequently inactive and / or inaccurate. It worked off of engine vacuum and something similar could probably be rigged up for a carbed Soob, but again it comes back to the usefulness of an instant readout. The cool factor is definitely there, and I do remember seeing a junkyard Brat with something similar (but not as fancy). No idea if it worked or not, but from the buttons it did basically what you're looking for. Not sure how it would tie in to an EA-81 (again, I'm guessing vacuum), but it might be something to research if you're gung-ho on the idea.

Oh, wow. I'm really sorry to hear about that, but glad you're OK. That Brat was the one that made me see the value of EJ-22 engines in EA-81 bodies.

The LED lights fit Indeed it may. For anyone wondering, replacing all exterior lights except the headlamps on a Brat generates the following parts list: Indicators (4): Wide Amber 1156-A24 Brake / Taillights (2): Wide Red 1157-R24 Reversing lights (2): Wide White 1156-W24 5.50 Front Parking Lights (2): 120 Degree White WLED-W-x Front Sidemarkers (2): 120 Degree Amber WLED-A-x Flasher relay: Trico EP-34 from NAPA. Not yet tested, but apparently correct. I went with 24-element (18 forward, 6 radial) bulbs on the indicators, brake / tails, and reversing lights since I *really* want to be seen. Not sure how street-legal they'll be, but we'll see what happens.

Lights got here today. For anyone who may be thinking of going the same route: I'll test-fit them in my spare taillights later (the world's longest clutch job continues apace), but it looks like they're going to work and anecdotal evidence suggests that the flasher is the correct one. w00t for people actually being able to tell when I'm stopping!

I'm really digging the dark grey colour on the rims; had those same ones on my old Peugeot 505 years ago and wanted to do exactly that. They're going to look dead sharp on the Brat.

It was a series of blind confirmation from multiple sources with access to Subaru reference materials. Once I had three of them give me the same info without telling them what I had already learned, I called it confirmed and awaited results from my final source before publishing. FWIW, my sources were Subaru Canada, Subaru of Hamilton, Ontario, and Four Star Motorsports. I also received a fourth confirmation from a member here, whom I shall let remain anonymous unless he chooses to pipe up.

Actually, I did this in my Jeep. Love it. Saw that, and was thinking it could even be used to heat water for trail showers. Awesome job by him on it.

Ended up going the superbrightleds.com route. They were able to confirm the bases for me over the phone, so we'll see what happens when they get here. FWIW, I picked up an electronic flasher relay today. I don't have the part handy, so don't know if it's a low-current one or not; looks like another 'wait and see' item.

I'm gradually replacing all of the non-headlamp lights on the Brat with LED bulbs, and am running into a problem. The issue is with the bases on the bulbs where the bayonet mount meets the bulb itself. What I need is a flared-style base, like this: Not a flat-style base like on this one: Basically, the flat bases won't fit in my light buckets. The problem I'm running into is that all 23-element LED bulbs seem to use that style of base. Does anyone know of a source making the 23-up-element bulbs with the flared base? I'd really like people to know when I'm on the brakes, so getting as many of those little suckers in there as possible is key in this.

OK, confirmation has been obtained. The tranny is a 4.11 used in Canadian-model Legacys in 1990 and 1991 only. Hopefully this helps anyone wondering what it is that they've got. If SOA were able to search Subaru Canada part numbers it would make things a lot easier, but at least we've got solid numbers to go on.