slideshow86

This brat has about 3-4 threads of issues. I dont have a manual, (BTW if someone has a FSRM for an 84 brat. Ill take It!) I have always initially set everything to zero and I just wanted to double check. (measure twice, cut once ya know) http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=85550&page=3

Ive been fighting this damn brat tooth and nail. I just dont know enough about the car and/or eng it self to just snap it out. I am stumbling over unnessary things, like does this go here and is that to this car..... It is getting better each day but I havent even been able to reach freeway speeds. Let alone travel from olympia to Walker valley. Ive put about $600 into it so far just trying to make it run correctly and smoothly. I just cant find the issue or I would throw money in that direction. Im just at a loss. Kinda bumms me out, I really wanted to make this one.

I know I was just hoping to get this thing going at least 60mph by 2weeks ago. To start working the bugs out and getting it road worthy. At least worthy enough to see if it would make the drive to walker valley, wheel it all day then drive home. But now thats looking slim to none. :-\ I wished some of the stock stuff would have been able to have been used. Been able to put some money into an ej or tires or somthing.

Thanks again GD

Thanks man I appreciate it. My problem is, I have never seen one of these cars just have parts or go to wrecking yards. I dont know what its supposed to look like or what the po has changed. Last thread I inspected everything when installing the lift. Everything visually is ok, and passes my "shake" test. strut rod bushings could be? But the vibration now is on and off like a switch. Just shifting from 3rd to 4th..

I found this while searching. It is for an 86 spfi I think, Is this same affect working not to burn up our ignitors?

Ok I read a little about these resistors for coils and my search didnt come up with much. I know the coil in my car says "resistor required" I know when I was at autozone a half an hour ago, I looked at a few stock coils for these cars. The one that he pulled out for the nippon denso said "resistor required" stamped on it. I tested it just for the hell of it, It had the ohm readings that you (GD) gave me for the hitachi......Maybe he had the wrong coil in the box? It was the part number of what was on his computer? EDITOk I think Im understanding this. The primary winding controls the ignition module. Correct resistance is critical to make it last. The resistance of primary winding in the coil in my system is 1.13 - 1.38 Ohms (mine reading 1.4) Take that number add it to the ristance the stock resistor/ballast adds and thats what the ignition module needs to be at. I need to know what the resistance is of the stock resistor/ballast or the desired ohm reading of the ignition module, so I can find out the correct resistor/ballast to use w/ an msd. If I choose to use it (which I bought just incase)

I thought I read some where that the nippon denso had the hotter spark? If that were the case its weird it also has more resistance across the coil windings? If I have 1.4 on my primarie and 9.58 secondary would this be a defective nippon denso or a hitachi? If it is running the correct primary but less resistance for the secondary, it would be hotter spark not less spark right? So it wouldnt cause loss in spark, it would actually be more spark. (Not really taking away from the over all power of the car, trying to figure out this loss of power here)

I know there bad but I can have one now to see if it fixes my problem and carry an extra when I get one. Here are the spec's of the blaster coil BLASTER 2 AND 3 SPECIFICATIONS Output Voltage: 45,000 Volts Maximum Operating Voltage: 12VDC Primary Resistance: 0.7 Ohms Secondary Resistance: 4.7K Ohms Turns Ratio: 100:1 ACCEL SUPER STOCK UNIVERSAL IGNITION COIL Primary Resist 1.2 Ohms Secondary 8.9 k Ohms Turn Ratio 100:1 Max Voltage 42000V Yellow If the primary and seconary doesnt match my oem coil. How could this be the right coil? Will it hurt anything? Even the specs for the accel's dont match. Those ohm readings are lower than what I have now. Im confused.

ok so I just didnt know what to set the settings on my MM. I have, Primarys 1.4 secondary 9.58? (thats the heighest reading of my mm) would this be 9,580 ohms? If this were correct, my coil would be bad. All I have is a bunch of 4wd coils. Time to search what msd it takes......

Thanks GD Now Im off to search what a primary and secondary winding is and how to test it. Now at least I know how to tell the difference.

-Double Post-

Ok I have an 84 4wd brat. It has a nippon-denso distributer( I know from a 2wd ). I know its ok to swap the whole nippon denso system out for the hitachi system as long as the coil goes with. My question is, how do I identify what type of coil it is? It is in the stock bracket and is black. The only thing written on it is "external resistor required" and the #12. The P.O. did the swap and I dont know what is what. Is it supposed to be labeled? This one isnt. Pretty much the car runs, ok but has low power. How do you test a coil? I just want to make sure everything is right and rule it out as a possibility.

I have the same car, just a little older. If you look in my profile for threads I have started you will find a few things about timing these cars. I have heard a few different ways to do it. My final way of doing it was not with the green test connectors connected. It was with the vac advance dissconnected and the 7 or 9 pin round connector ( that goes to your knock sensor and vac advance) under the maf, dissconnected. This gave me correct time.

Ok so I had half the day to myself, so I coulndnt help but working on it. I went and got 2 new axles and 2 new lower ball joints. Picked up a driveshaft to test, but the rear u-joint was shot so I didnt install it. After swapping everything in, It drives really well, no more crazy vibrations. Well all the way to the end of 3rd! Woo hoo! I messed with the timing and the mixture screw and the idle, in many different orders, trying to get the best combo for power. It seems ok/little weak as far as power goes( ive never driven one and ive heard there under powered) up till the end of 3rd but I cant use any part of 4th. My new top speed was 52 in 3rd. As far as the power goes. It seems to have really good power in 1st. seems like the power in 2nd is good . Although it doesnt like to rev out? (too advanced? I also had moved it from 12 to 10btdc) 3rd is pretty weak( also wont rev out). In 4 low it seems really good 1st-3rd. As far as the vibration, it happens when I shift from 3rd to 4th it instantly begins as soon as I push throttle, shift back to 3rd and no vibration. The vibration seems to be coming from the rear of the transmission, It shakes violently. I can coast in 4th, but as soon as I push throttle it vibrates soo bad I cant hold a constant speed in 4th. 3rd is great. Im going to try to swap that other drive line in and see if it atleast helps. This brat was wheeled pretty hard and the drive line could be bent or dented? But it seems great in 3rd? weird...Atleast i made a little progress. I think it will actually make it to a few wheeling spots around my house now so thats pretty sweet The eng is really ticky and I have yet to pull a compression test. It is a hydro eng, and supposedly it only has 90k? Grrrr, I need power!!!!( Just typing this, I think I should know what size jets im working with before I do to much more) Ok so I am doing this right correct.....GD told me to set the flywheel at 8btdc with the #1 piston at tdc (compression stroke) and have the rotor facing the #1 spark plug tower. Set timing to 8btdc with car warm at 800rmp with vac advance plugged. Im just making sure the setting of the flywheel at 8btdc w/ the #1 piston at tdc is correct. I get the best results shooting timing at 10-12btdc compared to 8? Thanks

Sounds like a nice brat! I wish mine could do 70 80! My top speed soo far is 40mph :-\ Still scratching my head over it though.

Seems like what I bought when I got the crate eng from a local distributer. He actually had some aftermarket gasket kit and t-belts/tensioners in stock (dont know brand, everything was in crazy japanese/chinese). I picked them up and a few oil filters and a cap and rotor. Those have been replaced but the t-belts and tensioners have been solid so far, im at atleast 40k since the install? I dont want to say go for it, not knowing anything about the brand. But for the price of the tensioners alone it seems good right? It may be worth just picking it up for them.

Thanks again GD

Will a driveline out of a ea81 wagon bolt right up to my get 2 brat? Tried searching but the only thing it comes up with is stuff for a 5 speed swap. Which im not doing till this thing runs right. Thanks Jess

She just wants to run..... Well she does run and shuts off w/o dieseling. The car was at operating temp and the person that started the car didnt give it time to idle before shutting it off. No big deal, just saying the car didnt die in the vid.

Ya I have started 3 other threads that I have posted in a bunch of times and it ends up just getting pushed back a few pages. This was just a thread to say I thank everyone for the help but thinking I think I am just going to push it out back and going to see if someone local could take a look at it. Ill tinker with it here and there, but have been at it everyweekend and a alot of midweek days, for over a month I think someone who knows these cars could fix it no problem and I feel stupid that I just cant figure it out. Never been soo stumped. I am almost wondering if the flywheel could be on there wrong? Isnt there a pin, so It can only go on one way? Anyone Near Olympia Washington interested?

Found this when looking at your vid subie sacrifice

Actually I think I tried it both ways? I must have read it wrong just being grumpy trying to search threw what seems hundreds of posts that dont even seem to be the same makes and models of my car. Most people having my issue seem to have an spfi? or ea82 carbed car Ok does the position of the #1 plug wire really matter if the firing order is correct and the rotor is at #1 when at tdc? I dont have a #1 possition

Ok, first yes its an ea81 Brat, The car was at my shop getting a lift installed and didnt run. I had it towed to my house and got the weber and intake from markjw. The intake had all these plugs already in it, it was sealed. Timing was achieved by setting the carb to "initial setup" settings. All new plugs, wires cap rotor. Setting to what GD said to set the flywheel at, 8btdc w/ 1cyl at tdc, w/ the rotor facing the #1 tower on the cap. With the correct firing order. I was able to finaly get it to run after replacing fuel filters and fixing the fuel pump wiring. I was having issues w/ the first webers choke. The seccond weber is able to be set up correctly and had no issues. It came off a good running ea81 hatch that mark had. Dont know the jet size. Mark and I did the same thing when replacing all the vacuum lines, that he did on all his subies. Im almost sure theres no vacuum leak. I know I blocked off all the egr and things coming from the head to the intake and all that stuff. Could this be an issue? I can get the car up to operating temp and she fires every time? Doesnt diesel on shut down. Revs clean just sitting there. Has LOTS of hessitation trying to drive. It drives ok in first. I have a few things to play on out back and was able to test 4wd and stuff. ( I got this thing pretty stripped, I dont know the condition of anything and was not near in running condition when I got it, I took on the project not ever seing under the hood of an ea81). The clutch was grabbing pretty well, dont know if this matters. I was able to climb a few prretty steep hills in first, there was zero clutch slip, but has massive hessitation when shifting any other gear.I actually kida got a little stuck trying to crawl through this one part and had to work it forward and backward. I was suprised how "good" the clutch acually felt. I checked the clutch cable to make sure it was set right, but the pedal feels good. It is missing the spring that pulls the clutch fork back? When I got insurance on it, I did a few road tests. It seems the hessitation is followed with/ caused by the vibration. It goes away w/ the clutch in and comes back right away when I release it. I know that what ever it is when I got it, had ripped drivers side motor mount in half and trashed drivers side trans mount. Ive replaced them with new. Its shaking the hell out of the transmission. It feels like it could be drive line? I want to swap it but havent search yet if one from a hatch or wagon will fit? I have a few to swap in to test if it does... Would this cause hessitation? I dunno, either way the car feels waaaayyy to under powered. I cant get over 40 for christs sake... Im just bummed :-\ ( the car that the carb came off of was able to go 65 on the freeway no problem) Idahojak- Yes the vac adcadvance is plugged when shooting time, when revving it it does advance timing, cant tell if its more w/ vac advance hooked up. I guess that depends on how much I rev it. I did the vac advance test thing where you blow in the tube to see if it moves and it doenst really move. I was going to swap it out with one I had but all the spares are hitachis, as the p.o. swapped in a 2wd dizzy and rotor. I have a complete hitachi setup, rotor and dizzy. Should I try to drop that it? Also. the coil says that there needs to be a ressistor hooked up? I dont think I have this ressistor, nor is it hooked up? Hti- 1-3-2-4 right? I wonder if I have the wrong cap and rotor?

I am at a loss here. Every thing that I am familair w/ checks out. I have spent as much money and extra time to this damn brat and it stilll wont run right. I just have too many projects to keep messing with this thing. Plus I am not getting anywhere w/ it. I am pulling the insurance off it and pushing it next to all my other non running cars. I just cant afford to throw any more money to this thing if its not going to run right. I know its just somthing stupid and if someone who was familair w/ these cars were to look at it they would probably go, "hay stupid, you know this is supposed to be like this" or "didnt you know that doesnt work w/ these cars" or " your missing parts"? So if anyone who is local, wants to trade some labor or lift parts for help getting this thing right. Please let me know. Other wize ill just let it sit here, ( I wont sell it, Ill just swap in an ej or somthing. I feel stupid about this whole thing. Problem is, I got everything in pieces and dont even know what its "supposed" to look like. Ive gotten it the way it is from the help from this board. Now, Im stuck....... >Short run through< I know the fuel delivery system is up working well, New front and rear filters, pump is pumping correct gmp. The original weber, I rebuilt, It ran really bad. The seccond onecame off a running subaru, it seems to be a "little" better. Only because the choke and ************ are set right. The coil and disty are from 2wd, Getting good spark, dont know how to test for "correct" spark. Tried 8,10, and 12 btdc for timing, thing still accelerates really jerky and like a slug. Now its set to 10 Plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor are all brand new. Every vacuum line is brand new w/ new hose clamps. >What its doing< It will idle nicely, seems to be smooth enough that I feel the timing is at 10btdc. 1st gear revs nice, 2nd is really jerky and has no power, 3rd is REALLY jerky, w/ even less power and 4th is undrivable w/ how jerky it is and how low the power is. The car wont go over 38-40 mph. On a lift, all wheels roll smothly, seems the brakes arent dragging on any corners, the cv's are all intact (not saying a doj isnt toast), all motor mts and trans mounts are new. Alignment is good, car doenst pull every which way. Oh and the kicker is it goes away 100% when you push in the clutch. To me, it feels like a timing issue even though ive reset it 10000000 times Thanks Jess Fed up with this damn thing. I am about to put a tarp over it for 2 reasons. 1 every time I see it, I want to drive/ wheel it and the 2nd is for rust. She is almost rust free!