lonnie

tapil - you have responded to the wrong post

naru-it does not sound like you have experience with the changes i have suggested and thank you again for your comments. does anyone else care to comment on changes to the ignition system?

brevity is not always illuminating.

thanks for response naru. would appreciate knowing the why - is this your guess, experience or what? thank you.

as each year passes, original parts become increasingly hard to find. there is also not enough of a market (brats) to warrent replacement parts to be made. the result is i find myself having to make do with what i can find off other cars or modding what i need to. i restore international scouts of the early 60's and we do the same there.

am looking into upgrade ignition of my 81 brat with 1800 motor. would i do same type of changes, msd box and 8.5 mm wires and coil? anyone with experience on this application with these upgrades and how it worked? thanks.

i am getting little heat out of my 81 brat. could this be caused by a problem with the valve or is it more likely just the heater? also how did you ultimately deal with the valve issue? thanks

suggest your approach to fixes be guided by your long term interest in car. assuming you plan to keep it, i would find a good radiator shop and simply have it rebuilt. my experience is the certainty around fitment, sizing and assurance from the shop it will work, is worth more the older i get.

chances are it is the radiator however if your rig has been neglected a good part of its life then it certainly could be a combination of things. if you plan on keeping the brat, then at some point you will have to do something about the entire cooling system. So too should you address the the engine tune, etc. as these things become older , the cheap quick fixes over the past many years catch up and it may now be the time to renew/restore the existing system.

interior looks great, who helped you with the seats and carpet?

following your project with great interest. you have made trememdous progress in very short order and I look forward to your new posts. It is particularly interesting to see that you have embraced the uniqueness of the 81 model year and are pursuing a restoration. I too have an 81 (even the same color) and conversely have found that which distinguishes the car from other years to be a source of frustration since parts can be so hard to find. By way of example i am just now converting the unique 4 speed to a 5 speed. Best of luck to you.

thanks to all who posted suggestions and offered help. Proceeded with conversion with the help of local friend who is expert in things subaru. Pls know the info provided did move this project forward and to get it done.

thank you. sent PM.

can any one provide me any info or link to make conversion to 5-speed for my 1981 brat? thanks.

does anyone have information on 5 speed conversions for early gen 1 brats. thanks.

what about going to a 5-speed? who has done this?? is it easy???

that would be great i will send you a PM

checked engine and tranny mounts, both are in reasonable order. given i drive car 30mi. per day have noticed popping out trouble getting worse by the day. will start my search for good used tranny... any suggests welcome, thanks.

many thanks, i will try this.

very helpful, i will look into it tonight, thanks.

thx for response. had trouble tracing wire for pump and the radio source was handy. this weekend expect to find fuse located by glovebox as was earlier suggested and will see if i can be correct source wire working. by the way, sourcing from radio (have removed radio and console) it has now worked for nearly a month with no problem. also, pls explain more why replacing voltage regulator might help? thanks.

Over last several days 81 brat has started popping out of 2nd gear. Is there an easy fix or is the easy fix a replacement gear box. i am assuming the cost to go into the box is cost prohibitive? thanks.

as regards rust proofing, of course it is better to do this than not. i think most everyone can agree on that. as regards your particular situation, seperate needs from wants. If for example, the car will see limited use, is always garaged and consequently have limted exposure to the elements then the need is certainly low. i am not familiar enough with the car to know if the sills are sealed or not, but if they are this would further diminish the need to rust proof. As for what product to use, there are hundreds on the market. my experience with POR has been very good. as regards restoration costs, for most main-stream cars, the largest item is usually labor. the hours spent stripping a car or sanding a fender is not dependent on make or model. Accordinly i would suspect the restoration costs associated with this project to be not dissimilar from your average 1961 international scout, 1962 MGA, mid-sixties corvette or 1970 ford bronco. if you are taking them all the way down to the shell or frame and starting over a lot of it is the same.