SueBee2

I sold my 82 Brat today for $4250. It has 119,000 miles, very little rust. It's a reliable daily driver, but needs lots of tinkering. Good body, original paint.

Thank you for the replies,we appreciate your time. This Brat has a Hitachi breakerless ignition system with the module in the distributor. Looks like they used old wires on this rebuilt distributor so I will check them. Cap and rotor are good. Thanks Again!

Greetings, we have a 1982 Brat GL, the car had been running fine, except we did have a momentary miss a week ago. Two days ago the car would not start, the engine was cold and spins over fine but will not start. I started by checking the wires and when I pulled the wire out of the coil it was corroded green and pulled the connector out of the coil. I installed a new coil and coil wire. The car had no spark, I tested the coil, It checks good (the old one checks good to but has no wire connector). The folks at the parts store suggested to put a test light on the negative post on the coil and the battery negative post. When cranking over the engine the test light should flash, if it stays lit then It probably is a distributor problem. Our car does not flash, just stays lit. We installed a new distributor but have the same problem. Does anyone have some suggestion on other tests I can perform, or other components that can cause this problem. Thanks in advance for your help.

Yes please treat that AC with TLC. Someone will want it. Who knows? Maybe it would still work (the factory air in my '82 Brat does--Okay, okay-- did work, perfectly until a few weeks ago-- a wiring issue that I hope to deal with soon). Anyway, it could be a real find for someone.

Welcome! You're in good company: there are lots of people from Oregon and Washington.

Hi, and welcome! I am in Montrose with an '82 Brat, also on the lookout for Brat bits and pieces. I'm hoping to check out a local junkyard this week for any 80's Subarus. Number one on my list is a front, passenger side turn signal lens. They are not to be found.... There's a guy outside of Grand Junction with an '86 Brat (wrong color dash) who MIGHT part it out, or sell the whole thing for around $200, but he is a real odd bird and not the easiest to deal with...

I had a 2006 Forester and now have a new 2010 Forester. I had trailer hitches on both to tow a small camp trailer--but, it only weighed a little over 1,000 lbs. fully loaded.... You hardly knew it was back there. As I understand it though, the Forester is only rated to pull 2,400 lbs. (2,000 lbs. for the automatic). So you're pretty much maxing out your limits with what you want to tow. It might be doable if you drive mostly in the flatlands. It wouldn't work for me living in a mountainous area at high elevation. Before I got the Forester, I looked at other models, but no other 4-cylinder I found had as high a towing capacity.

Sweet! Looks in fine shape. I have an '82 Brat, too.

Well, uh, no-- $11 will only buy you a little more than 4 gallons of gas-- if you went 130 miles you were getting 30+ mpg.....

Thanks, that's a BIG help, exactly what we need to know. We have the "Keeping your Subaru Alive" book and the Haynes, but, still, it doesn't always have the answers. Considering the work pulling the front end apart I think we will get the sealed bearings (and new ball joints), so we shouldn't have to worry about those for a few years, with any luck.

Well, that's a good idea, though we were thinking of taking out the bearings, cleaning, and repacking them.... It's hard when you don't know much history on a vehicle. Unless it is obvious that work has been done (like on the brakes) we are assuming that almost everything needs checking, greasing, or repair!

(woops) fluid cleaning up the underside of the front end. I always get the fun jobs-- my husband gets the more skilled tasks. Got the valves adjusted (all loose). One more thing off my to-do list. Thanks for the parts offers! If anyone hears of a RIGHT turn signal lens, I'd LOVE to know, thanks. Also need the chrome strip for the tailgate edge... Thanks, everyone.

Well, crap, sorry-- I MEANT to say a RIGHT front turn signal lens-- thanks, anyway (got excited there for a minute!). I didn't even ask at Checker or Napa for the radiator plug. They didn't have the choke pull-off I wanted or a couple of other misc. items, so I didn't bother to ask about the radiator plug. I'll check tomorrow when I return the tie rod puller we borrowed from them. Now we just have to get the steering knuckle pressed off, and we're a little closer to getting it done. Tomorrow morning I get to crouch on the garage floor with a wire brush, scraper, and some parts cleaning

We have a few days off the get some work done on the new Brat, so decided to attack replacing the front drive axles and shaft. The boots were badly torn when we bought it (and the previous owner lived on a gravel road) so we decided to replace the whole shafts instead of just the boots. OKAY, so this is nothing like my old VW! Major project, but at least it's a good opportunity to check everything out under there, check the brakes, grease the bearings, etc. and clean up the grease and dirt caked on. Ran into a snag, though. Couldn't get the tie rod end out-- we have 3 or 4 different pullers, but none of them quite right, so we will go looking for the right kind of puller tomorrow. Question-- on the DOJ end of the axle, we got the roller pins out fine, but are wondering if they can be reused if they are in good shape, or if they should be replaced? Also see ball joint boot was torn on one side, so we'll probably be replacing those.... Hopefully, not too much more will crawl out of our can of worms. On the positive side, I'm amazed that there is NO rust underneath on this 30 year old vehicle. Tomorrow: try to figure out if we have a bad relay in the air conditioner wiring; adjust valves/new valve cover gaskets; new fuel filters; drain radiator; fix anything else that turns up needing repair.... One more Question: Anyone know where you can get a replacement for the white plastic radiator plug? Okay, while I'm at it: Left front turn signal lens-- don't know where else to look for one of these! They are not to be found-- maybe in some junkyard somewhere, someday.... I can dream...

Frankly, I'd rather pay more money for one GOOD Brat... Even if I had to travel. They do come around if you're looking. Heck, I saw a rust-free '86 Brat for sale a week or two ago less than 2 miles from my house! Sorry, it's in Colorado.