DaBrizat

Just saw this now: condolences for the loss to you and his hamily. He sounds like a good guy. There was a thread about a similar situation on my Miata forum, but without the tragic end. I don't want to exploit this story by posting a link to this thread on the Miata board, but I wish some of the guys there could see this.

That's it! I don't know why I remembered it as a BRAT, but it's still sofa king cool! Thanks!

Thanks Dude. Not the BRAT, but still the tracks I was looking for. Are those things cool or what? Reason I was asking was that somebody on the Miata board I hang out at saw a little Ford in a U-Wash with 'em on it. Maybe a Focus (Fusion?), I dunno. I don't know my Fords.

Hey Guys, I remember seeing a video of a BRAT with 4 of those triangular track things on it, and it was pounding thru the snow in the back woods. Do you guys remember seeing that? Do you know if the vid is still up? Can you provide me a link? Thanks

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2162901 Here's a link to the event site forum. Looks looks like it's on June 18th at a new location (apparently NOT at Odana Road location). Note the award categories. I might try to detail-up for the Vintage category unless one of youse fellers gots o lock on that one.

Pleased to meet you, Mr Stanley. I really enjoyed your work in KISS (at least up to the baroque years of ALIVE II). Nice pics too. I like the wide angles in the rain forest. To your continued good health, Sir! Cheers!

Great reply. Thanks.

Yeah, I hear you on search. But I felt I had some basic knowledge that was missing to make sense of all the info... I already gots highway tires/wheels. Was looking for something with knobby look that didn't reguire modification to hub or body. Hence my question. Are there steel wheels out there that'll be what I'm looking for? Maybe drill stud holes in a wheel... like 15"ers...

Hey Y'all, Been lookng at this awesome thread's pics: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=117919&page=2 And now I'm wondering if (assuming redrilling is easily possible) if maybe I should get some bigger wheels would allow me to put nastier tires on my stock rig than I'm able to find for 13" wheels. And suggestions? And I assume the 'lifts' everyone references are from beyond the variable stance on the stock BRAT will allow. Is that right? I don't know where my suspension is at right now as far as the adjustable clearance goes. I'd bet that it's how ever it came from the factory. Been wearing stock wheels and tires sizes all these years... I saw someone had Dodge wheels or Toyota wheels in these examples. Do you think I can find a steel 15" that I can get cool tires for? Note I'm not into punishing it off road, so remember that I'm going to be on the road with it 99% of the time, and not too far off the shoulder the other 1%. (we'll see how long that lasts)

Hey Y'all, Met some of you over at Dirty Imprezza. Nice to see the Badger-Force building over here too. My BRAT looks a lot like my avatar, color and GL and all. It's in storage until May. I've had it there year-round for the past couple of years, but am planning to take it out this summer. Maybe do something with new tires and or wheels. The RWL GT/Radials on it now are too narrow, so I was thinking about wider, more aggressive tread and found how hard it is to have choice in 13" tires. Prob'ly Coopers, if I do it. Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting you cats this year. So keep your eyes peeled for my '85 Marina Blue BRAT.

Ya gotta love the Wisco Boys!

I appreciate that you're not a Subie guy, but please take care of this car for the sake of the rest of us. Don't drive it in winter and wait until salt is washed away by rain before driving it (reference the rear shock mounts in the wheel wells - rust is a death knell there. So try to sell it to an enthusiast if you feel you need to liquidate. Maybe you'll get better money from an enthusiast too. I similarly acquired my '85 that has about 56K miles on it. Was never into Sub's but remembered BRATs from HighSchool when they came out. Now I'm a car-guy and am blowing money on them all the time it seems. This summer I'm planning to take mine out of storage. It's been in there for a couple of years, so I want to drive it this summer. And I found that Cooper still makes some 13" RWL all-weather tires that I'd like to get.

I've got a set of those, uninstalled. And I've got another set that are odd (maybe not BRAT option). The Subaru covers swivel up and back out of the way of the yellow lenses. But the real gem is the GEN-1 hard bed cover with the louvers. I'm saving it for the Gen-1 I want to get.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I understand the towing and all. Too bad. I'd like to have both the BRAT and the Miata on some vacation events at each coast some time. Oh well. As for the towing limitations, are everyone's recommendation against it based on pulling power?, or stopping power or both. For the full set-up, I'd figured that I'd Weber up the motor, add Subi disks to the rear, AND make sure that the trailer has brakes. Maybe I didn't make that clear: I wasn't expecting to stop the whole thing with the BRAT's brakes.

Hey Y'all, I'm wondering if anyone has a suggestion for gnarly tires on my stock setup. Has anyone searched lately? I was looking in TireRack at studable snow tires that looked pretty good. Whatcha think? -DaBrizat

Hey Y'all, Here's a stupid question: what kind of engine do I have in my '85 GL BRAT? I'm inclined to think it's a ea82, but wonder if it's a ea 81. I've seen in EBay complete Weber Carb kits, but it says it's ea81 compatable only. What I'm thinking is that I'd like to get more power and better braking (like Frankensteining rear disks from a Loyale or something), because I'd like to trail stuff behind this car. Maybe like a (super) small camper, or maybe trail my Miata. But that has other issues of concern (like how do you get your car on a trailer by yourself, esp'y w/ a low ground clearance vehicle? So do you think I've got a ea81 or ea82? Note that it's a 4-SP '85 GL BRAT.

Right. Gotcha. I saw that after the post. Sorry. But that makes sense tho. And the Pug's are 15" too, eh? I was thinking they were 14's. As for Milwaukee meet(s), that'd be cool as I have family in the area and a kid @ UWM. But I've had the BRAT in storage for the past couple of years, mostly because we don't have the space for it and our DDs and all... But that would be cool tho.

Hey Y'all, it's been a while since I've been here. Hope everyone's doing well... I could use some work, myself. Question: Why do we only talk about Pugeot wheels as alternatives to stock? Just wonderin'. - I've been deep into Miata's for a couple of years, and noticed that they have the same wheel stud spacing (4x100 IIRC), and I've seen options for them. For example 14" BBS's. And w/o looking more closely, I'd suspect 15" options for the 4x100 spacing. - So is it an offset issue?, or have people just not done it? I'm just wondering if there are bigger wheels to run on my rig w/o having to do a 5-lug converstion... You know what I mean? Thanks for any info. -DaBrizat

Hi Y'all, I just took my BRAT out of storage and, dang, its fun. And I store it at a Street-Rod builder's place, and I'm happy about all the attention it got. The dude brought it around for me from the wash bay, and this guy from the business across the alley comes running over to see it. He is a Wisco boy who lived in NoCal back in the day and he said he saw them all over the place. I imagined that he may have seen some of the rigs that are driven by forum members. Anyway, that's all. Hope everyone's doing good. Keeping it real for 46 years, DaBrizat

What-up Y'all, Man I love my BRAT. It always pleases, and never disappoints me. Just taking it out of storage again. Been driving my new 2007 MX-5 (Touring, PRHT) since March, and it really felt different: roomier, higher seat, WAY sloppier tranny, and much slower. But it still starts up nice (after charge), runs like a top. At times I've left my other cars sitting for a while (like a week or so), and they cough when started like they were in storage for years. But that dang BRAT CAN be in storage for years and still start-up and run lots better'n them other cars, and runs over our F-ed up roads much smoother than my Miata (no doubt due to taller tires and softer suspension), which transmits every bump up into my carcass thru me bum. About the sprayer mod., has anyone modified the sprayers so they produce more of a "schpritz" than a stream of fluid? Like maybe from a more modern 'Ru? What do you think?

...all up on her cradles... and those are blue jugs of Subie-Tears.

Yeah, its pretty cool looking: with the cross-bars being stainless steel or brushed aluminum. Its really more of a winch-mount, really. But I suppose they had versions of it where the cross bars are extended thru the frames to protect the lights and corners. I've seen similar, but not the same. As for where I got it, sorry to say that it came with the car, so I'm not sure. But the car came from Albuquerque, NM and was bought new by my father's Uncle Pete (both now deceased). He had a gen-1 BRAT that he traded-in on this, and had the brush-guard put on, and a tonneau cover made (he sold the jumpseats, belts, and headrests, so I had to score those on EBay). So I expect it was from some shop near their home there in ABQ. And I suppose with all that, I never answered your question.

Ha! Maybe so. And it sure wouldn't be the FIRST time! But my BRAT's so sweet, and it was a gift from a now deceased relative. So I see it as a summer driver. But if I had BRATs to burn (and a place to put 'em), you could bet your Brett Favre jersey I'd be out there motoring around in the snow we've been getting! And its funny that you include plow, as I was just describing to the MRS an advert I'd seen of a gen-1 woody wagon with a snow plow rump roast'y - it was an ad for the plow, not the Soob. We laughed that I could get that and just push straight out the garage for the length of the drive, then back 'er up back in there again (the BRAT I mean).

That's about as much snow as I'm willing to let my BRAT see. Its been real tempting tho to take it around the cul de sac before the salt truck gets there!