DaBrizat

Good job. I covet one of those hi-boy toppers. But they're always too far from Wisco fer me to glom onto. (Hint Hint?)

Howdy Y'all, So I've got my eye on a small camper to pull behind my '85 BRAT GL. But I'm worried about power and all. What would you pull with a stock set-up vs with Webers? I worried that Webers would ruin mileage (until I read a recent thread that showed good mileage with them), or not improve the power. Here's the camper: http://www.tab-rv.com/specs/index.php, notice that the gross loaded vehicle weight is 1,935 lbs. What do you guys think? -Dabrizat

Just a FYI - maybe the Sube engine is more resillient than my truck - maybe more experienced users could chime in on that one... Steve, Thanks for the input. Don't want to spring any leaks. In fact there's aleady a small one my wife would like me to get rid of. ;-) I'm totally lame and unexperienced at auto mechanics, but aspire to learn (but not at an emergency pace because I f-d something). So I don't want to get in over my head, you know? But re. the synth oil vs natch, does that suggest I use a different weight of synth than I would natch? Maybe I should stick with natch. Either way I don't want to have to take it to Jiffy Lube to do it, especially after I made a big production out of wanting to do it myself and how much less expensive it is to go there all the time...

I am weak sauce! So I tried to do all the work this weekend, and it turned out that I couldn't get the oil drain plug out. It wouldn't budge. Been having Jiffy-Lube change oil up to now, but want to start doing it myself. So am I safe to yank on that drain plug? What about liquid wrench? Will that make the seal corrupt? Thanks, DaBrizat

So I'm going to take the BRAT off its wheel dollies, but want to change the oil while its up there (car is relatively level and has more clearance), but am worried about draining the old oil after its been sitting in the pan all winter. But it makes sense to me that starting it up to warm-up the oil will redustribute the dirty oil and gunk back thru my engine. What do you guys think? Plus I'm planning to use synthetic. Any comments on that? I've got <60,000 original miles on it. Thanks everyone! -DaBrizat

So I was watching Emergency Vets of something on the animal channel (I gotta get out more), and the uniforms come to rescue some poor dog who's got his head stuck thru the hub hole of a subject automobile rim. And I was all excited because I recognized it was a Subaru wagon wheel (my wife and kids weren't impressed). His neck was all swollen and couldn't pull out, so they had to cut apart the rim with a Sawsall. Maybe that observation should be in the 'you know you're a Subaru Geek when...' thread.

Cammo pattern looks like what they painted on WW1 / WW2 battleships and whatnot. Cool.

or a L/R scanning one like a Cylon (oops, you just saide that - I read "cyclops") or the Night Ranger (oops again, I mean KnightRider, you know, with Hasselhoff?)... But my fave so far (other than the Fuji memorial plaque), is the ejector seat button. I'm picturing a protected toggle switch like you might see on "the botton" to "the bomb" like in an airplane or submarine. You always see the bomberdiers in movies flipping open the switch cover of the "pickle."

1985 BRAT GL - 52,000 original miles

Yeah, what he said. Leg room (and the lack thereof) is what hit me first. As well as the belting sitch. In Wisco you can out people back there due to grandfathering the stock arrangement, but I wonder about the extra seats, even with belts since they were not original to the car. And in Wisco the passengers have to be 16 or older, so you can't have a foursome of shorties back there at a Packer tailgate party or sumpin. But it sure would be cool to do, if The Man doesn't come down on you.

Curious about what you guys mean by "dino." Its natural oil, which comes from dead organic matter, like DINOsaurs, right? Is that why the natural oil is called dino? If so, that's kinda clever. Just trying to keep my jargon and slang straight. As for the oil sitch, I'm rollin dino, yo. And the leaks are abundant.

Yeah, dude. What they said. When I got my '85, I called Wisco DOT and was told the whole grandpa routine. BUT I was also told a useful detail that kids have to be 16 or over to ride back there. And by that age they're too worried about their hair getting messed-up in the wind. An adults' head is up over the top of the cab, to when underway, the wind shears over the top of it and they're facing backwards. So check to see if, while legal, if there isn't any small print that The Man can come down on you for - like the ages of minors...

This is the solution I was pondering when I originally posted the question, but investigation revealed that the upper parts on either side of the flange are not parallel to the ground. Then I worried that the slot for the flange might take so much material from the 2x that it might break along that line and f-up (sorry about the language) something. Then I pondered a 4x4, then worried if it might be too thick. And plus I don't have the tools for that either, so... I think I'm going to try to use the pumpkin and the engine braces this weekend. I'm putting the car on dollies for the winter, and I want to be able to push it sideways to make more room for my wife's car. You guys'll think this is funny: after deciding to NOT use the floor jack with the stock jack-points, I pulled out the stock jack but blacked-out about the l-shaped handle under the spare. I was looking at the tool bag and wondering how the heck I was supposed to use the screw driver or lug wrench to work the jack. What an idiot! I even pondered putting the stock jack on the floor jack, but even I knew that would be a bad idea! Thanks everyone! -DaBrizat dunno enough about the board to know how to include pics of my rig in this thread, but I've got a couple posted under my handle: DaBrizat. Check 'er out!

Hi Guys, So I got this swanky new hydraulic floor jack, and want to jack up my BRAT. But with the unibody, I don't know where to put the jack point. The jack has a more or less flat top, but the car has a vertical flange at the jack points for the stock jack. I don't want to use those points because the flange will crimp over under the load. Are there any jacking jigs that will convert from the stock jack head to the flat floor jack head? Does that question even make sense? And where would I place the jack stands? Could those be the lift points? Thanks for any enlightenment you can provide. -DaBrizat

I wish I could figure out how to include a pic on this dang thing, but I've posted pics somewhere on the forum of my BRAT w/ low-topper. I've been coveting a high one too, disagreeing with the dude who likes the low ones more. I think it makes you lose the line of the edge of the box from the cab down. So for that reason I'm NOT painting mine the same as body color. I'm going to paint mine a metallic version of the interior color, which will retain the definition of the BRAT's ElCamino-like line. Just a thought.

First let me just point out that I'm not very smart OR mechanically inclined, BUT: I'd like to know exactly where (pics?) under my '85 BRAT are the suspension adjuster thingies? I understand that there's one for each wheel, ain'a? Or one for front and one for back? Do I need any special tools? Big muscles? Just wonderin'.

HA! Awesome response!!

I've got a jump-seat frame that was cut out if a BRAT bed. The frame onwhich the plastic seats are bolted is shaped to fit onto this frame: the rear of the seats fit onto the round portion of the bed frame and the front of the seat frame lips-over the front L-shaped portion of the bed frame, and that's where you put the bolt to hgold the seat onto the bed frame. A few bucks plus shipping would do it.

I've occasionally seen them 'booties' fer sale on EBay, and it looks like somebody's remaking them, cuz they're in perfect shape. But I must admit that its been a while since I've seen 'em on there.

Hi Everyone, Does anybody have an extra one of these rods? The one on the engine side of the battery? I just noticed the washer and wingnut laying on the sheet metal below the battery, but no rod. (hope i remember to get them out of there before I take it out this weekend - and I probaby just guaranteed myself that I won't. STML victim). Thanks, DaBrizat

That matches my experience with a '96 Civic Coupe with a Yakima bike rack (with Fairing [sp?]). With that gear on top I was getting about 25mpg and without closer to 30 (with an automatic). So your experience is believable to me. Probably especially if the miles are hwy miles, I'd guess.

Hey guys! I'd like to see if I could get some more comfy seats for my '85 BRAT that'll be just a bolt-in modification. Are there any other seats out there (with less arse-crushed padding) that a guy like me (not very mechanically inclined) could do? Or would it be an exercise of finding Subi seats of a similar vintage that are more comfy? New aftermarket seats prob'ly require some cutting and drilling, eh? The BRAT used to belong to my great-uncle (my Dad's uncle) and has only 50,000 miles on it, so out of respect to Uncle Pete, I'm sticking to only bolt-on mods for it. Any ideas? Thanks in advance, DaBrizat

Hey everyone! So my BRAT's about to turn 50,000 original miles. Any thoughts on age related stuff on the subject issues that might suggest replacing these things any time soon? No other evidence to suggest that replacement is necessary. Just trying to think ahead. Thanks in advance. DaBrizat

Some hard-earned advice: If you ever actually put a bike on that roof rack, be sure to take it off before you pull into your garage. Yeah, I know. And the bad part is that I'd been mocking two of my buddies for having done the same thing a couple years earlier. The bike was fine, but the Yakima pedistals we're bent up, and the roof was dented and scratched. Luckily it was only a Civic. Ha! Got 'er in out of the rain, tho!

[quote name=Seahag1978 I love mine.[/quote] That's the response I was looking for... I'd imagined getting a BAJA as my daily driver, so it would compliment my BRAT. I also imagine getting a Gen-1 BRAT for my Subaru stable, as well as a couple German and Italian cars for the "Axis Powers" wing of my car collection. I like the BAJA, but I'd get that hard tonnueau cover for it since I'm in Wisco. Gotta keep the beer cans and cheese heads from piling up in the bed. -DaBrizat