MaddCelt

I detailed my Brat. When we bomb canned it the wife covered the brat lettering. I felt it was high time to redo them. So, with $2 worth of paint and contact paper I went to work.

So my thought of no more that $200 isn't that far off. I'll be calling him again soon and letting him know that I'll offer him no more that $100 depending on what I see under the hood and underside if he wants to clear it out. I could use the parts and at the very least it will give me something to learn on that will not leave me having to drive the wife's Jeep if I mess up. I took a spin on Google Earth to see haw far back the car shows and at could make it out in the same spot for at least 7 years.

I know this is a bit off topic but I am curious. According to Wiki it is said that the body style was restyled in 81. According to this link 5553 were produced that year. Anyone know the stats of how many were of the old style? I ask because a guy I got parts from said something about it being rare and I should not get rid of it.

A couple of days ago a co-worker told me of a Brat he has seen sitting and told me where it was. Not wanting to wait I cut my sleep short (on night shift this week) and hit the road. This is what we found, First question is what year is this? I could not get into it to find out. As you can see it has been sitting for quite a while. Long enough for the tires to go and woody vines to grow over to and into the engine compartment. You can see the ends working their way out of the hood. Inspection of the underside, as best as I could manage shows serious amount of cancer on the body but unknown on the important areas. The interior is bleached out and cracked. There is less rust on the upper body. The owner returned my call and we talked a little about it and his asking price. He was told "if" the engine runs that alone could go for around $2000. He said it would not go for less than $500. Now, I do not make alot of money and having bought a running Brat for $200 that is in rough shape but I drove home and back and forth to work with little work done to it. I tend to be quite opinionated on what I think a car is worth and what I would offer if the tables were turned. This has been sitting for a long time, the engine is likely overgrown with vines, so starting it would take alot of work and time and the tires are shot so driving it would be out. At this point I do not know what engine is in it (EA82?) or what could be swapped out with my 81. What would YOU offer for this Brat?

Might want to look into a CV joint. Mine does the same thing. If it is you will want to get it fixed ASAP. Metal on metal is bad and will only get worse.

Flipped the fuel filter in the engine compartment. Had it on backwards. Located a loose vacuum hose that connected to the top of the carb but I haven't a clue what connected to it. I'm beginning to get irritated with the books I have that have next to nothing on the vacuum system. Even consulted the diagram on the hood and that was about as useful.

That is great to hear!! We were wondering how that was going.

I realized that a couple of days ago. Never put one on before that so chalk one up for newbness.

Figured out what they are, vacuum switches.

Replaced the passenger front axel boot, changed fuel filters, patched the old tank and reconnected it, got the tank out of the back, pulled up the remaining carpet and cleaned out the years work the crud.

Glad to see things up and running again. I was beginning to think I was going to have to remove the sticker I just slapped on the window. I found out when there was an email for a reply to What have you done to your Subi lately.

I cleaned off the old hunting stickers from the back window and replaced them with more fitting ones. These were before I trimmed the excess off.

Changed both valve cover gaskets.

That's what they look like??? I wasn't sure what the underside of a subi looked like without rust eating everything.

Returning to this thread to post the actual problem. Unbeknown to me, the return line from the canister is gravity fed and since my tank modification put the tank above the canister, it backed up and overflowed. Unfortunately I may not be able to correct that with the current set up. So now I will need to bite the bullet and drop the original tank to see if I can patch it up.

We continue the story were we left off at bypassing the evap canister. A week passes and I am able to drive the Brat again and I was quite happy until I noticed a unpleasant smoke entering through the vents. Got home and noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the engine. Took a look and noticed there was some oil leaking onto the exhaust pipe. Two days later it got bad enough to about fog me out of the car and this morning I located the source/ The valve cover gasket. As my only exp with valve covers came when I helped dad tear apart a 350 in my old Chevelle, this is a bit more unusual for me. What do I need to know, do's and don'ts, and tips to get this repaired?

Ok, this is annoying. Got the starter for the Brat a few weeks ago and two days ago it acts up. Dad said it sounds like a solenoid issue and said to see if it can be replaced. Looked at the local part stores and I don't think I can. He told me how he had used a remote solenoid on his 36' Chevy. Can this be done with a gear reduction starter?

I bypassed the evap Canister after the new one did the same leaking as the old one. Figured out how to do it on the fly (wasn't hard, just plug all 4 lines) Replaced the starter. Cleaned off all the bow hunter decals so I can add my new ones. Figured out how to drop the idle RPMs from 3K to 1.5K Now I need to get under it and patch the floorboard behind the seats. 55gal barrel plastic works wonders.

Same here

Hmmm, possible. My wife said she had a car that the cruise control was a button on the dash. My ignition is pooched and they mounted a toggle switch and a push button to start it and the spot for the start button looks like it was made for it, which could have been for that.

This is on my 81 Brat. No idea what it is, my manual doesn't identify it and it was disconnected when I bought the Brat. Anyone know what it is and it's importance?

This has been an interesting day. Thought I fixed the problem, only to get proven wrong. To get home I plugged all the lines to the canister and now she runs great. Tinkering with the throttle adjuster got the idle back down to around 1.5K

Well, that train got derailed. Checked the return line and it is clear all the way.

Ok, got the same problem it seems as the last time, so I want to recap what I have done up to the point of the problem. Started out with a leaking fuel tank. Since it could not be dropped to check for the leak, I installed a simple fuel tank off an older Toyota, got the lines hooked up. It drove fine for the first day, then the evap canaster leaked, so I removed that. Weeks later I get another canister from a junk yard and get it installed today. Took it our for a quick spin around the block, engine runs ok for a min, then starts choking and dies when I get it home. Lift the hood and there is fuel sprayed inside. Engine idles at 2 to 3K rpms Double check lines and all is ok. Tried the old canister and the same effect happens when I drive it. Cannot find any vacuum leaks, adjust the gas pedal cable to get the rpm's down to 1.5K. Take it for a spin, same effect but I hear a hissing sound as I pull back in the drive. Check it out and the new canister is leaking. I pull the fuel tank return hose and try not to lose too much gas as I plug it. If this is to run back to the tank, why is it pouring back out at the canister? Plugged? If so I can see it backing up into the canister and overflowing and causing a spray. Am I right in this train of thought? Also, what is this and what does it connect to?

Well, it seems that either I have another bad evap canister or the possibility that the return line could be plugged.