Scooner

One day on my way back to Cheyenne from Ft Collins i was diverted onto a back road because of an accident on the interstate. As i'm driving along i just happen to notice a red second gen brat under a tree next to a house. So i take the next right onto a dirt road that leads behind this house. Behind the house in the field under another huge cottonwood sits this gold brat, and another brat a 79' parked behind a garage! So i stop in and start poking around, no answer at the door so i drove around back by the garage. The gold brat is in way better shape than i thought! The other one? Not so much it's so rotten. As i'm leaving a lady comes out and we spend the better part of an hour talking about subarus. We find keys to the gold one some guy had left there in 2000. The year i graduated high school this glorious machine was parked, wow. They didn't have the title to it but i found the owners registration in the glove box, he lived in Rawlins and i work there every so often so i figured i'd look him up. I foind the dudes house and he has not one but 3 more brats at his house! 2 gen 2 t tops and 1 gen one! After leaving this guys notes and leaving him messages on his phone i had given up after a couple months when out of the blue he calls me and we BS about subarus for an hour! Real neat guy. So eventually i talk him into selling me the title to the car, unbeknownst to the people i bought the car from. So i've worked a deal to buy this car another 79' Brat with unknown condition motor and a couple pairs of jump seats, a set of jackman wheels (13s wish they were 14s) and a bunch of other random parts. Needless to say i've always wanted a brat and now i've got one! The reason it is labeled "rescued" is because the family who owns the land were going to sell this car off to scrap alobg with everything else, if i wouldn't have come along this and the others might be getting turned in KIAs...yikes.

I know where there is a set, i'm gonna try and buy them for the brat!

I think it will fit in nicely! When i get more time i'll put a full description of how me and this car came to be!

Finally after 5 months of waiting and pestering and tracking down owners and leaving notes and stressing out i brought it home. You can see it here being moved from its grassy tomb where it has sat for the past 14 years. Yup, 14 years!

Smart fella that guy is ^^^ never thought of that, but makes complete sense with how the subaru engine fires! Hence the Y pipe...good call!

Thank you sir! Yeah, those grounds. I think where i should've just used the factory harness and stripped it down i ran all of my own wires which left me with about a foot of grounds off of the ecu ha. So i ended up tying all of the grounds together and running a 14 ga wire to the engine bay where it grounded to in front of the battery on the body and also the ground coming from the engine so it is all tied together. See that's what you get when you have ALOT of new wire laying around and don't feel like stripping a harness properly haha! Oh well lesson learned, and hopefully for other people who attempt this swap. Gloyale, you must be a subaru service tech? Cause you have quite an impressive knowledge of these cars. Furthermore put a avatar up already, i want to see your ride!

Well here we are 10 months later and not one single issue aside from the stuck thermostat that happened in Teton national park in Aug. I drove it over 1000 miles loaded down with camping supplies and it never even hiccuped. I absolutely love this swap and i would not hesitate to do it again. My car gets about 25 mpg on the highway and maybe 20 in town? I don't drive conservatively though, i shift around 4k because i love the sound and the feel. Can't wait for the snow so i can have a little more fun in 4WD!

The day the repairs end is the day it gets boring! I like the look of the new wheels by the way!

Good video! It actually played all the way through on my phone. I'd love to take my wagon to a course like this, however Wyoming...uh yeah it's Why-oming.

Kind sir can you tell me where you bought the spindle/hub for your rear tire mount? I like what you've done, quite the bada$$ of a car. Is that where your bike rides when you go out? I love it.

That is one beautiful brat my friend!

Hmm good call on my bad explanation. I blame my phone for all literacy errors! I meant the drivers rear wheel, my bad. The car running like crap i think was definitely due to poor back pressure. I am 99% sure that you should never go bigger than 1 7/8s on these engines. The exhaust out of the bed would look and does look BA, there are pics from the recent WCSS of a guys brat with them! There is also a video of him flipping his brat onto its side on youtube. I think it looks pretty sweet with the exhaust like that! But these diesel truck guys...i tell ya. I tow more with my loyale than i've ever seen any of them pull with their mega lifted, chipped, boner stroked trucks haha.

Heck, or do what those diesel douches in my town do and run dual or one single 18" pipe out of the bed and "roll coal" by maybe adding something to your exhaust since it isnt a diesel. I'm not sorry if i offended any diesel douches with this post. You people are awful.

On an 85' wagon i had with the EA82 motor i tried dual exhaust with 2" pipe. It ran like absolute crap haha. What i ended up doing was one cherry bomb then made the exhaust go out right in front of the driver wheel. Made a huge difference! I think the problem you'd find is the glass packs/cherrybombs are like 20" long or more and coming off of the engine will extend the exhaust to far to dump in front of the doors, you're better off doing it in front of the rear tires. Just cut holes in your hood and run it up outta there!

Awesome, it's quite the story of how this all happened and i will definitely tell it when i start a new members thread for the 80' Brat. Ironworker i am an 8 almost 9 year member of IUEC (International union of elevator constructors) Local 25 out of Denver. I love what i do and would for sure have a beer anytime, thanks for the responses!

Haha and you're a union man as well? I am a proud elevator union man and worked with some pretty cool iron workers in the past. Thanks for your input!

Hey all, I'm new to first Gen and Brats, I am in the midst of working a deal to buy a 1980 Brat and a 79' they both have the toppers on them but the one of the 79' is in really good shape with rear glass and intact locks. The 80' has the rear glass missing like i've seen on so many. My question is how much are these toppers worth in good condition? Also, she has 2 extra good condition sliding side windows she is throwing in as well. While we're at it how much do complete rear jump seats go for with the frame? She is also throwing in 3 sets! Plus a set of jackman spokes, and any other part i can carry. After writing all that down i am thinking $600 for all of this is not too bad of a deal. Let me know what you guys think. PS. How much would the 79' go for? It's not been trashed and isn't too rusted out but the EA71 is seized. 4WD manual. Thanks alot, i appreciate it!

That's pretty good ingenuity! I never put power steering in my car and never really noticed not having it but i bet it isnice to have. Did i see you traded a song? I'm curious, Please explain...

Very cool, i think i will try and buy it. Good luck with the winch and if i ever come across one i will let you know. Wyoming is full of subaru surprises that are seemingly untapped.

Holy cow...a beast that is! What are the rules on no titles up there?

Nice cars Rust! I knew you had to of been sitting on something! That 79' wagon is glorious! How rare is that front bumper? Do you know where they came from? Factory? I know where i can buy one but have no idea how much to offer, the one i know of is chrome too.

Excellent write up of a problem and then a fix with a parts link. I applaud you sir! Great job, thanks!

Dude, it will be super unsafe! People will die! Cats will be motherless! Sad faces will be plenty in the land of tragedy you leave behind!!!!!! But seriously i doubt it's as easy as unplugging a relay in them new fangled automobiles, plus why do you want them off? Are you a robber? A burglar? Superbikemike...are you a my father?

Looks like an OBD 2 from the looks of the intake?

What part of colorado are you in sir?