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Dave, you need to replace that htermo switch as soon as possible or you may melt your wiring harness by running too much current through it. Klaus

I just have a "new" '80 Brat and an "old" '78 Brat which I don't know what to do about yet. Either restore or parts. And, I'm somewhere near Santa Fe,NM. Klaus

I have a hitch on both my brat and my loyale. I haul everything up to a total gross weight of about 800lbs. Dirtbikes are light, I haul mine around all day long at 70mph. Never had a problem. Klaus

I think it would be very unsafe to pull that much weight with that car. Also, I believe in order to be safe you'd want 10% of the overall weight of the trailer as tongue weight to keep the trailer from fish tailing. Klaus

I would like to thank everybody responsible too. I would also like to thank Paul Moosens for thinking of my blue interior door panels. Have a Great Day, Klaus

Dim left headlight happened to me. After frantically looking for a ground problem, like a lot of people suggested I eventually looked at the relays and one of them was visibly burned at the connecters. I replaced the relay and haven't had a problem since. Klaus

I will almost bet money that the headlight problem is a relay under the dash. There is a set of 4 or 5 relays next to each other. Check them out, one of them may be burned out. Klaus

You should be able to get power from the clock wire all the time. No need to go to the battery. Klaus

Mary, Sounds like you need to get a new radiator fan switch. It mounts right next to the fan in the radiator. It is a common item to go out in '78 Brats Klaus

How about those Ft. Wayne clutches sold on ebay? Has anyone had any experience with them? Klaus

Once the project get's closer to completion there will be more detailed pics. Klaus

Some more pics here. Klaus

My '91 4wd 5sp wagon get's 27-31 mpg at all times. I don't drive like a grandma and I live at 6,500 ft with big hills (mountains) around. Klaus

The '80 is running. The chassis and drivetrain has 62,000 miles on it, and feels like it. Work completed: - replaced fuel tank - replaced rear cv shafts - replaced hood - replaced exhaust - installed some ugly spare inside door panels (waiting for moosens for nice ones) - adjusted rear ride height - installed trailer hitch Work to be done: - install weber carburator - make new lower inside door panels out of 1/4" mdf to allow for speakers - install AM/FM/Cassette - have wheel alignment done - install various tailgate trim - paint - a few odds and ends Klaus

Dave, There are 2 plastic gas vapor collection canisters inside the bed panels (1 on each side). Sometimes those crack, or get disconnected. When that happens the entire cabin fills with gas fumes that are very strong. Klaus

according to my service manual, you can adjust the camber by shimming the inner torsion bar mounting bracket. I'm going to replace the trailing arms today. Klaus

I have what looks like a serious rear wheel negative camber problem with the '80 brat. To the point as if someone overloaded the bed and bend something (I may be over exaggerating). There isn't anything obviously bend, but I'm thinking the trailing arms may be twisted or something like that. How much camber adjustment is there? Thanks, Klaus

Hey all, my beloved Brat died last week. I was out in LA when 4th gear went out, drove 850 miles home in 3rd. It finally gave me a reason to fix up my '80 Brat. Over the weekend I swapped the exhaust, fuel tank, rear drive shafts, and some other small minor stuff overfrom the '78. The '80 has 61,000 miles on it and looks reasonably clean on the outside, and mint inside. Over the next few weeks I will fine tune more stuff, including the addition of my weber. There are a few parts that I'm missing. I need both inside door panels, steering wheel center and an ashtray, blue and clean. Klaus

I ordered 4 new factory .5 over pistons from Folger Automotive's pleiades. Ordered and received re-ring kit from rpmrons.com Ordered and received new oilpump from rpmrons.com Ordered and received torque cams from deltacams.com Ported the heads, having a 3-angle valve job done, and do some minor reshaping of the combustion chamber. I'm also considering replacing the exhaust system. I'm kinda considering installing a dual range tranny (which one would bolt up to a '91 Loyale 4wd?). Also, I will install a new clutch, new struts and new tires. Klaus

WJM, I'm doing this work to my wifes wagon (family wagon). If I was to go through all that expense and trouble I would not start with a Loyale Wagon, I'd get a WRX instead. It all started with a rebuilt. The engine overheated last year due to a clogged radiator and has been burning a quart of oil per 300 miles. After tearing down a spare engine I discovered the poor head design. I'm working on porting the heads right now, and thought it may be worth reshaping the combustion chamber a bit. I'm thinking about getting the cams reground to help it a bit too. We live near 7000' and the engine is very sluggish. Especially when we have the car loaded up to go camping with 3 people 2 dogs all the camping equipment (beer, etc.) and a trailer with my motorcycle on it. The most important thing is to keep the engine reliable while helping it up the mountains a bit. Klaus

I agree. KLAUS

Shadow, The inside intake valve seat diameter is 35.98 mm all cleaned up probly 36mm. The outside valve diameter is 42mm. Klaus

I'm only thinking about taking off 2-3mm on the shown areas in the combustion chamber. Milling to compensate for that would have to be minimal, I don't know, say about .2-.3mm. I believe I will also send the cams in to be reground. That could compensate for the change in cam timing. Then again, M/C racers slot the cam sprocket holes to allow for cam timing changes. I don't like the idea of custom pistons, they are never as durable as stock, most of them are forged and not cast. Forged pistons expand faster and expand more than cast pistons therefore the piston to cylinder clearance has to be larger to eliminate the chance of the piston seizing if it heats up to much. More cylinder clearance also means that the piston slaps more with the engine cold. Klaus

oddcomp, I'm also planning on getting the heads milled a bit to compensate for it. Klaus

Here is a pic of my combustion chamber dome. My suggested mods are in the areas in red. Basically I'd like to make more room for the flow of gases near the valves. What do you guys think? Klaus