Jessekrs123

Ran into yet another problem with the BRAT. It has been becoming increasingly intermittent when attempting to start it. To sum it up, when I turn the key, nothing happens, no click or anything. I have dealt with ignition issues in my EFI EJ22E, and I started with the basics. Battery terminals and grounds all check out good. There is no corrosion from the wire going from the positive terminal of the battery to the starter. I took the steering column apart and tested for continuity to rule out the ignition switch in the lock cylinder. The proper prongs received continuity when I tested them out at all key positions. Then I finally found the problem. The little single wire that goes into the starter which is what I believe is the starter solenoid is fed 12v when the key is turned to the "start" position. With help from my brother, I tested for 12v going to the little spade connector when he turned the key to "start" and I received 12v very sporadically. Looking through the starter diagrams in my FSM it states that there is a magnetic switch which closes a battery 12v circuit to the starter solenoid when the key is turned to "start" which engages the starter. Is it possible that this switch is malfunctioning giving me sporadic and intermittent starting issues? Also has anybody every dealt with anything like this, and if you have, where can I find this switch. It just states there is a switch in the schematic, but no specific location of it. For now, when the starter fails to engage after like 5 minutes of turning the key, I'm just jumping the solenoid prong with 12v to get it going. I am thinking of wiring a push button switch which will just send 12v to the solenoid so I don't look like a moron having to jump my starter motor all the time. Thanks for the help in advanced!

When I get the chance, I'm going to take the service covers off and see if I can find anything wrong with the linkage or something. Did a little rust repair. Now I can't use my feet to help stop it

It is a 4 speed. There is definitely something blocking me from getting into reverse. I've driven many stick cars, and I know reverse has no synchro and is sometimes hard to get into, but this is really difficult. There is a lockout keeping me from easily engaging reverse. It is not the clutch because I can have the clutch out in neutral with the engine running, and when I try to push it into reverse it does not grind or anything so something is keeping it away from the reverse gear. Unless I push it hard enough will it only grind, and with enough force, clunk into reverse and stall out. Figured this out one time and it will never happen again.

Just ran into a problem tonight. Out of nowhere the car is really hard to get into reverse. Now, I'm pretty sure there is some sort of lock out mechanism that keeps you from accidentally shifting into reverse while driving, I think it is keeping it completely locked out, and no longer enabling a smooth transition into R. I can still get into reverse, it just takes a lot more force than normal. I've looked through my part catalogs and my FSM and I couldn't find anything unless I'm blind. Can somebody help me out? When coming out of reverse, it sounds like there is some kind of spring loaded slider gear that engages, and I'm thinking it might be stuck.

Swapped the Weber on today. Didn't give any more power, but it sure is noisier. You can clearly hear when the secondary kicks in, makes a lot of noise, but doesn't really go anywhere, kind of like VTEC haha. Oh well, now it runs well at least.

Got my Weber DGEV conversion kit today. Shipped really really fast. Going into work in a few, so hopefully I'll have this thing back up and running Saturday after work.

I checked everything on the BRAT yesterday, while it was sputtering. Spark checked out well, it wasn't sporadic or anything. I even checked out compression just because, which was 160 psi across the board. The carb is obviously getting fuel because I can see the jets spraying. My thought is that when I took the carb out to replace the intake manifold gaskets, I might have knocked something loose like debris or something. This car had sit for an upward of 7 years before I bought it, so I'm guessing there was some build-up or accumulation in the carb from sitting so long. Either way, I had the Weber on my mind, because I am well aware of what a pain the Hitachis can be, so I ordered the Redline Weber DGEV kit and I will be installing it as soon as it comes in. I am also going to rebuild the Hitachi just because. It'll be my first carburetor rebuild so I'll take it as a learning experience and I'll have a spare carb on hand. I miss driving the BRAT already. Going from the BRAT to the Legacy is like night and day. The Legacy is quiet, rides smoothly, the 5 speed feels like a short throw from the 4 speed, there is much less clutch travel in the Legacy, I actually have A/C, power steering, power locks (the BRAT has no locks right now), power windows, music, and fuel injection. Despite all the luxuries of the Legacy, I would much rather be driving my loud and ugly BRAT.

Someone on NASIOC took a picture of their nice Impreza next to my BRAT while I was at work over the weekend.

I'm having the same exact problem with my 84 BRAT. I am going to take the Hitachi back out and clean everything and see what happens. If that fails, then I will get a rebuild kit and hope to god that this fixes my problem.

The issue happened to me on my way home from work. I sputtered my way home but I think I might have found something. While it is sputtering, I noticed that the sputtering goes away once I apply enough throttle to engage the secondary jet. It was really bad getting home because the car only ran well when the throttle was above like 70%. Would this mean that there is a problem with the primary jet? Perhaps something got stuck or is clogging it up? The primary jet looks like it is spraying enough gas but it just sputters away. Once I give enough throttle I can see the secondary jet and valve open up and the thing revs with no problem. I am going to take the carb out anyway and give it a really good cleaning and see what happens.

I'll re-check my vacuum hoses and get a new coil. I was thinking it might be the coil because it runs really good one minute, and then if you let it sit shortly and come back it spontaneously runs like crap. It is so weird though, if it is a cold start, the car will run fine. I've driven it for an hour after a cold start and never had this happen. Once I shut it off and come back 20 minutes later, this is what happens.

Yes, that vacuum line has been disconnected, it is constantly open. Here is a video if it helps any...

Somebody please help me out. I recently replaced the 2 gaskets and the insulator on the BRAT, with a Hitachi, and ever since then it has a warm start running issue. Here are the basics. If it is a true cold start, the car will run fine, no ridiculous hesitation or anything. But after driving, if I shut it off for about 20 minutes, and then come back the car stumbles really really badly, the car is not drivable whatsoever. All vacuum hoses are connected and in the right place, I replaced all of the spark plugs, wires, rotor, and disty cap. It really gets me because I can go out for work in the morning and the thing will drive fine. Get out of work, it drives fine. Come back 20 minutes after shutting it off and I cannot even drive the damn thing. It is not a fuel issue because I can see the main jet squirting fuel like it should with the throttle opening and closing. Compression checks out, maybe it is a spark issue. Has anyone dealt with anything like this before? Thanks for the help. I'll try to get a video of the problem when I get the chance.

Did a little work on this monster this morning. I have an issue where the car is a little hesitant until it warms up, just a little tough to launch when cold. I sprayed some starter fluid around the carb and found that the revs would raise if I sprayed the insulator where the carb meets the intake manifold. So I got two new gaskets and the insulator for my Hitachi. These old carb'd engines are nice to work on because there is no electrics, but the amount of vacuum hoses is enough to drive you insane... Crappy Hitachi The old gaskets were caked onto the intake manifold and the carb, but I scraped them all off and went over everything with a scotch brite. (I stuffed the intake manifold with a clean rag and covered up the flaps on the bottom of the carb so no foreign crap would get in) You can see that a stud came off the intake manifold. It seems that someone had welded a nut to the stud so the whole stud came out when I got it off. No big deal though, everything went back together just fine. Those 4 10mm bolts were so hard to get at. No room for a socket, and very little room to unbolt them. It took so long getting them off only going like 1/4 of a turn each time with just a regular wrench. Cleaned all the old stuff off and put in the new gaskets and insulator. And then everything went back together. Started the car up and it is still a little hesitant when cold. Then when it warmed up it ran like complete ************. Idle was okay, a little throttle was okay, half throttle made it bog big time, and WOT was okay. The car was far from drivable. I was really pissed and ended up having to take my Legacy to work. Come home from work and started the car up. No problems, auto choke ran good, idled fine, still a little hesitant when cold. I let the car warm up and go to see if it would do the same thing. To my amazement, it ran like a champ. No more bogging out half throttle, damn thing resolved the issue while I was at work. I plan on replacing all of the vacuum lines and fuel lines when I get the chance, maybe that will solve the cold hesitation issue.

Wait, does your buddy have that nice white hatch? I drive by the house all the time. I think he has an old white XT wedge too... I rode by on my bicycle tonight and I saw I think it was an old red sedan with some extra lights in the front as well.

Haha, yeah, you can hear this thing coming from miles away. It is like driving around in a portable, raspy machine shop. Got my wagon wheels all set. Christ, it is hotter than hell out. I didn't sweat this much doing ball joints and tie rod ends on the Legacy...

Ofcourse my day off this week and it is 100 degrees out. I had planned on patching up the floor in the cab, but welding in the 100 degree sun was definitely not an option... But I did tackle a few electrical problems with the taillights. There was most certainly a ground issue because turning on the right blinker set off the stop light and they blinked together, it would also slow the rate of blinking down when I applied the brakes, and the brake light on that side would go out, plus my reverse lights would not go on as well, plus while applying the brakes with no signal, it would turn the left blinker on and dim. I found a few exposed wires on the right side of the harness, and figured while I was in there I might as well wrap everything up that was exposed or hadn't been previously wrapped. And the previous owner attempted to wire in a third brake light to the bed cap, which he got half way done because the taillight side was crappily vampire crimped, and on the other end the wires weren't even shaved to splice anything to. Plus there is no brake light in the bed cap so it seemed like a pretty futile effort on his part... All the electrical issues have now been solved. I also need to get some insulation material to solidify the tailgate latch mechanism in the tailgate because it rattles like crazy. Especially when I shut the truck off, it sounds like something is going to shake right out of the tailgate. There are just a bunch of loose, thin metal arms just dangling in there so that will be my next objective if this weather continues to be too hot to weld.

Haha, yeah, I was a little impatient yesterday for various reasons. That's good that you got a few compliments about your wagon. Was Wayne Carini around? I know he lives in Connecticut, I'm sure that would be a venue he would probably go to.

No parts store has wiper blades for my BRAT, and I needed new ones badly so I got myself a pair of 16" blades and redneck rigged em' to fit. Shoved the bolt throught and threaded it in enough so that it won't turn itself loose. Then I bent the blades so they would sit nice and straight. Job done, bring on the rain.

Noticed that the oil pressure is reading a tad high. At warm idle it hovers around 30 psi and once I get going it gets pretty high up there. I'm running Rotella 15w40, with a brand new oil pump and oil pressure sender. Should I be worried? I hear the gauge is infamous for giving an improper reading.

Yeah, that was my green Legacy with the golds. I didn't get a chance to wander the parking lot, but I saw a few pics of your car at the meet and I'm still kicking myself for not having seen it in person. You do some strong work, it would have been an honor to see it in person. I'll have to look into this more, but I work sunday, and with the nighttime grocery manager on vacation, I have to cover unfortunately. There is a good chance I won't be there, but it will definitely be on my mind all day sunday while I'm breaking the loads down... Quick vid of me going through a tunnel. Way louder in person, the video does it no justice. The holes in the floor make for good feet air conditioning, but with the exhaust being right there, I'm starting to go deaf...

Got it registered today . I will have probably put 1,000 miles on it by the end of the day...

Wow it has definitely been a while since I've done anything with this. With that aside, I did finally get around to buying a welder so I hope I will be updating this more frequently if I can get some damn time off from work...

Changed the front pads the other day... no bolts snapped I would have taken pics but the camera had no charge. Need to get this thing registered soon so I have something to drive while I swap in the EG33 into my Legacy.

Very impressive work! This thing is coming along greatly.