belezeebub

Okay the yahoo that replaced the Dash in my Sons Brat swapped out and Jury rigged the heater/ac/defrost system from what ever the doner car was I produce more heat out my rear end after eating chili then this thing does any ideas? it looks like all the flaps are moving the air is being redirected but its cold, driving in winter you need a ski coat mittens and snow boots to ride in this thing.

Talked to SD looks like he will do the work nice guy seems to know his stuff.

Same Color but not the same Brat. Maybe he wants to trade

Already fired off a PM to GD but if he is the guy running the Suby Grave yard I think it is I have been there a dozen times already. I would to find someone I could drop the brat off too hand him a check and come back in a few days/weeks with a Rebuilt motor and rebuild transmission/5 speed and transfer case and fix the dang webber conversion so it stop dieseling? I think the one installed on my Son's brat is just way too big the thing just reeks like unburned fuel and it back fires when you down shift sometimes.

He really likes it (he smiles when he drives it) he wants to do all this stuff to it, lift blah blah I look at it and see 3000 to 5000 worth of repairs before I would consider it safe to take out of town. I am trying to be logical I called the local shops just to rebuild the engine and tranny is over 3600 bucks and the car still has very little heat in the winter no AC manual Steering, and with an e81 and a 4 speed it really isn't something you want to take on a highway cruise. The Body is pretty straight and rust free so I think it would be worth the 1500 he paid and I know well the Love affair a boy has with his first car I dumped 5k into 68 bug convertible (in 1985 when 5 k was my life savings) when I was his age and that didn't include replacing the belly which was so rusted out you could see the ground go whizzing by. There is very little I can't do with a wrench I can replace the engine, and tranny in 4 or 5 hours, I could make it a 5 speed I might even be able to figure out where the parts all came from, but this a love hate relationship he loves it I hate it. I don’t really want to store it for years till he has his own place and lots of income to dump into this car I want to make sure he has a SAFE Dependable car to get back and forth to school and work in. I want him to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer and every time the phone rings I don’t want the first thing going through my mind to be “what broke on that $#*&@ car this time” (Sorry for the vent) Right now he would have to work 500 hours to have enough to replace the drive train (engine, tranny axels) and the care would be mechanically more dependable but it would stuff suffer from all the jury rigging the last owner did, at what point do we just cut our losses. I spent three months building a 67 ford took untold bucks and two loaner cars to get enough parts sure it is possible to make this brat cherry again but is it reasonable to try?

Lets say we put 3000 into it would that make it worth 4500? or would it still be worth the same 1500 we paid? if it won't increse the vaule it doesn't make since to me, he needs a dependable car and for the last 6 months we have spent more time fixing his brat then he has spent driving it.

I call it Brat_N_Stein next time we have an issue I would be happy to supply photos. right now I am trying to get input on if I should bite the bullet and sent it off to be fixed if so where, or sell it and get something else if so how much. the "hack job" is pretty much the whole car everything from the the front radiator being held in by Brackets from home base, to the wrong Webber carb, to the weird front brakes we ended up matching to a 86 and the ignition which also matched a 87.

This is not a put down and I am not trying to offend anyone but I am a blunt person looking for a straight up answer. My Son saved up his money and purchased a 1980 Brat, with a Used Japanese Motor and a colossal hack job of everything else. I didn’t try to talk him out of it, I just explained what I considered to be the potent ion issues of such an old car in the condition this one was in and in the end his Love of Subys won out over Logic. He paid 1500 for it; I am looking at it logically. I see the following The Prior owner mickey moused everything he replaced the wiring hardness or parts thereof with other Suby parts year make and model unknown, we have had to spent hours in a junk yard taking apart random Suby to find the correct parts because we don’t know what vehicle year make and model some of the donor parts came from. Issues 4x4 Locks up refuses to disengage (randomly) jacking all four tires off the ground and running it in reverse seems to get it to unlock. Drivers door won’t lock door lock is broken (someone already tried to hot wire it once took 6 weeks to find a replacement ignition switch) Small Coolant leak driver’s side (blown head gasket, cracked block or warped block) Unknown Webber Carb hacked onto the intake, Car Diesels when you turn it off Stock transfer case transmission replaced with something else? Judging by the hack job 4x4 engagement level and the 4 speed gear shift moved back 4 inches Needs Shocks Dash Board replaced Huge Hack job on the wiring Converted to rear disk brakes (had to match the numbers off the pads because it didn’t match any of the books we have) My Son only sees the good side and doesn’t see the Money pit this is becoming over 700 into it just to keep it on the road in the last 6 months, while I have no problem with the year make and model I don’t think it is a practical car for a 16 year old it needs far too much. I have three options open my wallet and send the car to a shop and have it fixed (3000++ I would assume) or cut our losses and sell it and try something else or store it and get him someone that will be dependable till he has time and money to work on the car. I live in Oregon any Suby shops around that could get this beast running and stable that you could recommend. Needs paint and body work rough guess what to try and sell it for?