Seahag1978

Ahhhh... just the moral support I needed most... it just gets so upsetting to see her sitting under a car cover instead of cruising like she should be... a fun icon of days gone by... a reality check so to speak... ... now kids ride in the back seats strapped into triple padded car seats with window shades touting "Toys R Us" or "Baby on Board"... DVD's playing overhead to soothe them... not the wind, sky and ocassional rain... or better yet... the driver behind, actually, in front of them, waving and making goofy faces?? Priceless. We drove a lot slower back then, and with more courtesy too.

Oh... I got over my mad on... it'll be fine with a new carb. The wee one will never see salt spewed into its innards... never ever! Salt is how I lost my first one. She does go out before the salt trucks arrive though. Anyway, that's why I have the Bajahahahaha! That sucker's all plastic j/k... there's a liiiittle bit of metal on it that needs to be waxed constantly <shrug>

Dum, dum, dum, dum... dummmmm (in my best Alfred Hitchcock voice). We did all the testing suggested. The carb is toast. There is more "play" in it than in a volley ball game!! Right on the money! Now, I just gotta make some!

These rims are in great condition other than where the paint chipped off at the lug nuts and the extreme outer edges. Some bonehead tried to "dress them up" with a rattle can with the tires still on! So the rust came right back through. There's overspray on the tires, any ideas how to get the paint off the tires? There's still miles and miles left on them.

Awesome!

It's got to be a regional thing. Could be they ordered one style of Brat that they thought would appeal to the local public's taste? Once it flew, it may have been a sales gimmick kind of thing to offer choices... like "new and improved"?

Oh ok... I'm using a chemical stripper to get the old layers off... about 3/4 of the way done. The heat here is unbearable and can work about an hour at a time before melting. Then it needs a trip to the body shop to have the hood that (DHL busted up) fixed and fitted to the fenders and vent cowling (donors from other cars). Now any suggestions for removing paint from white wagon wheels besides sandblasting?

The problem appears to happen when it's warm outside, spring/summer. During the winter, even in sub-zero temps the car idles forever, no stalling while driving. It runs fine at normal running temperature. Smooth and even idle, no missing. As soon as the weather warms up outside, I get about 15 minutes of driving in before it warms to normal running temperature then it starts stalling unless I feather the gas with my heel while I brake with my toes and clutch with my left foot. (Solution: I need an extra foot!) When it stalls, it starts right up three times and the fourth time is very hard to restart... if I wait a few minutes it will restart easier but I have to keep my foot on the gas pedal and feather it. The idle gets all wanky... fast then it slows until it dies. It did this last summer too.

Nothing in the local junkyards, which is the biggest problem. Local Subaru dealerships don't carry anything. They say Subaru of New England doesn't support the older cars for parts and won't even order them. So when Miles does come by, I probably can't get the parts in less than a week. So, whatever "could" be wrong, means I have to have all the stuff in hand. It's all a guess at this point.

I have the beautiful '78 Brat sitting idle. (no pun intended). She runs perfectly in sub-zero weather and yet dies on warm-up and in warm/hot weather (not during sub-zero she runs great). That old girl won't stay running for love nor money come Spring/Summertime. I have gone to 5 shows... carless! I love the car, but is it time to move on? Gauging interest for the sale of it... it won't be cheap... there are really only 4 things that haven't been replaced... one rear axle, (I have a new one, in case) motor, EGR and carb (it was supposedly a new rebuilt)... pretty much everything else is new/new rebuilt/low mileage (60K tranny). I know someone who knows the old ones could put it right for under $200. The certain point in life... the '86 seems more promising... hey, it's really very ugly now, but it starts and runs great! Better stick to something I know... make it pretty... "get'er done!"

600? Oh, I thought that if by hand it was 1200-1500 or 1000 at bare minimum before primer? The reason I question it is, I'm stripping to bare metal and need to feather the small parts of bondo work back in? Please advise. Thanks, Mary

Paul... Connie... Paul's friend in Maine? Let's get this fix 'em up tour on the road! Let's give the word he isn't coming for free!

When the Brat was introduced here, in my little corner of the world, they were ALL white/blue interior, steel wheels, roll bar, seat belt booties and the same multi-color decals as on Skip's Brat. I think the dealers ordered them "all dolled up" with the decals as a selling aid. About half-way through the model year of '78 they got the different exterior colors, 5 spoke white wheels and "upgraded" interiors... <plaid inserts> and dubbed them '78 1/2. A/C was offered as an option. They still had the multi-colored decal, again, the decal seems to be a dealer thing, and not standard. Now, back in the day, I never saw one that had a single color decal until the Gen2's were introduced. It was a vertical Brat decal with hashmarks running up over the roof, no side swash, the horizontal word "Subaru" under the word Brat was absent. This is puzzling... I do recall seeing one that had a double stripe, wide on top and thin on the bottom. It ran from from the nose, where it rounded out and it ran along the side and wrapped around the tail and stopped short of the tailgate gap. That decal may have been an option here at the time? I always loved my white one best.

Thanks... please relay this message for me: HEEEEEELP!

The red paint will be a bit pricey but since the body is in great shape, it'll be worth it. Not much for bondo, a little on one door and tailgate were there's a small dent. I found a LOT of bondo under the original maroon paint but can't justify why it was there? When I removed it, the only damage I found to the sheet metal are a couple of small dings about the size of a fingernail. Possible lot damage when it was new? There are 2 colors of primer under the original paint... grey base and tan over it. I found 2 different colors of bondo on the lower rear where the side step would be, yet no damage to the sheet metal? That's why I originally thought the sidesteps were bondoed closed. I also uncovered some strange very wide silver self-adhesive pinstriping material along the bottom of the door and fender? The front passenger fender was replaced with a blue one at one point. It's been interesting getting through the layers. Yes, I'll leave the pugs, but will paint them white and will need to fabricate some sort of center cap for them. I want to take all the best qualities of the years and combine them on one Brat. The striping and decal will be more along a Gen 1 style with the swash going to the rear rather than the simple Brat on the pillar only. Add the side steps and jump seats... no one will know what year it is

It's become a morale imperative to do it red. I saw an old BelAir that had a beautiul paint job done in knock-your-socks-off-eye-popping-red! I asked the owner and he told me it was 2003 Viper red... that's the color! Wow! I'm playing with tan decals, white roll bar, wheels and "A" style brush guard (if I can find the roll bar and brush guard). It'll get a 3" lift too.

MilesFox, if you don't make it out here soon, the yellow Brat is going on eBay, no one here can fix it. It may need a carb, and/or EGR so if you can snag them in your travels, I'll buy them for future use (by me or the future owner). So, we have a place for you to sleep and food and some money, and a dog to play with and... ...are the bribes working YET?

Trudy, The configuration I sent you on the tires and rims rub a little on the '86. I try not to turn that tight, so I haven't actually experienced the rub (or the radio's just a wee too loud?), but Tim has. Then again, he also said the clutch is out of adjustment (again, I say, huh?) seems cool by me... I like the no tippy-toe Mary

Here's an udate on the body parts ordered online. The first hood and passenger fender came from http://www.autopartsland.com. Fender was fine. Hood was toast thanks to DHL. It was packed in a heavy cardboard case, bubble wrapped all over and packed in a second box. They stabbed it with a fork on the fork truck. Claim filed. Still awaiting inspection. The company found another hood. Arrived damaged, but repairable, to the tune of $200. Second claim filed. Still awaiting inspection. Ordered a driver's fender from http://www.autobodypartsonline.com. (http://www.ABPOL.com) One month later, status is "OPEN"... means not shipped... I called several times, got a run around, no result. Emailed, no result. Finally, after 6 or more calls, spoke to a human, cancelled the order, followed up by email 3 times... 2 weeks later no credit back yet. Sent mail reiterating the cancellation. Still no refund. Next step, report to credit card company for refund. I finally found a used driver's fender (new is unavailable, discontinued, through all online body shops) from Russ Hill (member here) He wrapped some bubble wrap top and bottom, taped the other stuff to the underside of it, slapped a label on it... it arrived perfect. The latter must have been a respect issue... they could see it was a car part and treated it with the respect it needed to survive the trip? On a brighter side, the Brat is half stripped and will get it's new primer as soon as DHL gets off the stick.

arrrgggh! that's all I needed to hear... Tim said, "Mary! Don't even go there!" hehehe!

hmmm... think Tim will let me store the 360 in the bed of his Ford? It's awesome!

Looks like a great time, sorry we missed it! I hope you'll all venture up this way very soon. If this weather ever breaks... argggh!

I didn't do the mileage figures, but here's a scenerio to consider when you're figuring your mileage. Trip out: driver and 2 passengers and a LARGE dog using full A/C. Trip back, driver and 1 passenger and a LARGE dog, no A/C. 1/2 tank consumed. I took the SAME trip the next day: Trip out: Driver, no passenger, no A/C. Trip back: Driver and one passenger, no A/C. Less than 1/4 tank consumed. Load + A/C made an enormous difference in total gas consumed. This was in an '05 Baja 5 sp. turbo.

My little sticker only states not to engage over 50mph or while cornering. Does that mean it shouldn't be driven over 50mph in 4WD? Not that my yellow %$#^* will ever get over 50mph, let alone in 4WD

Amen to that! Some say the horse is the most expensive land transportation... no way... my Brat is!