GeneralDisorder

Yes, there would probably be a demand if the price was right - I know I would probably buy a couple - I have at least 3 or 4 tailgates that could be resurected with a new skin or lots of body work otherwise. But there is more demand for the chrome strip that goes on top of the tailgate.... I've seen the strip go for twice what a tailgate goes for. GD

Qman has XT-6 Seats in his Big Brat, and Isuzu Impulse seats in his street Brat. The Impulse seats are good for us tall folk apparently. GD

Try rocking the car back and forth. My Brat sticks in 4th now and then - I have to slip the clutch and get it moving just a bit to get it to come out. Only does it when you are completely stopped, so I have learned to take it out of 4th before stopping. GD

The flywheel may have been turned too deep - you might consider just getting a new flywheel - they aren't that expensive. A junk yard model would probably work too. I generally don't resurface mine unless they have grooves or pitting. I rought them up with a bit of sandpaper and put em back. GD

I forgot about the coversion, but it's still a 28 HP increase over even the larger valve EA81. And that's using stock heads. That seems like a healthy inrcrease to me, and more power than the EA81T had.... GD

Those gears run in oil, so the whole engine is suspect I would say. Although you have to wonder why that gear wore out - lack of oil perhaps? Maybe it you'll get lucky. I wouldn't put another cam in ther till I figured out why it failed. Sounds like lack of lubrication - bad oil pressure? Clogged oil supply lines? GD

Yes, in fact, there is. Here is the spec sheet for a JDM EA81 RX which clearly shows the bore and stroke, displacement, compression, HP and torque.... This guy would blow the doors off an EA81 Turbo BTW, which was only rated at 95 HP. Then there was this bad boy, which appears to have some ugly dual port heads on it with some serious looking carbs: (Notice the cool snorkels? Probably a dust thing...) If Subaru could get 110 with single ports, and RAM can get 140 with their ported stock heads, then I'm betting this mother with it's custom heads was even better.... GD

Maybe I should say it again - the JDM Dual Carb EA81 was rated at 110 HP. They have 9.5:1 compression, a different cam, different intake, and different exhaust - same heads tho. The EA81 race engines were even more burly - sporting crazy dual carbs mounted stright to the head's with no manifold. I have never seen a spec sheet on one of these "safari" engines, but it's got to be pretty wicked. Starting with an EA81 hydro lifter engine which is rated at 80 HP, you increase the compression with EA71 pistons, and decked heads (.020). Install a Delta cam, increase the carburation and the exhaust capacity, and you will have essentially what the JDM dual carb engines had.... probably 100 - 110 HP. RAM claims 140 with all these things, and the addition of slightly better flowing heads (stock heads that have been dual-ported). Qman's Brat can tear it up - I hear it can easily keep up with a modified EA82 Turbo wagon..... and it still has the 4 speed. I've seen it in action at the Rally-X. GD

hhhmmm - what email are you using? I'm not getting them - try this one: cropperr@gmail.com GD

If it's anything but a Brat (and probably even then) they are nearly worthless even when in excelent condition. I would say it's not worth your time. My friend just bought a running driving 83 wagon for example for $200. A stock wagon would be highly unlikely to bring more than $1000 even in near mint condition - they are at the bottom of their value. Buy something else, and use that one for parts - especially since it's 2WD. That makes it worth even less than nothing. GD

It's very simple - just unscrew the pipe, drop a quarter in there, and screw it back on. Done. Plugged. Getting them off is a PITA - best to use vice grips to loosen them as the torx bit tends to slip. (talking EA81 spacers here) If you can find the EA81 Hitachi Feedback cars, they had a blank spacer on one head.... GD

100 is easy from an EA81 - can get that without RAM's help. The Dual Carb JDM EA81 was 110, with stock heads. GD

It's only about $1k for a set of heads - not that bad considering. And I think you can get their complete rebuild kit with the heads for $2k or $3k. And as far as airplane stuff goes - that entirely depends on the cam grind you use. Delta can grind anything you want. You need the better flowing heads to get to 140 HP. The 2300 will fit - especially with a lift. I have seen one stuffed into a Sami.... Notice that it's a ROCK CRAWLER - no mud. Dry rocks. Talk to Chef Tim about timing belt tensioners and mud..... Not on any wheeler I will ever own that's for sure. I know what muddy water does to bearings - tell my last alternator and my last two power steering idlers that mud is cool with bearings.... jeez. GD

Sounds like you ripped the gear from the disty shaft - that's about the only way it could be off the way you say it is. That's not good. I hope for your sake the gear comes out when you pull the disty. Just a guess, but bad bushings in the disty probably either caused the disty to bind and the cam sheared the pin on the gear, or the magnetic pickup smashed into the rotor on the shaft and jammed it resulting in the same thing - sheared pin on the gear. When you get it out of there, check the condition of the gear teeth on the cam as well - might have ripped those up too. Hard to tell. GD

EJ's are good engines to be sure, but I question anyone who uses a timing belt equiped engine off-road. The mud, grit and water factor is just too dangerous for belts and their tensioners. While this may indeed be a cheaper option than building a high output EA81, and probably fine for something like a rock crawler that won't see much mud, I would personally go with a built EA81, or a larger pushrod engine like the Chevy V6 that Lumpycam put into Unhatched at first, and now has put in his lifted Gen 1... The 2.3L Ford 4 cylinder would be a decent choice as well, and no more expensive than an EJ.... especially since you need a custom adaptor anyway. The 2300 Ford's can put out around 200 HP with a little work. If you are hard core Subaru, then go with an EA81, and build it hot. 110 - 120 HP isn't out of the question with a little work, and if you want to spend a little more, you could get a complete rebuild Kit from RAM performance and get 140 HP using their heads.... That's as much as an EJ22. GD

Yeah - chicks find the Brat to be "cute", which is not a bad thing. I find that my lifted wagon does a better job tho - it does attract more chicks, but unfortunately it attracts men too.... some of the questions are just stupid - "Do you take this off road?" as I'm pulling into a gas station dripping with mud. GD

Locksmith. They make keys. For cars. GD

^ what he said. Bounce has nothing to do with the springs - actually it does - it means they are good. That's what springs do BTW - they bounce. GD

Unless you are doing a full restoration, they are quite scary to ride in (especially if you are 6' 2" like me), and take up a lot of room in the bed. Not having them doesn't seem to detract greatly from the value of a Brat either, as they aren't terribly hard to find. They show up on ebay quite a bit... the going rate is pretty steep tho as people like to install in them into regular trucks too. Expect to pay $200 or more for a complete system including belts.... GD

I think all years of jump seats are the same.... the seats were only installed on USDM Brat's, so I think they didn't ever change them..... GD

The ASV's on the EA82's are different, but on the EA81's I use quarters to block off the valves - the added air from the ASV system mixes with the unburnt fuel and ignites from the hot exhaust. You have a leaky exhaust basically, and if you want to fix it proper, then you should replace your y-pipe. After the y, you can have lots of leaks and it won't matter much. GD

The headlight buckets in the sheet metal under all that stuff are different, and in order to do the swap properly, you would have to weld in the front end from either an 80, 81, 82, 83/84 STD or DL, 85-87 DL Brat, or 85-89 STD and DL Hatch's. There are at least three distinct styles of dual headlights - two styles of round, and one square, but some if not all have different sheet metal for where the headlights mount. The later STD hatch may be the same for sheet metal, I'm not sure as I haven't looked under one yet..... It's no direct bolt on from what I've seen, and the quad's give far better light output anyway. If you want to attempt it, I have a complete dual headlight grill and marker light setup I would part with.... As for interior - the STD and DL's have less amenities, but are still the same plastic. Pretty durable actually. As for the idle - sounds like it's time for a carb rebuild - you can try adjusting it, but it probably won't do anything. The cable's stick sometimes, or the choke mechanism isn't working right..... basically the Hitachi's are a little weird like that, and you'll just have to live with it unless you want to rebuild it, or put on a weber. GD

That is the anti-afterburn valve - supposed to prevent backfireing. Remove and file under R for round file..... doesn't do isht as far as I can tell. GD

So what happens if you mount the cone filter right off the snorkel? I'm interested to know because I plan on doing a full snorkel as well.... so now to determine if it's the snorkel adaptor, or the pipe you have off the adaptor? GD

That is a BIG hole, and the difficulty is that it lies over the frame rail on the passenger side. We certainly cannot cut that from any Brat that is ever going to be road worthy again, as it will destroy the structural integrity of the car. I do know a yard with a couple of Brats down here on OR that you could get that from, but I think your best bet is to see if Ken (Qman) can hook you up, as he lives much closer than I do. It's a 3 hour drive to me, and another 2 hours to the Brats that I know of.... If he can't, then I will try. My associate has reviewed the pictures of carfreak's Brat, and I think it's safe to say that he want's it intact as far as that part of the bed is concered. I don't have much say in it, as it's him that's paying for the trip to get it, and it's his Brat as far as I'm concerned. My finacial intrest in this deal is minimal, and I'm only along cause I'm his mechanic, and friend. I'll take a closer look at your damage and give you a better idea of the work involved when I get up there on Thursday (that's the plan right now - Thursday around 5 PM). GD