spicypeanut

Sorry, I've been away from the computer the last day or so. I would go with the measurements from rustrybrat as I just noticed my rear shocks are possibly shot.

That is some seriously nasty stuff. I would hate to get stuck in that.

So the motor in my brat as some of you may be aware, the passenger side head has a valve stem sticking through it. I want to remove the entire head assembly and inspect the carnage before I actually pull the motor out and I have a few questions. 1. Do I need to drain the motor oil before I remove the head? 2. If there is no damage to the cylinder and or piston can I just swap out the entire head assembly with a known good piece without any settings or adjustments (besides torquing down the actual head)? 3. How much volume of oil is this motor supposed to take? I put just under 2 quarts in it and the dipstick is nearly full. Thanks in advance. I would check my manual but of-course, the PO didn't have it anymore.

Do you have any door cards for a 78 brat?

No problem. Please keep me posted.

I'll try to take some measurements when i get home.

When you get to the heavy stuff, I could use a ea71 for a gen 1 brat along with a transmission. PM when the time comes and we can work something out. -V

I saw the one on ebay. I just wish it was a little closer to my price range. I will know for sure by next week so I may be asking to buy the one you have. I really want to save the brat, hate to see it just get cast aside.

Anyone have one sitting around? I saw one on ebay but I would rather not spend $1000+

My 78 topper has a lock on the mechanism that turns to open the topper rear door.

Trying to figure out of my gen 1 brat battery tie down bracket is bent or not. Anyone have a proper photo or can take one of theirs to show me what its supposed to look like?

Today we made some more progress. I removed the front push bar, and the rear roll bar. I bagged the bolts and put the bars in the truck in preperation of taking them to get blasted and powder coated. Anyone know if its possible to do a dull or mat powder coat finish? If not I bet the shiny black brand new powder coating will stick out from the rest of the car. Thoughts? I was able to get the battery cables (both positive and negative) cleaned up. There was some massive corrosion on both of them. Rather than buy brand new ones I just used a polishing wheel that's mounted on the bench and cleaned them right up. Now they look brand new! Did a little wire repair on some random wires floating around the engine bay. I borrowed a buddies power washer (that I couldn't get to run for more than 15 seconds). So I just hit the entire engine bay with cans of de-greaser, brake cleaner and then hosed it all down. It looks 100% better. Now when we get into pulling things from the engine bay we wont get absolutely grungy (nearly as fast at least). I received my replacement Weber air cleaner assembly from Ebay, which looks great. So once the plug wires come and I can get the truck to my mechanic I'll be able to get this thing running! I pulled out an old alpine cda 7892 single dinn head unit that I would like to install into the brat. But really I don't know the first thing about wiring it up.

Here are some pics of the progress that I'm making. Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr Untitled by blue03wrx, on Flickr All the sound deadening should be in. I also took a pic of the bar that goes from the heater, into the fuse panel. It was installed upside down when I got the car and was falling off. Now its sturdy and strong and not going ANYWHERE! I also got some plasti-dip and sprayed the passenger side foot-well panel on both sides. It will make the interior look a little-bit nicer.

All the sound deadening is now in place. I could probably use a few more pieces to really get some good coverage but I've pretty much got most of the previously covered area's covered again. I was also able to fix the passenger side kick tray, driver side bar and interior fuse panel. There was a little bit of rust at the battery tray, that I was able to hit with the wire wheel and some black rustoleoum spray paint. Its really starting to look good. Next up on my to do list is going to be... To Do List: 1. 2 more pieces of sound deadening 2. run 4 wires for speakers that I plan on mounting at the rear of the cabin 3. run 8 wires for off road lights that I plan on mounting onto the rear roll bar 4. fix wiring for passenger side door ajar sensor 5. fix wiring for drivers side door ajar sensor 6. decide what to do with the steering wheel. (wheel has a 1/4 inch crack at top dead center. do I wrap with tape and put a leather cover or replace it with an aftermarket nice looking steering wheel?) Waiting For List: 1. molded carpet from Australia 2. seats being re-upholstered at Victor's Upholstery 3. waiting for a complete passenger side turn signal assembly via Ebay 4. waiting on NGK plug wires set via Ebay 5. waiting on replacement Weber carb air cleaner assembly and filter via Ebay I love Ebay

So I've got 2 sets of wheels just sitting in my garage. 1 set of xxr 530 which are both 5x100 and 5x114.3, and a set of '13 limited sti BBS which are 5x114.3. I would love to play around with different wheels on the brat but I do not want to compromise safety. Now I see people running wheel spacers all the time, my question is how safe are they? Do they need to be made out of any specific type of metal? Most of the ones I've come across on ebay are aluminum. Here is an example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4pcs-25mm-1inch-Wheel-Spacer-Adapter-12-x-1-25-Studs-4x100-Convert-To-5x100-/370964295276?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item565f31ee6c&vxp=mtr Does anyone know what bolt pattern the stock brat uses? I can only assume from my short time on this board they are 4x140 but I would appreciate conformation.

Not much progress has been made in the last few days. Sunpro Tach is now gone. There seems to be a couple of loose wires I need to figure out where they belong. I've mocked up the sound deadening on the floor, just need to peel and stick! I'm taking the seats to my upholstery guy shortly. There is a metal bar under the drivers side that sits right above your legs. It seems to connect to the heater box and to the drivers side cabin wall. Its very loose so I need to figure out what the deal is with that. I wish I had someone that knew what all this stuff was rather than me guessing. Just dropped off my seats at the upholstery shop. Should have them back in a few weeks.

Haha, that makes more sense. I was able to find him and sent him a PM. Hopefully he gets back to me...

Just a heads up to this listing. Is this seller high? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Subaru-Brat-78-87-Pickup-Rear-Jump-Seats-Mount-Bracket-Dune-Buggy-project-/111231454042?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ASubaru|Model%3ABrat&hash=item19e5e94b5a&vxp=mtr

Can you PM me the price for a set of 4 for my 78 brat?

I say fix it up and keep it on the road.

Thank you for the reply, I bet you are right that they came with one on the drivers side. On my car it looks like the holes are factory on the drivers door but whoever installed the passenger side did a pretty weak job. I've been looking for the last couple of weeks but so far I haven't found anything. Not even 1. I did a member search for Danny W. but didn't find anyone with that name.

Thank you, I'll give them a call!

I dont even know. All of my searching leaves me with more questions. Half the pictures I see of gen 1 brats have 2 mirrors, and half the pictures I see the gen 1 brats have 0 mirrors. I really have no idea.

I spoke too soon. My apologies.

New carpet and a replacement turn signal lens are now on the way. Thank you ebay! Now if I can just figure out what the deal is with the side mirrors. I don't get it. Did these cars come with side mirrors? If I do a google image search some gen 1's have side mirrors and some don't! Which is it?