RedBrat

Any progress?

Air shifting and Air conditioning!!! What's the world coming to!!

I am the second owner of my Brat (107,000 miles). I have a neighbor a few blocks away that owns the other Brat in town and he is the original owner of his Brat (1986 I think). He is up to about 150,000 miles. Both are nice, clean units.

I learned to drive in a '41 army truck (chevy). After that, I could drive and shift anything. One time I was driving my uncle's '48 Diamond T hauling potatoes and decided that I would use all of the gears. Five speed main (it had the above pattern), three speed Brownie, and two speed rear end: that gives you thirty speeds forward and six in reverse! It was too much work to do it a second time. It was also difficult to figure out if the next combination was actually a higher gear or a lower one. Part of the time you had to let go of the steering wheel and shift with both hands as one box would be going up a gear while the other box was going down a gear. Oh, yea - no syncromesh either.

I sent you a PM with the phone number I have for him from a couple of years ago. See if it works.

Well, the '87 Red Brat is now up to 107,000 miles. Everything is still tight as would be expected. In the next year I will be putting a rack on it to hold my Walker Bay injection molded sail boat and then it will be getting some more miles as we make some sailing excursions.

Two tire irons and a rubber mallet and you are in business. That's how we did them all before the fancy machines were generally available. If you don't have tire irons, two crowbars make good slippery substitutes. It's all in the technique.

Not sure what you will be traversing, but we do have oil and water here in California! I have been driving around here quite a while and so far made it with "stock" units. If your radiator is original or old it should be replaced due internal plugging and ineffectve fins which will not be overcome with extra fans. Have fun!

This one is high priced, but again is very clean. He wants $3,800 for it which is too much, but my question of you Justy folks is: What is it worth if in fact it is as clean as this person says. It's in calif no rust zone! Justy's have always had an attraction for me, but all the ones i have ever seen or heard of before needed more work than I want to put into a spare, spare vehicle. This is a drive and enjoy unit.

Well, I took the wife and made a run up to Chico. The car is very good, but not excellant. Missing one knob on radio, gas cover latch needs replacing and the power steering pump is starting to make a little sound. Test drive went well with quiet engine, good power, quick reaction from turbo, straight tracking while steering and braking. Brakes good. Transmission shifted solidly at all the right times and no slippage. Epuipped with turbo, auto trans, 4-wheel drive (push button), power steering, air conditioning (worked well in 104 degree heat! ), cruise control, factory fog lights, rear window wiper. Does not have sunroof, power windows or locks. Interior is excellant with no sunfading of any upholstrey or the rear deck cover. Has roof rack. End result: she came down to $2,500 and I went up to $2,000 and that's where it ended. Blue book in California for an '86 of the same description is $1,670. In Washinton I am sure Blue Book would be less. While it would be awsome with a 5 spd manual in place of the auto trans, on the way home I have come to the conclusion that if I get another vehicle it will be manual and non-turbo. There was a lot of "stuff" under that hood that I don't want to be trouble shooting 10 miles off the road in Baja, Mexico. Back to looking for the power steering setup for my Brat!

Is yours auto or manual? Air?

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2695&highlight=convert+auto+to+stick A search revealed the above thread. That makes it sound rather complicated if I am reading it right. One reason I would want to go to the d/r hi/lo set up is that I can't tow an auto behind the motor home. Also, I will be going to some remote locations in Mexico and Canada with a boat on top and dealing with a manual set up in the outback is much simpler than an auto. With auto you are basically dead! With d/r hi/lo I can get there and if an axel snaps I can get back with the other half. The Brat I have now fits the requirements, but the Turbo Wagon (converted) would be even better. The wife would like the AC and it could also be used to have guests ride in the car with us if we are taking the lightweight sail boat that would be on top to a remote beach in Baja, Mexico.

I would want it more if I could reasonably put a stick D/R Hi/lo in it. What would that take? A turbo 4 wheel drive with the manual dual range setup with Air Conditioning would be great for my travels.

Here is the link to the sheet in the window. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11808&cat=500&ppuser=56 It's auto and it says $3,000 OBO. Considering the rarity of something this clean, it's not out of the ballpark. If I was going to go after it, I would offer $1,500 and then negotiate from there. The photo has the phone number.

While in Chico, CA the other day, I spotted this cherry wagon for sale. It is so clean, it sparkled in the sun. I thought you might like to see it. Photos are in my album on this site. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11806&cat=500&ppuser=56 Take care.

I guess it is time to start casing the yards as I have time and go by them to find the donor car. Here in Calif. it is not too unusual to find a unit with "all the options". At least I hope so!!

GD, I am thinking of doing the same thing with my '87 brat. I am planning on using it as a tow vehicle behind my motor home and this will at some time include trips into Mexico. This will put a high premium on cool air with my wife sitting a foot to my right. Uncomfortable wife in a small, enclosed area is not good! I have 41 years of proof!! Also considering adding power steering, also due to wife's perceived needs for easier steering. How much is involved in the power steering upgrade?

Where is this Brat? I am next door in Dixon. In Dixon there are two: mine and another one owned by the original owner (cherry!). I am the second owner of mine. I would like to see it.

Justy 88, Send me an email by clicking on my name ,RedBrat, above and then selecting "send an email message". I need to know more, but am in your area and may have an interest in the Justy. By your sending me an email we can comunicate directly and I can give you my phone number.

No rush as it won't happen until a trip north this summer some time. It would be good if you and/or others in your area keep your eyes open for a good donor for the parts. It would help avoid just getting what is available at the time. Parts can be paid for when they are secured even tho installation may happen later. Thanks,

Thanks for the input. I have sent a message to richierich.

I am considering adding power steering to my Red Brat. Why?, they ask. Because my wife also needs to drive it on occasion and due to muscle, joint issues she doesn't have the greatest upper body strength. This makes steering in parking lots, etc. a bit of an issue. How big of a project would it be to convert the standard steering to power steering? I will be traveling up I-5 from CA to Ocean Shores, WA this summer and am considering having it done at that time. I believe there are board members that are accessable on the way or in that general area that run or work in qualified garages. I would appreciate two things: First, your thoughts on such a project and, Secondly, the contact info for someone to do the work. Thanks,

You are correct! Sorry for the switch in names. It is Ford with the Power Stroke that is using the new Donaldson Filter (there are also Freightliner and John Deere tractor applications). They also have a retrofit kit for prior years Power Strokes. Fine dust does the same thing coarse dust does. It causes internal engine wear. More dust equals more wear. Coarse dust just does it even faster. You will never get all dust out, but less equals longer engine life. Because diesel engines operate at much higher compression ratios, any wear to the pistons or cylinders has a much more significant effect sooner than on a gas engine. That is probably why it was diesel folks that undertook this comparison test. I work in the agricultural equipment business which is a combination of diesels and dusty conditions so I guess I am just more sensitive to this issue than most. People lose jobs over one filter screwup in this industry! While gas engines can take a little more and survive, in my scheme of things I would like my engine to last as long as possible. I have just rebuilt the engine in the unit that is getting the Donaldson PowerCore Hummer air filter and I want it to last a long time. To get free breathing and good filtration, I have oversized the filter relative to the original or the K & N that was on it. One possible option would be to have a setup for offroading where water and maximum performance are issues and another for general street use to ensure long life. Quick change air filtration systems! Now that's a thought.

Go back and reread it. The K & N was tested twice: once with the coarse dust and once with the fine dust. The results discussed in the text and in the graphs were those obtained with the coarse dust. With the fine dust, even more dust is passed on into the the engine. It was apples to apples. The testing standard refered to on the K & N site is the old test number, but here it is refered to by it's international number (ISO#). This is identified in the comentary. Racing engines don't always use filters because they are at the extreme edge and they aren't run over any length of time before they are rebuilt anyway. In my opinion, if you want long life from your engine use a filter that gets 99.8% of the particles out rather than just 98%. It isn't neccessarily an OEM filter. For a new type that can get wet and survive and gets a higher percentage of the fines out of the air stream, look at the specifications on the new Donaldson PowerCore design. It's used in Ford Duramax Diesel and the Hummer H2. I am putting the Hummer H2 canister and filter on another vehicle of mine. http://www.donaldson.com/en/engine/air/index.html Take care.

For any of you that have any interest in air filter performance data, go to the link below. A quote from it is below. http://home.usadatanet.net/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm “The AC Delco filter test ran for 60 minutes before exceeding the restriction limit while the AMSOIL and K&N tests each ran for 20 and 24 minutes respectively before reaching max restriction. In 60 minutes the AC Filter accumulated 574gms of dirt and passed only 0.4gms. After only 24 minutes the K&N had accumulated 221gms of dirt but passed 7.0gms. Compared to the AC, the K&N “plugged up” nearly 3 times faster, passed 18 times more dirt and captured 37% less dirt. See the data tables for a complete summary of these comparisons.” Just in case you are looking for long life from your engine.