Subaruist

- You're saying that you did the whole bottom half of your Subaru with just three cans?!? That's great! I know of an equally good use for it possibly... Those door handles on the inside and other similar plastic parts that are often self-disintegrating. Even though the surface of it is uneven, making it nearly impossible to make a good repair, due to the lost platic, this stuff could coat it well, maybe even with an even surface, unlike what the disitegration leaves! This might be a very good way to repair disintegrating plastic parts, bumpers, etc! I love it! I cannot find any other colors but black and tan in any brand so far - as serious bump in the road for me, but also makes me wonder if I could change my color preferences in some way, lol... I can find other colors in the roll-on stuff, bu not the aerosol so far... This is what I'm after! - but how to properly apply it to more than just truck bed - with metallic blue liner "tint":

Wow! I like that! How much did it cost you? I wonder if it would work with/if they have it in navy blue....

These might be one possibility: TEAC / NXT Flat Panel Metal Speakers - only 10 watts, but in a small subaru brat cab, that might just be enough, and besides, my front speakers are also 10 watt.

"make sure to mainly check Hondas subarus or anything that has tinted windows" - what? I don't get that....

One other general idea I have had is to use "Flat panel" speakers. These could be mounted much, much easier, in more places. The problem is that when I search for them, I mostly just find computer speakers. They are great for internal magnetic shielding, but don't have the minimum watts I and most people prefer. But I have not given up on the idea and may still resort to doing so. Flat panel speakers would be ideal for the doors, and it might even be possible to mount them flush with the dash top, although that would mean cutting it up a lot and asking for complications and problems.

Excellent idea, however in my situation, that whole 'section' console, whatever does not exist, and will not. I need the space for a whole stack of equipment, and there would not be enough room left over for speakers without them sticking out at least 2-3 inches further, and inconveniencing my throttle leg. However, I had to respond, as outside of my particular situation, it is a fantastic idea! See my next post - I might be able to use your idea if I can find decent flat panel speakers with watts that are not expensive... But the affordable ones I find are almost always computer speakers with very little wattage.

Now that's a shame... we are supposed to be fellow Subaru friends here... I would say not to make that decision, but on one hand, I really see your point, and on the other, that means more parts availability for me!!!! lol - of course I might have the same problem if I did so....

I can't go to Eugene, but if you have freinds in Medford where I am, I would go for helping you in your project, I am curious... your ride looks great, but it looks like a Brat, a short-bed-ed Brat at that. Are you saying that they tried to convert a hatchback into a Brat? If so, there is no pic of what it looks like from the rear, but it looks pretty well done. I can think of two ways to finish that - either strip the rear of any interior, use truck bed liner, and find some way to keep the rain out of the forward cab, like maybe one of those detachable rag tops jeeps use that attach with snaps - that would not be very expensive or difficult to to. That, or make some kind of shell for it? I think Brats look better without a shell, and yours even moreso. That car lot was obviously run by people who don't know thier vehicles, or they would know that cut-away or not, these vehicles are hotly searched for collectors items, and they should have bit the bullet and bought a damned tarp for a couple bucks! - Shame on them! - Hey, can you weld? If you can help me with my exhausts, I might spend the money to come up there and help you! lol...

System lost my post.... arrgghhh!! I tried putting my super small but wide speaker boxes on the dash, but that is not going to work because it obstructs my driver's view too much. - However, I can mount them in place of the windshield visors! I have partially rebuilt these speakers with two kinds of speakers for fuller sound. In each speaker 'box' there are 5, 2 for each channel, on the right and left sides of the box, and one old, useless, low-wattage speaker in the middle which acts upon the pressures created by the other speakers - there is a term or name for that, don;t remember it right now - dummy reflex speaker? Being that they will be right in front of me and the passenger, sound should not be a problem. I will not necessarily be able to blast deafening power out of them, but I should be able to get decent, usable sound and volume from them. If I eventually go with a "Carputer" mp3 system, I could go for 5.1 surround/Dolby/THX setup, and replace those useless center speakers with something better for a center channel! - Of course, the side channels would be another of the same challenge of where to put them, but probably not too hard to do. I could even mount side speakers in the door, which I normally will not do for audiofile reasons, but if I did, the voluems of the various speakers would start getting complicated or interesting, depending on how much of a hassel it turned out to be. - Why 5.1 sound if I am not watching a movie? - Because it can be rigged for great Quadraphonic sound at the very least! I am trying to figure out the best way to get the rear windows out of the weather stripping to make panels for rear speakers behind the head of both driver and passenger, but not quite enough clearance. I would be taking a chance on screwing up the rubber if I force them out. I think maybe I will first treat the rubber with something to make it as pliable as possible beofre next trying to take them out - any suggestions on some common household chemical to do this with ??? In the last pic you can see some of my improvised dash cover. I bought one, ($35.00) color was AWEFUL and not like the advertizing, so its being returned, but in the mean time I made a trace of it, added a little modification, made a cardboard template, and got some really cool looking blue vinyl to make my own. It too is not finished, but from the start looks twice as good as the one I bought, and it only cost me about $8 for the yard on sale with lots of leftover to make a shifter boot and other stuff.

I read about someone bringing back the black in thier bumper and/or other trim with I think steel wool, so I tried Scotch Brite scrubber pads, and although not perfect, this does make a very real difference! But this morning I see another demonstrable difference - on my front bumper the rain shows a big difference between most of the bumper I worked on, and the last corner I left for comparrison.... I will soon get around to getting some of that stuff for bringing back plastic and trim, and making tires black, etc - I know these are sold as different items, but I suspect there is one out there I can use for both - I would appreciate reccomendations for a product that can both make my tires nice and black, and also restore various colors of trim as well if possible....

Almost finished with basic repairs, cleaning up, etc. Unlike most, I do not want to take "before and after" pictures from day 1. First I want to get it to basic acceptable condition, and then from there document what I do, as I really don't care to post about just dirt and grease, but improvements from a normal as possible condition. That being said, that damnable red dust has really gone too far! Every time I do anything, move anything, or remove anything, I either find sedimentary sandstone-like compacted-over-time dust, or huge amounts of loose fine red dust! So if you want pics of dirt, here you are! lol... In this case, I just wanted to remove a small piece of trim, up overhead, behind where the "BRAT" logo is on the outside. But NOOOOOoooooo! a half a pound of dust starts falling out like it was filled with it as some practical joke! This stuff is everywhere, everywhere, every where!! In everything, no matter where it is. How does so much damnable dust get filled into a small space, high up, fairly well sealed off and very much out-of-the-way ?!? I dunno, but its a real pain dealing with its various forms through this process!!! lol...

This seems to be some port to the interior. It would be great for wires or cables to pass through for lights or antenna, but surely there could be no intention for such to be mounted in this particular spot. I'm pretty sure it would not be needed for ventilation... So what purpose was this intended for?

Yes - Its called never being able to roll up the windows the same again, but it works, lol... I found a couple of accidentally low-profile speaker boxes and mounted them to one of my Brats in the past. If I wanted to roll the window down, I would have to use the detached window handle like a wrench. Later I managed to make a "Handle" that went on the stub like a screwdriver so I could open the window just a bit easier. It was a pain, but the speakers worked great! - But I have no plans on repeating that.

Ok... this is definitely getting twilight zone.... It sounds too good to be true, and you know what they say about that... How about I see your plart-dip paint job, and raise 'ya.... How about truck bed liner instead of plasti-dip ? lol.... It would all be plastic, and look just like a toy!

Today, repaired exhaust for the 3rd time, nopefully the last time until I am able to replace the whole exhaust system. UPS LOST both of my 8 1/2 foot stainless whip antennas, and was not even going to notify me with thier wonderful "tracking" - what's the point of having package tracking if they deliberately refuse to notify you if your package is missing ?!?!? Life is becoming 'Idiocracy' before my eyes. Notified the place I bought them from two days ago, still have not received any reply, sent another message today. Still debating on how exactly to mount them. I favor the 'Insect' antenna look, bit not much room for mounting large/heavy antennas or antanna ball mounts on the cab/top with a T-Top...

Do you have a link for that thread? thx

"in my experience (admittedly not much) the most important thing when driving is visibility," - is what probably confused me.

About those antennas, got any bigger/close-up pics you can post - I would like to do something very similar...

Just what, exactly are you talking about ?!?!? Nobody here has a problem that I have noticed. Seems like a fun dialog to me...

Regarding the worship of the rear view mirror: If you drove a box truck or many vans,, you might have a windshield mounted rear view mirror, but it would do you no good, staring at the empty box or back of many vans with smaller windows. - What then? You would refuse to drive the vehicle? What if is had to do with your job? Speakers: I have tried speakers in/on the door, and will not do such an abomination again. I will not mount speakers wjerever I can cram them, I will mount them for the sake of the speakers and their sound. A couple of inches of rearview does not make me blind or an invalid, it makes virtually no diffeence at all in fact. I had one Brat where I found stained glass contact plastic and cut it along its features and lined my rear window with it in the same way. It did not decrease what I could see in the slightest. You can't see behind your own head, and if you feel you need to, then there is something wrong, especially considering the outer rear view mirrors, and the fact that one should also physically look directly back out the rear window, which it does not impare to any real degree at all. There are many accepable things people do which technically decreases visibility, without an issue - like with window tinting for instance. I mean, if others don't prefer it, nothing wrong with that, but through years such things never caused me the slightest inconvenience. I would not be comfortable with my skill as a driver was hampered by such a slight thing. - I admit, I am not totally comfortable in any vehicle where I cannot use the windshield rear view mirror at all, but I can still drive such a vehicle perfectly well.

Hmmm... Think this way - the light or images you see in the mirror come off at a constant widening angle, thus you look into a mirror a few inches big, but a few inches away, and what you see behind you is up to several feet wide. The distance and angle between the mirror and the back window leaves an adequate view of what is behind, and can be adjusted, as this is a project. Also keep in mind that the actual speakers will be mostly behind your head, which you could not see through anyway unless you move your head, and that would make the view off for the mirror. For practical matters, it is only a matter of a couple inches difference on each side. I personally like getting larger than normal outside rear view mirrors, and like using those more than the windshield's mirror.

Oh for cryin' out loud... I better not check it out... I just don't think I should go down that path. I am pretty sure from my own dealings with the stuff is that it is entirely vulnerable to gasoline and other solvents, so You would have to do something about the area around the gas port. I will check the sources just to be sure, but I have a bloodhound nose for things like this sometimes, and it says this stuff is just not up to such a task. It is too soft for one thing, but I will check it out, just for morbid curiosity, lol.

Do you realize what you have just done ?!?!? You have just said it is not only possible, but affordable (more affordable than regular paint ?!?!?) and maybe even easy !?!? Oh no... I must dis-belive.. I must not dwell on this possibility, no, it just can't be, I shouldn't, I can't - Hmmmmmm..... - No... What would it look like in just a year of normal driving? 2 years? 3? I don't think it would work in the long run, it would shrink up or wrinkle or be affected by summer heat and expansion of the metal... No... It can't work.... Now watch, someone will say they did it, and it was perfect for 10 years, and the best thing they ever did - just watch! lol....

This is for pretty much any Subaru Brat. It has almost undoubtedly been done before, but here's my scheme... I have some small speakers from a home theater, in a case that is only a couple inches tall, over a foot wide, with I think 6 - 8 small speakers in each. This is pretty simple for some front speakers, but the better part is the rear speakers. I am working on replacing the rear window - the center will still have/be glass for the rear view mirror, etc. but on the sides will be either tempered hardboard, Plastic plate, or aluminum plate, matching the thickness of the former glass. On each side, behind each ear, on that plate I mount individual speakers by choice, and then maybe figure out covers for the backs of them. It would be best to have some kind of compensation for weight if speakers with heavy magnets are used, just to make things easy on the weather stripping, and not over time easing out of the slot(s) in it for the former glass. This will use ZERO space in the cab and allow multiple speakers to be used, depending on thier size. The only real difficulty I forsee is the front/rear balance or fade, where the front speakers will have to be louder than normal, or the rear speakers more likely kept much quieter in order for the rear speakers, just behind the ears to not overpower the front speakers. I am pretty sure that this will work in both the single pane of glass windows, and the sliding glass windows, but with sliding glass windows, there should effectively be two slots in the weatherstripping to use, which multiplies the possibilities, such as what to use for a speaker grill, etc. I am definitely doing this, and will continue to look for other possibilities, but the speakers in the door facing/against the seat was a bad idea, and no speaker in my vehicle will be so poorly placed! Speakers need to be where they need to be for good sound, not where is is most convenient, or anywhere you can cram one. I am also considering either sub-woofers under the seats, which would be partly muffled, of course, but better would be transducer type subwoofers, which can work through solid materials, such as possibly the frame of the seat, or maybe the floor, which might not work well.

What a sight! What a sight!