BratshitCrazy

I'm looking for a front, driver's side lower control arm that will fit a 1985 brat - maybe the same as 85 to 90(?) GL/DL? let me know if you have one you want to sell. I'll need it shipped to 30084. Dave

Any axle experts out there? I need to replace CV joints up front and I'm looking at complete axles offered on Ebay. There are some that claim to fit 80 to (some later year like 1990) or 82-(some later year like 1990) and some that say they only fit early models. Does anybody know what the actual deal is? Are there more than just early model and late model axles? If it came to it, could I buy axles and just transfer CV joints to my current axles? This is a 1985 Brat. N. American version if that matters. 4 speed. Carbureted Ea81. The usual 1985 stuff. I need some guidance. Plus there is a thread elsewhere that looks like it's from July of this year where a guy ordered axles or CV joints and got the wrong items. Tell me what to buy, oh axle gurus.

Dan, I'll sell it for $50 plus actual cost of shipping (cheapest available). I paid $50 for it myself (my transaction record from ebay is attached).

It is. I know nothing about its history - bought it off ebay on impulse when I first got my brat and later realized that it was for an EA82, but I have an EA81. I'm not even sure it fits an EA82, actually. Maybe you can tell from the pic. It's nice and clean and appears to be unused (but rebuilt - there's a rebuild tag on the top). Let me know if you're interested.

Are you still looking? I mistakenly bought a compressor for an '86 Brat (I bought the wrong year) and I'm stuck with it. I'll make you a deal on it if you need it. Let me know and I'll take some pics this weekend so you can see what it looks like.

Me too - I just tried to order both and the right side is the only one available. Get 'em while you can - but please don't hoard.

George1943's pic looks just like the setup in my '85. As an footnote, mine is missing the upper idler/tensioner bracket and pulley and I've never been able to find one for sale anywhere. I bought a generic replacement but haven't gotten around to drilling a new hole so I can mount it. Or try to mount it. On the lower bracket, I had a bad bearing which is easily replaced.

So my practically brand new Weber 32/36 (ok, it's about a year old) started dumping fuel down the primary side. The intarwebs told me to check the power valve. When it took the valve off, I discovered a special extra bonus included in the purchase price of the carb - metal shavings! When I blew some air back through the vacuum passage with an air gun, sure enough, one more little fella flew out. Flooding problem solved. So I guess now we have to disassemble our brand-new carbs before we install them.

BTW both my posts refer to an EA81.

Also - there's another post on this board that reminded me of something. There was some kind of coolant passage in the manifold that allowed coolant to make contact with the underside of the stock carb. The weber adapter/gasket covers it up, so I just went with that rather than plugging the hole. So far so good.

I did this about two months ago. Best decision ever. Fortunately I don't have to deal with emissions where I live, so that was nice. I now have a huge collection of oddly shaped little vacuum hoses. The only tricky part was adapting the original air cleaner (optional, since you can use the chrome box thing that comes w/ the carb), but even that wasn't really that hard with a little cutting and welding. Also, as far as tuning goes, the car started up the first time I tried. All I had to do was fiddle with the idle speed a little. Oh, actually, there was one unexpected issue. My kit didn't come with a throttle cable bracket. I tried to re-bend mine stock bracket, which almost worked (and probably would have if I had fiddled with it some more), but in the end I just made one out of a piece of steel bar from the Home Depot. The original cable works just fine, but the OEM bracket leaves the end of the cable too far away from the throttle linkage on the carb to make the connection.

I didn't crosscheck, it's true, but I don't think I got the wrong part number. It was definitely a Subaru application, but just a weeee bit off on the machining. It doesn't take much to turn a press-fit into a won't-fit. As for Rock Auto, I think they're great. They're not necessarily the cheapest on every single thing, but they run some great specials and they tend to have a wider selection of brands for my Brat than most of the big chains. The price you pay is convenience, of course.

I bought what I thought was a dandy pair of lower control arm ball joints for my '85 Brat- they are the SKP brand, part number SK9081. Hey, they were only $2.94 each so I'm not even bothering to return them, but I thought you all should know that they will not fit (at least the ones I received). They look about right, but the taper is a little off so they won't fit into the control arm. With my cheap digital caliper, I can't get good enough measurements to say just how much they are off, but they are off. I tried to install them, believe me. Vices were used. Hammers were used. A ball joint was destroyed. Curses were uttered. Anyway, the $14 version I bought from the local Advance Auto Parts worked just fine. And everything else I've bought from Rock Auto has been fine.

I bought it off ebay from this guy: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Subaru-ignition-lock-cylinder-X6-long-/302185125076?fits=Year%3A1985%7CMake%3ASubaru&hash=item465ba314d4:m:mrnqK0y60pzR5uJQMHXy-dw&vxp=mtr