IslandBrat Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Hey Everyone! I am Derel, AKA BIG D. 250Machine, The Farmer. or whatever else ya wanna call me. so introduction is over. heres what i got! I have a 1983 Subaru Brat GL. T-tops, 4WD. 1.8 ea81 motor. Got it for two days of labor from my buddys boss, he only put a thousand miles on it in the 4 years or so he owned it. kinda just used it around the property. it has some big rust spots. i need to weld something in to cover the hole on the drivers side floor. it had been sitting for a couple years. so i have done this. New Battery, New NGK plugs, new wires, new cap and rotor, oil change with filter, fuel filter, air filter. i have two brand new CV axles for the front to be installed, i have brand new brake master cylinder in the cab, along with two new rotors for the front, two ball joints, valve cover gaskets. i have front and rear brake pads/shoes on there way, along with intake manifold gaskets. should be in on wednesday. i have changed the rear diff oil. set the timing. washed it, put some polish on it just because. its ugly. but i can polish a turd into a gem. So i have some questions and want to know if someone maybe had some parts for this. so when i start it up cold. double tap the gas, turn it over. it revs up to 2k. than i go and drive it a little. than when the choke turns off. it really has a hard time idling or to say it will bog till it dies. from 800rpm to 1400rpm it really bogs down and sometimes just chokes out and dies. so i feel that would be a vacuum leak. hence why i ordered the intake manifold gaskets. the current ones are wet and slightly oily. so i feel they are leaking, and once it gets up in the rpms it does better. any ideas? also dont have working tail lights, bulbs seem fine, but dont know whats up with that. i also need at least the passenger side. but wouldnt mind getting a aftermarket kit for it. i havent been able to find any. is there some out there? also only have turn signals in the front and one in the rear. so i should be able to get that fixed. it has 158,xxx miles on it. 2 owners ago they had got 6 lug conversion plates for the wheels, so instead of 13 inch rims i have toyota 15 inch with winter/mud tires on it. they cut the front fenders a bit so it can turn. this thing is great in 4 Low. cant wait for snow to really get some use of these things. Thanks Everyone, sorry for the long story, but wanted to get everything out there and tell about all the problems i have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Welcome aboard. Youll find a lot of information here, as well as friendly advice, ideas etc. Do you have pics available of your brat? if you are unsure about how to post them here, I can show you directions on how to do it, but everyone here loves brat. Again, welcome, I am Marshall aka 92_Rugby_Subie from the Portland Oregon area. Now that introduction is over... Ill let someone give you some advice on your brat. What kind of aftermarket light are you looking for? I dont believe theres anything aftermarket persay, but there is junkyards, members etc that have the stock taillights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 When you start it... do you double tap the gas, turn it over, let it rev up to 2k and let it climb for a bit? I let mine rev to 2600-3000rpms before I tap the gas to drop it back down. Mines a Weber 32/36 DGEV carburated EA82... Do you still have the stock hitachi on yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandBrat Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 Hey i will have to get some pics for you guys. i do let it warm up, without gas it stays at 2k. i normally bring it up a bit more and then after a couple mins i tap it and it goes down to 800rpm. but trying to tap the gas then normally kills it. i have to do it just right. even stock tail lights would be great. i have been asking around in the for sale all ready. I think its the stock one, i have seen enough webers to notice if i have one on this. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 There are access panels inside the bed that you can remove to access the wiring to the rear. You may have luck just unplugging and re-connecting them a few times to restore a contact, as i have seen this trick work on an old brat once before. It's worth a shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renob123 Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 With the car running, spray carb cleaner on all of the hoses or other possible vacuum leak areas in the engine bay. When you spray the vacuum leak, the engine's idle will change. That's how you know where your leak is. Then you just replace that. No need to guess. No need to buy arbitrary parts. The weird acceleration thing may be the carb or a vacuum leak. I don't know much about carbs, but everyone else here does. For just about any new Brat owner, I'd recommend bleeding the brakes and getting new engine/transmission mounts. Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandBrat Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Alright well i will see if i have a can of carb cleaner laying around so i can try to find the leak, and as far as bleeding the brakes, im replacing all the pads, and the master cylinder, so i will bleed everything then. i will start taking the bed apart and checking wires, new mounts for engine and tranny? how much and where you get those? pretty easy to do so? Thanks everyone i am working on the pictures. my phone isnt fancy enough to take and send pictures to email.. but ill get some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renob123 Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Alright well i will see if i have a can of carb cleaner laying around so i can try to find the leak, and as far as bleeding the brakes, im replacing all the pads, and the master cylinder, so i will bleed everything then. i will start taking the bed apart and checking wires, new mounts for engine and tranny? how much and where you get those? pretty easy to do so? Thanks everyone i am working on the pictures. my phone isnt fancy enough to take and send pictures to email.. but ill get some. You'll want to search here to be totally sure, but here's what I found on Rockauto: BECK/ARNLEY Part # 1040894 BECK/ARNLEY Part # 1040937 You'll want two of each. DO NOT just get whatever's listed for a Brat. The transmission mounts listed are totally wrong. Fortunately, the right ones are listed for other EA81s. Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandBrat Posted May 29, 2011 Author Share Posted May 29, 2011 Ok i will check that out. so your saying to replace all the motor mounts, and tranny mounts?? all rubber right, with some bolts in-between. I can do that. Today i got to the DOL and got it changed into my name. ended up costing me about one hundred dollars to get new plates and tabs for it. so that plus one hundred for the battery, one hundred for cv axles, one hundred or more in all other tune up parts. im only into this brat about 450 dollars. the guy i got it from is my good friends old boss. so i am trading two days of splitting wood for the brat. not to shabby. i got a late start on doing the rear brakes today, but after fighting with the big bolt with the cotter pin that keeps the drum and wheel to the cv axle. (big pipe wrench, with me standing on it) was how i got that off, the rear drum setup is very easy. two springs and the clips to hold them in place. however the sad news i found is i thought i had a conversion plate to six lug, nope instead the last owner just drilled out the stock drums and welded in new studs. :-\ that was just the one side. ended up changing jets out on a friends bike and started in on the brews a bit early. so tomorrow its all brat day. hope to get the rear done, front pads and rotors in and brake master cylinder. in the book it says you need a hub puller to take the front rotors off? do you have to have one? or can you pull them out by hand? Thanks for the ideas and comments. im still trying for pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 If you want, Ill give you my cell number, you can send me pics, Ill forward them to your email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renob123 Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Ok i will check that out. so your saying to replace all the motor mounts, and tranny mounts?? all rubber right, with some bolts in-between. I can do that. Today i got to the DOL and got it changed into my name. ended up costing me about one hundred dollars to get new plates and tabs for it. so that plus one hundred for the battery, one hundred for cv axles, one hundred or more in all other tune up parts. im only into this brat about 450 dollars. the guy i got it from is my good friends old boss. so i am trading two days of splitting wood for the brat. not to shabby. i got a late start on doing the rear brakes today, but after fighting with the big bolt with the cotter pin that keeps the drum and wheel to the cv axle. (big pipe wrench, with me standing on it) was how i got that off, the rear drum setup is very easy. two springs and the clips to hold them in place. however the sad news i found is i thought i had a conversion plate to six lug, nope instead the last owner just drilled out the stock drums and welded in new studs. :-\ that was just the one side. ended up changing jets out on a friends bike and started in on the brews a bit early. so tomorrow its all brat day. hope to get the rear done, front pads and rotors in and brake master cylinder. in the book it says you need a hub puller to take the front rotors off? do you have to have one? or can you pull them out by hand? Thanks for the ideas and comments. im still trying for pictures. I know I'm late, so you may have figured it out already, but no, I've never needed a hub puller for the fronts. There are instructions on here for how to do it, and if you search well, you can download How To Keep Your Subaru Alive (YTKYSA). It's a good manual for doing things like this your first time. Yes, the rubber with some studs/bolts and such. It makes a huge difference. It'll make the shifting more crisp, and the whole thing will handle better. When people have rear drums, the way they go to 6-lug is by drilling the drums, like you see on yours. sjrlifts.com makes some good stuff for EA81s, and that's the 6-lug conversion that he sells. Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandBrat Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 Hey Hey, my buddy should be emailing me the pics of the brat in my car port jacked up soon. its not to pretty but i know you all want to see. so the front brakes suck to work on, why do you have to rotate the piston clockwise to get them back in all the way.. why can subaru make it easy.. anyways i should have that all done today if i work on it. got the new master cylinder installed, the passenger side done. rear brakes done. but i still dont have brake lights. i have been searching and reading many threads on this site as to what to check and what goes wrong. thing is is my running lights work, blinkers work, license plate lights work. i disconnected the pedal switch, jumped it. still no brake lights.. some people say the trailer light box thing goes bad and you can cut it out (i dont plan to tow ever with the brat) to see if that is the problem. but if everything else works than i know my ground isnt bad, since they share the same wire, both brake lights are out so its not a bad connection at the blub, i have brand new blubs in the rear for everything. so that doesnt seem likely.. what else can i do? i dont wanna rig up a switch that i have to press for brake lights.. i feel there is something small i can get to fix this.. any ideas? the front rotors came off no problem, no need for a hub puller.. but the old rotors were very burnt and the inside was worn down pretty far.. no lip like the new ones have... so im happy i am replacing them.. well thats my update for now.. i will post pics when i get them.. Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandBrat Posted June 3, 2011 Author Share Posted June 3, 2011 i guess these are pictures, kinda small.. http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248467_10150211226548684_665518683_7154269_7721718_a.jpg http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248737_10150211226613684_665518683_7154270_1467340_a.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renob123 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 i guess these are pictures, kinda small.. http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248467_10150211226548684_665518683_7154269_7721718_a.jpg http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248737_10150211226613684_665518683_7154270_1467340_a.jpg They're kinda really small. That Brat looks pretty good. Has it lived in the area most of its life? I think you'll find that the rust is mostly cosmetic around here. Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I have the wiring diagram. Email me at tomrhere (at) yahoo (dot) com, and I'll send them to you. Put BRAT wiring in the subject line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandBrat Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Hey, thanks but i have the service manual for it. so it has the diagrams for wiring.. im not to electrical minded. engines and carbs im great at.. but most of the bikes i have had dont ever have electrical problems or more than 3 wires for most stuff. lol i wanna test the power at the bulbs, brake light switch, before and after the trailer harness. see what that tells me. been reading alot on this site for the same problem. any other ideas? i guess testing for power will tell me what i need to know.. have to ask my dad for the voltmeter. ill let ya know what i figure out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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