If your brat is the same as my wagon it has fusible links. Check for corrosion

Haven't been online to post the success of my findings.

 

That night I decided to redo a lot of the wiring in The Squirrel. I removed all the cabling for the grounds and positive to the alternator. I cleaned up the battery and all connections, made new grounds, re-terminated all ends and added new terminal bolts to the clamps.

 

Damn thing started better then anything I have ever owned? She fires up before the starter even moves the flywheel 90 degrees?! Idles better as well. I am thinking that all of this corrosion in the cabling was cause for the poor running.

 

So, that makes me happy.

 

Now, since I did the wiring fixes I removed the hot that was wired from the windshield motor to the radiator fan. Basically the radiator fan runs when ignition is on. There is one wire from the fan to the sensor in the radiator and another black wire with a white stripe and a bullet connector just sitting there. That was connected to the washer hot.

 

Was this wired to the harness? I think the sensor to be bad and that is why they did this but I am not sure. What would this misc. wire connect to?

Oh, and I got my fenders within 48 hours! They are in fantastic condition and have Subaru decals on the inside. Gotta love factory OEM parts from 1979, lol.

 

Will post pics tonight.

Hi OCD

 

I'm following the story with interest from here in the UK... can't wait to see this one finished!

 

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK :-)

 

Owain

Thank you Owain, I appreciate the push. I am really having a great time with this old girl.

So, fender time!!! The last part of my front end is coming together. I received the fenders and have been just dying to get them prepped for their final resting place on the Brat.

 

They are Subaru OEM and almost perfect. I started on the passengers side last night and it took all night to get done.

 

I sanded down the entire fender like I did the hood. There was a black primer on there and I wanted it bare. That black might offset the final color when she gets painted.

 

 

I then hand sanded the turn signal buckets for a while to get all that surface rust out of there. I also sanded the top rail if you can call it that so the mating surface is rust free on both sides.

 

Edited October 3, 201213 yr by O.C.D.

I primered the back side first so I could lay down a coat of chassis underliner.

 

 

Then the front side after that. Was going perfectly well until a fly decided it liked the primer on the leading edge so I have to refinish that.

 

 

The liner is taking forever to dry so I didn't mount it on the car yet. I am going to get some heavy weatherstriping today to replace the panel sealer that Subaru used from the factory. I want these to be removable if need be.

 

Drivers side fender tonight and she will be put back together by Thursday when the cold comes. Supposed to snow here this weekend.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jon

This is awesome! You are absolutely an inspiration to me to learn how to do all this stuff

Great attention to detail. Keep up the fine work!

fenders look great:headbang:im glad i was able to find them for you, they where kind of pricey at $190+shipping must have been a killer:dead:

fenders look great:headbang:im glad i was able to find them for you, they where kind of pricey at $190+shipping must have been a killer:dead:

 

Yep this little Brat is killing my bank every paycheck. Just the fenders cost 75% of what I paid for the car, lol. What can you do?

 

I did just put my (hopefully) last order in for all the OEM seals for the entire drivetrain minus the front hubs and bearings. The amount I have spent on OEM parts is crazy to think of. But if you are going to do something ya gotta do it right.

 

Once the fenders are done and she has all the body in primer I will pull the motor and rebuild the tranny too. That is going to be fun, seriously.

 

Now, since I did the wiring fixes I removed the hot that was wired from the windshield motor to the radiator fan. Basically the radiator fan runs when ignition is on. There is one wire from the fan to the sensor in the radiator and another black wire with a white stripe and a bullet connector just sitting there. That was connected to the washer hot.

 

Was this wired to the harness? I think the sensor to be bad and that is why they did this but I am not sure. What would this misc. wire connect to?

 

Can anyone speak to what I quoted above about the temp sensor and the wiring please.

I'm not sure what you asking but will take a shot. The temp sensor for the fan on the Gl interrupts the ground until it heats up and then grounds through the radiator. Since the radiator is not directly bolted to the body you need the grounding strap to the body connected so your fans will work. I am not sure if this is the Info you are looking for. Hope this helps

I'm not sure what you asking but will take a shot. The temp sensor for the fan on the Gl interrupts the ground until it heats up and then grounds through the radiator. Since the radiator is not directly bolted to the body you need the grounding strap to the body connected so your fans will work. I am not sure if this is the Info you are looking for. Hope this helps

 

Close, thank you.

 

I am referring to the hot for the sensor. The previous owner had that wired to a hot so it was always on. I removed that and am wondering if that is supposed to be part of the harness. Or rather, where does it get it's hot from in the harness? I want to make it stock so it does not always run.

Got some time to finish up the other fender last night. This one was not as "perfect" as the passenger's side. But I cannot complain I can just try and fix it.

 

The edge of the fender up top near the window was rusted through. I could have left it but that isn't me. I thought about filling it and then welding it but the obvious was the old fender. So I cut them both up and welded a backing strip to both parts.

 

 

I think it turned out great, almost perfect in fact. Then I did the Bondo thing which worked out cause I had two small dents I couldn't work out of the fender.

Then I did the same treatment to the fender as the other, prime, undercoat, and voila!

 

The fender looks perfect. The whole front end does now. But I then had to deal with what I knew to be a huge issue. The door hinges were severely bent and the new fender was rubbing. The gaps are way off as seen here.

 

So off came the door to investigate. The hinge mounts are way bent. Can't really see it in the pic but you get the idea.

 

Cool pic.

 

Door is bent pretty badly too.

 

So I worked with a sledge, popped this and that out and got the door almost back to where it needs to be. Was late so no pic.

Great morning entertainment! Keep 'em coming! Is it too early for a beer...?

Well, it is 10 am here in Colorado so unless I am 21 again, no beer. Enough Coors and Miller and a few Guinness have been harmed during this build.

 

Something about garages and working on cars makes the beer flow, lol.

This thing is looking great! Nice fix on the fender, I would have done the same.

 

I wish I had a garage! I'm imagining a kegerator with a dual range tap handle. One day haha!

The front end looks great. How does a door get bent like that, wow.

I need to learn how to weld.

Nice work!

Very nice work - as usual.

 

Are you using flux core wire with that Lincoln 125 MIG welder?

I didn't see a bottle anywhere in the pics.

Wow great work... Your door inner panels look to be in great shape... I have perfect inner door handle plastic bezels in blue in like new shape. These are hard to come by and I wont be letting them go for cheap ( I really should keep them) but the ones on my brat are in great shape as well... Sooo I might sell them. I can get you pics if your interested and also shoot me a reasonable price if you want them at tbag1331@yahoo.com.... keep up the great work!!!

Very nice work - as usual.

 

Are you using flux core wire with that Lincoln 125 MIG welder?

I didn't see a bottle anywhere in the pics.

 

I am indeed. I never got around to getting the gas. Just .35" flux core from the Depot. Built a motorcycle with this setup, lol.

Wow great work... Your door inner panels look to be in great shape... I have perfect inner door handle plastic bezels in blue in like new shape. These are hard to come by and I wont be letting them go for cheap ( I really should keep them) but the ones on my brat are in great shape as well... Sooo I might sell them. I can get you pics if your interested and also shoot me a reasonable price if you want them at tbag1331@yahoo.com.... keep up the great work!!!

 

Uh, oh, that means some money I take it. Sending email.

 

Thanks.