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'82 BRAT is hurt, hurt real bad.


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I picked up a Brat in Washington a few months ago for a song. It's a real fun car, but something is wrong. when i give it gas it shudders and seems as though its gulping. it doesnt like to get to highway speed and I have even noticed that taking my foot off the gas slightly makes it accelerate faster. its runs particularly rough in the cold and in the rain. thoughts?

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sounds electrical of some sort. I think others also thinking that you got a car new to you, save yourself a heap of hassles and give it:

 

a fuel add cleaner treatment before anything, and run it as much as you can to let the cleaner do some work, likely fill the fuel filters front and back with crud.

 

Go buy new spark plugs, new HT spark leads, dizzy cap and rotor, fuel filters air filter and give it an oil and filter change

 

contact points or electronic module in dizzy ?

 

get some spray in its throat type carby cleaner.

 

Then see if your problem is resolved, gets too hard for anyone to remote diagnose your problem correctly.

Still problem, come back to this thread and list what you have done and go from there

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I don't know guys.... he said it doesn't seem to like the cold and rain.  Maybe this Brat came from the East side of the WA Cascades where it is much dryer.

I would sell that Brat for what I paid for it.  Sounds like a basket case.    PM me.... please!

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Problems during damp weather would seem to be electrical. Maybe you have more than one problem. Backing off the gas and vehicle picking up speed would seem to indicate a carb problem, like flooding or too rich maybe. What is your mpg averaging? I agree with a good fuel treatment, cheap enough. What I like to do is get down to a 1/4 tank or so and heavy dose with Seafoam. Shoot for 4-6 ozs. a gallon. Run until near empty.

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I have been having a very similar problem, but in mine I know that it is a problem (A) With the Carb, (B) with the float sticking.

It would do same, even worse, even to the point of not being able to move at all.

I would flick the throttle on the carb and let it go back to idle, and keep doing this, at some point the float would stick less and I could freely rev the engine. If I did not handle the gas pedal right, it would happen again. I tried carb cleaner, b-12 Chemtool and seafoam alternately in the gas tank, and they made only a slight difference.

 

Try flicking the throttle on the carb, or possibly doing same with the gas pedal, it may take a while, and you have to do it just right, but after a while you will notice it getting better until it operates more normally. By that I mean you rev it only up to where it starts having a problem, no more, and wait for the idel to go back to normal, then do ti again, and agin, and agin, etc. If no difference, either this is not your problem, or if it is, the float has a serious sticking problem.

If this is your problem, you could possibly solve it with a basic carb rebuild kit, and just make sure everything moves or swings as freely as possible in there.

If this is your problem, at worst it means replacing the carb, but a fairly simple solution.

Good luck, and by the way, I am looking for a Carb for a 1983 Subaru Brat, or almost anything that can replace it.

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I have been having a very similar problem, but in mine I know that it is a problem (A) With the Carb, ( B) with the float sticking.

It would do same, even worse, even to the point of not being able to move at all.

I would flick the throttle on the carb and let it go back to idle, and keep doing this, at some point the float would stick less and I could freely rev the engine. If I did not handle the gas pedal right, it would happen again. I tried carb cleaner, b-12 Chemtool and seafoam alternately in the gas tank, and they made only a slight difference.

 

Try flicking the throttle on the carb, or possibly doing same with the gas pedal, it may take a while, and you have to do it just right, but after a while you will notice it getting better until it operates more normally. By that I mean you rev it only up to where it starts having a problem, no more, and wait for the idel to go back to normal, then do ti again, and agin, and agin, etc. If no difference, either this is not your problem, or if it is, the float has a serious sticking problem.

If this is your problem, you could possibly solve it with a basic carb rebuild kit, and just make sure everything moves or swings as freely as possible in there.

If this is your problem, at worst it means replacing the carb, but a fairly simple solution.

Good luck, and by the way, I am looking for a Carb for a 1983 Subaru Brat, or almost anything that can replace it.

You should just find a weber 32/36 at a junk yard or buy one new one from redline.  You can get the adapter plate from redline as well.

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hey yall, thanks.

 

jono- i have banged out most of that list. when i got it i noticed that the disty was anything but water tight and had to redo that whole shooting match.

 

TallonX- its not fortunately ha. actually i think this color was known as harvest wheat in the day.

 

bratman2- im getting between 26-28 and I actually already treated my fuel there I had to bend the sender and did a full clean on its way down for that.

 

Subaruist- I will try this.

 

Furthermore I went to a pick and pull yesterday in hopes of finding a 32/26. and every subie in there had a hitachi. which, with no prior knowledge, i had assumed mine had as well. but after doing a little research I found out that the carb in my car is a carter-weber, and after a little more research I found out that these things have been fought from the factory and is likely the cause of my pain. I went to buy a weber 32/36 with the conversion kit on ebay and they specifically say that it will not work with a carter-weber. does this mean I just need to pick up a hitachi intake manifold and get that in there with the weber or is this going to be really complicated?

 

cheers

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