March 20, 20179 yr Author Finished the last of the rust repair and got all of the undercoating done. Wheel well rust pre-cut by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Rusty wheel well by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Wheel well rust cut out by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Driver rear wheel well repair by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr rear end undercoated by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr I welded some nuts/washers to the underbody while it was clean so I have an easy way to remove the bed seats and made some new tabs on the bed seats to mount them. Bed seat frame mounts by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Edited March 20, 20179 yr by LouKoff
May 20, 20178 yr Author Got a lot more stuff ready for primer/paint. Bumper prepped for primer Bumper prepped1 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Bumper prepped2 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Got the engine bay seam sealed and prepped for paint, and seam sealed the interior(not pictured). Bay prepped for sealing by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Bay Sealed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr D Bay sealed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr P Bay Sealed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Cleaned up a lot of the suspension components and am working on getting the gas tank refurbed. Control Arms/Subframe by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Suspension prepped by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Got the bed and tailgate cleaned up a little better and ready for primer Bed and Tailgate ready for primer by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Started bodyworking too, it definitely shows that this was a hard working truck for most of its life. D Bodywork by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr D Rear Bodywork by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
May 30, 20178 yr Author Decided to remove the rear window so the paint in the bed would turn out better and painted the suspension with epoxy primer and some semi gloss black this weekend. Rear window removed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Suspension painted 1 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Suspension painted 2 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
June 16, 20178 yr Author Started assembling the short block, got the engine bay painted, and got the bumper, cowl, and front valence primed. I got the case halves together but haven't had time to put the pistons in yet. Crank and cam in case half by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Painted the engine bay a semi-gloss black, didn't want to paint it the same color as the rest of the car because I thought it would clash with the wrinkle red engine scheme. Black bay by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Had to get a little creative with my paint set up Paint set up by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Front end pieces primed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
June 20, 20178 yr Author Started putting the suspension back together. I stiffened up my bushings, engine, and tranny mounts with 3m window weld urethane and installed new front control arm bushings. I also started reinstalling stuff in the engine bay. I started fitting and knocking down some high spots I found on the fenders and mounted the hood. I'm working on rebuilding the master cylinder and putting in all new brakes/finishing up the suspension next. When its back on the ground and rolling I'll continue the body working. I also finished the assembly of the short block today Rings installed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Pistons installed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Piston crown by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Edited June 20, 20178 yr by LouKoff
June 30, 20178 yr Author Rebuilt the oil pump and got the longblock together ea81 longblock by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
July 3, 20178 yr Author Got the rear suspension and brakes back together, started rebuilding the rear cv axles (waiting on new cv boots), got the brake booster painted and got the master cylinder and windshield wiper motor reinstalled. Put in a new poly rag joint meant for vw's. Repacked my front wheel bearings, painted the front knuckles, and installed new wheel seals. Reassembled the front suspension with new control arm bushings, leading rod bushings, ball joints, and tie rod ends. I got the 4wd linkage modified to use the first gen linkage, to do this I cut the "cup" off of the single range tranny, removed the linkage from the dual range cut the threaded end off of it and welded the "cup" onto it and bolted the 4wd shifter mount onto the dual range tranny. Rear brakes and suspension back in with new shoes, wheel cylinders, and struts. Rear back together by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Taking apart the rear cv axles Rear CV by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Here's a photo of the modified linkage Modified linkage by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Tranny installed Tranny in by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr 4wd linkage just like factory 4wd shifter by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
July 7, 20178 yr Author Got all the front suspension back together and got the car back on the ground. I decided to raise the rear suspension up a bit as well. Now that I can finally move the car out of the garage I finally got the bed, bed access panels and the tailgate primed. I also started doing some more bodyworking and was able to not make a mess in the garage with all the dust. I'm really pleased that the brat is finally back on the ground again Back on the ground by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Bed sides primed Bed sides primed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Tailgate primed, seen its better days but doesn't have much rust Tailgate primed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Now that the bed is primed there no more bare metal on the truck and I can get down to business on the bodywork Bed Primed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
August 16, 20178 yr Author Got most of the body work done, after spot priming there are a few spots I still need to use some on. I'm gonna try to get the last of the filler work done and spray it with high build primer in the next couple days. I also got all of the rust cleaned out of the gas tank by soaking it vinegar for a couple days and shaking it around with some nuts and bolts inside, I neutralized the vinegar with baking soda and coated the inside of the tank with some light oil. After cleaning the rust I gave the tank some fresh paint. Gas tank cleaned and painted Gas tank by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Heres the brat after bodyworking, ready for spot priming Before paint by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr I might have gotten a little carried away with the body working and smoothed out the super dented wheel wells. I think it looks a lot better though. Bed after bodywork by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Lastly, here it is after spot priming. It's really coming together. Spot primed after bodywork by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
August 18, 20178 yr Author I got the filler work I wanted to get done before spraying the high build primer and seam sealed the bed. I also got the first round of high build primer sprayed, had a hell of a time getting the gun to spray right and didn't end up having enough primer mixed up or time to get the bed or tailgate sprayed so that'll have to wait for the next round. Seam Sealed Bed (1) by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Seam Sealed Bed (3) by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr High build primer by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
August 29, 20178 yr Author After block sanding the first coat of high build primer I found some more low spots and body lines that needed some more work so I did some more filler work to get it ready for another round. I also painted the brake calipers black and almost finished rebuilding the rear cv axles but I still need to do the boot clamps. Hopefully I'll have the car block sanded and fix any last spots that need attention so I can spray the basecoat soon. P side before 2k by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr P side before 2k 2 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Before 2k by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr P side 2k by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Front 2k by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr D side 2k by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr D side 2k 2 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Misc 2k by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Tailgate 2k by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Brake calipers painted by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr CVs rebuilt by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
October 4, 20178 yr Author Got the engine in yesterday! Was planning to get it painted this year but had some issues with a contaminated rag when spraying the sealer so I got some eyelets on the roof and bed, and now the weather is too cold to spray so it's time to get it running and driving and I'll paint it in the spring. Engine in by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
October 16, 20178 yr After lurking on USMB for way too many years, I finally decided to join just so I could leave afew words here. First I must say what a great job man your BRAT is gonna turn out real nice! Now if you don't mind me asking what pistons did you use and where did you get them? My EA81 is going to sit on the bench until I can find those elusive boob top pistons.Any feedback greatly appreciated.
October 19, 20178 yr Author Thanks for the kind words, it really means a lot. I got the pistons from ram performance, ltd. Unfortunately I'm not sure if they are making them anymore, they used to be listed for sale on their website www.ramengines.com, worth a shot to email them and see if they are still available to order a set. They just order them with their custom specs from wiseco anyway so I would imagine you could still get a set.
October 22, 20178 yr Holy smokes man you have no idea how stoked I am to see your reply! I was looking all over the place for a way to break the 100 horse barrier. A whole year has gone by since I pulled my motor and you my friend, just figured out the equation for me. I actually called Ram some time ago about those forged pistons. The aviation guys know their craft (no pun intended) and they told me exactly the same thing you said. From what I understand, they are good for 9.3:1 compression and very few folks are serious enough to shell out big bucks for them things. I was skeptical before but now I know for sure. Thanks again for passing on the info. I feel perverted looking at your piston photo but your ambition and dedication inspires me to do the same this holiday season. I look forward to your continued progress in the future and wish you all the best!
October 25, 20178 yr I just looked through your thread! Awesome job! A brat restoration is one of my dream projects.
December 30, 20178 yr Author Been while since I've been able to work on the brat but I got a few things done in the past couple of days. I got the gas tank and diff and rear cv axles installed as well as gas tank breather line, new fuel pump, fuel filter, and fuel line. Also started fabbing up a set of 1.75" unequal length headers to give the car some rumble once it starts running, I think they look sweet too. Also started working on getting the wiring harness in, getting the heater hoses routed and started trying to figure out some other things like the clutch and throttle cables and routing a vacuum line for the brake booster since it's on the opposite side of the car on the dual carb manifold. Didn't feel like much was worth taking photos of this time. Diff rear cv axles and gas tank installed Diff and gas tank in by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Heres the unequal length headers, only made it to the merge but the rest should be relatively easy to finish UEL by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
December 31, 20178 yr Wonderful work! Brats are so rare these days it is time to start preserving excellent examples for the future. Your spending the time and money to do it the right way!
January 14, 20188 yr Awesome work mate. Hats off to your thorough and patient approach, I think it's all paying off for you and the BRAT. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the finished product CheersBennie
January 17, 20188 yr Author Got most of the wiring, heater hoses, vacuum lines etc figured out and continued working on my headers. The engine is almost ready to start, just have to get a nut and bolt for the alternator, get some hose clamps for coolant lines and then I will have everything I need to wrap up the drivetrain. Also have almost the entire brake system back together, with all new soft lines, just have to get a piston compressor because my drivers side caliper won't fit on the rotor with the new pads. The engine mocked up with coolant lines and vacuum lines, waiting for hose clamps for final assembly. mock up by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr Heres a photo of the headers. Still need to put another short length of pipe on the end of the headers and weld on a flange and bung for my wideband but I'm pretty happy with how they're turning out Headers by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr
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