June 2, 201510 yr I've been eyeing these for quite some time and finally found one on craigslist that looked like a good candidate, so this weekend I jumped on it and now I'm the proud owner of a... well, a beat-up project if I'm honest. But really, who doesn't like a good project? It's running really rough right now but I was able to drive home across town. Needs a serious tune-up and cleaning and some paint and surface rust repair, but the engine runs, the clutch is good, the 4WD works, all electrics except for windshield wipers turn on, and for an almost 40-year-old car it's really not THAT beat up. And best of all, it came with bull bar and full front skid plate! OK, what's actually best of all is that it cost me $400. I'm compiling a list of tasks/parts now, and I'm sure I'll end up with questions here along the way. But I'm excited to get started! More pics:
June 3, 201510 yr Author Yeah, I'd say it's very likely homemade, and definitely heavy, although I haven't had it off yet... bolts were seized up when I tried to pull it a couple of days ago so they've been soaking in penetrating oil. Probably going to pull it off tomorrow so I can clean and paint it and clean the engine and change oil and such. It does look like it's pretty well made, though. I don't think I'd try to use it as a tow point, but it'll do very nicely to keep the oil pan off the rocks.
June 3, 201510 yr I'll give you 500.00 for it, if you don't want to fix it LOL. A lot of parts I'd like to have.
June 3, 201510 yr Author I'll give you 500.00 for it, if you don't want to fix it LOL. A lot of parts I'd like to have. Haha, ok, good to know. At the moment I'm pretty excited about restoring and driving her, but if that doesn't pan out I'll keep that in mind as an exit strategy. Although shipping to Kentucky might be rather expensive for a parts car... The brush guard is factory but the mounts sticking away from the car aren't. Huh, I didn't actually realize that any of the brush guards came from the factory. I assumed it would be either homemade or aftermarket. There's a wired plug on the passenger side which looks like it was meant for lights, so I suspect that the added bits were meant as mount points for those. I may use them that way again.
June 3, 201510 yr A sweet find for sure ! Paid $350 for mine around spring 2000 I think it was. Still going strong ! See that rounded rear bumper with the stubby end caps? They are particular to the stage 2 1977 4wd wagon and the 78 4wd wagon as well. Not BRATs. Come 1979 they all get the squared type.
June 3, 201510 yr Author I saw that blue one on craigslist as well, but the current owner said I wouldn't be able to drive it home so I decided it wouldn't be worth messing with. Would be cool to have a parts car but I've got nowhere to put it. I hadn't looked closely enough at the bumper before, but I see what you mean... the '79 has one that wraps further around. I'll keep my eye out for another :-) I've barely begun the restoration process and I'm already running into the fun of having an older and rarer car. I've so far managed to stump the local parts store on what distributor cap I need, and I haven't yet been able to source parking brake cables. This should be exciting!
June 4, 201510 yr Author OK, so good news first: I installed new wheels last night and the whole thing looks considerably better already. These were $100 on craigslist including tires.
June 4, 201510 yr Author However, the bad news is that sometime in the process of moving the car from the sloped driveway to the flat street so I could change the wheels, one of the rear brakes has apparently seized. Seriously this happened while it was sitting there. It rolled fine from the driveway to the road, and then from the road to another spot on the road, and then when I tried to go back to the driveway it wouldn't move. #@$*! So now it's parked on a public street, covered in rust and looking trashed, with no plates, and no easy way to move it. This got exciting fast! Guess I have to learn how to dismantle and repair a drum brake sometime, right?
June 4, 201510 yr However, the bad news is that sometime in the process of moving the car from the sloped driveway to the flat street so I could change the wheels, one of the rear brakes has apparently seized. Seriously this happened while it was sitting there. It rolled fine from the driveway to the road, and then from the road to another spot on the road, and then when I tried to go back to the driveway it wouldn't move. #@$*! So now it's parked on a public street, covered in rust and looking trashed, with no plates, and no easy way to move it. This got exciting fast! Guess I have to learn how to dismantle and repair a drum brake sometime, right? Yes I would guess so.
June 4, 201510 yr Glad you're gonna put that wagon to good use, sorry to hear about the rear drum issues
June 4, 201510 yr You probably can just turn the adjuster to suck the shoes in from the drum, otherwise you'll have to remove the axle stub nut and pull the drum off. You probably had a wheel cylinder seize, once they travel pas where they normally do (expecially if its no travel due to age), they tend to tear the seal or jam the pistons on the rust. Expect to need new wheel cylinders.
June 4, 201510 yr Author I'm hoping that's the case. I mean, I don't *want* to have to replace cylinders, but I would really like to be able to drive the damn thing 50 feet to get it back into my driveway.
June 4, 201510 yr If it's only 50ft then just drive it or put the old wheel back on so you don't have to worry about messing up the tire
June 4, 201510 yr Author It seems like it may be worse than I thought... Now that's it's up on jack stands, neither one of the back wheels will spin by hand. Adjusting the brake shoes doesn't seem to change anything. I'm not sure what would be causing that... 4wd is off (unless the selector is jammed? Doesn't make a difference if I put the car in neutral), brake cylinders I believe connect to opposite corners so there's no single point of failure for both back wheels. I'm very confused.
June 5, 201510 yr Can't remember if 1st gens have hill holder clutches or not, but another likely problems is the proportioning valve. Edited June 5, 201510 yr by turbosubarubrat
June 5, 201510 yr Author Well. I'm an idiot. Turns out the offset on those wheels is wrong, and the rear ones were scraping against the trailing arm, and I just couldn't see it in the dusk yesterday. Put the old wheels back on the rear and it all rolls freely. On the other hand, the carb has died completely and is delivering no fuel to the engine, so it's still stuck on the other side of the street without enough power to get it up my steep driveway. But that's much better because it's a known problem. If I spray starter fluid straight into the carb the engine starts right up and runs til it runs out of starter fluid, so I know the spark is good. If I disconnect the fuel line and crank it, the pump sprays gas into a container. But the float bowl no longer fills up during cranking. Pretty sure this means the float needle is stuck, or a valve is clogged... either way I think it means dismantling the carb.
June 5, 201510 yr Just buy a carb rebuild kit for it. They are quite easy to rebuild. And if you want to use those wheels you bought, they look like EA-82 wheels you just need to grind a small notch on each one of the trailing arm where the wheel was rubbing. I did that on my first Brat 11 years ago when I did not have any other wheels to put on mine. Just make sure you put some primer or paint over the freshly ground area to keep it from rusting.It's not ideal but it can work.
June 5, 201510 yr Author I've been considering the rebuild kit, although I will say that you're the first person I've encountered who says the process is easy. I mean, I have no doubt I could make it happen, but I haven't been expecting it to be easy. Was also considering a Weber replacement, but it sounds like that may have some consequences when it comes time for emissions testing. I believe they are EA82 wheels, yes. I'd definitely still like to use them, but grinding a notch sounds a bit scary... doesn't that compromise the structure of the trailing arm? Also, it's kind of hard to tell, but it seemed to me like it would need a good deal ground away to make enough space for the rim. Are longer studs and spacers an option?
June 5, 201510 yr I've seen people use flat washers with the stock studs. I've bought 2 cars that some one did that to not knowing until taking off the wheels off when parting the cars out. Edited June 5, 201510 yr by turbosubarubrat
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