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got my new 1980 Brat


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OK guys, after looking hard I finally found an old subaru to play with. (its tough to find a old cheap Subaru in Texas!)

 

I got it last thursday. I think its a pretty good buy, ended up paying $950 including tax and title. Everything still works fine, engine seams to be fine except the carb is VERY messed up and the exhaust is toast!

 

it will run and idle (not great, but ok) until the carb turns off the choke, then it progressivly gets richer and richer and they finally dies over a period of about 5 min. it wont run unless I manually regulate the throttle to keep the engine turning above 600 or so.

 

I am guessing the float and needle are stuck / messed up? its like it doesnt know when to cut off the fuel?

 

it has a little 2 BBL Weber Carb on it, didnt come with an air cleaner box. (the previous owner lost it.) I have no Idea what is stock on this car. its got an EA71.

 

So I plan on rebuilding the carb during next week.

 

Where can I buy a weber carb air cleaner box????

 

This is the first time I have ventured into small engines, only worked on chevy v8s.

 

Thanks to all for the info on this site!!! its very helpful to a newbie like me!!!

 

Any sugestions?

 

Oh i will also post pics.

 

Thanks.

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Nice!!!!

 

And no, that is not the original carb. I have the tall (2-1/2") filter, cover and clips here. I could send them your way, or you can get one here.

 

http://www.carburetion.com/Weber/weberpartsair.asp

 

edit:

 

Forgot about the stalling/flooding issue. You may need to put a Fuel Pressure Regulator in the line to the carb, $20.00 at a Parts Store. Some have had to, others haven't. Also, is there a fuel return line on the carb? Do believe you need one of those also. Not real familular with the 1st Gens, do they even have a fuel return line?

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1slow_si , This may be the one you saw, I bought in in Dallas.

 

I will look into the fuel preasure regulator. I dont think it has any fuel return hoses, it does have a little electric pump though.

 

Oh, One other thing... Anyone know of a good Weber carb tuning manual somewhere on the web?

 

SUBARU3, How much for the Exhaust? Allthough I am thinking of just doing what I do to all my cars, (replace all pipes and install two chamber flowmaster)

 

Thanks for all the tips! I will be taking the carb off to clean up on thursday or Friday!

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Nice!!!!

 

And no, that is not the original carb. I have the tall (2-1/2") filter, cover and clips here. I could send them your way, or you can get one here.

 

http://www.carburetion.com/Weber/weberpartsair.asp

 

edit:

 

Forgot about the stalling/flooding issue. You may need to put a Fuel Pressure Regulator in the line to the carb, $20.00 at a Parts Store. Some have had to, others haven't. Also, is there a fuel return line on the carb? Do believe you need one of those also. Not real familular with the 1st Gens, do they even have a fuel return line?

OK, Messed with the Car a good two hours tonight,

 

1. There is NO fuel return line at all. The fuel line comes out of the fender on the passanger side, Then it goes into a small plastic canister (I assume a fuel filter) then on from there it goes to a small electric pump, Then it goes directly to the Fuel inlet on the Weber (I think the weber has two inlets? looks like a Y, One side of the Y has a pipe inlet that the fuel hose runs to. The other side has a bolt that caps it off.

 

2. There is a small hole that was sucking air on the drivers side front corner of the Carb. I plugged this temporarly with the butt end of a screw. Also I pluged the PCV valve hole as it was sucking air like crazy.

 

OK, So i plugged all these holes. Then I procceded to put the idle mix screw out two screw turns. I put the idle speed adjustment at one full turn after contact with the throttle.

 

I was able to get it to run badly, I had to turn the mix screw OUT about 1.5 more turns to get it to idle correctly (did it progressivly). Then after about a min or two of crappy idle, Fuel would actually start dripping from the first barrell on to the butterflies below. I figured, ok Its too Rich, SO i kept screwing the idle mix in more and more, It of course would finally get too bad and die. But would still FLOOD out even with screw WAY IN or OUT.

 

I have read on the forums and can find little info about this fuel pressure regulator business. My car has no return line back to the tank so i guess fuel could be Spilling out from too much pressure???

 

And if it is necessary to install a fuel return line, DO i have to go all the way back to the tank? Or can it be done by returning a small line with a Tee upstream of the fuel pump?

 

Also, when increasing throttle ocasionally it would pop and flash from the carb barrell. (i think indication of way to rich at idle?)

 

Anyway.... Thanks for all your help! I will be messing with it again tomorrow!

 

-Daniel

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you should get a ea71 carb. do a clean and power tune then like magic its a monster idling like a rally ru and will have throttle responce quicker then lightning. almost breaking loose before the petal hits the floor. i had mine tuned so well i could stomp on it and the wheels would let loose a fury unseen by gen 1 subarus, and turn heads of jeep owners.:lol: i had to pop the clutch to spin em in 4 wheel drive. (plus less would go wrong with a stock carb, webbers a really good but bulky and have alot of linkage that fails. my opinion though)

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Yes, everyone is telling me to go wiht the hitachi, As I dont have a Hitachi now, And I have time to kill (not money) I am going to go ahead and rebuild and clean weber it has on it now and Give it a go. I read the microscopic print on the back of the carb and its a DGAV 32/36 and also has the number stamped 33B1.

 

 

If this does not go well... Then I will revert back to a hitachi (pep boys has rebuilt carbs for like $199). ONE big question on my mind... If I revert back to the original, will i need some kind of adapter plate??? or do I just remove the existing weber adapter plate and install the Hitachi???

 

Also Thanks HATCHY, I will do.

 

I really shouldnt buy cars with Half-baked carb conversions... This is miles away from my Chevy LT-1 experience.

 

Also While running it the other day I noticed that the tiny water pump is leaking a little. I hope water pumps are still available! :)

 

THANKS a million!

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too bad you didnt live in WA id give you a carb and water pump. (onlyto a fellow subaru fanatic)

You rock...

 

I bet you guys have fun driving in the snow and ice...

 

its really pathetic here in texas, we usually have one or two "Snow/Ice days a year" and usually its pretty much nothing, I allways look forward to these days... I used to have a blast running my 94 Carpice 9C1 all around on the frozen streets. I had put a LSD along with 3.73 gears in the rear and it actually got good traction. these were the days that my LT1 became a bad thing...

 

I hope I can get the Brat working this week, we usually have one last good freeze near the end of jan. heck tomorrow is to be 70 out!

 

later...

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OK, rebuilt the carb, runs much better, expecially at Other than idle. Idle is still messed up, but It will idle now, My car has an EGR valve, I know a messaed up EGR can be a bad thing.

 

Do you guys just ever remove the EGR valve and cap the hole? I think we can in Texas as its more than 25 years old.

 

Anyway, My car still will back fire though the carb every so often, But I have not checked the timing or verified that the timing advance works or anything else.

 

Now for the really bad news, drove it a little bit today, sounds awful when going over about 4 or five miles per hour, i put the front wheels in the air on jackstands and ran the car, The Driver side CV joints must be bad, make a hell of a lot of noise on this side only, If i stop the driverside tire from spinning with my foot the passanger side is quiet.

 

So anyway, I have never changed a CD joint drive shaft before....

 

-Daniel

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Now for the really bad news, drove it a little bit today, sounds awful when going over about 4 or five miles per hour, i put the front wheels in the air on jackstands and ran the car, The Driver side CV joints must be bad, make a hell of a lot of noise on this side only, If i stop the driverside tire from spinning with my foot the passanger side is quiet.

 

So anyway, I have never changed a CD joint drive shaft before....

 

-Daniel

 

What kind of noise? A clicky clacky popping noise or something else? Clicky clacky pop is likely to be axel/cv , if that's the case you'll here it primarily on acceleration and turning, but should be fairly quiet otherwise. If it's something else it could be brake/bearing/hub related. The hubs going out on these is common (for me) I had to replace the drivers side front hub on my '79 brat when I bought it. If it's anything other than an cv, let me know... I'm parting one out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, was too cold to work on last weekend, But I think its the brakes on the drivers front are scraping (like no pad left or similar) talked with Todd, and he thinks its on the axle.

 

But..

 

I am in need of a hitachi carb for the subaru, the Weber works (as i rebuilt it), but is way rich as I think the jets are not the right size.

 

I am going to sell the weber carb and adapter and look for a hitachi.

 

:)

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