Got myself into a 1982 Brat yesterday... Pics below... I'm excited and loving it!

Other than a little midwest rust, it looks pretty nice. First time I have seen spray in bed liner in a brat.

That really rocks. I will be getting mine next Wednesday. We got the same wheels!

looking good

 

crank up those front struts and she'll sit a little more even.

crank up those front struts and she'll sit a little more even.

Thanks 75subie! I wasn't sure what the fix to that rake was, I'll probably do that on Saturday while doing the oil change etc.

Just got done poking around under the hood and found that on top of all the things I knew about it also has a block heater installed!

Going to get the spare engine & trans as well as the topper and some other parts from the PO tomorrow after work. More pics with the topper will be online after the weekend

looking forward to more pics!

 

you'll gain at least an inch with those struts.

Nice looking BRAT! Pics of interior, grill (after wreck went from round to square headlights) and engine remind me of my long gone 80 4wd wagon.

 

What part of "Misery" are you in, I spent 1972-1985 in Rolla and suround ing area...tramped around quite a bit. You'll love your BRAT for winter driving, my 80 wagon that I got after the move to Texas would go on ice and snow while Jeeps and other SUV's were sliding off the roads big time.

looking good

 

crank up those front struts and she'll sit a little more even.

 

It'll ride like a rock too. Mess up the outside of your tires from the funny camber too. It'll sure pull funny to one side or another when you get on it in 2wd ta boot!

 

 

 

Or. lower the back half down a little.

Thanks 75subie! I wasn't sure what the fix to that rake was, I'll probably do that on Saturday while doing the oil change etc.

Just got done poking around under the hood and found that on top of all the things I knew about it also has a block heater installed!

Going to get the spare engine & trans as well as the topper and some other parts from the PO tomorrow after work. More pics with the topper will be online after the weekend

 

if you are in the need for any Brat specific parts, let me know. nice to see more Brat owners in the middle of the US

Nice to see another Brat in good shape - the front end looks like new!

Originally Posted by Zapar

It'll ride like a rock too. Mess up the outside of your tires from the funny camber too. It'll sure pull funny to one side or another when you get on it in 2wd ta boot!

1. It wouldn't ride like a rock. I did it to my RX all the time and it rode great.

 

2. It didnt' mess up the outside of the tires either. The strut needs to be mounted correctly.

 

3. It won't pull to one side or the other unless the front tires didn't match or pressures didn't match.

 

Originally Posted by Zapar

Or. lower the back half down a little

I have my brat raised like that. The thing I see is the tires are too small and the H style wheels have the wrong offset for an '82. They sit under too far. Put a nice set of white wagons on there with the correct size tire with raised white letter and you would be stylin'!

 

That is a good lookin' Brat! Keep it rollin'!!!

off the top of my head I think it's rolling on 175/70R13's, dunno the backstory on the rims, not sure how long they've been on the Brat at all, I'm gonna drive with what I've got until I run across a good deal on some other rims for it. Not really too fussed right now though

1. It wouldn't ride like a rock. I did it to my RX all the time and it rode great.

 

2. It didnt' mess up the outside of the tires either. The strut needs to be mounted correctly.

 

3. It won't pull to one side or the other unless the front tires didn't match or pressures didn't match.

 

 

I have my brat raised like that. The thing I see is the tires are too small and the H style wheels have the wrong offset for an '82. They sit under too far. Put a nice set of white wagons on there with the correct size tire with raised white letter and you would be stylin'!

 

That is a good lookin' Brat! Keep it rollin'!!!

 

 

Your RX isn't an ea81 car... Ea81's have bad camber and wear patterns sitting at stock height, and raising the front up will only make it worse. \ / ok not that drastic but you get the point of how the tires will sit.

 

If you want it to sit more level, adjust the rear torsion bar down one spline. And then you can fine tune its level with the adjuster on the back.

 

And its not that the alloys have the wrong offset, its that ea81's wheels sit a little further in the wells in stock form that ea82's.

 

 

 

But thats a darn good lookin Brat you've got there. I hope it treats you well.

Some sit like that and some don't. All of the Ea81's I've had sat fine. The only time I've ever seen a bad camber and tire wear is if the strut was bent or mounted incorrectly.

 

The H-style have the offset for '85-'92. On an '84 and older car, they set in a little bit. Look at the difference between the wagon wheels and you'll see what I mean. Ea81 wheels actually set out further from the hub.

 

I wouldn't level it at all. Being able to rake a car with stock suspension is one of the things I've always loved about the older Subarus. That's why I have four of them.

 

 

Cobcob,

I agree with leaving it as is for now. My Brat had 175s on it when I bought it. I left them on until I had to drive it across country. Then I put the correct size on.

It'll ride like a rock too. Mess up the outside of your tires from the funny camber too. It'll sure pull funny to one side or another when you get on it in 2wd ta boot!

 

 

never noticed ANY of those ill effects and i`ve cranked the front struts up on all of my ea81 cars. well worth the 10 mins in my opinion, but to each is own. its alot easier than lowering the back.

The ea81 and ea82 wagon wheels are different because the ea82 has slightly bigger brakes. The ea81 wagon wheels won't clear the ea82 calipers. I've had the 85+ premiers on one of my past Brats and they sat exactly as the stock wagon wheels did.

 

Ea81's are designed with positive camber from the factory, not a lot, but the wheels sit\ / ever so slightly stock.

never noticed ANY of those ill effects and i`ve cranked the front struts up on all of my ea81 cars. well worth the 10 mins in my opinion, but to each is own. its alot easier than lowering the back.

I might give it a try, if it scrubs out my tires then I'll throw the ones off my wagon on there... It'll give me an excuse to do the 5 lug swap on the wagon...

1. It wouldn't ride like a rock. I did it to my RX all the time and it rode great.

 

2. It didnt' mess up the outside of the tires either. The strut needs to be mounted correctly.

 

3. It won't pull to one side or the other unless the front tires didn't match or pressures didn't match.

 

 

I have my brat raised like that. The thing I see is the tires are too small and the H style wheels have the wrong offset for an '82. They sit under too far. Put a nice set of white wagons on there with the correct size tire with raised white letter and you would be stylin'!

 

That is a good lookin' Brat! Keep it rollin'!!!

 

My '86 has 15" pugs and a heck of a rake. It's in style here with all the muscle cars running around

if the rake is what your into, thats cool, i just hate it when my vehicles look like they are doing a nose dive.

 

heres my 85 with the fronts cranked up:

 

 

if the rake is what your into, thats cool, i just hate it when my vehicles look like they are doing a nose dive.

 

heres my 85 with the fronts cranked up:

 

 

 

 

Hmmm... doesn't look like a nose-dive to me... neither does mine. I like it. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9026&cat=500&ppuser=5798

 

I really like cobcob's BRAT... nice find kiddo!

 

Anyway, whatever ails it shouldn't keep you down for more than a few hours... trust me on that... name it, it's happened to mine! Best of luck with it!

yeah, i guess its a matter of personal preference.

 

his brat looks good either way. i had some red "brat" targa stripes, i`ll have to see if i could find them cause they'd look great on a white brat.

yeah, i guess its a matter of personal preference.

 

his brat looks good either way. i had some red "brat" targa stripes, i`ll have to see if i could find them cause they'd look great on a white brat.

 

Absolutely! For some reason, very few BRATs I see on the board have them... I think they make the truck! Otherwise it looks like a Dodge Rampage I saw one Wednesday night! Nice shape too, all original including paint.

Brat stripes eh? Sounds pretty cool! I've toyed with getting it repainted at some point back to the original color but I think the maroon color would be a bit boring

that is exactly what i'm looking for in my next brat. a white/tan '82. nice score. i'll get mine someday......

Did someone say white with red stripes?