Had an interesting first trip over Vail pass and through the tunnel. My the time I got to Denver, I was maxed out at about 20mph, stumbling and bucking. Had an enjoyable meetup with Shawn W. Didn't think I'd make it back up the hill with the way it was performing, so brought it into the shop that owned it previously. They were stumped for a couple hours, but eventually got a bunch of gunk out of the fuel line and replaced both fuel filters. Looked like reddish dirt to me. Poured a few gallons of 91 into it, and the problem had disappeared. Made it back up EASILY.

 

Mechanic speculated that gas tank or steel fuel line is rotting. Or, a bad tank of gas. When I first bought it, it was pretty low on gas and may have sucked some garbage in. Planning to pick up a couple extra filters in the meantime.

Yeah, junk in the bottom of the tank is most likely.

That hole in the carburetor probably didn't do anything except feed the previous owner's imagination. It'll let dirt into the mixture though. I would plug it.

That other guy's Brat sounds like a parts car to me. It's rusted out and doesn't run but does have some neat parts.. wave some cash in front of him and see what happens. Hopefully no more than $500 will do the trick. Good luck!

Hope you'll have lots of fun with your project! Sounds like you survived your first roadtrip okay.

 

I bought my '82 Brat last month near Grand Junction-- it's the same red with T-tops as yours. Mine is very low mileage (87,000) but still needs some going through, which takes time. There is always work to be done on a 27 year old vehicle. I'll let you know if I run across any good parts vehicles--I hope to check out some local junkyards in the near future.

http://s445.photobucket.com/albums/qq172/ajessen21/1985%20BRAT/

 

Some recent photos, post-paint job. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, considering a friend did it in his garage. There are certainly imperfections, but he really did a nice job welding in some new pieces on the passenger side, and rehabbing the passenger door.

 

I still need to deal with the rusted wheel wells and a big rust hole underneath, by the driver side door. Running pretty well for now...trying to decide whether to put anything in to maintaining the current motor, or save up for 2.2 conversion.

 

I have a blue interior and some nicer seats I'll get put in eventually. If anyone has the passenger side trim pieces I'm missing, I'm interested in purchasing them.

Edited April 18, 201114 yr by rottenhead

Looks nice I like the color a lot!

Nice deep blue color,looks good. was that done with a spray gun?

Nice deep blue color,looks good. was that done with a spray gun?

 

yes.

can you tell me the color code sticker number on the front radiator support.

I used "Twilight Blue Metallic" from this website. The original color was Flare Red.