Subaru Brat

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  • Vinny
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2010
    • 357

    Subaru Brat

    So a few months ago a good friend of mine and Punkskalar's passed away. He was a fellow fabricator and an inspiration to me as a student. I had been working with him on some of his furniture design when he passed and as a result his wife and his business partner asked me to come and help clean out his shop. They gave me many of his tools which I now cherish and am very thankful for as well as this:






    Its a 79 Subaru Brat. its been customized to say the least. It has an 86 Legacy motor in it with a turbo. The front fenders are all fiberglass that our friend made himself and the rears are modified. I had it towed to my house on saturday because it had sat for so long and I was worried about trying to get it to run. I hooked up a battery and checked some things. All the lights work and the ignition works. The gas was drained before it was parked so it would not start but it sounded almost like it wanted to. The battery had been relocated to below the truck bed so for now I am putting it back in the engine compartment.

    I will admit that I feel a bit in over my head but I think with some time and some help I can have this thing purring again and then start putting the body and interior back together and getting the body work and paint done. If anyone knows anything about these cars or anything that might be helpful please feel free to chime in. I want to do this right for my friend and his widow.
  • got556
    Member
    • Jul 2011
    • 88

    #2
    That is sinister! Sorry to hear about your friend....lost my friend a few months ago also.

    I know nothing about Subby boxer motors and the like or that car, but I'm sure the subby forums will get ya squared away.

    Comment

    • jamesgs4
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2009
      • 1064

      #3
      this link is a pretty good resource for owners of old japanese cars

      Comment

      • Punkskalar
        Senior Member
        • Jan 2010
        • 1139

        #4
        Garner was an awesome individual, he didn't "Teach" me a whole lot, but he was the kind of guy that would say "think about how you could do it" really... He was a thought provoking individual, and I miss him


        I am very glad to see his tools and toys live on though

        Comment

        • StoneHead
          Senior Member
          • Nov 2009
          • 1048

          #5
          Man, i used to love brats. A buddy had one when I was a teen and we swapped out the motor in a day. No lift, no muss or fuss, just wrenches, attitude and beer.
          To bad we rolled it, hahahaha!!!

          Best of luck with it.

          Comment

          • DimeStreetSaint
            Senior Member
            • Jun 2011
            • 255

            #6
            Hey man I'm sorry to hear about your friend. That is one sweet ass subie he built. Go check out the forums over at Nasioc.com there should be more then enough info on there to get it all finished up.

            Comment

            • Vinny
              Senior Member
              • Mar 2010
              • 357

              #7
              I've been tinkering with this slowly, mostly just checking everything out and trying to get it to fire. The battery that was in it was an optima redtop which is great unless they sit forever apparently. Took it in to charge it and it wouldnt do anything even after sitting there all day so I am still hooking it up to the battery in my truck. That being said I made sure the gas was drained then poured a gallon or so in and tried to start it up. It fired almost immediately but didnt want to idle. I could gas it and run the rpms up but it wouldnt idle. I took the cables off and started looking around. I found a plug wire unplugged so I think that was probably the culprit. It sounded awesome when it was running though.

              Next week when I get paid I plan on doing an oil change, flush the radiator (the fluid looks pretty bad), change spark plugs and clean the air filter as well as replacing the battery (probably not with an optima$$$) then I will see if she will run. I have crawled underneath a good bit and all the boots look to be in good shape and nothing seems to be leaking so I am pretty confident about its ability to run. I will probably be tearin ass for a bit with tags off of my truck and primer grey paint just to see what she will do.

              Hugh we need to talk about that rollcage soon.

              Comment

              • zero
                Member
                • May 2011
                • 74

                #8
                I love this bodystyle brat. Good luck with it!

                Comment

                • jamesgs4
                  Senior Member
                  • Oct 2009
                  • 1064

                  #9
                  to charge the optima, hook it up to a regular battery in parallel, then hook it up to the charger. once it is charging both for a while, disconnect the regular battery and the optima will finish charging. The low internal resistance makes it necessary to use a regular battery so the charger can " sense" the optima. That or it is just a shit battery, since the plant moved to mexico all of them are shit now. If you really want a quality battery, get a Deka or Odyssey, they have always been better than the optimas.

                  Comment

                  • Punkskalar
                    Senior Member
                    • Jan 2010
                    • 1139

                    #10
                    Lets just machine a sweet battery box/hold down for the bed of the truck. Easy Access, still have good weight distribution, and I think it would satisfy Garner just fine. I mean, what you really gonna haul in that truck other than Ass

                    Comment

                    • Vinny
                      Senior Member
                      • Mar 2010
                      • 357

                      #11
                      Haha. Nice. For now I am going to leave it the way it is but the battery in the Bed would be nice. It could probably go back where it was after I have it running well.

                      Comment

                      • Vinny
                        Senior Member
                        • Mar 2010
                        • 357

                        #12
                        Now it wont run at all SHIT!

                        I pulled the intake and tried to feel the airflow. It doesnt seem to be pulling much on its own but I cant imagine that is the whole problem. I checked for spark and I have it. There is fuel flowing to the injectors but I cant say for sure that they are free. I don't really know what to check for these engines are so much different then what I am used to.

                        It has a mega squirt injection system on it and I am having trouble making sense of it. I posted on the nostalgic japanese forum but I figured I would post the question here too. Thanks in advance.

                        Comment

                        • ratfink44
                          Member
                          • Aug 2010
                          • 80

                          #13
                          check for compression,that would be my next step

                          Comment

                          • Twinkies
                            Senior Member
                            • Aug 2009
                            • 403

                            #14
                            yup.. check compression, check timing, check fuel pressure at the rail if you can..

                            Brats are awesome.. my second favorite jap beater behind the Toyota Starlet..

                            Comment

                            • Punkskalar
                              Senior Member
                              • Jan 2010
                              • 1139

                              #15
                              Put some gas in it....

                              Comment

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