edrach

You blower controls work with engine vacuum. Check hose connections to the control portion for leaks or kinks in the tubing.

Sometimes they come out hard. I've ALWAYS used a ten pound sledge hammer and block of wood to persuade the axle out. Worked every time; sometimes hard and other times, easier. Sorry you had so much trouble. The really hard part is pulling the new axle through.

Search the manual section here on the board; lots of good references and advice.

I think WD40 will do the trick also.

Check any and all applicable ground connections. Also, check under the dash near the steering column for the ignition lock cable--has four wires (it might be six--memory is going flakey on me) and a pink plastic connector. Check the connector for brown discoloration. This usually indicates a bad/poor connection which gets hot and turns the plastic brown (extreme cases it melts the plastic). If you find that replace the connector/cable--find one at the wrecking yard--SOA will charge an arm and a leg for this. This has all the indications for a bad connection which normally gets worse as it heats up over time.

TJ, you did right. NGKs all the way!

Makes sense to me; that's how I used to do it before I got the tool.

Galen, I have a tool and you can borrow it when you pick up the wheels tonight. The tool only helps to pull the new axle through; not useful for pushing the old one out. I've done a fair number of axles and use a large sledge hammer to persuade the old axle to come out--never had any problems with the wheel bearings using that technique. If you're a purist, a large bearing puller will push the axle out for you but it's hardly worth the effort.

Glad to hear you passed. One tip that might not have been mentioned, you have to have the engine (and more importantly, the catalytic converter) hot. Never turn off the engine (if you can avoid it) while waiting in line and maybe cruise for 10 minutes or more on the Interstate to get the system good and hot before your emissions test. A cold engine or cat will generally fail emissions.

BlueSoob beat me to it, but I've been quite pleased with Smart Service for the work I can't or won't do for myself. http://www.smart-service.com/

Northguy is correct; it's in here. All you have to do is look. Talk to Austin, Qman, myself if you can't find where to go.

I had the same problem with mine and found one of the screws holding the rail had come partially out and caused it to hang up there. I didn't see it at first since it was under part of the mechanism. Try to catch up with some of the Oregon crowd (lots of them near Portland) if you can; they're mostly pretty handy and might be able to fix that without all that expense. I could suggest Richierich or his dad's shop for a more "honest" apprasial and repair.

Sometime when you have the opportunity, measure the voltage across the bulbs when they are on and compare it to the voltage at the battery terminals. The difference in voltage is how much you loose in the old wiring and switches. You can increase the voltage by going to a harness and relays. Another 1/2 volt at the bulbs results in more light output.

Cool, I was salivating over that when MikeW first listed the link. But I already have a nice blue Brat; not quite as clean as this one but I'm happy with it. So, are you going to lift it or rallyX it?

Competition Limited in Pinckney, MI sells wiring harnesses to upgrade your existing unit to use the higher wattage bulbs. Ask for Gene and tell him I sent you. Also, has good prices on various bulbs and stuff. He's been selling to the Pro Rally crowd for over 25 years.

I need to throw in my 2 cents worth on this. Jerry installed a 5 speed d/r in my '84 Brat back when he was still experimenting with it. No pounding of the tranny tunnel was needed. Ask him for the details. Turns out my first gearbox was defective and Corky and I replaced it with another wrecking yard gearbox (from an '88 GL; still 5 speed d/r). Best upgrade you can do to your car; second only to installing a weber in place of the Hitachi. With the old tranny, you were either lugging it in 4th or reving in 3rd up those long hills. With the 5 speed, you can always be in the power band for whatever speed you are normally driving in. Top end seemed to increase; actually not, it just seems so since it is now quieter. 75 mph on the highway is around 3300 rpm. With the addition of the weber the car is even more of a joy to drive. Subsequently, I replaced the two piece driveshaft with a "custom" one piece unit. My brat has too much "soft" metal in the area where the center bearing was supported. A little less road vibration now with that change.

We owned a 1982 Mazda GLC for a while and all three of my boys learned to drive on it. The car was a gem and in spite of the trio of novice drivers, none of them could do the little car in. It just kept running and running. Finally, there was more work to be done on it than I was willing to do--brakes, exhaust, clutch--so I decided to junk it since it was too ugly and too unsafe to sell. One of my son's friends talked me into giving it away and I did. Luckily I filed the seller's report since 6 weeks later it got a parking ticket which was mailed to me as overdue. Turns out my son's friend had never transferred the title or registered the car. He was only using it on weekends so every Thursday he would get a three day temporary registration from DOL and drive it. About 6 months later, he decided he liked the car (it was STILL running) and he spent about $800 to have it repaired. Remember it still wasn't registered. Anyway, I get a 'phonecall from the local Police saying they had recovered my "stolen" car. Seems after it was repaired it was stolen. Of course the thief was pulled over for having expired tabs and then arrested for driving a stolen car. The kid who had the car chose not to rescue it from impound since he spent all his money on repairing it and didn't have enough left to spring it from the police impound yard. The car went to auction and I was considering buying it back but decided I had enough Subarus and didn't need a Mazda beater even if it was running okay. A few months later, I was driving home from Seattle and I saw a beige Mazda parked at the side of the road. Boy, that looks like my old car, I said. Turns out I stopped and it was mine. Just then the new owner came out of the local park and we chatted a bit and I told him of our good luck with it. His comment was, "best car I ever had; runs like a top and it only cost me $15 bucks at the public auction!" For all I know it's still running out there.

Haynes has a weber book out that covers many of the webers available in addition to the DGAV 32/36. You'll find it pretty informative. The book I have is Haynes #393 which covers Webers to 1979; I suspect there are later versions available.

As near as I can tell, the regular commercial photographer didn't make it to the Oct. RallyX.

Search to board and repair manual. There's a pretty detailed description on how to replace a front axle.

Title says it all. http://www.rallyrabbit.com/rallyx9a-03/

Actually, James is a pretty decent mechanic. I'd have to be pretty shrewd to sandbag him. However, that's not the point. I need the competition (and so does he). We'll all get better. Besides there's a whole bunch of other people in our class who might have something to say about who places where.

Not likely. Competition will be good for you!

Change the fuel filter if it's more than 4 or 5 years old; 20K seems like it's time. It's certainly not a waste of your time or money. However, I think you may have something regarding a restricted exhaust. I've recently changed fuel filters on my two sons cars that were in excess of ten years old based on the date code stamped on the filter.

Certainly disconnecting the battery with the engine running will toast the alternator. Two other items I've found will toast an alternator: heat (i.e. turbo with its underhood temp) and excessive oil in the engine compartment. Best alternator repair place I know of is Greg's auto/marine electric in Ballard (on 14th a few blocks south of Market). He's a bit pricey but he's "old school" thorough. Best to catch him off season if you can; the boaters keep him very busy in the summertime.