pksjeep

Has anyone drilled a 6 lug alloy wheel for the 4 lug conversion? Is there some reason not to drill an alloy wheel? It looks like most people are drilling steel wheels only.

I have had the no start clicking sound happen before on cars and the cure was to simply to clean the connections at the battery.The first time this happened to me I paid a mechanic to check it out. All he did was clean the connections at the battery and the cables as I watched, no test equipment or battery charger got attached. I did not believe this would cure the problem, however the car started fine. I did not even see corrosion around the connections around the top or the outside. It was a lesson I learned and always do this first, it's cheep and easy to do. As mentioned previously, you should also make sure the battery is charged. Some accessory may have been left on and drained it, or something is draining the battery over time. Have you tried to jumpstart the car? Good luck Paul

If the clock resets every time the car is started and keeps time only while the car is running the fix that GD is talking about is correct. There are two wires that have the same color and I believe they are green both have a single bullet connector. They are located on the wiring harness under the dash on the left side. You must remove the plastic panel under the dash first to get access. I have never tested it but I am assuming one has 12V all the time and and the one that your clock may be plunged into only has 12V when the key is on. Paul

0ne more from Spokane WA

Did the convoy to Spokane with Mugs and Twitch. As mentioned previously by Mugs and Twitch we had a brush with the law. The officer told me that I was doing 82. I was of coarse trying to catch up. The show was fun and it was great to meet all of you guys. I look forward to doing it again. Paul

I made my spacer out of a piece of solid plastic. be careful not to go too thick because it could interfere with shifting. I think I ended up with it being 7/16" thick. Paul

My gage was doing the same some funny stuff when it was cold (86 Brat). Then it just stopped working. I took the wire that goes to the sending unit and grounded it. I then turned on the ignition(Do not start the car) and the gage showed full pressure. This told me the gage worked.The thing you should do next is test the pump with a mechanical oil pressure gage to make sure that you do have oil pressure. You can get a cheep aftermarket oil pressure gage to test this and adapt it to your pump. If you have good oil pressure you know it is the sending unit. Another thing to check is the condition of the wiring and connections around the sending unit. If you feel lucky you can buy a sending unit and just screw it in. You should see constant oil pressure as soon as the car fires up.You do however run the risk of ruining your engine if you do not have oil being pumped thru it. I got my sending unit at Shucks, and did the feeling lucky method and skipped the mechanical oil pressure gage test. You should have the new sending unit when you pull the old one out and oil pan under it because oil will flow out . Paul

I get 21+ around town and it goes to 29 on the highway. The car is stock, no lift and 13 wheels.

I had a bushing slip out at the clutch peddle end of the cable (1986 Brat). This spread the clevis apart and left the connection pin loose at the clutch peddle. I didn't realize what had happened and adjusted the clutch up but it was still tough to shift. I even added spacers to try to get it correct but I never did get it to work properly. In the end the cable broke and then I found the problem. With the new cable and the bushing installed correctly the clutch worked fine. Good luck Paul

Thanks for the information,. Paul:grin:

I have a 1986 Brat, and bought 1986 factory service manuals. They cover Subaru 1800 4-door Sedan, Station Wagon, 3-Door, and XT. I do not see Brat in them. Are there different factory manuals used on Brats?

I second the coil comment. This happens on lots of older cars and coils are fairly inexpensive When the car does die. Remove the coil wire from the distributer and place it close to something metal. Have someone crank the engine over and check for spark. Be careful not to be too close to the exposed end you might receive the spark. Keep the end away from the gas vapors of the carb also. At least this will tell you if it is electrical. The other thought is look down the throat of the carb after it dies. Make sure the choke is open, grab the throttle linkage and push it open a couple of times. You should be able to see gas shooting down the carb. This is old school diagnostics. If you have spark and gas the car should run. Paul

Sorry for the second post Make sure the metal is clean, no paint/rust grease or other foreign material, just bare metal. This foreign material will cause porosity and poor fusion between the base metal and the filler metal and cause you lots of grief. Paul

If you can get behind the sheet metal and back it up with a piece of copper, then weld the seam this should help with the melt thru. Don't weld in one spot too long, jump around. This will reduce your distortion also. Try to keep the panel fairly cool while welding. Sheet metal welding is tuff, good luck Paul

Try going to a local junk yard. there are lots of cars out there that use these types of clip in the doors for the locks / linkages. you may find one that is not exactly the same, but should work. I am not sure how the latch system works in the brat tailgate, but perhaps if it just pulls you could use a small diameter cable with Some clamps on the ends. A small diameter cable is used on the latches for garage doors. Good luck with this. Paul

I have a 86 Brat, and this is what I found. The clock has a single bullet connector that runs it. It is located by the drivers side kick panel.You need to remove the plastic panel below the steering column also. There is also another bullet connector that doesn't have a connector in it in the wiring harness located close by. The wire is color is the same for both but if you tested it it probably has 12v going to it full time with the key off ( I think it might have been green but it has been a few years ago since I fixed mine.) You could probably disconnect the one you think runs the clock and start the car. If the clock does not run you know you have found the correct connector. Then it is a matter of finding the other connector which is the same color. Good luck on the horn and hazzard issues Paul

It looks like you are connecting properly at the neg side of the coil. Did you have the tac. grounded when you tested it? There may also be a switch on the back the needs to be set to 4 cylinder before it works correctly. Hope this helps Paul

Does the 86 brat have a ECM ? I believe I have seen them on 84 wagons under the steering column.:-\ If the Brat does have a ECM where is it, and where do you connect the diagnostic equipment to. Also what are good books that can be used for repair. I bought some 1986 factory manuals but they do not seam to cover the brat.

I just replaced the front wheel bearings on my 86 brat. What a pain. I got to looking at the front knuckle and thought about putting a grease zerk in it, I didn't at this time. Is there any reason that this should not be done? Bearing buddies have been used on trailers. The only problems I see are possibly weakening the front knuckle, and excessive grease being being flung around by the rotor and and axle.

I am the fellow that Monsteroo referred to about using the plastic on my tailgate. I think material is is called HHMW plastic, it comes in black or white. It is kind of expensive to use but holds up good and the material flexes to match the tail gait profile so I could do all the machining in straight strip. On the bottom side I used a table saw to cut a groove wide enough for the pinch weld. I stopped the cut and started the cut where the pinch weld did the same. Then I cleaned up the stop and starts on the bottom with a router table. (The stop and starts keep the plastic strip in shape), I used various shaped router bits and the router table to profile the top to match the current chrome profile. The cap is slightly thicker because I was afraid it would be to thin if I matched the trim exactly. The router table did a great job leaving a good finish on the part, The Table saw finish is not good. If you are going to make the all the trim I would change the top side profile to a flat top and use a router to make some nice radiuses on the edges. I used a brad point bit to make the counter bores for mounting the trim this left a flat bottom and a center point for drilling thru. Counter bore depth equals the thickness of the screw head you are going to use. I followed with a standard twist drill bit to finish the hole thru the material . First I used a small drill bit so I could again use a brad point bit to counter bore the bottom side to make room for the mounting hardware. After I counter bored the bottom side I opened the thru hole up to match the bolt size. I used plastic nuts from a door armrest or license. plate mount these snapped into the existing square holes perfectly. I also used stainless steel pan head screws to mount the strip on.

I haven't had this happen to me on my subaru, but have on other cars. I found I had a bad ground. Try placing a wire wire on the metal part of the motor and a metal contact point on the body with the switch on and see if the blower will work.

I have been looking for this plug to fix my clock. Can you give me the general location and possibly the wire color? Thanks.

You might try looking around the clutch cable areas. The yoke at the clutch peddle spread apart and let the bushing slip out . This left the clutch peddle free play too loose. I had adjusted it up, but it would grind sometimes and be OK at other times. The clutch cable broke shortly after, and I figured out what my problem was when I put in the new clutch cable. I would take a look at all the clutch mounts and check the free play on the clutch.. Good luck

Can I stuff a set of 14" wheels and tires under my 86 Brat with out lifting it? Will there be a large power loss?

I don't know if it is still done, but in the 80's one tire shop I worked at could ballance the tire on the car.