fastwagn

need to make sure both vacuum advance and pressure retard are working on the distributor. also check the electronic maodule in the distributor, they can partially fail, which means partial spark. +1 on the walbro pump, found 255s for both of mine. fuel pressure regulators can fail, but so far seems a bit rare. +1 on injectors, but they usually set codes for either injector, or if the drivers go bad, which leads to...the ECM's are pretty fragile. #3 in brat 1, so far so good in brat 2...and then there's always the possibility of a failing vane air meter, they can get corrosion or burnt spots on the varistor. also, good name bratrod, that's what i call my turbo brat #2

this happened on my turbo brat #2, it was not normal. service it first. this is not normal or a good sign. it can be as simple as being overfilled, or it can be overheating the fluid. typically it will come out of the vent, but if it over-pressurizes because of severe overheating, it will also come out of the dipstick. drain the pan, replace the plug. fill with around 2 quarts, start in park or neutral. check the fluid running. top off as needed. drive it. if it is slipping excessively OR you have blown head gaskets on the engine (it will superheat the coolant/radiator, which is also the cooler for the trans...), it will purge the fluid.

Hello again my fellow old school enthusiasts!! So early this year the head gaskets finally bit the dust on my daily/shop truck 83 brat. unfortunately it had also been whacked severely in the bed/rear quarters, not once, but twice. i took it off the road and started driving my brz for the summer and started planning a restoration, got a decent straight t-top shell, started getting parts for the engine rebuild, etc. then another 83 turbo fell into my lap. of course, it died on the previous owner, and he was well out of his depth to diagnose. he took it to another decent reputation subaru shop, who was frankly again out of their depth. so i got it reasonably cheap not running. swapped my vane air meter since the previous dummy, er, owner took it apart, new coil, new starter and re ran the trigger wire, and swapped over my distributor (coincidentally a "new" reman only a few months old before the other 83 was decommissioned), fired right up, runs decent, a little leaky, but no serious issues. but... this car is a good bit rougher than mine, even including my body damage. i am in desperate need of the needle bearings, or sizing, for the upper section of the tilt column (right behind the wheel) not destroyed right taillight assembly washer bottle would be nice. those are the biggest, i do need a windshield gasket, but it is looking good from subaru. lower dash trim, driver's side. turbo emblems for the mirrors i won't get greedy, and just leave it there for now, i'm sure as i continue refreshing this one, more will arise, and i am already getting a list together for the full restoration project car. any help with either parts or sources would much appreciated!!

cool man! i'll hunt for a set! was going to go 6 lug but these wheels look pretty period correct, and would look great on white. yeah rubbing may be an issue on my 83, i have it dropped down and sitting on gl struts. ivan, pm me your paypal!!

good work man! i went through a lot of this restoring my 1973 vega gt when i was 15, good to see someone of your generation that is still willing to put time and effort into stuff like this. brat is looking awesome! although...i would have kept the bar rather than the cap, but to each his own and i absolutely LOVE the peugeot wheels, what are they from? if you ever want to sell the bar, i have a couple of worthy candidates... getting an ecm from ivan's imports next week to get the 83 turbo running again, when it does, i'll start tearing down the 84 to prep it to receive the 83 drivetrain. at which point, i may have an even crazier drivetrain to put in the 83 shell... muwhahahahahaha!!! i promise i'll get some pics, camera has died on my phone, so i'll snag the shop camera one day and get some shots of the pair.

are you the same cat from nas, lives up near cherokee? i saw that one for sale on craigslist about 2 months before i got my 83.

that would make some sense, going to smoke test monday when i get back into town.

yep paid less for it than my 84...

yeah figured that would be an eventual step just based on the rat's nest of plugged vacuum lines. the manifold gaskets are damp, so thinking that could be a source of problems. drove today with a batch of fresh gas, hesitates, stalls, misses etc...pretty frustrating. makes me miss the joy of driving the 83 turbo...

finishing essing with the carb and doing plugs, cap and rotor tomorrow am on my 84, i'll wash it and get pics of it and my 83 turbo for the thread

cool man, thanks much! i'm going to put some time into it this afternoon, so i'll check there first. i'll let you know about the ecu's. currently just waiting on the new driver chip to show. a friend/EE was able to remove and then source the chip (a transistor set basically), just on the slowboat from china, literally.

i worked on my 1983 turbo brat for 3 years at the dealership, turbo, manifolds, reseal etc...the owner also has a baja turbo. one day, out of the blue, he called and asked if i wanted the brat because it was running rough and his local mechanic (a total idiot btw) said it needed a new engine. i responded yes, but was broke. "well i only want 500 if i sell to you..." "i'll be there saturday" it was running waiting for me in front of it's barn. had to replace ignition switch, and it has a decent paint job, but some pretty extensive cancer underneath, windshield leaks when it rains hard. but i've put 30k miles in 2 years. ecm popped an injector driver, but i am getting that fixed now. i found a deal on craigslist for 2500 for an 84 carb model. drove down in the 83 to check it out. got the owner down to 1500, waited 3 months, then picked up for 1300 out the door. it's a runner, only minimal rust (below the step and at the shock tower in the bed). now i'm planning to swap the turbo driveline into the 84, and swap a spare outback xt auto driveline into the 83. win win!! the key to these collector cars (and yes, these are collector cars, just like my syclone) is to simply insure them at the value you want. databases like these help, but insuring for proper value to begin with prevents the hassle after. i went through this with my first syclone. had to provide kbb collector value, and three "expert" sources. easier to just come up with a reasonable number, and insure for that to begin with. just like insuring a modded car, if you want money for the mods, insure for their added value.

as stated, i need a bit of diagnostic help with my hitachi 2 bbl. 1984 brat. carb was replaced with a decent reman prior to me buying the car. once it warms up and has been warm for 15-20 minutes, the car starts to miss and run rough. nasty hesitation. i have a service manual and am going through all of the fine adjustments but was wondering if anyone had any ideas. and no, i will not remove and install a weber. i bought this car as a rolling shell to be the new home of my 83 turbo brat driveline. i refuse to put money into the non turbo engine/driveline. i only want to get it running so it can be moved from home to shop as needed to to finish the body work and details prior to the "great swap". well, that, and the injector driver let out magic smoke in the turbo ecm, waiting on the only manufacturer still making the chip to send from china. thanks guys!

personally, i don't want truck wheels. i want to use any of the 15, 16, and 17 inch wheels that i have amassed for the rest of my fleet. so my 15" braids and gravel tires, my 16" rs wheels and dz101's, and my 17" rota track wheels when i'm feeling froggy. of course i don't want my brat raised up. i actually have it sitting perfectly on gl sedan shocks. maybe i'm weird, but i don't go mudding in my brat.

i have an 84 ea81 from a brat i just got. using the shell and interior as donor for my 83 turbo driveline. let me know if you're still looking. i can freight to arkansas for a reasonable price as i have a freight acct through my shop as well as a friend that does long distance trucking. shoot me a pm if you're interested. ryan

the great thing about that entire part of the fuel system can be remade using "universal" or even "hot rod" parts. i am currently running a standard walbro external 255 hv/p, stock regulator appears happy. if it gets unhappy, i'll swap it for a cheapo universal adjustable without the rising rate vacuum line. car-part rules, but junkyards are still junkyards. 90% of what we get is either wrong app or unusable, and we get 2-3 parts/week. not usually an issue for us, because of volume we can return or swap in every case. doesn't hurt my office manager used to work for lkq for 3.5 years. she likes to bust balls and crack skulls. sometimes they aren't as kindly to one time or off the street customers. just be prepared. the brat at least is full of bad supercessions and weird cross-over and specific parts. took 4 tries to get the correct ignition switch for the turbo tilt brat...parts guy broke out the old skool and went to the book for the second to last part in country. got the last t-top seal as well the good news is, after chasing drivability issues for months, the switch fixed all of my woes. it was a pta compared to either my rx and especially my legacy and up. i'd rather knock out "tamper proof" snap-off bolts than try to start the 4 bolts into the tilt head. i cleaned and lubed the shaft bearings, and they squeaked for a week. eventually they quieted down, thank goodness as i was not impressed with idea of repeating the process anytime soon. love the brand new subaru keys, going to match my locks soon. "mechanic" had decided instead of taking the mechanical switch assembly to a locksmith, or getting a new switch from subaru, he would remove the electrical internals and put them onto a hardware store lawn mower ignition switch. the ecm, and starter, were getting high resistance. result was hot no crank/no start. cold rough running due to ecm load higher at cold start/cold run and poor ecm power supply. but it would intermittently hiccup and hesitate, regardless of temp. now it runs smooth as silk, and has become a pretty reliable shop truck to replace a finnicky (esp cold weather) e85 syclone. even getting into 22-23 around town (and that includes toting ej engines and parts around, the headrest mounts make perfect mig/tig bottle mounts), bit less on the highway, but she will still go 90... i am relieved it is fixed. i replaced the standard tune up items (dist, cap, rotor, plugs and wires), resealed the front of the engine and replaced the oil pump, fluid swaps. new starter, neutral switch, checked all of my vam wiring, new battery, new cables, new alternator (my gauge still reads low, around 9 when alternator charging 14...). cleaned and checked coolant temp sensor and wiring. was pricing $700 maf conversions and worried i'd be doing some harness work. but well worth all of the work. now onto fixing leaks or pulling carpet, fix/replace the seats, replace rusted spots...never ends, which is fine, i bore easily. thanks again for all of the insight and advice, it was very helpful along the way. always helpful, knowledgable folks. love the usmb..

yeah it's looking like time to break out the fluke and at least half a saturday.

finally got the car to set a code 14 fairly consistently when it's hesitating at it's worst. cleaned up a small break in one of the wires. wondering if these are prone to internal corrosion and if it's worth rerunning some of the wires. it's definitely intermittent, and i was unable to catch any high resistance or open issues when i checked last. can't find a new vane air meter new, and definitely don't trust them used. was going to clean and lube similar to what toyota guys do, but no real way to get it apart. besides, it isnt setting a sticking code 21, just the 14. i have looked at the split second 3.0" maf kit and wideband, just 789 is a big expense...want to weigh my options first. i do like the idea of ditching the vam...

thanks for the help naru! i was getting 24 and 32, i show 32 as being an o2 fault, but would be interested to see what the fsm says. there is one at one of the dealers i worked for, i may need to see about a loan... car is running better but starting worse since the fuel pump install. guessing the nss is getting pretty high resistance when warm and getting flaky. ordere that an o2 sensor. may look into running a key on heated o2 given i can find one that reads the same v range.

had some pressure fluctuations when tested. was above 25, but would randomly drop below 20. so i did a fuel pump and new filter driving in test mode i have gotten code 24 and 34. production date is mid 83, so i am assuming i use the chart for 84 fi? o2 sensor and tps (full throttle switch). o2 sensor is on the way, hoping the ntk i ordered has the correct harness plug. tps prone to fail? or should i disassemble to clean and adjust (worked on my 91 legacy/ej20g) also...i have an intermittent no start. the car has a ************e universal ignition switch some country redneck shadetreed in, i have a new ignition switch to install. i have already done battery, starter and new starter power and ground cables. starts cold first time every time. if you shut off and restart within 10 min, no problem. but if you go more than 10 min...nothin. if i put a jump box on, it will fire, usually... not much to the wiring diagram, so i'm looking for any input.

great info, thanks! no bounce from the tach, so good to know ignition is most likely working correctly. i'll move on to fuel system checks, thanks for the pressures!

thanks! i have access to most of the manuals via alldata, but they tend to be spotty. plus it's reassuring someone has the factory paper for this car. going in today to check it out more. it iced here overnight so all of my scheduled appointments canceled. weird for a subaru shop, but ice is worse than snow i suppose.

compression is good, was around 125ish across. didn't do a leakdown.plugs looked fine when i pulled old ones as well. fuel filter is a little over a year old, but worth changing. i'll get fuel pressure then as well. 42ish at idle ok? i'm used to new gen stuff, or at least my previous ea82t rx.

thinking i may just get a decent reman distributor with module. worry about the condition of the vacuum solenoid as well. doing the alternator and a few vacuum lines tonight. would still appreciate any other input for diag direction to try next..

intermittent, worse when cold. definitely a misfire. new cap, rotor, wires and plugs. new coil for grins. not throwing parts, just needed to be done anyway. next step is clean and adjust tps, but as it goes away when the car gets well into operating temp (20+ minutes), not thinking it's tps related, again, just good to do. any good place to start? have followed the manual's diag tree to it's end, pretty sure it isn't an ecm. if it were an 82, i would clean the optical pickup on the ignition module, are the ea81's prone to ignition module issues? vane air was replaced 3 years ago, and again, no vane air meter code, just 11. thanks! 83/84 turbo brat btw...