bratman2

Heater hoses for my 87 I bought by the foot of a roll! Are yours molded or shaped for some reason?

Probably because yours is a 80 model.

The only difference I see just looking at the pictures is the head rest is adjustable on the RS seats. The bolstering and seat surface look identical to the seats I have.

If they were in Eastern NC I would be heading out to get them. The RS seats have been in my Brat for about 8 years. They were only one year old when I installed them and looked like brand new. I will say this much I don't know why anyone would replace them for another set. They are supper comfortable! The set I got had been taken out to install racing seats with the 5 point harness, removed when car was bought new! Go for it, you will be shocked what a super nice seat like that will do for you!!

When I had my Brat painted the last time about 5 years ago I pulled the metal trim on mine. Several blocks were broken and fell to pieces trying to reinstall. I cut wooden wedges and coated with a fine coat of marine adhesive caulking and tapped into place. That has worked great for the last 5 years and counting.

I put seats out of a 03 or 04 Impreza RS in my Brat. Should be the same! Best of memory is inside bolt actually lines up in the front, outside bolt is off by 1" approximately. You can add a piece of flat steel by either welding of bolting to the seat foot and then drill to bolt into the original mounting hole. On the back same thing on the outside mount, the inside back mount I used a small piece of angle (1x1 maybe) and bolted down to floor and drilled through for bolt to seat! Hope that helps you out. I also had to cut the back inside arm off on the back of the seats to fit. None of this was a really big deal if you have a sawzall w/ metal blade and drill with bits, a couple of pieces of flat and angle metal. Guess in a more condensed version yes they will bolt in with minor fabbing!!!

Long term I would go with a little roll!! You have front and rear end stress along with clutch and transmission. Axles also!! Launching an all wheel drive car is like launching a liter bike. You got to have revs and slip but like you say when you get it right, damn!!

Mountainwalker, I would consider those Michelins to be a steal at what, $67.00 a tire. You will not find anything that will compare at that price. I would be slightly put out by the cracking but if I could replace Michelins with Michelins every 5-6 years at $67.00 a tire mounted I would be very happy!!!

Wish I could help you on the relay but no, I don't know exactly which one it is! Good luck!

The offset is to keep you front end alignment correct. You can run the adjuster bolts on the front all the way up but I would not recommend it for long term in my opinion. I ran my Brat like that for a couple of years and it did raise it just a hair over 1" and it would rip a DOJ boot out about every 6-12 months. About the same look with the EA82 struts in the rear. Your tires will look like this= \ /! I know some will call me wrong but that is the results I got and didn't really care for. Rear lift is easy, get heavy 1" tubing and 1" longer bolts. I used large washers that a welder just tacked together. Front you really need to get the angle right for camber to be right.

Resistor fails you should still have 4th speed. Try looking on the right hand passenger kick panel and there is a pigtail for the fan itself. Jump it out to another 12v battery to make sure the fan works. I found my switch had been disconnected under the dash when I was working to try and find an electrical short. Try to trace the hot wire to the switch that runs under the dash on the driver's side. It plugs together and could have become unplugged!!

May not be it but have you tried new headlights. When I bought my Brat back in 97 three of the four headlights were as you described, worked but dim. I installed four new headlights and that cured the problem. I guess they were half burned out or something.

Kind of what Ferox said I guess! I have had my 87 Brat over 15 years now. I know it pretty good also and it is fairly simple to work on. Except for when an electrical short rears its ugly head. I have battle three of them over the years and won out all three times!!! They were the worst of times though!! From 06 until 2010 the Brat was my only four wheeled vehicle and a motorcycle about matched it for miles per year. Not because that is all I could afford. I choose to have it as a primary four wheel vehicle. The third short about had it replaced by a Ford Ranger after waking my wife up 30 mins early to take me to work and make her late because it was 20 degrees and the Brat wouldn't start!! My wife demanded a new truck in our driveway and wanted the Brat gone! I could have picked out a damn turbo diesel 4 whl drive and she would have been okay with it! Truck came (little Ranger) but the Brat is still here and fixed, lol!!!

I think 83 Brats had the step also. Not sure on 84-85 models.

Sorry I don't have the 14" Pug rims on my Brat anymore, they are in the barn. I rode them with and with out hubcaps. Hard call but sure alloys can look nicer. I had my steel pugs sandblasted an painted black at a bodyshop so they did look pretty good for steel rims.

Their is also 14" Peugeot steel wheels that you could install Subaru hubcaps on. Then you could look for 185/70-14 tires. Just another option!

I bought used lenses and new lenses. Without the gaskets it seemed futile unless I keeped a glove box full of taillight bulbs.

Well I guess that last new one was sold about 11 years ago then!

I was talking about the whole assembly. I went through right many lenses, they always would crack if tightened up enough not to leak water. I assume the rubber gasket seal was compressed beyond hope. They may very well have the lenses but you very well may need the rubber gasket that goes between the housing and the lense. You can see the gasket in their exploded view but no part number. I think the only way to get the gasket is order the whole assembly. When I ordered my complete assemblies the dealer I contacted out West was highly rated on this forum for getting older Subaru parts. They searched country wide to find the one complete assembly. Then called me back a couple of days later telling me they could get the other side from Japan. It was expensive, well over $220.00 back then. I jumped on it because I was tired of blown bulbs due to rain and cracked lenses. Plus I had just got the Brat painted the first time and the tailights looked like poop!

That is interesting. The last pair I bought new was from a Subaru dealer out west. They found one doing a search. The other was ordered from Japan and shipped straight to my home. That has been about ten years ago. I wouldn't think they would be easier to find now!

Had my weber conversion on now for about 12 years and about 85k miles. Was wondering who here has put the most miles on these oiled cotton air filters?

Everything they are showing is discontinued except for #3. Believe you want #6 but it is highly unlikely you will ever find one new.

When I had my Brat repainted 11 years ago I had the same problem. They cut it out and fitted sheetmetal back. It is still intact to this day. So it is doable with sheet metal.

Generation 2 is 600 lbs. in the back, 900 lbs. total including driver and passenger. I have had probably somewhere around a half ton of dirt several times in my Brat. I didn't have far to go and could go slow. Don't care to do it again though. I carried a Honda 1100 Shadow 35 miles home after buying it years ago which weighs about 550 lbs. It handled it pretty good even though the back tire was on the down tailgate. Carried a Suzuki Bandit 1200 155 miles which weighed about 525 lbs. It did fine with the Bandit also. Don't know how coil over shocks would fit as the shock housing is pretty close to the bed side. As long as your four wheeler is around 600 or less you should be fine.

Turbosubarubrat, you put a lot of stress on the axles and rubber boots with the suspension adjusted all the way up. Along with increased toe in which will eat your front tires faster. That really was designed as a temporary type height adjustment.