bratman2
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Posts posted by bratman2
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My suggestion would be look to Crutchfield and pick your own speakers out. They will come with instructions and the proper connectors to install. I have not seen too many premium factory systems that the speakers could not be upgraded for a reasonable price with much better results. I will not give advice for speakers because that is a very personal decision and will vary greatly from one individual to another. And somewhat from different vehicle to different vehicle. Side note my wife's 011 XT has a pretty decent unit as is.
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Nice clean look. You do awesome work!!
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Are the person the seller bought it from having already installed the 5 speed and the seller knows no different. We shall know soon when it arrives in NC! Last time I looked up ratios, many years ago, seemed the EA82 5 speed had a lower ratio 5th compared to the EA81 4 speed unless you are talking about the very early 80's EA81. Not a deal breaker but I m pretty sure on that. The EA82 5 speed is a slightly stronger transmission and does have a slightly lower low range. Just the same my EA81 4 speed has been pretty good. I fixed the slop in the shifter many, many years ago and it has not returned. Nearing 240k miles and needed nothing but an occasion fluid change. I run MT90 in mine. It works good enough I see no reason to change unless it craps it's guts out.
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You can pull the CB (which I would anyways) and mount a decent CD player. You will most likely have to make a spacer. I have a Blaupunkt in mine. The spacer I used was 1/2" plywood and painted gray to try and match console. One thing I did not do and wish I had was route off the edges to rounded. I bought 6x9 speaker boxes that went behind the seats. Installed component speakers in the front. Made up mounts for the tweeters in the factory front location, think I used 1/4" plywood, mounted the tweeters to the plywood and mounted the plywood to were the little front speakers sit in the dash. The doors I trimmed to take 5 1/4" speakers. If you don't want to go that route the door speakers are 4" to the best of my memory.
If I am not mistaken the steering wheel looks just like my 87 Brat steering wheel. Still a beauty!! RS and WRX seats will fit with minor work and are awesome. I can't remember for sure but I think my seats are 04 RS, the same as a WRX minus the air bags. I think from 05 up all had air bags, may be mistaken though.
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Beautiful Brat! Definitely not lowered! I would keep stock height myself. Some late model Impreza RS or WRX seats can be fitted if you would like awesome seats. I would probably try it without the topper and see how you like it.
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Could your front hub splines be stripped? Is your axle nuts torqued down properly?
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Seems like I remember reading 3600 rpm. That might have been for take off for all I remember.
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I think you are correct on 10-15 years it's worth being a lot more. Good, solid, non rust buckets are a lot rarer in 80's Subarus. I have about relished my 87 to the same duties as yours. Occasional run to the dump, solo occasional trip to town, light duty so to speak. And of course a ride to work if we get the rare but seems more common last two years snow! My own thoughts were a nice 2" lift. Not rich and it isn't much money in the total scheme of things. Owned this little baby since 1997. I finally decided I would leave her be. I have possessed 14" Peugeot steel rims for years. Even ran a set of 195/75-14 all terrains with minor scrap on full lock if a sharp bump was hit. Currently running 185/75-14 tires and think they are the best choice yet for something that will rarely see offroad duty. I know 195/70-14 tires would be zero fit problems stock too. With no more horsepower than they have, I have at this point in ownership no desire to run anything bigger. Good luck on your lift and I would definitely source stock replacement parts on the rare chance you may decide to part with her.
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The company I work for installed a huge kiln a decade or so ago. The kiln puts out so much heat, even though it is brick lined, that you cannot use grease in the bearings. They have installed insulated lines and pump Mobil Delvac ESP 5w-40 oil that recirculates to a holding tank. The engineer that designed the oiling system said he tried many oils in bench testing the design. The Delvac synthetic held up the best of any that was readily available. Key word readily available.
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Minor correction here on the very long post from Keith. Ester based oils are grpV. Mobil 1 is a blend of grpIII and grpIV. Mobil EP is also but has more grpIV in it. The best Mobil 1 is 0w-40 which meets almost all European specs that I know of, that is in there standard Mobil 1 line. To get a 0W-40 spread requires a high dose of real synthetic. Almost every oil out there is a blend of different specs to arrive at a spec. Most adds are full of marketing bull, especially Amsoil.
A 0W-20 would most likely require some amount of grpIV. It is not the same weight as water. But on a cold morning will circulate through the engine much faster to critical pints than a 5w or 10w anything. When cold even 0W is thick for a motor.
Last, oils have changed tremendously over the years. With the reduction in some additives. I question if they are as good as they were 10 years ago. But, they are way better than 20 years ago, light years better than 30 and 40 years ago.
To answer the op's question, go with what ever 0W-20 oil is readily available and you feel good about. Mobil 1, or Redline (All I use in my motorcycle), Castrol Syntec or whatever. I would most definitely use what the owner manual states. If should be good for 7.5k unless you are toting a heavy load in the mountains or stuck in heavy stop and go city traffic almost daily. Do check your oil!!! That should be something everyone does on a regular routine. I check air pressure and oil levels in all our vehicles monthly. Yes, my wife's 2011 Forester XT uses a little oil. Turbo's are like that. I get all warm and fuzzy adding it back. Just for the record we use Mobil 1 0w-40 in the XT (7.5k), I use Motorcraft 5w-20 in my 06 Ranger (annual around 5k), Mobil 5000 10w-30 high mileage in the 87 Brat (annual around 3.5k), Redline 10w-60 in my Moto Guzzi Norge (annual 5k) and all our power equipment gets 15w-40 Delvac or Rottela annually also.
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Coronan, can you loosen the bracket and slide the coil a little closer?
JuhaKankunen, try Rock Auto or Ebay. Should be easy to find! Be sure to price the shipping from Rock. May find it cheaper on Ebay with free shipping if you search.
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"Another option is to unclamp the sway bar and remove an inner control arm bolt"
That is how I do my 87 Brat. I have set tools out. Jacked up Brat and dropped back to the ground in 20 mins. Try to beat that time several years ago I made the 180 degree mistake. Four hours later, several drill bits, busted knuckles from beating a drift and I had the DOJ pin out. Know I find it much faster to just take my time and double check everything!! Even then a half hour is doable. Unbolt inside "A" arm, drop sway bar off "A" arm, drive pin out of DOJ joint, remove axle pin, lossen axle bolt, stick tire back up with two lugnuts for leverage and snatch off transmission stub. One hand on DOJ and foot on bottom of tire. I might have forgot some minor step. Been three years or more since I installed EMPI axles, new motor /trans mounts and I have not had to touch it since. At one time I was doing one boot or the other every year (all DOJ), being I have had this Brat for nearly 18 years that is a lot of axle pulling. Remans suck, many aftermarket boots suck, plus you need to make sure your engine mounts and transmission mounts are good, mine were not. I have had to leave reman axles at the counter defective (didn't even leave the store with it)!! Also had them clicking from day one of install. Some have claimed EMPI was bought out but I got actually EMPI and they are good, if you can find them.
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What Tom said, okay I didn't know about the freezer trick. I bought a long brass drift for mine and they are an easy tap out. I use the old bearing to tap in, may be really easy frozen.
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I would stick with the design for your rear and just modify it ever so lightly for the front. Your rear bumper is awesome. That is the first one I have seen that I would even consider snatching the factory one off for on my brat.
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Good job. That is about as good as I have seen.
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They look just like the ones I think I ordered from Mills for my 87 Brat. If you do a search there is a forum member who did a pretty good write up on installing them. My oldest brother owns a body shop so I farmed it out, lol. Had him to spray it with rocker panel guard, similar to bed liner but a little smoother. Turned out real good. I think they are close to an inch short but he made it work like they were made for the Brat.
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The little things I have done on my EA81 have improved the drivability greatly. For instance, when you turn in my drive. You are entering a right hand slightly banked turn My driveway is on the left at the end of the curve. To make this turn it would buck a little in second when I first got the Brat. This was after a good tune up. I actually had started turning into the driveway with the clutch in coming to a stop and shifting into first to prevent the shuddering/slight buck. After the 2" exhaust and Webber it strolls right through the turn in second as smooth as you could ever want. So my theory is I have a decent increase in bottom in performance that is usable for everyday driving. Any gain made at redline is of no use to me.
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Free flowing exhaust, just don't go too big. I like the 2" I have from the Y pipe back. A lower thermostat will help a tiny bit, especially since coolant runs through the manifold heating the air mixture up. I guess you meant Iridium sparkplugs?? They make no more power than plain, just last longer. Don't know if they use ethanol laced gasoline down under but they sure use it here in the USA. Pure gas will have near 3% more energy than 10% ethanol gas. I have a source for pure regular gas and that is all my Brat gets!
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Jono, I know how to correct for speedometer errors. Would they not be the same for the odometer? I have checked it for every set of tires I have installed so I would know how fast I was really going. When I calculate my mpg I also recalculate for the error. In the US the standard size for four wheel drive EA81 Subaru is a 185/70-13. GPS shows 60 mph at an indicated 54 mph with the 185/75-14 tires. I use 10 percent for correction. My last three tank average was mid 29's when corrected. I have had individual tanks of gas to average over 30mpg but that is not typical, with a record high just over 31 mpg. The high was with the 195/70-13 tires. I blame rotating mass of the steel Peugeot rims and bigger heavier tires for making 30 mpg a little harder to achieve.
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I thought some front wheel drives still got the EA71? Like a base hatch.
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Driver's side for us USA models. You also have a filter there that probably needs replacing.
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I bought my Brat in 1997. Almost 18 years of ownership. The little bugger runs way better now than when I bought it. I have the 32/36 installed many years ago, 2" exhaust from the Y pipe back into a SS Magnaflow muffler (sounds awesome even if it isn't fast), run 33% antifreeze, 180 degree thermostat, Accel wires with NGK plugs, Accel coil and cut the drive pulleys down by 20 ozs. She is a screamer, okay, not really but a four wheel drive that can bump on 30 mpg all day long if driven with just a touch of respect. Resale is not a concern for me at this stage as I have no intentions of ever getting rid of it. Wouldn't mind an EJ powerplant but can't bring myself to mess with something that is not broken. I have a minor leak at the rear main seal. I added 12 ozs. of oil at 3k miles to top it off. Mileage is a little over 233k currently. But I have also had oversize tires on it from the first set I purchased on. First set 195/70-13, next two sets 185/80-13, a set of 195/75-14 all terrains and the current 185/75-14 tires. I would guess it has traveled well over 240k and another 100k would not surprise me!
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I have done three older ones at 80k to very low 80k. All looked like they had many 10's of thousands of miles to go. My wife's 2011 XT has low 80k now. I am waiting on it until the 105k recommended. But not any further.
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Box is a little old and dilapidated. It is a 5040K set with straight plug boots and the rest I cannot make out. Has the short 90 boots for distributer cap and another set of boots for a different distributer. I see if I can find the same set on line when I get a chance.
Best exhaust 86 DL wagon?
in Old Gen.: 80's GL/DL/XT/Loyales...
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I'll second that!