TajMan

I call it a mess because thats what it is with the stock vacuum lines, what a rats nest. I'm driving my '83 Brat, its had about everything eliminated emissions wise, and it is NOT set up in the ideal way. Some things are capped and some things are venting open atmosphere, which prob. should not be that way. Sometimes I smell gas, can run real rich sometimes like maybe after I start. Sometimes I have a mid-throttle miss that feels like I'm running out of gas, but if I go WOT then it pulls fine. Could that be a possible vacuum leak in the diaphragm that works to open up the secondaries? Should get better MPG. Sometimes hard to start when cold, I have to keep cranking and stabbing throttle for a bit until enough gas gets to carb. pardon my seemed ignorance I have this blue '84 Brat parts car that I just purchased. It always fires up very quick when you try to start, and seems to perform like a stock car should. I want to swap everything directly over to my black car the '83, but it can't swap directly because A. - exhaust thing has been eliminated that brings the exhaust pipe up exiting from cyl head for emissions stuff. What is that air injection system? I should be fine there where I can keep a few lines capped. My charcoal canister is eliminated, I can put the one from blue '84 car back on black '83 car if I need. and, B. - devices are different, located in passenger's corner of engine bay against firewall, which have to do with carburetor vent lines. '83 has 2 lines going to black things in pic with electrical connectors, and the '84 has a strange box in that corner I'm not sure what does, has 3 of the carb vacuum lines running to and from it. here are some pics eliminated '83 engine bay: passenger's firewall corner with vent lines going to these 2 things with electrical connectors: and the stock '84: here is the strange device THAT car has in the passenger's firewall with vent lines going to/from: stock rats nest of vacuum.. I won't be needing these anymore with no air injection system any advice would be greatly accepted, and tomorrow I'm just trying to carefully label lines and swap everything over onto my black '83 I drive.

sweet I just had to pick between 9 rims to try and find 4 straight ones. I found 3 straight ones, and 1 ALMOST straight, lol.

Sub4 engines rock I want to build an ea81 powered airplane I continue to learn much. thanks guys If I ever have another Brat being built for myself and extreme custom / powerful engine later...... It will very likely have a new Subaru 2.5 or 2.5 turbo engine mated with bellhousing adapter to a Jeep etc 4X4 trans/T-case.

alright alright thanks guys, I'm just playin around So tell me this then, what would it take to bolt up that stock turbo to an ea81 carb'd engine? I know about blow-through and draw-though carbs, all kinds of tricky setup.. As for the exhaust 'manifold', exhaust that goes from left side around the front of oil pan, turbo placement.... Is this all way beyond close or is it actually close to bolting up in an ea81 engine bay? If exhaust modified after it EXITS the turbo, can it be made to avoid a crossmember that is different on the turbo cars?

Yeah, when I removed them they all stripped out aluminum threads around each of the studs/bolts that came out. They were rusted, car had been sitting and not run in awhile. Today I pulled a dual range 5-speed transmission from the junk yard to convert my 4-speed, muahahaha. Brats Brats Brats

I found an '88 GL turbo car in the junk yard, I'd like to go back tomorrow and pull the engine to convert my '83 Brat! I pulled another dual range 5-speed trans today, so I'm converting that from my 4-speed.. Tell me guys, is this turbo swap do-able or is this a WAY involved swap? I really want that little turbo.. I figured I'd need to pull the entire engine + motor mounts, exhaust w/ turbo and those components, everything including the fuel injectors and fuel rails, engine wiring harness going through the firewall, ECU computer under the dash, gauges? thanks for any help guys

Fluid looked good and clean when I watched it draining. I've pulled the 5-speed D/R trans, I have it in the back of my Brat now! Tomorrow I'm going to pull the turbo engine, and I still need info, I think I'll start a thread.

thanks for that Well, a few cars at the pick-n-pull. 5-speed manuals with the push-button 4WD... I'm going to stay away form those ones One 5-speed dual range trans that I believe I'm going to pull now! 225K miles on the gauges, but the shifter feels tight and all gears feel normal, I think I'm going to give it a shot and hope for the best! And there is a '88 Turbo FI ea82 engine'd wagon...... Sh*t F*&&$ ahhhhh I think I'm going to try to pull that also by 5pm tomorrow. crap, lots of work Engine + full wire harness + a computer box under the dash, to get that turbo FI motor to run?????

bump for anyone else that might see this aww I still love the good old 4-speed, and the new D/R option I have in my '83 is a pretty good trans I can use. What causes like 3rd gear to sometimes pop out when you let out the clutch, and the shifter looseness? Can really nothing be done without full-on transmission dis-assembly? No top shifter piece to take out and work on without splitting the case?

Yeah I did the same stuff, couldn't find a 4-bolt flange or gasket that would match the head, I welded that emissions pipe shut and continued to use the stock spacer like you. I had to heli-coil thread-repair all 8 exhaust bolt holes in the aluminum cylinder heads! Major P.I.A.

I can feel the difference between the 2 clutches. When my roommate replaced his clutch, he had originally ordered the wrong clutch from partsgeek and didn't find out till the trans was out in my work shed which he tied up for a week before he could get the correct clutch and installed, lol. Bigger clutch kit is a bit more expensive, and the only options for the bigger are the Duralast at autozone which is cheaper but a little inferior, or the beck-arnley I believe that is pricy.

well dang no more explanation about the shifter looseness, or my new '84 that pops out of 3rd sometimes after you've let out the clutch?? I'm going tomorrow to check out the 5-speed transmissions in the junk yard, half price tomorrow and monday! maybe go that route, I'll just be getting this car all 100% restored and painted nice to sell it, the 5-speed trans would just bring a little more value

What up guys? I have 2 Brats with 2 4-speed manual transmissions in them. Both have some issues in different areas. I really don't know anything would like to learn more about the trans, and find out what parts could be interchanged between the 2 to make one perfect trans. My '83 Brat used to be an automatic. bummer huh I converted it to manual, with parts sourced from a '81 GL wagon in the junk yard. When I got it running, I was disappointed to find out it was a single-range trans. More disappointed to find out it grinds 2nd gear usually unless extremely slow/careful, and grinds 3rd gear also on quick higher RPM shifts. 2nd/3rd gear syncros worn correct? The shifter feels tight though it doesn't have the typical loose Subaru shifter feel of most 80's cars. I know this '81 trans uses different 1st and 2nd gear ratios I believe.. I installed a new clutch kit in this vehicle (smaller pre-'84 clutch) The '84 Brat I just picked up is sweet, more original in many ways compared to beat old '83. DUAL-range transmission! Awesome Uses the bigger post-'84 clutch. Not sure how much life it has left, but doesn't slip. The shifter feels way loose, typical of most old 80's Subaru cars I've driven, lots of play. Shifts ok except sometimes 3rd gear issue. It can feel like it goes into 3rd fine, but as soon as you let out the clutch it can pop out of gear (and sometimes that causes a little grinding as gear is half-in). With another try you can usually hit 3rd no problem. If you are in 3rd solidly, it never pops out again on its own while driving. If I can build one complete properly working trans out of the two I have, I will do it. Or, I might pull another trans from the pick-n-pull junk yard to try it. They have a few cars there I need to check out, and I have $145 credit there from a bad engine I returned..

nice work and I've done an engine/tranny swap or two in and out of Brats before. Thats a post-'84 bigger diameter clutch? I put a small clutch in my '83, and i helped my old roommate put the big clutch in his '84

Haha what up!?!? I've got 2 Brats also! An '83 I've done TONS of work on, and a '84 I bought the other day. Both cars drive, and they could both use things in different areas... I sold the other '84 I used to own to an old friend, so I've owned 3 Brats total. I now plan to cut the roof off of one of these Brats and custom convert/weld it onto my '91 Eagle Talon Tsi AWD !!

My old roommate has that exhaust on his '84 Brat now along with the Weber carb, and he drove it to Georgia. He loves it says he'll never sell the car, says everyone else loves it and they offer him over $2,500 if he'd sell. Its a very rich sound but nothing crazy, Conquest muffler perfect Brat match. Yesterday I got an awesome deal! Another '84 Brat, 138K miles, rear-seats!, no title, $450 I haven't started it yet but it supposedly runs good with a battery, and says trans doesn't grind gears and has the lo-range. body in WAY better original and straight condition than this black thing was/is that I'm still driving..

fixed electrical issue before, bad ground I've put a stock Hitachi carb and putting a more stock-like exhaust back on my car, sold my Weber and my exhaust to my roommate to go on his '84. As long as you have the bowl vent open, and everything else unneeded capped off, the Hitachi carb will run ok with ALL emissions and extra crap deleted. I drive the hell out of my Brat, for over 2K miles now, and my right front wheel bearing just started showing worse signs of going out soon. A shop has my hub now pressing out the bearings. This is a bigger job and more expensive than I thought, but it will be closer to fixed right with 2 new wheel bearings on that right side. I'm just getting the car ready to sell, sucks, will probably go on eBay. This Brat means a lot to me, so much that I may some day hack up my other '91 Talon Tsi AWD project car and turn it into a custom car/truck Brat style! With newer technology more power and 4WD capability to just improve on the genius Brat package.

Ran like CRAP after I opened up what I thought was the bowl vent, then another good mechanic friend down here helped me figure it out. Bowl vent was the other of 2 lines I thought it was. Runs ok now. Good enough for the situation, but if I was ever going to keep another of these cars with the engine I wouldn't go ANYTHING but the Weber 32/36.

sorry for my posting and lack of search ability I think I've got things figured out more Yeah, these cars are F'd anyway without all the proper stock vacuum lines and crap hooked up to the Hitachi carbs, AREN'T they.

(carb running hot start problem, I think when gas is boiling!) Ok, so I sold my weber carb and built exhaust to my roommate to go on his '84 Brat, I took his hitachi carb and smaller exhaust to go back on my '83 Brat. (sorry, need to get ready to sell my '83) It can be noted, that pretty much all emissions and additional crap that could be deleted, was deleted with my first Weber carb install. My roommate then deleted it all on his car, when he installed the weber on his car. I capped off more lines and plugged more holes in the stock airbox when I put a hitachi carb back on my car (yeah, I may have allowed myself to be slightly ignorant here) I've probably got a bowl vent capped thats causing me to boil fuel in the bowl and it will actually keep drawing gas from the lines and leaking it into my manifold as the hot car has been turned off, won't start when its completely flooded. I have 2 lines I'm pretty sure one of them is the bowl vent. Is it one more towards the center of the carb's intake, or one more towards the back of the carb? Yes I'm sure the carb is set up a bit rich for my current '83 setup, but the truth is both the '83 and '84 brats made more power AND got better mileage with the Weber carb on at the time.

99.9% sure its some sort of electrical short, but not the speedo cable. Except, I can't notice any electrical effect but the noise it makes.

The main electrical problem was fixed, but there is still some kind of electrical short in the gauge area that clicks and taps randomly as I drive down the road. :-\

The ground that ruparts suggested turned out to be the one to fix the problem! I finally found it, there are a thousand wires and my car has a ton of un-used connectors on the wiring harness. Thanks a lot guys.

news: I swapped the gauge cluster with a good '84 146K cluster. Problem still occurring, pretty much the exact same way. While rolling back, short is off - off - off - on - off - off - off - on THEN, unplug the speedo cable from the cluster, and short stays on and is no longer effected by vehicle movement. I think I'm going to return cluster to junk yard for $40 credit. I think I have a short with an illumination wire in the headlight circuit, and so somehow the turning of speedo gears effects this illumination voltage (even though the problem is not occurring INSIDE my gauge cluster). I got to my ignition switch, and the wire I had repaired in the past was still welded and soldered, I don't seem to have an issue there. Ya, when I fixed it previous the electrical contact was so big and wouldn't solder so I welded the wire on and its good. I can't seem to find that main ground wire ruparts was talking about, I didn't see any loose grounds hanging...

I still suspect my gauge cluster, going to the junk yard for one now.. But I also suspect a wire on my ignition switch, you guys reminded me! That could be definitely causing the ignition coil intermittent problem.