Seahag1978

Funny this post should appear. Yesterday, my daughter called and asked me, "Can you hear that motor? It's a Subaru." I question marked... HUH??? (Shocked that she used the proper name, she always refers to my cars as Gooberus... geesh... no respect!) So the story goes, she was tilling her large garden with her Mantis tiller and a neighbor came by and said, "Using THAT thing's like rowing upstream with a teaspoon." He shook his head, laughed, walked away and came back with a Subaru Robin tiller. She said running it was like trying to hold back a horse. (She's only 5'2"). A new believer maybe?

I got rear shocks for my '78 on eBay for $24.95 a pair + ship. If you need them in a hurry... http://www.classicgarage.com They had the front struts for my '78. More expensive but still deeply discounted from list.

No, you can disengage it while stopped, but if your tires are not matched you may need to do the backing up thing to relieve the pressure. Matched for size is much more important than tread... I try to keep tread matched too, just to avoid any fussiness. In my city, the side streets may have several inches of snow/ice and the main roads down to bare pavement, so I'd be in and out of 4WD... a matched set of tires helps keep the switching to a minimum with less chance of binding. Now stopping in snow with the ABS brakes on my Baja I could happily do without.

I would try switching out that smart fuse with a regular fuse... it could be faulty.

Now that's funny... well done! I still love my Baja...

Congratulations! Nice find! The only one that doesn't match is the 'yota...

Thanks! Funny Tim found those pages just before I saw this... I just dashed off the rest of my exterior trim wish list to Russ Hill, he has my elusive perfect driver's fender! Hope to be dressed in new white primer before Memorial Day.

The tire part is very important. I saw one that just stopped moving... he was running on dry pavement in 4WD. He turned a corner and she locked right up, come to find out, his tires weren't matched.

I have also found that it's more difficult to disengage than to engage the 4WD. You should never engage it while cornering so I assume your wheels should be straight when you disengage it. You may try backing up a few feet with your wheels straight and then disengage it.

I have also found holes where there was thin trim midway along the body, and thick trim along the lower part. I have a lot of the thick trim, the thin trim is a question... what did it look like? Anyone have close up picture? What were the bumpers like? Mine are both painted black. The rear looks original paint, kind of black satin/matte and the front has a plastic cover that's painted gloss black. I have seen pictures where there is a chrome trim strip on the front about midway. Can someone point me to some pictures of original bumpers? I'm not sure if this should be in the restoration forum or here?

The dash is original. I got it from moosens, he gave it up when he found his elusive blue dash. There is a guy in Revere, MA that does excellent work on dashes, I'll see if I can find his card for you... might be a bit pricey at $400. a new one is $600 without shipping. The '86.. I have all the trim removed and am sanding back to metal to double check the body, redefining all the edges/corners that have rounded out because of the layers of old paint. etc., re-opening the molding holes. Keeps me busy while awaiting the new hood and driver's fender. She's as solid as a rock so far. AND IT RUNS GREAT! I'm very happy with this one. The bright red will be nice! My little yellow one is flaking out again... soon as the weather warms she won't stay running... sub-zero temps she runs like a top.

I'm not sure if yours is the same, but my Baja doesn't have automatic running lights in the rear, only in the front and they will only come on when the emergency brake is released. This is a silly question, but did you turn them on at the dash?

I tried looking for new seats for my '78 (they're the same as yours). Anyway, I was told that the shape of the floor pan will cause havoc with the slides and brackets and you'll need to fabricate all new ones. I got a nice set from moosens and had the yellow inserts added at the upholstery shop. You can see them in my gallery.

YIKES! Pricey is an understatement! The set I just got was $150... snagged it! We'll see the true condition when they arrive.. Armoral is a great concealer/enhancer especially for pictures. Skip, my original Brat had those cute little booties... I just tossed them out a couple of months before I got this '78, along with the owner's manual, repair book, etc. Self, I said, "Why am I keeping this sh-stuff?" Who knew I'd ever own another one?

I think the screaming red will be the color. I'll design some custom graphics for the decals. Yes, we're adding the seats and sidesteps. I grabbed a full set of seats/belts/frame/headrests (it was minus one pistol grip and a part for the slider on the headrest... it was a Buy It Now on eBay that was just put up. The hood arrived... damaged beyond repair by DHL, stabbed with a fork from the forktruck... the company found another one the next day and shipped it out on Friday... hope this one makes it!

This sounds silly... Quick 'n' Brite. It's a TV product... you all know him, Jan... ugh, what's his face? I don't remember. There's nothing better for carpet and seats... leaves no residue... no stains, no smell, no nothing... just clean and fresh. I'm on my 4th giant tub in 10+ years. I keep reordering... it works.

That makes me happy! Best of luck all around!

We sanded the '86 back through the primer just to see... she's perfect... we found there were never side steps installed on this truck. It looked like there were indentations where the sidesteps would be, but just found some slight rust repair. Looking closer in the bed, it appears there isn't the right configuration of "bumps" for seat brackets either. It's like an archaeological dig... uncovering layers to the bare metal. There are some bars inside the place where the sidestep would be? Never owning a second Gen this is a new experience. I think we may have determined that no sidesteps or seats were installed after May 1986, which is the build date of this truck. Anyone know when they stopped installing the seats?

I also want chunkier, white lettered tires... the Potenzas are too "dressy" for the Baja, they're like putting a petticoat on a wrestler. I stopped at NTB tires and they didn't have anything available, but I'm still looking.

Back in the day... Orlando, Florida to Mass. Just over 24 hours. '78 Brat with low topper. 2 - 10 year old girls and luggage containing clothes for 10 days for all of us in back, 2 adults in front. Sears X-cargo turtle on the cab roof... added to carry all the junk the kids bought home. Same truck, 4 adults and a dishwasher, had to use 4WD to get rolling.

Awww, that Saturday's my little golden boy's 6th birthday party. Tell you what, get that coupe running, and as my payback, you all need to head up here for some fishing, she seats 8. Out of the live well, brief stop on the butcher block onto the grill or lightly breaded and into the deep fryer... nothing tastier!

Paulie, Give Borges in Dighton, MA a call. He's pretty keen on who to call for whatever you're looking for in old Subes. Play "Mickey the Dunce" he'll open up for you and give you some good info...

You bet... when I rented the Y'all Haul trailer to pick up the new '86, the cashier entering the rental into the computer asked what type of car was being towed... she got the Subaru ok, but after repeating the word Brat 3 times, I had to spell "B-R-A-T" because she didn't have a clue of what I was talking about. As she typed it in, she rolled her eyes and shrugged... that silent version of "whatever..."

This sounds a bit silly, but mine was making a knocking sound at low rpms and would stop at higher rpms. It was the oil fill bracket bouncing against the brake cylinder... I just found it tonight while trying to get the beast to stay running for more than 30 seconds before dying. It still won't stay running, but the knock is gone

No hijack intended, but my '78 has been running great all winter... even when the temp was below zero... idled smooth, no stalling. I went to run it tonight for a show tomorrow... nope, won't stay running for more than 30-40 seconds then sputters and dies. We fiddled with the idle screw and timing... still no dice. It's been raining here almost every day for a couple of weeks and we had a bad nor'easter this past weekend. Could be this choke adjustment thingy... how do we do that?