maestro

I put later model factory aluminum wheels on my 78 brat. Here is my post explaining how to get them to fit if you are interested and a video I posted on youtube explaining it. I got the spacers off ebay an its very inexpensive. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/136410-making-later-model-wheels-work-on-our-gen-1s/ [video=youtube;1BdpL_EATyc]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but... For the wheel bearing, get the new part and get the hub off your car. Take them to a shop with a press and have them press the old one out/new one in. You will eliminate a lot of frustration and time on your part. That's just my opinion.

Check out this post: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/136455-1979-brat-4x4/ I put up lots of pictures from the factory shop manual dealing with oil pump and low pressure issues. You should seriously get a mecahnical oil pressure guage and hook it up to know for sure what your oil pressure actully is. Good luck.

JB Weld. Just do really good prep and it may last forever.

I wasn't sure if the "carter weber" carb from the ea81 I pulled was stock or some sort of aftermarket carb. I am running the Weber rather than the hitachi. The hitachi leaked and ran noticeably rich, as in, black gasoline smelling smoke out the exhaust. With the Weber conversion it runs great, no black smoke and doesn't smell rich. However I didn't notice any difference in the power and my gas mileage stayed exactly the same as the hitachi, 17mpg. I was told that I need to fine tune the Weber and possible re-jet it. I'm not carb expert so anyone with experience there please chime in.

Awe man, I'm in virginia. Good news is though the engine is still ok. The valves clear on that. You could drill that out, tap with new threads and use an ovesize bolt. If ovesizing is not an option then drill it out, fill with jb weld, drill to original hole size and tap threads to get the original bolt in. Either way if the car ain't too bad of shape otherwise it can definitely be saved rather than scrapped. Maybe someone else on your side of the continent would like to have a crack at it. If I were closer I know I would.

Where is vacaville?

That is a very ambitous project you have there. It will be bad rump roast when you are done. If you are doing the project for coolness then go for it. If you are doing just because the engine and tranny have 254k miles on them then well I dunno. Those EA81's are darn near bulletproof. Unless they are neglected or abused they will almost never break down. That's my experience. They are very easy to maintain and work on as well. No timing belts and whatnot. If you do the swap though please don't trash the ea81 and tranny. Sell them or pass them on to another Subaru enthusiast as these parts are getting harder to come by daily and I know someone can put them to good use. Good luck and keep us posted with pics and or videos of your progress. BTW that is a very solid looking brat. Does it have the cyclops headlight?

I recently pulled a dash from a 1978 brat that was in a junkyard. I'm replacing mine. It wasn't hard at all. I had the dash out in about 10 minutes. I didn't pull the heater box though, just the dash. I have the factory shop manuals. I can post pics of the pages from the manual when I get home tomorrow. I would think the brat and the wagon are the same.

So... I have the weber carb on my ea71. It runs good but I still need to get the jets set up correctly. I haven't gotten into that yet. Would I be better off finding an ea83 carb or just tuning my weber? Also, while on a junkyard pull I found an ea81 with a one barrel carb, it says "Carter Weber" on it. Anyone know what this is? I pulled it and have it in my basement. I figured it would be cool to have as a back up later on as I plan on finding a second gen brat after I'm through restoring my gen 1.

I think it is true that most of these older Subaru engines leak. Whether or not I have to live with them is yet to be seen for me. I will keep posts updated to my results. I've owned several EA81's and 82's. They all leaked. I had much less mechanical experience then and just let them leak thinking it was too much trouble trying to fix the situation. I've also owned sever small block chevy's and Fords and they all leaked as well. It may be simply that technology in the design of seals from yesteryear simply hadn't caught up to the technology of engine design that makes engines we have now that can last much longer in terms of mileage and time. It used to be that once an engine had 100k miles it was shot. Not so any more and hopefully seal design has come along with that. This is my first EA71. Now that I am older and more experienced I am going to try replacing my seals, use the ultra gray, black and grease where it needs to be and see how long it works.

Well for a snug fit on the front how about just getting some c-channel ruber gasket and glue it to the board where it meets the hood after you coat the board with the plasti dip? The camper top and the air dam seats to the roof and sides this way. Another really cool idea would be to find someone with a camper top that would go to a local fiberglass shop and have them make a mold of the front part to make the air dam out of. Just like the one in the subaru attic picture. I have an extra camper top but I'm in Virginia.

Bendecker, there are wind deflectors out there you can purchase. The one Nils is talking about I think is made by a company called Aeroplus. You may be able to go to an RV store and find something like it. However you seem like most of us and on a budget. That and making it yourself is a reward of satisfaction on its own. That said I think instead of fiberglassing the board you can try plasti dip in an aerosol can. Go back to Lowes and to the paint section. They have it in the spray paint section or just ask a paint person where it is. In my Lowes they only have the black and the white. Otherwise you can order those or any other colors you want online. They even sell a glossifier you can spray over the matte color to give it more shine. I have used it on my wife's Jeep Grand Cherokee to make a car bra as the paint was chipping on the front of the hood. Did not want to pay to have it painted. It looks great. It will also be waterproof and no sanding. Just spray on and let it dry and you are done. Check out there product on dipyourcar.com.

Yeah all that bumping the starter with the clutch stuck could have burned out the starter, it is a risk. Usually if the starter is bad it will do nothing though. Probably though you just need to clean the battery posts and connectors on the cables and reconnect. Could be the battery is low charge. Bad cables. This old brat doesn't have the safety feature that disables the starter if the clutch pedal is not pressed in.

Yes I am trying to keep it as stock as possible. At least until finding original as possible parts becomes impossible. An spfi would be cool since the mpfi won't work. I currently am running the weber 32/36. It does well however I need to tune it. 17 mpg is not what I think is fine tuned but hey that's just out of the box and bolted on. I see jetting in my future. Ivan, thanks for the tip on the ultra grey. I will be getting some. With the engine still in the brat it seems as though most of my leaking is in fact from the oil pan and the valve covers. I am going to do like you say and ditch the oil pan gasket and use ultra grey. When you say grease the valve covers do you mean put a coating of grease on both sides of the new gasket and bolt down? Also I am not sure about the dipstick but do you mean glue the tube the dipstick sits in where it bolts to the engine?

This may not be the answer you want but it is probably the simplest and least expensive solution. Go ahead and convert yout existing hubs and drums. If you want to switch back simply pop out the extra studs and put two of them back where they belong for the 4x140 pattern.

My leaks seem to be coming from the valve covers and the oil oan seal. The crackshaft seals don't appear to be leaking. If it ain't leaking then I ain't fooling with it... Unless of course I decide to do the cam grind. I may try some RTV on those valve covers and oil pan. Ivan I'd be very interested to see the tbi conversion or at least progress. Please post when you get a chance. I have an old RX (total rust bucket) and I've tossed the idea around about fashioning a conversion to my EA71 using the injection system from the EA82 in the RX.

I have a 78 brat I'm restoring.The engine runs great however I am about to pull it and the trans so the engine bay can be painted along with the rest of the car. While the engine is out I plan on replacing oil seals that are leaking since everything is easier to access while out. I am thinking about having the heads ported and polished while it is out. While there how about having the heads shaved for a bit more compression? How much is safe to shave? I'm tossing around pulling the cam for a grind. I've never tore one of these engines down before. How difficult is it to get this engine apart and back together? Is it worth the effort for a cam grind? I've heard EA63 heads are a direct swap for the EA71's for better flow and compression. Is this true and if so anyone have a line on a good set? I'm not looking to make a race car or else I'd be looking into an engine swap. Just a little more pep since the engine is coming out anyway. Any suggestions on what to do while the engine is out?

I have had several EA82's and EA81's. All of the EA82's had ticks and a couple of the EA81's had ticks. I used a product called Valve Medic with oil changes and the ticks would disappear. I never delved deeper into the issue. Maybe worth a shot?

Here you go:

If the secon method doesn't work you can try, being very careful, raising the front end with a jack, put stands under to support the brat's front wheels off the ground. Hold the clutch pedal down and crank the engine in gear, you can try different gears, make sure you are NOT in 4wd. Now the engine is running, front wheels are turning, get your engine revving up, not wide open but be generous, nail the brakes hard. It is probably best to wedge something against the cluctch pedal to keep it down do you can hold the gas pedal and hit the brakes at the same time. Last resort and most dangerous method will be to get a second person to lift the front of the brat off the ground at the front, put it ins reverse and crank it. Engine is running with you in it of course, clutch pedal is pressed to the floor, engine is revving, front wheels are turning, use reverse only so you don't go forward because the other person is going to be in front of the car and will drop the car suddenly. You don't want to run over your guy with the jack. Be prepared to run backwards quicky. Hopefully tour transmission will survive these shocks and be okay. If none of this works then your only alternatives are to pull the engine and put a new clutch in, be sure to get the flywheels resurfaced or sell me the brat really cheap ;-) Seriously, be careful man. Its not worth wrecking or getting hurt. Don't do it if you feel its too dangerous. You are responsible for anything that goes wrong, including damages, injury and death not me or anyone else on here. That being said I'd love it if you could get some pics of that roof rack. I want to custom make one for mine.

I just read that weber guide... o Jesus

I would assume that since redline has the conversion kit you can buy just for the subaru 1600's that it would come with correct jets. I adjusted my air screw per the instructions. Smooth idle and doesn't smell rich. I am no expert on this topic though. Anyone else had to change the jets? Any experience adjusting and tuning these for our engines out there?

Can we see this thread? I had the Hitachi on mine and it seeped fuel, sucked air and ran rich. I could never get it right so I did the same swap. I got 17mpg before and after the swap. It runs much better with the weber. Not running rich at all and is much smoother. I'd heard we should get improved mileage and power from this swap. I seem to get neither. Just runs better which is a good thing. Just not all that I expected. I also hear people saying the get 30mpg out of these old brats? What are we doing wrong?

Okay well your clutch is stuck to the flywheel. Mine had done this a few times. I am not sure what it is about our vehicles that make them more susceptible to than other vehicles but there it is. I also don't know how to prevent it other than make sure you get out and drive it at least every couple of weeks or so. Now to fix it... I put it in gear with the engine off. Next I push in the clutch and crank the engine. The starter will lurch the brat forward or backward depending on what gear you are in. Use first or reverse. I haven't used a higher gear before but that may be okay too. Keep the clutch pressed in. Eventually it should break loose and all will be well. Be sure you have plenty of space in the direction you are lurching as the engine just might start running and you will find yourself moving quickly down the road. If the starter method doesn't work try going down the road in 1rst gear. With the clutch pressed in start flooring the accelerator and letting off. The goal is not to gain speed. The goal is to put torque on the clutch and flywheel kind of on and off to break it loose. I have heard of some people who have had vehicles that none of this worked for. The only alternative then is to pull the engine and remove the clutch. May as well put a new one in and surface the flywheel while you are there. Please keep us up to date on how this works out for you.