mcbrat

there's a 84 wagon 2wd AT in town with over 200k on it. my 84 turbo brat with AT has 142k I found a 1980 wagon in a yard with an AT with 116k on it. With AT's, I go a bit overboard. I had a 90 Dodge Caravan with 84k on it. tranny had already been replaced once, most information digging I could find was that they kept going out every 15-30k after that.... and mine shifted funny as it was. I used it to tow lots of soobies, and I drove it a lot, so I had the tranny serviced/flushed every 15k miles. I put 42k on it before I sold it, and it was still going strong....

if when you turn your wheels, the springs don't follow very well, or are choppy, then the strut mounts need replaced. the top of the strut with the 2 or 3 studs, has a bearing on the bottom side of it, that fits between it and the top of the spring housing. the bearing is essentialy 2 large flat washers with a tiny ring of flat roller bearings. I had a loud knocking problem in front when I would take a turn up/into a driveway slow. basically the strut was turning, but the spring was staying put, then "catching up" when it finally spun free. if I would spray some penetrating oil where the bearing were, it would get better for a bit, but then start acting up... when I finally replaced the strust mounts, all I had were 2 flat washers with mush in between. and the little plastic case around the washers was also ground into nothing. once replaced, along with new struts, it felt like a new car....

ordered from tallest to shortest I think... no idea what's available... 185/80 175/80 195/70 185/70 stock 205/60 (BR60-13) 195/60 185/60 I have a set of BFG Mud/Snow BR60-13's on my turbo brat. I love 'em, but they were a NOS set of 5 that I was offered for $75. no dry rot, but rubber is a little hard on 'em since they were new in the 80's or so.....

yep. and 185/80 is the tallest 13 you can get now....

I saw mechanic take PBBlaster and used it to remove tree sap from his nice white truck... sprayed it on, then wiped it off...

Cole98: if you're getting it from a yard, get the whole pumpkin. you have to remove the stub axles, then the side bearing cups before you can pull the LSD carrier... John: pull both axles off the diff stubs, then see if you can turn the stubs by hand... there are about 8 bolts on the back cover of the diff that you can take off to look inside. watch the oil though. LSD gear oil tends to be on the stinky side on the ones I've pulled apart. I've got pics somewhere of the innards. I'll try to find them tonight if no one else has got any.... a LSD carrier will have a solid cylinder (plates inside) that is attached to the ring gear. In the open diff, you can see all the spider gears, etc... how many miles on the RX. there have been lots of auction where the ad is aimed at Datsun guys, and they claim that since soobs are primarily FWD that the LSD should be in better shape. This is not true. The clutch plates inside are still doing their job whenther you're in 2wd, 4wd or FT4WD w or w/o diff lock. the plates are "locked" until enough of a speed difference (tight corner) where they break loose to act like an open diff.

no, but Wednesday I might. a friend at work knows the guy who lives across the street

Estate Auction of Property & Vehicles Saturday, November 8th @ Noon 10797 Southwold Rd. Des Moines, Iowa (Just south of SE 5th & County Line Rd) >map 4.35 acres (approx.) of property with house & outbuildings in rough condition, just south of Des Moines with excellent development potential. For legal description, taxes, etc. log onto assessor site at http://www.warrencounty-ia.org and type in address or contact auctioneer. Winning bidder will pay 5% non-refundable deposit with balance due at closing. Property being sold in "as is" condition and final bid is subject to approval by the executor. We will also be selling approx. 20 stored vehicles including 1947 Plymouth Special Deluxe; 1955 Plymouth; 1956 Ford; 1960, 67, 68 & 69 Fords;1984 Chev. S-10 pick-up; 7 different Subarus from the ‘70s; 1966 Rambler; 1976 Dodge Swinger; antique tractor & other vehicles. Many of the vehicles have been stored for over 20 years, some are in great shape and others need lots of work. The older vehicles were running when they were stored. There will be some building materials and whatever we find in the outbuildings, basement & storage. Very interesting sale, who knows what we will find!

the tranny Chef_Tim speaks of is not in use anymore, but ran great for the few hundred miles while the turbo brat lived.... the tranny is actually sitting safely on a shelf in my garage... I fear my 82 Brat will be needing it someday....

no, he was back in IA by then.....

is it out of the vehicle now? stubs should turn by hand either direction. the clutch packs in the LSDs can be rebuilt, and shimmed to different break-away points... I think stock is like 45 ft/lbs or 85....

not so far fetched. WCSS3 had people from CA, OR, WA, ID, CO, SD, IA..... maybe more....

Scott, do you have a full pic with the new paint?

you can mount them anywhere. they have adjusters to "true" them up....

got a chance to work on my turbo brat tonight. seemed pretty bouncy, so I put different front struts in, new winter tires/wheels all around, and changed the oil. front end feels better, but I noticed that I can't push down the rear end. stiff as a board. no wonder it's a bit rough riding?

I have 2 available. one with a gray housing, one with a brown housing. can bolt to dash if needed. will rewire to have just one positive and 1 ground wire for lighting hookup... or can leave as is... adjustable levels so can be mounted in different angles/locations... I have one mounted oof my rearview mirror. (had to remove the housing cover) each is missing a small knob, but I will try to find a replacement... scale only goes to 30 degrees. if you run with the hatch patrol, it's not enough they look really cool when lit up. mine comes on with my interior lights/headlights. Came off 4wd Toyota Tercels $30 each. includes shipping.

I was gonna get some from you Paul, but I ended up getting the ones off the 78 Sedan I parted out....

Very nice.... a lifted Brat just feels right.... still leaning towards lifting the turbo I still have one more change to make to my 82 that might raise it a little bit more....

the one on ebay was an auto tranny and no t-tops..... Gen2 Brat's: 82 DL - single range and solid roof 82 GL - Dual Range and fun tops 83 DL - single range and solid roof 83 GL - fun tops, dual range, or auto tranny 83 Turbo - fun tops, auto tranny 84 GL - dual range, fun tops 84 GL - automatic, solid roof 84 Turbo - automatic, fun tops 85 GL - dual range, fun tops 85 GL - automatic, solid roof 86 GL - dual range, fun tops 87 GL - dual range, fun tops

I was perusing through the 85 Brochure I'm putting up on eBay, and I get to the Brat section and drool over the midnight blue one that has a full page pic, and it shows the automatic option. and an inset photo of the t-tops says: "Halo Twin Roof is standard on Dual Range Models" All models were GL's....

my former Mountain GRizzly wagon had 2" at head, then 90 deg Y to keep the backpressure for low-end, then 2.5" all the way back to a MagnaFlow muffler... a bit too loud, especially for the 2000 mile trip to Washington twice my new GRizzly Brat has 1 7/8" at heads to 90 deg 'Y' and then 2.25" to same Magnaflow muffler. a bit quieter as well, as a little better low end... Jerry (Bratrus1) had the dual exhaust on his 86 Brat. better for higher RPM's The place I go to is a 1 owner shop that specializes in exhaust for all kinds of vehicles (mostly American muscle cars) but the do all kinds of work as well... they did a real nice job on this last y pipe. tucked up nicely for less chance of getting knocked off while off-roading (plus I put a big skid plate on it that covers the exhaust....)

there is a guy who has reproduced the targa stripes, and the horizon stripe with the "TURBO" on it. the horizon stripe can be had just plain, with "Turbo", or with the stars logo on it.... he can be reached at dahled@aol.com

Scott, do you still have the '82 tranny in yours? there are 2 different ea81 D/R trannies. the 81-82 had the 7 7/8 clutch, smaller flywheel, and smaller throwout bearing. when my tranny went out on my 82 wagon, I put in an '83 tranny. starting in '83, the throwout bearing has a bigger diameter, and a bigger clutch 8 7/8, and a bigger holder.... the shaft the holder rides on is larger as well, so an '82 bearing holder won't work on the 83+ tranny... luckily I had a spare '83 flywheel to go with the tranny.

is the ecs box supposed to be different than the NA soobies? this one has a remanned sticker on it, and doesn't look like any I'm used to....

84 Turbo Brat coming in to work this morning, when I would let off the gas to the point where it was dropping below 1000 rpms almost to idle speed, then the ECS light would come on. flicker almost. then if I sped up, it would go off. any thoughts...