mcbrat

though... I want to see the rear suspension in action, and also hear how it rides... and how the back end handles body roll since there's only 1 center mount point to the spring... I would also suggest the interior of that thing be caged

Shawn and I cleaned most of them out.... there aren't very many EA series vehicles around here anymore....

Forester is good... that's my wife's daily driver... yeah, the Firebird is a 400. 75k miles on original motor. carb is a Q-jet from a '69 with the limiter removed... the '72 K20 had 15's on it when I bought it... with dry rotted 33's... It would take a lot of $$$$$$ to pry the Red Brat away from me

I think I'd be more worried about the sami t-case. you can really beef up the mounts for them into a good solid cradle.... then it might be okay.... that's still a lot of weight though...my Brat I think is still under 3500 lbs I think....

the ignition switches weren't burning out, it was mechanical failure inside the electrical switch... and a bit with the keyed portion as well... (the burning issue I had before was due to a noise suppressor. totally unrelated)... I have a low mileage key set I could have used, but this was more fun to do and I'm all "relayed up". can't see here, but to the left of my battery, is a fuse block, and rows of relays for all the stuff

I updated the pic to show what all the other switches were for....

so I was tired of replacing the stock ignition switch with another 25 year old one that was gonna eventually give me grief as well... old keyed portion is still intact, and has the key left in it, so the column doesn't lock... new set-up below, uses a regular push button style starter switch, and a keyed power switch (New Ford tractor part) for the Ignition circuit. I also wired in a separate switch for the accessories circuit, and the 2 lights also come on with the ACC circuit, just to let me know I'm sending power out the red Seat Belt light is from a '72 Subaru DL...

so back at it today after sweeping branches off the roof of the house and garage, and cleaning out all the gutters... I've been soaking the rear shock bolts with Yield for the last week... uhhh yeah... I really hate Midwest rust on old soobies... for uppers, now I have 3 broken bolts. 1 came out fine. lower bolts: 1 came out fine, and the other is out of the captive nut cleanly, but the shock spacer is rusted to the bolt, so it won't come out... looks like that one is gonna be cut... then I get to decide what to do for the busted off 8.8 grade bolts... since I needed to put ea82 coilovers on anyway (broken torsion bar), it looks like I'll be fabbing up some new mounts and welding them in....

Good point

when I have one that bad, I throw it in the scrap pile and buy a new caliper the cylinder bore will be scarred most likely, and a complete rebuild of the caliper would be "iffy" at best...

which ones... everyone I've looked at so far has worked.....

long ago, I had a page up with pics of my vehicles.... I finally got around to redoing it... includes full build details of my Red Brat as well... http://www.indysworld.com/vehicles/

you just won't use 5th as much as you used to... only use it on long flat or slightly downhill stretches :lol:

did you notice a sound difference (after the sheetmetal fix)...

consider that siping it will help ....

I used one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Pinstripe-Eraser-Pad-Qty-1/dp/B000JPKXUI I tried heat, and some other "decal removal" items, but with 25 year old decals, nothing really wanted to work very well.... after I had everything off, then I used GooGone to complete the adhesive cleanup...

sporting some BFG Mud Terrains now... and we answered the question as to if you can fit 27x8.50 tires without cutting. No. With minimal cutting, they do fit fine... unfortunately we did some cutting, but slightly less than minimal it seems as Ben called me on his way home, and it was making some noise

right. no set date yet for 2010.... closing the old one....

the "center lamp" was only available in the early years of the body style too, so the actual ones with lamps is much smaller.... 80-84 wagons. only 80-82 GL 4WD came with CL. 80-89 hatch. only 81-82 GL 4WD came with CL 82-87 Brat. only 82 GL Brat came with CL

might need to cut the gen2 brackets off the bumper, make new brackets for the gen3, then position bumper on new brackets and weld up.... the gen2 wll be a little bit narrower...

I talked to Denis today. he's got the '78 Brat running again, with the engine out of the Ski Wagon. I told him not to blow up this engine

truck is out on CL now... so no mud ventures for it... I should have your tires/wheels off tonight after work...

if you plan on hooking a speedo up to the sami t-case, you need to watch for that... the way mine is clocked, and how the cradle fits, it was a tight fit, and it comes out of the bottom of mine almost.... I had to use a sami cable for the length, but it fits right into the back of the soob cluster, so you can at least accurately calc your speed...

that should be a 3.7 dual range. the lo range would be the 1.1:1 low, instead of the 3.9 d/r which was a 1.592:1 reduction. this would be part time 4wd, just like the 4 sp d/r and 5 spd d/r. no center diff or lock.