Speedwagon

~200k miles, engine apparently doesn't leak, says it needs a new transmission very soon though. 4WD works, and has some dents in the body, with the interior in not-so-hot shape either. The guy has had it on the market for awhile, and has reduced it to $500 recently. I'm going on Monday to look at it. Thoughts or advice?

I suspect the bumper has been replaced, as there is a bolt missing from the driver's side. I found this out by leaning on the bumper one day, to have it quickly drop a few inches.

Sweet, thanx. I'll have to get in there and check it out soon.

So there should be a different bumper on this car then? Apparently, nobody can see when I have my turn signal on in the front, so having the parking lights as turn signals might be easy, but it's not very effective.

1985 BRAT: Not entirely sure where the water is getting in, but it comes into the cab at the panel joint between the A-pillar and above the door trim pieces. My only guess so far, is in the gutter channel on the roof. Any thoughts or experience with this?

The turn signals appear to be on the sides of the headlights, but this doesn't seem right for the car. Not only are they hardly visible, but I have no front running lights. So how is this supposed to be setup? Should there be some other bumper on here? Shamelessly stealing this pic from TheYeti thread where he sold it, since it's the same vehicle:

I'm guessing the answer is yes, but I would like to confirm... is an '85 BRAT supposed to have a coolant overflow tank in it somewhere? Currently, there isn't one that I can find, and the nipple on the radiator has nothing connected to it. I don't know if it is somehow related, but the temp gauge seems to vary quite a bit, depending on ambient conditions. I've seen it go quite high(when stopped), so just below half(driving while colder out) during the day. It stays fairly steady while driving though. Where on the gauge is 'normal' for these engines?

Ok, I found one answer about the odometer back there. But that leads me to another question... should the hidden odometer match the primary? The visible one shows 148k, the hidden one shows 2xxk miles. And the other question seems to be answered in this thread. VSS for cruise control that the car doesn't have?

Awesome, thanx. I'll look into that.

The other week, I went to drive this Brat, and promptly had to turn back home. The right rear axle shaft was rubbing against the gas tank. I couldn't figure out how it got that close, but it was. So I went home, parked it, and let it sit for about a week. Went to drive it the other day, all was fine. Got under it, couldn't find any kind of problem. My best guess was that the tank expanded. Turns out I was right. Went to drive it today, and it was rubbing again. So I had the bright idea of opening the tank to let any pressure out... and promptly got a shower of gasoline on me. But it did fix the axle rub issue. The question now is, where is it not properly venting? Obviously, this can't be normal for it.

Can't be a bad alt, I push started the car and it drove home fine. edit: Ok, so I found the problem. The battery/starter cable managed to droop far enough to hit the axle, which in turn burned all the way through the cable, causing a direct short.

On the way to work today(driving this '85 Brat), about 10 minutes into the drive, the car started to miss, clock flickered rapidly, radio got real quiet, for about 10 seconds. Then it cleared up, no problems. Went to leave work 8 hours later, and it wouldn't start. Battery was drained, volt gauge reading about 10-11 volts. Push started it, and it drove home ok. Any idea what that was all about? edit: I went to try and start it about 2.5 hours after getting home from work, and it was dead again. Enough power to click the relay, and that was it. So it's either a serious short, or a bad battery. Guess I'll take the battery out and test it first.

True, though all states I can encountered thus far only require front seat passengers to be belted, unless they are under 16.

As for the legallity of passengars in the bed of a brat, it is the same as in the bed of a pickup. Many states do NOT address the issue. IL and CO have NO stimpulations to say that you cannot ride back there. I have had an IL cop tell me over the phone it is illegal, but the truth is IL doesn't prohibit it(unless they are a child, then it falls under the children being restrainted law). AFAIK, most states don't address the issue at all. So that would be the first issue to address with your appropriate state. The second would be the alcohol, and exactly how the wording is on alcohol and vehicles. I believe most states don't consider empty beer cans in the bed of a pickup as open containers, but I'm not positive. Hell, until recently, in Texas you could be the shotgun pass and be drinking(at least, that's what I've been told).

Yes, it IS the EXACT same one. Same dent in rear quarter:

I do believe you are correct. I bought it in Arvada from a lady who was going to restore it. And there is some rust that's been seen to on the rear shock towers.

Well I'm quite familar with the Legacy, as I've been working on them since 2001. Just haven't ventured to the old school stuff before. Hasn't stalled, though I did feel it miss a couple times just now on the way home from a friends house. It's raining out, so tomorrow when it's nice I'm going to check the distributor and whatnot. The miss was quite evident too, and only seemed to happen(could be coincidence) when I was engine braking.

Ah, 4WD thing I did not know, though I assumed it might be that way since it has a 4lo, unlike my Legacy which is obviously AWD.

Oh... then the shift knob has been replaced at some point. Like I said, new to the 80s Subarus.

For $750. Not too bad of shape, came with some extra parts, and a topper. Supposedly it dies after about 30 minutes of driving, but starts back up right away. Haven't had that happen yet to me though. And I couldn't find 5th gear. Was a 4speed an option on this thing, and maybe the trans was swapped? Shifter is quite loose, but I would think I could at least find the gear! Can't say I have tried sitting still with the engine off yet though. Anything else I should look out for on this thing? Haven't dealt with 80s Subarus yet.

How does theh wheel bearing come into play in this? You are attaching the wheel to the hub, all of which is outside the bearing. And torque sticks are fairly accurate. If you feel the need to worry about such things, be my guest. But I have seen no evidence of such things happening, and I've tightened with torque sticks, and just with the gun. I also drive pretty hard. I have never had warped discs. But I also let up on the brakes when I come to a stop, and don't let hotspots happen.

What do you fear will happen if they do not use a torque wrench?

First off, tire rotation is completely dependent on the tires you have on your car. I run Firestone Firehawks, which are directional. That means I can only rotate front to back, unless, of course, I want to dismount and remount the tires on the opposite side. BUT, some tires are directional, and SIDE SPECIFIC. So then there is only the one option, front to back, never swapping sides. And on certain cars, you just can't rotate. Different size front to back, with directional or side specific tire. Most tires are just standard tread, and can handle being rotated anywhere on the car. If it doesn't say anything on the sidewall about direction or side, you are good to put it anywhere you want. Secondly, almost no shop will use a torque wrench on your wheels. Normally though, they are supposed to use torque sticks on the impact gun. These are set rates, and the stick used on a Subaru is 80ft/lbs. If you are unfamiliar with these, the stick is about 8 inches long, and at the set rate, it flexes causing the gun to 'bounce' and stopping the tightening. Also, no shop should be doing an on rim tire plug. I believe it is standard practice at all tire shops to dismount the tire and plug from the inside. And last.. dang it's been a long time since I've been over here..