that one kid

makes me feel like i should have waited a couple months longer for a brat but...... oh well i got my own and its awesome hope this one goes to a good home though

um I'm not really good with the mechanics and finding problems but i had a similar problem with my brat when i bought it. It would idle kinda weak and when i would press on the gas the revs would drop to zero and usually die unless i gave it a ridiculously high amount of gas and revved it to about 5 or 6000 rpm. When i actually got the thing on the road and moving it would jult and shake as if it wasn't getting enough fuel or maybe air...(engine seemed starved) anyway i took it to a shop and found out that all the carb seals had been pretty much dissolved by the low grade fuel the previous owner had put in it. the carb has been rebuilt and i now run it only on high grade or premium fuel and runs amazingly...... just my tiny bit of knowledge hope it helps

my thoughts exactly I think there was somebody on here asking about buying a brat around portland area, even though this is technically more of the seattle area but i couldn't find the feed. I wonder if the original dash works or he's just keeping it there for looks... either way beautiful brat makes me want to do a 22 swap even more now (smiley face)

so um found this on craigslist and it made me drool. I'm not in the market to buy another car so i felt that i should share this with the community who's most likely to treat this thing right (usmb) in the hope that it doesn't go to an angry redneck or something..... no offense to anyone fitting this description just saying i don't want to see this beaut trashed........... oh and if this vehicle is being sold by anybody on this site id like to ask a couple questions about it, for personal reference. pictures taken directly from craigslist enjoy http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/4338498484.html

i usually keep the switch off while driving since I'm not really sure what it does yet, it could be be for headlights now that i think about it since i haven't actually looked at the front to see if it does anything when parked. and thanks "turbosubarubrat" that would be awesome haven't been able to do much with the poor brat this snow is a huge bummer. I just moved out of a ski resort in california to escape the terrible winters and now my old home has no virtually no snow and hood river is buried.

Sorry i haven't responded I've been really busy recently thanks for all the posts. Im pretty sure its something like what "capn_r" suggested as it has a fluid, maybe electric sound when its flipped. i Don't have any fog lights or after markets on the car... I don't think its the flux capacitor as that was removed by the previous owner along with the ejector seat (for some reason the T top wasn't big enough to eject through). Ill keep you guys informed when i have time to trace the wire.

Okay so in fairness its probably not a great mystery but i can't figure out what it is so. I own a second gen 1986 brat and it has a green switch to the right of the steering wheel on the dash and i have no idea what it does.

yeah that'd probably be a better investment haha

I'll ask around i've just currently moved here so i don't really have friends that could weld it but there are a variety of garages and mechanics around that might be able to help me out. I'm also trying to get in touch with a local subaru mechanic who seems to be the guy to go to for any work and parts for having quite a few older gens on his property. Thanks again for the suggestions.

thanks for the info i'll probably leave it off in that case since its already passed emissons fine without one and just see what i can do about the muffler and reattach the exhaust pipe.

more to come

Interesting and would they exhaust pipe and muffler need to be cleaned out at all. I believe the mechanic also said that there where two catalytics on the brat for some reason which confused me as i've never heard of such a thing. Would having the first bypassed cause the second one to clog up or fail if there is such a thing? I hope the picture worked, i have a feeling that it won't be viewable by a mack as its an attached file and not a picture. However the picture attached is also my profile picture so you can view it that way i'll be posting more directly off my computer when i figure it out the pictures are currently to big to attach so anyways, thanks for the info

Why would it be better to leave the cat off? the car has already passed emissions. Will leaving the catalytic bypassed effect how the engine should be tuned or back pressure? I will also be fixing various oddities around the car including one of the current latches for the shell door has been "fixed" with a wood block to hold it shut and minor rust under the battery and the front right cv boot is torn (but the cv is still working) and so on. But overall the car is extremely clean almost no rust anywhere interior is still pretty good apart from rip in the seat, exterior is perfect no bumps dings or scratches, bumpers look a little discolored. Im looking forward to working on it and accumulating some of the vast knowledge that this message board has. Oh and the ignition barrel is super annoying and fiddly but thats no primary concern....unless the key breaks but i don't think it will. thanks for the suggestion for rockauto ill be posting pictures soon still trying to figure out how to do it on a mack. thanks again

So just got my first car. Its a beautiful 1986 subaru brat bought off a guy that kept it in the garage and had been using it daily for three years. 175,000 miles on the clock. Car runs strong and I just had the original carb rebuilt. A mechanic at my local garage (expertec in Hood River,Or) Also told me that the exhaust system would need to be worked on due to the first owner bypassing the catalytic converter and the muffler starting to go out, it would also need to be tuned to the new exhaust. The exhaust pipe is currently disconnected before the cat and the mechanic told me that it would be 500-800 dollars to be repaired at a muffler specialist. I know this is only supposed to be an introduction but how critical is it that the engine be tuned? How hard would this be to do myself? and is 500-800 a reasonable quote for such work? thanks planning on keeping this brat for a while and there will be many more annoying questions in future. I'll try and attach pics