Subaruist

Once again, you burst my bubble, and kill my dreams, and what's worse is that I know you're right - you're always right. - I hate it when you're right... I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! lol... But good, solid advice just the same.... ( dammit)

73 views so far and only one reply ?!? C'mon guys, I'm really fishing for some ideas here, lol...

Although it would be a practical solution to my problem, it would complicate for a diamondplate aluminum deckcovering the bed. - I COULD do it,,,I am just really hesitant. About the video - How the hell did he manage toflip it on it's side?!? It is a minor black eye to Subaru Brats everywhere in my opinion. I have heard many tales of rolling one over, but in all the manuvers I have done it never happened to me, and I did some things I really shouldn't have, lol. I think it would be easy to accomodate the back pressure issue itself in more than one way, I'm not worried about that. I was more concerned about {A} Fitting it into such a short space, and {B} if having the exahst so short, with the muffler essentially coming right off a short 90 degree piece off the head might cause some problem - other than seriously affecting the clearance of course, which is my main bubble-popper so far. I must admit I have not actually measured things yet, out of fear that it would not work.

Just guessing, but the owner of a localTaxi company is rumored to have more than one,it might be him. I have also heard of rare sightings of a bright safety orange Brat, but have not seen it myself as of yet. At a mechanics shop on Jackson St. there was a sky blue Brat being worked on for quite some time that was owned for many years by a local plumber or owner of a plumbing business. It was beautiful, and was my inspiration to eventually paint mine in hues of blue.

I.... I can't help but notice that in the first pic your Subaru Brat is off in the distance, not being the center of attention, and possibly feeling neglected, as you are giving its brother there all the attention, lol...

I love the fact that you used a "children playing" sign!,(although I wonder if you could get into trouble for it) It would be great to have regular Mudflaps made with horizontal text about children at play, lol...

Ummm.... There seems to be a lack of space for the heads of anyone sitting in those rear seats, lol... Maybe small children couldclear that rollbar, but it woud have to have some padding. Are you keeping the seats for reasons other than people riding in them? I'm sure it adds to the vehicle value, looks cool, etc.

Maybe its rightinfrontof me somewhere (my blind spot, lol) But I cannotfind any such item/function as "Member Title". I have looked for this before. My whole profile, andI can find to change just about anythingand everything but that. This is why I made the request you responded to. Is there any reason I might not yet have that ability or something ? I confused...

Not a bad idea about bringing them up out of the bed - like a big-rig kinda deal I guess.- was your problem the old "back pressure" thing, due to it being two 2" pipes? Because maybe I could narrow the passage somehow at some point or at the end of the exhaust to compensate? I don;t understand what you meant by "made the exhaust go out right in front of the driver wheel" - ?

I had similar issue with pics, Photo bucket is free and worked for me. - and yes, this is indeed a good, rare forum. I normally hate and will not have anything to do with forums, as too many are just lairs for trolls and dog-piling, but here, people are helpful and often know what the hell they are talking about. Here's to USMB !!! - Can I get a new title over my icon/avatar/pic someone please?!? - Pretty please with whipped cream, a cherry and powdered sugar on top ?!?

I had all but given up on having dual exhaust,both because I did not want to pay for custom bent pipe, because the undeside was constructed for single exhaust and wasvery biased in that way, because I recall it being said that the design required a 2-into-1 'Y' and backpressure for some reason, and because there have been other things appearing higher on the priority list. I just had an insane idea, and I just have to ask about it... For a moment completely dismissing any "legal" considerations, what if I mounted my tiny little glass-pack mufflers right up as close tothe engine as practical, and if possible, just put a couple of 90 degree pipes or tipsto bring the exhast out right - I mean RIGHT behind the front wheels, but just ahead of the doors ?!? I know that there would be fumes for the driverand passenger, but honestly,with my exhaust leak frombroken pipe inside the heat shield, that is happening right now anyway, and instead of coming out inder the car,it would be getting out the sides, out and away from the vehicle,and making it sound better at least, lol... How important/necessary is this damnable back-pressure issue anyway? Assuming I get away with not gettting a ticket somehow about it, what's the worst that could happen as far as engine performance is concerned? Even though it would mean the scent of exhaust (which I have now anyway), I would doubt that it would actually choke me out or anything. What is driving me about this is how easy, simple, inexpensive and quick it would be to make happen! It ight even look cool - unless I made it less conspicuous by not ading chrome tips, etc. Since this vehicle issmog exemptand "so old" isn;t it somehow "grandfathered" in some way about such things? Maybe a cop would not bother giving me a ticket, maybe, if they are under 30 years old, they would not know any better anyway? C'mon, tell me it will work dammit! - Don't lie, just change the gravitational constant of the universe for me here, lol...

Wow,I dared not think of that ! I presumed that those would all be vacuum lines! - I may well have to take the manifold off, which I really don;t want to do,but that narrows it down quite a bit! The oly thing I wonder is that if I remember, it looked likeit was not coming from those, but coming directlyoff the bottom-middle/center of the manifold, but I willlook at it with new eyes now! Thanks!

Hey there - When I meet someone with a subaru (Brat) I actively try to get them to join USMB Today I met a lady with a Yellow Subaru Brat, 2nd Gen but no T-TOP who could use our help guys. So please keep an eye out for her as a new member, as she needs help with a couple things. Forgive me, but I cannot remember her name, as I am terrible with names, lol. Not too many Yellow Subaru Brats in the Medford, Oregon area though, lol. Thanks.

I have fixed two coolant leaks so far... The gasket for the Thermostat, and then saw that some was getting through one of the bolts/holes for the thermostat cover/husing (may have been same thing) But now there is a tiny leak that appears to be dripping down off the bottom of the intake manifold about 4-5 inches from the thermostat towards the carb. It does not appear to be coming from elsewhere before dripping off the bottom of the intake manifold, and does not appear to have anything todo with either of the heater hoses. It almost looks like it might be comming from an attachment that has 2-4 metal vacuum lines, but I doubt it could be coming from the vacuum lines because the engine is runnign pretty well. There is no water mixing with the oil. A wild guess would be if there could somehow be a tiny crack or hole in the bottom of the intake manifold, but that doesn;t make much sense either. If I'm lucky, it might just be that the repair of replacing the thermostat cover/housing didn't take and has a leak coming off the bottom and trailing under the intake manifold, but I was pretty thorough and have a feeling that it is not that. Anyone have any ideas or especially any knowldge or experience with same or similar problem ??? Thanks in advance.

Hello. You who know Brats, especially the 2nd gen ones know how the top-side of the bed walls slope slightly from the cab to the tailgate. I want to hi-jack the rear so that the top-side of the bed walls become a (mostly) level line. I know the most obvious method, but people here have over and over again proven to have the best ideas, and I want to know what my options are to see the best alternative. This is going to primarily be a street vehicle. - Just in case, air shocks are out of the question, lol. So far, the only real draw-back is tomy plan to cover the bed with a deck of diamondplate aluminum. - Lifting/tilting it like this will obviously cause water, snow, etc to run towards the cab, and if it gets under the deck, will gather either against the cab, or against whatever divider I may put down under the deck. I plan on putting things together with close enough tolerances, tight enough fit, and sealing it up to hopefully prevent this, and to also put some drain holes in the right places in case water does get in anyway. I Photoshopped an image to show what I want the finished tilt to be: http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/abacene/media/BratHi_Jack1B_zps8ae98cd0.jpg.html I would appreciate any/all options for hi-jacking the rear end with as little affect to the suspension and handling possible. Thank you very much in advance.

You mean the mechanic LOST the plug or won't return it?!? I rarely ever trust any mechanic if I can do somethng myself or can get a machinist to do something. Machinists tend to be more competent, professional and trustworthy. I never let anyone use pneumatic tools of any kind on my vehicles due to what mechanics have done. Example: one Brat I had the oil drain plug tightened so badly that I had to put vice grips on it - so tight that I had to use a big hose clamp to force the handle/jaws shut, and used a bottle jack placed under the handle of the vice grips to jack up the whole front half of the Brat, so the front half of the Brat was sitting on the vice grips handle and bottlejack, and had to then jump up and down on the front bumper/crash bar to get the drain plug to break loose! On another occasion, I was off-roading, needed to change a tire, and could not get the lug nuts loose no matter what I did, so I had to do a similar trick, putting the jack under a heavy breaker bar on each jug nut, jacking up the whole side of the vehicle on it to break each one loose. So like I said, I no longer permit any mechanic or wheel place, etc to use pnumatic tools on my vehicles, and generally won't trust them to work on my vehicles at all if I can avoid it

Cool lights. I have a slightly harder road to go, as I am going for straight street looks - fairly uncommon among Subaru Brat fans, who I am told mostly go for the off-road improvements and look, or are fairly frugal people who appreciate the gas mileage and reliability. Not too many custom paint jobs out there when I did a google image search. I will not be installing a roll bar, as that leans more to off-roading side of things, and once I paint mine, I wil not be in a hurry to push through brush and getting it all muddy. I really wanted to put a police-style flashing light bar with blue lights on mine, ( its gonna be a blue(s) theme ) but when I checked, they are not leagal for street use even on special occasion unless its some kind of car show or something, (snif)

Ok... I said I would post pics... but there will be faded spots for some reason due to some defectin the camera... [url=http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/abacene/media/SAM_2174_zps9803d6f7.jpg.html] It may be personal subjective opinion, but I think Brats look so much better without a shell. They're SEXIER !!! AH!!! ACK!!! I was in such a hurry I didn't even notice the last pic is sideways!!! - aside from them both being bad pictures!!! I apologise,and will try to do better!!! lol

Well, last night I finally sold the shell/canopy! Yea! I was only asking $40 at thispoint, but The guy (a member on here) gave me $60! Who ever does that, eh?!? Just driving it across the parkinglot I could already feel a definite difference in the handling. I so happy! I can finally get in all around the bed to start cleaning it up and taking steps toward some of the improvements I want to make. I have to get rid of some of the stuff I was accumulating in the back, lol. In other news, I have had an offer for some temp work that will likely evolve into political fundraising if I know the place. Have to puta priority on getting my behemouth Van registered first thing, then comes the Brat and all that needs to be done and that I want to do! I have received 4 incidents of people raving about my Brat in the last week or so. Constant reenforcement that I madea good and fatefull decision to get it! I've owned over 20 different vehicles in my life, not including Subarus - Ford, Dodge, Chevy; Cars, Pickups, Vans, and nothing ever got the raves I get for this Brat. I will be posting pics....

Had to fix a coolant leak, it was the gasket in the Thermosat housing/cover- I hope.It might have been coming through te bolt holes. If so,that will not be a hard fix either. While I was doing this in a parking lot, yet once again, someone came by and asked if I wanted to sell it, and as I always do, I grinned and said "Never!" lol

Everything has been conspiring against my projects and needed repairs, all stacking up, and a serious lack of work and money causing me to live right on the very edge. Even the very ownership vs. having to potentially sell my Subaru Brat, has been keeping me up at night. My practical life has been very much in the balance, not a single day of work in about a month! Seriously, I have little respect for some of those people who stand at the corner with a cardboard sign wanting money, (one wanted an air conditioner) and in my worst times I would not do same, not for pride but just because I use my wits instead, but if it came right down to it, I would do it, -but ONLY to save my Brat! I will go without, without EATING if I have to! I MUST save and preserve my Brat at all costs! Today was a good day, earned some money, enough to keep gas in my tank anyway, and someone FINALLY answered my ad in Craigslist for the shell/canopy I have been trying to get rid of - waiting on their email reply now. - Although its only for a lousy $40.00, but its better than having to throw it away. If I can get some steady work, I can get caught up on rapairs, and start making my Brat twice as way-cool as it already is! lol. The other day, I had that aweful feeling in my stomach, that feeling when you suddenly realize you are in a lot of trouble, or left your wallet or laptop somehwere where it would certainly disappear, and feeling it because I was having to seriously think about the possibility of having to sell my precious Brat, a couple of guys in a car in the next lane were getting my attention, smiling, giving me very enthusiastic 'thumbs-up's, and when we were stopped at the light, they said "Awsome ride dude! - Awesome ride!" - It did me real good. A whole 'nother feeling came over me, and a smile came to my face, and the feeling of "NEVER!" - Never!!! God gave me this Brat, and the world shall not take it away!!!

Cool looking sound system! Love it! I'm planning/hoping to do similar with my Samsung Q1U UMPC (Tablet computer) for the MP3 player - IF and when I can get back to working on it.

To actually address your original post, in the old days I had to deal with the exhaust coming out of the bottomof the engine on my 1st Gen. Brats. Gaskets were also a problem for me. I had no money to speak of so I had to improvisse. One temporary stop-gap (lol) measure was that I rolled aluminum foil around an empty toilet paper roll, then wound some wire, thinner than bailing wire around it, only a very few turns down the length of it, then more aluminum foil. I then scrunched it all down so that instead of making a tube, it was a little closer to a donut shape. This would seat well into the recess in the engine side and over the little nub of and end of the exhaust pipe, and when I assembled and tightened it, it would crush into place and into shape. This was only temporary. I assume by now you have solved your problem, and the previous idea would probably not work for you, but thought I would throw it out there in case it gave you some idea. Closer to what you are actually dealing with - I am not sure what they are calling the stuff these days, but way back when, when they had recently banned asbestos for anything, they came out with what they called "Asbestos free gasket material", I think it was meant for head gaskets. It was similar to really hard, dense cardboard as far as working with it was concerned. You should be able to make your own gaskets out of it. Ifi t is not thick enough, I might suggest using more than one layer, glued together with High-Temp silicone gasket sealer. This way, you could have one layer the shape of your flange, one or more layers to fit into any recesses, and again a layer the shape of the other fitting/flange, thus having something extremely custom and tailored exactly to your interfaces/flanges/etc. Just something to improvise,in case you are still having the difficulty.

I've got one for you... How about Handicapped bathroom wall bar exhaust adapter?!? I was at a thrift store,looking at some stainless rails/bars used in bathrooms for the handicapped. These were the kind with the wall mounting flange fitted/soldered/welded on the end for direct bolting to the wall, and seeing if I could use them for something else, when I noticed how close they seem to come to something one could mount to the bottom of the engine block with a couple of holes drilled and maybe some kind of improvised gasket ! If I could afford to somehow do the whole dual exhaust system I want for my own Brat, I would love to do it all in stainless steel tubing! lol. - and yet I wonder.... Hmmmm....