musubk

My PO had done their own wiring and fudged things up quite a bit - when the low beams were on, both high and low lit up, but very weak and dim. When the high beams were on, ALL the wires at the bulbs were getting 12 volts, so nothing was lighting up at all. I think they must have had a light issue at some point, not realized it was supposed to be a common positive system with switched ground, and tried to 'fix' it under the assumption it was common ground with switched positive. Anyway, I ended up just taking the power wire directly out of the 'headlight' fuse in the dash fuse box, feeling around the contacts on the steering column headlight switch with a multimeter until I knew which contacts had continuity in every switch position, then wiring the whole thing from scratch as a 'normal' common ground system, using underhood relays for power to the lights. I ended up spending less time doing that than I wasted trying to figure out the POs wiring (and I never did figure out exactly what they did). From the driver's point-of-view it still looks and works like factory, using the rotary switch thingy and pushing the flasher stalk forward for high beams. So if you're wasting a lot of time trying to figure out how to fix what's already in there, you may be better off starting from scratch. Just wait until someone down the road tries to figure out MY wiring job

Well for anyone who finds this thread in the future because they have the same setup and their clutch isn't engaging, looking at the clutch alignment tools I got with the EA81 kit and the XT6 kit, it's obvious that the XT6 input shaft is larger than the EA81 input shaft, so using the XT6 clutch disc means it's not mating to the EA81 shaft, and that's the source of my clutch non-engagement problems. I'll update again once I get the right clutch disc in it.

No one? My clutch doesn't seem to engage with it put together the way it is... 4 speed DR and EJ22, in between the two I've got the EA81 flywheel, XT6 clutch and pressure plate, and 720 TO bearing.

Hi all. I'm in what I hope are the final stages of my EJ22 swap in my 1986 BRAT. For now I'm going to be running the original 4 speed MT, and based on advice I've read here, I used an XT6 clutch disc and pressure plate mated to my EA81 flywheel redrilled for the EJ pattern. I got all that bolted up today and was ready to drop the engine in for the first time, but stumbled when I went to pop the new throwout bearing in place. Based on what I read here, I ordered a throwout bearing for a Nissan 720 pickup, and I can see the original EA81 TO bearing isn't large enough to properly work the XT6 pressure plate. What confused me is that the Nissan TO bearing doesn't fit snug around the transmission input shaft, its inner diameter is a bit larger than the EA81 TO bearing. Is this they way it's supposed to fit? I'm thinking that may be okay because the bearing would basically be self-centering once it's against the pressure plate but I just wanted to make sure this is how it's supposed to fit.

Confirm that the strut top bolt is torqued to spec, not just 'feels tight'. With the spring pressure pushing up against the top mount it feels tight to your hand but can still be loose enough for play, which makes it clunk loudly on every small bump. I've made this mistake before, you can't trust your 'feel' for when it's tight.

Ahh, that sounds like it could be the issue. Reading about the hill holder, it seems it's sensitive to the angle of the car? I recently installed a lift, front end only.

Here is a problem I've been having after spending some time in 4WD Lo, climbing a hill for a while. There is a whining noise from the transmission or transfer case, and it progressively gets louder. Eventually the front left wheel will stop turning due to the caliper sticking, and when I check it, it's REALLY hot. After cooling down for a while it unseizes and can drive again. In 4WD Hi the whining noise is much quieter and I haven't had it get to the point where the wheel seizes. In 2WD there is no whining noise at all. Today I had the wheel seize twice in a mile while climbing a steep trail, and I eventually just pulled the caliper off the rotor so I could drive the ~3 miles back to the trailhead with no brakes. I then reinstalled the caliper and it was fine for the ~30 mile drive home (in 2WD, with no steep hill climbing.) Any ideas what the problem could be?

Update: I replaced the front fuel filter, reseated a few vacuum lines, and sprayed carb cleaner all over the inside of the carb, and it's behaving much better now. Still does it for 30 seconds or so after startup but drives fine after that. Thanks for all the suggestions.

The carb is a cruddy old thing of some kind. I bought the car a few months ago and as far as I know the engine is stock, I don't actually know what to look for to identify the carb. It has a single 'hole' opening to the airbox, so 1 barrel? Do I have that terminology correct? I've never owned a carbureted car before, is there a walkthrough on how to adjust it? Distributor cap was replaced along with the fuel filter soon after I bought it. Rear fuel filter? I didn't know there was more than one... I replaced the one under the car, just behind the drivers seat. New plugs and wires too, but old coil. New gaskets and vacuum lines everywhere, but it's possible I have one in the wrong place or just not making a good connection.

I'm having a problem I can't figure out with my EA81 BRAT. If I stomp the go pedal, it seems to 'miss' for about a second, causing an almost complete loss of power and rapid drop in RPM, then it 'catches' and revs fine. If I'm less aggressive with the throttle it revs without complaint, only when I suddenly give it a larger amount of throttle does it hesitate. It does it from all RPM, e.g. if I slowly rev it up to ~4000 then stomp it, it still hesitates, but at higher RPM it doesn't hesitate for quite as long as it does at low RPM. It feels like, at a guess, it takes a moment for the fuel supply to catch up with the throttle. I recently replaced the fuel filter, but could the fuel pump cause this?

I've wanted a BRAT for years, it has a style IMO unmatched by anything sold since. It's ugly as sin, in a really good way. Now that I finally have a BRAT, it's a matter of where I want to go with it. With all due respect to you guys building serious offroaders (I think your cars are AWESOME!), it's just not what I'm going for. What I want is a fun to drive softroad/rally inspired car that handles well, with that unmatchable BRAT style; and I think the best way for me to get that is EJ because of the aftermarket support. My DD is a 2014 Outback, so economy and high mileage reliability in the BRAT aren't a big concern for me. There's also the fact that my first Subaru was EJ251 so I have a bit of a soft spot for EJ's. But I've got nothing but admiration for the people running around with EA's. Resale value? Who cares, I'm keeping it forever

How bad is the crack in yours? If it's not bad I'd take it off your hands.

Hmm. Well it's some sort of ridged, flexible tube and it's got a ton of crud on the outside stuck in the ridges, which makes it hard to tell what it's made of. I thought generic flexible plastic hose when I saw it but you're right in that wouldn't last on the exhaust manifold. I guess I'll try to clean it off and leave it in place. Thanks!

I bought an 86 BRAT and pulled the engine to give it a good once over, and found something weird. There is a valve on the bottom of the metal intake box, just upstream of the filter, with a couple of hoses going to it. Someone in the past has attached a piece of black plastic dryer vent hose to this port, ran the hose down to the exhaust manifold, and attached that end to a fitting welded to the exhaust manifold. It doesn't actually open into the exhaust stream, it looks like it's designed to just pull air against the hot manifold then feed it into the intake. So what's going on here? I'm not sure if this is someone's jury-rigged fix of some part that's supposed to be there or if it's some crazy thing someone invented that I can just remove. I guess my question is, where is that valve on the bottom of the intake supposed to draw air from? Down near the exhaust manifold or somewhere else?

Hi, new member and new '86 BRAT owner here. The car is pretty beat up and I've been going through cleaning and replacing things with mostly no trouble so far, but I've got a problem. Both of the taillight lenses are busted up and I can't find anywhere to get new ones. Is there anywhere to order or is it just junkyards or someone with BRAT they're parting out? I'm in interior Alaska and the scrapyard pickings are pretty slim...