TomRhere

Other than a PS top view pic of one with power steering, I don't recall seeing a pic of the setup on an EA-81. That's some bracketry there for it. Clean looking engine....

Cool. Glad it was something easy and not a wiring issue. The BRAT had just done that the night before. Thought what the hey, and posted it. Thinking I need to get some lock-ease and spray it in the tumblers on mine. Just started doing it this winter, guess it don't like the cold.....

Have you tried turning the key a bit more in either direction? The '85 BRAT will start and run, but most of the "key on" functions don't work sometimes. Move the key a bit and all is good. Your "oops" may have arc-burned part of the contact points away for that particular switch circuit.

Do a search on what S'ko did on his BRAT. Pretty sure he had EA-82 crossmember under the front for PS, also had the 5-lug swap on it. And just doing the 4-lug rear disc conversion will greatly improve the stopping power over the drum brakes. A plus for running bigger tires.

'85 S-10 4X4 w/2.8L doing oil/filter change. Some gorilla overtightened the drain plug. Ok, get that loose and drain the oil. Go to the filter. You get to that thru the DS fenderwell = FUN. OK, same idiot gorilla overtightened the filter too. 1-1/2 hours later,,,, I manage to get the filter changed out. Dump the fresh oil in and start taking care of tools and whatnots. Sure enough, as I slide the sheet of cardboard out from under the truck, there lays the wrench with the drainplug sitting in the boxend of it. D'OH!! 5 quarts of fresh oil added to what was drained into the drainpan. Another one; While scrapping out the '88XT6 I had, I cut it in half from door to door. Thought I had my head out of the way when doing the final cut. NOT. Trip to the ER got me 5 staples in the top of my head.

2nd the Blue Loc-Tite usage. Finding bolts/nuts ready for safety wire would be a pain. Drilling what you have for safety wire would be even more of a pain. Was an aircraft mech in the Marines. Used miles of that stuff. Not something I really want to get back into using.

Shaking steering wheel & pulsing brake pedal would indicate a bad rotor, more than likely warped, also possibly a cracked one at that. The crack would give you the "clicking" sound as it went thru the pads. edit; Also, pull that wheel then the bolt that holds the caliper and swing the caliper up on the slider pin. See if there's any play in that pin itself. Just had to do that on the rear discs on the BRAT. Had some strange noises that I couldn't figure out. Found that slider pin was loose in the mount. Swapped caliper/mount out, we be good.

4-lug and 5-lug rear discs use the same caliper and pads. Can't say about the caliper mount bracket. Obviously, the hubs and rotors are different.

I don't think anything else will swap over due to mounting for the most part. Sedans and Coupes mount with shock-tubes, don't know on the Wagons. BRATs mount with stamped steel runners. Then the top of the bumper is sculpted to clear the tailgate when it's lowered.

I would have a couple friends stand on oposite sides of the street, listening as I drove between them while braking. That would help determine where noise is coming from, front/rear, left/right sides. I listened to the vids, but really couldn't determine the noise. Do hear a sorta clunking sound though, and seems to be a once a rotation thing. Is there any movement of the steering wheel when this happens? Any pulsing in the brake pedal? I would think a bent rim is out of the equation here. It would have to be bent badly to actually rub on anything, (or so I think), and be fairly obvious that it was bent. Also, there would be markings from where it was rubbing on whatever it was rubbing on. And as GD mentioned, check your rear brakes also. I've had some strange noises come from the rears on the BRATs. They just needed adjusting, but the noises they made sounded way bad.

The EA-82 PS rack can be installed into an EA-81 vehicle, but it takes some doing to do so. Engine crossmember has to be reworked to clear the hardlines that are on the PS rack. Inner tie-rod ends need to be shortened and re-threaded. Those are things I know of, there may be more things involved in just fitting the rack. You need to mount a PS pump on the engine, run a drive belt, run the lines/hoses to the rack. I have no idea on swapping one into a 1st Gen vehicle, but would think there would be major fab work involved.

Welcome to the Board!! Just did a quick run thru the pics, but she looks good.

Before you start ripping into the engine again, check the intake gaskets. If they leak internally, coolant can get into the cylinders, mimicking a bad head gasket. An external leak from the intake gaskets will allow coolant to flow down around the head and drip from the underside near the HG area. Just my .02, but it may save you time and money.....

Very possible that the throttleshaft area of the carb base is worn. See if you can detect any free-play in the shaft by wiggling it. If it's worn, you can replace just the base of the carb. If,, you can find one that's not worn. A worn throttle cable can cause sticking. Had to replace the cable on both the '85 and '86 BRATs due to that. Carb icing will cause a stuck throttle also. The Weber on the '86 did that alot last winter until I fashioned a shield around it using some aluminum roof flashing. On your stock setup, make sure the heatriser tube is in place, the flapper door in the intake snorkel of the filter can operates, and the valve for it in the filter can is working.

I have the rear suspension from an '86 BRAT here. PM me and we'll talk about price. You're about 4-1/2 hours from me. As GD said, GAW will be your limit. You will gain some from losing the body of the vehicle, but then lose some of that back from the trailer buildup. Aluminum frame and decking would be my way of building the trailer. Thinking the rear struts off an EA-82 vehicle used in place of the EA-81 rear shocks will gain you some more load capacity. Thinking I would also do the 6-lug conversion to run 15" wheels/tires. Better load ratings for them, plus 13's are getting hard to find.

Yeah, driveway approaches can be fun towing a vehicle. I can't explain it all, but it has to do with the frontend geometry, and the angle of the approach. The body of the vehicle wants to follow the tow vehicle, but the tires want to track in the other direction due to the angle of the driveway approach. Had it happen to me a few times. Some make/model of vehicles will do it more than others. That may have to do with whether it's a front-steer or rear-steer setup. In other words, steering linkage in front of axle center or behind axle center. Really can't say for sure on that. I usually have my copilot get in the towed vehicle and steer it into/out of driveways. I have found that the wider you can swing out to turn into the driveway, the less it has a tendency to do it, but it's not always possible, nor a fix-all for it.

Done it. Drove the "old" '86 BRAT about 200 yards from out back to the front of the garage. It was LOUD, and gutless as hell. You won't hurt anything just running it for a few minutes without the Y-pipe. Well,,,, maybe your ears....

'88 XT6 it was in the PS fender cavity, above the washer fluid tank. It's Black, about 1/2" in diameter, and about 2-1/2" long. Has 2 Light Blue wires coming out of it. Not real sure if you could get to it by just removing the plastic inner shield, may have to remove fender. Been almost 2 years since I parted the XT6, memory is foggy at best on that.

It's not a "permanant" fix, but it will get you by. Heat and vibration will determine how long it lasts. But it works. Easily replaced when needed. Around here, trying to find a decent replacement in better shape than what's under the vehicle is basically futile. One does what one has to do.

I've fashioned a few heatshields out of aluminum roof flashing. Small roll of it is fairly cheap, and it's easy to work with. Comes in assorted widths. Gloves are sorta needed, but some tinsnips and a couple wormscrew type hose clamps and you're in business. Cut it longer than you think you need, then cut some slits in it, bend those to make your stand-offs, attach to pipe(s) with the clamps.

It can be mounted anywhere the cable will reach to. That is the only limiting factor. New brake lines can be ran to it's location, and you'll have to re-do the lines anyways to install it on your 1st Gen. Stock plumbed to the LF-RR brakes, but you can re-route as you wish. It's basically a check-valve, works off of the angle of the vehicle and is adjustable as to what angle it functions at. Just add shim under front or rear mounting point to change angle. Can't say off the top of my head what the "stock" angle is but in stock form it's mounted directly to the frame rail. It is a nice feature, but can be a pain if you need to roll backwards a bit on a hill. With you doing the D/R-5speed swap, the cable for it will fit right where it should on the clutchfork of the trans. May have to custom mount the bracket that holds it at the clutch end doing the EJ swap, can't say one way or the other on that myself.

Yeah, on the wrecked one. Pull the headlight assemblies from the radiator support, then cut down thru those over to the radiator area. Should give you plenty of room to pull everything on a basically flat pull to the front. You'll be able to see what needs to be removed just looking at it from the front. 2WD drive definetly makes it easier.

No free-play allowed, period.

Just changed disty in the '85 BRAT. Been acting up last few days, at idle speeds, tach will read upto 4G's. Can feel roughness of the engine thru the shifter. It's only -10 to -15 outside right now, depending on wind speed. Hands are way cold.... Can't wrench on things with gloves on, just can't. Wife won't let me warm them up either.

Yes it is. Drain the tranny 1st or you'll dump the fluid from it all over the ground. If you're talking of the engine/trans from your wrecked one, just cut the radiator support out of the way and you won't have to tip the assembly backwards as far.