tacotim

WE HAVE HEAT!! Just updating on the progress, I managed to get the valve turned with some gentle plyer action. Flushed it out, refilled, and voila! Heat! in the process though, I've discovered another problem, there is a problem in the mechanics of the switch that redirects the air flow to the windshield defrost, can't get it to open that door. So i'm currently investigating. Will keep you posted with progress. Thanks again for everyones suggestions and encouragement, I've never been a car fix it guy, and this board has been a great resource. -tim

Rex, I think your diagnosis is correct . I pulled off the plastic cover and had a look, pics below detail what I found. Problem seems to be the cable housing is busted so the valve doesn't move. But trying to move the valve by hand wasn't working, Do i take a pair of plyers to it or is that too much pressure. I couldn't turn it by hand. Any tips appreciated. -tim

Hmm, when you get a "cooling system flush" at the mechanics, does the heater core get flushed too, or just the radiator? I'll givem a call tomorrow and find out. Many thanks for the helpful hints, i found the post in the USRM about replacing the heater core, Here's hoping it doesn't come to that.-tim

I'm getting no heat in my brat, just outside temperature air. Radiator and hoses all are fine, engine heats up fine, fan blows air into the cabin fine, it's just not warm air. I felt the hoses in and out of the core and detailed the results in the image below. Do I need a new heater core? thanks, tim

here's a funny thing, I was at costco today and while passing some of the home stereo on home theater items on display, I turned a few of them around to have a look on the back and several of them were 4 ohm! All the sony home theater ones were 3 ohm. Didn't see any that were 8. I like the idea of the mini sub woofer under the seat, that may be the answer. -t

Yeah, but mine is an 82, no speakers in the dash! I'm still scheming, keep the tips comming they are helpful, Thanks to all who've piped in here. I'm gonna put sony's in the door like on my last brat, but still lookin for ideas of a spot to put another set of speakers. I like the idea of something mounted to the cieling? Just brainstorming.... -tim

hmm, temperature, hadn't thought of that. From your comments I gather that 4 ohm is s standard for car speakers and 8 ohm standard for in house types? Still open to suggestions, What are you other Brat guys doing for speakers? gracias, tim

Looking for some feedback here on whether i'm crazy here. I'm gonna be installing a stereo into my 82 brat this weekend and as I shop for speakers I realize that everything is too darn big to fit in my brat. So I started thinking, a speaker is a speaker right? so what's stopping me from using some flat panel speakers from a bookshelf cd player like this one. or possibly some sattelite speakers from a home theater system? That way you could mount to the cieling or maybe even the back wall???? I figure i'll have a pair of small car speakers in the doors in addition to something else. In my first brat all I had was two speakers in the door and it sounded pretty bad. Totally open to some suggestions here, as I've never really intalled a stereo in a car before. I should add that I'm not looking for a monster system, just something that looks nice and sounds ok for listening to npr on the road. -Tacotim

This is actually my second 82 brat, but I never bothered to make the 1st one look nice as it was rusted pretty bad when I got it. This new one though is in pretty great shape, only 83K miles!! so I'm gonna try to do what I can to help it look good. This site has been fantastic, particularly the USRM. Many thanks. Questions below. 1. My brat is torreador Red -45. Is there some touch up paint i can get somewhere that is reasonably close to this color? no huge spots, but there are a lot of little nicks and scratches that i'd love to touch up. 2. What kind of paint should I use on the plastic bits of trim? Mostly the vertical peice of plastic right behind the driver and passanger windows. Looking to brush it on, so I don't have to tape up for spray, but if spray is more reccomended, i'll do that. 3. There is very little rust, it's all in the bed. I want to paint a DIY bedliner, reccomendations on brands would be appreciated. 4. AC. no ac in this car, but the "this car is equpped to handle AC" sticker is on the dash. What does that mean exactly, Can I expect to be able to take the compressor and other bits out of my other 82 brat, put'em in this one and get it charged and be done. Is this a major operation or something i could swing as a DIY tinkerer. I'm no mechanic, but i did a lot of the repairs on my other brat. Lots of other plans and questions for this little brat of mine, but I'll leave it at these for now. Huge thanks again for the info on this forum, I hope that I will be able to contribute to the wealth of info here. thanks, tim

turns out it there was a short within the fuel pump, the mechanic showed us. They had it pulled out and hooked up to 12v, and it ran fine, but if you bumped it or shook it, it would stop, bump it again and it would start, so put in a new pump and problem solved (hopefully) I still have to drive it across nevada and half of Utah. Thanks for all the suggestions -TIm

well, the FPCU seems to be doing it's job, when we start we can feel the relay click. The brat has run but died 3 times over the weekend, finally took it to a mechanic this morning and he reckons it needs a new fuel pump. I sure hope he's right, but I have my doubts. We have traced the wires, and near as we can tell, they seem to be in good shape, as well as all the connectors and grounds we could find. I sure appreciate all the suggestions and help, man this board is amazing! very glad I found it. Thanks again, Tim Irwin

yeah, I actually have a service manual, but like a bonehead, I left it in my garage (in Utah) not in my car, and I'm in southern CA. So I've been having my poor wife look things up in the manual, and then faxing pages to us. Bless her heart. But I'll be checking out the FPCU today. Any more tips are very welcome, thanks for the help so far! -Tim

we also determined that it was the blue and red wire that had the problem, not the black wire with orange bands. But am interested to learn more about the fpcu, could that be cutting the voltage to the fuel pump? Thanks, Tim Irwin

Well, we measured the voltage at several places along the wire before the pump and all were reading very low until we "jump started" the fuel pump. what about this fuel control pump thing, how can i tell if that's the problem? Thanks, Tim

I was about to drive across the nevada desert to get back home to utah when my 82' brat petered out just as i left the driveway and wouldn't start back up. After trying a few other things, we took a voltmeter to the fuel pump wire, it read 0.2 volts. Then we ran a wire straight from the battery to the fuel pump and heard it pumping, with the wire still conncted we started the brat, and it ran no prob. Then we took off our wire, and it didn't die, ran it around the block, no problems. Shut it off, let it sit 3 hours, started right back up, so all seems well, but we never really "fixed" anything, so I'm worried about trying to cross the Desert!! any suggestions? My grandpa thought maybe something along the lines of the auto choke trying to shut off the fuel, or some other mechanism doing so?? Thanks, Tim I