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picking up a 81 brat!


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hey been lurkin a bit but i totally scored :headbang: just payed for my 81 brat. cost me a whole $125 dollars. I will post up some pics once its towed to my house :D but i thought i would say hello and meet the peeps. I found the brat in my girlfriends brothers field inside the barn. its gonna take some work to get her road worthy but thats okay given the price lol. He says it ran 6 months ago but now has a blown headgasket. so thats one of the first things for me to do. as far as the body goes its not great but its not bad either. only real damage is to pieces that can be unbolted and straightened or replaced. passenger side fender is pretty knackered, front bumper is dented, passenger side corner lens is smashed, tailgate is pretty rough, and its missing a windshield and a passenger side window. all of which im currently on the hunt for. other then that all the quarters are in good shape, hood, rood, front end ect. and everything is there! no missing stuff. :clap: even has the rear jump seats!

 

anyways i will post pics as soon as i can. I plan on doing a 4" lift with maybe some 28" tires, gonna convert to a 6 lug cause thats cake. Gonna be my little adventure car for hunting, camping, and general shenanigans.

 

If anyone has any tips on how to do said stuff please speak up. I been looking around reading what i can on lifting it and such and mostly finding out of date stuff that used pictures to explain but the pictures are long gone.

 

looking forward to maybe hitting the mud with some of u guys someday!

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oh and im pretty confident in my skills to make ************ happen lol. I been wrenching for as long as i can remember and fabbing ************ for some time. My current project that is getting pushed back to get the brat running, is my air bagged 79 datsun kingcab. if anyone wants to see that lemme know i can post pics. Im kinda a datsun nut lol.

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trust me i want to! cause then that means it will be in my garage and i can start diging into it. but alas. it will most likely be towed over here this weekend. be patient. Im kind of a forum picture whore so there will be plenty once i can! Promise :D

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yeah i hear thats a pretty hard year to find. I guess i just got lucky :) my zip code is 97527 if u wanna check shipping i am totally interested as i really need one. and right now its a no lights lol. i need to figure out why none of the headlights or tail lights work. I have blinkers lol

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super productive day. got the engine pulled, ordered a new head gasket kit, pulled the seats, carpet, and door panels. cleaned and vacuumed everything. going to see abut getting the driver seat reupholstered. found out the brat has what i think a custom carpet kit. it has like snaps that hold it down to the floor so its a breeze to remove and clean. wiped down all the door panels and dash. removed all the excess wiring that was left behind from the previous stereo install. I can now sit in it and not feel like im going to get eaten by spiders or contract aids. yay!

 

found out why the car has so many issues. there are gremlins undermining me lol. these are hand painted on each fender. kinda cool.

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the seat on the left is cleaned. was about to clean the driver figured i would snap a before and after

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clean carpet, before shot of the panels, then after shots

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and a sticker thats on the rear slider. Im gonna leave it :)

2012-04-02_16-56-22_472.jpg

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Thanks im really happy about the buy :) new gaskets should be here tomorrow. then i will get the motor back in Wednesday hopefully. then i will address carb tuning and the electrical issues. almost every fuse is blown in the damn thing. wondering what blew them all lol.

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So the good news is she is running! yay!! had a hell of a time trying to get the thing timed when all it ended up being was the valves were to tight from the new head gasket. DOH! first head job for me on a motor with push rods. I didn't put together that the valve clearance could change from a new gasket. Oh wells glad its sorted out. I still have to sort out some carb issues. might just say ************ it and throw my Weber 32/36 on there off my datsun as it isn't gonna need it for a while and i want to up the carb on that to a 38/38 anyways. but I drove it around the block to make sure it went into all 4 gears and revers. along with going into 4lo and 4hi. every thing checked out nicely. I wanted to take it on a longer drive but figured it wouldn't be wise since none of the lights work yet, no windshield and expired tags haha! but I get payed this Friday so it will get some fresh tags and registered and if money allows i will have a windshield installed. then all i have to sort out is why all the fuses are blown lol

 

I didnt take any new pictures but to please ur eyes here is my datsun before i started bagging it.

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okay so i got the timing pretty squared away and its idling about where it should. quick vid:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rpxU030KNk&feature=youtu.be

 

 

here is a shot of the wheels i will be running. I still have to drill out the hubs to fit a 6 lug. once that happens these will get some tires and go on.

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Also i found out why i have no exterior lighting....

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I hate wiring ************... I will have to find out why these melted down and fix it. OR just run all new wiring.

 

 

Also on the bottom of the fuse panal is says "light switch" wtf is it talking about??

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other things i did today: removed the ignition switch and rewired it so it can go back to using a key instead of the janky switch and button that it had when i bought it. managed to break my combination switch i think cause my blinkers dont work anymore and they worked before i removed the switch *sigh*

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