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1979 Subaru BRAT --- PDX


Reza
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Since finding a 79 subaru DL in the junkyard yesterday I was able to finish all the little hoses and nicknacks I needed to get it on the road including scoring a Y pipe in excellent condition ($15). I'm going to take it the the exhaust shop tomorrow to get a simple set up from the end of the Y pipe back. Cleaned it up, gave it a wax and BAM had to take a fun picture after driving it!

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Still need those god damn jump seats though :D

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Haha, this car has been around lately, I can give you a little history on it as I ended up being around it a bit. I first came up on CL a few months back, some guy in Prinevile had it and had swaped a ej22 into it, I was considering buying it so I gave him a call and found out that he wasn't able to get it run right because the engine wasn't getting enough fuel. My guess is he left the stock fuel pump in it so not enough flow or pressure. I didn't really have the time or space for it so I passed on it.

then a few weeks later my coworker told me a friend of his had bought it and ended up swaping in the ea81 out of a GL because he couldn't figure out the 2.2, and now wanted to sell the 2.2 I needed a 2.2 so went to check it out. got a nice deal on the 2.2 and got to see the brat in person, nice car just needed to be finished. The kid that had it got bored with it and I was again given the opportunity to buy it but still no room or time.

I was worried about is fate as I saw the price slowly drop on cragslist hoping that some ********************* wouldn't get it and destroy it. So I'm happy to see it on here and owned by someone who can appreciate it.

I do fined it funny that it went for a ea71 to a ej22 to ea81 and back around to a ea71. And it looks like it cleaned up nicely from how faded it was when I saw it.

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Ha, Thanks for the history on it, sounds like its been around the block a couple times. I'm glad I was able to buy the car, It has been a $hit ton of work. I'm not sure if anyone else would have put the effort into getting it back to where it was presentable and drivable, for the price it was listed. I ended up getting it for 650 and paid 200 shipping to Portland. I'm actually selling the old EA81 to a guy named Ben, probably someone you know.

Edited by Reza
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  • 3 weeks later...

Since the last update, I took it to a local exhaust shop and had them redo a new exhaust system for it, I picked up a y-pipe at the picknpull for $15. and had them do all the rest.

 

Just scored these off craigslist,

the roll bar was $75

and the seats were $50

 

Still looking for the seat mount though,:brow:

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Yeah, I'm going to blast all that rust off and spray a couple coats of white and a nice clear over it.

 

I'd make my own but am not living in a place right now where I can utilize my welder and other fabrication tools. I also have nothing for reference, sizes etc.

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a lot of people would kill to have factory roll bars like us:Di think i saw a frame for the rear seats on the forum so look around, i see u picked up those seats i was thinking about getting them and keeping them as a extra set but glad to see they aren't going to sit around

Edited by turbosubarubrat
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Rough Rough good enough,

2 coats of primer

2 coats of BMW alpine white I had from last paint job.

2 coats of clear.

 

new hardware looks exactly like what I pulled out of it.

 

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Have not done much with the brat, have been pretty busy drinking beer.

scored the black carpet/stock radio/bumper and splash shield deal from the junkyard. The carpet is kinda rough but Im going to use it to make a pattern eventually. The car is filthy right now as you can see. I'm going to blend a couple areas on the paint and then rough the car up by wet sanding the original oxidizing clear. After I do all that I'll spray a flat clear coat over the whole thing.

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got a bumper too

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and found a replacement in very good condition.

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UNRELATED, Here is a Cyclops passing light i just scored.

Gonna try and trade it for a seat mounting bracket.. I know subaru horders will sometimes rather trade than sell.

 

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Edited by Reza
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OK, Time for a real update

 

I really love the patina and originality of this brat. The quest to remain as stock as possible but still have an aged look without a complete restore.

Hit all the little dings and rust spots with a sanding disk, Then sanded down and filled with high build primer, fallowed by a dark base primer, then laying a cordova brown finish coat. After all the paint patch jobs I wiped the body down with wax and grease solvant and used my ol spray gun to lay acouple coats of Matt clear over the whole car.

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After clear coat

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The cordova brown was a bit flashier when laid down against the original fading brown but after shooting the matt clear it seamed to even everything out pretty well.

I did not want to make it look perfect, I did want to make it look more presentable.

Edited by Reza
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It's still wet in those last couple of pictures. will update when Its all nice like:headbang::clap::brow:

 

Edit: it's wasn't too bad spraying in the back yard, just took a hose and drenched the ground around the vehicle.

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Edited by Reza
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