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Update on my 1984 subaru


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K.. been awhile since I have posted anything on my Brat.  Took off time for thanksgiving, xmas and the sort, and decided I better get back to it. When I last worked with it, had finished putting motor in and filled everything with oil, water, etc.. so last few days finished with intake manifold, Weber, exhaust pipe, new fuel pump, distributor, coil, plug wires. pcv routing, all the stuff needed to fire it up... and drum roll... turned over fine but no fire... poored a little fuel down weber throat.. still nothing... oil pressure came up while cranking so that was good... but would not fire.

 

 SO spent all day yesterday checking connections, coil even though its new, anything and everything that I could find suggested on this forum in relation to no fire in brat searches... everything seemed fine and yet nothing... so this morning got up and decided that I would start by putting some  old parts in place of new parts and see what happens. 1st off was old coil in new coil out.. nothing.  2nd was new coil back in, old distributor in, new distributor out, and yeeaaah.. we have liftoff... it lives!!!!

 

 So currently taking a break before I experienced death by exhaust inhalation, seriously, my shop isn't big. but really wasn't expecting that.  But the Brat ran for 20 mins or so while I played with it, the weber seemed to behave as advertised, set the idle, do currently have the disty advanced as far as I can go without pulling it out and trying to jump a tooth, timing light is not working so don't know exactly what the setting is.  But it idled good, seemed to respond good when revving a bit with  no backfires or stumbling. Just a couple things I noticed  before I shut it down that I am going to deal with:

 

1.  Oil pressure was good about, about 40lbs or so by my dash gauge at idle when I fired it up. But as it warmed up it dropped to below 15 or so. No oil pressure light but got pretty low, when I revved motor it would come up, but gonna keep an eye on it, maybe put new oil pressure sending unit in.

 

2.  Water temp came up, but don't think thermostat opened and radiator fan did not come on.  This made me nervous as motor is brand new from Colorado Component rebuilders and don't even want to go anywhere near overheating it, so shut it down.

 

3. In this project replaced 4spd d/r with 5spd d/r, seems to be fine initially. The brat is still upon blocks, but it shifted with no obvious noises. The Lo range light on the dash stays lit, but it wasn't in 4 wheel drive, so will have to keep an eye on that.

 

So now think I am gonna remove thermostat, and run without it initially just to make sure fluid is moving, then put some wheels on it and move it outside, see if any other issues poke there heads up.  hopefully will be putting all the carpet, new seats and whatnot back in and also go back and check my motor break in instructions just to make sure on that.

 

 Anyhow will keep up to date as I proceed, will check back to see if there are any suggestions or questions. I am taking pictures on my phone, and a video. Once I figure out how to post I will try to do that. All for now... Later!

 

Kevin

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1.  Oil pressure was good about, about 40lbs or so by my dash gauge at idle when I fired it up. But as it warmed up it dropped to below 15 or so. No oil pressure light but got pretty low, when I revved motor it would come up, but gonna keep an eye on it, maybe put new oil pressure sending unit in.

Yeah I would say a new oil press sending unit would be in order. I just replaced mine and man, was my old one way off. in fact, it was so far off I thought the new one was broken! I dont think you actually have a oil press light because Im pretty sure we only have the idiot light or an OPSU... I dont think our older rides have both. Someone please correct me if im wrong but im pretty sure thats the way it works

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If you haven't already done so, a new OEM thermostat is a worthwhile investment.

 

As far as monitoring the temps, an infrared thermometer is great for checking the temps at various points on the block. This way, you know for sure that you aren't overheating and, additionally, you can verify that the thermostat is opening at the correct temperature.

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Oil pressure sending unit on the way.. temp gun i could use at work is good idea.. might borrow that.. put wheels on it and drove up and down the road abit. Besides the fact that milk baskets are over rated as seats go, it does stumble abit under load while cold but seemed to get better as it warmed up. 2 wheel drive and the 4 wheel drive seemed good after some clutch cable adjustment. So gonna wait for some parts, look into fixing timing light, and start painting and replacing interior parts and pieces.  

 

Later!

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