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1979 Brat Dual Carb EA81 Swap


LouKoff
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Wasn't able to get the brat going for the road trip because I found that I broke a spring washer on the rocker arm. But i did get the new rotor on and I got my rear drums turned, and the brakes feel better than ever. Took it out for some joy riding on some icy roads but immediately found out my alignment went wonky in the back because it was fishtailing and fighting itself bad in 4wd going straight over 25mph on the ice. Took it back to the garage and did a 2x4 toe plate adjustment and then used a drywall laser to double check everything. Now it's driving great, but I still have to replace the rocker arm assembly before I start dailying it again.

Heres a random photo dump

33630498778_3eecfbfcc6.jpgHeader wrap by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

33630503038_ee517df8d6.jpgNew Carpet Project by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

33630506278_571b81584a.jpgWinter Drive by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

47507195281_991320e9d7.jpgSettled Suspension by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

Probably going to be taking it out of storage, washing, doing some more wetsanding and buffing to get the paint really looking nice this season, and then start dailying it again soon. 

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  • 1 year later...

Not long after my last post I ended up tearing meniscus pretty badly while rock climbing which lead to me having to get surgery and spend about 7 months in bed, having to do lots of rehab to walk correctly and gain mobility back in my knee. Unfortunately this also meant that I was unable to bend my knee enough to safely drive the brat as I'm 6'4"  and barely fit in the thing to begin with. After about a year I finally got it back on the road, but not after some trouble with the fuel tank.

So anyway on to the update of the car, I replaced the rocker arm which had broken a spring washer and started driving it a bit but had trouble with the car stalling out often and sometimes not starting at all. Turns out that after sitting the fuel tank had rusted again pretty badly and the sediment from the tank was clogging the in tank fuel lines. The fuel lines turned out to be badly rusted inside as well so I tried to take a industrial pipe cleaner to the inside which was  a bad idea as the brush on the end of the metal line ended up breaking off in the line making the problem even worse. Unable to get the brush out of the line I was forced to make a new line in the tank. I did this using some 3/8" brake line I bent to reach near the lowest point of the tank, drilling a new hole in the tank on the drivers side of the tank, then feeding the brake line through an opening in the baffle. After a deep clean of the tank using vinegar and then degreaser with many flushes of water to make sure any gasoline fumes and varnish had been removed I brazed the new line to the tank. To hopefully stop future problems with the tank I sealed the tank using por-15 fuel tank sealer following their recommended procedure of prepping the tank with a degreaser and then their metal prep which is an acid based solvent to etch the metal and get rid of any of the remaining rust. 

49770871066_bb857b7c88_z.jpgnew line by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

49771197387_fa17f00822_z.jpgnew line out of tank by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

49770871556_6fa9f63912_z.jpgnew line in tank by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

On to other news while unable to drive the brat I was forced to get another vehicle big enough for me to fit in so I picked up this 1988 Toyota right before my surgery. I also started cutting up the donor brat I took the ea81 from to make a trailer out of it.

49770345038_1a0ae8995b_k.jpgBrat with CC2 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

49770877161_cec4e96338_k.jpgBrat with CC by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

49771196937_c7179dbd3c_z.jpgBrat trailer project by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

After getting the brat back on the road I decided it would only be right that now that it was no longer lowered I would flex it out to check the suspension travel. Here are the results right as it started to three wheel.

49770340833_0f53f28f75_z.jpgFlex2 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

49771198402_b049d27863_z.jpgFlex1 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

49770340448_3412c0af6e_z.jpgFront Flex by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

49770871806_9f8d45af3e_z.jpgRear Flex by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

Now that it's back on the road I've found some new motivation for it and will probably be doing little projects on it here and there. Some things I'd like to do next are a rear bumper and some mods to try to squeeze some more lift and travel out of the suspension. I also decided to ditch the idea of fixing the topper as I'm not a huge fan of how it looks and it was just pretty messed up with a rotten core and missing windows, so I cut it up and am hoping to make a fiberglass tonneau cover using some of the pieces from the topper. As far as the second gen brat trailer goes I'm trying to make it a capable off road trailer I can pull behind the Toyota or maybe behind the brat for camping and doing utility work, so I'm going to be building a steel frame for it with new suspension, haven't decided if I'll go independent suspension like timbren or leaf springs and a straight axle yet. I've also got a build thread going on for my Toyota which I'm turning into a off road camper on expedition portal if anyone cares to check it out https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/1988-toyota-custom-cab-build.207189/

Edited by LouKoff
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  • 2 months later...

I've been driving the brat as a daily the past two weeks because my other car broke and I've been waiting on parts to fix it. So in the mean time I've made some upgrades to the rear of the brat this week....suspension and a bumper. I used EMPI 9571 coilovers meant for vw baja beetles with torsion bar front suspension as a helper spring for the torsion bars. The stroke is 5" and the extended and compressed lengths are almost exactly the same as stock. Bolted right in other than having to press out the sleeve the coilover bushings came with and very minimal cutting. I cut a little off the bump stop tab on the control arm and ground a little off the bump stop to get the spring to clear on full droop. I also made a rear bumper with a hitch and swingout spare tire carrier so i can keep my spare out of the way and use a hitch mount bike rack or other things. 

50088674562_c978922db0.jpgEmpi 9571 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50088674552_105b2497fb.jpgBushing sleeve brat coilover by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50088438601_9b27954fed.jpgCoil by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50088438581_21092a74ba.jpgCoil clearance on gound by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50088674512_9edba8ca92.jpglil rear lift by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50087862688_7982a93b49.jpgBumper finsihed by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50089523637_807478d591.jpghinge by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

 

50088675022_aa3c4a1bbf.jpgSwung by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

 

I've also done some camping and doing some shakedown testing to get a feel for what else it needs in the suspension and steering to drive a little nicer off road, Im thinking trying to get a little stiffer front spring or finding another solution to getting better front suspension and steering.

50038790622_f803e0fb7a.jpgBrat PR4 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50038794387_1875dc3060.jpgBrat PR3 by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50089281036_553c9cc259.jpgold grade back by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50089282736_b394396d2e.jpgold grade front by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50089286166_334cc694bc.jpguphill brat old grade by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50089287741_b7bc56aba1.jpgdownhill old grade by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50088711678_a6f402cea0.jpglakeside swing brat by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

50089528712_315d6a3aac.jpglakeside bumper brat by Luke Hoffman, on Flickr

 

Edited by LouKoff
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On 7/8/2020 at 3:01 PM, Probz said:

Nice of you to drive the car around like its meant to be driven, usually when i get nice paint on a car, i wanna keep it safe like a baby and barely drive it around.

Thanks, I tried to baby it for a while and then came to a realization that after all the work and money I put into it to make it drive well it should be driven as much as possible. With that being said I notice every new scratch and dent and it kills me everytime, got caught out camping in a severe thunderstorm and hail with it the other day and picked up a few new dents on the hood which really hit deep.

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  • 1 month later...

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