It's me Again - 1982 Subaru Brat Carburetor Trouble and Questions

[SaltyMike]

Hey everyone,

First off I would just like to say that I previously made my first post on the introduction forum but it has since been removed for some unknown reason. For those of you who did not see it though, this past July I finally bought my dream car: a Subaru Brat. It is a 1982 DL with 94,000 original miles, making it the first Subaru that I have ever owned. However, I am currently having issues getting it to run properly. Just a disclaimer: I am trying to learn as much about these vehicles as I can, and to a certain extent about cars in general since I am fairly new to this hobby. I have never owned a car of this vintage before so this is all new territory to me. If I make any dumb comments or simply do not know what I am talking about, please forgive me and do not hesitate to correct me.

After having the Brat checked over with my mechanic, he emphasized that I should have the carburetor either rebuilt or completely replaced because the accelerator pump is shot. On cold starts, it takes awhile for it to run even "decently" and it often stalls if I press the accelerator too quickly. I should note that my mechanic is a good family friend of mine and I trust him enough that he would never lead me to believe that I should have something fixed or replaced that in reality does not need it. 

So as I started looking for either a rebuild kit or a fully rebuilt carburetor, I ran into some issues. The first issue is that from what I've researched, the Brat I have seems to be one of the few model years (82-84) that were equipped with a 1 BBL Carter-Weber. The remaining years that the Brat was produced, from my understanding, was equipped with a 2 BBL Hitachi. Naturally, it seems like the carburetor that was made less has less serviceable and replacement parts available. I've tried looking for fully rebuilt carbs and rebuild kits for my particular one but I have found absolutely nothing. Through looking on forums on here, I found a website called Chicago Carburetors that looked like it had the carburetor I was looking for. http://www.chicagocarburetor.com/carburetors-remanufactured.php?c=124 It let me go through the entire check out process and said my order was confirmed, however when I called the phone number listed on the website to find out if there was a way to track my order, they had said nothing was ever shipped because they didn't have any of this type of carburetor in stock. So this left me without any source for a rebuilt 1 BBL Carter-Weber or a rebuild kit for it. Since it seemed like there was more aftermarket support for the 2 BBL Hitachi carburetors, I looked getting one of those, but from what I have read it doesn't seem to be the greatest idea. Every forum I have read on here about the Hitachi carb says they are more trouble than they are worth. As of writing this post, there is NOS Hitachi carb on eBay for the 82-87 Brat with either the 1700cc or 1800cc engine, however it is over $600 and to spend that kind of money on a carburetor that is a supposedly complex, underperforming, and overall nothing but a headache, that seems to be a lot of money. Plus, forums on here say I would need a new manifold if I were to switch from the Carter-Weber to the Hitachi, and I can't seem to find anything when I google one. 

Most of the forums on here say to swap out the original carburetors with a Weber 32/36 because it is a simple carb and works well with the EA81. I looked into getting one, but it says in the item description that it will not fit the 83-84 Subaru with the 1.8 L equipped with the 1 BBL Carter-Weber. Granted my is an 1982, but I am pretty sure that is exactly what I have for the engine and carb, and I obviously don't want to buy something that will not work on my vehicle. 

So from here I am stuck and not sure what my options are. I would prioritize having a a well-running vehicle over its aesthetics, however if possible I would also love to be able to keep using the stock blue air filter that came with these Subarus. I have seen a lot of pictures of the 32/36 Webers on EA81, but I really do not like the way it looks in the engine bay with its air filter. I love the stock look, and if I can help it I will but if I have no other option then I will settle for a different air filter.

I should also note that I do realize that I bought a vehicle with parts that are not readily available, I am just coming here to ask for help because I figured you all are the most knowledgeable when it comes to these vehicles. 

Thank you guys for your help.

[silverhelme]

The easiest thing would be to find a Hitachi manifold, install it and use the weber. I'm sure someone here has one. As far as the air cleaner is concerned it's been done but requires mating the base of the weber filter to the factory base. This thread shows an adapter that might work. 

 

[subaru1988]

2 hours ago, SaltyMike said:

Hey everyone,

Just a disclaimer: I am trying to learn as much about these vehicles as I can, and to a certain extent about cars in general since I am fairly new to this hobby. I have never owned a car of this vintage before so this is all new territory to me....After having the Brat checked over with my mechanic, he emphasized that I should have the carburetor either rebuilt or completely replaced because the accelerator pump is shot. On cold starts, it takes awhile for it to run even "decently" and it often stalls if I press the accelerator too quickly. I should note that my mechanic is a good family friend of mine and I trust him enough that he would never lead me to believe that I should have something fixed or replaced that in reality does not need it. 

I have a background with old American cars (I have an SPFI Subaru), and it's the same principle when it comes to carbs. A CHOKE is used to start the car and keep it going until the car is warmed up enough to run on its own. If you don't use the choke when you start the car, it won't run right and you'll have to keep giving it gas until it's running on its own. You should be setting the choke on a cold start such as an overnight start.

As for the accelerator pump, that's an easy check. Take the air cleaner lid off, look down the carb with the engine off in the barrel with the choke, hold the choke open, and move the accelerator cable by hand or have a helper do it from the driver seat. You should see a squirt of gas.

[Subasaurus]

it is a very obvious squirt of gasoline being injected into the carb too,

you having to crank a lot sounds like the choke isn't calibrated correctly, i go rid of my electric auto choke and went with a mechanical manual cable driven choke cable that runs under the steering wheel, i've never looked back since.

[Subasaurus]

23 minutes ago, subaru1988 said:

You should be setting the choke on a cold start such as an overnight start.

i might be wrong but i thought you set the choke when the vehicle was fully warmed up and tuned properly in the fully open position?

[subaru1988]

6 hours ago, Subasaurus said:

i might be wrong but i thought you set the choke when the vehicle was fully warmed up and tuned properly in the fully open position?

I was talking about setting the choke as in getting the car ready to drive for the day, not tuning or "setting up" the choke. On the carbs I'm familiar with, they require setting up the choke with drill bit sizes and specific clearances for pull off rods and the like, and then the choke is fine tuned for driver preference or location after that.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/the-lost-art-of-choke-adjustment

Lots of people that never owned a carbed car think you can just hop right in it and take off without knowing or caring about the choke. The owner's manual is long gone and they don't know there is actually a specific procedure you go through to start the car, ie. setting the choke.

Edited September 17, 2021 by subaru1988

[SaltyMike]

Thank you everyone for your help. I tried setting the choke but unfortunately it didn’t really fix the bad running engine. I’m going to try and make another post to hopefully source a Hitachi manifold.