The '85 BRAT is home!!!

[TomRhere]

My oldest Son, Robby, and I drove up to Traverse City today so I could drive the BRAT back home. 484 mile round trip. Rained most of the way up, down right heavy at times too. Full-bore sunshine on return trip. Can you say, HOT?

 

No problems on the trip. I do need to adjust the clutch and the rear brakes. But it ran down the road at 65 mph with no problems. Did have a shimmy occur on a couple different sections of highway, but I'm thinking that's more road itself as it wasn't a continuous problem.

 

A couple pics of the BRAT up State, and 1 sitting in my driveway.

 

http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c264/TomRhere/85%20BRAT/

[Durania]

I like the graphics on the side. Nice red brat, get some interior pics as well.

[NocturneVoyager]

Looks like it's in FINE shape from here. Good luck with it!

[TomRhere]

I'll get more pics in the next few days. But the dash is cracked, and both seats have tears in them, so you can pretty much imagine what it looks like.

 

I have extra seats, and a good Tan dash to swap in. I need to weld the Fun seats back in, along with installing the belts and headreasts.

 

A good wash-n-wax wouldn't hurt either. But yeah, it's a good looking BRAT.

[FlyB0y]

Nice Brat!

 

Got a little "Starski & Hutch" graphic on the side eh? looks good! how many miles on it?

[jeffast]

awsome,

i have always wanted a brat that was clean like that

[TomRhere]

The BRAT has a shade over 111,000 on the ticker. And yeah, I've always wanted one in better body condition then the ones I've found so far. This one is the ticket!!!!!

 

Spent yesterday wrenching on it. Found reason for clutch issue, the cable was routed wrong. So, I pulled it and installed a new cable. Pulled the seats out, (easier for this one to fit under dash), cleaned the carpet and installed some EA-82 seats I had. They're Blue, but look good against the Tan interior.

 

Rear brake adjusters are froze up, so they're soaking in PB Blaster. I did bleed out the system, and got some air out of both rear lines. Pedal feels a whole lot better now.

 

Didn't feel up to doing the dash swap yesterday, so that still needs doing. I have a pristene Tan dash to go in, need to get some Armor-All on it though.

 

Got a Brown slant-mount radio panel that I'm going to put in, along with a CD head unit. Hey,,, anyone have the Brown shifter and E-brake console they want to sell? Need to replace all of the speakers also. Thinking of not using the dash speakers, just the door ones with some boxed speakers behind the seats. We'll see....

 

Got the belts for the Fun-Seats soaking in PB-Blaster also. When Jim (86subaru) pulled the belts out of a BRAT in a junk yard, the weld-nuts ripped right out of the floor, so I gotta get the bolts out of those mounting plates.. Yea for road salt....... I did install the headreast though. I need to do some work on the seat mount before it gets welded back in.

 

Also, while doing the clutch cable, I noticed the bolts for the engine x-member weren't the stock ones, Hmmmm????. Reason being,,,, there's a 2" lift under the front-end. Bonus!!!!! Didn't notice it when I peaked under there before.

 

Still need to give her a good bath-n-wax and over-all cleaning. Get 4 new "matching" tires as it's got 2 different brands front/rear, not a good thing... Need to repair the paint from where the topper seal has damaged it. Thinking of stripping the paint in the bed and doing a Rhino-Liner job, this after getting seat frame welded in. Re-install the front skid plate and those side shields. Put the side trim back on on the rear quarters. I did install a gas door, the original one broke off at the hinge pin.

 

Found that the exhaust is custom bent from Y-pipe to muffler, but it has the stock muffler under there. I had only looked under the BRAT from the rear before. Saw a new exhaust system, but didn't really "look" at it. Think I'll swap a freer flowing one in, not sure what yet.

 

I'll get more pics up after I get her looking all purty.......