I Finally Got a BRAT !!!!!

[John_Boy_Ink]

I Finally Got A BRAT !!!!

So after about 3 years of searching for a BRAT i finally found one, or should i say my AWESOME wife found one.... 

Unknown to me the wife had found and purchased the BRAT and also arranged transport from London to Wigan... 

Sunday 17th June (Yes! Fathers Day)

I come down stairs to find my wife really excited  to give me a card i open the card and its a note to say the BRAT is on her way.

Now to cut a long story short and instead of her arriving Sunday she arrived at 1am Tuesday morning, In all honesty i didn't care iv been waiting 3 years for one i think i could wait a little longer.

She's old, She smells and She's rusty but i absolutely love her...



So.... now the work begins......... the plan even before i got one was the old EJ Engine swap....

Then i thought of just restoring her.... then the engine swap.... then restoring her.

Engine swap, definitely the engine swap.

My only worry is if i change the engine iv gotta change the box and the diff and the prob and the shafts and the hubs Certainly the BRAKES etc...
you can see where this is going... All this just means that those lovely people at the DVLA what to put her on a 'Q' plate...

Does anyone know of a way round this or just man up and accept the 'Q' plate (really wanted a private plate on her)

Also if anyone has already done this any hints on problems im going to encounter i would really appreciated.

Thanks in Advance

John

[designforlife]

My dad was a gamekeeper in the 90s and had a few of these, i have very fond memories of them!

[5harp3y]

Why would they put it on a Q?

Just swap everything in and then update the engine size on the V5

[John_Boy_Ink]

5harp3y said:

Why would they put it on a Q?

Just swap everything in and then update the engine size on the V5

Thats what i was thinking but if they decide to send it for an IVA then it wouldn't have enough points to retain the reg

[GravelBen]

Halfway compromise and find an EA82T from a later Leone/Omega? (if you had those there) I assume the Brat is an EA81 so I'd think it should be a pretty straightforward swap. Still only 135bhp in stock form so never going to have the power of an EJ, but would be a bit more useful than the orginal motor.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 2nd July 11:04

[designforlife]

k20 it!

[anonymous-user]

Nice.

Needs

B
_R
__A
___T

stickers. And 'chicken tax' seats as well!

[TheAngryDog]

Nice, I know nothing about these!

However, this thread has already delivered better than WelshBeef's posts about receiving a car as a gift from his wife.

[BrettMRC]

Get it MOT'd and then decide on the swap route IMO.

Watching with interest

[John_Boy_Ink]

BrettMRC said:

Get it MOT'd and then decide on the swap route IMO.

Watching with interest

Needs alot of work for an MOT... on the plus side the tho its been stood a year and started up with a fresh battery

[BrettMRC]

All the best cars are like that

[5er]

Great stuff. Keen to watch this progress.

[Mr2Mike]

If you don't chop up the body, keep the original type of suspension (uprated dampers etc. are ok) and the same steering system then that gives you sufficient points to avoid a Q plate if it ever came to requiring an IVA,

[brough74]

I always fancied one of these but all the ones i've seen are rusty kn*ckered shells. My idea was to fit Subaru impreza running gear and engine either NA or turbo depending on price.

[John_Boy_Ink]

Mr2Mike said:

If you don't chop up the body, keep the original type of suspension (uprated dampers etc. are ok) and the same steering system then that gives you sufficient points to avoid a Q plate if it ever came to requiring an IVA,

Going to go that way just not sure if i want to try and steer the EJ engine without power steering

[Mr Tidy]

What a great Father's Day you had - your missus is definitely a keeper!

And your Brat looks great - I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.

[RicksAlfas]

Everyone remember these?

[John_Boy_Ink]

Mr Tidy said:

What a great Father's Day you had - your missus is definitely a keeper!

And your Brat looks great - I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.

Needs some welding but what brat doesn't

On the whole its a pretty solid vehicle

[AWG]

Great! Love this. So H6 3.3 engine going in?

[spoodler]

Here's mine that I sold a few years back and replaced with a Jumbuck. I thought I'd find it boring after years of fast bikes, classic sports cars, kit cars and hot rods. Not a bit of it, thoroughly enjoyed idling about with the thrum of the little flat four for company... The last pic is of a mate's truck that had a 335b.h.p. Impreza drivetrain (not an easy conversion tho', and as said, should really go for I.V.A. as it involves a lot of cutting to make things fit). Early Forester can be made to fit with less hassle and still retain a lot of the running gear.