1987 Subaru BRAT: Day 2
// July 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Cars, Subaru, Subaru BRAT
Today my main goal was to reveal all the rot that has occured over the last 22 years (weird saying that since I’m only 23…) I guess you can say this was a good lesson about rust. What looks like a little rust is probably a lot more. While there was a bit of rust, the majority of it wasn’t structural, only cosmetic. I was relieved when I realized this.
Anyways, what I first did was put tape around any rust. Then, I went back with a wrench and proceeded to push into the rust. If it didn’t go around where, I gave it a quick spray of spray paint. If the wrench did go threw when I pressed, I dug around for a bit. The rocker panel ended up being the worse – it was nearly entirely rusted. Scared, I took a look up inside and luckily, thats all it got. After digging around, I sprayed it and moved on. I did this all the way around the car. This was to remind me where the rot was for when I come back with a grinder to cut off the remaining rust and to repair it.
While the car was up in the air, I took the opportunity to look under the car for the first time. Wow. My 2005 Subaru has more rust underneath it than the BRAT. I think the frequent C.V. boots ripping had something to do with it… considering the whole car was covered in a nice black oil underneath.
I also took notice of all the skid plates this had – its interesting to see the protection considering its not a heavy duty off-road vehicle. Sure, the BRAT was popular in California and stuff, but I’d expect skid plates on vehicles that frequent off-road parks or something of that sort. with independent suspension and dual range transfer case – I’m sure it would be a competent off-road vehicle despite it being a unibody truck.
I posted a thread on nasioc (click here to go to it). It’s great to see such knowledgeable people helping me out on my journey.
