Thursday, December 30, 2010

My new speaker! Also, tail gate trim!

The stock 1982 Subaru Brat GL (deluxe model!) came with no power steering, no power windows, no power locks, and an AM FM radio with one speaker. That's right, it's mono-time. The speaker in this Brat sounded awful, but if you turned the bass all the way off, and listened to talk radio at a quiet volume, it sounded okay. I pulled out the factory 4x6 speaker and here it is. A little on the shot side. I replaced it with a 4x6 Sony speaker. You can see, it sits right in the dash pointed directly at the passenger hidden between the two vents. The old speaker had a bit of cloth between the speaker and cabin so it was hidden better. I'm not sure if I like having the speaker visible or not. I might put a cloth back in there. Either way, it sounds much better than the old one. It even has a bit of bass now. I'll bet I could even listen to the radio going highway speeds.

I also got in the mail a few plastic clips that hold the tail gate trim onto the bed. Mine were all busted and so I pulled the trim off as to not lose it. The new clips were pretty cheap and I got them from the Subaru dealership, plus a few extra.
It looks much better with the chrome trim. I need to paint up my bed though, it's starting to look pretty bad, where the seats go the paint has been rubbed through and was primed, but it's not holding very well. I can't decide between black, red or white bed liner. Black is classic, white might get dirty real fast, and red might just look weird. I'll decide soon enough.

3 comments:

  1. or you could paint an american flag across the bed. AMERIBRAT!

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  2. ^people will think you are trying to knock off joy from 'my name is earl' with anything remotely brat+ american flag.

    i cant hardly check this blog, it makes me miss mine too much.

    disc brakes look great! cant wait to see the camper. does your brat have a trailer hitch?

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  3. also, surprised to hear about the heat, mine cranks hot enough to turn it into a sauna, even with huge holes all over the place. i think it was designed to heat an entire station wagon and is way too much for the little 2 person cab.

    maybe just blowing the accumulated dust off the heater core will be enough. i dont think they have a cabin air filter, and i'm sure living in AZ was rough.

    I noticed mine would do about 27 mpg in town and about 24 doing 70 or so on the interstate. Driving down to louisville once i was at less than 20 doing 75 into a strong headwind- trying to make up time for having to fix an oil leak in chicago.

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