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My '83 GL: The Ski Wagon


TheLoyale
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Man, what a sweet ride. Glad to see that it's made its way to another enthusiast. Now if only it would make its way over to the west coast one day, I'd just love to get my hands on it Lol

 

Snowboarding & Subarus are a perfect match

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The car no longer drives like a pogo stick!

 

I got the rear shocks changed last night. It took me less than an hour to do both sides. Thank God for anti-seize and thank God for Tom who put it on everything! Everything came right out.

 

The old shocks were TOTALLY limp when I pulled them out. I replaced them with KYB  Excel-G (Part number 343056). These seem to be KYB's replacement for the GR-2.

 

No pics because there isn't really much to see...

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Sweet! I gotta say it was sad how underappreciated this pair of vehicles was by the general walmart population.

 

I'm sure everyone is dying to know which hot piece of masculinity is which. Left to right: Jimbo, me, my brother/co-driver.

Edited by jmoss5723
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  • 6 months later...

Spring thaw has come to Pennsylvania and it is time to take the ski wagon out of winter storage (I wonder if that will ever stop sounding so backwards). High on the priority list is fixing up the last of the body work and doing some painting. I'm planning to spray the white myself then put new decals on.

 

Anyone have a good idea on how to do a good job on the painting without breaking the bank? Assume I have no equipment and know nothing. I don't want to make any assumptions.

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From what I've read and watched on youtube and other forums. You can get a gallon of Rust-oleum gloss white, get some Acetone, and cut the Paint by 50/50, use a decent spray gun with like 10psi at the tip and go to town. I can't remember exact details, and haven't used this method my self, but take a gander at "Painting your car with Rust-oleum) on youtube, it'll give you a decent idea if you want to go that route :)

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From what I've read and watched on youtube and other forums. You can get a gallon of Rust-oleum gloss white, get some Acetone, and cut the Paint by 50/50, use a decent spray gun with like 10psi at the tip and go to town. I can't remember exact details, and haven't used this method my self, but take a gander at "Painting your car with Rust-oleum) on youtube, it'll give you a decent idea if you want to go that route :)

Tom, that's about what I'm thinking. Thanks for the input. You gotta love youtube university! Anyone have any experience or thoughts on what low-price sprayers yield good results? I'd hate to spend a bunch of money on something I'll probably use only a few times.

 

How about those old decals? I doubt I'll be able to peel any of them, so should I try to sand them off? Is it as bad of an idea as it sounds to paint over them and line up the new decals over top?

 

I am handy with a rattle can, but that's where my automotive painting experience ends. My car skills are mostly under the hood or behind the wheel. If I'm asking elementary questions, I apologize.

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Painting over the decals its gonna be a bad idea, the paint may soak into them or it will start to flake off. You're gonna sand the entire car before painting it, so I would try to use a scraper and remove them that way or a razor blade, it may be time consuming, but why rush it? If anything, get an orbital sander and go to town on those decals that way, there will be a a lot of dust, keep that in mind.

 

OR! You a heat gun on them, it may help to to bake them and then they should come off rather easy.

 

As for painting and guns, I've seen some dude use a Black and Decker sprayer, which had all adjustments on it, I think it was gravity feed with the paint container on top (Which is what you'll want) Or possibly a spray gun from Harbor freight, ones at Menards aren't too expensive and should yield decent options.

 

As for painting, you will want to address all body work, and high/low spots with some body filler just to level it out nicely, sand it all with an orbital sander and some 180grit, then shoot it with some light gray Primer (Self etching should be good) I try to avoid the scratch filler primer as it doesn't bond well to the metal for whatever reason (Could be the prep work)

Once primer has set (Could be a few hours or a day) re-sand everything with some 300-400 grit to rough up the primer and remove any sheen, wipe it all down with some acetone, make sure its dry and dust free, and go at it with the paint, always over shoot what you are spraying, do not stop in mid sweet, find a steady pace and you'll do fine. Once the paint sets, for a few days, if you have some dust specs of something, you can use some 1500-2000 grit and do a wet sand on the area, then just buff it out with a good wax or polishing compound. DO NOT WAX PAINT FOR A FEW WEEKS. It is far to soft, wax will just soften it more.

Hopefully someone will chime in with some more details, I know enough, but I may be leaving something out.

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Also, with using Rust-oleum thats cut with Acetone, theres really no need to worry about fish eyeing and there is no need to put the anti fish eyeing treatment in the paint mixture.

 Thanks for putting the time into that response. I've been braced for the sand, fill, repeat, and I'm not looking forward to trying to remove those decals. They're so cracked that they will come off in about a million pieces. I'm going to try a few approaches, but I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of sanding.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm wanting to do the last of the major rust repair ASAP. I'm hoping to get some original pieces off of another soob. Does anyone have a wrecked or destined-to-be-scrapped EA81 car with clean rear quarters that they want to cut out? I basically need all the metal from one rear wheel arch, around behind the bumper, and to the other wheel arch. You can see the part I need the most in the following picture (the black part).

 

If someone has it and it needs to be cut into a few pieces to ship, that's fine. I can weld it together and much of it would be hidden by the bumper anyways. I just really don't want to have to try to fab this up myself.

 

I know this might be a long-shot, but I figured I'd try...

 

2012_1023AX.jpg

Edit because I forgot the picture.

Edited by jmoss5723
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I'm wanting to do the last of the major rust repair ASAP. I'm hoping to get some original pieces off of another soob. Does anyone have a wrecked or destined-to-be-scrapped EA81 car with clean rear quarters that they want to cut out? I basically need all the metal from one rear wheel arch, around behind the bumper, and to the other wheel arch. You can see the part I need the most in the following picture (the black part).

 

If someone has it and it needs to be cut into a few pieces to ship, that's fine. I can weld it together and much of it would be hidden by the bumper anyways. I just really don't want to have to try to fab this up myself.

 

I know this might be a long-shot, but I figured I'd try...

 

2012_1023AX.jpg

Edit because I forgot the picture.

 

I'll let you know if I see an EA wagon in the local P-N-P yards in

the Lynnwood, WA area. I'll contact you when/if I find a set. I am all

setup to go cut them out for you when and if needed.

 

-Jeff

 

Let me know if you see anything come up in the 98036 area.

Edited by Crazyeights
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Front fender flares could work, it would have a more flared rear fender, which wouldn't look bad in my opinion! I'm so happy to see the car is gonna get finished from where I left off.

 

Just remember! If you ever end up putting the ole beast up for sale, I am first in line to possibly buy it back!

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Could you use the arches from front fenders to patch your quarters?

Maybe, but I think I'd still have so much fab left to do, that I'd rather leave the spare fenders I have whole and just make the whole rear piece out of new sheet if it comes to that. I did a really nice job on the front fenders of my BRAT when I cut out the wheel arches to clear bigger tires. You would think they were factory unless you held up a stock fender and compared the size.

 

I'll let you know if I see an EA wagon in the local P-N-P yards in

the Lynnwood, WA area. I'll contact you when/if I find a set. I am all

setup to go cut them out for you when and if needed.

 

-Jeff

 

Let me know if you see anything come up in the 98036 area.

That would be superb! I'd appreciate any help. You guys are spoiled with cars out there that aren't rusted to nothing. As an East coast guy, that is such a foreign concept...

 

Front fender flares could work, it would have a more flared rear fender, which wouldn't look bad in my opinion! I'm so happy to see the car is gonna get finished from where I left off.

 

Just remember! If you ever end up putting the ole beast up for sale, I am first in line to possibly buy it back!

I'm hoping to have this car aesthetically restored to original condition, so I'll skip the flaired fenders, but the flairs from the front welded in on the back would likely be a very subtle and cool unique look. When the arches on my BRAT inevitably rot off, that might be the solution!

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