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1986 GL Coupe Restoration Project


BlackBoot
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this is my GL Coupe, It's in great shape very clean and same owner for 25 years.

It has minor rust and some small dents and scrapes. It was a city car hardly ever driven, running poorly, terrible lifter tick, full of carbon.

after some treatment in the fuel and oil then a hard drive on the highway the carbon is burned out now.

Interior still smells like smoke even after steam cleaning, needs ozone treatment.

 

all that I have done so far;

-oil and filter change

-fuel and oil conditioner flush

-itallian tune up (drive at 4500 rpm for 30 minutes)

-full steam detail inside

-degrease engine compartment

-removed loose rust

-removed ugly blue pinstripes with auto body eraser

-pressure washed underside and wheels to remove grime and grit

-repaired and replaced small interior broken or missing trim parts

 

still needs;

-new axle

-main pulley and belts (pulley broken, only one belt channel

-steering dust boots look damaged

-rust repair and body work

-more steam cleaning

-ozone treatment for smoke

 

Wish list;

-sweet sexy wheels

-RX body kit

-LSD of course

-webber

-new speakers and aux audio in mod to factory radio

-convert to AWD (FWD 5spd now)

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I found that Murphy's Oil Soap does wonders for getting the smell of cigarrette smoke out of vehicles.

 

Bought a '95 Dodge pickup off a friend. He and his wife were heavy smokers. I smoke, but the smell inside that truck was intense to say the least.

 

Mixed up a pail of hot water with Murphy's and washed the interior down, damp-ragging the seats and carpeting. Took two seperate washings to get rid of the smell, but it was worth it.

Nice pine scent, that isn't overbearing.

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I have heard about the murphys soap for smoke, but forgot about that, thanks for reminding me.

I don't have a steam cleaner, so I fill a small pump up garden sprayer with warm water, sunlight soap and some vinegar.

Spray all over fabric and carpet surfaces, and use a scrub brush on the tough spots.

Then I just shop vac it all out, and repeat if needed.

Also I removed the seats and cleaned them out of the car, way easier to do it that way.

And I find that spray penetrating oil works great for degreasing an engine bay, spray on a warm engine, let sit overnight and wash off the next day. Hope it doesn't damage any seals? None so far.

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I was out in the rain today, after parking in the garage I noticed fresh water dripping down from the firewall on the passenger side?

Could that be from rust at the base of the windshield?

Also was running rough in the humidity, tach jumping all over, is that the disty?

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If I remember right, yes, the water running down the firewall is most likely from the windshield gasket or rust in the gasket seat.

 

Tach jumping is likely to be the disty as well. The EA82 disty uses shaft bearings unlike the EA81s which use brass sleeves which wear out to much quicker. Best way to check your disty, it see how much play is in the rotor shaft, there shouldn't be any side to side play, and very little up/down play.

 

What is your volt gauge showing? Anything higher than 14v? I remember when my Alternator regulator was failing, my tach jumped around (As there was some type of back feed through the system)

 

Test and see what the alt is pushing out if you don't have the volt gauge. At warm idle, it'll push out about 14v.

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Yes, voltage is going way up, just didn't notice it up there in the corner of the panel.

I'll double check under the hood with a volt meter,

How critical is it that the voltage regulator be replaced right away? Or do I have some time?

Or can it damage components?

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Thanks for the info,

I dug a little into the threads, decided not to drive until fixed.

I swapped the alternator with the one in my wagon.

Problem solved!

voltage normal, tach not jumping, engine not missing.

Runs great, and sounds pretty good with the hole in the muffler:)

As for the leaky windshield, I have underground heated parking, so no big deal for now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I tried the aux audio input into the 5 pin on the back of the deck today, but got frustrated by the previous stereo hack job.

So the radio and speakers have always been messed up since I got this thing, but more important mechanical stuff has been priority.

The previous owner had a equalizer amplifier hacked into the wiring harness, and of course all fouled up with the common ground. It was wired really good, hard to take apart, just all wrong. Even had a plastic sub with only one channel hooked up.

So I ripped it all out, cut out the crap in the harness and rewired and shrink tubed the whole deal.

Nice and clean and back to subaru.

Only one out of 4 speakers not working, better than before.

never got the audio aux to sound any good though, too much noise.

How about the crackle when turning knobs, I tried to clean out the contacts inside, but too hard to get to, I just ended up spilling acetone all over the freshly cleaned knobs and melted them a bit.

Fixin old stuff never goes easy or as planned.

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Could the radio and tape deck left speaker channel is fried from the previous owner running a dead speaker for years?

I swapped my deck from my wagon in, and no problem, my wiring harness fix is solid, and the tape deck still has bad left channel with this deck.

But this radio regularly squeals going in and out of stereo, any fix for this?

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I got an oil pump from the yard, along with a cargo security divider and locking metal console and shelving for the back of my astro work van. All for $60!

The manager must have thought I worked hard to get that all out in an hour.

Hooray! For milwaukee M12 cordless power ratchet in 3/8 drive.

New timing belts in, and running again.

Now looking for new plugs, wires and disty.

It's been sitting out in my neighbors yard for a month, until I got time to work on it, dampness problem now, lookingbout for mold.

Should dry out now, it's back in the heated parking, it had to stay out of the garage, because I could coast it down into the parkade, but could not get back up and out the ramp, so it would be stuck there and not allowed to do repairs in the parkade.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Some new Pics, I have recently; steam cleaned again and will need more for the yellow smoke stains, rotor, cap, wires, plugs, timing belts, and have a new axle to put in.

have a new harmonic balancer, but it has no hole, key hole so I'll have to drill one, and put the timing belt covers back on. then new muffler and air care, a bit of shine here and there and ready for the collector plates application.

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WANTED:

-Replacement Radio with amber lights, the one I have has a circut burnt out.

-RX body kit complete.

-new Drivers Seat, foam is deteriorating and vinyl is cracking.

-nice alloy 80's wheels.

-13" chrome trim rings

-80's subaru hubcap set in good condition.

also looking for paintless dent repair.

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  • 5 months later...

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