My 91 Loyale Wagon Project

[Anonymous907]

Hello, 

I am new to this sight and have recently started my first project car; a 1991 Subaru Loyale Wagon 4wd and this is my build thread 

 

So here's the story behind the "Shaggin Wagon"

 

My room mate bought this car in early 2013 as a commuter for $900.  It had it's quirks, but she ran soild at a 175,000 miles with the famous subaru tick of course  lol  Friend decided to take it out to a popular off-roading place called Jim Creek here in AK.  Sure enough, he ran it into the ground.  Blown out wheel bearing, blown out ball joints, cracked fuel line, blew apart the timing belt trying to drive it home, water pump was done, and clogged the air filter trying to cross a river which is what I think caused the belt to snap later on. As it sat at my other buddy's place for about a year I decided it would be the perfect car for my first real build.  

 

Drove out there about a month ago and bought it off of him for $200 as is.  Before I towed it into Anchorage to begin the build I couldn't help but start to work on it where she sat.  Before I did anything I changed out all the fluids.  New tranny fluid, oil change & filter change, new fuel line exiting the filter and fuel filter, new spark plugs, wires, and distributor cap, and power steering fluid change.  Next step; I picked up a new timing belt and re-timed the engine. Also replaced the water pump at this time. Messed up the seals a bit on the timing belt cover, but I am about to order a new seal in about a week from this upcoming Friday.  I just needed to make sure it still ran and sure enough, she fired right up.   

 

Next thing I decided to tackle was shedding the wagons weight a bit 

First, the hatch needed to come off.

 

Next up, roof removal lol 

In which case we got a little over zealous and shot it...  Nothing a little bondo can't fix though. 

 

The day after the trunk removal I decided a little bit of spray on bed liner to the floor boards wouldn't hurt.  I only have pics of the paint job thus far, but I may take more later on for sake of the thread.  It's hanging in well though 

 

Had one more thing to do before I could bring it in to town.  Decided to cut the fenders.  Ugly job, but it'll do the trick.  My goal isn't to make this thing pretty.  It's to make it get me where I want to go. May even do more cutting as I will be running 28's here in the future. Flares are on my list as well, but that'll come later on once I actually get the tires.

 

 

 

[Anonymous907]

Well, I loaded it up on the trailer after all that to bring it into town to have the wheel bearing removed and replaced so it could be mobile again since I couldn't get it off for the life of me.  The shop even had to do it twice as they broke the first bearing they ordered. lol 

[Anonymous907]

As you can see in the pic, there's a big chunk missing out of the rear fender... That's cause I cut it out.  It was nothing but rust. SO, I will be spot welding some chicken wire on this section for bondo to adhere to so it will fill in this gaping eye sore.  That will be later in the build as I still have other things to attend to.  

 

Since I brought it into town a month ago, she still runs great, but is now leaking oil ever so slightly since I cleaned the outside and the engine... I will give this attention later as it's just a real slow drip right now.  Now, that air filter problem... Well, it's no problem anymore. Capped with a Spectre air filter.

To do this I cut the mounting part off of the stock MAF Sensor to make it perfectly round so I could clamp on my aluminum dryer hose in prep for the snorkel.  

Then about 2 days ago I decided to paint it 

 

 

[Anonymous907]

I also painted the bar that is going across the top which is my soon to be light bar or so I thought.  Just recently decided to go ahead and just build a custom roof rack / spare tire carrier / light bar to the top.  Hopefully have that up in the next week or 2.  Got a friend willing to weld me one together for a case of beer   Just need the money for supplies.  At the time of the snorkel being painted I decided to paint the original steel rims as well. 

Before: 

Primered: 

Painted Gloss Black: 

I plan to do a 6lug conversion eventually, but couldn't resist this step on the wheels that are on there now. 

 

Yesterday was the last time I worked on it.  Decided to go ahead and start a full paint job all the way around.  Kind of scratching for cash at the moment so I only got the hood done and another quarter panel in the rear prepped for bondo.  I did a Matte Black paint job.  This is only temporary though.  It will soon end up hand painted by myself and friends as I am bringing it out to a music festival  in July to let people paint my car.  After that it will be clear coated and done  Looks pretty good so far I'd say.

After First coat

Finished Product

 

 

Stay tuned and any ideas are greatly appreciated! I will be posting all updates here 

[Anonymous907]

Got plans for steel tube bumpers front and back w/shackles and a winch up front, external roll cage, external/removable fuel tank in the trunk for long trips, I still want to run all independent suspension, but I am in the market for a 4" suspension lift kit & 1" body lift.  Also I have heard that I will need to extend my steering column and adjust the camber to do this much lift.  Anyone have an idea on where I can get one or what year, make, and model of subaru I can pull one off of? Or any advice when doing the lift?  I really don't want to run these old struts either.  Anyone know a good relatively inexpensive alternative?  Preferably a coil over deal.