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Rescued 1979 Subaru Wagon, now i need help..


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Hello, i need your help, i need to buy someones parts car (does not matter the condition) as long as it has the door vin tag and dash vin and a title (salvage or clean) and being somewhere between 1977-1979 station wagon. color does not matter. you can either keep the vehicle that has no title now for more parts or ill take it depending on distance. its up to you.

 

I bought this 1979 GL for $60, yes 60! just one catch, it has no title, and its been abandoned at a small shops property since 2002, could not contact original owner and his home is now a "tourists motel" since its in downtown Austin,Tx... i just paid the shops "fine" of being parked there. in Texas theres not much you can do with an abandoned vehicle so there all mostly sold as parts cars, but i want to register it and drive it like it was suppose to. please let me know if anyone can help, theres no first gen Subarus for sale in Texas, or any nearby State. PM me or message me here and ill PM you. thanks for the help, i appreciate it.

 

[update: it runs! it has a clogged fuel filter or the fuel pump is no good]

[2nd Update: Fuel pick up tube in the tank was clogged because the original owner lost the fuel cap decades ago which caused the fuel pump to go out when something clogged, which put too much stress on the fuel pump power wire which caused it to melt (weird how the fuse is still good, perhaps they changed it and still couldn't figure it out) original fuel pump only works when its warmed up so i replaced it and now it works everytime]

 

--Pictures below--

 

8/29/15 at 10am rescuing the abandoned Subaru that was left to die in 2002.

IMG_1328_zpsyn90jrcd.jpg

 

not sure if its 94k or 194k, pretty sure its only 94k. also never knew that any first gen leones came with tachometers stock.. guess it was something they did at the end of 1979.

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4WD, 4speed, some kind of aftermarket radio.

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its all there.. nice and dusty. (factory A/C unknown if its any good, although i feel compression when i turn it) [update: engine runs] [2nd Update: A/C compressor is good]

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door panels are in good condition except for the interior door handles.

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Flawless roof (surprising) besides it being sun faded.

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love white walls.

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Looks like someone was already trying to sell it, or they just bought it and left it at the shop because of lack of parts? good thing theres the internet now. (i have tried to call the number and its out of service) are those the original floor mats??

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--------The Bad-----------------------------------------------------------

 

 

no old subaru is complete without the cracked dash (note inspection and registration from 2002) poor Subaru.

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Drivers side rust. im sure this is nothing for some compared to up north.

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Passenger rust (alittle worse)

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Random spot for rust to begin forming.

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nice little ding, cracked the plastic and dented the chrome.

IMG_1343_zps0nwskf3t.jpg

Edited by Subasaurus
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Have you looked into a title service? While you *can* swap vin's, you will still have the stamped vin on the firewall. I have not had to use a title service, but from what I have read, they title/register the car in a state that has low requirements for older cars, then you simply transfer the registration from state A to your state. Maybe a couple hundred and your legit. Oh, I think tachs were standard on GL trim.

 

Mark

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perhaps, but don't you have to be a resident at that state or have a mailbox? but anyways before i go that route i just want to see if anyone is willing to sell me their parts car, and if they want it back then they can have it back for more parts. and i didn't know all GL's had tachs..

but the firewall vin doesn't worry me, i could either modify it or not worry about it at all since they never seem to check any cars that i've ever registered.

Edited by Subasaurus
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Do you have land? Store it at your place. Put out a public notice in your area with the vin# and general info. Keep all records. After 30days you can file for a abandoned title. If someone comes to claim it. Have them pay the storage fee from when it was abandoned. Usually no one will claim it and if they do storage fee from 2002 will be more then what the car is worth.

At least in SD that's how it's done

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Also my brother in Co. Did that out of state thing. Think it was like $400 when it was all done took about a month. Title came from Virginia (I think been long ago)

I'm actually surprised the mechanic didn't file for a work lean on it then get the title.

Edited by bratbro
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I'm actually surprised the mechanic didn't file for a work lean on it then get the title.

can't, he has to hire an auctioneer (at my cost ofcourse) and i have to compete with other bidders which will probably go for $600ish, or more, who knows, but thats how its done in Texas, if i try to do it myself and get a title, they will attempt to call, mail and if no response/claim in 3 months, then i guess the vehicle is mine (after fees and the DMV's time) BUT the DMV will NOT accept any applications on a vehicle without a title valued below $4,000. so even if i get an appraiser to value my vehicle incorrectly, imagine the amount of taxes the title registration will cost me on a vehicle valued over $4,000.

 

so my best bet will be to ask here for a parts car (somewhere between 77-79, or lower, or whenever the wagon became available without too many changes) if im unsuccessful and one on craigslist has not appeared in a couple weeks, then i will travel to another state.

Edited by Subasaurus
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Great find, hope you can get it restored and on the road as it's in excellent condition apart from the (few) rust patches.

thanks,

Even old Subaru's that have never seen the snow still rust in a dry and hot climate, funny... but its all repairable and will repair it sometime in the future.

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  • 2 weeks later...

-bump-

 

im still searching for a 1977, 1978, 1979 Subaru Wagon, any color, any condition (literally), any location in the United States, i will travel to you for the title and money exchange of course, title in Salvage or Clean Condition Wanted. Plus the 2 metal vins.

 

i will post another comment below this one once i find one, if this is the last comment (by me), im still searching!

 

thanks.

 

update: im still searching, not looking for a pristine or complete Subaru :P

Edited by Subasaurus
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-bump-

im still searching for a 1977, 1978, 1979 Subaru Wagon, any color, any condition (literally), any location in the United States, i will travel to you for the title and money exchange of course, title in Salvage or Clean Condition Wanted. Plus the 2 metal vins.

i will post another comment below this one once i find one, if this is the last comment (by me), im still searching!

thanks.

Message me. Maybe we can work something out.

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  • 4 weeks later...

just an update, found a place that got me the title at a price of $520. not completely the right way but if the owner hasn't looked for his car in the past 14years, why will he return now :P plus before he gets to me, he has to get through the mechanic which im sure after 90days its the mechanics property anyways.

 

anyways thanks for all the help guys, i apreciate it.

 

ill be posting a couple of pictures of the wagon cleaned up and working in a bit.

Edited by Subasaurus
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Sorry I jumped in here late. Yes , nice ride and typical rust but grade - wise yours would likely be much better than ours up north etc.

 

Before letting yourself overspend and take more time from your life than you need to , I recommend you stay put and use the computer before trekking out or ordering a car. That is unless you get a really solid one that bypasses all work you would be doing. It's your call , your budget, but just hope you don't go money pit with it. Enjoy it !!!

 

I'll add more about parts etc later.

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Damn ! We had so many opportunities to grab tags and I think maybe I have one somewhere. Not sure which model but likely a wagon.

you'd likely want/need a matching dash ID plate.... That could get tricky.

no worries :P it has paper plates now..

 

although i spoke too soon, now the car wount stay running... so the car was dying on me and turns out it was the fuel pump so changed that and i have tested it and fills a cup in about 10seconds so im sure thats more than enough, one detail that interests me is the accelerator used to get stuck if i pushed it down more than 70% so thats all that i ever used it, between 0-70, any more than that and the engine would just get stuck in 5,000rpm or more untill i shut it off wait 2 seconds and it would idle again, never could figure out what was getting stuck, it wasn't the pedal or cable. now that i have full range of the pedal (mysteriously) the car is running like crap, after driving it like that for 10minutes, now the distributor timing has to be all the way to the right (after i think) just to have some power, after 5minutes of that now the pedal has to be all the way to the floor and timing all the way bottomed out just for the car to idle at 800rpm. the car would back fire ALOT when it was running like crap. i've checked the diaphram next to the distributor and it seems good (blew through the vacuum hose and the piece inside moved counterclockwise so thats not broken)

 

any ideas? :/

thanks.

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One thing is check the carb butterfly - throttle for excessive play. Make sure the linkage on the passenger side of the carb is as it should be, both solenoids able to open as they should.

 

But also sounds like the timing is off. Tough to find the mark on the flywheel but when you do get something to improve the timing marks. Sometimes poor carb set up makes us try things like having the distributor cranked way over to one side or the other but that never was the correct answer as I think you see.

 

Pardon me if I'm off but I'm just thinking quickly of past experiences while awful tired. Good luck with it.

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found the issue! so apparently something in the throttle in the carb freed up and screwed all my calibrations up, after timing it again at 8degrees (ofcourse it was more work just finding the marks) and retuning the mixture screw to 1/2 turn and its back running perfectly, the pedal doesn't get stuck anymore at over 70% .... so something unstuck since it was sitting for so long but im not complaining :P idles so much better now after whatever unstuck.

 

thanks moosens for the tips.

Edited by Subasaurus
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There's a 78? 79? wagon at the local You Pull Yard here in Albuquerque. I was thinking of stripping what I could off it myself, even tho I don't have one of those years yet.....
Things are not rusted that bad here in the Southwest. I'm going to see if I can get there Tuesday 10/20 (Tomorrow) if not I'm definitely hitting the Yard next week. I need some rear disks and a 5 speed for a 84 hatch project I have... I'll take pics of the wagon, see if I can pull anything etc.. .maybe I can go back and swipe a few things if you still need them
 

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