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Rally Cross a GLF


Blubaru703
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So I just bought a 1982 Subaru GLF and I intend on rally crossing it.

It is 100% stock right now and my question is what did I need to do to it to prepare it for rally cross? What are some worthwhile mods that will help the car and me? Also I was wondering if there are any good places out there where I can buy Fog lamps and Exterior lighting for the car?

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That is a great little car. My first car was one of those and it was just a hoot to drive. Can't help you much about where to get things where you live but just wanted to wish you luck with it and have some fun with your rallying. Have just started out myself and you can't wipe the smile off my face!

 

Andrew

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That is a great little car. My first car was one of those and it was just a hoot to drive. Can't help you much about where to get things where you live but just wanted to wish you luck with it and have some fun with your rallying. Have just started out myself and you can't wipe the smile off my face!

 

Andrew

 

Did you ever modify yours at all for rally? I just want to know if there are any good places on the Internet where I could buy parts for an old GLF, or am I stuck fabricating them myself?

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first suggestion, ditch the muffler, go cherry bomb. it might not make you go much faster, but it sounds awesome when its in the higher rpms...... second, either modify the air pan you have, or get another one and cut the sides off. from there it all depends on what class you want to run... i would think that any other modifycations would class you in at least g2 ( group 2, incase you didnt know ).... but either way you'll have a blast, i wish that i could get my new wagon down to some rally crosses, but sundays are just not a good day for me anymore so i have a hard time getting to em...... have fun and enjoy the car!

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first suggestion, ditch the muffler, go cherry bomb. it might not make you go much faster, but it sounds awesome when its in the higher rpms...... second, either modify the air pan you have, or get another one and cut the sides off. from there it all depends on what class you want to run... i would think that any other modifycations would class you in at least g2 ( group 2, incase you didnt know ).... but either way you'll have a blast, i wish that i could get my new wagon down to some rally crosses, but sundays are just not a good day for me anymore so i have a hard time getting to em...... have fun and enjoy the car!

 

I want to compete in the stock class/semi modified class. I know if I keep modifying it I wont be able to compete with the higher end imprezas. I don’t think that a new muffler constitutes as much of a mod. So I don’t believe that it will bump me up a class. Now the Cherry Bomb is just a Muffler or a full exhaust system? How noisy is the CB Muffler? The only problem we have in Virginia is there are to many damn cops that willing to pull you over for something as small as an aftermarket muffler. Virginia is such a police state. I already get hassled enough for the exhaust on my Sti but if it sounds as good as you say it is I probably won’t be able to resist getting one.:) I looked up Cheery bomb mufflers on google and could only find that CB turbo model. What model Muffler were you talking about before? What CB muffler would best fit a GLF?

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What part of Fairfax are you from?

 

I grew up in Fairfax, Graduated class of 1991.

 

Anywho.... One thing that might help your car perform better is tighter handling. I think whiteline sells better sway bars for the EA81's. Do a search in the marketplace. I am trying to fab up a front strut bar for my BRAT. Will share with you the results, maybe make a duplicate and take it back to VA with me.

 

One questions, are the GLF's 4WD. If so are they dual range? If not, you might get away w/putting in a dual range EA81 tranny. from the top they look the same, :wink: Then you can start out in 4wd 1 lo and get a lot more torque. Also in line w/the 4WD parts, you can get the front strut assembly for the 4WD brats and wagons, there is a height adjuster to raise the front of the car and get more ride height.

 

Accel or MSD also have hotter coils that you can put in. A Weber carb would also give you a lot more power.

 

In regards to not being able to keep up w. the high end imprezas. It really depends on the course and the driver. There is a 1.8 l impreza that regularly beats WRX's and other semi-prepped rally cars. The course has few straight aways so the high end power of these cars can't be fully used.

 

I was canyon driving w/some WRX's in my Outback. 140 HP w/3 passengers. Had no problem keeping up w/them going up the hill, down the hill, brakes overheated :banghead: and had to drop back.

 

Anyways good luck w/your build. Keep us posted.

 

BW

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What part of Fairfax are you from?

 

I grew up in Fairfax' date=' Graduated class of 1991.

 

Anywho.... One thing that might help your car perform better is tighter handling. I think whiteline sells better sway bars for the EA81's. Do a search in the marketplace. I am trying to fab up a front strut bar for my BRAT. Will share with you the results, maybe make a duplicate and take it back to VA with me.

 

One questions, are the GLF's 4WD. If so are they dual range? If not, you might get away w/putting in a dual range EA81 tranny. from the top they look the same, :wink: Then you can start out in 4wd 1 lo and get a lot more torque. Also in line w/the 4WD parts, you can get the front strut assembly for the 4WD brats and wagons, there is a height adjuster to raise the front of the car and get more ride height.

 

Accel or MSD also have hotter coils that you can put in. A Weber carb would also give you a lot more power.

 

In regards to not being able to keep up w. the high end imprezas. It really depends on the course and the driver. There is a 1.8 l impreza that regularly beats WRX's and other semi-prepped rally cars. The course has few straight aways so the high end power of these cars can't be fully used.

 

I was canyon driving w/some WRX's in my Outback. 140 HP w/3 passengers. Had no problem keeping up w/them going up the hill, down the hill, brakes overheated :banghead: and had to drop back.

 

Anyways good luck w/your build. Keep us posted.

 

BW[/quote']

 

At this point I don’t know a whole lot about the GLF. I know its 100% stock aside for the aftermarket radio. I might consider putting in new springs later on. Is the tranny of a stock GLF strong enough to take basic rallyX? Also would it be better for me to upgrade the tire size on the car? I am interested in Sways and struts so let me know how it goes when you finished with yours. I have seen the Weber carb kit in the past. How much more hp and torque will it give me over stock? And I was wondering what will it do to my gas mileage? It will also be daily driver next year so I don’t want to be getting bad gas mileage. ;)

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Is the tranny fwd or 4WD?

 

Easiest way to tell is how many levers do you have in the center console. Tranny should be fine. Only option in terms of larger tires are either Peugot (pug) rims or drilled out 6 lugs. I had 15 inch pugs w/205/55/15 tires and it handled great. I had to bash the inner fender to get them to clear when I was turning. I would also rub a bit when I would hit bumps. Probably not the best way to go if you rally cross, since there will be a lot of bumps.

 

In regards to your muffler and VA PD giving you a hard time, get a separate tail pipe for rally cross. One thing to remember is that will not get huge gains w/a large diameter tail pipe. Something to do with the scavengering effect of the exhaust... look up EA81 performance in the archives. There use to be a page about EA81 performance in this site but I can't find it.

 

Have fun

 

BW

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The webber carby combined with a better flowing exhaust will give it the best power increase for the money. I know here in Australia the 1970-80s 2.0L fords (Escort and Cortina) ran the same weber carby as recommended for the 1.8L Subaru. All that is required is the adapter plate to fit it up to the manifold. I have some pictures and diagrams if you wish.

 

Is what you call Rallyx grass courses or proper dirt? There are always used Bilstein struts for sale for the Subarus and they are much better than just replacing your existing springs. They go for about $500us a set.

 

Tyre size is dependant on the type of surace you are running on but I would suggest just staying stock size at the moment and getting some second hand ones they should provide more than enough grip for your car. After the GLF I had a 1982 4x4 wagon which I put some old rally tyres on and that was unbelievable fun to drive. The wagon was less capable than the tyres so I never bothered putting better ones on.

 

If you have the time then you could fit up a 4x4 drive train into yours. There are instructions about on these forums to do that but it involves swapping the fuel tank as well.

 

Andrew

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The farm course that I will be rallying on is completely dirt. It is fairly smooth for the first 20 or so runs and than the ruts start so develop. I just went out to check my car and it turns out it is fwd. :mad: I guess I just assumed that it being a Subaru it must be awd lol. But that’s ok because rallyX is about skill. AWD can only help you so much because if you don’t have the skills I really won’t matter. I think at that last RallyX venue I went to an old Nissan sentra won and most of the competitors there that day were AWD.

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I have another question for you all. Did the 82 GL's come with Power steering? Mine doesn’t have any and it’s starting ti drive me crazy. Also when I am shifting and downshifting into second gear I keep getting this Crush noise like the gears are grinding but it still goes into gear just fine aside from the noise. Do you know what might be causing that?

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I have another question for you all. Did the 82 GL's come with Power steering? Mine doesn’t have any and it’s starting ti drive me crazy. Also when I am shifting and downshifting into second gear I keep getting this Crush noise like the gears are grinding but it still goes into gear just fine aside from the noise. Do you know what might be causing that?

 

This is a later time period than your 1982; do you know you have the original transmission? I've had four failed used-Japanese-transmission replacement attempts; one disqualified because of grinding into 2nd, after I found the TSB at Alldata and showed the mechanic:

 

M/T - 2nd Gear Grinds NUMBER:03-43-89 DATE: 02-10-89 APPLICABILITY 1985 THROUGH 1988 MODEL YEAR SUBARU VEHICLES WITH MANUAL TRANSMISSION SUBJECT:2ND GEAR GRIND

... Improvements have taken place in production starting with transmission number 072334 which is approximately the beginning of 89 MY production.

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This is a later time period than your 1982; do you know you have the original transmission? I've had four failed used-Japanese-transmission replacement attempts; one disqualified because of grinding into 2nd, after I found the TSB at Alldata and showed the mechanic:

 

M/T - 2nd Gear Grinds NUMBER:03-43-89 DATE: 02-10-89 APPLICABILITY 1985 THROUGH 1988 MODEL YEAR SUBARU VEHICLES WITH MANUAL TRANSMISSION SUBJECT:2ND GEAR GRIND

... Improvements have taken place in production starting with transmission number 072334 which is approximately the beginning of 89 MY production.

 

I know it's the cars second engine. I noticed that if i don't shift soo fast the gears won't grind in second but if i try to do any fast off the go shifting it will grind. Maybe it's something i will have to learn to live with but i'm not going to let a little thing like that stop me from autoXing. :headbang:

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