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First post! Here are some pics of my 88' GL. I call her Constance. I have just about a million photos of her, but these are some of my favorites. Everything is stock except the exhaust which custom made by the last owner, nothing loud just not stock. Not exactly sure why it was done but it's not an issue, so I don't mind. Also, the rims were painted black which I'm a huge fan of. -Philly

A friend of ours from Houston drove up to my house a couple weeks ago and we headed up to the UP. Once we got there we stopped for pasties and ate them at a park along Lake Michigan on the edge of town. A younger guy stopped on his motorcycle and asked about the Impreza, we talked Subarus for a bit. He had just imported a 99 STI from Japan. It's funny to me, ever since I got this Impreza I've gotten a lot more questions and had a lot more people taking pictures of the car than with the other Subarus. Not sure how much of that is people's love of first gen Imprezas and how much is the fact that you don't see many turn of the century Subarus driving around anymore. We drove up to the campground along the reservoir in the southern UP. M and B showed up later. Friday we went to the rapids and then hit the mini banked oval. There was a snapping turtle at the edge of the oval. Then we wandered up to the Baraga pipeline grade. We were all entertained as usual. Hit some of the sandy stunt areas nearby and a few of the side trails. Before we got to Houghton we were on a trail in the woods where we decided to turn around. I could not get the Forester out of the ruts so we eventually put a bunch of branches and sticks in the ruts and I was eventually able to get out. Then going back down the trail I was crabbing the Forester sideways for hundreds of feet before I finally got straightened out. Headed north to Houghton and then to Gay beach. M declared it the mother of all stunt areas. Drove much farther south than we had before after crossing a narrow spit of tailings along the lake. Did some side by side uphill jumps and then decided maybe we should leave while we still could. Checked out the mine building ruins, some good post apocalyptic flavor there. Temps were solid while driving on Gay beach which is a good test of high duty cycle and low speeds. Then they crept up in the woods and we discovered one of the fan fuses was blown. The passenger side fan would turn most of the way pretty easily but there was one spot in the rotation it would get stuck. We eventually figured out there was a tiny pebble(?) stuck to the outer ring of the fan blades. We were eventually able to get it off and replaced the fuse. Later we noticed it had a slight coolant leak. We tracked this down to the small welds on the underhood heater core that attach the mounting flange to the end tanks. Rerouted the heater hoses to the stock configuration. Got up to the top of the cliff along Cliff drive. I had parked a few hundred feet back from the first overlook and when I was walking back to my car a UTV was coming up. I heard the driver blurt out “what the f--k?” when he saw the Impreza. He told me he knows people who won't take their Jeeps up the rocky climb we took to get to the top. I then walked back to the overlook and he said the same thing to the other guys. We drove to the next overlook and hard parked on the edge for some pictures. The yoopers showed up again and we talked to them for a while. “This isn't what most people from Illinois do when they come up here” one of them says while holding out his pinky finger. They had both seen different UFOs and had some story about a cave nearby that no one could find with a wall of silver and a bag of gold coins. I believed the UFO stories more. We camped at the overlook. Saturday morning we headed up to Brockway Mountain. As we pulled on to the long road going there we were proceeded by three extremely slow drivers. We pulled off on a side trail rather than test our patience following them the whole way there. This trail eventually led to a very sketchy bridge but we managed to cross it. I think it was in this area I checked one muddy stretch on foot and it didn't seem too bad so I drove through it, but I was barely able to do so and then the ruts were deeper and softer. So I told B he shouldn't come through and I didn't want to go back through so worst case we come back to that spot in a half hour. Fortunately we were able to maintain radio contact and I was able to drive around the block so to speak and meet back up with them. We eventually found a different way out of the area. At one point the temps had started to creep up in the Impreza again and a fan fuse was blown. This one was probably from the fans running while driving in deep water, we replaced it and never had the problem again. We eventually got up to Brockway Mountain from the other side. After we'd been on trails for quite a while and got back to pavement B said the Forester was shaking quite a bit. Turned out all the LR lugnuts on his Forester were loose and one was missing. We tightened down the ones we could and continued. From there we did a little more trail riding and buzzed up to the beach to camp for the night. At camp B swapped out his wheel studs on the LR hub as most of them were somewhat damaged or packed full of aluminum. Sunday we started heading back on various trails. One of them eventually became deeply rutted and I didn't think I could get through without taking off a mirror so we turned around. We came to a fairly long and deep water crossing where beavers had flooded a road. There was a muskrat swimming in it when we pulled up. I walked it and it was just below knee deep for a couple hundred feet. I drove through it in the Impreza after we removed the fan fuses. There was water over the front of the hood for a good portion of the crossing and we realized we should have stuck the gopro on. B crossed it in the Forester and then we put the gopro on the Impreza and I crossed it back the way we came and then back again to proceed. At the top of the hill right next to the stream was a cool old furnace of some kind. Later we found the beaver dam that was flooding that road. The highlight of the day was probably discovering and climbing Mt Houghton. Probably the most intimidating rocky climb we accomplished that weekend (ever in the UP?) and one of the best views in the UP once we made it to the top. Got gas and water at the Lac La Belle resort. Cashier was using binoculars to read the mechanical gas pumps. Found a silly hillclimb along the border of a wildlife sanctuary that M almost convinced me to try but ultimately we decided it should wait for a different weekend. Buzzed down to Lake Linden to camp that night so J could take a shower and we'd be closer to the portage. Monday morning we took the Bill Nichols trail basically all the way from South Range to Adventure Mountain with a few detours and stops for some stunt areas and mines along the way. M and J enjoyed the Firesteel trestles and the lookout near the top of Adventure mountain and we headed back from there. The trail west out from the Adventure mountain climb was rough and narrow but we made it through with some extra dents in the rockers and floorboards. Stopped near the end of that trail to air up and eat PB&Js. We drove down to Watersmeet together and the Impreza seemed to have some high frequency vibration that didn't go away when I put the clutch in. Cleaned some dirt out of the wheels when we stopped for gas but that didn't help. Stopped again and discovered two of the driveshaft bolts were missing from the pinion flange. I had looked before but those two must have been up. Installed some bolts and tightened them all down and had a smooth ride home. Could only run the AC intermittently on the way home or the coolant temp would creep up. Overall a good weekend, cooling issues with the Impreza are still frustrating but we all had a good time. J and M were impressed with the Impreza, especially the EZ36. J definitely enjoyed the UP and quickly got in the groove of following overgrown trails (with a surprisingly high success rate of connecting to other trails this weekend). M said it was probably his favorite off road trip we've taken, no major malfunctions, lots of stunt areas, lots of overgrown trails (which he likes). Removed the radiator after we got home and it seemed clean. I had sprayed it off at the car wash but that's usually not too effective. So I'm still a bit surprised the car was running hot on the highway. We did check the overflow at least once when it was hot and still have never seen air bubbles. After spraying the condenser out from the back with a hose wand it did become clear that a lot of the fins on it are bent over. We did go through a lot of brush so it's probably from the fan blades spinning leaves and twigs against the condenser. Should be getting a replacement today, hopefully that brings the temps back under control. Also got a pair of 80s Ford Econoline heater cores I plan on putting where the extra heater core is now for more cooling capacity.

First joined this forum 20 years ago when I had an 84 hatch that I had bought sitting in a field while I was in high school. At the time, I had a 91 Legacy. Drove that till it blew up and then picked up an 83 Brat that I found for sale on here and picked up another 83 for parts. Had a 2000 RS coupe in college, then a 95 Outback beater. Sold the RS and got an 05 STi, sold it in 2016 and got back into an 04 WRX in 2022. Picked up this 84 GL 2 weeks ago as if I needed another project but I am not poor on vehicles - also have a 2019 Tundra and 2015 Rav4. This thing was in surprisingly good shape for being an east TN car. With that, it does have its issues. I have on my work bench a new rear wheel bearing to install, hatch struts, will need a radiator as I see it dripping. I am also trying to nail down why the blower isn't working. I pulled the fan resistor switch last night and it showed continuity but I need to see exactly what ohm values it's supposed to have. Nothing like reading 20+ year old USMB posts. We still like pics on here?

Hi yall, been a minute. Glad to see the forum is still up. I'm about to check out an XT6 that was just listed for sale. 1988. Was driven to where it sits, but been sitting for several years. I've got a 94 ej22t wagon that'd I consider swapping the engine from. My question is, can I use the ej22t ecu with the XT6 autobox? I'd like to 5spd swap it. I've got an 89 GL wagon d/r and another d/r 5spd laying around. I'd rather source an ej series 5 speed for parts availability, durability. EJ 5spd should work with the XT6 splines correct? Anyway, I'm either buying the XT6 (dunno how the rust situation underneath is) or there's a non-running ea82 turbo wagon (originally a California car w no rust) a couple hours drive south that I have lined up, with a spare motor. XT6 is pretty darn rare here in western Canada. My buddy had a turbo XT in highschool and it was a blast. Not the best weight distribution. I figure it'd make a pretty fun cruiser or potential drift car with the weight so far upfront. I know in the past some have set the engine further back, cutting the firewall. Anyway, just spitballin another irresponsible car purchase. I'd like to get it running this summer.

So awesome. I love exploring that area! The time required to get my Outback or 4Runner into a condition to confidently do that is just not on my priority list right now. So I'm living vicariously through you!

I've had pretty poor luck with aftermarket ones leaking in less than a year. 25240KA041 genuine Subaru number, MSRP is $24.57. Every dealer has a pile of them (I have 15 at the moment). I used a Subaru switch on my Toyota Celica because I was tired of the aftermarket ones leaking and the Toyota one has an MSRP of $71

Try looking for an EMPI 86-1098-D. See if the boot shape matches. :]

The chrome bumpers is what I always look for on these to indicate 2wd vs 4wd.

I’d argue that new boots on an old OEM cv shaft assembly is well worth the effort if it’s not left to grind along with loads of road grime, water and dirt in there. A mate of mine swears by stretchy boots. I saw one (now a meme somewhere) that wrapped the boot around the shaft a number of times when the gizzards of the CV joint let go for whatever reason. The CV joint was rebuilt on the side of the road and the boot reused! I’ve used various aftermarket boots with good success. I next time I’ll be trying these stretchy boots. Cheers Bennie

When you buy the entire CV axial, the boots will last for a couple hundred thousand miles. What the subaru mechanics like to do it coat them with a fluid that causes them to disintegrate in about 3 weeks, so you will be back in 4 weeks to have even more work done. It is generally a waste of time to put new boots on a high mileage CV axial. Replace the entire assembly.

It's not a hard job, but very labor intensive. - Remove all the interior trim around the windows to drop the headliner. Do it when it's warm and there is less chance of the plastic pins breaking. - Remove the headliner, drop the seats so you have the most room to turn it and get it out the rear hatch without bend it too much - Disconnect the sunroof wiring and drain tubes - Unbolt the sunroof, 2 helpers make it easier. - Reverse to install the used one. If you have access to self-serve yards, you can practice on a yard car. I know some of the slide hardware changed from year to year. If you change the complete frame that issue goes away. Best of luck!

I know that feeling. I have an EJ turbo conversion on the go for the last four years. I’ve barely touched it in the last year. It’ll get there. Cheers Bennie

Thanks! It appears someone definitely paid for the undercoating and it paid off. I've only seen some very minor flaking on the front bumper attachment points.

First thought that comes to my mind is the bearing failed, the shaft got some weeble-wobble and cooked the bearing. Heat went up the shaft and cooked the rotor. If this is an optical distributor, I'd be curious of the condition of the "eye" (the little donut-shaped module that sits under the rotor beneath the metal shield.) That eye module is also made of plastic. It may have also been damaged if this is a toasty bearing scenario. :]

Just realised your plates are very similar in number to my green sedan JK4474 - mine is registered as a 1989, so yours must be a very late 79 rego, and mine a very early 1980! Would be keen to see some progress pics if there's any? Cheers

Man, it has been too long since the last update! Gertie is still kicking, still WOFed, and still in need of the EJ swap and certification. Life gets in the way of grand plans sometimes, but they are still in motion.

Kinda hard to tell much from those pics... But it doesn't matter much anyway. You're going to need to inspect the distributor. Shaft wobbles so much the rotor is hitting things? Time for bushings. Some part of the advance mechanism loose and jamming into the rotor? Repair. Etc. Find nothing wrong? Put in a new rotor and inspect periodically.

From what I can see, that car looks surprisingly solid. Nice find!

So I believe I discovered thr original issue of a delay of charging was due to the battery indicator bulb being burned out, so it wasn’t signaling the alternator to start charging upon startup. I’ve replaced the bulb and so far, it is charging within a couple seconds of starting.

I think just a hell of a lot of back n forth, up n down, heat, penetrant, prayers, voodoo dolls, whatever you’ve got. Going back to the intake manifold bolts and their holes I would not hesitate to check the threads and run a tap down them, bottoming tap if possible. You’re in territory we’ve left long ago. But our memories aren’t so faded. Those intake bolts and their holes get a lot of corrosion no matter where you live and they are notoriously difficult. Given you’ve got yours out comfortably maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll seat with enough torque again. But I would not place good odds on that happening. For sure you should use some Loctite. What I’ve done and others is use an insert, not a heli-coil. The Brand I use is TimeSerts and they’re a little more but you’ll be able to remove your bolts with ease and send them back in again. Your choice and I don’t blame you if you just use Loctite and call it a day. Just be aware those are old and we’ve been there. I would not count on any old sealant that’s been cured for ages resetting itself at this point. I thought those were just pressed in.

Last line in my post above. Lol I might have one still. I don’t have EA82 items in general but I can picture one in a plastic multi drawer thingamajig. Don’t hold your breath though. Otherwise I would hope one of us has one or find a yard with one sitting around. Good luck and please post back with your results.

I went reverse, 2006 alternator in 98 impreza. Swapped from black rectangle to green oval plugs and works fine. Though 13.5-14v at the battery is kinda of standard nowadays, it's okay for newer batteries.

Your descriptions sounds like a problem I had when the Exhaust Gas Temperature sensor in the exhaust needed replacing. $25 You also might want to change out all of the relay switches under the dash over your left knee cap. Make sure all the breather hoses are soft and get a good seal, as the rock hard breather hoses on top of the engine no longer seal. See my thread on Rock Hard Breather Hoses. Make sure that the timing advance vacuum on the distributor still holds a vacuum when you suck on the inlet. Take apart the distributor if it is not an electronic distributor, and make sure all of the swing weights are not worn on their pivot, have grease on them and they swing properly. Make sure the distributor cap is not cracked. Verify that the engine problems do not occur only when you are running accessories. If accessories cause the engine problems then you need to change out your engine ground at it's left front connection to the frame, and also look for rock hard electrical wires running from your + positive battery terminal to the bottom side of the fusible link box as it loses it's ability to carry current.

Welcome back to USMB! I doubt I can help much with questions about your Outback but you never know. I DD a 87 DL wagon and also enjoy my 2003 WRX wagon so that is what I know best. No shame in your new car not being "new". I'll be 66 soon and have never owned a new car in my life and have no plans to ever make that mistake decision. The most I've ever spent on a vehicle was $9500 and only once have I ever bought a car from a dealer. Every other vehicle has come from a private party. The amount of money I have saved by avoiding depreciation and not being in debt constantly, has allowed me to enjoy owning multiple classic cars while on an average salary and being comfortably set up to retire at the end of this year.

That video is OK, but kind of short on detail. Do a YouTube search for "Miles Fox EA82" and watch his timing belt video. He posted on this board for a long time, and his videos are good ones that have a lot of why you're doing what you're doing instead of just how to do it.

Go back to ACE and get an metric allen bolt + nylon lock nut sized to fit.

oil pressure sending unit

Truly the realest most impressive approach.

You could narrow the subframe... you could add fender flares... orrr.... you could cut the brat down the middle and add 6" of sheet metal!

Well, everything was sort of in place for me to get a first order test fit even with my bum leg. Doc says I'm good to do pretty much anything that doesn't stress the break through my new aircast boot, but no running, jumping, sprinting, wrestling, or heavy lifting. Basically I have to be deliberate with my movements and creative with the use of wheels and levers when it comes to heavy stuff. I'm not pushing it, even though this update so soon may appear otherwise. I had all the heavy stuff in place already, so today was just minor manipulation to see how things sit. The new diff does in fact mate directly up with the original front diff mount, exactly where it needs to be. The bolt patterns are exactly the same and the lengths are almost identical as well, so I will be reusing the OEM Brat front mount for the differential. I may need to figure out a replacement option for the rubber bushings that secure the front mount to the frame, but for now the originals are intact enough. There's a little interference on the tires at the front of the wheel wells which I should be able to counteract by placing the trailing arm mounts correctly in combination with narrowing the wheelbase. As far as the width goes, one could ostensibly leave that alone and just flare the wheel wells out to accomodate things, but that's not the direction I'm going to take with this build, as I'm going for a more subtle outward appearance. Lastly for the big rear diff subframe, it is a few inches too wide and will need some trimming and a creative solution to mount to the frame. likely more bracketry. In the spirit of the build I'm hoping to reuse what I can from the Impreza - I bet I can come up with something to allow me to repurpose the bushings that mounted it to the undercarriage of the newer car when I narrow the pivot points governing the rear wheelbase - the plan for which I've sketched in on the photo. Red dashes indicate cuts and shifts I plan to make to the pivots, green indicates the trimming of the outside edge so I can move the frame mount bushings to a place where they will be able to be attached to the frame. It looks like the original fuel tank will either need some serious modification to fit in the space with the new subframe, or I'll need to fabricate an entirely new cell. I suspect I should be able to find something serviceable that will fit behind the entire assembly and still meet up with the original fill spout. Just need to take some measurements once I've got the new differential subframe into place. It seems easy enough to put a new cell behind the differential, under the bed, but I'm a little concerned that may turn my Brat into a Pinto in the event of a rear end collision. There's also an empty space up behind the cab, but I'm not exactly excited about that placement, either. Suggestions for solutions are welcomed but as usual not expected

I've done a few different restoration techniques. None of them terribly difficult, and look great at first. But I generally see them start to cloud again within a year. I did one that involved protecting them with Spar Urethane, which I think lasted 2 or 3. Lately I just put some fine polishing compound on my buffer, and do a couple passes on them. I try to do this for our daily drivers every fall so they're perfect for the dark winter. The hardest part is finding the tote of car wash stuff and getting it out and an extension cord out to the cars. It's about 1 minute of actual buffing per car.

More steps forward today! I took the leap and pulled the front knuckles & lower control arms from the impreza. No going back now! One of my buddies gave me the great suggestion of putting the car on a pair of small Harbor Freight moving dollies, so $20 and a scrap 4x6 later and I'm still able to push the husk in and out of the shop after all of today's work - which is both great and not so great. Great in that I can keep my neighbors happy for a time longer - not so great in that it's still in my workspace every morning until I push it out of the way 😅. Enough about my neighbors though - onto the nuts and bolts of the matter! Jacked up the Impreza and got to disassembly. Not too hard, just took some time to keep nuts and bolts together with their constituent parts and assemblies as I removed things, moving one side of the car at a time. Starting on the drivers side I pulled the CV, knuckle/hub assembly, and lower control arm. The knuckles bolted right onto the new coilovers, however the stock cam bolts at the top from the Impreza don't fit the new coilovers - the holes are too small. Going to have to do a little figuring there but for now they're good enough to hold everything roughly in place. I'm going to have to go digging to see if they come with bolts when new or not. Minor problem. The lower control arms almost fit perfectly into the mounts on the original subframe. The distances are exactly the same and accomodate the width of the bushing like it was supposed to go in from the factory - only modification required here was opening up the holes a little bit. There's probably a metric equivalent but i took a pair of calipers to the bushing bolts and found that boring out the mount first to 15/32" and then only the front flange to 31/64" with a hand drill will accommodate the bolt with no play. Based on another build I've seen I will need to reinforce the front flange by welding in a thick washer later - suspension action has the potential to make this hole oblong over time. After that, just had to hook up the control arm and knuckle to get an idea of what this will look like. I loosely reattached the brake caliper bracketry, rotor, and a wheel to get an idea of how this'll sit and I'm pretty tickled with where it's at. I'm going to want to adjust the coilovers longer, these 15" wheels take up a lot of space in the wheel well in comparison to the old 13's. Now that that's done I'm going to have to mock up a template for the other mount on the control arm - likely will get something cut and bent like the transmission mount so I can just bolt it up and zap it in. I'll have a little peek around under the car tomorrow or early this week - maybe I'll get lucky with another choice bolt hole somewhere.

My ‘81 dropping by to get parts for my ‘23

Wow, so the dealer paperwork has like everything like I even found the "Pre-Delivery Inspection and Adjustment Service Check List," signed and in great condition, notice how the tachometer and clock don't have a check, and mine is lacking those. Long list of pics but it shows everything I mentioned in the last post along with some of the paperwork. https://ibb.co/K2Cv7Vw https://ibb.co/4mdj2yZ https://ibb.co/Zz6YMxL https://ibb.co/HzMdk5Y https://ibb.co/bN38n8G https://ibb.co/T8fjz1w https://ibb.co/pW7M0cP https://ibb.co/7VgYSx2 https://ibb.co/SdsSwYD https://ibb.co/G047xV7 https://ibb.co/MVw4Lqq https://ibb.co/4Y38pgH https://ibb.co/hC7cjHd https://ibb.co/pXzL8mx https://ibb.co/2qSBpm1 https://ibb.co/YL9JWZV

I'll try to remember, but if I fail to, I'm sure someone will find this post and ask.

This really disturbs me. That these, and who knows how many other thousands of old parts there are, sitting in Subaru warehouses. With no way for anyone to even begin to find them, unless they have an old parts book. I got these numbers from a guy on facebook, who had such a book, as incredibly ironic as that is... When I bought my 83 ragtop 4 years ago, In February in Indiana, at night, in sub-zero temperatures, the thermostat was stuck wide open. I went to the dealership I had actually worked at in the early 90s for a tstat. The kid at the parts counter was, like, "Uh...like, our system only goes back to like 85." I just glared at him, turned around, and went to Napa. I was too steamed to even discuss why: 1. He had no clue that they were the same as the 85-94s. 2. That Subaru had not bothered to put anything older in their system. I realize they are only required to sell parts for 15 years after manufacture, but why keep these parts in stock then?!? I really see this as a failure of Subaru to support the survivors of their brand. They should be featuring some of our old relics... with the old relics (us) that keep them alive, in their sales propaganda, instead of all the 20-somethings and their dogs camping in brand-new Crosstreks... Forgive my rant.

So bypassed the pole like you said and immediately heard the pump turn on . A great sound to hear after all the digging through all the wires and testing allvthe power points. So next step I would guess is order a new relay?

The majority of clock failures is due to the choice of main power regulator. THE clock circuit runs on 5v. THE 3 most practical ways to get 5v from 12 are switching regulator, pass transistor regulator, zener regulator. These are listed by order , highest to lowest. Cost, efficiency, complexity. They chose the cheapest simplest and least efficient one. SO it has to cook away a watt or 2 of heat. In a small enclosed box. THAT is installed in a closed space, dashboard, where the ambient temperature can get over 140 degrees. The resistor that drops most of the voltage as waste heat gets so hot that it causes the solder on its leads to corrode and the connections fail. A linear pass transistor regulator would have to dissipate roughly half the power that the zener regulator does. Even back then, those were cheap and common. Side note, a switcher was not a financially practical choice back then. There is one other feature of the clock design that can be improved also. BY adding a diode and capacitor to the keep alive power feed, the clock doesn't forget the time when starting the car like it did a few times per year, before I added them. They actually had no filter on that line to smooth over momentary voltage dips.

These front windscreen rubbers weigh about 2 kg or smidge more and are quite easily obtained here in Australia from a company that does not really do export. I have sent a few to a dude in the UK a few times, and his first shipping container just landed in UK, ful of them ...no, kidding, he got fifteen though try enter www.ebay.com.au in your address bar, use Brumby windscreen seal see what happens

I Agree, the Clutch Fan is not a good Idea at all, I removed it and retrofitted Twin Electric Fans, also I posted a Complete Writeup with Photos, explaining such retrofitting procedure in five easy steps. The Writeup is Here: ~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/125754-easy-guide-on-five-steps-to-twin-electric-fans-swap/ Kind Regards.

Yeah the early Manual, dual range 4wd cars (ea81 cars, 80-84) had the 4wd lever pivot point mounted solid to the body. When the trans mounts get bad, and the trans moves around it chnages the relative location to the lever.........causing it to try to engage 4wd. Later models (85-89) with Dual range have the 4wd shifter mounted to the shifter stay, and isolated by a rubber bushing....so the trans can move around, and the lever stays relative with it. The 4wd light and the lever jumping around is definately your trans mounts.

if the axle nut and washers are in place on the other side you should be ok with just the one thats stripped., but with the only thing that was holding you wheel on being your brakes you should look into that too. new pads, if it hasn't eating away at your caliper and bracket too much they could still be used at your own risk. The reason you cant drive it in 2wd with one stripped hub is called an open differential, it sends power to both wheels and if one isnt connected it sends all the power to the one thats slipping. thats why you are able to turn, if it were a locked differential, it would send equal power to both wheels but you couldn't turn very well. the 4wd light is a minor issue like gloyale said probably trans mounts. you said its a loyale with a d/r swap? maybe check the bolts and make sure they are tight.

I took a 1 hour drive out to a country junk yard that has a few wrecked, old Subarus... I was able to get a Purge Control Valve off a 93 Loyale for only $15! That sure beats the dealer cost of $102! Now my 92 Loyale's check engine light is out and the engine also seems to run a little smoother as well. Hopefully this will imporve the gas millage to. The best part was that the junk yards "lot car" was an old 90 Loyale wagon that was tearing through the huge mud puddles and thick mud like it was nothing! I'm glas to see they can still take a beating after all these years! T.J.