edrach

Here's the first of the Friday photos of our early arrivals: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=902

Interesting, when I came down yesterday afternoon at the motel, there were about 20 people with backpacks in the front lobby trying on t-shirts. Obviously, a group of bicyclists or runners. It must have been the Hood to Coast group.

I know you guys will chastise me for this but there are two wineries within 5 miles of the fairgrounds. We did the winery tour today and the Pheasant Valley Winery is fine!

Prices should be available anytime, just ask. I've found it doesn't pay to haggle at most yards. Pull a Part yards are so reasonable that it doesn't really pay. Others will remember you and quote higher next time. Yards that pull the parts for you are usually more expensive than PaP yards. If you're not sure of etiquette, don't be shy, just ask.

Your original VIN cut key was improperly done; get another made and make sure it works properly before making copies. Also, use some tri-flow lubricant on all your locks; sounds like they need it.

Salvage titles only hurt you if you want to re-sell and make a profit. But if you want to keep it for yourself, this is a pretty good deal. A front clip from a wagon would replace what you have there if you're very handy and want to have a real project. If it becomes more than you want to deal with, you're only out your time and the $450 which is nothing compared to buying a non-salvage titled Brat with some rust issues for $1000 or more. No rust in your neck of the woods is worth a lot. If you buy it, document everything in terms of what was wrong and what was done to repair it. Salvage titles are only an excuse for insurance companies to total out a car so they don't have to deal with the actual repair costs. If you document everything and repair it properly, you might even recover the actual value of the car before the salvage title was issued.

Honeydo won the auction at $7300!! I have to save this for the archives and it's time to insure my Brat for increased value.

Boy, I think I will have to hold off selling my Brat for a bit and fix it up this nice. Did anyone else read the answers to the questions? He says the engine and tranny work was done by Brian, your independent Subaru guru; I wonder if that was the Brian I know when he was still in Burien? Car is now located in Louisiana. If so, I might re-install a Brian rebuilt engine. This is too cool.

Those are stock alloy wheels; check the wheels section in Subarus of the '80's; I think they are vintage '83 or thereabouts.

That article should go into the USRM....great!

Great post; should get archived in the USRM!

I didn't say he shouldn't replace the speedo sensor; but if the car runs okay at 0 mph, then the sensor may be the only problem. But if the car runs like crap at 0 mph and stalls, there are other problems that might need to be addressed that are possibly more simple than wildly replacing sensors.

Except for the clutch and headgaskets, everything you mention should be able to be done without pulling the engine. Before you pull the engince check for HC's in the coolant and if there are none, why do you think you need a headgasket? If your car is a 2.2L engine, your head gasket should be okay but it wouldn't cost much to check first. 130K is not too early to need a clutch but do you really need it? Other items you mention should fall into the $600 to $1000 range. If you need a clutch and headgaskets, you could be in around $2500. I'd keep evaluating my options at this point; expecially avoid that $6700 deal!

Does the car stall and run like crap when parked in neutral? I don't quite know how the sensor would affect the engine's running when you're not at speed. If it won't run at idle, I'd look for the simple things like broken/cracked vacuum line or hose, dirty air filter, etc. first before I get too deep into troubleshooting this. KISS applies here until proven otherwise. Having any CEL codes?

Regarding the overheating issue: it should not overheat when you are driving at speed....fan working or not is not the issue here since it's not needed at cruising speed. It only matters when sitting at a traffic light and having the engine idle and not moving any air through the radiator. Pics look pretty good except for the shabby radio "installation" and cracked dash. Having replaced a dash in my time (thanks again for the help Turbone), be aware it'll take you the better part of 10+ hours for two people to do it once you have an acceptable dash to install. Car looks like a great project car with excellent potential; just be aware of what you might be getting into as well as the possible cost of parts.

Thermoswitch is likely okay; it's usually a bad connector or bad ground that makes the fan not work.

Look for the rust. Some common places: underside of the tail-gate and under the car in the left rear quarter panel where the tail-pipe comes out of the muffler. Exhaust gases combine with water and cause the bumper mounts and frame area to rust out. Look around the door frames also. If the car is perfect it is worth $2500 easily, but I certainly wouldn't offer much above $1500 for it at first. '82 was a unique year since the rear tail-lights, headlights and trim are different from any other year. Is it a DL or GL model? GL had t-tops and instrumentation and is worth the prices mentioned. DL would be okay to use but worth significantly less to purchase or re-sell. Make sure rear bumper is straight; bumper pieces are no longer available new and hard to find used. Check out the tranny; find a good dirt road and make sure it will go from 2WD to 4WD easily. Drive it on the highway at 65 to 70 and make sure it doesn't overheat. Good luck; sounds like a nice find.

Some of the Shuck's around here (Bothell, WA) also take anti-freeze. Depends on local county regs. Ask them.

Interesting comments, GD. You'll be surprised that I have no more 4 speed gearboxes. My Brat has a 5 speed, but the synchros there are pretty shot so the Redline did not help much. Other than that, the Redline NS is only in my daily driver and the Impreza that I use mainly for rallycross and backup use. I will be installing it in my wife's Impreza as soon as I get around to it.

Water sprayed out is usually the sign of a bad head gasket.

I use the 75W90NS from Redline. The NS is an additive to promote friction on the synchros and is to be used specifically for older gearboxes. I used it on my '91 Legacy when I first got it--93K miles and a distinct crunch going into 2nd. The crunch went away around 100K and I have 172K on the gearbox now. I don't know if the better shifting is due to the Redline NS or that I compensate for the crunch by shifting slower. Either way I can't argue with success. By the way, for us Seattle people, Chris at Bow-Wow Auto Parts in Lynnwood sells Redline 75W90 (and the NS version on special order) by the case for $9.75/quart plus tax. Considering I use 4 quarts or so in the Legacy every 100K miles, that's really pretty cheap. Correction: I looked up the bill for the last case of 75W90NS I got and it was $8.95 per quart plus tax. You can call Chris at Bow-Wow at 425-771-6411.

We're going but wouldn't be much help; starting from Astoria, OR and heading east on Monday or Tuesday.

Probably in the pics that I didn't reduce for posting. It's hard to see details like that when looking at a page of thumbnails trying to decide what is worth posting.

As promised here are some pics. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=893

Those of you that missed it, missed a pretty good event. Turnout was abysmal....something like 14 cars. PRG made the best of it by getting 6 runs per car and fun runs and finishing up by 2:30 in the afternoon. Course was mostly wide open and flowed smoothly from turn to turn with no funny kinks; great second gear course for my Impreza until the finish which had two 180 hairpins to slow you down before leaving the field. Water truck only went out for dust control and course was only impacted near the finish line. Due to the low turnout, all competitors ran together and only PRG people worked the cone shagging duty. For those of us who would like rallycrosses closer to home than Oregon, PRG is the answer. Hopefully, they don't go broke and discouraged by the low turnout. I know it was last minute scheduling that created that, but...... Anyway, enough of my rant. I'll post pics as soon as I have a chance to process them.