Carries Car

Just an update, as the search continues, we've been looking for a GL / loyale wagon within about 200 miles of Portland and so far ....we ain't found a thing. 92_rugby_subie has been helping me, we drove down to Roseberg last week to look at one, (the lady said it was in perfect condition with 117,000 miles on it and it turned out to be a peice of crap with 175,000 miles on it with rusted out fenders. there is a nice one we looked at in Canby, with 98,000 miles on it, but it to has rusted front fenders, and it's an automatic, I've watched miles fox's vids on a tranny swap from an auto to a 5 speed and it doesn't look that hard, so the 98,000 mile wagon is a possibility, if the guy would come down on his price a little bit, right now he's sitting at 2,300 bucks and won't budge. We’re watching craigslist daily, but not a whole lot is turning up, 92_rugby_subie has been a great help, I really appreciate it man, he’s been all over the net looking. I'll keep ya all posted ...in search of ...a better subie

Wheel options: I haven’t got the Subaru yet that I want, but in the mean time, I’m thinking of things that I can do to it to make it totally unique, or totally “me” The standard hub mod is to turn the 4x140 hubs into a 6x139.7 hub (6x140) by drilling out 4 new holes, then mounting 14 inch 6 lug truck wheels to the new modified hubs. You can reference how to do that here:http://offroadingsubarus.com/6stud_conversion.html It’s my personal opinion that for the size of the Subaru GL and Loyale wagons that a 6 lug wheel just doesn’t look quite right, especially at that 140mm spacing of the lug nuts. Now I was looking at the custom after market wheels on my girlfriends Celica tonight that are 5x115 and I got to thinking that something like that would look pretty darn slick on a Subaru Loyale wagon, the 5 lugs have a tighter spacing at 115mm, but I was left with how to make it work. The standard offset of the 4x140 wheels that came with the wagons was 5 inches, and if I used an adapter to bring the lug nut size down to 5x115 that would push the wheel another 2 inches out towards the fenders (the adapters are 2 inches thick) see here:http://billetwheeladapters.com/6-lug-wheel-adapters/6-lug-to-5-lug-wheel-adapters/6-lug-to-5-lug-wheel-adapter-6x5-5-to-5x4-5-2-thick.html So that means if I used (with the re-drilled hubs and new adapters) a wheel with a 5x115 bolt pattern that was 14 inches tall of an offset of 7 inches, that would center the new wheels exactly dead center as were the stock wheels before all this modding took place. Ok, did I do my math right? Just wondering before I slip some blocks under my girlfriends car and steal her wheels. My plan (once I get a car) is to give it a 2 inch lift, do the disk brake mod in the back, paint the calipers black or red or something that will look good with the car, then put a set of 14 inch wheels on it like the one in the picture, with a nice set of all terrain tires thanks, Stuart

sounds like it's been sitting a while, and it needs a clutch AND trany but it already comes with a trailer hitch, that's a plus. I'll call on it. if I could talk him down to $500 or so ...it might be worth it

that's good to know, I coulda had one real cheap with a blown timing belt, but hind sight is 20/20 .....if I would known then what I know now .....

It’s kinda hard to tell the condition under all that mud, but 1100 don’t sound to bad, Do you have any idea why it has a branded title? It’s probably best to PM me about the car, but at this point, unless there’s something super special about that car verses one I can pick up here, Spokane may be a little far out for me. I do have a couple more questions as my search continues (for anyone that may care to answer). 1. Is it just as easy to do a bolt in swap from a AWD 5 speed transmission to a DR as it is to go from a push button to a DR? is to pretty much the same thing, between manual transmissions? 2. I’ve seen a couple ads for loyals with the 1.8 liter engine having a blown timing belt. If the timing belt goes, do the pistons hit the valves? Is there any internal damage? I wouldn’t think so being a belt, but thought I’d ask anyway.

I won't say i'm not interested, it will depend on price and condition, ect. There was one on craigslist today for 1,900 (a 1991) it had 135,000 miles on it and looked darn good,(see picture) but it said it was an AWD, it did have a manual transmission though. but I didn't move quick enough, it was gone within an hour of being posted. I read up on the brakes today, it's a bolt in swap for the rear disk brakes; you need the backing plate, rotors and calipers off a GL10, or loyale that had the disk brakes. that would make for a fun weekend trip traveling to wrecking yards up and down the I-5 corridor looking for parts, I've done that before with my brother, we found everything we needed over a period of a couple of days. Financially, I’m not quite ready for one right now anyway (I could be if the right deal came along) but in a couple of months I’ll be better set to get one then I am now.

I noticed some with rear disk brakes, but I think it's some sort of conversion or something

I missed out on both of those, I was home sick pretty much all weekend, there's been some good ones show up, so my time is coming, I do want the DR 5 speed, but a push button 5 speed Loyale will do if it's in good shape, I can always change out the transmission for a DR at a later time (like next time a clutch is due) so I don't see not haveing a DR right now as mush of a problem. mine will be used for camping, off road use and trailer pulling, so I'm going to also have to look for a smaler camping trailer, the 4,500 lb 20 footer I have now is way to big for a car like that, I'm thinking of a little pop top or a tear drop type trailer, but there's really gettting the cart before the horse, need to look for the horse first ...so my subie search continues Stuart

I'll call on that one, but with my daughters graduation this weekend, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to drive up there and look at it, from the pictures it does look like it’s a 5 speed, but it’s a bad weekend for me to be looking at cars I'm pretty confident that when the time is right, the right car will show up at the right time. oh and your right, no turbos for me, I've done some reading up on them, I think I need to keep it simple, from what I've gathered, a turbo give you more opertunity for more problems and more expensive repairs

there's a GL-10 on there tonnight, but it sounds like it might have a blown engine "I have a 1989 subaru gl-10 wagon. Lets start off with the bad: Does not run. Coolent hose had a leak that has been fixed. the tags have expired. As well as time and love both which im lacking these days. The good: It is the alpine addition ( has the high roof line ) New bypass coolant hose ( the one that had a hole ) New clutch New water pump New intake and turbo gaskets Newer aftermarket muffler ( non-fart can ) New tires less that 500 miles on them New front and rear struts Tri-plier pod with boost guage 8000k hid head light conversion Bike rack"

I saw that red 89, but from the looks of the picture, and the paint job, I'm going to guess that it's been abused

I just noticed you are local, I've been watching craigslist for a car, but so far, nothing. Were the DR subies manufactured up through the Loyale versions?

I'm not sure what you mean by D/R 4WD but my plan is to find something that's got a 5 speed, with a 4 hi and a 4 low, just like my Jeep, only more economical:) I think I'll be pretty safe to look for anything that's fuel injected from 1988 up into the Loyales, I don't want to limit my search to much otherwise I'll end up with nothing . doing a quick search of craigslist from Portland to Seattle shows nothing, patients is key, something will show up I've been using a web site called searchtempest (dot) com it searches all of craigslist starting local and goes out from there, so if there's a car forsale within 500 miles of me, I'll find it Stuart

I watched a bunch of his videos last night, he's good at what he does. I'm still looking for a car, but haven't seen anything yet

I was up all night watching Miles videos, very informitive, I think I got an engine sap down pat now, and I don't even own a subi yet, you have some really good videos Miles. you guys have helped me nerrow it down, I want an 88 or 89 fuel injected GL 5 speed. Rust isn't much of an issue out here, so no worries there, I'll set my limit at 150,000 miles and see what I can come up with. I travel a lot, and it's not uncommon for me to put 100,000 miles on a car in a years time, I did that with the Jeep thanks for the help, I'll keep you posted

I found a 93 up in Washington, (not to far away from me) with 59,000 origional miles, but it's a dealer, and their asking almost 4,000 for it, way to high I think. it looks like the average going price around my area is about $1200 or so. with 150,000 to 200,000 miles or more. I figured if I do end up with something that's either got a bad engine, or it goes bad on me after I've owned it for a while, I'll probably find someone that can rebuild one and have something rebuilt. there's a guy locally that rebuilds the EJ22's which I would consider, but I don't know how hard it is to do the 1.8 to 2.2 swap. (he won't rebuild a 1.8, already asked him, aand don't know why he doesn't want to touch the 1.8's but that's ok) at any rate, I'm probably putting the cart before the horse, first thing I need to do is find a car, so the search continues ... my Jeep has 200,000 on it and the celica has 216,000, I'd really like to find something with lower miles

Hi all, I joined up with USMB back in 05 when I owned, er, "wife at the time" owned a 87 GL wagon, I mean “she” had some carb trouble with it and you people graciously helped me through it. I got the car running, she left, and life has been peaceful ever since. Fast forward 6 years to today, and here I return, my Jeep costs too much to operate, I still want to go off road, and I really do miss that old 87 GL wagon that we, er, “she” had back then, the thing would go anywhere the Jeep would, at half the cost. I’ve been watching Craigslist for a good deal on another one, but not sure what I should get, I want a GL or Loyale, but most all the ones I’ve seen so far have really high miles. I need to have me a look around the boards, figure out where to post my questions, and how to change my name, (this is her name because it was her car) What I would like to know is: were there any particular years or options that were better than others? And if ‘m starting from scratch, is there a particular car or type of wagon I should be looking for or looking to avoid? My wants are simple, I want a wagon, and I like the style of the Loyale that was produced from about the mid 80’s to mid 90’s or so. I Would like to raise it about 2 inches, but not go to radical, maybe stick with the stock tire size or go just a hair bigger? I’d like to lift it enough without having to change axels, drive lines suspension components ect. I'm not sure if I want the 4-hi and 4-low that only came with the manual 5 speeds (I think), or just the push button that came with the automatics. the old Subaru we, er, “she” had was an automatic. I’m on a budget, and I’ve been watching craigslist for cars, but so far haven’t really found anything that sticks out as a good buy, the criteria I’ve been going by is low miles, 100,000 or so, (I’m seeing a lot of 200,000 plus miles and I think that’s more then I want to deal with), something dent free and rust free would be nice, and I’d like to find something that hasn’t already been modded, I’ll do that stuff myself. There is a dealer ad on Craigslist that is selling one for $1,000 with 150,000 miles on it, I may look at it this weekend, but I think the miles are to high. Thanks for reading, Stuart

I was figuring on replacing them. How much weight can one of those cars pull? I have a utility trailer that weighs about 1,500 lbs loaded. I'd like to put a hitch on it and use it to pull the utility trailer camping so I don't have to use the Jeep with it's bad gas mileage

I like the 4WD system on the Subaru better then the Jeep, at least with the Subaru I have a choice of having it in 4WD or not, with the Jeep, it's in 4WD all the time. My wife is filling up the car today, but at this point, I don't think it's going to solve the problem, I'm thinking I'm going to have to rebuild the carb, but I'll check the timing belts, and change the plugs and cap and rotor first, (it needs that anyway) Stuart

My wife is thinking that she got bad fuel, she's just about got it to empty now, so tomorrow she's going to fill it up again and see if it's any better, I have my doughts though. I'll check the timing belts on it and see how they look. my guess is that it's in the carb, when I sprayed all that carb cleaner through it a couple of days ago, it ran great for about 5 miles or so, then it was back to it's 'ol sputtering self again. so I'm thinking that a carb rebuild might be in order, I'll keep you posted. this is our first Subaru, and I was surprised to find that they have sucha following, it kinda gives me the erge to go off roading with it, but then I'd have the wife to contend with, I have a lot of fun off roading in the Jeep, and I think with a little work, that subaru could go just about anywhere the Jeep would. Stuart

is a separator going to make much difference?, when I was up at the parts house I was going to buy one, and the guy didn't have a listing for it, I can try a different parts house for the separator. the cap and rotor have about 45,000 on them, so I can check that, the distributor is the origional one so it's going to have 207,000 miles. --------------------------EDIT----------------------------------------- OK, I hope I can describe this where it’s understandable. I just checked the distributor, the shaft does have some vertical play (not a lot but you can here a definite ‘clunk’ when you move it vertically) It doesn’t have any horizontal play at all (from side to side) but it does seem to have quite a bit of rotational play (about 5 degrees from center both clockwise and counter clockwise) Does that make any sense? Stuart

My wife has an 87 GL wagon 4x4 with a 1.8 liter carbureted engine in it. out of the blue a couple of days ago it started running bad at higher RPM's (freeway driving) it coughs and chokes and sputters like it's starving for gas, it idles fine and runs fine at lower RPM's but when you step on the throttle (under load), it starts coughing and chocking, it bucks you around pretty good to when it's doing it. I changed the fuel filter, and the air filter, I pulled off the air cleaner housing, double checked everything to make sure the vacuum hoses were hooked up and they were, I got some carburetor cleaner and sprayed the entire can through the carburetor, and that helped for maybe 5 miles or so then it was right back to doing the coughing and chocking again. The engine was replaced a few years ago and it doesn’t have more then about 45,000 miles on it (the car itself has 207,000), This car has always run perfect, always starts, and ran great up until a couple of days ago, I’m not sure what else to check, could this be a fuel pump problem? I was even thinking that it might have been some bad fuel that my wife got, but at this point I don't think it's contaminated fuel although it did start running bad, right after she filled the car up on her last trip to the gas station. It has me stumped, does anyone have any ideas? Thanks Stuart