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joebmx

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  • Location
    Bellingham
  • Interests
    bikes, dreaming about cars
  • Occupation
    manufacturing/sales

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  1. I'm not quite sure how much I want to spend. I don't have much right now but when all is said and done I'd like to be less than 4, maybe a bit more depending on how much I get for my car. A first gen legacy could be cool plus I've seen somewhere that it has ~1" more clearance than the forester with the conversion. I'm partial to to early/mid 80's GL wagons but don't think they'll have the power to haul stuff around without some modding. I'm okay to do suspension work not too intersted in playing with the engine.
  2. so its been a few years since I've owned my 87 gl wagon. Picked it up for $200 bucks with a bad head, ran gasket seal, and drove it for a year and a half before it finally died for real. I learned a lot in that time one of those things being how great subbies are and even though it's been a few years since owning one I've never stopped dreaming. I've been revisiting getting a wagon but am not sure what will do the trick for what I'm looking to do. Currently I commute about 50miles r/t to work. I loved that my wagon got 30mpg on the highway even with a bad carb. I'd like to maintain someting with better mileage though know I'll likely have to sacrifice some. I ride mtn. bikes a lot and would like something to comfortably carry 3-4 people with bikes (on a hitch rack likely), it'll need to have some clearance as I will be taking it on access roads with passengers and bikes and I'd like it to have enough power so I'm not red lining it in 3rd over mtn passes. I'd like to keep mods simple, I have enough experience but don't want to give all my time right now to working on cars. It feels like a tall order though I know there is probably a good fit whether it be a modified gl or just a stock outback. I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on directions I should think about going. BTW, I'm in Seattle so I have plenty of access to subaru's for sale. Thanks a bunch. Joe
  3. 3 things; Does any body have the vaccuum diagram for an 87 gl hitachi carb? I have downloaded two factory manuals turns out both were for an 89 Dl and both had the the section for the carb omitted, probably since they came FI. I tried the trick of spraying arond the carb with cleaner to help identify a leak and when I got tho the front center, it seemed to change a bit, not alot but it was noticable enough even to a non-car person. There seemed to be a whole cluster of lines there, what would be my next step, in fixing this. Making sure they are secure, getting a vacuum tester? If I remember correctly I am pretty sure I changed out the hoses when I got the car, but don't remember for sure. Lastly, Does anybody know what this thing is? There was a small hose running out of it that connected to nothing, and then the last time i looked the hose was totally missing. http://www.flickr.com/photos/22619255@N00/3174551220/
  4. Out of curiosity how much does engine temp affect your emissions? When I put the new radiator in, one that is a fair bit larger than the old one and the new thermostat, also rated to open at a lower temp, my temp gauge now climbs maybe to 1/4 of the way up the dial. No matter how hard its driven, hills, highway, revving, it never climbs higher. Just curious
  5. So i went and took a WA state emissions test this morning. I have yet to pass one of these things but am getting closer except for my idle emissions which seem to be getting worse. Below are 2 links to copies of the tests. The first is the one I took today and the second is from last year. Everything else is great so what should I look into. Some quick history, pretty sure I have a bad head, head gasket fix has been used in the past, since then, radiator and thermostat replace, new plugs and wire, cap and rotor. I have been having issues with it holding an idle but played with the throttle cable a bit and all is better but not great. It fluctuates a bit at idle and sound like it misses every 3 or for seconds and dips. I seafoam'd it once and my numbers went crazy at a test everything got good again except the idle emissions. Cheap and easy fix please or is it mechanic time? I don't wnat to drop in bunches of money I want it to run until it dies. http://www.emissiontestwa.com/e/TestRecord.aspx?VIN=JF2AN53B8HE432867&TSDT=12/30/2008%2010:26:42%20AM - todays test http://www.emissiontestwa.com/e/TestRecord.aspx?VIN=JF2AN53B8HE432867&TSDT=8/22/2007%209:20:48%20AM - last years 1st test
  6. I just came back from a 200 mile round trip on the button, 90% highway driving. I filled up b4 i split and when i got home, did the math and got 29.4 mpg. So i do not think my economy is suffering in fact I was very surprised by this the engine has 205k on it. Does that rule out the o2 sensor or should it be legitimately checked? I also played with the idle adjustment b4 i took off, tightening it a little and it idled fine without stalling until i hit a rest stop 60 miles in. It both stalled and then proceeded to idle high and wouldn't kick down. So i then played with the idle adjustment again and had good results, with only a few stalls over the next 140 miles of driving, off the highway off course, and the idle sat steadily around 1200rpm. would timing affect any of this? I also found a vacuum line only connected at one end and could not find its mate, I will post a pic of it tomorrow. it came out of a small black disc that was mounted in the middle and the hose came out of the left face, the I.D. can't be much more than 1/16" its tiny, it also resides right above egr valve. I wanted to check the egr valve but the hayes manual gives directions that seem ridiculous. With the car running it says to check and see that the valve is operating. How can i do that, should it be really obvious if the valve opens and shuts even with no visibility of it? Or should it come out? Thanks again
  7. The power is fine when it runs, that has never been the issue. The problem is that I am getting really good at running 3 pedals with 2 feet all at the same time. As far as I know it is the stock carb. I have not replaced the o2 sensor or the egr valve. both or either would probably cost me more than I paid for the car. I don't really know how to check for vaccuum leaks. I tried the spraying carb cleaner around the lines but had not noticed any change in the idle, i felt like I was missing on some point. Also I can only try that with the engine at its raised idle when it's first started because it will just stall if i try to run it at a lower idle. I did spray some down the carb and the idle picked up a bit but only for a breif moment and after spraying abit more it wanted to stall. I did replace a bunch of lines a while back but the car ran fine afterwards. If i try to pinpoint when the problem really started I think I started running into problems after a seafoam treatment. hmmm.... ps congrats on the 1000th post
  8. my carbed 87 gl has been giving me some issues the past few weeks more so since the weather has gotten cold. The car will start up wonderfully and hold an idle so long as i don't kick her down, if I do she then wants to stall out. When driving her, the power is fine, the take off is fine just whenever i let off the gas it dies on me. When it is idling an not stalling it is usually really rough and the tach fluctuates about 200 rpm and will slowly lower itslef until it dies. The idle seems to smooth out when i hold it around 1500rpm. If it dies on me on the road and I drop it in gear to get it running again it will hold its idle jsut fine until i depress the gas again. It will sometimes not stall out if I take it out of gear right where it would want to idle at. So say I take it out of gear when it is at 1000 rpm rather than taking it out of gear at 4000 rpm and letting it drop. just some things i have noticed. I have no clue about carbs and this stuff, so simple clear instruction would be best. Thanks for your help.
  9. i am about to pick up a 94 civic from a friend who has left it sitting in the garage for almost 3 years now. It supposedly ran when when he parked it, though you wouldn't guess from the looks of it. Anyway I am about to take it off his hands for next to nothing, well exactly that, he makes bank and has afforded much nicer cars, why it has been sitting and is giving it to me for a bicycle, sweet deal. My question is, what do i need to be thinking about when starting up a car that has sat for almost 3 years. Granted the battery needs to be charged/replaced and I will give it an oil change probably before I even start it up, but what else? should I treat the engine with something before putting in new oil, what does 3 year old oil look like/do to the engine? I know to check belts and fluids that's easy, how long do i run her for before taking her out on the road? Run her easy, a short trip around the block? Any thoughts you have would be great! This is really so I can get her out for a test drive and not do any damage to the engine. I am happy to put a few bucks in to make sure that she is running as best she can before I do decide to take or invest in her. My GL is my project car right now, I don't need another requiring engine work. Thanks.
  10. So the thermostat is new following the additive and I replaced the radiator cap since the problem started. I went back to the old cap because it overheated even faster with the new one. I have started to have coolant loss since I fully overheated the system a few weeks back. I don't take it very far anymore so have been topping it off. Some days I may put in 8 oz of fluid after driving 50 miles sometime much more after putting on less miles. I figure I will need to do something with the head s at some point and am preparing to do that soon. I do not know how old the water pump is at this point.
  11. No, what would that take (flushing the heater core)?
  12. Ever since I used radiator seal in an uniformed panic as a safeguard prior to a road trip, my 87 gl has consistently been running hot. Its been flushed and refilled but no luck. Only with the heat on and the outside temp in the 60s does it seem to be okay. So I found a spectra radiator for 75$ through rock auto or can get a radiator from a subaru salvage yard for the same 75$, which path should I go? The scrap yard has a 30 day garuantee.
  13. So I read through all these postings as I am going to be buying a radiator in the next few days, the moral of the story is...... you get what you get, single core or double, auto or manual, brass/copper or aluminum/plastic, they will all work!? How bout this for all you 87 gl's....what did you get, where did you get it, and is it working well?
  14. just so I am in the right place...so embarassing considering how much I have done on my own.... The starter is located just underneath the spare tire on the drivers side with wires running directly to it from the battery correct? Is the wire from the ignition switch pretty obvious? I will have to find where that is located as well. I have never had a starting issue with any car so this is totally foreign to me, thanks for the patience.
  15. So I get in the car yesterday turn the key and nothing. The radio comes on the lights go up but the engine won't turn, it doesn't even click. I check the connection to the battery, jiggle it around and still nothing. I take it the battery out (it's really old and not to be trusted) bring it to the shop down the street to get a reading and possibly a charge and he said it was reading 10amps or whatever the measurement is that they read at. He said it was fine. So if not the battery then what? I tired using my Hayes to trouble shoot which is only so helpful since they don't have diagrams for the starter and it took me 10 minutes just to locte the thing. The back of the engine makes perfect sense. ANyway it talked about solenoids and running jumper cables directly to the starter from the battery but it looks like the batter connects directly to the starter why would i do this? I don't know what a solenoid is and I don't have jumpers. Can anyone be of more help than the book. where to next....whats a solenoid? 87 gl - 200k, Carbed
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