Sonicfrog

Love the vid..... And you have REO's "Riding The Storm Out" playin' on the stereo! Classic!!!!

Why the 'Ell are they twice as expensive as the fronts!!!!! I'm going to replace the driver-side rear on Murphy, the $500 87 turbo wagon. I found one at the bone yard off an 85, but I couldn't get the thing out of the wheel hug. So here I am today pricing then at the local auto stores. $120.00 plus the core. And no one has them in stock. :-\ I can get them cheaper from RockAuto on line, but after paying for shipping for both the new HS and the core (can't believe they want a core, the price get close to the same. I might hit one of the other J-yards tomorrow, as I'm helping a friend look for seats for his B'mer, but I have a feeling I will run into the same problem with any halfshaft that's been sitting on a car for a long time. PS. And yes, I am always on the look-out for an LSD diff, but the turbo Soobs are getting very rare in these parts.

I second the alt. All dash warning lights on seems to be an accepted standard, though I have no idea who it was that decided to make it a standard. I've dealt with both bad batteries and alts in the various cars I've owned over the years and that sequence of conditions has always been the result of a failing alt. And yes, I'll freely admit I've owned a few non-sub's over the years. Don't hate me.

Yep. Gotta love the GL's!

I suspect the joint was already bad, and the vibrations were also there, but it wasn't that pronounced, and he didn't notice until there was another problem causing him to notice all the cars quirks and vibrations. That's when you get sensitive to that kind of thing. It's kind of like when your eyes start to go south as you approach your 50's. Your vision gets bad gradually, yet you don't notice, till the one day you wake up and realize, crap, my vision sucks. I need bifocals! PS. That hasn't happened to me.... Yet! But I'm in that age bracket where all sorts of things start going south. :-\ PPS. I agree with that. Seems like it's always the one closest to the tranny that goes first.

I did the crappy 3 speed automatic to 5 speed manual swap a few years ago. It's not especially difficult. Do watch out as not all the tranny parts are mix and match. If the donor car is not a turbo, you will have to use the rear differential. The gear ratio on the turbos are 3.7 : 1, where the non-turbo models are 3.9 : 1. Mismatch and you'll do all sorts of damage if you try and drive the car. And yes, the front half shafts are also different. I'm pretty sure the rear halfshafts are the same, though don't quote me on it.

I'm in the process of fixing up Murphy, the $500 87 Turbo Wagon. It already has the RX suspension swap, the crappy 3AT to 5 speed FT4WD swap, and soon to have an intercooler tacked on. Sounds like 58 West will be the proving grounds. I'll take the 41 to the coast, stopping at Parkfield for lunch natch, then I'll come back up the 58 and take the 99 back home to Fresno.

No, but I have taken the 58 through Mojave, either going to Vegas, or switching to Old Highway 395 to take the back route to San Diego. There are so many great roads in this state. Too bad most are in disrepair as the state goes bankrupt.

Welcome to the club. You will find tons of help here.... not from me of course. Even I don't listen to a word I say, regardless of whether it's good advise or not. I've not done a restore of a car in storage, but others here will help you with good advise. PS. I was raised in Dallas, so you can say Y'all all you want. And in Austin, if you ever meet a guitar player from Fresno named Pat and he was in a band called Chris Plays Guitar? That is my old guitarist who now lives there. He's a great guy and great musician if you decide to start a band.

OK. Fine, I'll do it. Now all I need are instructions.....

Nope, diff is firmly in place. When underneath, I can make the sound by turning the driveshaft, and I can hear the driverside rear CVJ go kunk. I was just looking at Rock Auto, and it looks like there is a difference between the 82 - 87, and 87 - 94 years, but there is not a difference as far as the turbo / non-turbo is concerned.

Been searching the list and can't find exact clarification. Are the rear half shafts the same through the EA82's, or do the turbo models have a different one than the non-turbo? I'll be hitting the bone yard tomorrow and i know the rear driver side 1/2 shaft is going bad... It clunks nicely when you apply the clutch. PS. I do have the FT4WD Tranny, but not the one with the hi / low set-up. Would love to have one of those. Actually, I wouldn't mind having the regular 5 spd hi / lo for the turbo, but I like what I got.

When you replace the radiator, make sure you buy a dual core. When I first bought Murphy, the $500 87 Turbo Wag a few years ago, I was having all sorts of issues with overheating. After blowing a head gasket (or two), i finally wised up and bought a dual core rad. have had no problem with overheating since. And again, that engine bonnet is mighty pretty! PS. Though I'm not English per-se, they all the engine bay a bonnet, so I just roll with it!

WOW. That's a pretty one! IYDMMA, how much did you pay?

I like the sound of that. Does anyone know if this mod is street / smog legal in CA?

If you recall, last year I had swapped my faltering 5 speed tranny, well, it WAS a 5'er until I lost 4th gear, with a tranny purchased from mountaingoatgruff (thanks again man - hope you got your cars running). When I installed it, the newer tranny was fine, but the u-joints on both the old and new drive shafts were shot. I had from time to time scanned the bone yard for a replacement, but 5 speed Legacy wagons were not very common in this market. I was planning a trip up to the Sacramento area for the new year and really wanted to fix this before the trip. I went to the yard and BINGO, I found one. The dilemma - the up coming week-end was 1/2 off day at the yard and I could have saved some money if I waited till after the trip. But knowing my luck, either the donor car would have been removed, or if I took the shaft off and stored it in another car, that car would have been gone, so I bought the shaft on the spot. Man, what a difference. The car rides so well, and now there is no vibration. The last thing that needs to be done is fix the ABS. I think the problem is the rear passenger wheel sensor. When we bought the car a few years ago, that bearing was toast, and I figure the excess heat from the bearing fries the sensor. I have another sensor, but haven't gotten around to putting it in yet. Oh, and maybe a paint job, though I don't care much about that. PS. On the way home from Sac, We took highway 49, which courses through what used to be the mother-load area for gold in the heart of the Sierra Nevada. Passed by old Sutters Mill. What a beautiful drive. I highly recommend it to anyone in California. If you have time, go to the Mineral Museum in Mariposa. It's awesome. You won't be disappointed.

Last week-end, it was 1/2 off day at the local junk yard. I went looking for a starter (got one) and a few other bits and pieces for both Red, the $300 94 Legacy Alpine Wagon, and Murphy, the $500 87 T-Wag. Though I didn't find a lot of the stuff on the list, I did find an intercooler. It was from a VW Corado, a cool little car in its day. I wasn't going to get it, but since it was half off, I figured "what the heck". Now for the questions: * I've looked around the list, and have found a few threads about intercoolers, but no instructions on installing / modifying. * Does anyone have a favorite thread they can point me to? How much difference would it make for the 87 EA82T? * Is this mod even worth it? I'm not expecting to get that much more power with this mod, and I won't try if I'm going to greatly increase the likelihood of head gasket failure. It's been three years since the last HG replacement, and I've been on the HG carousel one or two too many times. I gave it up for lent a few years ago, thank you very much! Plus, there is a chance I may be selling Murph as i have found a really good deal on a 98 Impreza Outback Sport, and I can't keep both cars. Don't know if I'm gonna buy yet, but I'm going test drive today.

I just want to say... That is the PRETTIEST GL-10 bonnet I've ever seen!!!! What does the rest of the car look like?

+ 1 on U-joint. I just replaced mine in Red, the $300 Legacy Alpine Wagon.

Question - Is the Forester and Legacy rear diff a 3.7 like the RX / GL-10 turbo's?

Yep. CV joint is failing. Front drivers side. I knew the boot had failed some time ago, but was too cash strapped (and lazy) to fix it. Now it's making noise, even on the straight-aways. I'm gonna have to replace it tomorrow. Probably just get a new (rebuilt) half shaft. Oh well. at least right now I have a little set aside for just such emergencies. :-\

Those two GL's are beautiful. I'm jealous.

Hey, it's early. It'll be much better by December.... unless the drought continues.

Did mine from underneath. Signed Sonicfrog - veteran of the crappy 3 speed A/T to Cool 5 speed AWD swap!

Hey! We went to Yosemite last month. Most cars were getting turned away, we got in. Why? Because they had a freak snow storm, and they were only letting in AWD's! It was very cool too. I had never been to the park during a snow storm. It was phenomenal. Here's a couple of pics: