dnicholson

I've got a Factory Service Manual for 1979 models here collecting dust, it's yours for postage if you want it. PM if interested, good luck with the Brat.

White '86 STD...exactly the same car I drove in college. Great car, I'm jealous. Was always fun taking it to the garage or wherever and telling them "yeah, I've got an STD I need looked at..." Thankfully, they left it off the badge. You'll have to pretend it's an '80-'84 1.6 hatch whenever buying parts, though - otherwise you'll end up with a bunch of EA82 stuff that won't fit. Trust the man who got sold three sets of spark plug wires in one day once trying to find the right ones.

Sounds like the problem I had back when I had my '81 wagon. Turned out to be a bad ignitor in the distributor. Ordered just the ignitor on eBay but turned out to be the wrong one for my distributor, ended up swapping out the whole disty with one from an '84, problem solved.

Hmmm...might have been it. Unfortunately, I didn't quite get close enough to hear the distinctive Subaru Sound (or lack thereof). I'd read about the electric conversion on here, hadn't put together that it was a red hardtop. Anyway, regardless of propulsion method, sweet car. Maybe I'll get lucky and catch a better look some lunch hour.

Had quite the surprise at lunch today when I saw a sweet looking red GF Hardtop (I think) driving through the Old Port in Portland. Was wearing Maine antique auto plates, so it's a local. Not sure if the owner's on here or not - if so, sweet ride.

No problem, just wanted to throw it out there. I guess all the cool kids are driving EA71s and earlier up this way right now. Paul, glad to hear you're not tripping over the thing or anything - sounds like it's even proving borderline useful in its capacity as tarp. Same goes for you, though - if you've got a use for it or can sell it or whatever, it's yours, gratis. I'd pretty much written it off a long time back, and I'm sure that, using standard transportation and storage fees, I probably owe YOU way more for the thing than I paid for it. Inspections up here are a bear, the state has really cracked down to the point where it's tough to find any of the old reliable "lick it and stick it" shops from back in the day. The day I bought the car, I stopped in at Iffy Lube for a no-appointment inspection just for giggles, they failed it based on a dime-sized hole in the floorboard, a dried-up rear wiper blade, cracked sidewall on one tire and a loose CV boot clamp. All good to know, I guess, but c'mon. I plugged the hole, replaced the blade, tire and clamp, brought it back and they failed it again for a pinhole exhaust leak at one of the welds. That's when I gave up and registered as an antique auto (inspection exempt), but the regulations for use on those plates are seemingly intentionally vague so as to make it easy to get nailed for improper use, so I'm much happier with a valid sticker from a shop that's a little more realistic about old cars.

Hmmm...intriguing. Might work - I'm literally five minutes from I-95, could probably hook up at the exit or whatever - would be an easy drop-off passing through towards Farmington. Actually, Andrew, maybe it makes sense to ask if you'd have any use for that quarter yourself? I'm EA81-less at present, so retrieving it would be more of a "get it the hell out of poor Paul's storage space" proposition than anything else. If it might come in handy for your stable at all, you're welcome to it.

Thanks, Paul. I keep forgetting about that quarter, seeing as I'm about three cars removed from when I won that auction. I'm more than happy to clear it out of your way, though. This summer's getting away from me quickly - I do have to go down to Westchester in early September, though, maybe can arrange a stop-in on the way there or back if nothing pans out earlier. Will be in touch. Thanks, Dave

New addition to the '79 today: Been driving without an inspection sticker since December - not specifically required with the antique auto registration, but now I can put regular plates on and not worry about being hassled. Finally found an old-school import garage in Portland that didn't give me any BS about dried-out wiper blades or whatever. I think they gave me a pass on the emissions test since I live in a non-test county, but the 'E' sticker is nice to see anyway. 386 days before I need to bother with this again. Sweet! -Dave

Yeah, different problem. I second the carb theory. My apparent ignitor thing keeps the car from starting no matter what I do to the gas.

Thanks for the model confirmation. The VIN matches the GL range listed on the specs page (which I routinely forget is there), so I think it's official. Will get more pictures next chance I get. The sun wasn't cooperating that first day. Also, I'm a horrible photographer.

With authority! Thanks. Now that I know that I'm searching for "ignitor," found all sorts of other posts about the same problem. Ordered a NOS module on eBay, should fix it. Thanks again. -Dave

Chasing down an occasional issue with the '81 DL (1800). It always starts fine when cold, but if I run it for a length of time (long enough for the temp gauge to crawl towards normal) and then try to re-start it, it won't fire. It'll crank OK, just no spark. If I wait 20 minutes or so for it to cool down, it fires right up like nothing happened. I replaced the coil about a month ago and thought that'd fixed it, but it happened again over the weekend. Any advice as to other likely causes appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Thanks! And don't feel bad, people have hated me for worse reasons... If it makes you feel any better, it's got a bunged-up CV joint. And I don't think the gas gauge is working. And...well, that's all I've got. Oh, and your XT6 would beat me in a race. Or your Loyale. Or a good bike...

The long-awaited new addition to the family is here. Thanks to Uncle Henry's Swap-n-Sell, bought this last weekend and picked up today. '79 4WD wagon (seller called it a DL, my insurance company pulled GL from the VIN, registration just says '1600' - call it what you want.) Bought from the original owner's granddaughter, it has 80,6xx miles on it and has apparently never seen a winter. Beautiful interior, including pristine, tear-free plaid seats! We're talking automotive love at first sight, friends. A few lousy pictures taken this afternoon: Got a couple minor issues to deal with, but all in all, couldn't be more pleased with my purchase. Back out to the garage to look at it some more... -Dave

Well, "not rusty" is a relative term up here. Especially given my last Subaru, where the whole floor came up with the carpets. The doors and rockers on the '81 look like they're thinking about rusting, but nothing too serious yet. Mine was a '74 ST - I think the only difference in '74 was that the GT had the five-speed and different grille and trim. Great car, definitely turned some heads. I'm a hack mechanic at best, though, and it's near impossible to find parts up here, so I sold it off to a guy in Canada with the time and $$ to do a proper restoration on it. Still miss driving it, though. Pic: http://www.15q.net/img/celica2.jpg

When I registered my old '74 Celica as an antique auto, they told me "oh, and you can't use this as a daily driver," but I looked up the statute and it doesn't technically specify a yearly mileage limit or anything. I see a few old wrecks driving around with antique plates, presumably just to beat the inspection. I'm guessing that the guy with the rusted-out '78 Grenada I used to see every morning wasn't on his way to any parade or car show.

I just sent my '84 GL wagon to the crusher after the floor rusted through. Other than that, I've only seen one other EA-81 on the road around here in the last 2-3 years. I see a fair number of EA-82s around here, but fewer all the time. My '81 came here from Washington. Probably why it won't pass inspection now - the previous owner spent all their time trying to pass emissions and ignored all the other stuff. At least it's not rusted. Yet.

Oddly, emissions is the one thing that they don't check here (not in my county, anyway.) Just as well, it'd probably fail that too. I may register as an antique auto and get exempted from inspection. Gotta love the logic there - "No need to inspect your antique auto - what could possibly go wrong with a 25-year-old heap?"

Congrats! Wish I had one of those. My '81 DL tanked the stringent Maine State Inspection today (bad tie rod ends, exhaust leaks, and apparently it overheated during the test - besides that, it's great!). Maybe I should cut my losses and just print out a copy of that purdy orange sticker...

They re-posted it when they changed the price: http://portland.craigslist.org/car/106972889.html And, obviously, flying to Seattle would be even more ill-advised since the car's in Portland...

So...far...away... (Barely resisting urge to hop flight to Seattle. If it wasn't an automatic, I'd be at the airport already.)

Hey, Photoshop fun! Cleaned it up a bit: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=8380&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 I can't tell you how much I want one now, though...