Subarule

Sparkyboy... Beautiful wagon! My '86 wagon is named Subie Girl. Subie Girl has a Weber, otherwise all stock. I love the white spoke wheels too. I bought my wagon in 1986 in Lakewood CO but we've lived in WA state for decades. Subie Girl can go almost anywhere without any alterations.

Did you look up Melling oil pump reviews? Check on Amazon.

Does longevity vary if the car is being driven only on paved city streets without major ruts?

I don't know what condition your 86 wagon is in now but bear in mind that it's worth a whole lot more intact than it would be if altered. I don't if these mid-80s Subarus were intended for hard off-roading but I suspect not. I don't recall off-roading with actual cars to be a thing in the mid-80s. I think Subarus were intended to be all-weather vehicles. I bought mine as a daily driver in hilly Colorado high country. What did Japan automotive engineers know about off-roading in the 1980s?

I like the hunt of trying to find OEM parts. I realize that some are impossible to obtain but I'm not about to change the original look of my 86 wagon. It has a Weber carb and aftermarket front axles & brakes but otherwise it's all stock, except for the usual things like plugs, filters, brakes and the like. I bought it because I like how it looked and how I could use it and I'm not about to mess with that. I keep getting asked by guys, when out in public, if I want to sell it. Hell no!

I'm glad I'm not there too. It breaks my heart thinking about these vintage gems being pulled apart & cannibalized rather than being restored. I wonder how many intact and/or restored ones are left? I'm keep my '86 GL wagon that I bought new until they pry the keys from my cold dead hands.

This will be a very unpopular opinion but I feel actual pain that another mid-80s will become a FrankenSube. There will soon be, or already are, none left intact. Which makes those that are all the more valuable. If there are any.

The photo under the hood has a carb setup exactly like my 86 GL wagon. It was always my understanding that a GL 10 was just a trim upgrade on the GLs, a few more goodies, nothing to do with under the hood.

Sure are a lot of carbs for sale online for '87 GLs.

They were not all turbo. I think the carbed ones were much more common.

What is?

I ran across this blog post by accident while wandering around on the 'net, about an '87 GL-10 wagon. Thought it was kinda' interesting. Decent photos. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/12/12/junkyard-gem-1987-subaru-gl-10-4wd-station-wagon/

Input your make, model year & engine into RockAuto and then when the parts lists comes up enter "gaskets"in the search. That should give you most of the gaskets your vehicle uses.

How would an engine know that it's getting synthetic oil?

My next project for a it is to bring the AC back to life. Have the parts, just need to save $$ for the labor. Not a priority until late spring.

It got a new (OEM) clutch and flywheel recently but could use some work on the synchro. I've been told that the trans. needs to be pulled to do that, which sounds like a lot more trouble (cost, labor-intensive) than it's worth.

SUBARU SERIAL NUMBER VIN DE-CODER, READ YOUR VEHICLE'S VIN http://www.cars101.com/subaru/vin.html

Yep. Drive it all the time. It gets the garage, my SUV gets parked on the street.

If the Hitachi carb was changed out for a Weber there are several unused vacuum lines that should be plugged. Just sayin'....

A vacuum leak sucking air & needs to be plugged? My Sube had that recently, kind of a whistling whine.

Mine runs about 5 miles slower than the speed I'm actually going. I need to have it calibrated. Odd thing, when I bought the car new in '86 the speedometer cable broke (!) at 18K miles and had to be replaced. Haven't had to fool with it since but I'm pretty sure if I get pulled over for going 30 in a 25 mph zone no cop is going to accept the faulty speedometer excuse.

If you're running a Hitachi carb, and combined with the engine size, they do not like hills! I drove my brand new '86 1.8L from Colorado Springs to Portland OR and when we got to those hills going through the Gorge the car could not be forced to go over about 40-45 mph with pedal floored. They are dogs going uphill with the Hitachi carbs.

After looking on various sites using the Subaru part # and finding that prices for the single grommet ranged from $7-$8 (ridiculous!), I ended up buying a rubber grommet kit for $9. It has 125 pieces and 18 different sizes. There are plenty of assorted kits online, my only dilemma was deciding on one.