WagonsOnly

Sounds like a Turbo Traction sedan. Does it look basically like a 1986 GL-10?

Todd, my '75 wagon seats don't flip forward. Do you mean all Gen I Stage II seats?

Yes, someone did in fact mention that Austin was crazy. (Or rather he confirmed it.) Matt Mellon linked me to the pic yesterday, before this was posted (or before I saw this post, anyway). Now you know why the bottom halves of most older New England Soobs are missing.

What about custom-cut diamond plate for the floor (hinged so you can still get to the jack and concealed storage), and plywood side panels? Even regular sheet metal for the side panels would look good, even dirty. 18 gauge aluminum or steel is malleable enough to fit to size and bend where needed. And it can be Tech-screwed into place very easily.

Still...the Phase II engines cost no more to produce, but they don't have nearly as many problems and even got a (tiny) performance increase.

EA81s have carb problems. EA82s are great until the T-belts break (but they're non-interference). I know next to nothing about the EJ18s but there's a used Soob specialist up here that used to warranty them up to 120K (motor and tranny only). The two worst Subaru engines (my opinion) were the EK32 (ignition troubles) and the EJ25 Phase 1.

250 for the DL you looked at, 200 if an automatic or no air. 150 if auto and no air and I wouldn't bother with it if it was rusty... Keep looking, there are better cars out there. The Loyale sounds promising if it's not rusted, and around 700-1000.

?????There's a WRX hatchback??????? Or is this just the wagon...

BlueTrain, I think you posted info for the SPFI EA81, not the EJ18. I'm assuming you were comparison-shopping among Imprezas, not cross-shopping Imps and Loyales?

Run, don't walk, from that car. Get a '99 Forester S with 100K+, or a '99 L with comparable mileage. The Phase I engine has numerous head gasket and head issues, as well as spotty assembly quality in the 1st year models. In particular watch out for the clutch (not that the '99 clutches were any better) and rear wheel bearings--and try to get a written warranty on them if you're buying from a dealer.

No offense, but the clutch in your Forester stinks. You might as well live with it until it dies completely, because it isn't hurting anything else...but it's a nuisance, isn't it? The clutches on these cars are a little harder to replace than the older Soobs, but not much. There's less engine room but it's better organized. ~Proud but peeved owner of a '99 Forester 5MT

My Forester has orange marks, from the prep-for-sale the dealer gave it. (It sat on the lot from October until April...no one wanted a 5sp, I guess.) The marks read "Svce Lvl IV 27 OCT 02 47K". The car was purchased with maintenance records indicating the dealer did the 60K maintenance 13K early, minus the air filter and timing belts (not until 105K on the Phase II anyway).

Pull the wiring harness out of the one you have now and put it in the new one...you'll be better off. And run the wires for mirrors/doorlocks while you have it apart--makes it much easier if you decide to install them later.

Make a mini-Brat out of it...cut off the hatch, put a sedan rear window in, and seal off the rear to make a pickup bed out of it. Spray in some bed liner and use that--that way you'll have to do about the same amount of welding, maybe a little more fab work where the rear window goes in--but you'll have the weight right where you need it, directly over the rear wheels instead of 2 feet behind them.

Only on the Forester, XT, GLF and GL-10. (see my sig)

If it ticks, check the oil. If it goesaway, great. If not, and you can live with it for the next 100K+ miles, buy it anyway. I'm almost certain that the 4WD was an option. Loyales never came with AWD, that was limited to a couple of EA82 models at the end of the '80s. (And they called it Full-Time 4WD then, not AWD.) Loyales come with part-time shift-on-the-fly single-range pushbutton 4WD only.

Not to go off-topic...but the trannies must have been the same, unless there's a dual range auto out that I don't know about?

Any of the non-picnic-table-sized rear wings. But that's about it. You'd be better off looking at what people have done to their ER27s and their Imprezas, and adapting those mods to fit your needs.

Every single EA82 gas tank holds approximately 16 gallons, plus or minus a half a gallon. 4WD models are I think around 15.8 because of the extra drivetran garbage; 2WDs are 15.9. This includes every 1985-1989 DL, GL, GL-10, and Turbo Traction; every XT and XT6; and every Loyale. (And every Forester to date, too.)

...unless it's a DL, which uses the same mounting system as the '85-'89 GL/10 models but also has the body-color side pillars on the hatch.

Nope, not a single BRAT. I don't much like the idea of having a two-seater. One of these days, maybe...but the prices on Brats are going up, not down.

Oh--I didn't know you meant over multiple cars. I might actually be in the running now... EA82: 1987 GL10 4WD Turbo, 178K 1987 GL 2WD 5S, 150K 1988 DL 2WD 5S 183K (Formerly Moosens' famed "Clutchless Manual") 1988 DL 2WD auto 131K when the tranny blew up 1988 XT GL 2WD auto, 123K and counting 1989 DL 2WD 5S, 171K and has a new life as a loading dock 1989 DL 4WD 5S, 156K 1.1 million miles total (it's 1,092,000 but the "spare change"more than makes up for the 6K that's unaccounted for...if not check back with my mom's XT in a month) EA81: 1982 2wd GL wagon, 5S, 108K 1982 2wd GLF coupe, 3AT, 151K and counting 1984 GL D/R wagon, 155K and counting 1984 GL 5S wagon, 122K 536,000 miles, total, here EK32: 1969 360 Sedan, 8,000 miles, parts 1969 360 sedan deluxe, 53,000 VERY hard miles (retired shriner's car), parts 1970 360 Sambar van, 60,000 miles, gutted-electric conversion project 1962 360 sedan deluxe, 132,000 miles and have the maintenance records to prove it. Still running strong (4 engines, 3 repaints, a reupholstery and three sets of new head gaskets [just on the current engine] later). and just over a quarter of a million 360 miles logged here (253,000). That comes to 1.881 million miles, or 2.033 million miles (including an '88 Justy RS, 17K; a '99 Forester, 75K; and a '75 wagon, 60K). All cars are currently in the collection except the '88 DL auto wagon that started it all.

Thanks Chris. I'll let you know as soon as I do--I haven't even made it home yet.

I looked at an '83 GL10 coupe the other day--power everything, air, cruise, etc.--but according to the factory lit on the USMB website, there's supposed to be a digital dash too. This one had an analog. The owner wasn't sure if it had been swapped in or if it came that way (no window sticker and it came from a dealer auction 7 years ago). Would anyone out there know if some early production GL-10s came with analog dashes? Or if perhaps some of the early digidashes had sending units that were backwards-compatible with the analog ones? The car isn't running so I can't tell whether or not any of the gauges work. Thanks, Andrew

I think that it would be best if there was an "index" to all of the posts--leave the forums the way they are, but cross reference something like "CV joint on '88 D/R hatch blew--any suggestions"? with EA81s, 4WD Subarus, Transmissions, and Hatchbacks. Have a separate category in the index for each repair/model: 360 FF-1, 1300, Stage 1, Stage 2 Gen 2 NA Gen 2 Turbo EA82 NA EA82T Justy and so on; and Engine Head Gaskets/Oil Leaks Transmission/CV axles 4WD drivetrain Electrical Interior Exterior etc. Such a system would be labor-intensive-but there might be a way that the user could select which index categories to place the post under? This is just an opinion, and one I don't expect to be acted upon soon, if ever. I do realize that this is incredibly labor-intensive, and if it can't be automated, it's very hard on the mods. Please remember that I'm not trying to make your lives harder--I think it'd make the board a better resource while leaving the current structure intact. And I'm also a librarian by trade; this is somewhat in my nature.