Tom63050

Everyone has to find the niche they are comfortable in. I bought a nice lifted 84 wagon, but discovered it just wasn't me. So I got a 4WD Loyale wagon, lifted it and put on 27x8.50/14s for a total of 6" body lift (3" lift kit + 3"-radius taller tires). I love it! Gonna do the D/R 5-speed swap and maybe an LSD to do it right. With SPFI, A/C, power steering and being more modern than the pre-1985s, it's the right blend for me. And just because it's newer and more modern, I expect parts are easier to find and there's less rusting. Japanese manufacturers started treating their cars for rusting in the late 80s.

Question: is there a good reason to go this route rather than adjusting the timing at the disty?

Get another Loyale or GL for sure, then lift it, do the 6-lug conversion thing and put on some good tires. I have a lifted 91 Loyale with the pushbutton 4WD and Firestone Wilderness tires. I just used it this weekend during our Big Snow (about 6 inches--pretty wussy actually). It was fantastic! A couple of years ago we had a 22" dump in 36 hours; even unlifted with all-season tires it had no problems. And I did drive through 22"-high snow for about a half mile, just had to keep the speed up so as not to lose momentum and bog down. My next ambitions for this car are replacing the pushbutton 4WD trans with a D/R 5-speed, and an LSD. Then, with about a total of $3000 invested, I have a fine winter car and backup vehicle. While waiting in my Loyale for a friend at the bus stop, I got a couple of thumbs-up from some guys who obviously knew what Loyales were and thought a lifted one was cool. Nice side benefit.

I'd like to know this so that when I look at ads I can tell if the car has one. I really want one for my lifted Loyale and am willing to buy a whole car to get one, especially if it is a fuel-injected 86 or newer wagon. Then I can use the D/R 5-speed and have a spare motor too, plus all the little nickel-and-dime stuff. Basically my own compact junkyard.

My two cents... I had a Justy 4WD 5-speed when I lived on the Oregon coast. One day I took it out onto the beach and deliberately stopped it in deep dry sand. Didn't air down the tires either. When I wanted to go, I just stepped on the gas and it went. I was in 4WD and had new but skinny snow tires on it at the time. If you find a good Justy, make sure you get a 5-speed, not the auto. They are troublesome and hard/expensive to repair.

Absolutely! I've just lifted my 91 Loyale wagon 3 inches and installed 29/8.50 x 14 tires on re-drilled light truck rims. Gas mileage stayed the same on the highway (10% higher gearing cancelled out by heavier tires/wheels). The lift kit (from PK Davis) also lowers the motor and diff by 3 inches so the geometry stays the same in relation to the hubs--i.e. no increase in strain on the CV axles. I had the tires/wheels off another Sube, but if I had to buy new tires for the lift, I would have the hubs drilled for the old Toyota 6-lug wheels and go with 15"x7" wheels and say a set of 30x9.50s or whatever fit. There is a lot more choice in 15-inch tires. A good site to visit is www.subarubrat.com. You will be amazed at what can be done. You can find the PK Davis site from Scott's (subarubrat's) site. By the way, Scott lives in Remington, VA (a bit west of Manassas).

Definitely this is not stock. When I did my 91 Loyale's front brakes I didn't have this problem. You could try drilling out one of the holes on the rotors (machine shop could do it fast and cheap).]

Thinking of doing the PK Davis 3" lift thing to my Loyale, and want to get feedback on the largest tires for 15" rims that will fit under the stock uncut fenders/wheelwells. Car will be for road use only (probably), so I shouldn't be bottoming out the struts or anything. Thanks.

My own experience was that my NA EA82 felt weak starting at about 4000 RPM; it felt choked off. When I opened up the bottom of the airbox, it could breath dramatically better above 4000. Very noticeable free revving to 6000+. This is the only mod I made to intake, and none to exhaust. The weak link is certainly the small opening the stock airbox has to let air in, from the fender. Obviously cutting a big hole in the box (out of sight on the bottom) lets it breath freer. I gotta go with my experience, not the numbers. Shoot, mathematicians have "proven" that a bumblebee is too heavy to fly with those little wings!

Dave, jiggled a coupleof thingys on the carb and it seems fine. And anyway it ran fine when I took it off. Lemme know if you want me to send it. Tom

Dave, will check wiggle factor and get back to you tomorrow. Tom

Dave, I have a carb from my 84 which ran fine when I took it out to swap in a Weber. Yours for postage. I used to live in Cannon Beach, OR. I sold you a buncha stuff out of an 82 I was parting out, including the motor. Met you halfway between CB and Mendocino by some town's post office, then we had lunch. About three/four years ago I guess. Tom

The Loyale tank is 15.9 gallons. My low-fuel light comes on consistently when I hit 12 gallons consumed, and the needle is near the bottom. Even when full, the needle usually doesn't go to the full mark or above, and it goes down very quickly--but this is probably the result of corrosion on the sender unit in the tank. My winter mileage hovers around 24-25, other seasons around 27. Due to different gas used in winter.

OK, thanks for the info guys! Tom

Thinking of moving to WV and would like to know the smog laws there. I've got an 84 lifted wagon with a Weber. What counties don't have emissions inspections? (Looking at the Harpers Ferry/Charlestown area.) If they have emissions inspections, do they do an underhood visual inspection or just sniff the tailpipe?

If you're using 10W30 or 10W40, switch to 20W50 to see if it makes a difference.

Thanks for the heads-up, I emailed him. Tom

Lookin to buy a 3" lift kit for my 91 Loyale. When can I get my hands on one and how much are they? Tom

Three things to do to it to get more power easily: 1. Take off the airbox. Drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of the airbox, or cut one big hole maybe about the size of the air intake. It'll breath a lot better over 3500 RPM after that. This is free horsepower! 2. Next time you get a new muffler, get a lower-restriction one like a Cherry Bomb Turbo, which are also quite cheap. This might help a little, but really the bigger restriction is the airbox. 3. If your cat has a lot of miles on it, get a new one welded in. Big diff in HP and mileage might happen, like it did on my 86 MR2.

Kalo, just drill a bunch of holes on the underside of the airbox and you will notice a dramatic increase in power over 4000 rpm.

or you could leave it turned the right way rather than backwards, and convert to manual choke.

Andrew, where are you going in VA?

Forecast on Thursday night for the DC area was 1-3". I just went outside at 5:40 Fri morning and measured 7.75"! And it's still coming down hard. Probably 9" when it's done.

Emily at CCR sez that Brat cams are biased toward torque, 2WD cams toward HP, and 4WD hatch and wagon cams are in the middle; probably the best all-around cam. Just depends on your intended usage.

You want the Weber 32/36, very common carb used on many cars. Comes with air filter if you buy a new one. Try http://www.webercarburetor.com or http://www.redline.com . You will also need the two-piece adaptor. You may have to go to the hardware store to get the proper screws for the adaptor. As I recall my kit from Redline for my 86 wagon required me to do so; no big deal. Tom