Subi81

Moving forward with the reupholster of my 81 GL wagon front seats (only) going to try the Karo Madras 5710 brown plaid from Relicate. Here are some pictures of the fabrics side by side. Fyi if your drivers side seat leans to the passenger side as mine did, caused by pushing on the seat back as you wiggle in, you might have a broken frame near the adjustment mechanism it was a wonder the seat gave any support at all. Oh one more thing to remove the GL headrests you need to take the seat cover off then reach thru the front foam in two places and pull a pin, the head rest will then slide out. There are three rods for hog ring placement, the bottom one is the longest then the middle front has extra curly ends and the back top rod is the shortest one. Construction of the seat is as follows from outside in: Woven plaid material/vinyl sides A cotton or some sort of backing where your rear end sits Plastic but only on the shoulders and back of the seat. Foam molded into the seat springs Steel frame Duplicate pictures are with and without flash

Update, orange clock is working perfectly after more than a year

Fixed my ignition lock. I found that the C-16-106 lock style was an identical replacement except for the tumblers. Original Subaru tumblers are thicker, but the tumbler kit I found on ebay worked for the C-16-106 cylinder and mine needed to be replaced. A C-16-123 might work for this year, there is an extended tang on the rear of the lock but this could be ground off or might not be a problem since the tang protrudes into the steering lock eccentric, tumblers appeared to be the thin style I recommend the C-16-106 though. I did have to do some slight sanding/filing/stoneing of the tumblers to get the lock to operate without dragging, your mileage may vary, I am no locksmith. Several of the original tumblers had groves worn in them from years of use which is probably why the original key stopped working 100k ago. The pivot lever lock portion had worn a groove in the cylinder, I don't think this was causing any issues. A ridiculously thin portion of the cylinder that sets how far the key is inserted was completely missing this could allow the key to miss-possition, i.e. to deep or to shallow and prevent the lock from turning.

Had the same issue on my 81 wagon = key stuck in the ON position. I had to drill the pin out at 5 o'clock on my 81 wagon then the cylinder pulled out (was still in the ON position) towards the key mine took some force. Be careful the lock rod and pivot pin are not retained and will go flying, ask me how I know.

My drivers seat is disintegrating at an alarming rate. I relayed this to a buddy that has an affinity for plaid interiors. He suggested porcshe plaid fabric as a possible replacement that would be readily available. Since the VW plaids weren't even close. Some quick searching and I give you Porsche Karo Madras 5710 as a close approximation for the brown plaid early 80's interior. It's maybe got a little bit more orange in it than the original but the overall tone seems close to the original. It's not perfect but if anyone knows of a better approximation please let me know or if you have tried this material and can comment on the results please let me know. https://relicate.com/products/porsche-karo-madras-seat-fabric-orange?variant=31961674842192 For reference, subaru plaid interiors database. Example of the porsche Karo Madras 5710 brown plaid. 1,920 × 1,440

This site lists some syncros (balk rings) for loyales if you click on Leone AG4, (3 door), or AL2 (wagon) body style you might be able to at least get a part number if not find some stuff in stock. A friend found syncros for an older toyota not available from toyota anymore and used them with good effect. https://www.amayama.com/en/genuine-catalogs/subaru

I had the same problem when I put new rubber on my 81 not to long ago, limited selection and expensive for a 13" tire. The tire shop said not a lot of cars these days run 13" rims so I can only imagine the problem is going to get worst. I have Toyo Extensa A/S 185/70r13 made in japan oddly enough so it doesn't solve your Toyo problem but maybe a different tread pattern can help, maybe the ones you have are made in a different country with garbage quality control. Mostly I run highway miles so can't give a positive/negative review but they have not had a flat yet, knock on wood. Good luck

So I put the orange clock in and it's been working perfectly so far, but I think I know why they went to the green clock, it is almost impossible to read when it's sunny out, the orange numbers just completely wash out. You either have to shade it with your hand or head in a different direction.

I am sure the cat helps no doubt, even the techs were surprised it was so clean but indicated the cat is probably helping. Another reference, I used an Innovate LM2 tail pipe wideband logger to log A/F ratio's on my commute leading up to smogging and this is what I found, near the end of the commute is when the duty solenoid was sticking causing A/F to go all over the place.

Since no one is responding here's mine. 81 doesn't have the AAV system and I just replaced the cat on the car so take these results for what they are, I have more years if you want to look at them. Some with the old/original cat. Issues I had before this test that didn't help emissions and probably hurt drive-ability. Choke pull off leaked so car had a small vacuum leak there and essentially wasn't pulling the choke off. Vacuum valve on the passenger side of the intake was not operational I think this creates a small vacuum leak on cold mornings to help with the mixture. One of the duty solenoid valves got stuck open this caused the car to run lean A line to the duty solenoids had a hole in it = vacuum leak. Vacuum leak in the HVAC system just plugged it but I think it's the recirculate vacuum motor for the AC system. Evap problems with the nipple on the top of the tank on the passenger side, nothing worse then passing the sniffer then failing the new evap pressure test.

Good point, I am the third owner after 16 years it's had plenty of life before it was mine. That would be pretty funny if I replace a perfectly working non original clock with a period correct clock that is going to fail in a couple weeks. I have a 83 dash I will have to see what color that one is.

Riddle me this, I got some dashes from a fellow member from some early 80's GL subarus (ea81) and the clocks are different colors, which is fine I didn't know they came in different colors. No big deal you might say, but since the first day of owning my 81 wagon I have always wondered why the heck the dash being beautifully rendered in red, has a green clock? One dash has green clock numbers like my 81 GL wagon and every other GL dash I have played with while the other dash has an orangish clock. In addition to the orange clock numbers the fuel gauge reads 0 for empty and 1 for full, the oil pressure gauge reads 2 4 6 instead of 0 25 50 75. Speedo has both mph and kph so i don't think it's Canadian or anything. My 86 wagon had a orange digi dash with matching clock, and my brothers 87 had the green digital dash and matching clock, maybe they figured out that they should match by the mid 80;s or digital clocks came in your favorite color as long as that was green in the early 80's, I don't know, just something that has bugged me. For one thing I am going to swap clocks to the (in my humble opinion) matching orange clock and live the fantasy. Pictures of dashes are here for reference. https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/172183-80-84-parts-to-sell/?do=findComment&comment=1432890

Replace your headlights already. The lights that came out where probably from the early 2000's so maybe 20 year old, Sylvaina ExtraVision The seal that attaches the front lens to the rear reflector had failed and the reflective coating was mostly gone, probably due to moisture getting inside it was a wonder they produced any forward light at all. The lights pretty much fell apart when I took the bezel off. Lesson is sealed all glass beams don't stay sealed forever. And they made a really cool crashing noise when I threw them in the garbage. And standard issue replacements are ridiculously cheap. Has me wondering how the center light will weather the test of time since finding replacements for that is probably next to impossible.

While I agree it could be a lot of different things, might I suggest you check the anti-diesel valve. Since the issue appears to have come on suddenly. This is the large hex thing sticking out at 45° angle on the front driver side of the carb. You should hear it click when you turn the key to ON, not started. I accidentally left mine unplugged last night and the car would start with the choke but wouldn't run when warm unless the throttle was held open. The valve can be bypassed by unscrewing it removing the spring and plunger and screwing it back in, until you get a new one. Obviously if it's clicking it's probably not your problem removing it will surely break the ridiculously fragile wire so don't touch it unless your sure it's faulty.

Yes the shifter seal can be replaced without removing the trans, I was able to do it on my 81 wagon without much trouble. I think the hardest part was getting the cross pin out of the shifter linkage. I am sure there is a write up somewhere around here. Found some advice here: