jmoss5723

The car no longer drives like a pogo stick! I got the rear shocks changed last night. It took me less than an hour to do both sides. Thank God for anti-seize and thank God for Tom who put it on everything! Everything came right out. The old shocks were TOTALLY limp when I pulled them out. I replaced them with KYB Excel-G (Part number 343056). These seem to be KYB's replacement for the GR-2. No pics because there isn't really much to see...

http://www.discountramps.com/car-top-carriers-roof-racks/c/5210/ http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?ic=16_0&Find=Find&search_query=roof+basket&Find=Find&search_constraint=0 There are some decent options there that are really affordable (in some cases they look a little cheap, but it is definitely somewhere to start). I've heard good things about the Rola baskets. Money aside, I love my Yakima Load Warrior. It is rock solid, looks good and it just the right size, not to mention that it did not require anything extra. It just came with universal crossbar mounts. But those baskets are super overpriced. I got mine on CL barely used for $80, so I couldn't beat it.

Welcome! What year Forester or legacy are you thinking about? What kind of driving do you do mostly?

That red leather would look awesome in my Forester! I'll move that to the top of the list of mods I'd like to make but never will.

While I think that would actually be an interesting paint job, I really need to paint my new rockers that are just in primer and I need to paint the rust repair over the rear wheel arches which is in primer. The rest of the car is in original paint in decent condition so I was just going to leave it. I should grab an updated picture... Your paint job has exactly the lines that I'm looking for! I need to get someone to photoshop that layout onto my BRAT with silver up top and black on the bottom.

Would you be willing to make a .75" front/1" rear EJ kit out of HDPE? Enough material for front and back can be had from Amazon for like $40. I don't know what you want to charge for your time, but I have to imagine that it would be way faster than steel. The material cuts like butter. I'd buy 2 if the price is right. I was goingto make my own becasue everyone's steel kits are out of my price range (read: my wife's price range) and I can make it with the band saw, hole saw, and drill press. But I'd be happy to save the effort and time and buy the kits if I can afford them.

That's good! I'm thinking I want to go up over the side trim to the line in the panels and follow that line up over the wheel arches, but this is a very helpful visual.

Welcome! I also drive an XS. Great car, I just wish I had held out for a Forester XT. A turbo would make this car awesome.

<3

Good idea. On it.

I'm thinking about doing a 2 tone paint job on my BRAT. Probably going to go black on the bottom of it. I'm thinking of doing like the gray is done on gen1 Outbacks. Bring the black up to the line in the body above the lower side molding and follow it up over the wheel arches. Has anyone else done a similar paint job? If so, please share pics. I wish I could photoshop so that I could get a good idea of what it will look like. For reference, here are some Outbacks: https://www.google.com/search?q=subaru+outback&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=l7cAVLSmNs7PggSwvIHQBQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1600&bih=815#q=subaru+outback+1998&tbm=isch&imgdii=_ And my BRAT

Have any plans of making gen2 stuff? I know people lift brats and other gen2 cars all the time. I wouldn't mind having the blocks for the rear of my brat. Right now I have the front struts topped and the crossmembers lowered, but the rear just has the torsion bar cranked. EDIT: Oops. I just saw post #3. Please disregard.

Well now I feel dumb. I can't believe it never occurred to me that the nozzles would be clogged. Duh! Thanks guys.

The sprayer for the windshield washer in the Ski Wagon (83 GL) is incredibly weak. The driver's side (first in line in the tubing) practically dribbles out, and the passenger side doesn't get enough pressure to put out any washer fluid at all. I can hear the little pump pumping and see the fluid moving through the lines, it is just really wimpy. Do I just need to replace the little pump/motor? Is there something else I should check first?

I think PENNDOT is using the same

Mods: Can I get this thread title changed? "Safariwagon" is Tom's thing. Can I get this instead? "My '83 GL: The Ski Wagon"

This is very cool. When do we get to see the documentary? What is the is it about? Just driving an old soob across the country, or is there something else? If the NSS turns out to not be the source of your starting issue, try the fix listed in the following thread. My first post in the thread I linked is misleading. It was acting like it didn't have enough juice to start, but I was misdiagnosing the problem. It was basically just like what you're describing. The fix detailed in the thread worked perfectly. http://www.ultimates...t/#entry1244109

I swapped the DS front fender last night. The original was totally rotted off on the bottom and something was misaligned. It caught on the door every time I tried to get in or out. It's still pretty clean in here. And I just noticed in the picture that it still has the adjustable height struts. Getting a little rusty here. It was dark by the time i finished putting the new fender on, so I had to wait to take the finished picture today. Bonus Picture! Ski wagon nestled all cozy between my Forester and my office assistant's Loyale. (Yes, driving a Subaru is a requirement for employment here.) (EDIT: I forgot to actually put the last picture in the first time...oops)

I love this site. Someone ALWAYS has something helpful or informative to say.

I found this set of vintage floor mats for sale locally and I'm going to buy them for the ski wagon, but I'm curious about what year they might be from, how rare they might be, etc. So who else has a set? How much are they worth? General thoughts?

I totally agree!

I have a blue one. Make me an offer. Gotta ship it from 16001.

So after 34 hours on the road through 6 states making stops to see 3 other members (Well, 2. Looking at you Tom!) I have the ski wagon safe and sound in PA. I had to completely rebuild my dad's car trailer to make it road worthy again, too. So make sure you tell me how nice it looks! My little brother and I left at 11:40pm Eastern and arrived in Middleton, WI at about 11:00am Central. This is how I first laid eyes on it. Sitting in my friend's driveway waiting patiently for the last two weeks for me to pick it up. It started right up (LOUD!) and I drove it around the neighborhood for a few minutes. If 4th gear is making a bad bearing noise, I sure has heck couldn't hear it. I loaded it up on the trailer and then took a nap in preparation for the return trip. I headed straight for Tom's (TheLoyale) house, to swap some parts and check out his cars. It was pouring rain, he was out wheeling. Overall not bad though. Traded 4 wagon wheels with center caps for some NOS fenders, ea82 hubcaps, and REALLY nice front mudflaps. Thanks again Tom! Next I headed to Niles, Michigan to meet up with Mechanical_Misfit and get a D/R 4 speed tranny. My brother snapped a few pics on the road and in the walmart parking lot where we met up with Mechanical_Misfit. Sorry that they're just crappy cell phone shots, but pretty colors anyway. Jimbo got some pictures of the Desert Fox with the Ski Wagon and I suspect he will upload them here soon. After talking cars for probably an hour and taking some pictures, we hit the road again. We met up with another member briefly to deliver some brat tailgate trim about an hour later. Then we were bound for home-sweet-home! I pulled in at about 9am and took the car off the trailer. 2 transmissions, a few odds and ends, 2 fenders and the car are all here safe and put away. I drove the car a fair bit yesterday and WOW does it need rear shocks. I'd get about 5 good bounces out of every bump I hit if I was over 30mph. I ordered KYB GR-2s last night. Next on the list is getting an exhaust made and swapping the drivers side fender. Then I'll probably just drive it as-is until I can gather the funds to do the paint and decals all at once. Thanks Matt for working out a pretty seamless sale from across the country. Thanks Tom for the hard work on the car and the parts. It is sweet! Thanks Jimbo for the tranny and the smalltalk. Thanks Pete for buying the brat trim. It got me a tank of gas!

Too bad only one of those 205s is any good. I realized about an hour after I left your place that I forgot to leave your hood bumpers! They're little enough that I can just ship them. I'll send them out tomorrow or Tuesday.

After 11 hours of driving, I just got to Wisconsin and put the car on the trailer! I'm going to take a quick nap, then I'm heading to TheLoyale's house to swap some parts, then on to Michigan to swap MORE parts! I'll update with pics once I'm at home with a computer.