jj421

The license plate number and details are now on my dashboard. Hopefully it won't be long until these thieves are caught! I used to go to school near Southcenter (Des Moines). I have a number of friends that live down there. I can post the details on Facebook, and hopefully some of my friends down there will look out for it.

Once you get the license plate up, I'll print it out and tape it on my dash. I'm not exactly close to Southcenter, but I'll keep my eyes open here on the eastside. A picture would be great too, so I can print that out as well. Any other small details about the car? I see so many Legacy wagons of that era around here, and I feel rust on the roof might be hard to see on the road.

Not sure about the shelf life, but the belts were purchased within an hour of each other (had to drive to two different Autozones, since they only stock one). They're holding the same amount of tension, so as far as I can tell, they're stretched evenly. Almost every time I pop the hood, I look at the belts. So I'll be keeping a regular eye on 'em. Before doing the manual swap, I was running with one belt that was a couple months older than the other. I noticed no problems. But starting with these belts, I'm going to try and keep them the same age.

Yup, I've got two belts running parallel to each other around all three pulleys. It runs better with two belts. I mean, say it takes 10 ft-lbs of torque to rotate the crank pulley (random number). Running only one belt, that belt has to pull all 10 ft-lbs of torque. However, with two belts, each belt only needs to pull 5 ft-lbs. Not sure if that makes sense to you guys, but for me, it means less wear & tear on the belts. It's just the crank pulley, water pump, and alternator. As simple as it gets, haha. The photo makes the engine compartment look clean. Just look underneath.... My skidplate probably weighs twice as much due to all the grease. Every part I take off I try to clean, but there was so much grease on the skidplate, I didn't have enough degreaser. The wiring for my fog lights (in between the alternator and battery) is also pretty messy. Aha, no they aren't. They are actually Valucrafts. For this belt configuration, there are two belts they sell at Autozone. There are the Valucraft 17360 belts, and the Duralast 17360 belts (same part numbers). The Valucrafts were $5 each, whereas the Duralasts are $9 each. The Valucrafts are very slightly thicker and deeper. I'll have to see how long they last.

Yet another post from me, but I have installed manual steering in my '90 Loyale. Grabbed a variable ratio manual rack from a junkyard '86 DL. Paid $45 for the rack itself, and then an additional $11 or so for the new belts. The manual rack has about 222K on it, which is similar to what my transmission has. My car's body has 262K, and my engine has 117K. I was surprised I managed to install it in one day (although it took me about 8 hours), since there were a few problems along the way and I took a bunch of breaks. My power steering was leaking and making noises (probably air in the system), so something needed to be replaced anyways. My old EA81 had manual steering, and I missed it. So, I told myself that I would install a manual rack when the opportunity arises, and it did. Mostly just a bolt-in swap. I unknowingly didn't have the right alternator bracket, so the belts didn't fit properly. Luckily, I had the other kind of bracket in my garage and I got it to work (I think it's bolted on right). The swap totally screwed with my alignment, even though I was trying to be careful with keeping the steering wheel and wheels straight (even on the parts car). Without string or two tape measures, I just had to eyeball it. My first judgement was slightly off. I just kept driving, adjusting, driving, adjusting, driving, adjusting, etc. I've got it to a point where it's almost perfect. When I'm accelerating, it pulls slightly to the left; when I'm coasting, it pulls slightly to the right. On average, it goes straight. Not to mention that slight differences in the road cause the car to pull on way or the other (e.g. if the road is banked, the car will pull to the downhill side). So it's kinda hard to get it perfectly straight. This basically completes my "DL conversion." I don't have the quad headlights or the minimal instrument cluster (without tach, voltmeter, oil pressure). But otherwise, I've basically got a DL now. Non-turbo, manual windows, manual mirrors (fender mirrors), manual steering, manual tranny (D/R 4WD; not a DL option, but whatever), non-intermittent wipers, no A/C, no hill holder, and manual seatbelts. When I get a chance, I'm going to install rear discs, but just like the D/R tranny, why not install it? Without A/C and P/S, look at all that room in the engine compartment!

Hmm, I am very interested in seeing a photo or two. I've noticed that the '85 and '86 models had the mirrors on the doors, not the windows. But I never thought they had fender mirrors. A quick search on Google Images, and I found these two (look's like they're from your Photobucket account; I downloaded the images, and uploaded them to my Photobucket account): Very cool! I guess you learn something new every day. Well now if any strangers come up and ask about my fender mirrors, I can say they were sold in the JDM and LADM, as well as some others (even though my mirrors aren't exactly like the ones in the two photos).

From what I've gathered, these taillights are rare worldwide. Sure, maybe the majority of EA82s might have them in other countries. However, in other countries, EA82s are rare. Finding a parts car in other countries is even harder. So I think I got lucky getting these taillights. Too bad Subaru never put fender mirrors on EA82 bodies (as far as I know). I know EA81s in other countries came with fender mirrors. Too bad Peugeot was running and driving, haha. I would take the wheels from a parts car if I had the chance (and money). I probably wouldn't use them. For some reason, I like the look of the stock wheels+hubcaps, even though most people don't. I just wish there were more choices in tyres for 13" wheels. Not exactly an "awesome" photo, but I figured, "where else to post this?". I went back to the junkyard today, and a suicidal bird jumped out in front of my wagon. Probably snapped its neck, since there was no blood. Car is undamaged, since it's just a small bird. Come on, someone else post photos. I feel like I'm dominating this thread. I'll try not to post again, or at least keep my posts short.

Haha, well, let's just say I was excited. There was supposedly some parts that I really wanted, but it was all junk. I just walked out with some front mud flaps and a shifter linkage (with good bushings!). Not to mention that my sleep schedule is all off during the summer, so I actually stayed up all night. I had nothing to do, so I just decided to head up early. Thought traffic was gonna be worse, but I left before rush hour hit. Yeah, my usual PnP is about 45 minutes away. Sometimes I go to this one in Arlington, which is about 1.25 hours away. Usually they have a good variation of EA82s (and tons of early EJs), but lately it's been kinda dry. It was my first time going in a few months. Felt nice to be back in the yard. Thanks for the comment on the fender mirrors. They get quite a few looks whilst driving down the road. I say they were $40 well spent. Lots of old Soobs here in the Northwest, but I usually get the same way. In the past year, I've seen about 10 (excluding junkyards, members' rides, etc.). Never seen a Brat on the road, nor an XT. On the way to the PnP, I caught a glimpse of the car next to me whilst on the freeway, and started freaking out. Thought it was an XT, but instead it was just an Alfa Romeo 164. I just caught a glimpse of the taillights, and they're quite similar. Similar style, or maybe it's just me. Still was cool to see an Alfa, since I don't see many of those. I saw a Peugeot a few weeks ago on the freeway. Cool to see that too. Anyways, yeah. Saw an RX in a PnP parking lot one time. I got excited, haha.

Got to the Pick-N-Pull 1.5 hours before they opened. Found a spot and took some pictures, haha.

I just had a thread not too long ago about water pumps. If you're going to go with a new pump, get a good used one or go to the dealership. When I swapped my motor, I had a brand new aftermarket pump installed, and it failed 400 miles later. Reinstalled my old pump, and it was good as new. So try and stick with OEM, Japanese pumps. I don't know exact part numbers, sorry. Also, go with a water pump gasket from the dealership. I found the gasket from auto parts stores are a different thickness and a different material, so try and get a gasket from the dealership. Mine had cost me less than $5.

Thanks! I love coming out to my driveway and seeing those taillights. I think they go well with the fender mirrors. Before, the fender mirrors were just there. They looked fine, but didn't exactly "match" the rest of the car. I think the addition of the taillights makes it look more foreign, more "old-school" Japanese. Just gotta fix the rust and it'll look even better. I haven't driven much, so maybe it's just the good weather. But ever since I installed these taillights, people haven't tailgated me as closely. Continuing with the topic, I've recently found my shifter bushings are, well, not there. My shifter has always been kind of sloppy. In gear, I could move the shifter quite a bit laterally. Not too bad, but it was noticeable. Yesterday, when I was coming home, the shifter randomly got really sloppy and I could barely get it in reverse, to back into my driveway. I went inside, let the exhaust cool down, then I came out to find the problem. So that photo is the two joints at the back of the tranny, where the shift linkage attached. See the rubber o-ring/spacer on joint #1? Yeah, joint #2 doesn't have any. So joint #2 just moves around, and I cannot tighten the bolt anymore than it is. Not to mention, joint #1 (even with two of those bushings/spacers) does not sit in there tightly. It also moves about in the joint. I need to replace/repair all four of those bushings/spacers. Now, moving on to the joint/bushing right under the shifter. When I took apart the center console, one of the spacers/bushings basically just fell apart right in front of me. Using some duct tape, I have it temporarily fixed. Needless to say, I need to replace/reapir all six bushings/joints on the shift linkage. I don't have the money to buy the bushings from the dealership, so I'm going to try the fix for the 4-speed shifter flop: Hopefully that works on the 5-speed linkage, and hopefully it works for all three joints. The good news is the bushings on my D/R shifter are in good shape. They're a little worn down, since I have a bit of play in the D/R shifter, but not enough to concern me. Plus, since doing my D/R swap in February, I haven't needed 4WD, so I barely used the D/R shifter. On another note, when I was under the car, I noticed my front tyres are balanced. For the longest time, I thought they weren't. So now I need to diagnose a shuddering/shaking I have on the freeway. The shaking started when I installed my winter tyres, so I figured they were just not balanced. When I install manual steering, I'm going to be getting an alignment, so I'll see if that fixes it. I believe last time I went offroading, I hit a bump at speed and really knocked the front-end out of alignment. The car pulls to the right at speed and the steering wheel isn't 100% straight. And no, the shuddering is not the axles, since I've replaced my passenger axle twice. Driver side axle is in good condition, and the shuddering comes from the passenger side. Edit: Tailights (and rear fog) are looking good at dusk and in the rain. Fog light is seemingly brighter, but that might just be because it's a bigger light than the running lights.

Well, I'm just saying that they're good enough to lock up the wheels. I'm not saying locking up the wheels is the fastest you can stop (although in some instances it is), but before I bled my brakes, I couldn't get the wheels to lock up on dry pavement. No matter how hard I pushed on the pedal, no matter how far down the pedal went, they wouldn't lock up. I considered it "natural ABS," but to me it's uncomfortable. I like being able to lock up the wheels, so I know when is the best point to threshold brake. If I can't lock up the wheels, how do I know what my maximum stopping power is? Now, if I'm offroad or in the wet, I can lock up the wheels very easy. Any kind of emergency maneuver at a decent speed in those conditions will involve either locking up the wheels or understeering. I'm gonna be buying new tires to help compensate that, even though I currently am running studded tires with decent tread.

Also, what about bleeding the master cylinder? I've done some searching on brake work (since I have a similar problem), and found bleeding the MC helps a number of people. Pump the brake, hold pressure on the brake pedal (like bleeding a wheel), and then crack open one of the two lines coming from the MC. After a few seconds, close it up, pump the pedal, hold the pedal. Repeat on that same line if you think you need to, otherwise move to the next line. Once finished with that, proceed to bleeding all four wheels. Rear right, front left, rear left, front right. That helped people, from what I've found. It didn't help me, because I think my disconnected hill holder is messing with the way the brake pedal feels. Oh well, I can still lock up the front wheels on dry pavement. I'll really worry about the brakes when I do my rear disc conversion. But you can try that too.

"Your life. Your stories. Your Photobucket." Hahahaha, I like seeing that on the bottom of the email. They might as well have said, "Your life. Your stories. All gone." I've always used Photobucket and never had any problems. But it might be time to change sites, since I've got a lot of photos on there. Or, you can just create a new account, and upload photos to your new account. Your signature is also not working anymore because of this. Also, in my earlier post, when I said, "Only downside is with the headlights off, and the car is in reverse, the fog light comes on as well as the reverse light.", I was mistaken. When I tested the reverse lights, I had an ice scraper wedged in between the driver seat and the brake pedal, holding the brake lights on. I put the key into the "on" position, put it in reverse, and walked behind the car, only to see the reverse light and the fog light were on. However, I forgot something. I always leave my headlight switch in the "parking lights" position. With the key off or out, no lights are illuminated. But once I put the key in the on position, the parking lights come on. Since the brake lights were on when I did this test, I didn't know the parking lights were on. Long story short, the fog light does not come on with the reverse lamp, but instead still only comes on with the headlights. Not that it really matters, but I figured I'd mention that they are working perfectly.

Wow, quite the bump, haha. Hah, I just had problems with my water pump. Crappy aftermarket one. Put an OEM one back on and fixed the problem Now, I can't help you with the seals/gaskets, but what tires are you running in that picture? I can see "Mohawk" on it, but what size/model tires are those? That is, if you still have them/can remember. I'm liking the tread pattern.

I might get a washer at some point. I've got a lot of stuff I want to get though. Namely, it'd be nice to have a floor jack, haha. I'll have to save up for a washer. I feel like it won't be used a lot though, since we never have needed one. Could use it to power wash the driveway from all my coolant/oil stains. You'll have to talk to him about the corner lights. I believe from what he's told me, he doesn't have any in good condition. But hopefully he'll join in.

^ Wow, that is really clean! Great job! If you weren't on the other side of the country, I'd pay you to clean my grease-filled engine bay. Swapping my motor for a low mileage one has definitely removed probably 40% of the grease, but I've probably got a few days of cleaning if I were to do it. No point in cleaning it now, since my leaking P/S rack will just dirty it up again, haha. I might clean my engine bay after installing manual steering. In other news, this is what I've done to my Soobie lately. Ever since I saw a picture of them about a year ago, I've really wanted the asymmetrical taillights that were offered on EA82s outside of the U.S. Today, they came in the mail from Finland, thanks to the user "-tombba-." He did a great job cleaning them up for me, so when they were at my front door, they were more shiny than the taillights I had on my wagon. After about 1.5 hours of messing with the wiring, I got the taillights installed. It was a sunny day today (surprisingly), so it's kind of hard to see the illumination in the lights. But, they work great! The passenger side was pretty easy to install, since all I really had to do was move my old bulbs into the new housing. I just kept the wiring on the "Euro" lens, since it had the same connector. Driver side was a bigger project. First, the connector was different, so I had to use my old bulbs/wiring. Second, I had to wire the rear fog light. I just tapped the ground and positive wire to the taillight (the one that comes on when you have your headlights on). Whenever I have my headlights on (which is all the time), the fog light will be on. Only downside is with the headlights off, and the car is in reverse, the fog light comes on as well as the reverse light. But like I said, I always drive with my headlights on, so the fog light will always be illuminated anyways. The fog light has a red 1156 18-SMD LED bulb in it, so it looks different than the tail/brake lights (which are standard incandescent bulbs). Likewise, my reverse light is a white 18-SMD LED bulb. I've always run LEDs in my reverse lights, so it's nothing special for me, haha. Legally, these lenses should be okay in the state of Washington. You don't need more than one reverse light to be legal. I just gotta be careful in parking lots, since people on the left side of my car might not be able to tell I'm backing up. These taillights really compliment my fender mirrors, and makes the mirrors look less out-of-place. Anyways, I digress. I love making my car unique, and in the United States, this definitely adds towards the uniqueness.

Thanks for the info! Makes sense with trying to move people to the Legacy. I guess all things combined, you could say I have a "rare" Loyale. 1990 was the only year of the Loyale with manual seatbelts, and I have yet to see a Loyale with as few options as mine (in the U.S.). All the '90 Loyales I see have power windows and power mirrors. I wasn't alive in '89/'90, so this is just speculation. But with the introduction of the Legacy, Loyale sales went down. So in order to keep selling the EA82s, Subaru added more power options to better fit what people wanted. Because today, if you try and sell a car (that's not an antique/classic) on Craigslist with manual windows/locks/mirrors, you will not get as much interest in the car (and ergo not as much money for it) as if you had all the power options.

I used that stuff a while ago. It worked well, but faded off shortly after. It didn't go back to how bad it was before, but it wasn't a nice black still. If you add another coat a couple weeks from now, and maybe another one a few weeks after that, it'll look great. I have since spray painted my bumpers with this stuff: It's stayed black ever since I put it on. You can pick up a can at Home Depot or Lowe's or another home improvement store for $5 or less. I definitely recommend it.

I like carbs, because they're tuneable, you can do more stuff with them, etc. But for the most part, I prefer SPFI. If you're offroading in the snow or something and you keep stalling the engine, then, well, SPFI is definitely appreciated. The plaque on the inside of my door trim says it was manufactured (or sold ) in July of '89, which is pretty early. Not sure when in '89 they started selling the '90 Loyales, but if that's anything to go by, I probably got one of the early models. Wonder if that has anything to do with the fact I have no power options (except A/C (which I removed), P/S (which I will soon remove), and a hill-holder (which is disconnected and soon to be removed)). She didn't even come with intermittent wipers, auto seatbelts, or most of the stuff later Loyales came with. Just gotta finish my "DL conversion" and I'm keeping her until I die. Sorry, this doesn't have much to do with the topic. I wanna know how it goes with the bacon grease. I feel like at first, it'd smell good. But if it lingers around too much (e.g. you don't leave the windows and air out the smell), it'll get annoying. The plastic on my window roller-upper handles (sorry, don't know the name for 'em, haha) are starting to fade to white. I can't find any good condition ones in the junkyard (especially ones matching my interior color), so I think I need to try and preserve it now. If bacon grease helps for that, I might just try it.

Well, I posted these in the awesome photo thread, but they're my only ones. I have to waste at least $20 in fuel going to any offroading spot, so I don't get out much, haha. Those fog lights you gave me in December are still holding up nicely. Although, coming down the hill in the first picture, it ripped off one light. I found it again and put it back on, haha. Then of course, you and I at the Christmas tree run last year: This was about half a week after I bought my car. Got her this dirty just from the school parking lot: Here are some shots of my old EA81. This was the first time I took her off the street, and into the snow: She later died not too long after that. Without a job and money, I was unable to fix her. But as you can tell, she wasn't in the best of shape anyways. Just wish I was on this site more often back then and I could have parted her out for you guys. I believe this thread could also mean other things than just offroading pictures. Like, anything you use your Subie for, what it's built for, showing their durability and versatility, etc. Examples: Using my roof rack to carry a long piece of metal flashing: The day that I brought my D/R tranny home. She is currently in my Loyale and driving nice, along with the new clutch kit and flywheel I installed. Sleeping in the back between classes:

For anyone interested, the problem was solved by installing my old water pump. So the "brand new" one from O'Reilly was faulty, and only lasted 400 miles. My pump from my old engine even came with a layer of thick grease on it, so I don't have to waste time making it dirty in the future. Lesson learned here is, OEM Japanese water pumps only. I also installed a water pump gasket that came from the dealership. The dealership gasket seemed to be a little thinner and made of different material than the one from O'Reilly. When it comes to water pump things, just go to the dealership.

Nope. I mean, you can insure it, but you don't have to. On the DMV's website, it says that, "You can't drive a collector vehicle for regular transportation in the manner of a fully licensed vehicle." So you can't use it as a daily driver, but who's gonna know? With the collector plates, you can go to car shows, circuses, parades, displays, and antique car club meetings though (imagine an EA81 or EA82 in a circus or parade, haha). Insurance is weird, but whatever. My insurance rates will go down when I turn 19, 21, 25, and when I get married. Wish I could get a discount for having a dash cam, but Allstate says no. My "dash cam buddy" is 16 years old, and he pays ~$240/month to insure his '92 Ford Taurus GL, and he gets a $15 discount for having a dash cam. Thinking about it, the reason your Outback costs more to insure is probably because they're stolen more often (not a lot, but more often). Three times the amount to insure it is a little high, but think about it: If you were going to steal a car, and you saw a GL and an Outback, which would you break into? The Cadillac Esclade is really expensive to insure primarily because of the theft rate.

Haha, well, as longs as you stay single and don't have any kids, it shouldn't get too much worse. Hopefully I can swap out the pump real soon. I hate borrowing my mom's car. If you can ship a pump out for a similar cost, that'd be best. I might just head to the junkyard one day and pull one from a low mileage Soob, or I'll grab my old one from my old motor. Went to the dealership yesterday. Good news is the gasket is only $5, which is hardly anything. Bad news is, I'll have to wait until Monday for it to come in.

Hmm, well, for my '90 Loyale and I: About $180/month for insurance ($2160/year) A $15 emission test every two years (after 2014, the car will be old enough to not require emissions testing) About $50 for registration (new tabs) every year Gas is about $3.75/gallon here Everything is reasonable to me, except insurance. Insurance is high because I'm male, 17 years old, and the car has no safety features. Oddly enough, it's $30/month cheaper to insure me on our '99 Mustang GT, just because it has airbags, ABS, traction control (which I always turn off ), and anti-theft. I believe my insurance is also above the minimum coverage legally required, so that adds to the price. In 2020, my car will be 30 years old, which means I can get "collector plates." This means I don't have to pay for tabs each year, nor do I have to insure it (I still will though).