Hydropneumatic

Is that a 2CV or a truckette in your lot?

I'm going! I registered as a vendor, actually, to hopefully clear out my shed. Bringing the remnants of my NOS parts stash along with a few used items, including some Peugeot rims. Anything unsold by Saturday afternoon will go CHEAP. Maybe even free.

Crap, I think you're right.

I had advertised these in the parts forum as 13" wheels, but today I discovered they're actually 14" wheels: I know there are issues with ea81 13" wheels hitting the brake caliper on ea82 models, but would there be any clearance issues using a 14" steel wheel (I think they might have been for an XT coupe) on an ea81 car?

To get the spline shaft out of the wheel bearing, it helps to use a hub puller along with a heavy hammer. Get the puller torqued, then hit the drive screw with something like a two pound hammer or sledge. Usually only takes a few whacks for the hub to pop loose, but it needs that shock to get things separated.

Just sold the car locally to a guy in Maryland who sounds like he appreciates it and will do it justice. Let it go for $500-600 less than what I had into it, but oh well. I'll make up for that when I sell the Peugeot I bought for $500.

And we're live: http://r.ebay.com/pEf581

Started to remove the front bumper in order to straighten it as much as I could before advertising the car for sale. After an hour or two of struggle, I realized nearly the whole front end needs to come apart on these older cars in order to get the bumper off, and every other bolt is blocked by some other part. Something to be said for CAD-based engineering, if you ask me. What really made me throw in the towel was needing to reach the bumper bracket bolts blocked by the windshield washer reservoir and resonator box in the front passenger corner. Anyway, I'm selling it as it stands, warts and all. New OEM brakes at all four corners, new right front axle, new rear crossmember, replacement taillight to fix broken backup light lens, first thorough (sort of) cleaning in years. This car is so fun to drive I'm really going to miss it.

When I had bubbles in the coolant reservoir, it turned out to be the head gaskets. Here's a thread on another board on the subject of EZ30 head gasket issues: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/88-head-gasket-issues/28212-h6-3-0-head-gasket-failure.html

I'll see what I can do. As much as it pains me, I've decided to sell the RX once I get the crossmember replaced and new rear brakes installed. I need to clear my plate of projects, and I need to free up some cash. I'm leaning toward posting it on eBay, but if you're dying to have a car like this, PM me.

I would replace it. But if you do reuse it, at the very least take a small, fine file and smooth the edges of the broken section. The jagged portion of the pulley could damage the belt and lead to premature failure.

So after taking a detour to acquire a 1975 Peugeot 604, a hoard of Peugeot parts, and a hoard of new old stock Subaru parts, I finally got back to dealing with the rear crossmember. To answer the question last debated, the rear crossmember I found from a 1991 AWD non-turbo station wagon is 100% identical to the one on my RX. New England vs. Oregon: I could fold the outer portion of the swingarm bracket by hand. I think this might have had something to do with my negative camber.

Sure they do. For example: the 1998 Forester was the only year with the DOHC EJ25 motor. The '99 and '00 use the SOHC motor. The body is exactly the same, with only the mechanicals and incidentals changed. Somewhere along the way i learned that Subaru uses different part numbers for the taillights from '98 versus '99/'00. Having compared them side-by-side, however, I can tell you that there is absolutely no difference between them. There is no way Subaru made 19 variants of a rear crossmember. I'll be sure to photograph the parts together for reference and note any difference.

Modifying an exhaust hanger I can handle. What I don't want to do is fabricate brackets for the swing arms and have my camber just as screwed up as it is now.

If I have to find a rear crossmember from an '88 or '89 RX coupe, I may as well start calling fabrication shops. Are they really different, or are there just different part numbers for the different models? I can see that there could be 19 different configurations of G-body Loyales, but I can't imagine each one had a fundamentally different suspension component. That would be insane.

Is the rear crossmember the same for any AWD Loyale? I found one from an AWD non-turbo wagon, but the salvage yard's computer apparently says the turbo crossmember is different. Both my car and this wagon's fifth VIN digit is G.

The body isn't too bad. Some spongy sections at the bottom of the front fenders and a little under the plastic cladding at the rear quarters, but most is just surface rust. The rear crossmember is the big worry. If you have one, I want it badly. Even with shipping costs, it would probably be cheaper (and vastly easier) than fabricating new ends and brackets. I may have found a rear bumper beam on ebay, though.

Last week I finally took possession of a 1989 RX coupe with 74,270 miles on the odometer. I have decided to name her Ruth after her original owner. The car was purchased new in New Hampshire, and I bought her from the original owner's granddaughter in Washington, DC. Ruth is pretty solid overall, and the interior is immaculate but for two holes in the driver's side headrest and a bit of wear to the trunk carpet. I've decided to get her back on the road and clean her up to the extent I can without going broke. I wanted to take Ruth to Carlisle, PA this past weekend, so I launched into a flurry of activity to make sure she was roadworthy. The front brakes turned out to be completely shot, but the calipers moved easily and worked fine, so all I needed were rotors and pads. The rear pads and rotors need replacement, but they could wait. I ordered a full set of rotors and pads from my local Subaru dealership; apparently I got the last set of NOS rear pads in the country. While driving home, I noticed that the temp gauge didn't work. When I checked the connector, the terminal popped right off. Unfortunately, the dealer ordered the wrong temp sensor, so I had to improvise. The copper wire was still lodged in the sensor, and there was just enough length to crimp on a connector from my toolbox. Not ideal, but it worked. Now I can replace the sensor at my leisure. Next up: the passenger outer CV boot was completely gone, and the bearings were clacking around in the race. When I got home with the replacement drive axle, I discovered that the crown nut had been crossthreaded so badly that it was unusable. I packed grease into the joint and jury-rigged two boots I cut off of old Forester axles, tying them together with twine and reusing the metal clamp near the hub. This somehow lasted 62 miles before disintegrating in spectacular fashion. Surprisingly, it was the metal band that failed - the twine had held together and had to be cut away to remove what was left of the boots. I drove another 200 to Carlisle and back to DC with a completely bare outer joint. The last thing I checked before taking Ruth on the highway was the timing belt. The belt itself looked good, but it was frighteningly loose. I was about to give up on driving her to the show, but then I discovered that the tensioners on the ea82 are manual, not hydraulic. And there are even access holes to reach the bolts for the pulleys! Ten minutes later, the belts were nice and snug. I started to feel nervous when I felt some nasty vibration from the outer CV joint around 65mph, but I discovered that it smoothed out above 75. Cruised all the way there and back at 75-80, grinning like a madman the whole way. Among the highlights at Carlisle was meeting Nipper, whose posts on all these Subaru boards I've been reading for years now. Also loved seeing his CVT-powered Justy. My biggest problem now is some odd noise from the rear suspension, along with left rear camber that is not exactly within factory specs. I suspect it might have something to do with this: The worst area of rust is the rear crossmember. If anyone has a replacement in good condition or knows where to find one, please let me know. I'm not terribly keen on the rear suspension falling apart while I'm driving. I also need new bumper beams front and rear, because the front is bent from a small accident, and the rear is more rust than metal. I'm holding out hope that the plastic bumper covers will be reusable. In the 250-odd miles I've driven, I have fallen completely in love with this car. It's small, sprightly for its age, and like few other cars on the road in my neck of the woods. I am grateful for any assistance I might receive here, and I hope to keep you posted while I return Ruth to her former glory.

I'll be driving up Saturday morning from Arlington, VA in the 1989 RX coupe I just bought. Most of my time at Carlisle has been spent with the Citroen club, but I don't have one at the moment.

Well the bumper is bent downward a little, so I consider it a front airfoil now. Wouldn't want to lose that downforce.

Ha! I see that now. I'm more active on subaruoutback.org and subaruforester.org, so I haven't been around much here. She really knew what she had, so I was surprised to see how little she was asking. I emailed her 45 minutes after it posted and waited over a day for a response, and I spent the whole day gnashing my teeth assuming someone else had gotten to it first. I literally begged my wife to let me buy it. Only caveat was that I have to finish parting out the Forester that's taking up half our driveway; I needed some extra motivation anyway. The slushbox is a bit of a bummer, but overall I love it. I just couldn't stop smiling while I checked it out. I didn't even ask if she'd take less because it was already underpriced. Already ordered a replacement C/V axle to slap on before taking it out on a road trip. If I decide not to keep it (I'm holding out hope of putting real time and money into my grandfather's 1972 Citroen DS), I'll post it here first, as it certainly deserves to go to an enthusiast. Once I take possession, rest assured that I will upload a pile of photos.

Just scored this on craigslist in Washington, DC: Only 75,000 miles, and I bought it from the original owner's granddaughter, so I like to think I'm only the second owner. It's a little rough around the edges, but it runs great and the interior is nearly perfect. Even the A/C works. Driving it up to Carlisle, PA in a couple of weeks for the import/kit/replicar show. Curious if anyone has any spares for this model, as I'm missing the trim on the driver's front fender, and some of the rest could be better. Might fix some of the rust that's starting at the fender bottoms and the rear wheel wells, but overall it just needs a thorough cleaning. I've owned a pile of Outbacks and Foresters, but this is my first Subaru from the 80s. It's like going back in time climbing behind the wheel.