j-karr

Yes, that's me! I got into a pretty tight spot many moons ago when I still had that car and had to let it go. I still regret selling it, as it was a pretty special one. It stayed local for a while but last I heard it was heading out West and living an interesting life. This is the first old Subie I've had since then, what, close to 7 or 8 years ago now. Once I signed back in here all the memories of that time came back, and I haven't forgotten your generosity back then. Seeing your username totally brought me back. It was great meeting you, and hopefully I'll make it up there again! Everyone, I appreciate the input. I'm feeling a little better about it after reading your replies. I mounted new tires to replace the dry-rotted units it came with along with getting an alignment done, and I took it up a couple hours north to some wrenching friends of mine and to give it a more thorough looking at and toss about on the windy roads up there. While the rust is definitely very bad the car is proving to be totally worth saving, as it really does run and drive nicely. The suspension is surprisingly spry. Idosubaru, I'm probably going your route - friends of mine who are more skilled than I fell in love with it and want to help attack the rust. We're going to team up and patch it up structurally as best we can, and then I'll do my best to maintain it and keep it clean afterwards. She'll never be mint, but we can probably get it to the point where I can use it as intended for as long as I can. I think the car could be quite efficient while doing what I want it to do, I just need to tinker with the Weber carb it has, seems to run a little rich. I am maybe getting about 200ish miles per 8.5 gallons, hard to be totally accurate as the speedo/odo don't work even with a new speedo cable, haha. Here are a couple more flattering shots of the little beast. Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3

I just took home an 88 GL 4WD hatch. Dual range, 4 speed. It seems to run and drive very nicely, and for what I got it for in the northeast it seemed worth the gamble to try and give it a new lease on life. The PO had resealed the engine, put in a new clutch, a new weber carb, and a lot of things to get it running and driving right. It made the 300 mile ride home without a hiccup. However, it seems to be in dire need of rust repair, particularly in the front drivers side floor area. I just had it on a lift and saw the attached photo, and felt a little disheartened with what I saw. Any suggestions for overall cost of repair, if it is possible at all, or worth doing? I'm in Philadelphia, and am open to paying someone for the work if there's anyone around. https://i.imgur.com/p8b39xo.jpg

Scooner: Yup, I have put new shocks in. Unfortunately, it seems like they're doing all the weight bearing and the torsion bar is doing nothing. Gris: Here's what I've gathered so far... The issue is that when looking into putting in a coilover or air shock (something load bearing) in place of the standard shocks, there is not a lot of space. The other issue is that the top of the shock mount is just a hole in the sheet metal in the wheel well, which could become problematic if it goes unsupported. Because finding a replacement torsion bar is difficult and the process of installing one is pretty involved, I've been looking into alternatives I guess.

Hi fellas, I have encountered an issue with my '79 4WD wagon where I can't load up any passengers or weight in the back without the rear end of the car sitting down almost all the way onto the tires. I assume this is a failure of the rear torsion bar but sourcing and replacing such a part is probably a hopeless endeavor. I've brought the car to a couple specialty shops to no avail as far as finding a solution to this problem. Does anyone have any ideas, creative or otherwise? I'd really like to be able to use my car as intended...

Hey Brett! Love your Brat shots! Your car fits in well with the environment you put her in. Great textures in those photos. Here's a couple snow shots from a little while ago to bump the thread up a bit, hopefully I will have some new material of my girl soon!

Blow out day eh? These days I really only have Friday and Monday off but I would more more than happy to help you sort that out. I learned so much about my car last time and I need some more knowledge dropped on me!

What, the granny pillow my car came with won't supply adequate lumbar support? Mach, without a doubt I'm bringing a cooler with the essentials. I think I have a little Subaru tool baggie with all of those wrenches but I'll check. Paul, going forward indeed! She's in the shop right now getting a full proper exhaust (the straight pipe with cherry bomb gets very tiring) and possibly getting a solution for her sagging rear end. Hope everything has been well by you! And I grabbed these supplies from another thread: Voltage reg fuel pump fusible link belts/hoses/clamps fuses clutch cable accelerator cable maybe an alternator accelerator pump and a few carb pieces/jets bulbs/headlight tools flashlight

Thanks NVZ! Glad you like her. Already have a copy of that stowed away under my rear seat, it's a great read and so well illustrated.

Hey guys! Just wanted to start a fun discussion thread. If you were to take your old Subaru on a road trip, what would you bring? What parts in particular are prone to failure and should be kept as spares? What tricks of the trade should a Subaru newbie know before taking a car out for a few hundred or thousand miles? I plan on taking my wagon out for a tour of New England this coming August (or who knows where) and I'm curious to see if anyone has experience taking these cars on long distance trips. Thanks all, hopefully we get some fun suggestions here

Hi guys! I'm sorry if this topic has been beat to death and I've done a little research with the search function but I still have some concerns. I have a low mileage (67k) '79 4WD wagon with the EA71 and a 4-speed---as we all know this trans can be a bit of a dog, especially for long distance drives. Mine also has a not-so-great habit of being pretty hard to get into reverse and grinding between 1st and 2nd gear, so it needs to go sooner or later. My goal here is to get bulletproof reliability and a little more comfort on long trips as well as the better offroadability that the D/R trans provides. My question is: would it be a good idea or even possible to keep my EA71 and mate it to the trans? I have access to a complete D/R parts car with an EA82 (non-running at the moment) so it would be possible to pull as many part from that as necessary. I like the simplicity of the EA71 engine and mine runs very well. Am I correct in thinking it would be possible to mate the EA82 bell housing to this engine, or do I have to seek out a bell housing from a 'fat' EA71?

Put me down for one too!

I'm in! Riding out from Boonton, NJ. I'm right off of interstate 287, so if anyone northbound of me would like to take a pit stop and cruise down to the southern part of the state with me, let me know!

This was a blast! Paul, as I said I'd be happy to swing by again and help you organize.

Hello guys! I have a '79 4WD that has front struts and rear shocks that are dying a slow, leaky death. I apologize if this topic is like beating a dead horse, but maybe new options have appeared since the old threads I scoured for solutions. Anyway, I'm looking to replace these worn out parts, and as a complete newbie to the 1st gen world, I'm at a loss for where to find replacement parts. I can't seem to find anything for as old as my car easily available. I'd like to either bring her back to stock or do a very mild lift... are there any recommended kits or parts that you fellas could direct me towards? Heck, if any of you have something you're willing to sell me personally that'd be fine too! Thanks,

She has somewhere to hide for the winter!