alastor555

Ok, sounds not doable at all, will lower the windows Thanks!

Hello, I found online the aircon compressor for Subaru Leone AB5: https://www.shopricambiauto24.it/products/1293927-compressore-climatizzatore.htm My AB5 doesn't have aircon, I wonder how many parts beyond the compressor would be required and if it would be doable at all - at least for not crazy money. Cheers, Marcos

Thanks... Maybe after all the original lug nuts are easier to find here in Europe. About the offset, going from a 5jx13 et45 wheel to a 6jx15 et19 wheel will not cause problems? It seems that the wheel will come out of about 39mm, sounds like a lot... http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Wheel-Offset-Calculator# Well now the wheels look tiny and very much inside the wheelarches so it may be ok. I contacted the seller asking if it's 390mm but from your responses i'm confident they are 15".

Thanks a lot, will keep reading and hope for more replies by experts from the forum!

Thanks, will write the seller to ask if they are 15" for sure and not 390mm. As for the lug nuts, I'm not sure I understand correctly the problem, are they just hard to find or some adaptation work is also required? About the offset, I tried to look here: https://www.wheel-size.com/size/subaru/leone/1984/#trim-18-ab-jdm , https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/?wheel1=175-70-13X5.0ET45 and it seems that for 15 inches an ET45 would be required, is it a problem to have ET19? Will look for "pugs" in the forum, thanks! Marcos ps. Could you please post a picture of your BRAT with those wheels? I only tried imagining them on the Leone but never saw an actual picture, it would be great.

Hello everyone, i found on ebay this ad: http://www.ebay.fr/itm/JANTE-ALUMINIUM-PNEUS-POUR-PEUGEOT-505-504-/162425709938?hash=item25d153a572:g:TyYAAOSwTM5YwlJE From what I understand they are OEM Peugeot 505 wheels of size 6Jx15 ET19 4x140pcd, vs the standard 5jx13 ET45 4x140 of the AB5 Leone. All this i found online but I'm not 100% sure of the numbers and I wouldn't buy the wheels before having some expert feedback as I'm not sure if the swap is doable at all. I did some searches in the forum and on google but still don't have a confident opinion, any help will be appreciated. Cheers, Marcos

Thanks a lot for the info, I'll use it to make a good to-do list! I realise I don't have a picture of the engine bay, but it's dirty as hell and still with the original spare tire from 1984, I doubt it would be usable When I bought it I didn't clean the engine bay, I was afraid it may ruin something!

Another picture, at the sea, near Pisa

Thanks for the tips. I think the ea81 doesn't have a timing belt so that's one thing less to worry. Good to know about the axles, I'll look for someone able to rebuild them eventually when they wear out - maybe they are already after 30 years! As engine oil I'll use a triple ester one from Millers, 10w-40 (with a 5w-40 apparently there can be some piston slap?). About the gas tank... one problem i have with refilling it is that the gas spills out when it gets full, the gas pump doesn't stop automatically as with other cars, they told me it could be air in the tank... I'll definitely clean and treat the gas tank as you suggest, would that maybe solve the problem? I could even replace it if it's worth it.

Thanks a lot, I will try the method described to spill the air out. My garage has a quite steep ramp, so it should be fine to have the car pointed up. If anyone has any recommendation on what parts to change in advance to keep the car fresh and trouble-free in the long term please share! As a starting point I found this info on a webpage about an amazing 1981 Leone with over 510000 miles: "The engine is original, however I've replaced water pump 2x, radiator, heater core, clutch 2x, front axles, alternator, and repaired transmission. Nothing done to the engine other than oil and filter changes at regular intervals."

Thanks for the answers! If I understand correctly, the air in the heater core is making the gurgling noise, and that is because of the low coolant. Also, the thermostat could be missing or stuck in the open position, and the radiator cap could be letting air in. I just noticed - reading the receipts of the past services - that since april 2013 when I bought the car the coolant has never been changed... then changing the coolant, radiator cap and the thermostat should fix the problem permanently?

Hello everybody, I am a Subaru fan living in Pisa, Italy. My passion for Subaru started when I went to the 2000 Sanremo WRC race, the Impreza WRC was just amazing. Since then I managed to buy three Subaru cars, a 1999 Impreza type-r, a 2004 Impreza WRX Wagon (with PPP kit) and a 1984 Leone AB5. Amazing cars! Hope to exchange lots of usefull information on this forum. Cheers, Marcos

Being a devoted Subaru fan, last year when I saw a 1984 Leone for sale in northern Italy I just couldn't let the occasion go, and I went on and bought it. It is now in good company with a 1999 Impreza type-r and a 2004 Impreza WRX Wagon. It is very rare to find 1980s Subaru cars in Italy and Europe in general, I think they are much more common in USA and Australia, so I didn't want it to end in a scrapyard. The car (I attach a couple of pictures) is a metal grey Subaru AB5 sedan with 1.8 liter engine, 4 gears manual gearbox and AWD. In over 30 years the car has covered only 90000 miles. It was in decent condition when I bought it but it had a bit of rust, a rotten exhaust and a noisy wheel bearing, so I had some mechanical work done at my Subaru dealer and fixed the rust. For the past year or so and few thousand miles the car has been great, I think one wheel bearing is still making a bit of noise so it will have to be changed soon. The front windshield has many little scratches which are annoying when facing the sun, I think I will change it with a newer, safer one. Recently I also started to hear on startup a loud noise similar to that of a liquid flowing in a pipe - apparently located just behind the dashboard - proportional in intensity to how one accelerates... It goes away after a few miles once the car is warm.... no idea what that is, it would be a great help if someone had any suggestions about it. What I would like to do is to slowly "rejuvenate" the Leone, changing the parts that are going to break eventually, before they actually break... Some preventive maintenance to avoid things going wrong, with a budget of around 1000$ per year. I hope some of you have experience of these cars and know what needs to be done to keep them fresh... I was thinking for instance to replace the water pump, gasoline pump, clutch and brake lines. Maybe the gasoline tank also? Any suggestions and feedback would be very welcome to make a proper to-do list for keeping the Leone in shape!