freedster

MC is the same part number. That much I do know. - Freed

Talked to my mechanic and he was concerned about whether or not there were any proportioning valve changes needed when I swapped to rear discs on my 87 GL hatch. He said that I likely wouldn't get much better braking with the discs because the line pressure would be drum brake line pressure, and wouldn't be correctly suited to the application. I've asked about the rest of the system, not the proportioning valve, so he might have a point, I guess. Looks to me like the existing proportioning valve is a non-adjustable unit, and a cursory check at my Chilton manual seems to indicate that the units are the same across both disc and drum rear brake models. Do I have to switch to a disc brake proporting valve, or can I just leave the rear drum one there unchanged? Would there be any advantage to going to an aftermarket unit? Thanks. - Freed

Sorry for the noob question, but how does one id a limited slip rear? Also, I take it that the front and rear need to have the same gear ratio, so how do I tell what I have? Thanks! - Freed

Thanks, all for the advice. I'm glad I don't have to worry about buying new wheels just yet. This had me worried about backspacing: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/80s/wheels2/wagdiff.jpg Since I am planning on buying some Pug alloys one of these days, would it be in my best interest to go ahead and put in some longer ARP wheel studs when I do the brakes? Should I get some studs with a more common diameter or thread pitch (like a 12x1.5)? - Freed

(Part of this is reprinted from an earlier post) OK. I have a "hatchback" not a "3-door". Looks like I am finally doing the brakes now. Wish I could have done this sooner. As far as what is worn out goes, I know I need to do the fronts, and might as well do the rears while I'm at it. Just so I know what parts to go get, someone please check my facts: 1 - I can upgrade the fronts by calipers originally designed for an xt6. They are larger and better calipers. Should bolt right up. 2 - I can upgrade the rear to disks by doing the same, but I will need all parts from the backing plates out. Any Subaru RX, XT Turbo, GL-10 Turbo (both wagon and sedan) will have rear disk brakes. XT6 will not do. Install by replacing the backing plates on my hatch with the disk brake backing plates, and put on the whole assembly from there. Should bolt right up. 3 - I won't need to change out my master cylinder, hard or flex lines, or any other part of the braking system. I also won't need to change out my wheels. 4 - If I do decide to change over to Pugeot wheels, I can change over to any 14" or 15" ones I like because the backspacing and bolt pattern are both correct. Should bolt right up. I just need to then get tires that match up to the same overall diameter so that my speedo is still accurate, and I can figure that out with this: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html I'm interested in upgrading the front rotors if anyone knows of a larger bolt-up part. Many thanks to anyone that can help me get through this. - Freed

OK. I have a "hatchback" not a "3-door". Looks like I am finally doing the brakes now. Wish I could have done this sooner. As far as what is worn out goes, I know I need to do the fronts, and might as well do the rears while I'm at it. Just so I know what parts to go get, someone please check my facts: 1 - I can upgrade the fronts by calipers originally designed for an xt6. They are larger and better calipers. Should bolt right up. 2 - I can upgrade the rear to disks by doing the same, but I will need all parts from the backing plates out. Any Subaru RX, XT Turbo, GL-10 Turbo (both wagon and sedan) will have rear disk brakes. XT6 will not do. Install by replacing the backing plates on my hatch with the disk brake backing plates, and put on the whole assembly from there. Should bolt right up. 3 - I won't need to change out my master cylinder, hard or flex lines, or any other part of the braking system. I also won't need to change out my wheels. I'm interested in upgrading the front rotors if anyone knows of a larger bolt-up part. Many thanks to anyone that can help me get through this. - Freed

What sort of spring mods? Is there any place I can go to get new bushings? - Freed

Double checked yesterday evening. She is flashing a 24 and just a 24. - Freed

Curious on this too, though yours look WAAAAYYY better than mine. - Freed

I can't see the car from my office, but the car was originally purchased in late September 1987. I still have docs from the original owner to that effect. (He was one of those guys that wrote down every time he got gas and then calculated his mileage.) It's a 4WD hatch with a carb. Since I'm no expert, my car was successfully identified in this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29444 Roughly the same info as on http://www.troublecodes.net/Subaru/ but troublecodes.net seems a little more exhaustive. I'll check the Haynes Manual. That all makes sense. If this solenoid went bad, would the car idle funny or not do the High idle/low idle thing at the right times? No connections at all, actually. There was a red LED I saw flashing under the dash, behind the panel, near the steering column. I'm a noob so I thought it was just a burglar alarm I didn't know about, or something, but then I realized there was a pattern to it that looked like an engine code. I then figured Subaru was just smart enough to have an LED already connected for flashing codes automatically (after all, they were smart enough to put a drain plug on the gas tank, weren't they? :cool: ). I take it that one generally needs to connect to the harness to pull a code, then? That all having been said, considering that I have been getting a check engine light AND poor gas mileage, I may well be getting the right code from the blinky under the dash. I think I'll go for a drive over lunch and see if I can pull a code again. Thanks! - Freed

Hello all! Another question about the little 88GL 4WD hatch. I'd been getting a check engine light when the engine was hot, and figured it was just that the O2 sensor was old. I even bought a new O2 to replace the old one. This morning when I got to work, I looked down and saw some flashing under the steering column, and realized that my car must be trying to tell me something. I got 2 long and 4 short, which comes out something like this: 24- coolant temperature sensor or circuit, or Idle-up solenoid or circuit (1984 to 1988 carbureted) (at least according to http://www.troublecodes.net/Subaru/ ) Not sure if I was getting more than one code or not, since I noticed it flashing a minute or so after I turned the car off. So anyway, this raises a couple of questions on the topic: 1) Is this something to really worry about? (I'm thinking probably not, but not 100% sure.) 2) Could this contribute to poor gas mileage? (I think probably so, but wanted to ask the experts.) 3) How do I tell which of these two parts has failed? (no clue.:-\ ) I'll double-check that I don't have more codes, and revisit this post at that time, but I just wanted to air this one out. Thanks in advance for the info. - Freed

OK, update. I went to the website, and took a look at the MSDS on the additives. It looks to be about the same stuff as the Chevron Techron additive (a polyether amine). It probably won't hurt your car, and may clean things out nicely, but Techron in a bottle is probably just as good and most likely cheaper to boot. - Freed

I don't know what this stuff was purporting to change in the makeup of the fuel, but consider this for a moment: You have at least 11 gallons of fuel in your full tank of gas (more in most cars) and you add in a pint bottle of something to affect the quality of the fuel. That would mean, then, that you are diluting out whatever you are adding by a ratio of at least 88:1. Now, when you add some sort of octane booster to gasoline, to calculate your new octane level you generally take the octane of the fuel that you start with, and add in the volume and octane of what you are adding to it, and then average it out to figure out the average octane of the total mixture. For example: Lets say you have 7 gallons of 92 octane gas and you add in 3 gallons of 104 octane race gas to give your finely tuned turbo car a little more umph on the dragstrip. So: [(7 @ 92 octane) + (3 @ 104 octane)] / 10 gallons = average octane [(7*92)+(3*104)]/10 [(644)+(312)]/10 [956]/10 95.6 = average octane of the fuel mix So adding 3 whole gallons of 104 octane only raises the overall average octane by 3.6 points. Therefore, in order for a pint of whatever you were adding to have any appreciable effect on combustion, it would have to be some seriously potent stuff. To raise the octane of your 11 gallon tankful by as much as just one gallon of 104 octane, it would itself need to have an octane level in the thousands. I can't imagine a pint of much of anything raising the overall octane by more than .1 point, taking your tankful from 92 octane to 92.1. ***EXCEPTION TO THE RULE*** Adding a concentrated solution of Tetraethyl Lead to unleaded gasoline will have a dramatic effect on the unleaded's octane, and it can increase a fuel's octane rating a lot, even in comparatively small quantities. This is happens for two reasons. First of all, tetraethyl lead is just that good of an octane booster. Secondly, the combination of the lead with the compounds they use in unleaded to boost octane makes the two of them work better to boost octane than either one is capable of on its own. Unless your infomercial was for gallon jugs of tetraethyl lead, I think it's bogus. - Freed

Hello All! The first time I slid forward the passenger seat after I got the GL, it slid just fine but I can't get it to lock in position again. All it wants to do now is slide around. Not only is it annoying, its a safety hazard. I didn't hear or feel anything break when I slid the seat, but I figure the seat hadn't been moved in at least 3 years, so some bit probably just slid out of the way and couldn't slide back, or something. I'm sure that something under there ain't right somehow, but I have no idea what, it isn't covered well in the Haynes manual, and I can't figure it out by just feeling around under there (tried futzing with different things for a half hour or so). Any experts out there know what I need to be looking for under there? Do I need to take the seat out to fix it? Am I hosed here? Thanks in advance! - Freed

My 88 GL hatch was free. My neighbor just got tired of looking at it.- Freed

I'm not an expert. You could do a draw-through setup without too many issues, I should think. You would have to upgrade your injector to handle the extra fuel you would need (not just because of more air -- turbos need to run a little rich). Your throttle response would be worse and your powerband narrower because draw-through setups always have lots of lag, but I think it could be done. If you kept it to around 7-9Lbs of boost, I think you could do it without causing an instant meltdown. Happy plumbing! - Freed

Well, as light as my GL is, I could probably tow it myself somewhere behind my S-10 with on of those little RV yokes if I needed to take a second car with me sometime. Sounds like I can put it in 2wd and neutral and I'd be good to go. Thanks for the info. - Freed

Alright doc, write me up a perscription. I have a headache. To clarify things so I am sure I get the right information: ***************** I have a 1988 GL 4WD 3-door hatch. It has a 4-speed, and I can select either Hi-Lo-None on the 4wd. It has a Carbed 1.8L motor, and I think it has 4-wheel drum brakes (not 100% sure on that last point). It looks exactly like the top white car in Bushbasher's picture. ***************** Just to clarify what I think I'm hearing: 1) I can't really use many Impreza brake/suspension parts at all on my GL. 2) So, a good off-the-shelf upgrade then would be to get entire the brake assemblies (backing plate and all) off of an XT (or a turbo car?) and just use those. That should give me 4-wheel discs, and better stopping power. 3) If I take apart my struts and re-use the tops off of them, I can put struts in my car that were intended for a later model EJ car. I could achieve the same effect by drilling out the strut tower to fit the EJ struts. Is that what I am hearing? Assuming I'm right on all of that, and assuming that by an EJ car we are referring to a car that originally came with an EJ-series motor (like the Impreza) it begs the question then is it really worth it to go with EJ car struts? That sounds like a fairly simple upgrade, but is it really to be considered an upgrade? I know that there are all kinds of aftermarket things I could do if I went to Impreza struts, but would those be worth it if I couldn't do a similar upgrade to the rear suspension? Thanks all for the commentary. - Freed

I seem to remember reading that you could tow a 4WD suby Manual Tansmission by just putting it neutral if you kept all 4 wheels on the ground. Does that fly? - Freed

So, were there any disc brake or 5-lug cars that I can pull 100% compatible parts from? (Like a disc brake Loyale or something like that?) I was hoping that when I do the brakes for the car, I could just buy the parts for a 5-lug and/or disc brake setup and upgrade at the same time. I never did like drum brakes all that much (except for the ones on the late 60's Buicks with those huge, gorgeous cast aluminum drums!) and if I can get them out of there, so much the better. I'm hoping to autocross this car some day. - Freed

HMMM. You are right: http://wheeltool.com/info/4bolt.html I now have no idea what website I got the 4x100 info off of. Don't I feel like a noob. :-\ That was an interesting waste of time. Thank goodness I didn't do something really dumb like buy a set of Integra rims for my car already. Well, lets leave this up for archival reasons. - Freed

The Turbo Buick crowd is more than a little paranoid about oil, so I guess I got my point of view from there. That turbo is pretty big, gets REALLY hot and oil is the only thing cooling it. Hence, a bit of bad oil can toast your turbo in a hurry, and the concensus is that every bit of extra volume you can add to the system is a good thing because it aids in cooling. Most guys run their cars with an extra quart in the pan and an extra quart in the tranny for just that reason. Those motors are also completely capable of making insane power with simple bolt-on parts, so any reliability upgrade isn't necessarily a bad thing either. I noticed it was pretty big myself. Maybe Subaru was already hip to this idea when they built the car? That's what I did with the wife's 'Bu, so I'll just try the same technique with the GL. I'll let y'all know what I find. - Freed

I was curious what different options I had available for wheels to fit 4x100 hubs and did a bit of digging on the web for other cars with the same lug pattern. This doesn't address backspacing, but here's what I put together so far. Feel free to add your own. Enjoy! - Freed PS- this didn't paste in well from Excel. Sorry for the mess. *************************** Make Model Years Wheel Size Acura INTEGRA 86-01 14 X 6 Audi 4000 79-84 14 X 6 Audi 4000S 76-84 13 X 5.5 Audi 80,90 QUATTRO To '87 13 X 5.5 Audi COUPE 79-84 14 X 6 Audi FOX 76-84 13 X 5.5 BMW 318,325 84-91 14 X 6 BMW 320,323 79-83 13 X 5.5 BMW 1600, 2002 thru 86 Buick FWD Century 82-85 Cadillac Cimarron 81-86 Chevy CHEVETTE 75-86 13 X 5 Chevy NOVA/SPECTRUM 86-89 13 X 5.5 Chevy PRIZM 90-on 14 X 5.5 Dodge ARIES 81-86 13 X 5.5 Dodge CARAVAN 84-85 14 X 6 Dodge CHARGER 2.2 82-86 13 X 5.5 Dodge COLT 93-94 13 X 4.5 Dodge DAYTONA 82-84 14 X 6 Dodge NEON 94-96 14 X 5.5 Dodge RAMPAGE 78-85 14 X 6 Ford ASPIRE 94-on 13 X 4.5 Ford ESCORT GT 91-96 15 X 6 Ford ESCORT LX 92-97 14 X 5 Ford ESCORT LX, WAGON 91-94 13 X 5.5 Ford ZX2 97- 15 X 6 Honda ACCORD 82-89 13 X 5 Honda CIVIC 80-96 13 X 5 Honda CIVIC, EX 89-on 14 X 5 Honda CRX SI 86-91 14 X 6 Honda CRX,PRELUDE 80-91 13 X 5.5 Honda DEL SOL 93-97 13 X 4.5 Honda DEL SOL, V-TECH 92-on 14 X 6 Honda INSIGHT 01-on - Honda PRELUDE SI 86-91 14 X 6 Isuzu I-MARK 83-89 13 X 5 Isuzu I-MARK TURBO 87-89 14 X 6 Isuzu IMPULSE 83-92 14 X 6 Isuzu STYLUS 91-on 14 X 6 Mazda 323 9 90-94 13 X 5.5 Mazda MIATA, MX5 (Use Acorn Lug Nuts) 90-on 14 X 6 Mazda MX-3 92-96 14 X 6 Mazda MX-3 GS 92-96 15 X 6 Mazda PROTEGE 90-01 13 X 5.5 Mercury TOPAZ 91-96 13 X 5 Mercury TRACER 91-96 14 X 5 Mitsubishi MIRAGE 93-96 13 X 4.5 Mitsubishi MIRAGE 94-97 14 X 5.5 Mitsubishi MIRAGE COUPE 97-on 14 X 5.5 Nissan 200SX 95-97 13 X 5 Nissan 200SX 95-97 14 X 5.5 Nissan 200SX SE-R 95-97 15 X 5.5 Nissan NX 2000 91-93 14 X 6 Nissan PULSAR SE 87-90 14 X 6 Nissan PULSAR XE 87-90 13 X 5.5 Nissan SENTRA 87-on 14 X 6 Opel Kadett Opel Kadet , GT , Manta 68-79 Plymouth HORIZON,OMNI 79-90 13 X 5 Plymouth RELIANT 81-85 13 X 5 Plymouth VOYAGER 81-85 13 X 5.5 Renault All to '89 Saturn S SERIES 91-on 14 X 6 Suzuki ESTEEM 95-97 13 X 5.5 Toyota COROLLA 88-96 13 X 5 Toyota COROLLA 88-97 14 X 5.5 Toyota ECHO 00-on 13 X 4.5 Toyota MR-2 85-89 14 X 6 Toyota MR-2 SPYDER 00-on - Toyota PASEO 92-96 14 X 5.5 Toyota PRIUS 01-on Toyota TERCEL 83-97 13 X 4.5 Volkswagen CABRIO 97-on 14 X 6 Volkswagen CORRADO 89-92 15 X 6 Volkswagen GOLF 85-98 14 X 6 Volkswagen JETTA 81-98 14 X 6 Volkswagen PASSAT 90-97 14 X 6 Volkswagen QUANTUM 82-89 14 X 6 Volkswagen SCIROCCO 16 VALVE 81-88 14 X 6

Hello all! Back when I owned my Buick Grand National, one trick that we Turbo Buick guys used to do was to use a physically larger oil filter on the car than the one that the parts book called for. I believe the filter we used was the one intended for the GM 4.3L v6 truck motor, and while it was the same diameter and thread pitch as the stock one, it was a good couple inches longer. The extra length meant it had a much larger filtration element to it, and it also very easily added nearly an extra half-quart of oil into the system. Both very good things, and the bigger filter didn't cost much more at all. Seeing the wisdom in this cheap oil system upgrade, I've done the same thing on my wife's Malibu for the same reasons, and I'll probably do it on every car I own from now on. Considering that there is no real physical length restriction on the filter on my 1.8L, I was wondering if anyone had tried this on their older Subie. If so, do you have the part numbers of the bigger one to use? Sorry if this is a noob question, but I'm learning here. Thanks in advance for the info. - Freed

I don't have the gauge in front of me, but I think the temp range is adequate. I think it's about 140-240 degrees or something like that. What you describe is exactly what I heard could happen if you tee off the pressure sending unit. Thanks for the feedback on that point. What makes me nervous about using the drain plug is the fact that it would leave a wire hanging out of the lowest part of the engine, and one that went into the crankcase to boot. I could see snagging it on a high-center or bit of road debris or something and spilling all of my oil out. I hadn't even thought about the wear and tear aspects of it, so those make the idea even less viable. I like your welding a new fitting idea. I could put it on the side of the crankcase out of the way so it wouldn't get snagged. The gauge kit came with little pieces of threaded adapters so that it could be made to fit in many makes of car, so I could just drill a hole and weld one of those in. I got the welder for Christmas and I've been itching to use it on the car somehow anyway. I'll price cooler adapters too, but I think welding the bung into the crankcase will just cost me the price of a new pan gasket. Thanks for the good ideas. Any other ideas out there in TV land? - Freed