mtsmiths

No body, I'll do that later along with windshield, lights, wipers, etc. Two seater with rear more like a pick-up bed. Just the frame rig, but all wired, plumbed and ready for the road, but naked.

One was booming along a service road with two BIG Hawaiian course workers in front (and a big Hawaiin is BIG). The truck bed was e-m-p-t-y. A golf cart came zipping out of a course crossing and the driver stomped on the binders as hard as he could. The thing stood up on it's nose and went right on over ending up on it's top. The blalahs climbed out picked it up and put it back on it's wheels and drove to the maintenance yard. They knew they were gonna get in trouble big time, and the maintenance supervisor was out. They talked one of the crew into removing the doors, and Sawzalling the roof and windshield frame off. Then they rigged up hinged crossbars to fit the door locks and stuck a flat plate plex windshierld on it. The managers never noticed, they just thought they had ordered a 'convertible' version. Plenny smaht dos buggahs ... dumb haole lunas.

Not counting the T-belt/H2O pump/front seals we did at purchase (bought at 100,000 miles and we didn't know if previously done - SOA had no records). One front wheel bearing, $249.00 = $124.50/annum.

Montana was a four day blitz, right after my query. I just got back at midnight (after 63 hour non-stop, except gas/food rest stop naps run) and am trying to catch up at work. I'm interested, and will look for a suitable body shell on the web. Could this be done with a Justy? Did they make a 4WD/auto Justy (CVT?). Also, I have to consider the fact that whenever it's done it will cost an additional $950 to ship it!

Our '00 'Roo 'Honu' (Hawaiian green sea turtle) has 140,000 miles. Did timing belt/H20 pump,seals at 100,000 (as soon as we brought the car home from the used car dealer), one front axle bearing, regular service. That's it, other than religious oil and tranny service, tire rotations, etc. Other than rock chips and a Montanaed windshield (second one shot) it looks and runs like a new car. 'Klack', our '87 GL wagon has 204,000 showing after driving it straight-thru from NW Montana to the Baltimore, MD area this week. Fifty-two hours of 70-75mph driving without breaking a sweat, not to mention anything else.

Straight thru drive from Whitefish to Baltimore, 63 hours door to door, stops only for fuel, food and naps in the rest areas. All in a 16 year old 'Roo with well over 200,000 miles on the clock. Steady 75mph and nary a burp on the entire run. This is a car I bought 130,000 miles used for $2,600 over four years ago, and am still on the same clutch and brakes ... ditto for the geriatric senior citizen driver (woulda like a cruise control tho'). I'll hate to sell Klack, the 'Jap Tractor' when we go back to Hawaii. HINT: If you don't already know about them - go to the library before you take a long trip and stock up on audio book CDs or tapes. You can mail them back book rate, which is really cheap; and the return time is the post mark, not when the stuff gets back to the library. A great help when you are in the middle of the country and can find only the fundamentalist Christian clear channel radio stations at 03:00.

... only four days at home in Montana, then a straight run back across country. I'll get back. Could this be done with a Justy? Don't know much about them, but the gas economy would be great. Would the car platform begood for what I'm thinking?

Actually, mid Oct. may or may not be a deadline. That's when weare hoping to haveourWhiteefish rented, but never know. Anyhow, that is when I'll be back from MD. I'm in Montana right now, and getting my '87 wagon ready to drive back to Baltimore. If an off the shelf dune buggy body could be found that's close to the right dimensions I can do the glass re-work to make it fit. I would really like a good T-Top Brat but again I just can't fathom trying to keep up with the cancer. I also thought of basically 'deskinning' a wagon and sheeting it with fylon (sheet fiberglas) and molding it together. It would come out pretty 'Hummerish', but I'm after function, not form ... that said, it's still gotta look respectable, not like something the Clamptons put together.

Hows the fires in your neck of the woods? It's been so smokey in the Flathead valley that my airplane was stuck at the Whitefish airstrip for over three weeks, the visibility has been so bad that it couldn't be flown the 13 or so miles to Kalispell where it's hangar is. It raind two days tho', and The Pretty One says the fires are slowing a bit, and the air has cleared, I'm heading out tomorrow, so maybe I'll get the chance to fly her home to base.

http://www.hawaiianvacationcondos.com Shoot, I don't know how to do links on this board, so you'll have to copy/paste. You can use the map to see where we are, and all Hawaii beaches and shoreline are public access, and the landowners have to leave roads or paths open to the public to get there. Lots of the roads are unimproved lava crossings. We'll be pulling it out of rental and moving back in after we either sell or lease the Montana house. I'm flying back to Montana tomorrow and driving the '87 back to MD, so I have something to drive and take my stuff back in mid Oct. when my project contract is fulfilled. Then, howsomever much of winter we have in Montana 'til we are free to go back to the Big Isand. So I NEED that beach car!

you have mail. Newbie ... mutter, mutter, mutter harrrummmphhhhh.

You want the weight of the car to sink you down to the compacted stuff. We also run studs on both our 'Roos (Whitefish, MT), but that's mostly for our own driveway, and then for the downhill braking into the garage! As opposed to driving THRU the garage, like a lumber delivery truck did a few winters ago.

I'm not gonna be jumping it. As far as function, I could do a roofectomy on my '87 GL wagon and it would be fine, the problem is old Subaru steel. It just can't take a marine environment (as you WELL know Moosens). A glass upper on a wagon pan would be fine, would like a mild lift for bigger tires, but even that might not be needed if it had a high fendered shell on it. Many of the back roads to beaches on the Big Island are trails (marked by rock cairns) across the lava beds. There are often deep dive-ins and minimal overhang is a bonus. When you reach the coast shelf there are often stretches of sand, and that's where the 4WD really comes in (and the bigger tires are a help).

... as long as I have a USABLE bed. The trouble I have seen with virtually all VW conversions (and I include the Thing) is that the d@mn rear engine is right where I want to dump a load of stuff! As to body 'style' I don't much care (other than those awful 'T-Bucket' things). FWIW, I drove a 'Bugatti' VW conversion for a bit on Oahu, in Hawaii. It was the most dangerous car I ever drove. It would wheelie every time you shifted into 2nd, and could pull the front tires off the ground going into 3rd. If it rained PARK IT, never mind getting wet from the water wheels right at your elbow, you couldn't turn, the front wheels would turn and the tires hydroplane with the car continuing in a straight line. I need a vehicle that can handle lava roads, beach crossings, haul stuff ... and not rust away in two years. And get good gas mileage.

as I was writing the post! I've been in MD all summer. The Pretty One did a summer sabbatical in DC, and I ended up with a pretty good job south of Baltimore. It looked for awhile that we were going to relocate here, but I don't think my employer is going to get the long-term contract he was planning for, so now I think not. I think the wife has been mainlaned out, and wants to go home to Hawaii, so ... it could be worse, eh? But I'm serious about building a Subaru based beach car, if I can find a competant builder, shouldn't be too hard to find a glass body lying around somewhere (no, not your Brat, too small!). You wanna do it? You'd hafta work fast tho, so I could take it back west mid-Oct. (unless something changes here). Heck, if you do it I'll throw in my USSR Air Force camo wagon with your racks on it ... (for 'consideration' of course). I'm going out to Montana in the morning for a conjugal visit, and driving Klack back east so I have a car here, and can take my stuff back when my contract is up.

... NO on digital dash, MUST on fuel injection (I HATE the carb on my '87 GL).

OK, here's the problem. The Pretty One and I are probably heading back to the Big Island sometime this or early next year. The 2000 Legacy will get sold on the mainland, it's just not an island car. We've got one car over there already, parked at the condo (LeBaron 'vert). I need a beach car. Gotta be able to haul surfboards, SCUBA gear, kayak, stuff li'dat. A T-Top Brat would be perfect ... but. Soobies just can't handle Hawaii rust, I know, I was first introduced to Subarus over there Waaaay back in the '70s before some of you guys were even recreational activities. Here's what I want. Good ground clearance, gas economy, 4WD would be a bonus, not mandatory, automatic (I've gotten lazy in my old age), open fiberglas body, at least minimal pickup bed, roll bar (not full cage), street legal (I will license in Montana before shipping over to Hawaii), not show quality, but clean and straight quality work with sound (if not fresh) mechanicals. Simple electrics, etc, no frills to break down. I'll handle tires, interior, radio and accessories. I don't know if anyone has ever dropped a dune buggy body on a hatch pan, but it seems doable by some of you guys after looking at some of the projects on this board. Or, it could turn into a glass open cab pickup on a wagon pan ... anyone wanna try? You will get paid up front for the donor car, and enough $$$ to buy the major components, expected to meet a regular schedule with progress reports and payments, up to a preagreed total amount. Should be a fun project (and fun to watch on the board), and we all win, prefer NW builder, since I live in Whitefish. And watch for the '00 wagon to come up for sale, it's a really good all highway miles car.