So this weekend I was feeling guilty about this car, as it has been neglected for far to long. I got the car when I was 15 for parts for my brat, but after realizing that it had come from California, and had only been in the north east for a few years, I found the car to be too good to part out. My dad and I drove it around that first summer (working A/C and all!) and then it just kind of sat, and I haven't done anything with it. Being in the north east it has now developed rust, and some other issues. It needs paint (it's pealing from its formal west coast life) This weekend I have been replacing rocker panels and starting to cut out rust that has developed in the floor from sitting. I also have removed all the sound detaining, and found that the rear shock towers are 100% solid

 

My goals for the project are to lower it a bit, make some of my tube bumpers for it. I don't really like the stock FWD bumpers. New paint and some stripes. do up the interior a little. Black out all the chrome. I already purchased some wing mirrors they are on the way! Fix the rust, and leave it fwd with the stock engine. I like the Mpg's it gets and it runs amazingly well with only 178k on her, she's got tons left as is.

 

Here are the pics and progress so far!

 

When I first got it

 

And after sitting in VT for a couple of years....

 

Really good rear shock towers

 

Cutting

 

 

 

Welding/new rockers!!!!

 

 

This is my goal pooparu showed this to me a while back and I fell in love with this car

 

 

I also was able to remove all of the water traps (sound detaining) on the floor

 

 

Edited September 7, 201114 yr by 1982gl4

Keep up the good work and keep updating. What kind of MPG's does it get? Regular (87 octane) is back over $4 now in California and it seems no one is raising any hell about it. Looking good though-your ambitious. Aaron

Thanks it's hard to fit my projects in with school, but I'm doing my best . This car got low 30's pretty easily when my dad and I were driving it around. It's surprisingly peppy too!

Nice wagon man!!!! Gotta see these wing mirrors when you get them mounted up. Like your idea of keeping it relatively stock. What are you going to use for rims?

Thanks, as funny as it sounds this is the most solid ea81 I have started with. All my others were far worse than this and they came out awesome, so this one should be a really good platform. And I can't wait for the wing mirrors either. I hope they come in before this weekend so I can get them mounted up!!!!! For the wheels I actually have the ones pictured above, but they are staying on my other ea81 wagon. I have a set of the H style wheels, as well as both of these ( I have the white 8 spokes on it now) I think I may switch to the rally wheels (the ones with the egg shaped holes) as I just refinished those last summer.

 

Pretty much spent the whole day welding on the floor here are pics!

 

 

Welding along the fuel and brake line's is always kind of sketchy I used a screwdriver in a hole to move them out away from where I was welding worked pretty well, and my floor patch came out awesome!

 

 

And here's the front passengers side floor

Nice welding and nice project! I have a FWD rear end if you're in need.

 

I will be doing the same thing on my BRAT soon, cutting the floor out and welding some new metal in.

 

What kind of metal do you use and where do you get it?

I buy a big piece of sheet metal, I think it's like 4x4 feet. And then I cut it using tin snips, grinders, whatever I have. I forget the gauge I get, but it's about the same as the factory Subaru metal. I get it from my local auto parts store (Bond auto). I don't think they have any stores down your way, but you should be able to get some pretty easily.

For today I finished welding the drivers floor, and some of the passengers side rocker. I also had some fun with my shifter

 

 

Look what went missing

 

 

And the new shorter shifter feels much better. It was like driving a truck before.

 

The wing mirrors came in today! I know some people aren't a big fan, but I really like them. I need to figure out how to plug the holes in my doors now, but a little welding and some bondo should do the trick! Anyway here are the pics

 

 

 

The day started by cutting out annoying shapes (very hard with a pair of tin snips I may add)

 

 

The holes in the doors where then filled, welded, and ground.

 

 

 

And now they have some bondo on them, it just needs to be sanded

 

 

I also picked up an older set of tails for it

 

This thing is really coming along well! I really like the wing mirrors, I've always wanted them on an old Subie, maybe I'll put a pair on my brat...

Thanks. This upcoming weekend I should be making some big progress, I'm trailering it to work to finish welding on the underside and get some brakes back in it. I'm hoping to work on the custom bumpers as well.

 

As for the mirrors, I like them a lot too, they are super easy to install (well I had my fenders off already, so that could be a challenge because the bolts like to snap and you have to take the bumper off along with the grill to get the fenders off) the hard part is filling in the doors, that took a good hour or so, but it's well worth it. I got to take it for a quick drive up and down the road ( I live in the middle of nowhere so no one cares if there's a half apart subaru rolling around ) and I already like these so much better then the door mounted ones, it makes me wonder why we never had them? It seems like I can see out of them much better.

My dad took this down to the shop last week so I got to spend a long time welding on this today. I also put new rear brakes in it (the wheel cylinders had puked) Now it has a peddle again. I got the passengers side rocker done today, I'm hoping to get the other side done tomorrow and start working on the bumpers maybe

 

PICS!!!

 

Putting the new wheel cylinders in involved new lines so I made some copper/nickel lines for it so they will never have to be replaced again!

 

After all the welding

 

Hole

 

Hole be gone!

 

And her on the lift (the rear is on a jack hence it sitting so high)

The wing mirrors came in today! I know some people aren't a big fan, but I really like them.

 

They look great!! Where did you get them from?

A place of miracles, E-bay

For today I finished up the welding on the drivers side ( I still have a small spot to weld but I ran out of time) I also painted it all with spray balm today to prevent rust until the por-15 comes in. I also welded all my patches from the bottom so they are double welded and now super strong. This week I'll be ordering both fuel filters, headlights and start working on the bumpers and such.

 

 

 

Waiting patiently until I return next saturday.

Todays progress

 

first I prepped the floor some more (just sanding off some of the rust)

 

 

 

 

 

 

These took forever to make. Came out pretty well. I had to go around the edges with tin snips, cut, bend, weld, and then grind everything down.

 

A test fit.

 

I also spent a lot of time grinding down the underside so I can por-15 that tomorrow. This thing is going to be sealed up well!

Got all the metal work that was left done. And POR-15 everywhere, the car, floor, my hair, and my arms.

 

 

I even took the time to re-create the pinch panel at the bottom of the rear quarter. Came out awesome.

 

Another once bad spot

 

 

Same spot other side.

 

 

Alright so today, I spent all day building bumpers. Both front and rear.

Started out by cutting these out with the plasma cutter

 

Made some mounts off from those and attached the upper bar

 

Attached the lower bar

 

 

And then welded it all together

 

At this point I would have killed for a tubing notcher ( i'm using a grinder) and I still had one to go...

 

Did the same with the rear cut out mounts

 

 

I made the center sections too long so I had to cut some out and re-notch them

 

 

after that i welded it all together. I still want to add a section under the tailgate to make it look a little more finished.

 

 

Nice work, nice wagon

Thanks yours is coming along nicely as well!

 

Today I por15'd even more of the floor sealing it well (i hope) I also added turn signals to my front bumper in the stock location. It tuned out to be kind of a pain because one of the light housings had rusted so I had to break the bulb out of it, and remove the bottom half with pliers. I then took a grinder with a small tip and cleaned out the socket. I was amazed that it worked when I was finished...

 

 

 

You truly do some amazing work!!!!

 

Need your addy, going to send you 2 of my BRAT's for a rework.

That sure is coming along nicely. Cannot wait to see the finished pics.