Very cool! Lots of history there for certain. I do feel like I need a tetnis shot just looking at it though

 

 

 

 

Just squint a bit.... and you can see how sh'ed clean up

 

 

 

 

 

Duel Electric Fans?

 

The dual fans are on my '84 GL as well. It has the same outboard mounted AC too.

Wow youve got your work cut out for ya. Get ahold of Mick he has the ability to reprint the side graphics. I might keep it stock if it were me only becaue the ski wagons are rare. But i guess that would depend on how bad some of the other stuff is. You might be better off finding a car from the south and haveing them cut the panels off the car for you.

That will need some work for sure! The hard part will be deciding where you draw the line... how much to keep original (including decals), etc, etc.

 

If you're OK with this level of rust, then you would have been just fine with my old Loyale. But this ski team car is way cooler.

Protected by Waxoyl? Doesnt look too successful...

 

think it looks to have helped. That is still pretty decent in my opinion.

They offer Subaru Sedan/Wagon for '80-'94 which are the EA81 panels from what I've read by others. I will be ordering these in a bit.

 

The good point of this car is, the underside and the doors are solid. The main rot are the Rockers. This car is really solid in the wheel wells which is a plus, and the interior is like mint.

I bought both Rocker sides, $81 + shipping (Whatever UPS runs) Now, if I can find the spot welds and drill them out, this should be kind easy (Never did this type of thing before)

 

I may or may not buy the Rear wheel arches, I might be able to fix mine, they are intact for the most part, just rusted.

Is there such a schematic that shows the Spot welds for body panels? Suppose I could wait till the new rockers arrive, and look at them for reference if there is any.

 

I am also on the look out for some 14" or 15" Alloy pugs for this rig, it has 13" wagon wheels now, with newer Kelly tires, but I would like some Pugs, or ever perhaps some type of 14" Subaru wheel.

 

Guess I need to focus on the important things first. What size is the Hard Fuel line?

Also, what Carb is on this, and where can I get a rebuild kit and possible Jets?

This is so awesome. I got my rockers from rustrepair as stated a few post back. This is in far better shape then my red ea81 wagon, and about the same as my brat. You should be able to tackle this. I would wait until the new rockers come in before you start removing metal, just to see where your at. The glove box mirror is pretty rare, I have one on my 82, and the ea81's with A/C have dual radiator fans, my FWD has that. Also I'm very jealous of your interior, I would have loved to start with one that clean in my 84

Thanks! Yeah, I think I'm gonna wait till I get them. And for warmer weather lol.

 

This car relit my fire for Subarus!

Do NOT drill the spot welds out... reason your new rockers are going to be for a 85+Gl, and they won;t be anything near a exact match. You will have to fudge them to even make them work at all.

 

reason= they do not make rockers for a ea81 vehicle. if you look at the sight you order, you will see this, even though you press 80-84, they have them as a loyale not a gl, kinda a screwed up system.

 

the glovebox mirror was a 1982 and 1982 thing. I know the 1985 did not have them, but my 82 Brat and my 83 Gl did have the mirror and i read a brochure showing it was standard on the 82 and 83 then they went to a vanity mirror in the passenger flip down visor.

 

The carb has a "light stamping" near the float bowl sight glass, to the back side from the sight glass. there is a flat area and it is there.. I mean it is very faint almost not detectable. It is a whimpy excuse for stamping. You need to scrub it up with a toothbrush and some simple green/degreaser to try and see if it is still legible at all. Do not use steel bristle or metal brush it will scratch off what is there. be careful. If you get the number it will be something like DCP-306-something a number, and the last number series is the one you will need to match on the carb kit. Write the number down and keep it with your service records. I restamped mine on another part of the carb base..

Edited February 27, 201214 yr by bheinen74

Good info, thats BS about the rockers though. Just have to make them work.

good luck. you have seen the rockers on a ea82 loyale, now you can see the ea81, not very close, have luck making them work.

Is this your oldest Subaru so far?

This thing shouldn't be named safariwagon 3...

Having ski team decals doesn't exactly project images of trekking through the sahara.

Something along the lines of skiwagon or snowwagon would seem more fitting. :-p

Just saying lol.

Is there such a schematic that shows the Spot welds for body panels? Suppose I could wait till the new rockers arrive, and look at them for reference if there is any.

 

I am also on the look out for some 14" or 15" Alloy pugs for this rig, it has 13" wagon wheels now, with newer Kelly tires, but I would like some Pugs, or ever perhaps some type of 14" Subaru wheel.

 

Guess I need to focus on the important things first. What size is the Hard Fuel line?

 

I chopped the side of a hatch to build a 2-door wagon. You should have me come over and show you where to work it. You got your work cut out for you. AT least the rust is not in structural areas. I encourage you to give it the same level of treatment as my 3-door with the rust treatment.

Edited February 28, 201214 yr by MilesFox

Good info, thats BS about the rockers though. Just have to make them work.

 

the brat was made thru 94 overseas. The ea81 was in production along with the ea82 at the same factory for the same amount of time. There is a chance you may luck out. Wait till you get the part before you chop anything.

 

if you got a 2bbl carb, it will be a hitachi. a 1bbl carb would be a carter-weber(different intake)

 

an ea82 hitachi is slightly larger. It should fit the manifold, but dont quote me on that. there is a pull-off ea82 hitachi carb at the shop from ben's car.

 

It has been suggested to upjet the carb to compensate for ethanol blend fuel

 

You could drop an ea82 in theis car using its original manifold, coupled with a 5spd, if you so desired. The ea81 is less maintenance intensive, whereas the ea82 has a little more performance, and more compression if you use an spfi block.

 

ea82 trailing arms will swap, and have larger drum brake. Disc brakes will be appreciated if you have to pull all of that apart.

Miles. if the car only has 137k miles on it, the stock EA81 is going to outlast the car.

You can tell the car was well taken care of just by looking at the interior cleanliness and under the hood.

EA81 is a lot better engine than any EA82 is.

Would be totally wrong to neuter it to a ea82 in all aspects.

 

Dennis here in Iowa has a Ski wagon just like this. I think his is a 1980 model ?

Edited February 28, 201214 yr by bheinen74

Good info, thats BS about the rockers though. Just have to make them work.

 

Yes you will. The front will have to be bent a bit to match up the front, they are a little short as well, but I've used them on both of my ea81 wagons and they are much better than making your own. The rear fits very well around the arches. Make sure you space them far enough away from the bottom edge of the door, my 82 are too close and they squeak all the time and it drives me crazy :-\ If you have any questions about them hit me up, this time around mine came out pretty well.

 

Best pic I have of them after paint, and body work.

 

Here's where the front has to be moved in a bit. I used a hammer, came out okay after some welding and rock guard. You could also cut the rockers at an angle so the front is closer to the body than the rear. I didn't think about this until after mine had been welded on :-\

 

And this is where i cut mine off. I did this to prevent the door to rocker noises.

Pictures are very much appreciated, that gives me a good idea on just where to cut and over lap, I'm not looking for a Million dollar job with this car, I main want to fix it nicely, and keep it from getting worse (Since I spend $1,200) on it lol. So yes, with some time, Rockguard, and body filler, it should come out nice. I love Rockguard!!!

 

Fox, I am going to take the same amount as you did with the 3-Door and as I did with my Loyale (Loyale still needs a little work) I think the Ski car will give me a good chance to gain metal fab skills, as I did not want to "Learn" using my EA82.

 

As for the EA81, yes, it is very solid. No ticking at all, and I don't think anyone ever adjusted the Rockers, but surprisingly its very quiet.

 

I really can't wait for the weather to get warmer so I can really start getting into this thing.

Miles. if the car only has 137k miles on it, the stock EA81 is going to outlast the car.

You can tell the car was well taken care of just by looking at the interior cleanliness and under the hood.

EA81 is a lot better engine than any EA82 is.

Would be totally wrong to neuter it to a ea82 in all aspects.

 

Dennis here in Iowa has a Ski wagon just like this. I think his is a 1980 model ?

 

I'll express my opinion and say that the ea81 is ill paired to a 5spd dual range. I suggest the ea82 paired with a 5spd, because of the torque and power curve. This impression was made driving a brat with an ea82, as a replacement for the ea81 that chucked a rod out the block.

 

EA81 is pretty solid, though. I drove my 83 FwD 45 miles with no water pump, after the pulley broke off and pissed out all the coolant. It overheated so bad it cooked the oil, several times, sit for 15 minutes and keep going, cook the oil again. I replaced the head gaskets and water pump without resurfacing the heads and the engine was still good. That is tough. I would agree an ea82 may not have liked such a circumstance as much (the aluminum would have granulated and the head bolt threads would have ripped out). Hooray for head studs on the ea81!

 

Edited February 28, 201214 yr by MilesFox

Fox, what Gear ratio did yours have? Mine has a 4spd with 3.900, which doesn't seem to have a short 1st gear at all. I shift it around 3000rpm with about 1/4 throttle to be easy on it, Its quicker then a 3AT EA82 with 27" tires :cool:

 

Although, I like the EA82. I've never had an issue with it.

Since when did you learn stick shift? I learned buying a $300 84 gl wagon, myself. I had 4 driver ea81's out of all my subarus; the 84 gl wagon, 83 turbo wagon, 83 gl FWD 5spd, 86 brat. I had a handful of ea81 parts cars in the mix. I once put an ea81 in the 'silver fox' 86 gl sedan 3at<5spd d/r. I went to jail and it got junked. I also put an ea81 in an 88 dl fwd 3at spfi.

 

My statement on the 1st gear thing was driving in desmont's ej brat. First gear just regved so quickly with ej power, and sencond the same, and third gear was way low of an rpm from 2nd. It just didn't work with the ej being that the power curve was past the gearing on the 4spd. It had a 3.999 final ratio. The gearing for the 1,2,3,4 spd's vary between models and years. There was a chart posted recently. You might find it in the archives, as it has been posted millions of years ago.

 

You would want to tune the ea81 for a higher powerband with the ea82 5spd dual range. Go with a 2wd disty as it has a higher advance curve. You can mod the secondary to deliver the 2nd barrel sooner. Look up subarujunkie's (brian) article. chop the muffler with a cherry bomb and bump the timing up a few degrees.

 

I still have all that 87 spfi stuff laying around if you wan't to attempt that on the ea81. That would be ultimate! I still have yet to see one in person. But that is a prohect of itself, and you could easily use an ea82 spfi with the same effort.

 

Really, if this car runs well like it is, focus on all the body/rust to start with. Upgrade anything you would have to service as regular maintenance.

Edited February 28, 201214 yr by MilesFox

Good informational post, I might take you up on the SPFI stuff, I would have it laying around in my basement until the time came. Yes you are right, I want to get the body all buttoned up first, then worry about mechanical mods.

 

As for driving stick, I drove Jon's '96 Brighton once, and picked it up ASAP. After that, I have only driven the '83 GL home, Driving stick comes very naturally, the motions feel normal to me (Oddly)

 

Really, if this car runs well like it is, focus on all the body/rust to start with.

 

This x a million. The last thing you want is a pile of rust that doesn't run. I tend to get discouraged on my projects if they don't look pretty, or run and move (usually the running and moving is priority)

 

Spfi would be awesome on an ea81, I dream of that swap, finding an EA82 up here has become hard to find. The ones that are rotted have all been crushed, and there are non that haven't rotted...

Edited February 28, 201214 yr by 1982gl4

I need to get new radiator, I found this one on Rockauto for $112, its a Duel-Row all metal, but it has fittings for Trans cooling lines, so this is for an Auto?

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=272007

 

I need an MT radiator.

 

Any other sites?