August 5, 201312 yr Figured I'd start a build thread on the hatchy I just picked up on Friday. 1.5 hour drive to Aberdeen & $250 bucks this thing was mine: It's an '86 DR 4 speed hatch. It had been sitting for a year & a half. The guy thought the starter was bad, so he pulled it, had it tested & it was good. So he threw it on the drivers floor board & shut the door. Me & 2 buddies got there, checked it out, threw the starter back in & noticed the battery cables were rusty & corroded. Spliced back about an inch on each cable & cleaned the terminals & vrooom! She started. Runs rough, it has a hard time idling. the weber needs rebuilt & it has a terrible exhaust leak at the heads. But she runs. 204xxx on the clock. Weber carb w/ electric choke. Accel super stock coil, a new battery, new tires, and a cherry bomb exhaust. Oh, and some seats out of a civic or something ... Back at Subruise's house ....... Gave it a bath yesterday & clean out the interior. Threw on my Yakima roof bars. And a 4 spoke wheel that Rob had laying around . Pulled the tires for paint & the weber as well for a rebuild. Rims are going white. Checked out the brakes today & they're cooked: Gonna see if my Ea82 rotors & pads will work since I just stripped an entire wagon with newish parts on it. Thinking about going full ea82 knuckles & suspension since I'm in there & it's available. And the ea82 knuckles have new sealed wheel bearings ..... Rear drivers trailing arm needs bearings so I'm doing those & throwing my rear discs on the hatch . That's about it for now, besides getting it tabbed, titled & on the road again. It's gonna be a daily for awhile then I may eventually lift it. I have a 6" kit coming in the mail . Well a majority of it lol .
August 5, 201312 yr Congrats on the Hatch! I always wanted to EA81T one of those but the bodies are too hard to find.
August 5, 201312 yr Can I has? Love those little hatches. Nice find for the price!! Those brakes will make a great boat anchor.
August 8, 201312 yr Nice find! I don't think I have seen that shade of blue before at least on anything but a brat.
August 10, 201312 yr Author Can I has? Love those little hatches. Nice find for the price!! Those brakes will make a great boat anchor. No, you cannot has. This one be mine She's finally home though. Got fresh tabs, new plates & the title will be in the mail soon. I put new-er calipers & pads off a wagon to help with the breaks. Swapped out the rear trailing with the bad bearings & the new arm ended up having a bad axle so ill be swapping An axle . 91_Ej_22 rebuilt my weber for me, runs good now. Still needs a little tuning . Reppin' some USMB on my hood .. Oh, I also painted the wheels white lol & drained the gas tank & put a new fuel filter on it. It had a nasty, rusty filter & a bunch of gunk was running through it. Surprisingly the gas wasn't that bad when I drained it all out though ... I gave it a full tune up when I got it as well. Gonna change the oil & filter today.
August 11, 201312 yr *um I painted those lol. that thing is as happy as you are by the way it drives.
August 11, 201312 yr I think tundrabrat's brat is that blue. sweet hatch!.. they are rare here, only seen 3 all were rust buckets...
August 12, 201312 yr Author *um I painted those lol. that thing is as happy as you are by the way it drives. Oh sorry guys, Rob painted those . Should I tell em how you also screwed up my ....... Just kidding ... Lol To be honest, they're kinda rare down here as well. I've seen 3-4 other hatches since I've started driving subarus about 2 years ago. One was actually a blue hatch just like mine in the Arlington PNP
August 12, 201312 yr Oh sorry guys, Rob painted those . Should I tell em how you also screwed up my ....... Just kidding ... Lol To be honest, they're kinda rare down here as well. I've seen 3-4 other hatches since I've started driving subarus about 2 years ago. One was actually a blue hatch just like mine in the Arlington PNP oh ya...full disclosure.....Skylar needs a new ignition. some dumbas s put the wrong key in there. if ya got one let him or I know so i can buy it
August 12, 201312 yr Author Can anybody tell me what this black box is for mounted on the passenger side firewall . And what that red wire might be on the right, the one soldered together to the blue going to the box . That red wire goes into the firewall & is tied into a toggle switch for something. No idea what for ..... I'm also having a problem with the fuse for the hazards/horn. It keeps blowing a fuse each time I go to put one in. I checked out the other fuses & found some 10amp fuses where some 15amp fuses should've been, replaced those & the blown fuse for the rear defrost.
August 14, 201312 yr Author Been DDing the hatch for the past couple days, runs & starts good. But still has a slight stutter/hesitation in the top end. Anyways I seafoamed it, it ran better. Next day, still has hesitation. It had been sitting for 2 years when I got it, fuel filter had nasty orange rusty gas in it so I replaced that. Then replaced that one with another new one, still getting nasty orange stuff in it, I already drained the tank & burned through the premium I put in & then some .. After we seafoamed it the other day I threw on a filter from my SPFI ea82 motor, works fine. Was doing a rear cv yesterday, gave it a bath, threw on some center caps etc etc. just buttoning stuff up fixing small things. Well while I was under the car I noticed a filter by the pump, totally spaced that carb models have filters by the pump .... Well, I guess I found out where my orange nasty stuff is coming from ..... Gas also isn't supposed to be this color :/ So I'm gonna replace that filter, put some more gas in it & possibly replace most of the rubber lines down there ..... I'm thinking a new gas tank may be one of the things to put on the list ...
August 15, 201312 yr Ha ha, based on that pic and not reading first, I though you had a huge gash in your hand. That fuel looks like blood!
August 16, 201312 yr It looks to be coming along nicely. Keep it up. I have an 87 out front and will take a peek but I am uncertain what that is currently.. none of my other cars have that. I think it looks like a relay of some sort or part of an alarm. Mike I went out and looked last night. No little box thing with wires.. Edited August 17, 201312 yr by Mykeys Toy
August 18, 201312 yr Author It looks to be coming along nicely. Keep it up. I have an 87 out front and will take a peek but I am uncertain what that is currently.. none of my other cars have that. I think it looks like a relay of some sort or part of an alarm. Mike I went out and looked last night. No little box thing with wires.. Thanks man . Everything's been smooth so far, besides this weber. I don't think it's tuned right, it runs & drives but has a slight stall/hesitation in the higher rpms ..... Yeah I'm not sure what that box is for either but it's about to get ripped out ...
September 10, 201312 yr Author FINALLY got rid of the hesitation/stumble. It was the plug wires, I didn't change em when I did a tune up. Bought some NGKs & a new electric choke. Now I don't have to wait forever to drive in the morning & it drives smooth. I put a slant console & a different shift knob in it. & wired up a pioneer stereo & speakers. I believe the speakers are 3.5" maybe 4. Just slightly bigger than the stock ones in the back . Also wired my fan up to a toggle switch .... Here's some pics from WCSS as well. Plaid interior out of a wagon
January 29, 201412 yr Author Why thank you sir . Here's some pics of her now I cranked the torsion bar all the way up. As well as the adjustable struts up front & put some 14" steel pugs on it w/ 205/70/14 studded tires. Cb radio w/ Pa speaker under hood. Ea82 Spfi Y-pipe w/ glasspack dumped before drivers rear tire Woodgrain shift knob from 83 Gl Pioneer deck in slanted console w/ Sony 6x9s & 10" Kenwood Sub. Wrx drivers seat. Yakima Ski Racks 2nd gen Push Bar In the works: Rear seats being painted to match Wrx pattern. 6" lift w/ custom front struts. ( built by monstaru ) Spfi swap 5 speed D/R w/ custom driveline & serviceable u- joints ( thanks Qman ) Welded 3.9 diff Maxima Alternator All of the parts listed above I have had or recently acquired & are ready to roll. Just don't have the time to do it due to work. Once Spring comes around ill have the time off to get started. I need to find a wrx seat for the passenger side, figure out what shocks I wanna use to lift the rear; s10, 4runner, jeep etc. 6 lug my hubs, find tires & rims. Get a roof basket & tint my windows & that'll pretty much be the majority of what's gonna get done to this rig. Oh, if anyone magically has a grant steering wheel adaptor for an Ea81 or a Justy in their parts stash that they're willing to part with let me know ! I have a nice Grant steering wheel I'd like to install as well. Part # 6596 or 6597 for the Justy I believe. Unfortunately these are like extinct Edited January 29, 201412 yr by Skylar
January 29, 201412 yr i would love to have a hatchback like yours. the color combo is perfect in my opinion. thanks for the updates
January 29, 201412 yr Author Mykey Pm me your number. I owe you some transmission mounts for your hatch. I've had em for months I've just been slackin on getting a hold of ya lol
April 30, 201411 yr What did you do to get your WRX seat in? Just curious how it is mounted. thanks! j.
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