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My '86 Hatchback Build


Skylar
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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:

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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 .......

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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.

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Checked out the brakes today & they're cooked:

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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 .

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Can I has?  Love those little hatches.  Nice find for the price!! Those brakes will make a great boat anchor. :D

No, you cannot has. This one be mine :D

 

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 .

 

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Reppin' some USMB on my hood ..

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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.

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*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 :(

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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

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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 .....

 

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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.

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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 .....

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Gas also isn't supposed to be this color :/

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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 ...

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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 by Mykeys Toy
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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 ...

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  • 4 weeks later...

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.

 

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Plaid interior out of a wagon :headbang:

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  • 4 months later...

Why thank you sir . Here's some pics of her now

 

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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 by Skylar
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  • 3 months later...

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