Acquired my grandmother's 86 xt turbo, 67,000 original miles on it, has been parked 15+ years. Trying to restore it and need help locating a dashboard cover, and the latch for the sunroof panel. And possibly a subaru mechanic who will go through the engine and transmission and freshen it up. Any help appreciated. Will be posting a gofundme soon for it. Thanks. Kodi

First thing is go through all of your fluids and new battery. Gas, coolant and oil. transmission fluid can probably be skipped until it gets driven more. If it starts then great! If not then you'll be diagnosing a lot. After you start driving it a little change belts, vacuum lines, and go through power steering fluid and brake fluid. After it runs for a little some leaks might start to show themselves. Usually when stuff sits for awhile older rubber and gaskets can crack and disintegrate. But man almost 70k miles on an 86? I'm jealous! What a lucky fellow you are!

4 minutes ago, Localun said:

First thing is go through all of your fluids and new battery. Gas, coolant and oil. transmission fluid can probably be skipped until it gets driven more. If it starts then great! If not then you'll be diagnosing a lot. After you start driving it a little change belts, vacuum lines, and go through power steering fluid and brake fluid. After it runs for a little some leaks might start to show themselves. Usually when stuff sits for awhile older rubber and gaskets can crack and disintegrate. But man almost 70k miles on an 86? I'm jealous! What a lucky fellow you are!

The last time it was started was 2009, and the ac and all still worked. My biggest fear is the timing belt. My friends 2009 forester just broke its timing belt and destroyed the motor. I am a huge truck owner and know nothing about boxer engines, but I'm restoring this car for our family. I'd post a picture but it says it's to large

The ea82 is a non interference so you should be okay if the belt happened to snap. If you're really worried then take one of the timing covers off on the front of the engine (a few 10m bolts) and inspect for major cracks. Contrary to popular belief the timing belts on these are stupid easy. There is a great tutorial on YouTube by user miles fox (he also has some other amazing information in other videos!!!)

 

Don't forget to change all the filters too.

Check all the hoses and accessory belts. 

First, don't even try to start it on old fuel or you risk following me down that foul mouthed adventure. I hope you can post some photos. Your granny had cool taste in cars !

I helped get one running after 20 years not on the road. It changed hands three times in the last five years of that 20. The buyer bought a job lot of three various XTs. The last one got a permit to drive it home, shipping the other two. He called back to say it did not miss a beat in that brave 1200 km trip !

Same situation - 1986, one owner XT turbo with 80K sat 20 some years.  New gas, filters, and timing belts.  Three years and another 15K miles with zero issues.  

 

As far as a mechanic to go through it - good luck with that !  I paid the local Subaru guys to inspect it and they charged me 120.00 to tell me it was old and had some rust.  They refused to do any kind of work on it.  Some BS about liability and parts availability.  Well the parts availability is a thing.  You'll learn to search the forums for advice and interchangeable information real quick.  FWIW Some Loyale parts are useful.  Fun car though - worth the hassles !

Well I put a battery in it, it turns over. Fuel pump won't kick on. So I ordered one through Rock auto. The bracket for the fuel pump is rusted bad. I hope it's fixable.