December 7, 20214 yr Cleaned out around the Fenders and other areas that trap debris on the all the Subies. Had four neat little piles around each vehicle This is a 3rd generation, looking with the Front RH Door Ajar; at where the Fender connects to the Body. This location LOVES to catch debris. It collects in the form of road-wash, and from debris falling from trees above. I used the small bamboo branch in the above photo to fish the majority of the filth out. Compressed air, a garden hose, or a vacuum would also work great 2nd Generation cars have a similar area that catches debris in the same location. On 3rd gen cars, there are drains on either side of the windshield wiper apron, these also like to get plugged with grime and tree debris Hard to see, but there are two pine needles diving in to clog the drain even in these photos This is just routine stuff that has to be done now and then. Keeps the car less damp and less likely to rust out as well
December 18, 20214 yr Replace your headlights already. The lights that came out where probably from the early 2000's so maybe 20 year old, Sylvaina ExtraVision The seal that attaches the front lens to the rear reflector had failed and the reflective coating was mostly gone, probably due to moisture getting inside it was a wonder they produced any forward light at all. The lights pretty much fell apart when I took the bezel off. Lesson is sealed all glass beams don't stay sealed forever. And they made a really cool crashing noise when I threw them in the garbage. And standard issue replacements are ridiculously cheap. Has me wondering how the center light will weather the test of time since finding replacements for that is probably next to impossible. Edited March 16, 20242 yr by Subi81 Removed pictures they were just headlights
December 30, 20214 yr Yesterday, just rewired my front Led lights. On my 85 loyal. They would randomly go off when i hit a bump. Soldered those suckers. Now they only go off when i want them to.
April 10, 20223 yr Hey first post, but was proud of my work so thought I'd share... Installed some Mitsubish Lancer seats in my 86 brat. $40 bucks each from the junk yard! Was able to do it with a hand tools and a drill. Edited April 10, 20223 yr by Therealrafsgarage
April 13, 20223 yr Pulled the a/c system out of my 84 gl, removed the oil pump tben replaced the o rings and gasket, replaced a fuel hose gave the little beast a fresh oil change.
April 14, 20223 yr My brumby self-installed a new security feature in the driveway today when I shut the driver’s door to shut the gate - and was promptly locked out of the cab as the engine sat there idling. The driver’s door handle decided to disable itself with my only set of keys sitting in the ignition and the passenger’s door still locked… That was fun. I’m yet to fix it as it was too busy buzzing around town for things. Cheers Bennie
May 24, 20223 yr Thanks to God my subie has not given any problem for years, but I have modified it so much, that it has less choices to do so The only one is the Air Conditioner who developed a Leak... and I can not find a suitable replacement for R12, around my area.
May 24, 20223 yr 9 hours ago, Loyale 2.7 Turbo said: Thanks to God my subie has not given any problem for years, but I have modified it so much, that it has less choices to do so The only one is the Air Conditioner who developed a Leak... and I can not find a suitable replacement for R12, around my area. You might investigate a propane/butane mix. From what I have read, not as dangerous as it 'sounds'.....I mean, you have 10+ gallons of gasoline in the car anyway.
May 24, 20223 yr I've been slowly working on the EA82 in my 87 DL wagon I picked up last month. I work as time and funds permit. The engine came out for repair due to a head gasket leak on #3. I surfaced the heads, lapped the valves, decked the block, etc. I hate to return greasy, grimy parts to service so a general cleanup has been going on too. New timing belts, idlers, tensioners, oil pump seals, new water pump, crank seal, all coolant hoses, A/C compressor bearing, oil pan dropped and resealed, 19 stripped holes were helicoiled, etc. You guys have seen all this before but it's new to me and fun to undertake something different. My experience the last 30 years has been with air-cooled flat-6 engines. The DL's engine compartment is being cleaned as well as the accessories while I have good access to reach in there and scrub everything. There was quite a bit of surface rust below the battery but also under the master cylinder where the past owner failed to fix a brake fluid leak. I'm treating that rust and then will paint it all while I'm there. So far so good. I may have the engine back in place in a few weeks but with the heat in Phoenix I'm not out there working all day long.
May 25, 20223 yr 9 hours ago, azdave said: ... I always liked the simple straightforward look of those DL Wagons, this one looks very Clean, everywhere! Kind Regards.
May 25, 20223 yr 14 hours ago, 1 Lucky Texan said: You might investigate a propane/butane mix. From what I have read, not as dangerous as it 'sounds'.....I mean, you have 10+ gallons of gasoline in the car anyway. Good idea, I recall having read recently about that on the Forum, but I don't know if my Good old Subie's A/C could bear with it; recently I removed the A/C compressor in order to change the main Bearing as it became noisy with age and usage, thus explains the gas lost; however, despite of living on the Caribbean area, I don't like too much Air Conditioners, in fact, the only good use from them on a car that I really miss, is to Defrost the Windshield, during our frequent Downpours. Kind Regards. Edited May 25, 20223 yr by Loyale 2.7 Turbo
May 25, 20223 yr even here, I miss it as much in winter as in summer. I drove an '81 Honda Civic wagon for over 10 years with broken a/c (no money to fix during those year) - not fun in August....but I survived. Edited May 25, 20223 yr by 1 Lucky Texan
May 25, 20223 yr I must be getting old. I would not have bought my DL wagon if it did not have A/C but then again, I do live in Phoenix so tough to do without it. The system was still holding pressure when I picked it up so at least I know it was not sitting around with open plumbing. I'm installing a new idler bearing in my compressor pulley while it is out. Hard to find any not made in China but at least it is easy to change if the new one fails in a few years. I plan to use R152A (Dust-Off spray) when I put it all back together. For refrigerant gas, I have normally used a propane/butane blend for my 87 B2000 and my 65 Corvair (Enviro-Safe or Zeror as seen on eBay, etc.). I've been running that hydrocarbon stuff in my old R12 cars for well over 15 years. I do all of my own A/C repairs so now I"ll be trying R152a in my second vehicle. I can easily buy it by the case at Costco. No normal repair shop would touch my A/C system if I told them I wasn't using a "proper" refrigerant so don't use this if you ever plan to have a pro work on your system. You'll contaminate their evacuation machines and they will not be happy.. I believe this is the Panasonic compressor (S1150X3) and it will be receiving a good cleaning soon and then a new idler bearing.
May 26, 20223 yr Installed the idler bearing last night. Tolerances were a bit tight pressing it into the pulley but it slid onto the compressor hub properly. I adjusted the gap between the clutch and the pulley and now it's ready when re-install time arrives. Today, I'll work on the related mounting brackets and the alternator. Those just need a good cleaning I hope.
May 29, 20223 yr Installed nee seat covers. I wasn't able to remove the head rest. So I had to slice a hole onto the seat covers and had my gf sew them back together.
May 29, 20223 yr replaced the rear wiper arm. Grandson ripped it loose. Not happy with the quality of the replacement. Saving the original to try to come up with some approach to reinstall. maybe some thread locker.....?
May 31, 20223 yr Rebuilt the master cylinder and hill hold valve the last few days on the 87 DL. Also pulled out the brake booster and cleaned it up. While those parts were out I freshened up that corner of the engine compartment and did some touch up painting too
May 31, 20223 yr 2008 forester X, 230,000: Aisin timing belt kit, alignment, rear drum brakes (they were original!).
June 4, 20223 yr trans fluid rear dif. fluid engine oil filter air filter basic service inspection found steering rack boot Torn replaced. now I need to replace axle ! cut in outer boot.
June 7, 20223 yr The EA82 engine went back into my 87 DL over the weekend and I even fired it off for a few moments to verify it runs with no bad noises. Before I connected up the fuel lines I drained the nasty, stale fuel (smelly but no particles of rust or debris seen), filled the tank with 5 gallons of fresh fuel, jumped the fuel pump at the rear plug and then cycled fresh fuel up the engine and let it flow into a jug for about a minute after it ran clean. With no radiator installed, I only ran it about 20 seconds. I went to install the radiator and right away found a leak at the upper neck. This is a clean, dual-row, all brass aftermarket from Indonesia and all metal so worth saving. I pulled it back out, cleaned it up and soldered it with my vintage American Beauty soldering iron. Decided to do it right and pressure test it and found a tiny leak on one horizontal tube. I was very fortunate that it is on the front and was easily cleaned and repaired as well. It sat overnight with 10 PSI on the gauge and was still reading 10 PSI 24-hours later so good to go after a quick touch of black semi-gloss paint. I also installed a new drain petcock as the old one had been twisted off. Next up is the water pump pulley flange that I discovered is too low. The previous owner had installed the wrong pump and then used a stack of washers to "almost" get the pulleys to line up properly. I hate fixes like that but didn't recognize that error when the engine was out so I'm building a simple in-car hub puller so I can pull the press-fit hub out about 1/4" without removing the A/C condenser that prevents the use of a normal puller. https://photos.app.goo.gl/88Jg2A8TSNC9Fici6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/6DNHpuT5r7Gzx81LA https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qc2Vzt5etqxg34se7 Edited June 8, 20223 yr by azdave links
June 8, 20223 yr Got the water pump flange pulled out to the correct position so now I can remove the stack of washer someone used under the pulley to hide the misalignment issue of choosing the wrong pump. I installed the repaired radiator, hoses, coolant then let her run. All sounded great and I let it come up to about 180F before giving it a rest and calling it a night. By the weekend, I should be able to drive a few laps around the neighborhood and see what else needs attention. I have this crazy idea to try to get it to pass the emissions test so I can daily drive it and not have to use classic car insurance which limits your driving. Pics show the hub puller I made from scrap 1/4 steel plate and some assorted hardware. https://photos.app.goo.gl/VJsyzEHKr366Yj929 https://photos.app.goo.gl/HgPy4dPnioq5whTv9
June 16, 20223 yr On 6/7/2022 at 10:34 AM, azdave said: The EA82 engine went back into my 87 DL ... https://photos.app.goo.gl/88Jg2A8TSNC9Fici6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/6DNHpuT5r7Gzx81LA https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qc2Vzt5etqxg34se7 Let me say that your Subie has one of the Cleanest Engine bays that I've seen. Kind Regards.
June 16, 20223 yr On 6/12/2022 at 9:18 AM, franbev said: Our Brat got the "peoples choice" award at the Back to the 80's car show Saturday. Do you have Photos of the event to share with us? Kind Regards.
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