zyewdall

Ah, thanks. I really wish I'd had a chance to try this one in some deep snow, but all I got was some heavy snow in the air going over independence pass (12,158 feet IIRC), but none on the ground.

If the '86 is a GL, it should have the dual range tranny -- stick that into the Loyale!!!

Bleah. Sounds irreversible.... Lucky I stick with the manual trannies. There leaking seals just lead to leaks, and the tranny still works most the time.

I agree too. In general, I don't bother animals if they don't bother me. But I draw my line at giant spiders inside the car (never had that actually), bees that build nests right next to doors that I open every day, or mice that run over my face at night when I'm in bed.

Really, what happens to auto trannies after that long sitting? And if I ever get an auto that's sat for a long time, is there anything I can do to do this -- putting new fluid in, turning low speed before starting it like engines that have sat, etc, or it is sort of irreversible? Z

Speaking of: Superrupair in Boulder has a Subaru flatbed pickup. Looks a 2002 outback, with a nice diamond plate aluminum flatbed on the back behind the front doors. I'll get a picture of it next time I'm driving by and have the digital camera with me. Looked pretty sweet. Zeke

Holy sh.... A subaru outback has 250 horsepower now? I'm still used to cars with horsepower measured with two digits I guess. My RV made from a 18 passenger shortbus only has about 200 horsepower from a 350 cubic inch V8. The amazing thing is that they are still able to get even close to the same mileage as the old 72 horsepower EA81's (usually high 20's to low 30's on the highway in my experience). With the curb weight probably twice as much too. Can we still call it a urabus with that much horsepower to weight ratio? Makes you wonder what kind of mileage they could get if they went back to a 100 horsepower engine in a light body, with modern engine controls.

Hey, one question on it -- there is a manual button on the shift lever. What does that do? I couldn't see any difference with it pushed or not. I've never seen that on an automatic before.

The first time I did it, I loosened the nut by putting a 15" crescent wrench on it, wedging that against a rock (the wheel was off, and the hub splines were stripped, so the brakes wouldn't hold it), applying the parking brake full strength, and putting rocks one both sides of both back wheels, putting it in gear, and bumping the starter (after alot of thinking about exactly what direction things were going to turn and move). Came right off, whereas standing and jumping on the end of the wrench had no effect whatsoever.

Did it still run?

So, I've been driving it around (took it on a small road trip last weekend) and it performs great. Much more power than the old EA81/82's. Although the automatic transmission bogs if you don't floor it to make it downshift, which means that if I try to drive with a light foot, I always feel like I'm lugging the engine unless I manually downshift. Drove through an intense thunderstorm with heavy rain and and inch or more standing water on the road without problems (other than the CEL coming on after a half hour of this, probably from the cat being cold and wet). Averaged 28mpg on the highway, which I don't think is too bad -- I only expect 29 or 30 from my GL wagon with the manual. I think it handles a bit better than the older subies on paved and flat dirt roads, but I'd hesitate more taking it on two track or off road because of the added weight and relatively squoooshy suspension. On the highway, it actually felt perfectly stable at 85mph (the fastest I wanted to go considering the speed limit is 75). That's better than some newer cars I've driven. Overall, I'm really happy with it, and hopefully my friend will be too when I give it to him this evening.

Last winter, we're going cross country skiing in my friend's 87 GL wagon. It had rather bald tires on it, and three of us and a big dog and our gear in it. We head up to another friend's house in the mountains -- last half mile of the road is steep and unplowed, with 6" fresh snow, and up to a foot of tracked out powdery stuff underneath. With the bad tires, I figure there's no way we'll make it (I spun a bit in my 4wd truck with good tires two days before). But as we're approaching the driveway I put it in four lo, 2nd gear, and rev it to 3,500rpms to give it a try. A few minutes later, we're parked at her house, no drama whatsoever... only even felt the wheels spin once. I also had a friend buy my old '85 GL wagon, because he wanted a 4wd winter car. Then he rarely put it in 4wd in the snow, because even 2wd was so much better than the mustang.

I second that. If it's all east coast driving, it might be considering high miles, but out here, that's pretty low. Anything under 100k is considered brand new pretty much.

After owning 6 EA81 and EA82 subarus, I just bought my first new gen subaru. A dark green 1992 Legacy wagon automatic, with 179k miles. $1,500. It's actually for a friend, who told me to find him a good subaru. But I get to drive it for a week or so. Boy, does it have more power than my GL wagon.... He wanted something that could do a little towing occasionally, and that had an automatic, for under $2,000, so that's why I went for the older legacy instead of a loyale. I'll have to take it up some dirt roads and see how it does there. Too bad we won't have snow before I have to give it to him.... I'm still looking forward to getting my "new" '82 GL next month though... Z

I'd suggest a lifted EA series myself.... Yeah, I agree, that it's the gearing and departure/approach angles that are more the issue than shear ground clearance. I've taken my VW rabbit on roads that exceeded it's ground clearance per se, but it has great departure and approach angles, and is extremely short, so I can go around lots of obstacles (I also bashed the oil pan out and broke an engine mount a few weeks ago on a rather flat dirt road, flew over a bump wrong). I've actually passed jeeps on some trailhead roads in my old '82 suby (I didn't care about it as much as their new jeep). And other roads, I've parked it and walked, and still passed jeeps, slowly creaping over rocks. And I once saw a nissan sentra at a trailhead that I'd parked because the road was getting too bad. Last weekend I took my stock mitsubishi 4x4 truck up one road that I think would have been awfully hard on the subaru (some steep sections of loose soccer ball sized rocks). I could have still made it in the subaru, but there could have been some damage, and the truck was fine. And I have to use the truck to bash through snowdrifts to a friends house sometimes, because her subaru gets too bogged (and sometimes we bring the front end loader out because my truck and the old landcruiser are bogged too....). It all depends.... But 95% of the time when I need 4wd, the subaru wins.

On the rating of the block not being the sum of the individual circuits, that's normal. They are assuming that not everything is on full power at the same time. This is the same way as your house, in which could install a whole bunch of 30 amp breakers, but still can't get over 100 amps total. If you are turning everything on at once, then you either have to not use all the circuits of the block, or get one that can handle all of them on full power. You could also put 20 amp fuses in the individual circuits, instead of 30, and then the total power you can draw is less. The size of the fuse should be determined by what size wire you use. In residential wiring, you're not allowed to use smaller than #10AWG for a 30 amp fuse or breaker. If you've got something that requirest a 30 amp fuse, you better use a #10awg wire. 20amp for #12awg, and 15 amp for #14awg. And yes, if you are running 180 amps for very long, you might want to get an alternator off of a schoolbus, as the subaru alternator isn't really up to more than 30 or 40 amps for very long.

You can also buy heaters that burn used engine oil (and probably other combustible fluids like tranny fluid) to heat your garage. Pretty nasty fumes (though not really any worse than the trash incinerator). Not really recommended unless you are in a rural area.

Yeah! :banana: Subaru suspension somehow handles alot of weight without breaking. I've had 900lbs in mine (in addition to the regular junk that's in there - another 300lbs probably) and have hauled 10' steel beams, fenceposts, bricks, batteries (720lbs of them), etc.. Compared to most cars' suspensions that look like a squating dog if you actually put stuff in the back, subarus are great.

Why? Is there that big an advantage to be worth finding all those new pulleys for everything?

I agree with the $1200 or so mark. Maybe even a little more if subaru's are rare in your area. It's in nice shape to most of them I see here going for between $400 and $1000, and if everything actually works, that's good. The $400 ones especially need some work usually and the bodies are usually beat up and/or rusty:rolleyes: Take into account that most of the ones you hear people getting for really cheap here could more accurately be referred to as parts cars (at least two of my daily drivers were sold to me as parts cars...) This one is low mileage compared to alot too. $1,600 might be the dealer price for a $1,200 car....... but I don't often (never yet at least) buy at dealers. Z

An interested observation I had this weekend on the difference between old gen and new gen owners. '98 Outback Wagon. He's already replaced the head gaskets, and it's only got 150k miles. But he wants to sell it since it's getting too old, and he really doesn't want to put any more money into it. '82 2wd EA81 wagon. Still running and it only takes a couple new parts a year, so why get something newer. Now, I know these are generalities, but it just seemed funny which of the two owners was the one who wanted to get rid of it, and which was perfectly happy with it.

:banana: I sort of like the aluminum tape -- little more rigid than duct tape :-\. I've also taken bits of galvanized ductwork, and screwed it to the remaining sheet metal (for missing rocker panels). Seriously, when buying old cars, you need to get ones from the southwest. I've gotten good rust free 70's cars from there.

Yipppiiiieeeee!!!! I've acquired another subaru. A nice 2wd 5spd '82 DL wagon. My first 2wd suby. Bright blue (reef blue I guess they call it). Only 164k miles. Not much rust -- rear fenders and bottom of rocker panels are through in a few spots, but compared to my old '82 I used to have, which was completely missing the rocker panels, with rust up to the roof line, not bad... Paint still looks pretty good. When I got it it needed new brake pads, two quarts of oil, new rear shocks, a new radio antenna, and it idles really high (any suggestions on why this is???, I think it only started AFTER I sprayed a bunch of carb cleaner in the carb, because the throttle seemed a little sticky), and needs new exhaust manifold gaskets. Not bad for a free car though. Going to fix it up for a friend who needs a car.

Never noticed it on my subaru, but my truck does seem to knock more when cold on synthetic (It's a diesel too, so it always knocks to some extent, and I'm not sure how good a test this is, because I also switch between different diesel and biodiesel blends, and in general it knocks more on diesel, and quiets down alot on biodiesel). I can't think of any reason it would knock more on synthetic, unless it's not knocking, but cold piston slap that would normally be muffled by thick gooey dino oil when cold. Not sure if that makes any sense either...

I like the idea. Wouldn't be too hard to make a custom grill guard and mount a driving light in the middle. Getting it to flip open automatically... maybe harder. On custome making fenders. I saw an old EA81 that someone had put the bumpers and front fenders and hood from some '40's car on. Just screwed them on over the existing ones with roofing screws. Looked pretty bizzarre.