Virrdog

Year - 1989 Make - GL Wagon Trans - 5 Spd D/R Motor - 1.8L SPFI 2 or 4 WD - 4wd Mileage - 93k 26-30 mpg regardless of where its driven. This is with A/C being used and some sound equipment (subs/amps) in the back. Engine needs to be spiffied up, just haven't had the time or opportunity. Could not get the car over 80 mph the other day, so there definitely is some work to do.

Take them both to a drag strip and get objective numbers. 60', 1/8th mile traps and speeds along with 1/4 mile traps and speeds. Conjecture over...

I put on a whiteline front sway bar with intentions of putting on my rear soon after. That didn't happen for a while and I loved the car with just a bigger front bar. It was a slight improvement with a rear bar set stiffer with solid endlinks. The front bar was night and day.

I did this the other week. Once I got the resistors in everything was fine for 10 miles or so then the CEL lights up again. I checked everything out and it all seemed the same. I started to worry then went ahead and reset the ECU... but I undid the negative battery terminal and then hit the brake to drain out any capacitors (the door chime was still going until I hit the pedal :-\ ). Once I did this, everything was great. CEL turned off and has not turned back on after hundreds of miles. So I would try resetting the ECU in this method.

I had to go through this a month ago... The covers are a thermoplastic. Heat up the bolt enough and it will melt the plastic surrounding it and everything will slide out. Zip ties now sit in those honorary positions. I found this out on accident while grinding the bolt heads down. Careful with a flame because the covers will catch fire quite easily and sometimes stealthily.

There are asphalt based deadeners and there are butyl rubber based deadeners and some are a composite of the two. Butyl rubber deadeners are the best and highest quality. They are always the "top of the line" product for the different brands. Asphalt ones can be easily replaced with peel & seal stuff found at Lowes, etc... But you might end up with a sticky mess on a hot day, not to mention some smells. I would use the really cheap stuff on floors and something with a good adhesive on walls and ceilings. I have been researching sound deadening like mad because I am about to do it in my wagon. http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com is another really great site. Very informative for learning how and what to buy.

:-\ $9 a square foot? Wow, that's a lot. I think you paid off whatever debt you had to the audio shop. http://www.raamaudio.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?p=pr This place sells some of the best stuff you can get and is ran by a really great guy. He also supports the Subaru community and is now a Subie owner.

Locally there is a nice off-roading area with some nice steep climbs and mud holes, etc... Guy comes in with a newer GMC truck with the Z71 off-road package. Proceeds to get highsided within a matter of minutes. :-\ I have chains in my '85 Brat and offer to pull him free. In front of him is dry ground, behind is a mud slick covered area (the kind that pulls your shoe off if you walk in it). He wants me to pull from the slick side. Get the guy out and as I'm putting up the chains I tell my friend to take pictures. The owner was none too happy about that. I load up my stuff and we are at the bottom of a very steep hill sitting in the mud. I back up about 5 feet, gun it and go straight up the side of the hill. Later on that day, he stopped me and actually verbalized that he was impressed with how the Brat went right up the hill! Story 2. Won a 4x4 wagon on e-bay (I'm now on #4 I think, this was #3). I saw that it was in a "B" city on the east coast. My silly brain fills in the gap with Baltimore. Not too far of a drive from the Cleveland, Ohio area. As I'm about to drive out I go back to the auction to get driving directions. Oops, its Boston. I'm panning in Google maps and I didn't even realize how far America stretches East past New York City. So instead its a 700 mile one way trip instead of less than 7 hours to Baltimore. I didn't really have a car I can drive, I had my turbo Legacy apart working on it. Friend going with me is living in his parents house and they won't let him drive his car that far (CEL was on). So we borrow my friends '89 GL 4x4 Sedan. Drive it clear out there no problems. I get the '87 4x4 Wagon. We immediately drive both back at full throttle the entire 700 miles. We did stop and sleep for a couple of hours, the wagon was much more comfy . We did the 'follow whoever is going the fastest' on the highway routine. Doing great until we tried to follow the guy going 100+ through one of the major cities. Couldn't quite keep up. Wagon made it back without so much as one peep. I don't think I'll ever take that kind of chance again...

Any updates?