Andy FitzGibbon

So, is the one that goes to the fuel inlet a return line like Loyale 2.7 says? That's what I figured it was, but wasn't sure. Does it have to be hooked up with the Weber carb? Thanks, Andy

Their garage isn't so full of crap as mine is... however, since the last mechanics quit, I think I have more tools than they do. I pretty much want to just stay away from the place anyway. I will post a picture of the bolts this morning. Thanks for the replies, Andy

I'm not talking about the hill holder cable, I'm talking about a hard metal brake line that goes into it. Here's a pic of the spot I'm talking about: In the picture, the line on the left goes to the hill holder. The hose on the right tees into the fuel line near the carb. The center hose is currently not hooked to anything, though it was hooked into the defunct air injection system (which as of this afternoon is now entirely gone off the car). Thanks, Andy

It seems to be running fine now. In fact, perhaps a little better than the weeks leading up to the head gasket failure. Now the only unknowns are how long the gaskets will hold and where all those extra bolts go:-\ I am going to have to do timing belts soon on it anyway (should have replaced them while it was apart, but I just wanted to get it out of there), so I will probably tear the intake off at that point and give the whole thing a little closer inspection. Andy

My '85 GL has three lines going through the firewall, above and towards the driver's side from the brake master cylinder. One is the line for the hill holder, one is unknown (it was hooked into what was left of the air injection system, which is now defunct, and I don't think it was supposed to be there) and one is hooked into a tee on the fuel line. The car originally had a Hitachi carb, now has a Weber and all the emissions equipment is removed (with the exception of the PCV system). Other than the hill holder line, can anyone tell me what the other two lines are for? I tore out the lower parts of the dash but still couldn't see up far enough to be able to tell where they go. Thanks, Andy

Mine has the choke on the backside of the carb. The car it's on doesn't have power steering, but if it did clearance would not be a problem. I don't know Webers well enough to know if it's just an older version that has the choke on the back or what. The throttle shaft still comes out of the passenger side like all the others. The electric choke is easy, all you have to do is hook up one wire to an ignition hot and you're done. Andy

Read my post again, especially the part where I describe how I had to go in and do the timing belts and distributor myself, because they couldn't figure out how, even using the Haynes manual. I don't want these guys touching any of my vehicles again. I could take it somewhere else, and threaten them with legal action if they don't pay to have it fixed right, but I don't want to get into that game. So far I have only paid for the parts, and that's all I'm going to pay for- after me having to fix my own car in their shop, I doubt that they will have the balls to ask me for any more money. That's one advantage of going to the dealer if you don't want to work on something yourself- if they screw it up, it's much easier to get them to make it right. I had that happen at the Toyota dealer a few years ago, and they fixed it immediately for free, no questions. I have been messing with the car all afternoon and it's running a lot better. The head gaskets seem to be holding fine, though it's impossible to know how long that will be the case. The TOD is diminishing, and I think it will be gone after a couple quick oil changes. And there's been no more smoke (steam, really) from the exhaust. Andy

So, a head gasket started to go out on my GL about a month ago. Never overheated, but was intermittently running rough, steam out the tailpipe, ect. It was during the busy season where I work and there was no chance of me having time to do the job myself, so I took it to a local shop. Bad move. I have dealt with these guys before on other stuff and they seemed competent, but not on this job. First, a guy they had just hired tore my engine down and then quit, leaving the pieces scattered everywhere. The other two guys who work there put it back together with new gaskets, but couldn't get it to run. This went on for quite some time. They swore up and down they had it all in time, and when I quizzed them about how they had done it they quoted pretty much verbatim from the Haynes manual, so I had faith that the got it right. I went in there Thursday, to discover that those two had also quit (car still not running). The boss was very excited, though, as he had "found the reason my car wouldn't start"- he had found some pushrods on a shelf next to where all the parts for my car were. I politely let him know that my EA82 is a hydraulic lifter engine, and what would 12 pushrods be doing in a 4 cyl. boxer anyway. I then got his permission to get it running by myself. After correcting the timing belt setup and the distributor position, which were both way off, it started (I think they thought I was a god for doing this). Here's my problem: I now have a car that runs, just about as well as before, but the tick of death is now almost constant and worse than it was, and I've got white smoke out of the tailpipe off and on. I haven't messed with it enough yet to find out if there is coolant leaking into the oil or cylinders, or if I just need to flush the crankcase a couple times to get the residual gunk out. I also ended up with a container of extra bolts, some of which I recognize and some of which I don't. I am torn as to weather I should tear it all down and do the job myself, or just take my chances and drive it. I only paid for the parts for the job, so I am not in the hole too bad on it. The worst is that I didn't have a car for a month and now I have one that is less reliable than the one with blown head gaskets:mad:

The thread about this was in the off road forum. Search there and you should find it. Tells you everything you need to know. I believe it mentioned that some folks had luck using the original Subaru compressor. Andy

My '85 has a Weber and pretty much everything except the PCV system is gone. I got it in a box along with the car. Andy

Darn it... I have a high topper I've been trying to give away for years now, but still no takers. I'm on the wrong coast. Back off topic: there's a Rampage running around here that is the Shelby Edition. Only time I've seen a Rampage with that package (ground effects and turbo engine) though I've seen several Omni's and Chargers. Andy

I had the same problem on an 86 4Runner. It turned out to be the fan clutch. Andy

A high school friend always had a "field car" at his dad's house that we'd tear around in until it blew up. They were all about that size. Love the hood scoop. Andy

Basically, for the kind of travel you're talking about you'll need to pretty much rebuild the Subaru's entire suspension as well as the drive system from the gear boxes out (ie. axle shafts). Something that can't really be described very well in an EZBoard post. Andy

Hmmm... I'm surprised it's still valid. I wonder how much a buy out would be? I'm torn now, I could use some parts from the car but maybe I should try for the recall. Andy

Perfect soundtrack. Andy

Well, the body is worse than it looks. The front fenders have been replaced because the old ones were rotted out. Both rear quarter panels are full of spray foam and one rear seatbelt is unusable because the mounting lug rusted out of the fender. The rockers in front of both rear tires are rusted out as well. They all rust differently, it seems- there's a late 80s DL wagon for sale around the corner from me that has just as much body rust as mine, but a really clean frame. It would be interesting to see if they would fix it under the recall. I have a feeling they would laugh in my face, but you never know. Andy

Move to the east coast:-\ I have seen a lot worse than this on EA82s. Out here probably 80-90% of the EA82 cars are in the junkyard due to rust. They just don't stand up to road salt. My '85 from Arizona is going to be stored winters. Yeah, the Loyale could be fixed with a new crossmember, but it needs a lot of other work as well (burns a lot of oil, needs tires, lots of rust in other places, front end is worn out, ect. ect). I could probably buy one with less rust for less money than it would cost to fix everything that's wrong with this one, and I can pretty much guarantee that most of the crossmember bolts would break off if I tried to pull it. At 197k, it's put in a pretty good run, and the parts will go towards making another wagon with a lot less rust run again. Andy

Took the Loyale out to do some back road exploring in the national forest today. After a day of rough forest roads, it was feeling a little loose out back. Driver's side (well, not too bad, I guess- maybe could be fixed): Passenger side (oops... spoke too soon): I drove it home, but it's road going days are over. I knew it was going to happen sooner than later, but I will still miss it- it was a good car. Funnily enough, the driver's side power seat belt started working intermittently on the same trip (it's never worked before). Andy

I got my '85 GL 4X4 with a Weber up to 29 on my last highway trip. I don't check town mileage much but it seems to get in the same range as everyone else (25-28). Andy

My '92 lo-compression Loyale (198K hard miles, burning a quart about every 500) gets 31-32 on the highway at 65-70 MPH. This is fairly mountainous country around here, lots of long and fairly steep climbs. Andy

I've seen mine run when the A/C is on and the engine is hot. The thermoswitch was unplugged when I saw this (didn't realize until later on). Never seen it run without A/C on, and the temp gauge runs at about half, which is more than my Loyale ever does. I suspect the thermo switch is crapped out but haven't got around to testing it yet. Andy

You just need to find the right garage. The place I go to didn't even put a modified sticker on my 89 4Runner that was lifted and had 33" Mud Terrains, and they always pass my vehicles with big rust holes in them. Andy

There are plenty of old gen Subarus back east- you just didn't stop at enough junk yards... Andy

As far as mileage with the Weber... My '85 GL wagon gets 28-29 MPG @ 65 MPH on the trip to my girlfriend's house every weekend (three hour drive, with some pretty long steep climbs). Can't reflect on a power difference from stock as I bought the car with the Weber on it, but it does have plenty of power and sure looks easier to work on than the rat's nest of vaccum hoses on the Hitachi. Andy