SmashedGlass

Good old Ft. Bliss. What does the supply of old Subarus look like in the junkyards down there?

Since I have to wait for Safelite (six frikking days from when I called...) to come out and re-seal their windshield, why not finish COMPLETELY gutting the car? Or close anyhow. Went ahead this morning and pulled the headliner out. PO's pitbull puppy gouged the crap out of that too, so may as well recover it while I'm balls deep into an interior makeover. On the headliner, I'm thinking.....Mexican blanket colors

Well, to give it proper perspective, automatics of that era were designed for highway speeds (in the US, at least....) of 55mph.

Some late-model XT's, Gl's, and Loyales ('88 and later) also came with a 4-speed 4EAT automatic AFAIK. Fairly reliable and better than the 3-speed for obvious reasons. Could be found in both FWD and (rarer) full-time AWD.

I assume you have a garage or some other sort of good cover. I can't do that down here, no place inside for a car.

You can always take the alt to a shop and have it tested, most times for free (Autozone, Advance, O'Reilly, etc) but I'd try a non-chain mech shop if possible even if they charge you a small fee. Explain to them in detail exactly what is happening.

Nice, lol. How, rattle can or HVP gun? Once in awhile I think of doing the same thing, but I probably won't.

Your idea with 'welding' a nut on the back sounds good, too.

As already said, check all of the wiring. Check it well. What is happening is the alt is not seeing it's "excitation" voltage (what tells it to start charging) until you give it the revs. So either there is a problem with the wire supplying excitation, or the alt is starting to let go internally.

I'm probably just going to Plastidip mine. It can be peeled off and re-applied as necessary.

But, would that pass (I believe you guys call it) MOT inspection???

There are plenty of bumper coatings from different companies. Pretty much the only way you're going to bring a black bumper back to life, IMHO. Never had any real luck with any of the compounds that are meant to "restore" black plastics and moldings working very well or for very long.

Climate, how many times they're removed and installed, possibly even how often the car meets rough roads. It's a poor design, if they had at least made it a through-hole instead of a capped hole it may have relieved the stresses that the screw puts on the plastic. Or what really has me scratching my head: why didn't they just have the left-hand button cluster mount the same way the right-hand one does, with screws that go into the button cluster instead of the fragile plastic of the housing? We may never know......

I don't know what the shipping to the UK would be, but you can try rockauto.com here in the USA for new-manufacture ones. Looks like $56usd for a carbie fuel tank, $170 for fuel injected, before shipping costs.

Did this today as a fix for my instrument cluster housing, which had the usual cracked and/or broken screw holes in it for the left-hand button cluster (Hazards, Pneumatic Suspension, etc). This is the third housing I've had my hands on, and all three either had this problem or developed it shortly; the plastic bits that the button cluster screws into are rather easy to damage by even a slight over-tightening due to the type of plastic the housing is made of. It's pretty simple, but this will only work if you manage to still have (or find after they break off while you're working on the housing) all of the pieces that were once screw holes/mounts. On this cluster, one snapped off a big piece with some of the thread in it, and a smaller piece near the opening too. The other mount had a good crack developing across it, but was still in one piece. 1: Carefully glue the broken off pieces back on using a strong solvent based adhesive meant for abs and pvc plastics. You can find these glues in most every hardware store. Super glue is not advised, as it has poor shear strength. If, like my housing, one is not yet broken but cracking, obviously go ahead and run some glue into the cracked mount also. 2: Even with the types of adhesives that weld the plastics, it probably won't be enough on it's own--as mentioned, due to the brittle plastic the housing is made of. Reinforce the mounts with small zip-ties, pulled as tight as possible. Simple. Just make sure you orient the ratchet of the zip-tie to where it won't interfere with sliding the button cluster back in. Mount that broke into multiple pieces: The other one, which had only started to crack Even if your screw mounts are not yet damaged, I'd recommend adding the zip-ties next time you have it apart, just for some insurance.

Rained last night and this morning. Still @&^$%&%* leaking rain water into passenger compartment. I give up, gonna have to have Safelite re-seal their windshield.

In the process of doing the same thing John. That factory foam is............ick. After having cleaned/removed it all, I have to wonder how much of it was ending up in my lungs when I used my HVAC. Stuff was turning to powder in places.

Went ahead and bit the bullet on the color change, went with the satin black. Figured I may as well since I didn't like the gray I had found, and something definitely needed done about the multi-tones of gray I had going on in it. And black interiors in old Subes are rare. In process of re-assembling the dash now, with new foam seals for the HVAC channels. Waiting on a 'new' HVAC blower switch with complete connector and some length of the harness still attached so I can repair mine; at some point when the PO had it, that connector melted a bit..... [please disregard the janky 70's style fake wood paneling in my shop. I didn't build that and will be remodeling this summer lol]

Vacuum operated, just like yours.

I wouldn't mind seeing pictures of the actuator set up, Tom0.

Not sure of 'color matching' (if that's important to you) but Lowes actually carries automotive hardware and panel clips in their nuts and bolts aisle.

Tom0, did you use an aftermarket locking set, or find a rare OEM system in a junkyard?

Little bit more work done, inside away from the gawdawful blazing hot sun. Looked like the P.O. had at one time (or perhaps a hundred....) wiped a good deal of dust and dirt off of the clear cluster cover, scratching the crap out of it. I didn't take a before picture (sorry) but I tell you it was pretty horrible. About an hour of time, some elbow grease, and some Blue Magic products had it back to this: Not absolutely scratch-free-perfect, but it is 1000 times better than before. While I had it all disassembled I of course cleaned everything I could reach; I really wish there was some sort of seal between the transparency and the cluster to keep future dust out of it. I may add one of my own.

Here's a shot of the other side for Wagonist, not sure if it will show him what he's looking for or not: And a bit of the foam I mentioned. Ick. Either destroyed or just disgusting, it's all getting replaced: And here's the dash just about 100% disassembled for deep cleaning and possible color change: Harness has been since been cleaned up and the speaker wiring I put in has been more cleanly integrated into the harness for a.... well, "cleaner" and more tidy look and fit, lol. It's balls-hot today, so not much else getting done until late late afternoon, if at all.

You could try calling them and explain the situation.