3crows

I have a flapping noise that mostly sounds like it's coming from the front right wheel well or at least from the front passenger side somewhere. It starts at just under 15mph and becomes more pronounced as I'm accelerating uphill but then disappears at about 20mph. It also does it when I turn either way at those speeds even on flat ground and I can sometimes feel a vibration through the floor. I've been under the front end many times trying to find something loose but can't find anything. I've tried wiggling the steering rack, I've lifted the wheel from under the ball joint but everything seems tight. It flaps about twice a second and sounds like there's something wrapped around the CV axle hitting the underside of the car but there's nothing there. I don't know if it stops at about 20mph or I just can't hear it over the rising engine RPM's. I'd think that it would intensify as the RPM's increase but it doesn't. It drives fine and steers fine with no wobble in the tires telegraphing to the steering wheel and no shimmy. I am starting to get a lot of bouncing from the front end and I can feel and see that in the steering wheel. I'm sure I really need front struts, which is the other thing. I can't find front struts for a 4WD GL wagon. I remember reading somewhere in these forums, 'Bumblebeast' using Toyota struts but I don't remember what year Toyota it was or if he even said. I've read that the fwd struts will work but that it lowers the front end about 2". Don't want that.

I got the old windshield out using a utility knife on the sides and top and the sharpened edge of a putty knife along the bottom. There was rusty pitted metal all the way around and that was my concern. I took a wire wheel to it then painted it with rust inhibitor then put several coats of primer over that. Just need to wet sand it and top coat it. I'll take it in and let an installer install the windshield. Thanks for the responses.

Maybe I'll go down to the Portland zoo and see if I can hire a gorilla.

The windshield is cracked and chipped and there's several places around the edge that are pitted rusty. I've watched some YouTub vids on this and prepping the rusty areas seems to be primary. If nothing else , I can pull the windshield and do the prep work on the rust. I don't have glass cups and I'm usually a one man show so having someone else put a new windshield in might be best. Does one of those pull cutters from Harbor Freight work very well for the removal?

Worked on Soob tonight. Changed distributor cap and adjusted timing from 8 to 15 degrees. The other thing I neglected to mention was that it has a Weber carb but someone took the electric choke and choke butterflies out for some reason. I've got a complete Weber coming in a week to replace it. Maybe I'll find a carb body on ebay to fix this one. Ran the RPM's up to 4 grand with no cutout but that was sitting in the barn and not under a load. Found the coolant leak was from the radiator filler spout. It dripped on that flat sheet metal piece and then dripped onto the floor by the cross member. The edge had been bent down so that the cap couldn't seal. I bent it back and it seems to be sealing OK now. This car also has that flapping sound coming from the passenger side same as my other '86' Didn't notice it at first what with all the other stuff going on. It also has a glass pack muffler. I'm a teenager again! Varoooom! In the old days dealers would put glass packs on used cars to hide all the noises from other stuff that was wrong with the car. I'll take it out on the road tomorrow for another test drive. Nobody showing any concern about the high oil pressure? It was 45# warmed up at idle but goes up at higher RPMs. Is that normal? Seems reasonable to me but I never noticed it before on my other Subaru's. Found that the clutch kit is for a fwd, not a 4wd. It's a15001. Only thing missing was the throughout bearing but still useless to me. Don't know why anyone would own a Subaru that wasn't 4WD. Another thing I didn't mention was that it had power steering and AC, both of which I eliminated. I had an alternator bracket in my spare parts stock made up of unsuccessful Subaru projects. Off topic again. Any of you folks had any luck replacing the windshield in one of these guys?

OK, I'll check that also. Thanks

I bought the correct clutch kit and installed it along with a new rear seal. No problems there. I looked at the water pump weep hole on the top of the pump. No leaking there. Been working on the backhoe project for the past few days so haven't gotten back to the Soob project.

My setup is similar regarding your hose locations going into the air box except..... In your photo you show the two hoses coming in at the upper right and upper left. As you can see with the air box off and looking down at the top of the Weber, it has the top recesses on the right side of the carb body. Instead of connecting the 3/8 hose on the left side I made a hole in the front right at the recess in the Weber and just used a little longer 3/8 hose. The recess in the Weber carb body allows for more room to put the fitting in the air box bottom plate and so is not inhibited by the filter.

Test drive: Started cutting out at about 2700 RPMs at 45mph. As far as I've read, this can be caused by timing, cracked distributor cap or worn distributor. Could I be a tooth off on my timing belt replacement? Next day noticed a puddle of antifreeze on the floor under driver side of engine. Was hoping to find a leak in the heater hoses but everything on top was dry. Head gasket? Anyone replace head gaskets without pulling the engine? Also noticed that the oil pressure was quit high. It runs at about 45# in my other two Soobs. This one could be 65# or more. It's about 2/3 the distance between the 45# and 85#. Good? Bad? I'm beginning to think I did something evil in a past life. A few more details about this car. Was advertised on craigslist as needing a clutch but that the owner would include a clutch kit. Said he didn't have a place to do the job. Car has 161K mi. Said it had a shimmy in the front end that he attributed to bad tires. It was about 60 mi. return trip to get it home, The shimmy was a wobble and I couldn't go faster than 45mph on the freeway. It was a long slow drive home. Put it up on stands and pulled the engine and trans. Split them and found that the clutch kit was the wrong one for this car( disc too small) . The source of the wobble was that the axle nuts were on hand tight after he or someone did the front brakes. At least the cotter pins were in or it could have gotten real ugly. Destroyed the front tires. Steel belting was showing in several places.

The loose wire was in my head. Was thinking last night about what Dave said about the black wire. That's the one I overlooked. Hooked it up this morning and it turns over. Test drive is next.

Hmmmmmmm. Back to zero.

And that's not happening. That's why I'm going to try to find which one of those solenoids operates the starter. I've salvaged a few from 'Pick A Part' for spares.

Battery just came off the charger and had no problem cranking before doing the clutch. There's not even a click. Engine turns by hand. It's grounded at the transmission to the firewall where the spare tire sits and near the radiator by the battery. How about a starter solenoid? Think I remember there being 4 solenoids behind the dash located in a place that's almost humanly impossible to reach if you're over 2 ' tall and have hands bigger than Barbie's.. I'll check the starter tomorrow. And thanks for the replies.

I started a new thread "Soob Won't Start' as Dave suggested. My backhoe is a JCB which I'm sure is the British form of revenge for losing the America Revolutionary War. I was reasonably sure it was the injector pump which is impossible to reach without pulling the radiator which took 4hrs and the fan to be able to get a puller in there. Then I read I should have checked the lift pump screen first. It was really gummed up and was probably the source of the problem since it happens before fuel goes to the injection pump. I'll get it rebuilt anyway at this point. It's nearly 30 years old. Just a bit off topic.

Bought an '86' Soob a few weeks ago with a weak clutch that was starting to slip. Drove it into the barn, pulled engine and trans, did the clutch, put it all back together, tried to start it, and nothing: no crank. Dash lights come on, headlights come on, just no crank. I've re checked to make sure I've got everything plugged in but maybe I've missed one.Checked continuity in fuseable links; OK. I didn't see anything in the inside fuse cluster that referred to anything regarding starting. So that's where I am so far. What I don't know is how the power gets from the key to engage the starter. I haven't done anything under the dash so the problem would seem to be in the engine compartment unless it's the starter relay that just happened to pick this time to die. Just scratching my head.

Can I keep going with it in this post or should I start a new one?

I don't know yet. I got home and parked it for now. I think I'm getting too many balls in the air. By backhoe stopped in the middle of digging up a stump so I've been working on that. I got another '86' Soob and replaced the clutch and front axles. Now it won't start. I'm about ready to open a vein!

Got the 22mm 3/4 drive socket today. Piece of cake ! Didn't even have to use the backhoe. Proper tool for the proper job. That's what I always say. Thanks for all the replies.

And, DaveT, the heat causes things to expand slightly, thereby helping to break the bond. It has to get pretty hot to do that. The bolt can get very hot, which is what you want. The crank will be absorbing some of that heat but by its mass, not as fast as the bolt. Then let it cool down. But this will be last resort if all else fails. You know this, right?

I have a 3/4 drive socket but it's standard so I've ordered a 3/4 drive 22mm socket in lue of continuing using the 7/8 " socket though it's only a squeak bigger than the 22mm. . Now the problem is to stabilize the engine when I put the 3/4 drive breaker bar and a 4' cheater bar on it. I've got a backhoe and I'm thinking about lowering the bucket down on the right side of the engine to keep it from lifting up while I'm standing on the bar. I'll let you know what happens when it all comes together or apart.

A bit late but other things happening. So, Dave, dropped the header pipes and went out for a roaring drive. Tried to shift into third and there was no hole. Don't know what's going on now. I idled down to about 10mph before I could get into second and just limped on home. Think I've got a project. I always thought that the old Subaru tranys were bullet proof. Glad I have my old Dodge pickup in the meantime.

I need a trick. My engine is out on the floor and I've got a bar with a hole in it bolted to the flywheel against the lower trans. case bolts. I broke my 22mm impact socket ( Harbor Freight WTF) with my air impact wrench on this and went to a 7/8 socket because that's all I have now. Standing on a 1/2 breaker bar with a 1' extension. I'm 180#. Won't come loose. If no one comes up with a good idea I'm going to try heating the bolt with my torch to see if that will work.

86 GL, 5 speed with Weber carb. Been running fine until yesterday. Driving on freeway and noticed that I was slowing down. Accelerated to get back to speed but still gradually was losing power until I had it floored going up a slight grade. Tops at 3K and won't go faster than 60mph on the flat and drops to 55mph going up a slight incline. I made it home and at lower speeds it seems to drive OK but I need to know what to check and fix before I drive it anywhere again. I hate walking! It's not the clutch. Been there, done that but it seems that somewhere in reading these forums in the past something was mentioned about plugged catalytic converters causing this or fuel filter at fuel pump. It's not making any new unusual sounds, just the flapping sound at low speeds I stated in an earlier post I made that no one knew the cause of. Sill unsolved. I haven't done a compression check on it yet but just wanted to see what you folks could come up with as possibilities.

Don't know what I did or didn't do before but gauges work now. Still would like to know what that 'Position' fuse controls. Guess the easiest way to find out is to pull it and see what doesn't work.