Sub78

According to my Sooby manual "How to Keep Your Subaru Alive" it states that it should be to Cylinder #1 not #4. PM me with your email address and I can send you over a PDF copy of it. It is for all Soobs 75-88 minus the Justy. It has been indispensable these last few months while working on my 78. Luckily my ride came with a well worn copy but the PDF is great for some late night reading in bed when you don't want to get engine oil on the bed sheets. Damn significant others. Ha.

Well again maestro... I must say thank you. Wealth of information and more than I ever thought I would need to or even begin learning about a/c units. Honestly, I got this thing running a few days ago and am now just tweaking and figured "ah what the hell, I've got some A/C charging stuff laying around from my truck... I'll just use that". Obviously I am thrilled that I was not that stupid but I must admit it's only because I couldn't fine the ports. To my good fortune I suppose. Here is a shot of the compressor and the port covers off. These are the only two ports on this system that I can see. I followed the lines and one line goes straight to the firewall into the interior ac box. There is another line that runs from the ac compressor to the front of what seems to be the radiator and then back to the dryer then into the firewall. No ports anywhere on those lines that look similar to the photos that you sent (thanks for those by the way; very informative). It seems to me that I have an R12 system that has not been retrofitted with the 134A. Considering that this vehicle was sitting 11 years prior to me getting it I'm not that surprised. Uploaded with ImageShack.us I suppose considering the fact that I can't really easily get R12 without the EPA license and that it's just worse for the environment I would like to go legal with it and hopefully make it a bit easier on myself but after doing just a small amount of reading I'm gathering that if everything on my system works I will need to drain the refrigerant, buy the kit, get all new hoses (read that old R12 hoses are not compatible with R134a and if I read correctly also get a new dryer. Does this sound about right? Did you need to do any of that with your r12 conversion on your wifes vehicle? Or did you just drain it, put on the adapters, and fill her up? Also, you had certainly made clear your surprise of the hose clamps. I take it this is not standard. What is? Again thanks for the help and as of right now I don't think I will be futzing with this too intensely. I just pulled the carb off and I've got her just sitting. Waiting for the rebuild kit which should be here in a few days. Starting work with the Forest Service for the fire season on Monday which I feel will drastically tap into my Sooby futzing time. I'm hoping this rebuild of the carb goes without a hitch so I can hopefully get her serviceable and on the road. The A/C is definitely high on the list considering it is the only thing that is a saving grace for my girlfriend with this car (who just seems to hate it for some reason). Definitely open to chatting more about and seeing how your conversion goes. For me at the moment unless it costs less than 100$ I shall be utilizing the windows down and soaked bandannas for the time being. I feel like I've opened up yet another can of worms with plenty of homework to do on old ac systems. You should have just said "nope, can't recharge it, buy a replacement!". Ha. Kidding of course. Who's got two thumbs and loves speed bumps when it comes to getting a 78 Subaru on the road again... this guy.

By chance do you have a close up shot of the compressor ID plate? I'm trying to figure out some of the specs IE: how much of the old R12 refrigerant would it have required. I have an "SD" compressor. Not sure if this is the same style but figured I'd give it a shot. Thanks.

No A/C tools on hand.

Well hot damn. This is why I love this board. I have absolutely no experience with vehicle A/C systems other than recharging my newer vehicle which was a simple plug and play kind of deal from the local parts store. I was unaware of the different refrigerant types so thank you for the quick primer. It gives me a much better jumping off point as opposed to just pissin in the wind. Here are a few shots of the A/C compressor. The only "ports" I see on this thing where some refrigerant may go is the two tall hexagonal bolts/port covers on the top end of the A/C unit. They are 14mm nuts. That looks to be the only place on the unit where it looks like a port of entry. It has not been converted to the new style refrigerant. If you have any input on how to check to see if this thing is serviceable or not and your methods for testing I am all ears. The Haynes and other manuals don't go into any detail on an A/C unit for this vehicle so I am a little more than in the dark. Thanks for the quick answer and starting point on my question. I'll look forward to what you think. Thanks. Looking at compressor from drivers side fender of vehicle. The only identifying mark on the unit. A bit hard to read. Hope this gives you a better picture. Let me know if you need any more info or if something you need to see isn't in the shot.

Apologies if this has already been answered elsewhere in the forums but I did a search and couldn't find much on maintenance of my a/c unit in my 78 Wagon GL. Everything seems to kick on when I turn the A/C knob and for a second she actually pumps out some cool air but then goes luke warm. I looked on the unit for a port to recharge it with a conventional recharge kit but can't seem to see where I would even begin to think about putting anything in. Anyone familiar with recharging a unit like this? Any help would be appreciated. PS: I understand that a few folks are vehemently anti A/C in these old Soobs but down here in Southern AZ I will take a bit of power loss for the pure necessity some days of air conditioning.

Another old Soob on the road. Have the bumper... just need to put it back on. And finally after a year she hits the open road. With the pups and the lady of course. Now to do a bit of suspension work and a new windshield. Regardless she is road worthy and can now be registered for daily driving.

Beautiful wagon. Just got my 78 GL Wagon up and running two days ago. And I thought I had a pretty rust free ride. This thing is immaculate. Shoot a video... let's here that bad mamma run!

Gas tank showed up last week courtesy of CBASS (http://www.cbass.net/) up in Idaho. A few shots of the before and after. Stripped her with some automotive stripper and used a screwdriver to scrape away 35 years of road gunk and surface rust. The interior of the tank looks brand new. Sanded her down and used Rustoleum auto primer along with about 5 coats of their auto enamel from a rattle can. Will bake it and hopefully that will give here a good bit of hardness to keep her tough enough for my needs. Not too bad for some elbow grease and 15$ in refinishing materials. She should be cured in a day or two and soon will be back where she belongs.

Yeah we'll see how she does. I'll most likely pull that seeing as at the moment the blower fan doesn't even work. If it does work however I will take it being that living in Southern Arizona it is almost a necessity with the summers that we have here. Certainly didn't buy this vehicle for the power. A rig that will get me 25 - 30 mpg over my monster F250 will be a welcome change.

Have the interior floor pans all painted and ready to go. Looking at a good fairly inexpensive heat shield for the floor pan. After that it's figuring out a good carpet solution. The original plan was for a truck bed liner in the whole car but the cost of a quality liner plus all of the ceramic heat and sound deadener (spray) would cost an arm and a leg. Below are a few shots of the interior as of right now along with the engine running. Got my gas tank in the mail yesterday but need to get her prepped and painted before I put it up. This is just running straight from the fuel filter to a gas can. Works well. Also listed two of the options I've got for heat shielding on the floor pans. I've read as well something called Quick Roof from home depot. Not sure about how well this would work directly on the floor pans due to the heat. I think most folks have used it for sound deadening in the doors and whatnot but not directly on the floor pan. Thoughts and comments always welcome. http://www.automotiveinteriors.com/HEAT_SHIELD.htm http://www.lobucrod.com/ (EZ Cool) Also, with the dumping of the truck bed coating I am looking at now putting in carpet over this heat shield stuff because I don't think I can just leave it as that mainly for longevity and life of the heat barrier. Has anyone cut their own carpet or know of a place that has the molded carpet (haha, doubtful).

A quick vid of the rig

Quick video of the rig

Well I'm all too familiar with nasty winters in WI and the NE. Ill tell ya, 70 in February is never a horrible thing. Ill take it any day of the week. Don't worry. You'll see that snow melt in a few months. Ha.

Juat picked up the last of the spray psint ill hopefully need. Picked up some cheap rubber backed utility carpet for the trunk space and under the rear bench for some added protection and sound / heat dampening. 20 bucks in all for the carpet and they sldo have a heavy duty rubber mat for 20$ that is pretty damn close to the whole rear hatch dimension (35" x 35"). Hooked up a 1 gallon gas tank to the carb this evening as well just to hear her purr. Ill post some pics and maybe a video tomorrow. Finally coming together.

Also, with the price of rusto it's cheap to do touch ups here and there.

Yeah it was the stuff from the can. I read a lot of reviews and heard that. I thought about more heavy duty stuff but for the price and what I am trying to do couldn't justify the cost vs benefit. Really the only point of doing it this route was for some protection and to clean her up a bit. For what I've spent on it so far I'm happy with the results as opposed to getting into a lot more cash. less than 50$ and I'm happy. As far as auto carpet... I'll check around at wally world. I've seen some heavy duty rubber carpet mats at home depot for a fair price and I think it would offer a bit more protection. With my gas tank in the mail I really just want to get this put back together so I can bolt that bad mamma up and get her on the road.

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Here's a shot of the interior as she sits now. Put down a coat of rusto primer, topped with a gloss enamel, and taped off a section in the "bed" to throw down some rusto truck bed coating. So far it's looking pretty good. By no means a professional job but on a budget and to get some protection down I think it'll do a pretty good job. Heading to the Home Depot today to look at some large pieces of rubber matting to lay down in the back of the bed and bolt straight through the floor pan. So far so good. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Have the same issue with my 78 Wagon. Radio is screwed. Looking for a good alternative. Keep us posted on what you end up doing. That interior looks pretty solid. Nice find.

GAS TANK BOUGHT! 85$ Will be here by the weekend. Let's hope this bad mamma gets set up no problems and up and running straight by the weekend.

So a little update. The interior is stripped and after looking at a lot of my options I think I am going to go the simple less expensive although much less professional grade application. Looking at 2k primers and whatnot along with the raptor liner I would be looking at over 250$ for a completed diy job. Not really in my price range especially because looks aren't really that important to me as long as she is tough and can withstand some abuse but also ease of touch up and maintenance if something does go wrong. Going to use just some simple rustoleum auto primer on the floor pan, then spray an auto enamel over that to give some protection and in certain areas (rear wagon floor, rear and front mat areas) I'll apply some of the rustoleum truck bed coating. I tested out a patch on an old prepped refrigerator and the outcome seems to be pretty solid especially for the price. Once just utilize some heavy duty floor mats and larger piece of heavy duty rubber / carpet for the rear hatch area. I think for less than 100$ I'll have something that will hold up, keep any elements at bay, and provide a pretty easy DIY job with the ability to touch up as necessary. If at some point in the future I really want to make the interior perfect I can just get some carpet put in custom which at this point is much more than I want to spend. The main priority is the gas tank which I've found. I think it should turn out pretty well with a bit of patience and attention to detail even for a cheapo Rustoleum job. Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments.

Definitely aware of the drawbacks. Thanks for the concern.

Well i do have an electric fan as well. This fan bolts straight to the block and has a pulley on it with a belt that also drives the a/c unit. I gather that it came due to the a/c. If I hadnt found one that would have been my option but honestly I wasn't in any hurry. Danny had what I was looking for cheaper than rigging up a new electric fan. Thanks for the input though. If I end up pulling the a/c id probly go that route. Haven't had her running long enough to test it to see if it's working properly. Seems like it still has a charge though. Hopefully this damn gas tank problem will be fixed sometime soon due to my recent replacement find. That's been my biggest problem. Luckily I've had a recent surge in motivation to work on her.

Only one other of the engine purring. Ill see if I can find it. Ill try to post a few more shots of the last two or three days progress. Tons and tons of elbow grease. Hoping by the weekend Ill have her taped off and ready to prime. We'll see how it goes though. Glad I just bought a fresh case of beer. Gotta kill the monotany somehow.