the_bard

OOOOOooooooohhhhhhhhh... I want one.

I'd like to get down there just to chat and visit, but it's short notice... gotta work Saturday from 9:45-5:45.

My policy: No title, no deal. If there's no title associated with the vehicle, I can image things can go downhill quickly depending on the situation, if the "authorities" ever got involved.

If I were a tire distributor, I'd be hunting for that wagon

Actually, all you need to check the EGR solenoid is a good multimeter. Check the resistance off the terminals (should be around 34-40 ohms, if I remember correctly), and that'll tell you if it's in good shape, electrically. I used the same "technique," and posted the correct resistance, so it ought to be somewhere on the board, if you searched for it. Not sure what the measurement for the PCS should be.

Sounds like you're just about as addicted as me ;o). For a comparison, there's a '90 Legacy a few blocks away from me that has a blown headgasket, that sounds like it's in a similiar body shape... and he's asking $100 for it. If I don't take it, he needs help getting it to a junkyard , so I figure I could offer him $25 for it and he'd probably take it. Just for a comparison.

I took a look at it... filled the coolant reservoir, fired it up, and it had that telltale white exhaust. It wasn't billowing or anything, just a few puffs when the engine was revved. Engine wanted to intermittently stall after about ten minutes of idling. I noticed that it never sucked coolant from the reservoir, and the radiator was bone dry continuously. Guy claims he burst a coolant hose, and drove it while it was leaking (doh! ), saying he "knew it probably wasn't good for the car, but he needed to get home." . About a block away from home, the car stalled, and he didn't attempt to start it up again. Got the hose fixed, and a week later it started overheating again, from what he claims. So... how hard's it to change the headgaskets on a EJ22? Do I have to yank the engine, or is there enough room in the bay to do it? And what's your opinion on it not emptying the coolant reservoir? Thanks, guys

I'm gonna take a look at that "nearly abandoned" Subie that was around the corner from my old apartment. '90 Legacy L sedan, 5 spd AWD. 190k. Good shape body-wise, for NY. Front fenders are both rotted out on the bottom, so they're flapping, but the attachment points seem solid still, so I'd be able to pick up replacements. Right front headlight bracket rump roast'y is broken, so it flops. Talked to the owner, and he "just wants it gone." Seems he hit a guard rail with it, and knocked that light loose. I can't see any other body damage, but he claims that the car started loosing coolant and overheating about that same time. I'm gonna grill him about how long he drove it while it was overheating, but I gather from our conversation earlier today that it wasn't long. He claims he ran it down to Pep Boys, who claimed it had an "internal coolant leak." It still runs... he's been driving it long enough to switch sides of the street to prevent the city from towing it. I'd be able to pick it up for a "very lucrative (sp?) deal", or if I don't, he'd "like to know a junkyard where he could drop it off at." Seems to me it's worth looking at, so I set up to meet him tomorrow morning. Besides the obvious bit about checking the oil for coolant, and watching the exhaust for white smoke, is there any other way I can watch for a bad set of headgaskets or warped heads? Or anything else I should be on the alert for, at least... the wife's giving me enough grief as it is, and I'd hate to prove her right on this one . 'Course, for a "very lucrative deal" (oh, I'm gonna haggle on this one, 'specially if he "just wants it gone"), I can't lose too much . I'd love to find out that he cracked a hose or the radiator...

Next Subie I pick up, I plan on going over (under?) the bottom with a finetooth comb, looking for rust spots. If I pick up any surface rust, I plan on knocking as much out as I can, then applying POR-15 over it... then probably that rubber undercoating crap I keep seeing at *Mart. I'm even considering picking up the high-temp POR-15, and covering the exhaust system, if I ever decide to build one from scratch.

Paul, I need to convince this wife of mine that she needs to let me get one of yours. I swear, building a Sube from the ground up would be easier than changing her mind once she's got it set. And she calls me stubborn. Her:"It's gotta be '90 or later... 150k miles or less..." *grumble* Me: "Woman, it's MY car, not yours." Her: "We're married now. My car is your car. Your car is my car. Besides, I don't want you getting anything we need to work on. We don't have the time or money." Me: *grumble* Yet we've got enough money to throw into a new set of furniture for the apartment. Women. (Nothing 'gainst the fine female specimens we have that frequent the board, mind you... ) I want that '89 of yours... if I could convince her. Maybe I ought to see if I can't get her to at least drive down to take a look at it, once we've got the apartment move squared away and all. Your sister(-in-law, wasn't it?) still driving it?

Oh, I have no plans of messin' with the car. Breaking a window isn't a good idea, simply 'cause I'd have to fix it later. I seriously doubt anybody would go to the effort of hiding drugs in it, simply 'cause it's the joke of the town that the cops are in on the drug trafficking (and from what I've seen & heard, I believe it). Besides, this is Troy... you'd have to visit, and you'd know what I mean. Besides, getting into the car to find a signed title and a set of keys ain't what I like. I want clean & legal here. The last thing I need is the owner or the ACS tracking it down via the DMV, and a set of cops knocking on my door for auto theft. "Honest, your honor, I thought it was abandoned, even though it had a sign on it saying it wasn't!" Yeah. Sure. My plan of action is to get in touch with ACS Monday, and let them know I'd like to get in touch with the owner, so I can see if he'd be interested in trading the Cougar for the Legacy, and sending the Cougar in to the ACS. Depending on the running condition of the Leg, it might be feasible to do a straight swap, or I might throw some extra $ his way. And if the ACS does cooperate, I'll be owing them a bit extra, too... they'll be going out of their way to help. If I can't get it clean, I ain't gettin' it at all... something else will come along. I just don't want to change that fuel pump come Easter Sunday

Actually, the wife made a big fuss about donating to ACS... she did her thesis on some sort of cancer, and the ACS helped her out a lot, apparently *helpless shrug*. I'd have no problem whatsoever sending the Cougar off to ACS, if they'd take it...

All four doors are locked. Hood looked secured, didn't test it. Same goes for the trunk. I'm gonna check the miles and interior condition tomorrow, when there's light enough to see, so I'll check the latter then, too. As an interesting side note, the guy who owned the garage stated that he used to have an old Subaru wagon, "a GL [he] thinks." Says he bought it for $50, got hit on the right front, insurance totaled it for $1600, he bought it back, and sold it for $300. 'Course, he's got some domestic boat sitting up on ramps in the garage, so it must not have had that much of an impression on him :-\.

Did that... just didn't include it on my first draft. Edited it in, though. I even wrote the the note in large text using a Sharpie, enclosed it in a clear freezer bag upside down, taped it on the top to the windshield, and stuck the bottom (zip side) under the wiper. Hopefully...

Down the block, on a side street, I found a '90 Legacy L AWD sedan w/ manual tranny. with its plates off. Note in the windshield says that it's not an abandoned car ( Great intro... my type of car), and that the owner is simply waiting for the American Cancer Society to pick it up. Signed by Jason. No last name, no contact number, nothin'. There's a garage next door, the owner of which actually asked me if I was the owner of the Legacy, so he has no clue who owns it. Says it moves under its own power, however, since he's seen it on the other side of the street. Fender's rusted out, and the trim's peeling up next to the roof, but everything else looks good. Heck, even if there's something wrong with the engine or tranny, I'd feel better grabbing it than dealing with this Cougar. I slapped a note on the windshield, stating that I was interested in the car, with my contact info. Meanwhile my '93 Cougar got towed out of the college parking lot. $160 fee to get it back and towed back to the parking lot. I gotta drop the fuel tank to get to the pump, which ain't gonna be fun. So what're the chances of me finding the owner, and getting him to sell it to me instead of giving it to ACS? If he's willing, I'd have no problem sending that gawdawfulforsaken Ford product in its place... maybe throwing a few hundred his way to counteract the tax break, if I've got to sell the Cougar instead of donating it in the Legacy's place. I've got the number to the NY dep't of ACS, but I seriously doubt there's anything they're going to be able to do to help me out. I've got the registration number and the VIN number off the car, so I'm wondering if the DMV might be able to help out. Any thoughts? I just don't want to get my hopes up, ya know?

God, how I'd love to run across something like this ;o)

Happy B-Day, Paul! For a present, I'll try one more time to convince the wife to let me pick up that wagon of yours . *helpless shrug*

I gotta move out west.

You might want to try cleaning out the EGR valve. My wife's '96 Saturn had been throwing the EGR solenoid code for the last couple months. Last week, I pulled off the valve itself, soaked it pretty good with some carb cleaner, and did my best to clean it. Pop it back in, and voila, no more EGR code. I guess since the ECU could tell that the EGR valve wasn't closing/opening properly, it assumed the solenoid was at fault. *shrug* $120 part versus $3 can of carb cleaner... it's gotta be worth it to try

I second that, 85Sub4WD. 'Course, I still manage to play around a bit, but I work awful hard to make sure I won't have to pay big time for it later...

There's a yard about twenty minutes away that has a burned out Loyale that scared me a bit... the engine compartment isn't bad, but the front dash is gone. *GONE*. One big hunk of melted plastic and blackened metal. Front seats are gone... the rear qualifies as mostly charred. I'd get pics, but I'm fairly sure it's buried under a few inches of snow right now. :-\

I had something similiar going on with my Loyale before I parked it. The mileage seemed horrible all of a sudden... and I noticed a smell of gas when I got out of the car. I inspected the car several times several times before I caught it... if I checked it out before I started it up, or when the engine was idling after a start, it wouldn't leak. Once I drove it, stopped, started back up, and revved it a bit, I found the leak. The fuel pump had sprung a small pinhole leak on the outlet nipple... it was covered up by years of NY rust, so it wasn't very evident at idle, or when I first started the car up. Dumped it after it was warmed up & rev'ed though. Makes me wonder how much the fuel pressure changes... Anyhow, if you can't smell anything, and nothing appears to be leaking, I'd run it through the standard tune-up stuff first. How's the performance on it? And are you sure a neighbor hasn't found a way to siphon it?

There are programmable speedometers... check out http://www.sw-performance.com/Prods/30speed.html. Last time I looked at 'em, they were kind of expensive, though... $300 or so.

I wanted to go old school, but the wife is giving resistance... a lot of resistance. So I'm gonna try another line of attack. Mechanic shop a few blocks down from me has a '93 Legacy Wagon for sale. 1. 173k on the ticker. 2. Engine sounds really strong, once the battery got juice. No signs of oil leaks, and no signs of them cleaning the engine up to hide it, either. 3. It is AWD, but auto. First and second gears are alright, third and fourth slip. It won't be going anywhere fast, to wherever I want to swap out the tranny. 4. Body is in decent condition... bubbling on the right front fender, left front fender has a slight ding in it. Right rear is the worst, where it's rusted through, about a one inch diameter hole. POR-15 and some bondo? ;o) 5. Tires have got some good tread on them, all the way around. Around 50%, I'd guess. 6. Exhaust sounds real nice, no leaks. 7. Talked to one of the owners of the garage, and he said make an offer. Tack on another $500-$600, and he'd replace the auto tranny for me (Um, no.) I'd want to swap out that auto tranny for a manual one... I would just need to find a place to work on it up here in Troy, which ain't easy. What would be a decent offer? I've noticed this car sitting on their lot for at least a couple months... I have a serious feeling that they'd be willing to get it off the lot fairly easily. Owner won't give me a straight up answer, price-wise... just "make an offer, but don't rip me off... I can't lose money on it." On the other hand, I've got a '93 Cougar that's keeping me going, so I'm not hurting bad enough to go too high. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Ya know, that's why I shouldn't post things like this at 1:40 AM, when I can't sleep. I meant, "Figuring out the wiring (God I hope a diagram comes with the kit)." Funny how well that preview button works the next morning, versus the night before. The Legacy idea would probably be simpler... haven't seen the interior of one yet, but I can't see why it wouldn't be more plush. The wife would probably agree to the Legacy before she'd agree to the EA82. Still wouldn't be as fun as playing around with the EA82 wagon, though. Anyway, I'll look into that Legacy, and keep it as an option. Thanks, bushbasher.