NoahDL88

Talked with your dad today at Hodges Subaru, i got a lifted 88 wagon like your 89 and another 80 that has a lift and a 2.2 in it. i need a place to offroad and i hear you know where to go, give me a few hours and i'll convince you that you don't need some overpriced blazer to have fun with the big guys.

I concur, i'm thinking vacuum leak, after that use some marvel mystery oil about a quart with the rest motor oil for a little bit, that will clear out some of the gunk.

the XT will have tabs for the rear sway bar, but the gl won't so if your going from the XT to the GL its all good, but the other way around you will loose those brackets

"technically" its not a GL is it then?

You should maybe know that that is only for hard core rigs, you can leave them on after a lift, and most subies won't improve offroad noticeably by it. they in no way need to come off. you are infact making the on road handeling much more dangerous in an emergency maneuver. that said i'm not running bars on mine.

it could be vacuum or it could also be the idle air control valve, its the gizmo on top of the thermostat

get rid of the over priced bosch plugs and replace with 1.50 NGK copper plugs that will help out a lot, may not increase the fuel economy but drivability will be better

I'll see what i can do, but i'm adobe retarded

Try advancing your disty about 4-5 degrees, but watch for detonation, run premium and advance till it pings, then retard it 2 degrees. Try delta cam's they make regrinds off your cams, that will wake up the motor, from mild to a high rpm screamer, but the latter will have no low end grunt strip the entire interior down, the weight you loose is equal to horse power. just a disclaimer, if you want power, you have to spend money. if you want real power you should start with somthing more than 90 hp, 50 percent more on our engine is 135, which is less then the 2.2 legacy motor, yes it bolts in with an adaptor plate and a whole bunch of wiring if you take a WRX motor and add 50 percent you get about 325 which is very nice.

Check out the subaru retrofit forum, its been hashed over 10 times before

EA-81 are cam in block EA-82 are over head cam, and most have fuel injection

Looks a little "too good" i tend to get nervous the cleaner the car is, especially if its 20 years old

It depends on the driver, i've seen Zap and Ken do some pretty mean things with an EA-81

If it has a big blue or black kidney bean on the top its carby, if its got a rubber hose to a black box on the fender its Fuelie

Check the government crash test ratings they're less subjective then we are. www.nhtsa.gov

With even 100 hp it would be a rocket, i'm sure its fast, its all about power to weight.

with the key in the run position, even if the enigine is not, the lights will be on, this is of course not an option on earlier subies, up to i think 83. Those you need to turn the lights off on your own.

Does it shift easy in and out of 4wd?

its the auto tranny cooler

I'll have to see if i can get a co-driver to come back out

The crash testing that would have to go into it to get it to pass current standards would raise the price conciderably, even with side curtains it would have a bunch of trouble passing. Emissions would be another issue. What they need to do is bring back the Justy, 40mpg all wheel drive, airbags, it would be great.

My Ex has a pristine 88 GL sedan, only about 35k miles on it, she's a baby.

Basically what i want to do is take all the better parts of both trannys and make an AWD with the 1.59 low range and the 3.9 final drive. cause, no offence Austin, but the water wagon sucks to accelerate, too much power with the 2.2 so all wheel drive would solve that, and with the diff lock i can still off road. According to our more adventurous Aussie bretheren, the low range will swap, but that still leaves the 3.7 which as we all know the 3.9 is bad enough as is

bump to the top, cause with a new motor that actually runs, well we'll see once i get a few parts, i'd like a more sealed ignition for the off roading.

In Seattle a late 80's GL with a Manual will do nicely, theres plenty of parts and dealerships that still stock parts, however, if'n you move away, a legacy is your best bet, with the 2.2 and the MT also, the manuals seem to do better.