sparkyboy

There's a stamp near the top of the passenger side cylinder head indicating engine size? Look under the p/s pump...i think!

That's pretty neat you have only one of 20 left, keep it up bro! You must get some confused looks in wales! Here is the thread on the center caps, they fit the steel rims and it appears that the plastic retaining ring is available from dealers as well. Parts numbers and all! So yea originals if your car came with standard steelies or 8 spoke: Maybe the guy that owns that mountain subaru shop knows a guy whose dads friends kid knows something...or maybe they have been in business since 1983 knows how to rebuild? Yea custom coilovers are like $1200 a set and that's probably as close you'll get without the ability to adjust with air... It's funny because air shocks for my second gen camaro are like $15, But make the car ride like a skateboard so nobody wants them, and extreme raked muscle cars were gaudy even when people thought that sort of stance was cool. I can't have a look at my xt until tomorrow at the earliest, but if that compressor is still there, hell pay for shipping and give me what you think is fair...I'll be sure to test it if it is still there. I might even still have the cool 4wd plastic strut tower covers where the air lines go into...those air lines should lead to something! Haha I had her on stands once but just to check for rust and see if she has the rear posi. No dice on that one! I really hope it's still there, that will be cool! Oh the pleasures and pains of rare car ownership... Cheers mate

@Meatboi I would like to add something...a wiring harness is close to impossible to screw up and I'll tell you why...say you cut a very important power or sensor wire off right at the harness, cause you thought it was a/c or cruise control, so you can't splice a new wire? Just push the pin out of the harness and replace. Just make sure to know the ecu pins well so you don't accidentally give something 12v that isn't supposed to. You can in theory use pins to hardwire the ecu directly to the intake manifold connectors, and eliminate the connector (as well as ALL the original wiring) completely, it just happens that the factory wiring is very nice. Plus the ecu fits nice in the glove box. Repinning the harness will allow you to mix and match ecus and harnesses when using obd2. Just food for thought, or in case you can't find a running donor car right away...plieadies tends to line these things up for those with patience, and who help others. Subaru swap life hack: buy a daily with ej whatever if you can for cheap. For while the loyale is under the knife. I got a 92 leggo in addition to the donor. How else would I know you can Scandinavian flick an L body, but the awd leggo won't? Not even with the e brake! Plus a future engine after finding awd weaknesses lol! Don't use the handbrake for flicking the loyale, especially to the left, so flicking right. I'm sure you already know why. I flick my xt on the street cuz turbo...have fun with the ea82 But don't break it if you can help it...someone will want that engine and might even pay you believe it or not. I got $125 for my old carby ea82, that was the asking price too. Save the rubber grommet cause it fits perfect on the firewall. And if obd1 (90-94 legacy, 96 and older impreza) do not remove the brown double diode on the alternator pigtail. It's critical.

Hey man, sorry to hear of your troubles, by the time I got my xt, the air shocks were gone. The plastic air lines are still in place though...where is the compressor located? If mine is still there someone can have it, or was it hooked to the a/c or something? Can't imagine these things are more complicated than the nonsense on bmw x5. The xt is on or off right? Not self adjusting I'm sure...and yes my friend I have the digi dash so feeling the car lift as the little Atari car rides high must be one of sube lifes rare little pleasures haha! The ride itself must be pillowy plush huh? Who has the nos parts is the question...someone recently found a huge stash of the blue backed (not brown for brat) 80s hubcaps you can buy from West coast dealers lol! There is a new set of air shocks in a dusty box somewhere in Japan probably haha. Cheers man

@Nowah9 I said the same thing! They look tiny but I personally love the factory 8 spokes. My 2" lift eats passenger side axles, and i have been meaning to remove it, I just do camping style off roading, and wannabe rally cross, not beast creeping style like a lot of these guys! Shame my 4lo sees little action... The only reason to keep a set of 13s are if you like them. We have to consider the rarity of our lug pattern however, so i keep them around at least. The chevy wheels are very common around here, and were at least, the house brand of wheels at discount tires for around 80 each new. I see them almost every time at the junkyard, but that pattern is for 80s 3/4 ton And some one ton (not dually those are 8 lug) so they won't be so common forever. If you are lucky you will find a vintage American racing set, those are the originals iirc. On CL for $15 each, no junkyard crawling! Dust off the drill press! People often give em away, they come on a lot of trailers too. I have hankook snow tires for 13s and I like them better than 15". Those 15s were a bit squirrelly on the street, lots of bumpsteer and probably contributed to a broken axle. No rubbing though! And far to big to execute a proper Scandinavian flick in 4wd, unless going unreasonably fast, haha! But the safety thing you mention, if you drive fast on the street, avoid truck wheels. Having the trim rings and hubcaps are key, but these are my fave on the L body. There IS someone making custom 4x140 wheels in Colorado. Massive coin, but this dude with an 86 rx has 16s!

Oh man, using a different 4 lug pattern besides 4 x 140 is Subaru blasphemy! So naturally I never tried them. Personally, I would find chevy six lug wheels and drill them to fit, they look good. I have tried those, they were 15" on my 86gl with 2" lift...she rides trucky! I sold em cause the 13s are better imo. Alternatively, you can still the hubs to accept a toyota six lug pattern, there is a write up on this forum about that. But to answer your question, those adapters are a cheap, dirty way to go if you have a set of 4x100 wheels that you like already, but account for the change in wheel placement on the car, (offset?) that those will cause, and it will stress your suspension that much more, so those adapters should not be part of a beast off road build, but if it's something just for shows or your racing slicks, get back to us on your experience! The adapters cost $160...you can five lug swap with junkyard pieces for that! If you are considering going this route just to expand your wheel choices, i would go five lug swap. If you happen to have a 4x140 setup with rear disk brakes, don't change that, that's the old school cool right there!

Here you go, bro. https://youtu.be/Ppl6HyfmNSs ^^ Look in the description and there is a link to "help with harness" for cutting services. There are also pdf files to pinouts if you want to try cutting it yourself. https://youtu.be/TKvBzl19Jdw ^^ The start of an 8 part video series step by step: (pinouts in the description as well) This swap guide by Numbchux is very good and what initially gave me the ej swap bug: https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/67098-please-read-ej-swap-write-up-ver-20-now-in-pdf-form/ Cheers man, the wiring is the most "complicated" part but it but can be done by someone whose electrical experience was only wiring a stereo.

This is also a matter of opinion, the spfi ea82 is kinda fun to drive if you mat it all the time, they are light enough to really whip around and respond well to the Scandinavian flick. For me, the ej22 swap makes the gl an absolute pleasure to drive. All the little things add up, bashing off in 4hi in the rain. The perfect placement of the pedals for heel and toe, (better than e30 bmw, cause you can adjust the cable clutch. I like very little freeplay), the little always fresh vent, crank windows, creeping in 4lo to pull a ford f350 diesel out of snow...haha! I love my GL! I know the unique fun an even mildly upgraded car provides, and no two are the same...my camaro is a piece of perfect engineering (hear me out, lol) on smooth gravel roads. Absolute perfection to slide in just a hint, and a tap on the gas if things get hairy. Manual steering, like a dream. 53/47 weight balance is slide, NO fishtailing. Bmws best awd has not come close to that experience, much less a Subaru or ford. She's slammed so all the drawbacks with that! @MeatboiI guess my point is listen to, and understand as best you can the drawbacks. A pile of wires, parts etc..and build her the way you want. Buy a cheap daily or a scooter or something if you need. It's worth it in the end. First gen leggo? That's what I got while swapping my GL, those cars DON'T flick ha I showed my family this swap in a picture and i got the third degree for sure, they don't know subes and how much ea82 sucks. But i never retrofitted, so i can see the skepticism. I showed them though, my GLs engine made 135 go at one point in her life, haha! Prolly 115 now. Don't let anyone discourage you or tell you that your car is not worth building. I heard that same nonsense. Subaru is the current budget build here, my $450 gl is worth every penny of $1800 now, no joke. (Or joke to some) But that's not the sube love price, she'll go for a thouski once I swap my other pieces of rusty garbage. The old American and German crap are still out there, but not much for less than a thousand. Japanese was best in the 80s imho

My answer was easily the most light hearted...lol! My swap took me 8 months to complete, and cost about $1000 due to a running car for $500, which i sold everything else. I also drilled the flywheel myself, a custom is $200. Your wiring harness can be cut for you for $200, you pay for shipping back and forth usually. So there are different approaches. If you want to do this, but don't want to learn electronics, be ready to pay more, but it's plug and play. But it's almost a must to have an ej in an L body these days. I highly recommend a phase one ej22.

The loyale can fit any ej engine physically with no modification. You will need the engine control parts of the wiring harness and ecu of the engine of your choice. If you want to keep the 4wd trans, you need an adapter plate, otherwise you can use the ej trans, but that will make your car awd and has to match the rear diff ratio. Plus the axle spline count is probably different, so you'll need to modify the axles or do the five lug swap. And you will need a custom length driveshaft and possibly light modifications to the crossmember. I have a 95 ej22 in my 86gl and it's perfect for her. I think a turbo might be a bit much. She burns out through second and chirps 3rd haha! I used the adapter plate to keep the dual range. You're talking about 2.0 so you have a rx or sti swap planned? Awesome! Lol And to answer your question, no it wasn't a lot of trouble, and I learned efi as I went! I would say the radiators goofy inlet was the most troublesome, so overall easy! I never even hooked up the vss, lol! Have fun wrenching!

Wow man, your work is beyond excellent. I am truly impressed with the brat. I need to come to that big West coast Subaru show. I will bring my 85 xt turbo.

I'm in Denver bro! Where you at? I have never seen an rx in real life and i have a sh!t load of ea82 and some turbo parts, an entire engines worth. I have flapper style and hot wire maf parts that need a home. Please hit me up I can help and i don't have to work or anything better to do. F the money for a mechanic, these kids wont touch ea engines. Lol! I am willing to come to golden. I have an ej22 I can sell you for cheap if the ea82t is too gutless for you and it's almost completely obsolete anyway. I did the ej22 swap on my 86 gl two years ago.

@YnotDIY I have used to cheapo blue paper gaskets in the past, and had no problems, just wipe the surfaces clean, torque to tightness feel by hand with a 1/4 ratchet. (i think it's only 12 ft/lbs but don't quote me on that) Then check the seal with spray...but i did replace with a set of beck arnley (or whatever the generic german brand is, Victor reinz?) black ones in a week so I never tested the cheapies long term. I like to keep my engine squeaky clean so i keep a can of brake cleaner lol! The thing about the cheap ones is that if you don't get them on evenly the first time, you might as well throw it in the trash. Just my experience. I don't see why a gasket sealer won't work. However, it's well documented on why oe quality is more critical in Subarus when it comes to gaskets, spark plugs and wires, etc...picky little turds, haha! Happy wrenching man! Oh one last thing, this was on an ej22, but I don't see why the same would not apply to an ea.

Good job man, I'm glad that it wasn't serious! Welcome back to these silly things btw haha! 4wd drifting time! Start the turn in early and accelerate hard if you have snow tires! lol! My ej22 86 GL will barely get sideways with hankook snow tires, she drives like on pavement in the snow! I love 4 hi on these, they drive even better than the 325ix with the ej and the 325ix is beast, I have seen one snow plow in like 12 inches of snow! I was the only one at red feather lakes in CO and I was driving incredibly recklessly, like 60+ mph around this loop! Grinning like an idiot the whole time

Nice work, man keep munching those miles, mat that old girl and shake the pavement with all 83 horsepower of ea82 and don't shift till 7,000 rpm! Or putt her around and until she can't take it anymore and leave her in a field folded in half after one more epic off roading trip, bring a friend and a 12, 14, and 17mm cause I bet you the engine survives...

Sweet ride man! And I am unaware of any other Latvians here, so I think you very well may be the only one! These rides kick as$ all the same worldwide. Welcome to the forum. All the Subaru info you could ever need.

Me and my bro in the middle of wiring up the ej22 in my 86gl. I'm the one in the middle. And my faithful dog, Vendy

Lol! She is available! For photoshoots! She's technically a professional model, her picture was used on a business card and we got $40! A grass fed steak for her and a triple cheeseburger from five guys for me! I am expecting a litter from a friend, but perhaps toward the late fall I'll have a few for sale! Come to CO in a vintage subaru and I'll give the friend price... $1700 unless you pull up in an xt or have the ej22 swap, then $1500 lol!

Has the exiter wire (12 v switched) been replaced or messed with recently? A screwy exiter will cause wonky readings at the battery. But yea as stated above, your alternator is suspect.

DUDE!! I saw that car! Cheers on that bro I'm glad she went to a good home and the name will come naturally, my mom named my blue GL! My xt is named after the pepper, cause i was in a food naming phase, a 1978 chevy g30 rv named noodle, an e34 wagon named pickle, and my beloved xt ghost And tell your friend jack move on the ej22!

+1 on the driveshaft. Is the shaking getting worse? It happened to me in my 99 ob, (automatic trans) and it would be only when the awd kicked in. Also intermittent! I found the problem easily, I stopped and put the 2wd fuse in and it went away. Unfortunately your forester is too new to disable the awd in that manner. Slide under and have a look, my front u joint was incredibly rusty. Fortunately the driveshaft is a two piece, so if you are the type to get dirty in junkyards, or are good at CL, this is a $30-50 one hour fix. Alternatively, go to a driveshaft place and they can install a front u joint with a grease fitting like Subaru should have done... Good luck man! Let us know the results when done wrenching!

What a way to get into old subes, quite possibly the best! 85-87 also have the much more desirable flat bumpers. 88-91 guys swap them, if you see it call them on it, cause the tail light is different (sube symbol in the middle) too bad these don't have the headlight actuators with the knob like 80s firebirds, I like your car is winking, I would do that at shows! Eg33 with a turbo will definitely smash! Just a na ej22 made my GL so much faster and easier to live with! 81 factory hp from the factory? Not even adequate for most of us in the US. 135 hp dosen't sound like much, but it's a 63% increase and ej parts grow on trees. My GL will murder my Camaro drag racing! Lol! This forum has a number of old school sube experts, and seems to be the most active, there is a subaru xt only forum, but it's broken last I checked. I never got into Facebook myself...you get better google results if you put a year first. Take her to a show and wait for the confused looks and "what the hell is this car?" And a few guys will say cool! An old Subaru xt! My goal this summer would be the suspension work and take apart the ea82 to see if she's mortally wounded (cylinder heads cracking between exh ports is the number one killer). If not, reseal and thrash! And a nice coat of black primer Eventually a ej22 with turbo add on I understand an na engine can be low boosted with no mods! The ecu can handle about 10 psi I've read...no need for megasquirt and honestly probably enough to start breaking things or too squirrely to keep her on the road! I have everything already...hehe so if the ea82 is broken swap time! And free ea parts! Welcome to the old school subaru family man. We're worldwide here, the Russians and aussies think they are nuttier than us Americans, but i beg to differ! There is a guy in Alaska like Subaru survivor man, pouring water into the intake to check valve seals - works, but dunno how, haha! Oh and did you name yours yet? Mine is Ghost The thing i love about subaru, is that they seemed to be the most experimental in the 80s. Everyone was all coked out and weird to begin with back then, but Japan always takes the cake cause they love not making any damn sense and making an assymetrical steering wheel shaped like a gun? And the door handles by the feet? 3 f**king D digital dash? Wtf dude this really happened, look! Haha! They let their freak flag fly with the xt and there is nothing like it! The only time I was more proud of an auto company being themselves was when in 75 the govt. mandated the 5mph bumpers, so for the 73 model year the camaro was available with half a bumper (the infamous split bumper that is beautiful, but copied far too much) American muscle will always be the coolest cars hands down, the man hated them! But nothing so beautiful and powerful since then... And yea the bastardization of once proud names is extreme here and makes me sick...be ready when you tell someone 86 xt and they ask "oh outback or forester?" You're a weirdo now, embrace it. Can't blame them for not knowing about a car that will always look like it's from the future somehow...haha! Chevrolet Malibu maxx SS anyone? U kidding me? Subaru sucks after 96 (engines) and 94 (bodies) with few exception, like the 98 2.5 rs...pretty body, but everyone got that as the wrx while we got that ugly frog face bug eye one...wtf? And I'm in Colorado so the tail is a bit of a drive for me too, but i understand the West coast Subaru show is like mecca, so suit up man! We'll roll together from CO in a F'n xt convoy! I'll need two friends for my 86 and 88 GLs to go to that show! I'm for real man, within a few years at the most! My GLs, the baby lion and Skye. The red has the ej22. https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/165601-xtv8-build/?tab=comments#comment-1374305

Congrats on the find bro! Cool! She has the 85 premiers too? Dope! Factory Subaru 4x140 alloys are a tough find these days! I am also the proud owner of an 85 xt turbo, she's a sweetheart! If you saw the rotary swapped xt that was rally racing on YouTube, that dudes an animal, and if turbo, you have to go without a hood, or cut a blasphemous hole! So don't go that route unless you love rotary that much, but slammed rwd rotary xt? Hells yea! But for ease and low cost go ej swap, I did it on my 86gl and don't regret it for a second! The cost was almost negligible, I found a $500 donor 95 leggo. I'm ej swapping mine someday. And slamming her as lower than low. Did you know that the car on the digi dash was designed by Atari? And the prototype (acx ii) had a printer? And first production car with a CD player? Mercedes? No. 1985 Subaru xt, before most people even had cds! Have you seen the guy with the LS6 tt in his xt? Ridiculous! But there is an annual gathering of xts (og years only, no bs outback xts) at the tail of the dragon, so we'll team up to pass him, while the sti swapped guys wait on the turbo lag, we'll get that 7,000 rpm ea82t thrash to the top! Lol Cheers man, happy wrenching!

She looks sweet man, good work! That front spoiler looks pretty trick!

1988 was a good year, that's the year my younger brother was born. I was 4 at the time, so i don't remember much, my parents been together nearly 40 years! Yea my dad only lost his temper oncebover our car purchasing, long story short four years ago me and my bro got a small inheritance from our grandparents, $10k. I went on vacation with my dog for months, I only spent about $2500 cause I slept in my GL but slowly made my way to .CA. I stayed around the hot springs in western CO for a whole month just loving life, I saw the grand canyon first time, saw an old friend in las Vegas first time in 10 years! I started with one k on blackjack and lost $16k! I shoulda quit but I wanted a 71 chevelle and just needed to double...two aces so split...dealer gets blackjack! I tipped him $1000 and walked away with my $1000 so no loss! My bro used about the same amount of money over the course of six months on a favorite drug and lost his job (pro mechanic) because of it, his boss knew he was high and fired him, but gave him months to clean up his act... but he would often talk about wanting to quit his job and i would urge him to quit if he wasn't happy. We can start a family business. My dad was strongly opposed, even though I had been freelancing dog training, and very select auto repair gigs-phase one subarus and gm muscle cars, which I did at the detail shop so no nonsense in the street. Boulder is very dog friendly too! Dogs are allowed in grocery stores and everything if they behave. And i got a nice 96 Subaru for an old amp that needed a wheel bearing and sold for $750. So if my dumbazz can manage like that in boulder, my bro can do it cause he has a lot more skills, except for muscle! Lol! It's funny cause I knew for a FACT I had a carb issue...he advised ignition and we argued and my dad chimed that he knows his sh!t so listen to him...kinda snotty implying that i don't know...so i replaced everything except the her and the wires were crap. I put it all back together and changed the damn jet, all good so my dad can use the "he's a mechanic" argument against me, but not for freelancing? Smh So it's been two years, my bro has been off opiates for a few months now, cause i reluctantly helped him quit with a substitute drug that is also highly addicting, but is easy to quit...once you wanna sleep! You know...i did it last 12 years ago cause it ruins lives quick...but it worked and bills stay paid! Anyway, I can understand my pops viewpoint...his jobless older son who horses around all day, but has some cool sh!t, telling his younger drug addicted son that he dosen't need a job? All the while "tricking off" my money on road trips, subarus, chevys and organic grass fed diet for my show titled German shepherd. Nowadays he knows that I am at least happier than I have ever been in my life, he smiled at the 88gl and accepts that I never "grew out of" punk rock and gangsta rap cause I grew up with that sh!t, and yea his kids are weirdos. The deciding factor for my bro was that if for any reason I don't wanna work, I don't. He has grasped that well cause I got him a season pass and he goes snowboarding at least once a week we'll have to change our tune to keep a chick around if either of us want a family, but I'll hold out hope for a girl who did her own ej swap and has her dog 24/7! Lol hashtag single! Pops was mad as hell at the blackjack story but I wanted that 71 for $30k hahaha!