Giles

I can’t add more..

I’m going to post some pics. im having trouble. give me time. they are self explanatory I think.

Good morning Guys. Bennie. Your right I'm going as quick as I can. But I only have this one project on the go. I give all all I can, this is normal for me. Im lucky that I don’t worry about what I’m spending on the car. But I have a budget and hope to stick to it. £2-3,000. Not a huge budget. I crawl all over ebay daily. All labour is free of course. I’ll even spray the car myself, I’ve done it all before but with my Alfa Romeo. I wasn’t happy with ‘professional’ spray job, so I learnt to do it myself.. via YouTube. All takes time. what projects have you got? sparkyboy... are those digital dash pics of your car? I’d love to fit one in my car... but I believe it’s not as easy as you’d think.... :-( anyway.. I goto work.. ( my proper job) for a few hours... then I’m back to garage try and improve my poor 1st day welding skills! Have a good Easter guys! G

Hay Sparkyboy! Thanks for the message and the pics. love the light blue colour and the dog! you have work to do too, I see. All going well here. back end suspension all stripped being refurbished. All New bushes except 2! I’ve acid dipped and epoxy painted rear diff and trailing arms. Stainless steel rotor covers replacing rusted steel ones. rear subframe been galvanised and antiroll bar. All nuts bolts etc been electroplated petrol tank gone for professional repairs. brake callipers stripped epoxy painted and rebuilt with new seals etc. New copper brake pipes and fittings. No rusting! i started welding today the box sections on chassis. most rust now cut out and/ or acid dissolved on rear of car lots still to do, I’m working on right side. ( my drivers side) Moving forward to front of car. I’ll send pics over the weekend. I have a lot of new parts coming from Subaru USA. plus 3 brand new ( old stock) front struts, all left side. But I can modify for right hand side. Bargain price of $99 each! Getting them to me was expensive tho...:-( they arrive Tuesday im looking for new rear air struts now any contacts and a front right side fender ( wing)? every day I’m in the garage. im loving it! pics will follow over the weekend. im doing all work myself apart from plating, making brake pipes and refurbishing petrol tank. G!

Evening boys. i gave up on taking off the rear trailing arms. But thank you for all the information. I cleaned off the rust and now they are bathing in acid to remove the rest. As the acid does it’s magic I’ve moved on to the wheel arches. Im going to cut one rear wheel arch off and back of sill ( rocker?) tomorrow. I’ll make templates first. i hope to leave in place inner arch and cut around 25 -50 mm of the circumference wheel arch on the wing ( fender) Ill make new arch to weld to fender. i have a question. my rear wheel arch has been bodged so I don’t have any accurate lip information. can someone measure thier lip and tell me how wide is it and is it at 90 degrees to the wing ( fender) all the way round. Or does the angle change towards the front... pics be great too! What about new bushes? i want to replace all the bushes. Even the body to subframe ones..17 in total I think. any body done the same? thanks. G!

Morning boys. thanks for the information and links provided by you both yesterday, i naively assumed to axle was a one piece unit from diff. to wheel and the trailing arm would pull off now I realise it’s a little moe complex. ive taken than pin out now I need to pull the housing from the shaft.. that could be a problem... i don’t want to hammer and hammer...

Thanks DaveT.. i not want to repeat available information.. last question ( for now) can you send me link please. Thanks G.

Got it out the little bas***d! can you advice on rest of strip down please. as I want to get the trailing arm off.. something is stopping the trailing arm coming off, there is 1-2 mm of lateral play before it hits something both ends and stops me pulling the trailing arm off the driveshaft... I’m nearly there!

Boys: im trying to strip down rear axle. im stuck. how do I remove the Rotor ( disc) assembly. seams to be some kind of ‘split washer’ see pic please

Afternoon guys. here are pics of boot ( trunk) lid

Morning guys. i will keep as much as I can.. original components..most rubber is excellent. i have new cambelt ‘kit’ and fan belt. I’ll fit when I reach that area of car. what I mean, I’m working back to front on car. Biggest jobs first. structual rust is around rear subframe mounts to car body. i took off entire rear suspension yesterday..that was a fight with rusty botls, but I managed with plenty of penetrating oil, heavy hammer and 4 ft socket handle extension! its almost down to individual components. hubs i’ll strip today. ill rebush the entire back end... I hope the are all available.. ( advice please) ill acid dip and galvanise the subframe, trailing arms and ‘T’ piece. ill electroplated all nuts and bolts too. and epoxy paint the rest. ill paint diff too. Here are some pics.

Evening DaveT 63,000 original miles, only 4,000 since 2001 British weather is warm in summer, but very wet in winter.... especially here in Wales on the Atlantic Coast. ( beautiful scenery tho) thanks for the interest Giles.

Evening Sparkyboy. Great pics! Your back on the road with her? love the colour. can I see the interior please? You have Ac? Where are you in the States, good warm climate? Here in Swansea it’s the wettest city in Uk! Im on the job daily here ( after work) the rust looks worse than it is.. I’ve booked my ticket for Japan! Lets go!!! Haha!

I’ll fully repair and paint subframe I want to rebush the entire back end. any kits available stateside? new discs ( rotors) the callipers are new I think, still have plating on them. should I put in new driveshafts..? new bearings ? what oil in rear diff?

Not such a good view up close... Out comes the grinder..

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I am delighted. the strip down has also started. back subframe nearly out.. lots of back end welding to do. colour is wrong. it should be light blue. Ill spray it 639 light blue and silver.

Morning guys. my car has arrived. how can upload pics. only 2 mbs allowed?! im not great with this sort of thing.. should i start a new forum? g.

Evening all. Just a couple of days to go before I take delivery of my 1986 XT. excited.com! I’ve been clearing out my garage and painting the floor (white!) Not many spiders I’m pleased to report. Moved my 1971 Alfa Romeo to my brothers garage as no space, thanks brawd! ( welsh for brother) The XT has failed its MOT, the UK annual roadworthy test. It failed on rust on the subframe attachment. No worries I can sort that. I’d love you guys to chime in with your recommendations. My list of work to complete is as follows. First thing I’m going to do is pressure wash the whole car and engine bay. This will be the most modern car I’ve worked on ( with electronics too!) so what should I cover under the bonnet ( hood) not to get wet? I’m going to fully service the engine. Change the water pump, cambelts and tensioners.( only 63k miles on engine) What about oil pump? new Turbo? New Stainless steel exhaust, none cat in Uk. I’ll remove all rust with phosphoric acid from engine bay then epoxy prime and topcoat engine bay. I’ll detail the engine bay and replate all bolts, pates and fixings. With the Auto transmission, I’ll only flush and replace fluid with redline. Obviously I’ll address any mechanical problems too.. any weak spots? I’ll remove the front wings and repair rust Remove all suspension, rebush with poly, renew ball joints and tie rod ends I’ll paint ( epoxy) and rebuild. The air suspension is all working and for now I’ll leave alone and just paint metal parts. Though at a later date I will replace all air struts with an aftermarket system. With all the suspension removed, I’ll cut out any rust and weld in new metal to the car structure. Box section rot will be removed. Sills ( rockers?) repaired and I’ll make new rear wheel arches. Both my brothers are sheet metal engineers, I’m sure I’ll be calling on them. I’ll end up painting most of the underside and wheel arches too I’ll rebuild all suspension I’ll rebuild or renew brake callipers, flexi pipes and any other brake items that need attention I’ll prepare all bodywork. Weld. Fill, sand, epoxy prime, base coat and clear. I’ll then flat and polish to mirror finish. I fancy painting it 659, blue and silver. I’ve goto repair and paint wheel trims too Deep clean interior. Interior is in excellent condition. I’ll have made some top quality mats with Subaru logo on them. I need to repair drivers side bolster on seat base I’ll change speakers and instal Bluetooth. Keeping original headunit. Only clock is not working...:-( I want to install an alarm, with module for remote central locking and total closure. A nice modern touch I’ve added to my Alfa and makes car so much easier to use. Then I hope to MOT it and enjoy!! If in future, if get the manual gearbox and rear diff. I may dump the auto box. Plus replace old air struts with new custom system which I’ll build myself. What you guys think? And further things I need to do? There will be a thousand extra small jobs to do I know! Jump in please! Can I post pics? Anyone want to see? (Btw. Should I be donating here?) Cheers Giles! I’ll be doing all work myself including spraying car. I’ve done all before.. but never seen inside an auto box or rear diff.. lets see how confident I am, Incase they need repairs.. Keeps costs way down to! G. ( not sure why my font is so large?)

Evening all. ive got my head round my earlier disappointment ( auto box) and am back in love! And am looking forward to getting the car on Tuesday so I can get cracking on it. Im like a child near Christmas, excited! Ive been to my local Subaru dealer with a list of ( dream) parts and amazingly they said most of it is available.. ( to order) even a front wing and front strut.. tho struts are £500 each! ($660 plus 20% tax!) Are they crazy wrong.. or is there a glimmer of hope..? Front wing only $100. Plus.. on eBay in Uk is a scrapper xt and available, is all the manual drivetrain.. im intrested in getting the complete drivetrain as an ‘Incase ‘ scenario! Tho with only 63 k miles on the clock I think my auto box should be in good shape? Any known weak spots? As I think it would be very complex for me to repair internally! Im a pretty component diyer if I decide to change drivetrains. I read Idosubaru message above, about what is required from donor car and I understand all, but what is ‘diff lock controller’ or PT4WD gear. thanks guys.. I owe you all a beer! Giles. ps. what fluids and oils you guys recommend? Engine and auto trans fluid?