heartless

you get my vote to keep Bucky 2 whl dr - Hildy is, and will probably stay, 2 whl drive, and that is the way i like it. we have others that are already 4 whl dr, one a dual range - dont need to go thru all the headaches, scraped knuckles etc, to do the swap. Sorry to hear of the retirement - even if it is temporary - i know how it is - but it will be worth it in the long run. And yes, I think Bucky is one darn good lookin wagon! on a brighter note - Hildy was put out on the road again today!! it has been a long road to get her there after our trip into the ditch, but she is back, and better than ever! Keep us posted on Bucky's progress.

a very good suggestion for checking into. daeron - i run the stock 175's on my wagon and dont notice the cross winds nearly as much in it as i do in the coupe we have (also with 175's) the wagon has 244K on the clock, the coupe only 136K - the coupe is VERY touchy with a cross wind - always a treat to drive!

short of the suspension (strut) differences, yeah, check the ball joints, also tierod ends...jack the car up enough to get the tire clear of the ground, grab it and try to wiggle - side to side and top to bottom - if you have movement you have problems top to bottom will usually mean a ball joint - side to side is tierod end - usually, not always... if possible have a helper - one wiggles the wheel, the other is looking for where the movement occurs... check both sides! my personal thought is if you are changing ball joint or tierod end on one side, might as well do the other at the same time - if one is failing the other wont be far behind and you will be changing it soon anyway. New parts on one side will stress old parts on the other side and they will fail much more quickly - best to keep things equal. also, another simple "doh! why didnt i think of that?" item - check your tire pressure. a low tire will cause handling issues...

extra large stainless hose type clamps!! have a couple holding the heat shield on my wagon together!!

am I reading correctly?? you have different suspension parts on one side than on the other??? that in itself could be your problem. BOTH sides should have the same set up to keep things equal.

I have smoked 'em in third! granted, the pavement was damp at the time, which made it much easier - but I have done it - in a two wheel drive wagon. have an 89 GL wagon (the one mentioned above) that i have put a little over 100K on myself (clock has 244K) - only paid $150.00 for it - to me that is priceless...hmm... purchase car - $150 tires for car - $200 new battery - $50 100,000+ miles = Priceless!!

dont know anything about jacked up wagons, dont have that issue... but for more tension on the wiper, if bending the arm a little doesnt work, go to a larger truck stop and look for "wiper snuggies" (yes these are real items) do a search here for the same thing and you should come up with a thread with more info.

89 GL wagon, frt whl dr, 5 spd = 244,100 miles 89 GL wagon, dual range 4 whl dr, 5 spd = 215,700 miles 88 GL Coupe, push button 4 whl dr, 3 spd auto = 136,000 miles (the baby)

make sure you keep the paperwork, including the reciept, for the new alternator in a safe place - have gone thru a couple of replacement alt's in 5 years - but with a lifetime warranty, just take it, and the paperwork back to the store you bought it at, and viola - new alternator. with a couple of old subies here, we actually have a "backup" one sitting on the shelf so there is no real down time waiting on one to get to the store (not many Subies around here, so they have to order one in)

glad to hear you have yours sorted out - but it isnt always the case. did a total brake job on the other half's wagon, including new rotors, pads, shoes and the flexible lines. bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed some more, and it still suffers from the "soft pedal" syndrome...

the angle grinder i have is an IIT (Illinois Industrial Tool) that i paid around $5 for on sale at an Ace hardware store. have had this thing for about 8 years now, still works great and I have put it to the test more than once. Just last year we had to rebuild the main arms on an old skid steer, had to do some serious cutting with it to remove the bad portions, then grind welds smooth, etc. - never failed, even running for 20 mins or more at a crack. the other half purchased one of the same brand, but not as powerful - it fell apart - had plastic gears in the head! I cant say much of anything about the harbour freight ones, but we have purchased many H.F. tools in the past, some good, some not so good.

hehe, Connie, I already have an angle grinder!! :cool: and lots of air tools and a welder to play with! Hildy is a couple of steps closer to getting back on the road - fixed the mangled exhaust today, and am going to be swapping the old hood for one that is in a lot better shape, will look like brand new after a little bit of work and paint. the glass got replaced on friday so its just a couple of minor things and we are good to go once again. I can hardly wait! (can you tell i miss my car?)

i say go for it as well. have an '89 5 speed/front whl drive that regularly gets 32-34 mpg - and thats with me driving "like a maniac" according to the other half! (he drives like an old grandpaw!) my wagon has 244,000 miles, or the equivilent of 392,679 kilometers on the clock. (and that number was achieved at this site:http://www.onlineconversion.com ) so at 294,000 Km, that little wagon is still a youngster. overall it looks to be in decent shape. places to look for trouble (rust) - rear wheel wells, just behind the rear wheel wells, bottom rear of the front fenders...there are lots of others, but these are the 3 worst spots. Surface rust is not a big deal if caught early and taken care of, but watch out for the rust-thru! Ooo, just noticed he says something about "patch work on the floor"...would be interesting to see just how bad those are.

My sentiments exactly!!! poor ol' Hildy has got rust in a lot of places that would make most folks give her up - but not me!! the major parts (subframe) are still reasonably solid. She still runs and drives great, just not very pretty...

gonna have to throw my vote for the surge thingy in here as well...have had several go to pot over the last few years - most recently on the 88 coupe with 3at... smell of gas was there only after shutting it off after having driven for a while (50 miles). shorter trips for some reason didnt get the smell... JB weld will help stave off the need for replacement for a little while, but you will need to make sure it is completely dry before running the pump - and make sure the pump is completely dry before putting the stuff on or it will fail pretty quick. use a round screwdriver shaft to help form it into the tight spots. another thing to take a look at is the metal line that goes from the pump to the drivers side of car and then up into the interior...on the coupe, i noticed the weight of the pump hanging was bending the line (meaning line is weak with rust) about 4-5 ft of rubber line can cure any leaks that may occur in this line - i replaced it from inside the car (under rear seat) down thru the rubber grommet and over to the pump...one long piece attached to good solid line.

i also have similar issues with my wagon - same location too, but much worse. repaired the passenger side already, but still need to do the drivers side...rear seat does not get used due to seatbelts not being solid!! luckily we dont have kids - except of the four-legged kind, and they dont like seatbelts! I dont think Bucky is going to be anywhere near as bad from the pictures i have seen of him. hopefully you can get Rocky on the road soon and find out for sure tho. catch things early!

the tilt is from to back. there is no adjustment for what you are describing - except maybe bent tracks inside the door... only way to find out is get in there and start tinkering, like daeron said. it is possible to remove the whole works - tracks and mechanism (not as one unit, tracks would be separate), but it is a whole lot of "pain in the arse" to get the mechanism back in there correctly - know this for a fact too - did it on the other half's wagon some time ago... do you have the ability to take pics of the window with the door closed and the window where it wants to sit "normally" - ie: without pushing it in? that would be helpful in helping you to figure out what to do...

if the timing belt failed due to oil you definitely need to do the seals or you will be facing the same issue again in a short time - been there, done that. do yourself a favor and do it right the first time.

had to replace a bent one on my wagon - kind of a pain to get the inner end loose, but it can be done. highly recommend you get an alignment when you finish getting it swapped out.

just tryin to tell the truth...had to make an adjustment to the passenger window on our coupe recently - and that has bigger windows than a wagon does! it was a pain! :-p

first off - what grade of oil is in the engine?? 5w-30 will definitely give a MUCH lower reading than 10w-30 (personally, i dont recommend using the 5-30 in a Subie - learned this one the hard way) secondly, it is fairly common for the "guage" to read very low at normal idle on a warm engine. is the car drivable? if so, take it for a test drive and see what kind of reading you get at normal speeds. and keep in mind that the stock guages are not dead on acurate - they will give a general idea, but thats it Third - engine sounds? does it have the "tick of death"? other rattling/clacking type noises?? I would not say any car is "terminal" just because of a low oil pressure reading...

all warning lights should come on for a few seconds when the key is first turned on - it is a test mode so you can be sure they work... if it stays on for more than a few seconds, you have a problem

adjusting the glass is a fiddly job at best, a pain at worst. remove your door panel - it is easiest just to unplug the window switches and get it completely out of the way. there are two "sets" of adjustment bolts - one "set" for the general height of the glass, another for tilt/angle. If you have any sort of manual, you can get an idea of which set does what - should be in the chassis section somewhere. when your door is closed (gently, dont push the glass in), take a good look at where the glass is hitting the weatherstrip - if it is off all the way across the top edge,you need to adjust the height. if it is only off in one corner, you would want to adjust the angle. you will need to loosen, adjust, tighten, check fit - probably several times to get it where you want it. once you get it where you want it, plug your window switches back in and test it up and down, open and close door a few times to make sure it stays where you want it. if it does, reinstall door panel and the rest of the stuff and you are good to go. Good Luck

well, had time to get the seat out of the car yesterday - appears that the pin the right side of the seat back rotates on is bent - should be a fairly easy fix - get the pin from my old seat and swap it out...one hopes anyway... the ol girl is a little closer to hitting the road again - got the "new" used fender on her yesterday as well, light housings back in, etc. Glass goes in friday - after that is an exhaust fix, "new" hood, swap the good tires back onto her and we should be good to go. am going to leave the smashed rear quarter for now - adds "character"! and it doesnt affect driving...

ah, but that would be defeating the purpose of having that GL-10 drivers seat - it has certain features that the passenger seat does not have - like the height control...