Subaru_GL

Thanks for the kind words folks! Still have some catching up to do, enjoy another deluge of photos. Gotta love that factory repair manual! The crank pulley was very very stuck on, it is pretty rusty. I saw a picture of the official Subaru puller tool in the manual, so I fashioned one out of scrap. I had to heat it with a torch a few times, but it finally came off! The pulley is in very rough condition, the side where the belt was touching is very rusted (the belt held moisture against the pulley). Once I finally had the pulley off, it was time to split the case. Nothing too exciting happened, I used small chunks of fuel line to hold the lifters in place, I should have taken a picture of that. The excitement began when I saw the distributor drive gear: Before I saw this, I was starting to wonder if it was a good idea to go this deep into this engine, as parts have been very hard to find. Once I saw this timing gear, I knew I did the right thing, there's no way to fix that without tearing it ALL the way down. When I stripped the accessories off the engine, I did notice that there was no bolt holding the distributor in. This is what happens when you crank the engine over with a loose distributor! Now the panic set in, where the hell would I find an EA61 distributor drive gear? I looked at it closely, then remembered I had a spare EA81 crank in the shop. I went and grabbed the distributor drive off of it, and this is what I found: It's exactly the same. Except it's not destroyed. This feels like blind luck on my part, but I guess I should thank Subaru for using the same timing gear on every OHV engine! More later.

I actually got lucky and bought out an entire Subaru dealer's stock of repair manuals a few years ago, they had opened in '71 and had everything dating all the way back. They didn't have any old parts, the place was tiny. I've sold most of the late model manuals, but I have every early manual I can justify keeping. They've helped a lot with this project! I have many search alerts set up on ebay for parts, I know they are out there, just gotta be VERY patient.

So, with the engine in my shop, I looked at the bell housing and had an idea. I grabbed a Volkswagen engine stand (we build air cooled VW engines at our shop), and held it up to the EA61. Lo and behold, it bolts right up! The EA61 bell housing has the same (or very very similar) dimensions as the old air cooled flat four VW. So, I got it all set up and started stripping it down. The oil was definitely 45+ years old, I can still smell these pictures. After pulling the heads, I was pleasantly surprised to see everything was very gross, but in very serviceable shape. The one cylinder that was stuck doesn't have any pits in the cylinder wall, the piston was in poor shape however (more on that later) Bonus picture of the car after a few rain storms, it is really in good shape overall. The rear most piston pins were tough to pull, and I don't have any factory tools, so I came up with this little trick. I'd already removed the pistons by the time I took these pictures, so imagine the piston is still in there. I snuck a narrow 8mm thread nut between the piston and the rear of the block with a magnet, then I screwed a long threaded rod into it (this happens to be a head stud from a VW engine). I threaded the rod into a slide hammer, and gently hammered the pins out. After everything was removed, I was left with these super filthy coolant passages to deal with. Here's the pile of parts after pulling the whole top end. I made sure to keep the liner shims with their corresponding liners, since replacements look to be IMPOSSIBLE to find.

This thread hasn't had much activity, but I definitely have a list, so here's a shot in the dark: 1971 FF-1 EA61 Parts needed: -A single piston, or even a full set if possible. 77mm standard -Payen FX 410 Gasket kit, or CX 410. The full kit is definitely preferred. -Cylinder liner shims, any and all would help -Main Radiator (I have the sub radiator) -Lower half of the air filter housing -I need the whole front subframe. I have a lead on one, but it doesn't hurt to ask! -Brake Master cylinder or rebuild kit -Crankshaft pulley There will be more, I'm sure. Again, I know it's a long shot, but if ANYTHING comes of this post, it'll be worth it.

So, after playing with it a bit, I started taking note of what parts were missing, and what I should try and tackle first. I poured ATF in the cylinders for about a month before I was able to finally turn the crank over. Once I got several full rotations, I decided to pull the motor and bring it to my shop, since winter was on the way. This '71 features the EA61 1100cc engine, which has proven quite difficult to find parts for. It was only sold in the US for '70 and '71, and they didn't sell many. Pulling the engine was pretty standard for a Subaru, though I pulled it without an engine hoist. I just plopped an old tire under the engine and yanked it out by hand. The shape of the subframe allowed the engine to just drop out. I used my wife's Outback to bring it over to my heated shop.

After I got it home, I took lots of pictures to document it's condition. The biggest issue I saw right away was the engine, it was locked up tight. Looking at its overall condition, I concluded that it was likely seized from sitting, not from mechanical failure. The first order of business was to pull the plugs and get some kind of creeping oil in the cylinders. I ended up using ATF, since I had a bunch around. One of the spark plugs broke off in the head when I tried to remove it, that will be addressed later. Also, I noticed that the subframe has a BIG bend in it, more on that later. For now, here's the pictures after I got it home.

New member, not a new enthusiast though. I've built a few Subarus through the years, this one has been the biggest challenge yet. I'm a few months into it so far, so these first few posts will be pictures of the various steps. I've been posting updates on FB, but it will be way easier to organize everything here on a forum. Also, maybe this will help with google results, as my search for info on this super rare car has been rough. Alright, the story begins: This car popped up on FB marketplace about 2 and half hours from me, and as soon as I saw the ad, I knew I had to go get it. It's a 1971 FF-1 Deluxe Wagon, in surprising shape for a midwest car. It sat in a garage in central Illinois since '78-'79, until the owner passed and his family liquidated his car collection. Here are some pictures of me winching it onto the trailer, zero of the wheels turned of course. More to come soon, I haven't been active on a forum for years, so it'll take me some getting used to.