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87 wagon uberbeateruper adventuremobile


Zefy
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So i just got back from picking up an 87 wagon. some specs:

 

-ea82 carbed engine

-d/r 5speed

-rusty rear wheel arches

-83k miles on the clock (ya... 134k km!!!)

-clean interior

-leaky valve covers it looks like

-shotty passenger side front wheel bearing

 

so list of things to do:

 

-lift it (one eye 2" lift i thinks)

-welded rear diff

-found a set of 29" interco TSL's

-beat the poop out of the wheel wells to fit

-bumpers perhaps

-install RX discs which i have sitting beside my house

-redrill hubs to fit toyota wheels (coming with the TSL's)

 

 

then bounce it off some trees and such. see where it can take me!:banana:

 

pics will come tomorrow. i am storing it at my friends house...:rolleyes:

 

any thoughts? changes? must have mods?

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ya there is tons of good spots. popular local place is stave lake. It is pretty much just a huge mud flat with big holes to get stuck in.

 

there are tons of trails and such around here and my friends typically go on trips to different places every couple of months.

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Greg I'll get back to you on the PM, I was just thinking next to the Wendys by Ikea, thats a good place to wheel:grin: I dont know if you remember that or not (your parents trooper almost rollover)

 

Jeff

 

haha yaaa... good times...

 

that spot got paved... for more parking? because of me? who knows...?:rolleyes:

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^^ +20

That's a clean slate. You should trade me for a badly oxidized and peeling hood in the same color...then you wont feel bad about bashing 'er! :rolleyes:

 

it's already starting to peal. probably wouldn't be much of an improvement.

 

still deciding what to do about the lift kit.

 

i've been talking with SJR about grabbing those 27" SSR's and that 2" lift on the car but i'm unsure if i can uninstall the 2" kit, install a 4" kit on the same car, and install the 2" kit onto my car and put on the 27's so i can drive home.

 

it would have to be a 1 day operation.

 

OR:

 

buy the TSL's i mentioned earlier and redrill the hubs. this will give me more wheel and tire options.

 

then build my own lift kit. in total, it's probably the same amount of work and i don't have to pay for machine work. (i can do it myself.)

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  • 5 weeks later...

coming along nicely!

 

got the rear diff welded up and it's almost ready for action.

 

the front wheel bearing turned out to not be messed up. Looks like some rump roast hat mechanic didn't tighten up the centre nuts on the axles. They were all pretty loose. Will find out soon if there is permanent damage.

 

Dug out my set of RX springs and struts. Going to replace the old and blown stockers. (these came off a rally car that only had a couple events so they should be good.)

 

What sort of differences might i expect to see with the RX stuff? I hear the rear sits higher? comments? problem? to much for the axles to handle with the 'one eye' strut lift?

 

speaking of which, i picked up a one eye lift kit! Was going to put it in today but i do believe i've been smacked in the face with some sort of disease. Don't think it's the swine flu as it's been extremely mellow. Feels more like a cold.

 

Also picked up a set of BFG mud terrains on pug wheels!

 

when i'm in there installing the lift i'm probably going to remove the front swaybar and cut/pound the fenders into submission to fit the 'big' tires.

 

next thing after that will be improving the approach and departure with some close fitting bumpers.

Edited by Zefy
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i'm hoping to have it done by then but i'm not sure i can get the time off work. i only work 1 day a week because of school so missing a saturday is like missing 2 weeks of work and half my pay cheque...:eek:

 

oh well... we'll see. if it can be moved to sunday then i can for sure go!

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dropped by my friends house to grab some pics. Front lift is in, swaybar disconnected (still needs to be removed though) and front tires on.

 

understand that the camber issues will settle over time...? This kit is actually a little confusing so i'm not sure if i installed it correctly.

 

IMG00007-20091028-1153.jpg

 

IMG00008-20091028-1153.jpg

 

IMG00009-20091028-1153.jpg

 

need to trim the fenders a bunch. I have a couple mm of clearance between the front of the fender and the tire.

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  • 2 months later...

so due to my impreza being broken i NEEDED to get this puppy rollin'.

 

and i'd have to say, great success!

 

i cut and pounded the crap out of the fenders. still rubs a but on full lock and i think when reversing when the wheels are turned...? either that, or the locked rear is upset... probably a bit of both...

 

have to say though... those tabs couldn't stand up to the punishment i put em through in the first 20 minutes of driving...:rolleyes:

 

pretzelled a strut and curled up the driverside lift brackets. i made new (thicker) ones today. the strut rubbed against the tire and kinda killed the sidewall. still good though. just took some of the side lugs off.

 

beyond that, wheels awesome! had no trouble in the mud. gotta really pay attention to bumps though as it's easy to get hung up in the middle.

 

has more diff clearance than my buddies toyota pickup on 37's...:lol:

 

very comfortable too... i went everywhere a stock toyota on 33's and a welded rear went. not that that is saying much. we didn't go very far... more fun needs to be had! but i need to rely on this as a daily driver unti i can get the impreza back on the road.

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  • 5 months later...

did some 4x4ing up at sunrise with a couple buddies in the wagon. i kinda broke it...

 

scoping out the damage...

DSCN1480.jpg

 

yup... it's broken...

DSCN1481.jpg

 

limping it out of the trail (mostly under it's own power) then back down the access road then down to lougheed (about 40km...) like this... these shots were only of the paved section of our journey (about 10km.). this was on 4 wheels if you didn't catch on to that... also no brakes as the brake line got ripped off... and the ebrake is on the front wheels in these... so i only had one... horray for having a welded rear diff... would have been substantially more difficult...

 

DSCN1483.jpg

 

DSCN1482.jpg

 

drove better than expected... :D

 

the ball joints are weak sauce... one little bump of a rock and it was pooched... are mine jsut worn out or are they seriously this delicate? either way... needs a new corner now... i already have a hub, strut, brakes, control arm but i still need an axle, inner and outer tie rod and probably new ball joints would be a good call... :rolleyes:

 

for the short amount of trail i got though, it was great. pleanty of traction and power. i was going WAY faster than my buddy in his toyota though so i could keep the revs up. perhaps i was going to fast?

Edited by Zefy
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Ball joints are a weak link but they dont brake that often, You're just weeding out the bad parts you'll have a couple of other things that will go to but that will just make it more dependable.........

 

Jeff

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you're both probably right. it was most likely on its way out before i went wheelin'.

 

so i will replace both ball joints and i'll have to source an axle locally along with a new tie rod end. i have inners from an RX rack i have sitting around.

 

i have to set a cap for this project. I am about $1300 in to this wagon as it sits right now. I think my cap is going to be $2000 MAX including 'consumables' like axles, diffs, struts, ball joints, etc etc...

 

I also have to buy my friend a new strap because i buggered his right up. I also cracked his new fiberglass bed... :(

 

I hope to have these issues fixed for LESS than 100 bucks. The name of the game is cheap. I would go buy a toyota if i wanted something capable and expensive. we'll see!

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