Which year GL wagon is best

[WASHroad]

I am in the market for a new toy, I am looking into picking up a GL/Loyale wagon. I am having a hard time finding a time line with information on engine changes and transfer case info. When did the carb/EFI change. When was the Hi/Lo transfer case available. Is there years to stay away from? I have been shopping and can find 86-91's within my budget. They need work, but I can handle that. Just looking for a few good things to look for and a few bad ones to watch out for.

Thanks, Not even a newbie,, but I will get there..

[WASHroad]

Looking at a 88' GL-10 turbo auto trans?? Good / Bad ??

[Twitch de la Brat]

Well, IMO, you should look for an 80-84 wagon.

They came with the much more reliable EA81 and are also much lighter.

 

They are definitely more difficult to find, but are a lot more upgrade happy, for

off-roading that is.

Also, the auto's only came with a single range, so a manual will be your only

choice for a dual range.

 

And as for the 88 turbo wagon with an auto, I say run like the wind unless you

want to have to completely rebuild the engine and do a lot of maintenance

right away.

 

Twitch

[WASHroad]

thanks, it has low miles 123K, but I didn't know much about the weight.

and no 2 speed transfer.. It will be harder to find a cleaner early model.

What about a no turbo auto? Will any of those have the 2 speed case?

[Twitch de la Brat]

No auto's what so ever will have a dual range.

Subaru never made an auto with dual range as far as I know.

 

Some turbo's came with d/r, but not very many, and they're not the best for

off roading anyway.

 

Twitch

[Txakura]

What are you going to do with the car, what will it's purpose be? Daily driver (DD), off road? baja? rally? what do you expect it to do?

[WASHroad]

Not a d/d, but would like to drive it more if gas goes crazy. I have a 98 Jeep TJ that I have for a d/d and off-road. I was planning on putting my bike in the back to get to places to ride. Hit up some rally type roads. Leaving the rocks and tight 4x for the TJ. It has been to Moab and all over WA. So I still wanted a Hi/Lo transfercase, and a 5 speed, it is I just can't find one. The auto turbo seemed like a nice clean wagon. Good price 1,300

[MilesFox]

just so you know, the subaru transmission does not have a separate transfer case, but instead a gear reductiion before the front diff. the rear wheels are driven from a shaft directly from the front diff.

 

depending on how much you will build, a nissan transfer case can be installed if you are doing custom suspension/frame and axle setups. there are a few examples if you search

 

if you want a dual range out of the box, look for the earlier models 85-88. later models got stuck with single range 5spds. spfi (86, 87, 88-94)would be most ideal for reliability, unless you are good with carbs (85-87.5)

 

turbos can be fun, so long as you have enough sense to keep up with maintenance, oil, cooling, etc.

 

otherwise, 85-95 gl/dl/loyale are all mechanically identical less the difference between carb/spfi/mpfi turbo. but 5spds can swap out into automatics and so on and so forth

[WASHroad]

Thanks , good infor there. I don't mind working on carbs, but rather just have EFI. For what I will be using this for, a single range should work fine. I guess I will still shop around and see what comes up. There is alot of fixer ups around. I also found a 90 GL non turbo that loses oil pressure when warmed up, then comes back after it cools down. On the seach it sounds like that is main bearing trouble. That sound right/

[Yo'J]

If you're looking for an ea82 wagon I would stick with waiting out for a non turbo 88' or 89 with the dual range manual. Find one that doesn't run and bring her back. Easiest EJ swap candidate. You can find about two a month for less than $500. There is an efi 87.5' but it will be tougher to get parts for. 87' and previous is carbed. For 90' they dropped the dual range. For 81 to 84 expect to really want to put in the 5sd dual range conversion. If I saw a low mile d/r ea82 whatever, I would consider it for parts, no matter the condition of the rest of it. I saw two non drivers last month for less than $200 both with blown heads but I got too many cars already.

[WASHroad]

Easiest EJ swap candidate. Yo'J I am sooo new I not sure what that is. I am guessing an engine swap? The GL's seem to be around, so I will keep an eye out. If you see one around and I miss it let me know. Sea/tac area, even north to bellingham. I don't mind driving a few miles to get a good deal. I just got back from bainbrigde IS and the wagon was a pile. Said it had 150K but the thing sounded like a turd, and the shift gate was door to door slop.

thanks agian for the imput. learning alot

[Txakura]

the shifter runs a rail into the gearbox, the slop you felt may have been the 'normal' worn out rubber bushings and linkages on the shift mechanism itself

 

do a search here on shift bushings and you'll see a bunch of ways to fix that cheap, that is also a nice bargaining chip to have, if you are able to tell if it's the shifter itself, or the gearbox that is having the issue, what?

 

you may end up revisitng the car and making a counter offer

 

do a google and go to the wikipedia pages on EA and EJ Subaru engines, it'll lay it out pretty well to see all the iterations and models and help get you up to speed

 

this is the older forum, so the term EA, EA81 and EA82 get thrown around a lot, the EA is the engine series and the 81/82 is used interchangeably for engine AND car body style

 

there are a few camps here, and some strong opinions but generally what is best for you depends on your expected use, the EA81 is considered by many to be a much better engine than the EA82.

 

The EA82 came 'carbbed', with single point fuel injection,(SPFI), multi point (MPFI) and there was a turbo version the EA82T, (best avoided, although I have one and it makes me giggle like a school girl) the 'T' designation is unofficial - btw but commonly used and accepted

 

the EJ swap referred to is brilliant, there are people here who make the wire bundles, adapter plates etc and there is a complete write up from Numbchux on how to do it step by step, Scott in Bellingham has 'SJR' and makes kits, Bill Omlin has kits too

 

essentially, for a few hundred dollars, you can add 50 reliable horsepower and 50 ft lbs of torque to an older car and have the satisfaction of building your own custom wagon with 2", 4" or 6" lift

 

you are in very good hands here, the expertise is unreal, the board very active, I am learning almost every day when I read here and still have a ton to learn, this board is also polite , unlike NAXJA and I suspect the same with the TJ boards

 

and yes, I'm selling my XJ, it is an overpriced, poorly engineered poop stick that breaks too easily and gets really crappy mileage*

 

*individual results may vary

 

so, set up your user profile and get your private messaging enabled, you got a new home

Edited March 27, 2010 by Txakura

[WASHroad]

Here is the Wagon I bought, 1988 GL 145K dead,, towed it home:

Edited April 6, 2010 by WASHroad
photo

[WASHroad]

Interior is needs cleaned, but not too bad.:

[/img]

[Flowmastered87GL]

Thats a good starting point. I had 2 different 88 GL's like that and they were awesome. Almost bought one back... has 319K on it now. Had like 240K or so when I sold it.