Dodge Aries K Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 Well, as requested by some nice people who helped me out with this project here's my "official" project log of my car. It's a 1986 Subaru GL-10 Turbo wagon that I picked up from a repair shop in Michigan. Destined to become scrap metal... Chrissy, myself, and Clover the Dog made a trip from the Rockford area to Jackson and THEN up somewhere else to get an engine for the car that was donated to the cause by Mechanical_misfit on here. After one VERY long day and night we got home and dumped the car in the driveway. Three trips around the block to test other functionality and into the garage it went. My brother and I halfway disassembled it to start pulling the engine and then just said screw it for now as there were/are alot of other things I should be doing. Well, times are not so great and I'll be needing to move soon. Relentlessly I stared at the car wishing it would move by itself to assist with the moving of junk and somehow the magic started to happen. 1986nate from the SVX board came out here two weeks ago and we went from complete to this... The old engine still ran but the heads are most likely screwed and the head gaskets are indeed junk. Look at the dead engine sitting there in a pile of it's own filth... well... and kitty litter... So then we started to attempt to figure out the new engine. Subaru was kind enough to change out their electronic systems so the "new" engine had to have it's wiring stripped of it and the old wiring installed. This led to issues. Knock sensor that I needed snapped in half so now I need to find one. Idle kicker solenoid thing was also incompatible with the new engine so the old one was left in and is now manually controlled the ghetto way for the moment. Had to change the distributor to the vacuum advanced unit. Took off some of the emissions stuff like the charcoal canister and the EGR solenoid. What a pain... but we got it figured out for the most part. Then we dropped that sucker into the car. Went pretty well! So after that mostly uneventful part of the project we started to attempt to figure out why this thing runs like crap. New plugs and air filter helped a little. The PCM won't control the idle solenoid so we just powered it off the battery which then allowed the car to idle on it's own when cold. Double checked the distributor gear timing and it's spot on. Ran seafoam through the engine via a vacuum port as well as in the fuel tank and it seemed to help. I'm 100% sure the cats are very clogged up as there's barely any pressure coming out of the muffler especially since when the old engine ran it would empty the radiator by burning coolant in the matter of minutes. I still need to set the ignition timing accurately but I'm waiting to get the cats and muffler removed and replaced with "test pipe." Don't worry, it's not an everyday driver. It drastically needs new plug wires too I think. With the knock sensor out of commission I hooked the turbo output right to the wastegate for a low 5 pounds of boost until I find another one. Subaru wants $146 for one! Ouch! That'll have to wait for a while. Man, I loooooooooooove this dashboard. More gauges are needed though but they'll probably get some sort of bracket made and get mounted next to the climate control things or something like that. No idea as of yet. What I'm hoping for is to get it scooting pretty good. I have a Mazda RX7 intercooler here that will happily take the place of the spare tire under the hood and am feeling a nice intercooled 12 PSI will keep it going "quick" without making it angry. From what I read it REALLY could use an oil cooling device but I have no idea if one exists or how to even put one on. I have weird goals for this car so I'm hoping I can get it to them without breaking the bank... or blowing the hell out of this engine. Once it runs good it'll be going to the body shop to get some small rust spots (and I mean SMALL) taken care of and the bumpers/rear area fixed from some previous owner(s) accident damage. Well, until then, comments and advice welcome! ITEMS NEEDED: Knock sensor from 1985-1986 EA82. Apparently the EFI and Turbo share this part Driver side sun visor in tan/brownish color Driver side tail lamp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjcee Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 Looks like I came on at the right time... She's alive!!! Keep up the good work man!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Aries K Posted September 8, 2010 Author Share Posted September 8, 2010 Hahaha hell yeah man! It does run again. I've been meaning to ask you, did you have issues with the radio not working and the dome light being tempramental? Sometimes the dome light works, sometimes it doesn't. As for the radio, i don't care as much since it'll get a proper unit instead of that cruddy tape deck. Oh yeah, mods... I put this under new gen by accident. Please relocate for me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricearu Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 ooooohhh a working digi-dash!!! the non existant knock sensor can cause all kinds of hell. make that priority one! for now, you can have someone you know ohm theirs and wire in a temp resistor of the same ohm to make it think there is one there. that is purely temporary of coarse, just so you can see how it runs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowmastered87GL Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 Wow... that digidash is legible.... But DONT TRUST ITS TEMP GAUGE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjcee Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 Wow... that digidash is legible.... But DONT TRUST ITS TEMP GAUGE. You speak the truth dood...That's (sadly) what got this car into it's current state of deadness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjcee Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 Hahaha hell yeah man! It does run again. I've been meaning to ask you, did you have issues with the radio not working and the dome light being tempramental? Sometimes the dome light works, sometimes it doesn't. As for the radio, i don't care as much since it'll get a proper unit instead of that cruddy tape deck. Oh yeah, mods... I put this under new gen by accident. Please relocate for me? Ah yes. You've hit on two funny issues. The previous owner that I bought the car from cut the wires to the radio (I wish he wouldn't have cut them). He put an amp under the driver's seat, look under there, you'll see the wiring. Then look in the center console, you see the hole in the corner. There was an audio cable with an 1/8" plug on the the other end running straight from the amp into the center console...why you ask? so you could connect your ipod/iphone, etc. I took the audio cable and amp with me when she died because I could and I didn't know what her fate would be. You can hook one up and those sweet blaupunkts up front and in the doors will jam. If you don't have one, I can send you the amp with the title. The dome light is indeed grouchy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 That dash is sweet! I have the regular green one. Why does yours have a cooler dash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Aries K Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 I think the dash was one of those changed that made my life miserable installing the engine... aka the 85-86 to 87-89 or something type of wiring crud that makes my head hurt. Odd on the stereo thing... I too wonder why someone would do something like that. I have a kit here for mounting a cd player while keeping the awesome travel computer so I'll have to rewire the whole speaker setup it seems. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mechanical_misfit Posted September 10, 2010 Share Posted September 10, 2010 its great to see some progress on this wagon! I hope all goes well with the new engine. Its so cool to see it being put to good use. I actually just found the car I had been looking for to put that motor into, but didn't have the cash and had to pass it up. This wagon is so sweet man! Also, I can check but I think I have a tail lamp for that ride. If you're getting rid of the stock stereo I would offer you a trade for a good tail light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derburger Posted September 11, 2010 Share Posted September 11, 2010 Digidashes make running an EA82t always worth it. Are you planning on an external coolant temp gauge? I have an 86 XT with the digidash and EA82t, but have not put one in yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Aries K Posted September 11, 2010 Author Share Posted September 11, 2010 Definitely interested in that tail lamp for sure. It's for the driver's side of the car. Even if you don't have one if you want that tape deck thing you can have it. I just have no idea if it works. As for the external gauges... you bet. Temp, Oil PSI, air/fuel, and boost. Eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Aries K Posted September 11, 2010 Author Share Posted September 11, 2010 Decided to have some fun tonight and cut the catalytic converters off the car. So now it's currently running open downpipe. Alot quieter than I thought it would be and, as I suspected, both cats completely trashed. Fine by me though, race cars don't like those things. Took it for a quick spin and holy jesus did it gain some serious power. Couldn't get on it too hard because the lack of the knock sensor (even though I did once before I remembered it wasn't there) and since it's raining out it spun the heck out of the tires on a roll in 2nd gear. They're new tires even! So now that I know that experiment was a success I'll need to get some pipe welded up for it and replace some parts. Knock sensor, wires, cap, rotor, coil, pcv valve, and then it should be golden. Oh, also need to remove the disfunctional egr valve and make a blockoff plate for that darn thing. Anybody have a 85-86 two wire knock sensor they'd part with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Aries K Posted December 19, 2010 Author Share Posted December 19, 2010 Figured I'd update this. GL-10 is safely stored inside for the crummy winter. Learned more about the car too... turns out it has... well... had... some weird vacuum controlled idle system. It didn't work so it was taken off. The solenoid thing I THOUGH was for idle is actually for the air conditioning idle up so I need to rehook that to the car's wiring harness but it also works well for bumping up the idle for cold starting so manual control it is for that. Still need to pull the radio out and figure out the wiring to add in a regular cd player instead of the ghetto rigged amp thing that used to be in there. It still also runs like crap because I still haven't gotten a knock sensor for it or the other tune up junk it needs but... it's cold outside and I haven't had much enthusiasm for screwing with it. Oh yeah, it needs a new clutch too. I've looked online but haven't seen too much about a better than stock clutch for the thing. The one in it is pretty bad... it even sticks sometimes and won't release. Bungee cord as a temporary measure to help move it around but... yeah... that's ghetto and sucks. Anyway, that's it for updates on this bugger for now. I should be able to get some things fixed on it during the winter and hopefully in the spring I will be able to drive it a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 GL-10 Turbo Wagon... That is a word defined by satan! I hate mine, but I also love it, and mine is sitting on jackstands right now too, figuring out how to put my tranny back together. Your not alone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD SUB Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I'm eagerly looking forward to wrenching on this wagon, as it appears that I'll soon be the new owner once the title gets taken care of. While I'm pretty good at vehicle maintenance, I've never owned a Subaru before. Today I've spent a few hours searching the site, but I'm sure there's a ton of stuff that I need to know. Would someone please post some links, or point me towards info that I should read? First on the agenda is getting it running correctly. Then I'd like to invest in a set of wheels...more than likely a set of the white wagon wheels that seem to be somewhat common. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swampbrat Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Hey , hope I am not hijacking your thread , but I just parted out a wagon w/ ea82 and it had a 2 week old exedy clutch in it. Only it was non turbo so not sure if that matters. pm me if you need some doodads off it. exterior was white and inside was blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD SUB Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Wont be spending any time on it today since I'll be watching the playoffs, but does anyone have a good used knock sensor for sale...or am I better off buying a new one? Here's a pic of it from yesterday when Karl dropped it off at my place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Those early knock sensor are hard to R&R without breaking and were only used for 2 years. You are probably better off in the long run buying a new one. Especially since knock control on that engine is so important to prevent damage. That engine is a known problem in the world of Subaru's and you best be replacing anything that's critical like that knock sensor with a brand new one from the dealership. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD SUB Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Those early knock sensor are hard to R&R without breaking and were only used for 2 years. You are probably better off in the long run buying a new one. Especially since knock control on that engine is so important to prevent damage. That engine is a known problem in the world of Subaru's and you best be replacing anything that's critical like that knock sensor with a brand new one from the dealership. GD Thanks for your advice...yeah I've been pouring over as much info as I can find. My intent is to keep this stock and only modify whatever needs to be done to increase reliability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Aries K Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Hahaha way to keep my thread going Sideshields! We'll get that figured out some more once it's not freezing cold outside. If you want to order a new knock sensor I can get a discount at the dealer on one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWD SUB Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Yeah Karl, if you can get a discount, by all means do so! Like I said before, I'm not afraid to spend money on this gem...just that I want to do it right the first time. So we need a knock sensor, and an O2 sensor...what else? After searching around here a bit, it sounds like maybe I should be purchasing a better/larger radiator. Would someone please point out where to go for the right one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Aries K Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 All right... I'll head up to the dealer tomorrow and place an order for the knock sensor for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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