mods for a 87 GL

[Flowmastered87GL]

My 87 GL has:

 

Weber 32/36 carb (turned backwards to clear the power steering)

Full custom exhaust (2.0 to the cat, 2.25 to the muffler, 2.5 out)

Accel coil

Shorter shifter rod (same degree of throw, just a shorter radius may be the best way to describe it)

 

Instructions on how I did my shifter can be seen on my homepage here:

 

Errrr never mind, my webpage isnt working

[newsance]

My advice would be to enjoy the car for what it is. Due to the non-existent aftermarket, you are not going to be able to modify the car to make it even marginally faster than what it is, but you will kill it's fuel economy, and drivability.

 

Really, why piss money away on mods to turn a 21 second 1/4 mile car into a 20 second 1/4 mile car? Either way, it is still patheticallly slow.

 

You can either live with the fact that it is slow, and that the car excels in other areas, or you can do stupid money wasting mods that sacrifice the things the car does well to try and get it to do something it will never do, namely be anything but piss-rump roast slow.

 

Save your money. If you want a performance car, go buy one, and keep the subaru as a poor weather and poor road car.

[SubaRube]

you are not going to be able to modify the car to make it even marginally faster than what it is, but you will kill it's fuel economy, and drivability.

 

The few mods I made on my Sube didn't hurt it's fuel economy or drivability. And have helped me get the extra juice to finally make it up highway 50 to Tahoe without having to downshift on every hill. Definitely worth it to me, but I'm only referring to about $100 worth of stuff. And come to think of it, I needed new plugs, wires, air filter, and a muffler anyway. The money for the coil and better wires is offset by the savings in the muffler. So it's money well spent IMO.

 

And

[newsance]

Originally posted by SubaRube

The few mods I made on my Sube didn't hurt it's fuel economy or drivability. And have helped me get the extra juice to finally make it up highway 50 to Tahoe without having to downshift on every hill. Definitely worth it to me, but I'm only referring to about $100 worth of stuff. And come to think of it, I needed new plugs, wires, air filter, and a muffler anyway. The money for the coil and better wires is offset by the savings in the muffler. So it's money well spent IMO.

 

And

 

Sounds like most of the stuff you are talking about is maintenance items or the like. I'm more referring to removing emissions controls, carb swaps, and the like.

 

Advancing the timing a few more degrees or opening up the air intake tract is one thing, viewing an 80-90 HP subaru as a good performance platform to sink $$$ in engine builds and turbo installs is quite another. Don't bother, you average Kia makes a better starting point.

[Qman]

Originally posted by newsance

Sounds like most of the stuff you are talking about is maintenance items or the like. I'm more referring to removing emissions controls, carb swaps, and the like.

 

Advancing the timing a few more degrees or opening up the air intake tract is one thing, viewing an 80-90 HP subaru as a good performance platform to sink $$$ in engine builds and turbo installs is quite another. Don't bother, you average Kia makes a better starting point.

 

A KIA huh? Try answerring his questions instead of beating him down. And if someone doesn't know how to improve the performance then they probably shouldn't reply to this post.

 

Blacklabel,

 

There are many things that can be done to improve on what is a very reliable and economical design. Telling someone to not give their car love is just plain wrong. This is not the first time I have seen this. The Hitachi carb is designed to be an emmissions device. A simple addition of a Weber and ignition upgrade of NGK plugs, 7.7mm wires or better, upgraded coil are good starters. The exhaust on these is critical. Exhaust leaks rob power. It also effects drivabilty. The average exhaust shop won't do modified exhaust. Look around and don't get discouraged when someone tells you no. I have a guy local to me that will upgrade your exhaust but it's not cheap. Heep just had is done by the same guy and can tell you cost if you PM him. If you can get the parts that have been desribed above I can assist you in the installation of them. XSNRG is in the Olympia area and he may be able to lend you a hand as well.

 

Try not to let the negative responses detour you. It won't be a 14 second 1/4 mile racer but it can be improved to give you mild performance and get you where you need to go. Mind you, you can improve the performance to be much improved but it requires alot more money than it sounds like you want to spend.

 

Good luck and contact one of the local Puget Sound guys to help you out.

[newsance]

I'm not trying to beat him down, I'm stating facts. Fact is, there is a much wider selection of aftermarket parts for a KIA than there are for 1980's subaru's.

 

For Christs sake, these things have about the worst flowing heads of any production vehicle in history. I mean, it's freaking awesome having 4 cylinders with 2 intake ports. It's the Pontiac 301 of the import community.

 

I'm not saying these are bad cars. I LOVE my subaru. But that doesn't cloud me into thinking its something that it's not.

 

My advice is put aside any mod money the kid is thinking about putting into the car, and to use it to buy a car that will make him 100x happier. I doubt 1500 bucks in mods on one of these wouldn't even get him within 2 seconds of a 14 second timeslip, which is just barely getting into performance car range.

 

However, 1500 bucks can get him a good project car that can turn 14's stock, and have an actual aftermarket with affordable parts. If he wants a rally style car, AWD DSM's can be had in good shape starting around 2500.

 

Liking your car is one thing, having completely unrealistic expectations for it is another.

[calebz]

Theres more to 'performnance' than how fast you can go in a straight line.. Some may have noticed that Qman recently won a RallyX (truck/SUV class) in a Brat. 'Performance' is not all about 1/4 mile timeslips. I can think of a ton of 'performance' vehicles that regularly get the smackdown placed upon then by their more underpowered brethren once the straight piece of pavement is removed.

 

Black Label,

 

Go See Ken, Mark, Austin or one of the many other Subaru wizards in your area.. if you like your car, its worth it to spend whatever you want to make it do what it does even better.

[Qman]

Unrealistic expectations?

 

I heard those same words when I talked about lifting my Subaru and making it into an off-roader. Things like it can't do that to what a waste of time to it'll never be able to climb anything. I heard the same words again when I said I wanted to hop up an EA81. You can't do it, it'll never work, blah, blah, blah...

 

I bet Delts cams in Tacoma is real glad I didn't listen to any of that either. Because I built it, it runs great and because of that Delta has sold quite a few cams to board members who are also really glad they did it.

 

$1500.00 for a 14 sec. car? Maybe where you are from but around our area you'll never touch one of those for that price.

 

As Caleb said, true performance is not based solely on straight line speeds and times. That's why they test 1/4 mile, skid pad, 0-60 and 60-0 and slolom. Many things make up a good performance car. Handling is the most significant thing.

 

And it is also a good idea to do some of these things to a Subaru. Why you ask? Because it sounds like he is younger and looking to learn. What better to learn on than something that isn't costing him an arm and a leg to start with? Like I said, let the guy experiment with his car. You don't have to like it, you don't have to drive it but you should let him be.

[SubaRube]

I used to get a lot of BS back when I had an air-cooled VW too. Some people just don't get it. Worthless negativity.

[ocsike74]

Here in romania I followed the next rule: contacted the local subaru dealer who told me the adress of a person who is disassembling old subies and knows these old generation of soobies. Whwn I need something I'llm thalk with him and the problem is OK. As I can see from the Message board Miles Fox seems to be a person who can help you. Try him.