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My new Project: Leone Turismo


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Hi guys!

 

I am restoring a 1986 Subaru Leone 1.8 GL Turismo Full-Time-AWD D/R with a friend of mine. Should be ready for the road in May 2012. It was a 5 speed push-button-4WD once, but we converted it into a 5 speed dual range full-time-AWD with center-diff-lock. It has 130.000km on the clock, one owner but sadly it looks like this at the moment:

 

foto3.jpg

 

foto1.jpg

 

foto2.jpg

 

We are painting it white, it will be completely stock (now it has 5-lug-wheels), the engine will be a reconditioned EA82 with carb.

 

I will keep it completely stock except the different transmission and it will never see our salty austrian winters again. :clap:

 

The Leone is very rare right now, the 3-door was called Turismo. I think the 1986 modelyear was the first of the Turismo.

 

Any suggestions or facts about the 3-door-coupe are very welcome!

 

Lukas

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Looks like an Awesome Project!

 

Why don't you Keep the Five Lug Rims? ... They are lookin' Great on that Coupe.

 

Coupe, is how we usually design a Three dor car, Specially if it is Sporty; I have a 1969 Mercury Comet Coupe.

 

That Subaru Leone Coupe came here to my Country only named only as the "DL" or the "GL" depending on trim level.

 

Here you can see one of my Yellow Subies parked near one of those Coupes:

 

 

S3021859.jpg

 

 

Very few were Sold indeed, it came available with the 1.3L engine (Newer EA65) on the "DL" Base model with four Headlamps; also 1.6L (EA71 Fat Case) and 1.8L (Both EA81 and the EA82, that last ones were "Optional")

 

Here, a Couple of Threads with Pics, of the...

 

Kind Regards.

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Did someone on here have such a Turismo? If so, please show me pictures. I am thinking of putting your US-DL-headlights on my car, should look very cool with the black bits painted in white.

 

The bumerps will get halfly painted like the 89 models here had it. The project starts tomorrow, the car will move from outside into the workshop and will get stripped completely.

 

Lukas

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I like your project, it is similar to mine. I, also, would like to swap to the DL 4 headlight system.

 

so i presume your driveline cme from an xt6(alcyone vortex)? I see that it has 5x100 wheels, and the car would have originally had 4x140

 

i have swapped mine to full time 4wd 5spd from a FWD, and impreza 2.2 from the original 1.8.

 

I added an 87 style front bumper and an RX (leone rxII) ground kit and wing.

 

here is my build thread if you want to check it out, and your car is almost the same build as mine.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=119353&highlight=3door

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi guys!

 

I am restoring a 1986 Subaru Leone 1.8 GL Turismo Full-Time-AWD D/R with a friend of mine. Should be ready for the road in May 2012. It was a 5 speed push-button-4WD once, but we converted it into a 5 speed dual range full-time-AWD with center-diff-lock. It has 130.000km on the clock, one owner but sadly it looks like this at the moment:

 

foto3.jpg

 

foto1.jpg

 

foto2.jpg

 

We are painting it white, it will be completely stock (now it has 5-lug-wheels), the engine will be a reconditioned EA82 with carb.

 

I will keep it completely stock except the different transmission and it will never see our salty austrian winters again. :clap:

 

The Leone is very rare right now, the 3-door was called Turismo. I think the 1986 modelyear was the first of the Turismo.

 

Any suggestions or facts about the 3-door-coupe are very welcome!

 

Lukas

Hello.I have a 84 subaru leone hatch.and its call subaru turismo

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  • 4 weeks later...

Now it´s going to start because the parts-problem is solved now!

This 1985 Leone 1.8 GL Dual-Range Station will be parted out and prepare some mechanical parts and some parts of the interior (also blue) for my Turismo.

 

dscf6551.jpg

 

dscf6553.jpg

 

It drives nice, but it´s too rusty on the rear arches and on the undercarriage to restore it so it will have to die for my Turismo. All the parts we don´t need will be stored for the future. It´s really sad for me to see a Leone getting parted out, but it´s neccessary. :(

 

Now the next things to do will be:

 

* welding some small rust-holes on the Turismo

* getting the needed parts from the 85 Station

* prepare the Turismo for painting

 

I will keep you all updated!

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Nice. I really like your project and would like to see you complete it. If you sell off those front marker lenses, i would be interested for my GL coupe.

 

That wagon, even with the little rust, is in great shape for my standards. Too bad there was n way for me to come get the scraps for body parts.

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You are right, the condition of the donor-car isn´t really bad at all, but a parts-car is needed for my Turismo, so I had to get one that is not that bad. A car in very bad condition would have made a bad parts car because most parts would have been too bad to use. :-\

 

But I promise every part of the Station will be stored (except the body of course) and the soon-to-be-white Turismo will not be my last Leone. I will be going for a Sedan or maybe another Station after that, so there is a big possibility that I will save another Leone from extinction! :headbang:

 

Lukas

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  • 2 weeks later...

I´ve made small changes to the Turismo-project! It will not become white and with partly coloured bumpers like the MY89, it will stay light blue (Marina Blue) and completely original from the outside!

 

The plan was to paint it white and with the painted bumpers the 89 models had, but my pre-facelift-Turismo was only produced one year (Turismo started in 86, facelift came in 87) with the old corner-lights and the 85/86-interieur, so it has to stay original.

 

The only changes will be the full-time-4WD-transmission with dual-range and front seats from the Turbo-version. They almost look like the "normal" seats but with a bit more contour and back-support. In the same colour than the other interieur of course! wink.gif

 

The EA82T-engine is out, preparing for painting is the next step.

 

L

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Just a small picture to keep you updated!

 

dscf6603w.jpg

 

As you can see, the EA82T-engine is out, now we are working on the electrics to put the carbed EA82 in there. Next step will be to change the 5-lug-hubs to the original 4-lug-ones. Now we are servicing the engine that will go in. New cam-belt, all gaskets new, new oil, new filters, new spark-plugs and so on.

 

Small steps, but we are on the way! :banana:

Edited by Lukas
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I was prepared for comments like that to come from you US-guys! ;)

 

The Leone sold quite well, but is already a very rare car here because of winter-conditions like in your rustbelt-states. I haven´t seen a Leone for a very long time on the road and it´s already 26 years old.

 

I don´t want to make a rallye-cross-car or anything out of it, I want it in original condition because it´s that rare. It was only produced one year like that (coupe with old interior), you can count the numbers of surviving pre-facelift-Turismos in Austria with the fingers on one hand, I bet. If I would like to have 5-lug-wheels, I would have bought a Legacy. Oh wait, I have one, but that´s another story. :D

 

Why change the EA82T for a carbed EA82? Because the EA82 with carb is bulletproof, no electronics, no problems with overheating (at least on our roads here), it will run forever. The EA82T has expensive electronics (airflow-meter for example) and problems with cracked heads, so it will be a lot less easy to keep it running the next 10 years or longer. I want to keep my Leone forever to rescue it from extinction, so that´s more important than a little bit more power.

 

Leone/Loyale => very rare classic

Legacy/Impreza => modify it, rallye it, make a autocross-car out of it

 

That´s how it is in Europe, especially in Austria.

 

L

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Now you are shocked, arent you? :clap:

 

No, I'm not. The USA is a large country and those attatudes about these cars are put out primarily from the West/Pacific North West. Fact is, other folks just drive them and enjoy them for what they are.

 

Doug

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The rear-drum-brakes came off the Station and are already prepared for the installation on the Turismo:

 

dscf6622.jpg

 

dscf6623n.jpg

 

The carbed EA82 had drums on the rear, the Turbo-version disc-brakes. My Leone had the discs on the rear fitted as a modification, but I want to have it original and my mechanic recommended the drums on the rear, especially for my Leone which will have to stay in a garage most of it´s life from now and will never get driven hard anymore.

 

Lukas

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  • 6 months later...

A lot happened to it, so I´ll show you the progress so far! It´s completely overhauled mechanically and running sweet, so it was time to paint the thing.

 

First it looked like this:

 

dscn4949j.jpg

 

dscn4952li1.jpg

 

Like from a Mad Max-movie. But not long after that it now looks like that:

 

dscn5097.jpg

 

dscn5101.jpg

 

That´s a lot better! Isn´t it beautiful?

 

Now it´s time to get it back together. Many little things to do (prepare the alloys, get stickers etc.), maybe it will be finished before winter arrives.

 

Lukas

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