tractor pole Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I have thought about doing a build thread for a long time but I wasn't sure that my car would qualify. so here is a little back story... I received a phone call from a friend in the fall of 2008 stating that he was at a Jeep dealership and they would only give him $200 for his 91 Loyale Wagon and asked if I was interested... of course I was. So after we met up the next day we went and transferred the title and I was trying to hide my face the whole way back to my house because the "tick of death" was so loud I thought it was a rod knock and to tell you the truth at the time I really despised these cars. So I brought it home and three weeks later after a thorough cleaning and fluid change I was ready to go for the winter. I had just moved into my house that spring, I was worried how the hill to the house was during the winter. My daily driver at the time was a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 2wd truck and I was not interested in seeing if it would get around in the snow... It barely likes getting around in the rain. The winter was the worst in recent memory, we had three feet of snow at my house for more than three weeks. I know for you midwest and northeast folks that is nothing but for the pacific northwest that is a hell of a lot of snow. the car performed flawlessly in the snow the TOD was barely audible:D. After the first winter I parked it for a few months, I gathered the parts to fix the TOD and finished not even a week before I had a catastrophic fuel injection failure in my truck... The wagon then became my daily driver, during the next few months I seemed to "fall in love" with it if you ask my friends who don't own Subarus, who would shake their heads as they commented. I really loved this car by now, so planning and more parts hording commenced. Swapping out the 3AT for a 5MT D/R , Five lug swap, Xt6 sway bars, VLSD rear diff and DL headlight conversion. here is a pic of the progress to date, winter wheels/tires Here is a recent pic with summer wheels/tires and a Yakima LoadWarrior basket. (I still need to paint these wheels bronze) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Rather than the DL light conversion (which I think is ugly and makes the car look even more dated) you could do the HID projector retrofit that Turbone has a write up on. The yellow tint on the lights now sure isn't helping brightness. You will really like the d/r 5mt. Make that the next priority to swap in as it makes it a completely different car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Rather than the DL light conversion (which I think is ugly and makes the car look even more dated) you could do the HID projector retrofit that Turbone has a write up on. The yellow tint on the lights now sure isn't helping brightness. You will really like the d/r 5mt. Make that the next priority to swap in as it makes it a completely different car. so the D/R went in the same time I did the five lug swap, it is a completely different car. as for the DL headlights I have H4 55/100w low beam(outboard) and H1 135w high beam (inboard) housings. Surprisingly the yellow allows more light through than the pitted and scratched up plastic covers that were on there originally. I might entertain the projector option at a later date. but I think that my setup that I already have will be plenty of light. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sosubeme Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Nice ride! $200.00! I'd go $200 for wrinkle / rust free fenders and a hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 ^^^^Thanks!^^^^ I added a rear air deflector a couple weeks ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mechanical_misfit Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 That is a very nice lookin' wagon you have there. I would love to get an ea82 in that flavor here in MI, but they're all long gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Really Nice Wagon... I Like it! Rather than the DL light conversion (which I think is ugly and makes the car look even more dated) you could do the HID... I Agree, Absolutely. I Did an H.I.D. conversion with Dual Beam in Natural (Yelowish) Colour in my BumbleBeast, it Works Awesome and I Did that without retrofitting Projectors, so it is H.I.D. on the Original Lenses. (Some Imprezas came with H.I.D. Like That) The Low Beam ensures that I won't Blind the incoming Driver. Kind Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I almost forgot about this thread! Wow, that looks fantastic! There is no reason why a cheap Subaru, can not become something awesome. And you sure proved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 thanks Tom! it's still a work in progress, I don't think that it will ever be done! your ski wagon is coming along nicely too! Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I will PM you my idea on the Headlights, as to not start a flame war in here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 PM'ed with pics, info and link! Enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 PM'ed with pics, info and link! Enjoy got it!! replied.:Flame::Flame: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 got it!! replied.:Flame::Flame: And there is the Flaming I had spoken of! Doh....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_freddo Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 There is no reason why a cheap Subaru, can not become something awesome. And you sure proved it. Cheap subarus usually turn into a beast, I've got one of them too. I'm now at the point of buying things like rims and building gearboxes that I've paid well over double of what I paid for the subaru in the first place :twisted: But I wouldn't have it any other way. Yellow lenses in the snow for the win - otherwise you can't see crap in the thick fog! I've done the same in the snow here one year, except I was cheap and used cellophane to cover my lights. Worked a treat! Cheers Bennie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnW Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I almost forgot about this thread! Wow, that looks fantastic! There is no reason why a cheap Subaru, can not become something awesome. And you sure proved it. Sometimes it takes a cheap one to make an awesome one. If you buy an expensive one you might not have the cash to make it awesome too. And better still, some of the cheap ones are cheap for a stupid reason. My favorite is the plug wires backwards one I bought. They changed plugs and wires, they put them on backwards and it backfired so they put the car up for sale. All you changed is the plugs and wires and you can't go back thru what you did?!?! I tried to fix it for them and walk away and they insisted on selling. I purchased, fixed, and drove away in 20 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 Here's what is on tap for the next couple months: EJ22 swap with OBD-2 harness Single port UEL header from sube101 custom mid pipe with catalytic converter re-fitted Silverline cat back from WRX(this is all depends on how it sounds...) XT6 front and rear sway bars caster rods coilover sleeves four headlight conversion:Flame: 85/86 short bumper think that's too much to ask and make it too WCSS this year? Be patient Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 If you have the money for all the parts, putting everything in, in a timely fashion isn't hard. If I had money or all the parts I need, I could have finished the Ski wagon months ago. Buying parts, waiting on people to ship them, is what eats up time so quickly, you don't even notice until its to late lol. Sounds like to you have a game plan with all these parts and retro fits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 If you have the money for all the parts, putting everything in, in a timely fashion isn't hard. If I had money or all the parts I need, I could have finished the Ski wagon months ago. Buying parts, waiting on people to ship them, is what eats up time so quickly, you don't even notice until its to late lol. Sounds like to you have a game plan with all these parts and retro fits! your ski wagon is coming along very nicely and pretty quick if you ask me(I am just glad that I don't have all that rust to worry about) I am getting close to having almost everything, just a few more pieces I need to pick up:brow: now I need to set aside time to work on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 the man with the big brown truck was good to me today... I received a box today with something really frickin' cool:cool: pics tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLoyale Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 WHAT CAN IT BE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 So I received a box from Oregon this afternoon, :headbang: sube101 (Steven) does incredible work! Stainless Single Port UEL Header I can't wait to get it in the car and see how it sounds. the engine still needs to be cleaned up, but the header fits great and there is plenty of clearance for the oil filter sandwich plate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 update: after attending WCSS14 with a dog of an engine, I finally got some time to work on the swap. EA82 is out Flywheel is redrilled Timing set and h2o pump arrived last friday, engine is finally cleaned up new left and right inner timing covers, valve cover gaskets arrived last week too. this weekend I finally have some time set aside to do some actual work:clap: lets see how this works out. pics and updates to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 last weekend I was able to get all the engine all cleaned up, gaskets, t-belt, idlers, h2o pump new belt covers, reseal oil pan and rebuilt the power steering pump. this weekend, modify the lower core support to accept an Impreza radiator, get engine installed and start on the wiring... good thing I have rain gear. zzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractor pole Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 Progress!!! but no pics... I know, boooo!! engine is in its new home:headbang: I stripped the harness today, a little more cleaning up and it will be ready to do a test run before I install it permanently. so finish up the wiring, get it running, put it on a trailer and take it to the exhaust shop. Hopefully I can make progress this week like I was able to this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Get pictures! Congrats on chugging right along! I cant wait til I can follow some of you guys that are doing incredible jobs on your EA to EJ swaps with such nice cars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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