Meet Ben, the G/F's 93 Loyale!

[l75eya]

And now I would like to introduce Benjamin J. Hooptie. Or, Ben!

This is Ben as we got him. Matter of fact this is Ben still sitting on the car dealership's lot in central NJ *before* we got him.

This is the first Subaru GL series I ever saw. Didn't even know what they were until I saw Ben. I remember thinking when I saw the craigslist picture "Damn..that's an ugly car..." but needless to say it grew on me so much I went out and got my own (Margaret).

Ben is a FWD 3AT. He had 52,000 miles when we got him, and he spent most of his life at the hands of an Asian gentleman in the Bronx.

 

This is Ben today:

 

Ben was in pristine condition when we got him. I picked him out for the girlfriend as her first car for a couple of reasons.

 

*He had a long hood and a long trunk and was flat and angular. Her being a new driver, I wanted her to have good visibility out of the car and I wanted her to be able to actually see where the corners of the car were. Sitting in the driver's seat, you can see the end of each fender, and the end of the back of the car as well. I thought this would make it much easier for her to get used to judging where she was on the road with the car and how close she was to objects, etc.

 

*He is a Subaru. Subaru = reliability. At least to me at the time that meant *any* subaru. I only found out later on that the EA82 was not a particularly super reliable engine.

 

*Gas milage. This was another misconception by me. I counted on it getting 30 + MPG on the highway, which is what he was going to be operated on mainly. When driving the car home, and hopping on the highway I got up to speed and immediately thought why the f* is it not shifting?

Didn't know anything about it only being a 3 speed at the time, and thus a bit of a chugger on the highway. He routinely gets about 25 mpg highway, so not *too* bad.

 

*I knew he was going to be a beater. First time driver, he's the stepping stone to her next car and at the end of his tenure I know he's going to be bruised and scraped and dented and whatnot. I did not know however that we were going to fall in love with him (and his brethren/sistren) or that she was going to run into a utility pole a week after getting him. :-p

 

For some reason, I never thought to take a picture of the damage before he was all torn apart but the collision with the utility pole (some animal darted in front of her on her school campus and she swerved and into the pole she went. She was unharmed) broke the bumper, mangled the driver's side fender, bent the hood, shattered the headlight and marker light and turn signal, and cracked the windshield (hood pushed into it).

 

Had to go 350 miles west to Holidaysburg P.A. to source parts:

Got the headlight, bumper, turn signal and marker light from this guy. He was a 4 wheel drive Loyale. His hood was gone and his fenders were rusted out, so the hood and fender came from a white Subaru RX (that I knew nothing about at the time) that was to his right.

The RX was in nice shape. In retrospect, really wish I'd grabbed more parts off that thing, as I got all this stuff at the junkyard for 50 bucks. Or at least taken a picture of it before I pulled the hood and fender off.

 

So after using a come-along chained to a superduty F350 Ben got straightened out and now looked like this:

 

 

He remained that way until just a couple of months ago when he rear-ended a Honda Accord off center. That's the damage in the first picture.

 

He's had quite a life, but he's still putting along and remains very well maintained at 85,000 miles currently.

He's had religious 3k oil changes using only mobil 1 dino-oil and filters, new timing belts and tensioners, water pump and oil pump and right before the honda accident he was tuned up with NGK plugs and wires, distributor cap, fuel filter, rotor, fresh timing, and I'm sure more that I can't think of.

He is scheduled for front end maintainence that I think I will be starting tomorrow with KYB shocks and moog ball joints, tie rods and tie rod ends.

 

His frame is bent from the Honda accident, however, so until the money starts becoming available for Margaret the GL, he is going to stick around. His days are becoming numbered though, unfortunately.

When the GL starts getting fixed, I have a feeling that the engine is getting pulled out of Ben, as well as all the front end components that are going in shortly, and he will be junked. Not looking forward to that, we really love this guy. He's taken us to Canada and back.

 

Thanks for checking out Ben!

[Mechanical_misfit]

I dig it! I actually also had a `93 loyale fwd auto like that, only mine was white. I let my girl friend at the time drive it to work one day, and she did the same damage to it, but on the drivers side. These cars seem to take a pretty good punch, I'm glad it happened in my Loyale than in her escort.

[l75eya]

I mean, the sheet-metal is thin and what would normally just dent one car crumples these things up like it's a tin can, but that's probably part of the reason she didn't get hurt in either of the accidents. The car just absorbs the impact completely.

 

Ben is a damn trooper. He just keeps going despite what happens, though he's currently all ripped apart in the driveway for some front end refreshing.

 

Thanks for checking out the Hoops!

[l75eya]

Ben finally hit 100 MPH!!!!!!!

 

It took 2 years (to achieve, not accelerate to) but he did it!

At 6,000 RPMS too! haha

 

:headbang:

[TheLoyale]

Epic! Check engine light and all!!

 

[l75eya]

See Ben do a 2nd gear pull on the highway from 45 to redlining at 70.

 

http://s995.photobucket.com/albums/af77/perpetuallynumb/?action=view&current=e16299c3.mp4

[TheLoyale]

Lol! Gotta love that 3AT! I'm really surprised it went to redline before shifting. Mine won't, even to the floor, it'll shift about 5500rpm.

 

 

EDIT: I see you popped it in 2 and then shifted to drive. Gotcha...!

[l75eya]

Lol! Gotta love that 3AT! I'm really surprised it went to redline before shifting. Mine won't, even to the floor, it'll shift about 5500rpm.

 

 

EDIT: I see you popped it in 2 and then shifted to drive. Gotcha...!

 

You know, it's funny you mention that. It used to redline by itself going from 1st to 2nd, but it won't do that anymore. I had that happen to me on a 3rd gen accord once and it was just an adjustment I had to make to the throttle cable linkage. In essence with age it had slackened and full throttle in the car (pedal to the floor) wasn't really full throttle at the linkage.

Maybe I'll get around to taking a look at that one of these days, but just food for thought.

If that's the case, I could probably shave a good .1 sec off my 0-60 and do it in 14.9 seconds hahaha

[TheLoyale]

I never thought of that. But! If I remember right, there is a sensor on the throttle pedal arm, and when it is pressed to the floor, the sensor grounds out and tells the ECU/TCU that you are WOT and will keep the transmission from shifting until redline or until you left off the throttle a little.

 

Perhaps that has went bad with age on our cars.?

[92_rugby_subie]

I wonder what Ned can do in 2nd :

[Reza]

Sounds and looks like your girl might be safer taking the bus.

[tincan]

He looks like a tough little car! Taking a front hot and keeps going. Man, reminds me of when i hit the deer in my legacy and it just shunned it off and kept going. Haha.

[l75eya]

Sounds and looks like your girl might be safer taking the bus.

 

Nah, as much as I would like to jump on the bandwagon and say she is a horrible driver, she's really not. She's caught a couple of tough breaks, 1st accident was swerving to avoid an animal 1 (one) week after she got her license. We all make mistakes, and that's why I'm always proud of Ben. He did his job. He was a young, first time driver's first car, and he sure does look like it. He did his job in the fashion like tincan said above, he's taken his hits, and he just keeps on going.

 

2nd accident (the visible damage that hasn't been repaired....and might not ever be..depending on how motivated/unmotivated I am in the near future) was another bit of a tough break;

 

Chick in a white honda accord switched in to her lane while she (accord she) was doing about 35 mph. G/f was doing 65-70. No turn signal from the *************** in the accord, no nothing. Bam. There's all that damage. (And NONE on the accord!?!!)

 

There's a couple of reasons why the car crumpled up like that though

 

1.) It's a subaru (Reaaaaaaaaaaal thin metal)

2.) From the previous accident, it was impossible to secure the driver's side of the front bumper as strongly as it was originally. The impact on the passenger side under normal circumstances would have compressed the shock absorber mounted behind the bumper on that side. Because of the fault in the mounting of the bumper on the driver's side, those mounts gave way and instead of the shock absorber compressing, the entire bumper assembly just pushed backward and did so to everything in it's path as well. Even the frame bent

=(

 

But!!! He runs fantastic and is about to hit (no pun intended) his 90,000th mile. Always, always took care of Ben maintenance wise.

Edited July 29, 2012 by l75eya

[l75eya]

I've un-earthed some videos of some of the places Ben has been (and some of the shi* that he has endured)

 

Some videos contain cussin'. Some videos contain persons who are otherwise..not sober.

 

 

A jaunt through the woods in the summer time..

http://s995.photobucket.com/albums/af77/perpetuallynumb/?action=view&current=Video-0004.mp4

 

Those same woods, only in late February.

http://s995.photobucket.com/albums/af77/perpetuallynumb/?action=view&current=03-05-11_1501.mp4

 

Scenery. Same place. Late Feb.

http://s995.photobucket.com/albums/af77/perpetuallynumb/?action=view&current=03-05-11_1514.mp4

 

Very surreal moment for a multitude of reasons.

http://s995.photobucket.com/albums/af77/perpetuallynumb/?action=view&current=03-05-11_1452.mp4

 

http://s995.photobucket.com/albums/af77/perpetuallynumb/?action=view&current=03-05-11_1450.mp4

[l75eya]

Ben has reached 90,000 miles! 35,000 trouble free miles of which under our ownership.

 

GO BEN!!

[l75eya]

Ben has hit 100,000 miles!

 

Still basically trouble free, too!

[l75eya]

Ben recently received new rear brake hardware and shoes. Then one of the new springs on the driver's side (bottom, blue one) decided to break, so today I fixed that.

Ben also has new brake pads up front, and his brakes have been bled and adjusted so well that his brake pedal feels like a brand new car's. No joke. There's maybe 1/8" of free play in the pedal before the brakes engage and the pedal is SUPER firm. It's great.

He still looks like hell though.

And there is something wrong with his D-side Front brake caliper.
He also is in need of a fresh pass axle and his tires balanced.

He has sadly lost his best friend, Bill. Pictured below is Bill in happier times,smiling as usual (He was ALWAYS smiling) while taking a guest road-trip to the Black Rock desert in my car, Margaret.

 

 

Bill Squiddlypants was Ben's best friend and Bill was last seen on Ben's dashboard where he typically resided unless I was driving, in which case he usually would slide off the dash and on to the floor.
On one such occasion of being on the floor I placed him back on his dashboard. The very next day he was gone. No leads have been found and he is assumed to be making his way back to his birth-ocean where his other Bill brethren all swim and dance to their favorite Beatles song, Octopus' Garden.

We miss you Bill, and we will never forget your big black eyes and your permanent smile.

Edited October 26, 2014 by l75eya

[MR_Loyale]

Did you check between the middle console and the seats? Many a lost item turns up years later in those spots. Of course if Ben came to visit Seattle, he would get to meet Enteroctopus dofleini.  Uno has garage space. Just sayin...

Edited October 26, 2014 by MR_Loyale

[l75eya]

We checked between the seats, under the seats, behind the radio stack, we backtracked to the last few places we had been and we scoured the grounds, we talked about putting up Missing posters. He's gone =(

Been about 2 weeks now. Poor bugger.

Enteroctopus dofleini? Is Entero as charming as it's name implies? lol

Your offer is appreciated. It would be a long, long drive at 65-68 mph.

On a side note, we've been looking in to some body shops to perhaps get him straightened out a bit, and I'm on the hunt for a front clip!

[l75eya]

Ben got Maggie's front end:







Had to extend the bumper with an lengthening bracket. The unibody was pushed in 6"! I got it out to 3". Did this so the bumper didn't sit crooked:















These were test fits:


The donor (Sniff. my poor GL!)

[TomRhere]

looking good so far.

 

Done a few "Red-Neck Body Straitening" methods myself.

Found that a good stout tree, (properly protected), come-along, various wood chunks, chains, can do wonders to bent steel. Propane torch helps there too. Just enough heat to "Warm" the metal. Warm metal moves easier than "Cold" metal.

 

To add to this. The parts from Maggie, will help other Subaru's live on.

"The needs of the many, out way the needs of the one" Spock

Edited July 20, 2015 by TomRhere

[l75eya]

After a wash;