My poor '89 XT6

[Numbchux]

Well...I guess I should make a thread here in the Member's rides section for it...

 

 

I bought this 1989 XT6 from a fellow USMB/SubaruXT member something like 7 years ago. It was basically bone stock, AWD, 4EAT, Air suspension, etc.

 

It wasn't perfect, been crashed at least once, both rear quarters have had damage repair (inside of the RH one is red, and the line where it was welded on right over the wheel well is rusting through. LH side has quite a bit of bondo, which is cracking and falling off in big chunks). It's been painted, none of the original decals remained. It had been broken into (apparently, in the process, the thief broke both door handles, and busted up the dash, all to steal the stock radio). 

 

I immediately swapped on some mediocre snow tires on WRX wheels:

 

I also swapped the Blizzaks on steelies from my FrankenWagon for a weekend of Ice Racing:

 

Which killed the air suspension:

 

Swapped to coils, and took it ice racing again (actually brought the FrankenWagon as well for this weekend, so the UltraGrips were back on the XT6)

 

Not much else to say about the next 6 months. I drove it every day, delivered pizzas in it, and enjoyed the heck out of it.

 

Then.....

 

Someone turned in front of me, and I hit them.

 

A few months later, I got my hands on an extremely rusty '88 5MT XT6:

 

I drove it for about a year, but it had overheating issues, and the aforementioned rust (Structurally, so bad that the windshield was de-laminating at a crack). Finally transmission failure put another nail in it's coffin, and I parted it out. But I saved the front clip.

 

Several years later, I had some free time from work, and spent a good week on the '89. I knew it probably wasn't worth fixing "correctly". But I wanted to make it driveable again.

 

High lift jack, comealong, portapower, hammer, and a grinder and I got everything to mostly line up....enough that the hood opens and closes, and so do the lights, anyway.

 

 

But it still sat for a couple more years. I had a reliable, and fun, little '92 Celica ST coupe. About a year and a half ago, I spun a rod bearing in it due to oil starvation due to a rusted-through oil pan and failed oil pressure switch wire....and as luck would have it, there was a '91 Celica GT Convertible on craigslist that needed a heap of suspension parts. So I picked it up, and started driving it. But it's actually in really good shape, it was kind of a shame to drive it in the harsh MN winter last  year, so I decided to get my butt in gear, and get the XT6 back on the road.

 

It really didn't need much. Over the years, I swapped most of the upgraded suspension and brake parts that were in my FrankenWagon into this, but never really finished the install. So there were a few things that needed buttoning up (bolts tightened, brake lines rerouted, etc.). I had robbed the power steering brushes for my other XT6, so those had to be swapped back. It needed an upper radiator hose. Somehow I seem to have lost the lower air box. Original plan was just a MAF adapter and cone air filter, but in fanagling that in, I managed to ruin the stock intake hose.....so before long I was on ebay getting some super cheap silicone elbows and stainless tube, and I ended up with this:

 

Despite the fact that it only had a couple gallons of gas in it for 6 years, it always started right up. I've been driving it every day this winter. I was blasting some of the grime off the engine at the coin-op car wash, and a little moisture found it's way into the distributor cap, so I had to have it towed home, I found some terrifyingly rusted contacts in the cap, so I put a new cap and rotor in it. Due to the brake swapping, I think at some point the master cylinder ran dry, and needed to be bench bled. Well, since the labor was the same, I put an SVX 17/16 master in it. I had to replace a chunk of steel brake line where it goes through the body under the rear seat to the prop valve. One of the front hoses rubbed on the wheel, so I put some StopTech braided stainless ones for a WRX in last weekend.

 

Unfortunately, due to the painfully mild winter, there haven't been any ice races up here. But a friend has agreed that we can use his truck and trailer, and my car, and haul it down to some RallyXs next summer.

 

I got my hands on this sweet sport seat and 4-point harness from a local car guy last weekend, and threw it in tonight:

Sort of racing seat thing, but still reclines.

 

The mounting pattern was smaller in both directions, length and width. So I mounted some 2x2x1/8" steel angle to the stock rails, and then I could bolt the seat to that, and maintain a lot of strength.

 

I'll take a picture of it in the car in the morning. It sits taller than I'd like, unfortunately the mechanism that locks the slides barely clears the seat frame as it sits. So it will require a rethink to get it much lower...

 

 

 

 

Current mod list:

Sweet warm-air intake

'92 FWD Legacy front knuckles/cv axles/strut mounts

'93 JDM WRX front brakes (same as USDM turbo-legacy)

Front KYB GR2s from a '94 Turbo Legacy

Stock Front springs/perches from a GD WRX

EA81 tie rod ends

Rear KYB GR2s for an EA82 4WD Wagon

250 lb/in, 10 in Eibach rear springs from Ground-Control

'87 Nissan 200SX rear calipers

SVX Master Cylinder

GD WRX Braided Stainless front brake hoses

 

 

Planned mods:

Braided rear brake hoses

Finish rear ebrake conversion with the Legacy handle/cables that were in my Loyale

Finish mounting 4-point harness (Note: this will ONLY be used for rallycross. These do not provide enough/correct support for actual crash protection)

Re-install rear sway bar with poly bushings

Dmack Gravel tires on T-leg alloys

Relocate battery to the trunk

Hopefully cut some weight out of the front bumper beam

A/C compressor delete

DutyC/4WD switch mod (I also want to see if the XT6 4EAT TCU has the capability for manual "power" mode operation like the early EJs)

[TomRhere]

Nice bit of DIY repair done on the damage.

 

Sure do miss having an XT6 to drive. My '88 Manual died from road cancer.

 

Fun cars to drive......

[Numbchux]

Daylight picture of the "new" seat:

[joe5]

Cool thread. One random quesiton...how'd you do the roof rack? When ive looked at places online their vehicle searches usually don't go 88 or recognize xt6 at all. I'm on the look out for one that will work for my xt6

[Numbchux]

That was just a gutter-mount Yakima. Worked best after removing the trim.