New to here, picked up 86 GL Wagon

[firehawk618]

I thought I had better introduce myself.

I live north of Seattle in Marysville, WA.  Right in the middle of the Subaru capital of the world it appears.

Anyhow I picked up a 1986 GL Wagon, 5 speed D/R etc etc.

Manual windows, manual steering, manual locks, no cruise, no a/c!  Pretty bare bones.

Unknown miles as the speedometer cable broke when the odo read 191k so who knows, could have 300k.  To me it doesn't really matter.

The body is damned straight for an old girl and somehow the red paint seems like it'll shine right up with some elbow grease.  The black on the door pillars etc isn't in such good shape.
When I picked it up the thing would hardly run.  PO swapped carbs and said it ran worse after swapping carbs.

I paid him and limped it home.

After picking up another Hitachi on CL for $20 bucks and throwing it on it ran a tad better but still crap.

I discovered he had filled the tank with E85!  Normally I am happy to get a car with a full tank but in this case not so much lol.

Drained it all out and put regular fuel in.  Runs better but still crap.

After pricing carb kits and a close inspection of the carb I decided to go Weber 32/36.

Both Hitachis have massive shaft play.  They're simply not worth fixing.

So I got the Weber installed and wow it runs pretty strong!  Engine is relatively quiet as in no ticking or knocking.

I used the Toyota carb adapter and it fit fine per some advice found on here by "Legacy2.7?"  The ONLY thing I discovered after I installed it was water pissing out from under the carb.  Some quik steel and an hour later and it's leak free!

I have deleted ALL the smog garbage, plugged off the two exhaust air ports in the heads and capped off everything else except brake booster, vacuum advance and HVAC controls.

I am going to be working on getting the jetting right in this knock off weber.  Right now it's rich.  I can smell it pretty good but it runs pretty good.

Pics will be posted later.


On the Weber note, for those of you who have spent the time putting the correct size jets in do you mind sharing what sizes you ended up going with?

Thanks!

Edited February 25, 2016 by firehawk618

[firehawk618]

I should have added this to my original post.

My plan is a weekend beater to take up to Walker Valley etc.

I am on the hunt for some CHEAP 15" 5.5 6 lugs or some Pukegeot wheels.

I am also researching ways to lift this.  I'm not into fabricating stuff so will probably purchase a pre-fabbed kit from the guy in Bellingham.

[subnz]

Nice 1 had an 86GL similar  ie ( basic  no frills) and was probably one of the best cars Ive had /  kept it original, simple -  NO issues.

.

IMHO wouldn't modify it ie keep it simple ie lift and bigger wheels, these mods create other issues..  

 

These cars are quite capable off road in standard form.

 

Y

 

 

Yep these carbs play up when worn  / need attention - buggered up my original carb after rekitting it somehow, so got another one from wreckers and fine

 

the original hitachis are fine so long as theyre not messed with.  a lot of care etc has to be taken once opened up / rekitted etc

Edited February 26, 2016 by subnz

[firehawk618]

I ditched two Hitachis.  The original one has massive throttle shaft play which results in it being almost impossible to tune right.

The second one I picked up wasn't quite as bad but also had shaft play.

Went 32/36 and was happy until a FREE SPFI setup came along......pulling the carb setup off this evening!