noxioux Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 Well, I've been looking for a cheap older soob for a while now. Just a word for the wise: Be careful what you ask for. . . Anyway, this guy at work had this '80 DL hatchback that he quit driving two years ago. It ran when he parked it, so I figured why not take a look. We dumped a little gas in the carb and that little sucker fired right up. So it was a done deal. All he wanted was to have the poor rusted out sucker removed from his sight. So I got a buddy and we put some gas in it, knocked off the yellowjackets' nests, and I drove that thing home. Let me make this perfectly clear. This car did go about a mile and a half under its own power. Well, I get under the hood, and start pulling things apart to see what's what. First of all, the air cleaner was full of oil, and hadn't been changed probably 2 years before it was parked. Half of the vacuum lines were undone, or simply missing. The choke was stuck 3/4 closed. The distributor cap had one tower completely broken off, so only 3 wires were consistently getting any kind of voltage. I pulled the spark plugs, and all 4 of them were so caked with junk that I really wonder how any of them sparked at all. I took one of the heads off, because I needed to helicoil the spark plug holes on that side, and lo and behold, the intake valve on one of the cylinders is burned/cracked almost in half. It is a 1980 DL, 4x4, with the EA71. What I'm wondering at this point is whether or not to spend the $$$ for a new valve. I'm also pondering pulling the other head, to see if there's similar damage on that side. If it's just a matter of cleaning up the heads, and redoing one or two of the valves, then no sweat. But I am seriously considering a cut and run here. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatchsub Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 If your doing most of the work yourself(which it sounds like) then i would just assume keep it. Im always for the rescue of old neglected subies. The only question is, how much are you willing to spend to get it to run well? It will probably take a few hundred dollars to have the heads worked on(just a guess considering ive never had it done..any support for this guys?) You are going to most certainly have to rebuild the carb and replace all the dryed seals in the engine. Drain the old gas out of the tank, replace the fuel filters, oil change, tranny flush, tune up..you get the picture. It will be a lot of work but fun knowing you saved it. Oh another thing...how rusted is it. If its really...really bad then maybe that would be the reason to not fix it up. Maybe it would just be better for parts to keep another suby on the road. Just a thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 Depends on how good the body is. If the body isn't rusted badly, or mushed up, I think it's well worth fixing the engine because you've got a nice old classic here. Especially since it sounds like it's not even that bad compared to the running gear on most old cars people restore. If the body's marginal, then it's probably not worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobywagon Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 Since it sounds like you are more than capable of turning your own wrenches, I'd say keep it. Heads can be resurfaced CHEAP. Having said that, I'd think that maybe, since you're otherwise looking at the best part of a rebuild, you might look into just getting an EA-81 and doing a motor swap. Might save you a lot of work. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noxioux Posted October 7, 2005 Author Share Posted October 7, 2005 It will be saved. I'm going to pull the intake and the other head off next, and see. A little bit of lapping and a new valve should do the trick. I thought worse case scenario, I could stick the engine in a dune buggy. The rest of the car is crap, but I know these things are tough as hell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatchsub Posted October 7, 2005 Share Posted October 7, 2005 woohoo..alright that awesome. keep us informed of the progress and goodluck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted October 7, 2005 Share Posted October 7, 2005 It will be saved. I thought worse case scenario, I could stick the engine in a dune buggy. Humm... That would make two in Utah... I'd think about lifting it first. Good Luck, Glenn 82 SubaruHummer 84 GL Mad Max 01 Forester Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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