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'85 Hatch In The Making


WAWalker
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So it has been like 3 years in the making, but it is coming along. And I finally got a digi cam for the shop so I don't have to try and remember to bring the one from home.

 

Started with.............

370Wrecked_Ru_001.jpg

 

And this.............

 

New_Ru_001.jpg

New_Ru_003.jpg

 

One year ago after ice racing that turned into muddy ice racing. And buy the way, winning races aginst a SB powered jeep built for offroad racing.

3" lift, 14" 6 lug Nissan wheels w/ 185/70 14 studed snow tires. No interior other than drivers seat, and dash.

 

370Feb_2005_Ice_Bog_050.jpg

 

 

Today:D . Doors are going to have my business logo on 3M body wrap. So I am just fixing the little dents, priming and sealing. Still striping the factory paint off other door...............this project may be another year in the making:rolleyes: . Got the interior from the windsheild to behind the front seats done. Minus door panels of course, since I'm not done with the doors yet.

 

P3030004.JPG

 

P3030007.JPG

P3030006.JPG

:D

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The plan was to lift the blue one in the first pic, till it was stolen and left upside down in a ditch. Wouldn't have taken as long to finish, it WAS in perfect shape. I'll see if I have any pre crash pics. Basically all the drive train from the blue one went into the black one. Then I was going to put all the blue interior in the black one, but the gray dash was flawless, and my blue dash had gotten enough sun that it got craked moving it around in the shop. The black car came from a liquid sunshine state, so the dash never got enough sun to make it brittle. Don't have a complete gray interior so I'm having to paint interior peices to match. Had seat covers made to cover the blue seats.

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  • 1 year later...

Finally put the dual carbs on the Hatch! Took it snow wheelin' in Feb, found it worked well but it was a full throttle deal, and still lacking power. Took it out this summer and pointed it uphill at 9500 ft elevation..................ran out of power and had to abuse it more than I would have liked to in order to get were I was going.

 

I hopeing this will help a little.

85_Hatch_008.jpg

 

85_Hatch_010.jpg

 

Now I just need to find the time to test it out again.:grin:

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Next on the t'do list................I aquired a '88 GL EA82 wagon in need of an engine. So I'm going to grab the 5 speed D/R out of it for the Hatch. Also got a line on a '88 Turbo wagon that I will be getting the rear LSD from. I've got the rear diff welded now which is best for off road, but this project was never intended for serious wheelin', I've got my Toy for that. I can see this being an ongoing project for a looong time. It will never wheel like my Toy, but it is way cooler for sure!

 

I'm not a big fan of the EA82 cars myself but this '88 GL is in really nice shape body and interior wise, so I hate to haul it to the wrecking yard. Thinking I'll keep it around and see if I run across a wrecked Legacy, then transplant an EJ engine and transmission in it.

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Well the Hatch has another set of twins. I took the A/C condersor fan out today and put in a second Main fan for better cooling on the trail. The main fans seem to move a lot more air.

 

Took it for a little ride this afternoon. The dual carbs are for sure making a differance in low end power. I did a longggg, steeeep, hill climb today, wasn't sure it would make it but I just gave it a little more go pedal and it pulled all the way to the top. That made me a happy guy, cause I sure didn't want to back it down that one.:)

 

Here is a pic after turning around at the top. Pictures never do justice though.

 

85_Hatch_015.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

More progress on my never ending project.:)

 

Got the 5 speed D/R swapped in.

 

DR_5_speed_swap_001.jpg

 

And retained the original interior trim and 4WD selector.

 

Shortened a Legacy wagon drive shaft, and built a cross member for the carrier bearing.

The cross member is a little over kill for a carrier bearing mount I know. But I was thinking ahead, in case I want to attach skid plates or tie into it for rock sliders. It is heavy duty enough to take a hit.

 

DR_5_speed_swap_003.jpg

 

Still need to pull the cross member out to clean and paint it.

While it is out I still need to sleeve the unibody "frame rails" were it bolts in.

 

To bad there is no room to rout the exhaust up out of the way. But if something has to take a beating, it may as well be the exhaust.

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  • 1 month later...
Very nice. :)

I'd love to to do something like that once I rebuild my engine.

But trying to keep it street legal in a DEQ state means it's best if I leave all those vacuum lines alone. :rolleyes:

Talked to a DEQ (department of environmental quality=OREGON) person last week... they said "current test only sniffs exhaust at idle, possibly a run to 2500 RPM. No more underhood inspections, just check for a catalytic converter." SO, I said, "what about a different engine all together?" DEQ- "As long as it passes the test for the year the chassis/frame was made, and has a working catalytic converter, no problem." They seem confident about their answer, and I didn't see any hoods going up on the older stuff while I was there, just a probe in the pipe, and a mirror on a stick to look under the car for the "cat".

 

Lewis

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  • 2 weeks later...

I too am building a hatch. basically going for what yours looks like now, except I was thinking 4" lift. altho... the twin carbs look ba-a-a-ad. so, which carbs did you go with? and is that a custom manifold or did you make an adaptor?

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I too am building a hatch. basically going for what yours looks like now, except I was thinking 4" lift. altho... the twin carbs look ba-a-a-ad. so, which carbs did you go with? and is that a custom manifold or did you make an adaptor?

 

That is a Genuine Subaru dual carb manifold and carburetors, with custom air filtration. Original air filter box for dual carbs are hard to come by.

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  • 2 months later...

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