nkx Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 ignorance truely is bliss. ive reached a point where ive realized that i will never be able to truely rally the buggy. for those of you unfamiliar with the car, its an 89 gl-10 turbo wagon. 5mt w/FT4wd, center lock, etc. the car is too old, and im a noob mechanic at best. there is virtually no aftermarket for these older cars as far as performance goes. the car would need mucho work if it were to see any more enthusiastic driving. ive rallycrossed the car once, and otherwise just bomb mountain roads. most of the rallycrosses close to me involve a few hours of driving, and im concerned about the reliablility of the car. i dont want a t-belt or an axle going out on me on the highway. right now, the car could use a new set of t-belts, a new radiator, shifter bushing needs fixed, intercooler needs to be installed, possibly needs a new clutch, maybe an axle, engine probably needs a new set of rings, and the suspension is crap. i dont have the time/money/skill to fix that stuff on my own. :-\ whats worse is i dont think i could sell it as it sits. its got racing seats, the passenger compartment is gutted from the dash back, radio replaced with a gauge panel, a/c was removed, sunroof was taken out and welded shut (and today i found out it leaks ), and theres various other things that make it not so daily driver friendly. its not much of a looker. i thought of parting it out, but again, im green, so i have a hard time of telling what parts would be salvagable. at this point i really have no idea what i should do with the buggy. if youve made it this far through my poorly punctuated/spelled rant, perhaps you could offer some advise? TIA, john (yes, i am the jackass in front of the wagon) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yodannyc Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 hmmmmmmmm...... wow sounds almost like my story only i was stupid enough to sink money in to it then to trash it then to sink more money in to it. what is even funnier my wagon looks almost exactly like yours! ha ha so what i am doing is going to go buy a 98' impreza sport! finace the *************** and love it to death! the amount of money i sunk in to my "rally" wagon was enough to buy a newer impreza which is what i really want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 4 X 4 it,take it through trees.drive up ATV trails... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exister99 Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 Here is the abbreviated version of the first post in this thread. "Waaaa, I bought an old Soob and stuff needs fixin' on it! Waaa! sniffle sniffle" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soobscript Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 wanna sell it cheap this week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marthanna Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 Here is the abbreviated version of the first post in this thread. "Waaaa, I bought an old Soob and stuff needs fixin' on it! Waaa! sniffle sniffle" Haha! I just bought my '93 Loyale about 6 weeks ago... Replaced the governor gear about 2 weeks later (luckily I have a great mechanic..I'm a lousy mechanic..but learning) ...today...seems the governor gear or worse is going out...can't drive in "D", but can in 1st and 2nd gear a bit... Replaced the windshield this week (had bad crack...dangerous on the highway)...some guy ran into my tailend and broke the tail light (another 50.00 from Capitol City Import Salvage) last week... But...still have faith that there's still a bit of good drivin' fun in the ol' girl..I hope! Good luck OP! Martha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakingOil Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 The car was fun at Carlisle Keep it for G-cart running, I'll be your Nav:headbang: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 it may not have power, but it can climb a tree like a squrrel. Go to the off road section and poke around there nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Roberts Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 It is truly amazing how much can be worn out, on a vehicle with 240k miles -- and how few people know the vehicle well enough to recommend what to check and what to fix _first_ (I haven't yet met anyone expert in long term maintenance and restoration of these wagons). Deferred maintenance adds up, causing a lot of wear on things that should have been fixed as soon as they couldn't be adjusted to specifications (like this week's charm, the screw that holds the bottom of the strut into the steering knuckle -- which if it can't be really tightened lets the strut wobble and enlarges the hole, making the whole front end a little shaky, wearing other parts. It's the little, basic, maintenance for which you need a good old mechanic who's been working on these things since they were new and knows what wears out --- because at this point they are all inventing brand new ways to wear out, that nobody has ever seen before. That takes more cleverness than most mechanics even want to have, particularly for old vehicles. I'm still replacing parts on mine. With my experience -- things breaking one after another -- I'd never put children at risk in it, for family camping trips -- the kids go in a newer vehicle lightly loaded, and I haul the heavy equipment up the steep roads I can crawl along to camp. When it pops out of gear going down hill while I"m relying on engine braking, I'm so far fast enough to get to the brake while still watching for the idiots coming around the corner on the wrong side of the road and not go over the edge and down the cliff to the river. When it starts to vibrate under acceleration til all the digits on the tach look doubled, I can handle that til I get the steering knuckle replaced (thank goodness I found one, and a tire shop that recognized the problem the last three Subaru mechanics missed completely). When the rear brake plate cracked in half I could cope with that. But it's an old, dangerous vehicle and anything could break on it. No question. Too bad nobody made something as good any more recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syonyk Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 I expect my children will be driving my '92 Loyale when they get old enough to drive, if I have anything to say about it. ... I'm not even dating anyone. That should tell you how long I expect that car to last. Yes, they're old & need stuff replaced, but they're no worse than any other old vehicle, and arguably better because they're so EASY to work on! Um... to the OP, you could probably find a buyer, but it would be a great car to learn to work on. Do the radiator/timing belts at the same time (pulling the radiator makes doing the timing belts easier), the shifter bushing can be ignored for a while as long as you don't mind the slop, with 4WD you have a failsafe if an axle fully fails to get home (if you're not deep in mud/snow) and the axles aren't very difficult to change. The intercooler could wait, and unless you have a burning desire to rebuild the engine, you could easily pull it out & swap in a 100-150k mile engine from someone on the board, and replace the clutch while you're at it. No more than a few weekends of work, really. -=Russ=- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 28, 2006 Share Posted June 28, 2006 Everyone else is right - it's not going to stop there - you have an old car. As any mechanical device, it's going to wear out/break/leak etc. If you don't have the ability to work on it yourself, it would be silly to try to pay others to do the work for you. You could easily spend more than the car is worth many, many times over. As Hank pointed out, each one is different, and they do seem to find new ways to break that no one has seen - I've ran across a few myself. Usually uncommon stuff that is a direct result of previous repairs gone bad or simply a lack of maintenance entirely. IMO only a mechanic, or aspiring mechanic, or at least someone with the ability if not the desire to make repairs, should own an old subaru. Yes - they are cool, and it's fun to off-road - but unless you have bags full of money (in which case, go get a Hummer H1 Alpha) then an old subaru, while very fun, is just not for you. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nkx Posted June 28, 2006 Author Share Posted June 28, 2006 dont get me wrong folks, i still have a blast driving the car. its just not quite as much fun as it used to be. its got a bit of sentimental value now (my first subaru, first 5 speed, first turbo car) and i seem to be caught up in trying to preserve it as opposed to driving the hell out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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