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My 73' Coupe Restoration


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  • 2 weeks later...

So I did finish the paint on the hood and trunk last saturday and picked up the car today from upholstery. Looks awesome and he was able to save quite a bit of the original seat material. There is some staining in a couple spots I need to try and get out or maybe vinyl dye. He also did up a custom rear parcel shelf and kick panels and reglued the original door panel vinyl. He also got the front and rear glass installed. I'm not sure exactly how he got the rear to fit, but I have to assume he stretched the hell out of it as the corners look like they are under tension. Since I have not come across a coupe specific seal, this will do. It will either last a while or start splitting. Time will tell.

 

Mark

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I can say I am now 99% done! Here are the final pics I plan to post until I build up a nice EA71 (maybe turbo or SC, for sure with EFI) and drop in my 5 speed. I would have done the 5 speed now, but in the interest of just getting the car back on the road after 6 years, it was easier to just go with the 4 speed. It's been quite the adventure for sure. Anyways, pics!

 

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And as a final note, let me add I am still looking for the following parts, so if you can help either with parts or know where I can find them, it would be appreciated. (please, only really nice parts) Especially if I could get the items before I take it to represent old school subies at JCCS on the 18th of september.

 

-Dome light lens

-glove box insert

-rectangular seat trim between the headrest and seat back

-outer door wiper seal (yeah right, but so far I have not been able to find anything that would work. hell even if you have a good section I could maybe send to someone to try and match?)

 

I would like to thank Jesse (subafreak), Danny (drivesubies), Nolan (gopherbroke), and Bill (billyg) for making parts available and Charlie (ctsuba), Paul (moosens), Steve (kostamojen), (leeroy), and others that helped with information. I think the end result speaks for itself.

 

Mark

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One thing about JCCS is the judging makes no sense.........at all. Don't get me started.......... Now, it's all about checking out the cars and meeting new owners and catching up with old friends, whatever the brand. If I happen to get an award, it's icing on the cake. You need to bring the Brat again so I'm not the only Subaru!

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Awesome!! I'll give you $3K for it.... ;)

 

Seriously , thanks !! We get to see yours when I'll never get to a resto like yours. Charlie would be out of his mind ecstatic!!!! No b/s he was a fanatic of those coupes since they were new.

 

Enjoy the show. I truly apologize for not being able to dig parts out for you. There are a handful of glove box inserts at Charlie's place but Jason who has taken over has not replied to me. I'll be seeing him this weekend at Charlies memorial.

And I do have a passenger front seat. Let me ask Earl if he still needs it as he was lined up for it. Otherwise I'll grab the insert for you. Probably have a dome light or shuffled it back to Charlie where it lies in one of several piles of my old parts.

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Looking good! 

 

And low... Is it sitting on lowered springs?

 

 

Rear torsions reset by 1 spline and stock front springs cut 1 and 1/4 coil. Yeah, its a little low, but I leveled it off what I could set the torsion bars at. Still plenty of suspension travel.

 

Awesome!! I'll give you $3K for it.... ;)

 

Seriously , thanks !! We get to see yours when I'll never get to a resto like yours. Charlie would be out of his mind ecstatic!!!! No b/s he was a fanatic of those coupes since they were new.

 

Enjoy the show. I truly apologize for not being able to dig parts out for you. There are a handful of glove box inserts at Charlie's place but Jason who has taken over has not replied to me. I'll be seeing him this weekend at Charlies memorial.

And I do have a passenger front seat. Let me ask Earl if he still needs it as he was lined up for it. Otherwise I'll grab the insert for you. Probably have a dome light or shuffled it back to Charlie where it lies in one of several piles of my old parts.

 

Paul, just let me know. Actually I did get a windshield gasket from you about 5 years ago. I know that's rocket speed for you lol.

 

Great Job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks Danny, both for the compliment and parts!

 

Absolutely amazing.  Great color choice and detailed work.  I can't imagine having it off the road for so long.  Mine has been on blocks for a week and it's driving me crazy.

 

Thanks. It's actually somewhat of a miracle I was able to pull this off. If you go way back, the initial plan was to just get the engine compartment painted while I had the engine out to replace the clutch! Then the while I'm at it quickly escalated after that, mostly due to the cowl rust.

 

Mark

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That's the way these projects go sometimes. Serious props for sticking with it over all these years.

Some very nice upgraded interior design over the factory set up. Makes it look much more compleat. Might have to adapt some of that if I ever get around to freshening up my 74,s interior.

 

As for the 5 speed swap. Try to find my post on putting one in my 74. I did it the best way possible without hacking any of the original sheet metal. It's definitly a worthy upgrade if you want to drive it more than just around town. ;)

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I did follow your 5 speed thread and will use it when the time comes. I have a couple other unfinished projects to knock out, then I will fall back and swap in the 71 with 63 heads and 5 speed. Being realistic, at minimum, a year away. Right now, enjoying cruising around town and working the bugs out. Most of the issues are in the main cluster, but so far they seem to be simple dirty connections.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just got back from the trip down to Long Beach for the JCCS show. The car had people around it all day and had a primo spot under a tree right in front of the registration booth. Most were surprised that Subaru made cars back then and I overheard a few of the "know-it-alls" comment to their buddies that the car was AWD! LOL Quite a few comments about the spare tire being missing. As it turned out, there was only 1 other Subaru there, a super nice Sambar truck, a LJ80 Suzuki and a Samurai in the judging group. Byran did stop by and checked out the car at the end of the show but was not able to actually make it in the show. I ended up passing him when we left the event so I did get to put eyes on his re-acquired beauty. What a super clean car. I think he took some pics or a video as I passed by. Maybe he will post it up when he gets a chance? Anyways, here is the hardware.

 

 

 

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Not to say I am not happy (OK, ecstatic) with the 1st place award, but because there was not a lot of vehicles in the class (but what was there was equally as nice and I could just as easily not gotten anything as the only gave out 1st and 2nd place) I am more proud of the JNC award as that could be awarded to any car there, and they chose to give it to my car. Blows me away a lowly little Subaru beat out all the other super nice cars there to get this award. I usually takes a week for them to get the pictures/comments up on their blog about the show. One of the organizers came and spoke to me at the end of the show and was happy that I brought such a rare car to the show and wanted to know if I would bring it again next year. Not sure how the cards will fall for that yet as I would like to take it to WCCS next year if it works out.

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

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