What Have You Done to your Soobie lately? (Please post in here and keep it going)

[l75eya]

Got some stuff I've been procrastinating with done on the tin can finally. Put the 87 GL bumper on Tuesday replace the stock (faded, scarred) Loyale bumper. Glad they interchange. Last bolt had to start spinning the (no longer) captive nut so I had to weld it back in place. It's done though.

Also threw on the skid plate from the GL onto him, reinstalled the inner fender liners the PO had removed, and rebalanced and rotated the tires! Now all that's left is to swap out the Loyale cluster for the one from the GL with the oil and amp gauges. Gotta match the odometer first though. Then finally get that EJ in there. Put the heads back in that today, too!

[Trident]

The hits just keep coming with my GL wagon this winter. As posted in the 13” tire thread, I discovered one of my Winterforce Artic Claws had a broken belt. It was a area about the size of my palm, bulging outward & worn down to 0/32nds. I found this while removing/painting my wagon wheels. Since these tires had 30k+ miles on them & the fact that they were $60/per tire, I decided to go ahead & get 4 new tires. I kept the other 3 for spares.

 

I had a good enough experience with the Claws, but according to the tire shop they’re no longer available. I decided on Mastercraft Strategy 175/70R13s.

 

(http://mastercrafttires.com/Mobile/Tire-Detail.aspx?tireId=287)

 

A more road-going tire but they offer a 65k mile warranty. Additionally, they were only $258 for all 4, out the door & lifetime rotation/balancing.

 

Back on the road, some previously unfelt vibes were gone, the wagon def. felt better & I was sailing smooth, feeling good. There was more trouble lurking however.....

 

To be cont'd

[Trident]

So over the past few weeks, my wagon has started smoking a little. Mind you, not out of the tail pipe or around the engine when running. A few minutes after taking off (or whenever the exhaust gets hot enough) smoke begins to eminate from the rear of the car. Usually by this point I’m doing 55-60mph. After a few minutes, the smoke subsides. The car runs fine otherwise.

 

Last night coming home from work, the amount of smoke was the most it’s ever been. When I got home, I decided to investigate. Lots of oil getting onto the exhaust pipe where the 2 exhaust pipes join after leaving the engine. I hop on this board for a quick search & find a rear main seal thread with multiple pictures that look exactly like my exhaust looks.

 

Now we all know what that likely means, a rear main seal AND a clutch job. I acquired this car at 157,xxx miles & am now at 19X,XXX miles. More than likely I’m still working with the original clutch. I went ahead & ordered a new OEM rear main seal & throwout bearing clips (per GeneralDisorders’ advice in an EA82 clutch thread). More than likely, will be adding an Exedy 15008 to the shopping list later today.

 

 

 

BTW, If I can’t find the OEM #s on this board fairly quick, I’ve had great luck using www.parts.subaru.com for finding OEM part #s. The site seems a little quirky but works.

[1 Lucky Texan]

not sure on your engine - some have a cover/oil-air separator plate that leaks - still have to separate from the trans to get to it.

[dfoyl]

Finally got the EJ25 for my Frankenmotor pulled out of the 02 Liberty (Legacy). Tried dropping the engine and transmission together, couldn't get it to separate from the driveshaft so I thought the hell with it, I'll just leave the transmission in situ and disconnect the engine from the box. Had read lots of horror stories on this, WRT people who couldn't get them to separate due to stuck dowels, but it was easy in my case (even though the car had been sitting for ~2 years when I bought it). Drifted it apart with a couple of screwdrivers, starts to split, pull forward and the transmission and driveshaft decide to finally separate. Push engine and transmission back on driveshaft, prop transmission, try again - finally comes apart except for torque converter (it's an auto, obviously) which stays on the engine side. Weight causes engine to tilt backwards, use one hand to steady engine and other to pull it forward, take out torque converter, drop engine under front of car, and done. Removed water pump and timing set, next is heads and then I can pick it up and split the case on a bench (I removed top end prior to removing engine from car).

Update : Heads are off, balance plate is off, cracking into the block tomorrow.

Edited February 3, 2017 by dfoyl

[87subbomber]

learned my 1987 GL 4x4 has a hill holder and got really angry when she wouldnt roll. fixed that. also got a new rack and pinion today.

[Trident]

Engine pulled and to my surprise it's not the rear main leaking but something towards the front. The oil is traveling back and gathering right where it would of it was the rear main.

 

On the bright side, the clutch lining is super close to the rivets & the throwout bearing is ROUGH feeling. I've got the Exedy kit on the bench here and I have 2 throwout bearings in this kit. Anybody know the difference in the two?

 

Edited February 11, 2017 by Trident

[Trident]

Cont'd:

 

I used the bearing on the right, as its what I found pictured in the majority of Exedy 15008 product listings. So far so good

[Len Dawg]

Flushed windshield washer system... it's a nice luxury to have...

[Paperscale]

Lately, I've been trying to address some of the rust on the underbits and other places of my BRAT. I've been scraping/ sanding/ wire wheel to remove the loosest stuff, and then giving it a nice coating of POR15. That stuff is magic I swear. My poor vehicle will never be a show car, and it'll be held together with paint, duct tape, and luck, but I love it.

[Naked Buell]

So I got tired of the rust on the back of my Rx and I just went wild and cut it out. Tail lights were black mastic'd in and broke when I took them out. So now I am like, "great". Now what. So I just figured I would make a new improved Rx tail end section Euro style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I even got the 3rd brake light to work and tied it in with the others.

[Naked Buell]

Decided to address the wheels as well until I make the 5 lug swap.

 

 

 

 

 

[Naked Buell]

I figured I should make a new rear bumper to match the new lights, plus it was completely rusted behind the plastic. So I made this.

 

 

 

 

Now to Linex it. 

[Naked Buell]

Finished pic. 

 

[Naked Buell]

Just dropped off the bumper at Linex today. $75 to Linex it. No brainer. Also got quoted $1000-1200 to Linex the entire Rx white. Coming soon. 

[Len Dawg]

Fricking Radical man!!????????????????

[Naked Buell]

For anyone out there who likes to learn stuff, I taught myself how to weld. I went and bought a lincoln flux core, Lowe's, $400 with the rolling stand, and then on youtube, a guy lists all the parts to buy and how-to guidance to convert it to a mig.

Best thing I've done so far. You can do the thin sheetmetal to fix our cars and you can do thick stuff too. But I always have the arc welder for the big thick stuff.

So my advice, don't be afraid to learn, you just have to jump in. I never thought I would be able to do what I did to my Rx but check it. 

[Naked Buell]

Found a little rust. Decided to repair before she gets painted and that will be soon. 

 

 

More pics to come.

[StephenJ101]

 

Edited March 7, 2017 by StephenJ101

[jmoss5723]

Lately, I sold my wife's Outback. We needed a van for the growing family, so the Outback had to go. In order to get top dollar, I cleaned it up really nice and had my photographer brother take some really professional pictures. It looked better than it ever has! Have a peek: http://imgur.com/a/tVpWu

[jmoss5723]

Yesterday I pulled the FWD transmission from my EJ22 donor car. This weekend, it'll be loaded up and hauled to New England to find a new home in another USMB member's car. 

 

I learned that I'll happily pull a FWD trans over an AWD trans any day. No transmission fluid mess from the tail end, no driveshaft to remove, and the whole thing is a little smaller and lighter than an AWD unit.

 

As a side note, I need to get a garage. Using Dad's is fine unless Dad happens to be using it...

 

 

[TheLoyale]

Pulling Autotragics anytime isn't fun. I'll gladly pull an M/T Over A/T anyday; they weigh so much less.

[Logan K]

Got on-board air 

 

Edited March 15, 2017 by Logan K

[Starlite]

New clutch and preassureplate Ea82.

Superstation 1989

 

[kmpdx]

Added a cup holder to my 1991 Loyale. Crosspost from 'Old gen 80s' forum:

 

Hey guys. Not having a cup holder in the car is something I have been researching a while. Finally found a fix.

First of all, my console has an aftermarket double DIN cover where the stereo goes. There was an alarm panel with the LED on the bottom with the stereo on top. I flipped that and used the slot on the top. Not sure if the co some cover is available but it made this so much easier. Maybe it is like Scoshe?

Anyway, I ended up using the cup holders from an early model Legacy. I thought about using the slide out coin tray/ cup holders from. Many early 90s Fords that occupy a DIN space but the Legacy one turned out to be a better option.

I did have to modify the console adapter slightly and drill two holes on the metal slide bracket that I pulled with the cup holder. Then I screwed it in to the bottom plastic of the middle vents. Also the tabs that were on the bracket actually fit to help hold it in place too. I also had to trim away the corners of the sleeve/bracket of the cup holder so that the screws posts from the console cover did not interfere with the bracket.

The cup holders are smaller than modern holders but work for a cup of coffee and it looks pretty good! Pictures posted to show it. The last picture shows where I drilled holes to screw sleeve in. The tabs in the middle helped hold everything secure.

 

 

Edit: The console cover is factory, not aftermarket. Pretty cool because it is pretty easy to modify

Edited April 16, 2017 by kmpdx