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

[DaBrizat]

I visited the body shop today, and got some disappointing news that my existing bumper would be hard to straighten, and the used and referbbed one I bought not a correct replacement. It would require about as much work to modify as to fix the original. So I'm going to keep looking for a replacement.

 

On the positive side, they had a window guy there to out the used, chipped windshield back in. And he knew new ones were still available, and the shop gave it to me at cost (It pays to be there when they're working I guess).

 

So they're putting the brightwork back on and getting it back together. I'm expecting probably in May still, but I'm not pressing them on time. I had negotiated to get it done over slow winter to get discount on labor. I'm getting excited.

[DaBrizat]

Oops

Edited June 14, 2017 by DaBrizat

[Len Dawg]

Put my timing case covers back on... thinking that it's just better to be safe than stuck if one of those Dry Summertime plastic bags cruising the highway get sucked up into my timing belts... because they are no longer stuck to the road, They have Risin!! They are aliiive!! Lol!

Edited June 15, 2017 by Len Dawg

[russellthehippo]

Bought my first car, and it's a Subaru! 1993 Loyale wagon with 4WD and the 5spd. Only 116,000 miles, in beautiful condition, for only $1,500. First thing I did was drive it up a mountain on rough, muddy old logging roads, the 4WD works like a dream even with stock 13 inch all-seasons. 

 

Proceeded to take it home and rip out the ancient rotting speakers and the cassette/radio head unit. 

I have big plans to turn this into my next adventuremobile and hope to get to at least 250,000 miles with regular TLC, or at least until autonomous electric vehicles render these fabulous cars functionally obsolete.

 

Some pics: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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So yeah, I'm pretty excited and like I said, I have big plans for it and hope to keep it around for as long as possible. 

Cheers!

[Len Dawg]

Fantastic!!

[iceageg]

Installed the rebuilt engine with new clutch last night.  This morning I tossed in the battery, fluids and started her up.  Ruby Sue is back on the road!

[Al Zhiemer]

Wired up front fog lights and roof lights.

 

Mounted 6.5" Rockford Fosgate speakers behind the seat.

 

Made up new battery leads and terminals and generally tidied up the wiring loom in the engine bay.

 

Ordered new headlights and started to build a new wiring loom for them.

 

Installed central locking and power windows.

 

In the process of making new upper door trims.

 

And washed the poor old girl for the first time since I've owned it. Think that's about it for this last week.

[1 Lucky Texan]

the WRX failed its inspection - for burned-out license plate lights. I never see it from behind at night, actually, I rarely drive it at night - probably a good thing. Cops love to pul folks over for 'dim' plate lights - usually it's older cars and they get a chance to find expired license, no insurance card, maybe smell pot or alcohol, check for warrants, etc.

 

I had some LED wedge bulbs at home from buying some when a front marker light went out so, slapped them in.

 

Need to check-over the outback tomorrow, prep for a trip to CoSpgs.

[subnz]

My 30 year old Brat has been neglected by sitting for 6 months in car port without being run.

So felt guilty and charged up battery (previously disconnected),

took air cleaner off thinking the worst, 

kicked down the accelerator 10x times, full choke (manual - best , standard hitachi)

and it started instantaneously after a second of turning the key. (stale fuel and all - did top it up with a gallon of fresh fuel)

 

Was almost shocked, surprised coz wasn't expecting it was going to be  that easy.

Gave it a good clean while warming up  and did the garden green waste run and a good run for 30 minutes plus on the road .

 

What made it easier was that it was a 15 C  (60 F) early spring day then last week.

Now colder with snow 4" over last 2 days  35 - 45 F 

Edited September 10, 2017 by subnz

[kmpdx]

I installed keyless entry on my 1991 Loyale.

Not too hard, right? Wrong. Holy crap. What a pain, but I did it.

 

The driver door was already modded with a disconnected aftermarket actuator that need a lot of positional adjustment to work.

 

Then I installed this: 

https://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Central-Locking-Keyless-Controllers/dp/B006QH9C5A/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1505369981&sr=8-4&keywords=keyless+entry 

 

Which could not work the lock on its own so I had to modify it with this:

 

https://www.the12volt.com/12voltimages/reverse_polarity_act_pos.gif

 

Finally, I had to build a bracket and fit the whole thing in the lower hole of the door. It really took me like 10 months to get this all done. Finally have keyless entry in the Loyale!

[kmpdx]

I installed keyless entry on my 1991 Loyale.

Not too hard, right? Wrong. Holy crap. What a pain, but I did it.

 

The driver door was already modded with a disconnected aftermarket actuator that need a lot of positional adjustment to work.

 

Then I installed this: 

https://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Central-Locking-Keyless-Controllers/dp/B006QH9C5A/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1505369981&sr=8-4&keywords=keyless+entry 

 

Which could not work the lock on its own so I had to modify it with this:

 

https://www.the12volt.com/12voltimages/reverse_polarity_act_pos.gif

 

Finally, I had to build a bracket and fit the whole thing in the lower hole of the door. It really took me like 10 months to get this all done. Finally have keyless entry in the Loyale!

[iceageg]

Weber is on the car and the craptashi is on the shelf.  Had to make some changes to everything I found written here to maintain Colorado compliant emissions rules but it started right up.  43° morning today and it cold started instantly.  After two short trips she runs perfect.  The idle is a bit high once it warms up but a little tuning was expected.  Combined with the Delta cam and shaved heads it has GOBS more power.  We're talking 0-60 times down from 16 seconds to maybe as low as 13!!!  Seriously though, the additional torque between 1500-3000 is substantial and should make for a much more pleasant daily driver in traffic.

[subnz]

Weber is on the car and the craptashi is on the shelf.  Had to make some changes to everything I found written here to maintain Colorado compliant emissions rules but it started right up.  43° morning today and it cold started instantly.  After two short trips she runs perfect.  The idle is a bit high once it warms up but a little tuning was expected.  Combined with the Delta cam and shaved heads it has GOBS more power.  We're talking 0-60 times down from 16 seconds to maybe as low as 13!!!  Seriously though, the additional torque between 1500-3000 is substantial and should make for a much more pleasant daily driver in traffic.

Never had many issues with  1st 4 Subarus with Hitachi carbs  apart from one on an EA82  I  messed up rekitting / rebuilding so replaced with a 2nd hand one of the same. 

Still have a 30 year old Brat still with its original hitachi carb - hadn't been running for 6 months and it started recently after 1 second of turning the key  (full manual choke and kicked down accelerator 10x times before turning key / cranking engine)

[damnsubaru]

whats up with photobucket pics would be nice.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

whats up with photobucket pics would be nice.

 

~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/139920-photobucket-sucks-a-rant-about-picture-hosting-woes/

[iceageg]

Never had many issues with  1st 4 Subarus with Hitachi carbs  apart from one on an EA82  I  messed up rekitting / rebuilding so replaced with a 2nd hand one of the same. 

Still have a 30 year old Brat still with its original hitachi carb - hadn't been running for 6 months and it started recently after 1 second of turning the key  (full manual choke and kicked down accelerator 10x times before turning key / cranking engine)

The hitachi would start and run at WOT just fine.  Choke would not stay open after the engine had warmed up, accelerator pump not squirting, and i'm pretty sure the secondary did not open.  But it started and ran well enough to get around.  All that said, this is also the first time I have converted to weber.  I have never had a significant problem with my hitachi's in the past.

[subnz]

Felt bad about my 87 Brat / Brumby as it hadn't an oil change for a while as it doesn't get as much use now since owning Outbacks.

So new oil  filter.+ Castrol 20W-50

[jmoss5723]

After a catastrophic chain of events set off by the failure of my A/C belt tensioner pulley on my Forester, I replaced timing belt and idlers, timing cover, A/C tensioner, accessory belts, and crank pulley.

 

Then I reinstalled my rear sway bar, replaced a blown speaker, and fixed up my failing driver's window motor. It was a busy Sunday.

[MR_Loyale]

I installed keyless entry on my 1991 Loyale.

Not too hard, right? Wrong. Holy crap. What a pain, but I did it.

 

The driver door was already modded with a disconnected aftermarket actuator that need a lot of positional adjustment to work.

 

Then I installed this: 

https://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Central-Locking-Keyless-Controllers/dp/B006QH9C5A/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1505369981&sr=8-4&keywords=keyless+entry 

 

Which could not work the lock on its own so I had to modify it with this:

 

https://www.the12volt.com/12voltimages/reverse_polarity_act_pos.gif

 

Finally, I had to build a bracket and fit the whole thing in the lower hole of the door. It really took me like 10 months to get this all done. Finally have keyless entry in the Loyale!

10 months? Mine was about two weeks and I didn't have to mount it in the lower part of the door. 

[1 Lucky Texan]

I'm ashamed to be behind on my maintnance schedule - cars are running OK, Ilike to use Techron every 2-3 years (we don't put a lot of miles on) and did that recently - hoping to get to oil changes next month.

[Knucklehead Saloon]

Hi gang. I've got a 91 Brumby and here's whats been upgraded over the last 4 weeks.

 

Replaced the batt with a 330cca no maintenance type (Exide brand)

 

Replaced the fan belts with gates brand belts.

 

Junked the original coil for a 45000v MSD Blaster

 

Dropped in a cardmon reco disty (ND)

 

Swapped out the old seized thermostat for a high flow unit

 

Checked the water galleries while it was apart and happy to find no traces of stop leak gunk in there

 

Changed the plugs for NGK Iridiums

 

Switched the radiator cap from a 13psi to a 15psi unit. Summers are really hot here in Australia

 

Installed a SAAS tach to the door pillar trim

 

Installed a Nadi sports steering wheel with an SAAS boss kit

 

Changed out my broken sun visor clips for some a mate 3D printed for me

 

Junked the old water pump for a new GMB unit

 

In this pic you can see the improved impeller design of the GMB pump

 

More mods and upgrades to come too, just waiting for parts to turn up.

Lovin' my old Scoob-a-roo.

[jmoss5723]

I removed the muffler from my Forester and got straight pipe welded in. It sounds awesome, but way quieter than I expected. It is completely unobtrusive while cruising around, but gives some growl when you get on the gas hard.

[Knucklehead Saloon]

Today I sorted out my thermofan crazy running woes. Sometimes they'd work and other times not. If they were running they'd cut out when I turned on the headlights. No idea what kind of dodgy work the previous owner did with the electeics so I decided to run my own fan circuit from scratch.

 

Grabbed a 40 amp 5 pin relay from the parts store and wired it from a design in my head after sitting and looking at the wiring schomozzle for the time it took to down 2 beers and smoke a cigga. Cut the old wiring out and started anew.

 

Control circuit side of the relay wiring goes: Original accessories on power wire for fan1 to relay. Relay to thermoswitch in radiator. Thermoswitch (single wire stock unit) closes at temperature and sends power to ground, completing the circuit and energising the power circuit side of the relay.

 

Power circuit side of the relay goes: Positive battery to inline fuse (30A), inline fuse to relay, both positive leads from relay to fans, both negative leads from fans to negative battery.

 

Took the brumby for a run in the hills near home for 40 minutes and flogged it mercilessly trying to get it to overheat. Temps stayed stable at a bit over halfway on tje gauge. Next mod will be swapping out the stock thermoswitch for a TFS156 that kicks in 10 degrees cooler. The summers get real hot here in inland Australia and I want my Soobie to live long and strong!!

[1 Lucky Texan]

late doing oil changes on both my cars but today I got the WRX on ramps. changed oil/filter, new wiper blades all round, tightened the clamps ts the fuel line 'buffers' or w'ever they are - last year I smelled fuel in cold weather, looked around/inspected stuff.

 

one weird thing I tried...when I changed strut mounts and struts, I noticed a drain hole (???) on the underside of the starter. It has been making dragging noises for a long time now when temps are under 50* or so. I managed to spray some lithium grease up in there with a tube on the spray can. Dunno yet if it will get even remotely close to the pinion gear's shaft - figured it couldn't really hurt anything. fingers crossed.

 

need to change oil on the OBW

[czny]

Already moved inner axle boot clamps in for 4 inch lift & while this helped prolong boot life, more improvements were still needed. Found suggestions here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/146933-2-lift-shredded-cvs-whats-the-solution/page-2?hl=%2Bea82+%2Blift+%2Bwith+%2Bbetter+%2Bangles&do=findComment&comment=1233972

Dropped engine & trans crossmembers 1 inch to improve front axle angles, modded intake air boot for 1 inch drop, modded skid plate for 1 inch drop, replaced PS pump & high pres hose(leaking from shaft seal), helicoiled adj ear of alternator(stripping), replaced upper & lower radiator hoses modded for 1 inch drop, reworked steering shaft coupler for 1 inch drop(longer). Replaced rad cooling fan(blades were crumbling to dust), LOF too.

 

More yet to do: F&R brakes(rotors & pads), R&R WW motor, replace htr resistor(not all spds), change lube in trans & read diff.

 

Its a long trip to MT & back again, so..........

Edited November 12, 2017 by czny