Subcompact Overland Upgrades. '84 Subaru

[IdaSHO]

These old Subarus are pretty neat. Great little rigs.



Anywho................

After ignoring the Subaru for a good while, I finally pulled it into the shop and did some trouble shooting. As far as I can tell, the problem is carb and vacuum related.

Unfortunately anymore, I have more money than time, and certainly less patience with a finicky car than I probably should.

So I ponied up for a brand new Weber carb kit. It should be here in a week or so.

Im also going to simplify this motor as much as I can. Lucky for me I live in Idaho. Zero smog issues. So all of the emissions junk is going bye-bye.

In the mean time, I started prepping for the new carb.

Car in the shop, getting work done.......

Old carb and associated hardware removed. Intake manifold removed. Topside of motor cleaned and prepped.

Part of my carb problems I believe. The previous owner did one hell of a butcher job on this intake when removing the gasket. I spent the better part of an hour sanding the gouges out. The remaining spots were then filled with JB weld, and sanded out again.

A new gasket was cut and installed with the phenolic spacer spacer, then the intake was lightly gasket matched with a dremel.

EGR was deleted using an aluminum block off plate.

Intake manifold ready to go!

She will live again!!!!!:wings:

 

[IdaSHO]

Just a quick update.

I finished the install of the slick little two barrel weber a few weeks ago. Ive been driving daily to break it in, and dial in the tune.

Once I got the calibration fine tuned, this thing is a GREAT pleasure to drive again.

Wide open power is very near stock, but it feels to have gobs more torque throughout the rpm band, allowing me to run in a taller gear at much lower rpms. :ylsmoke:

A few pics.

I am not very happy with the fitment of the filter however.
The filter is a K&N style gaze element, and the housing is very flimsy.

Id mush prefer to run a larger, simple, paper element.

So the next project on the table is to retrofit the factory air cleaner to fit the weber.:chef:

 

[Van_Homan]

I really like these older Subaru's.

 

[poriggity]

Love them old suby's. Nice.

 

[IdaSHO]

Thanks guys.

here is a nifty update. I managed to retrofit the factory aircleaner to the new weber. And it came out fantastic. :wings:

Im super happy. Much better filtration and Ive got the factory hot air heat stove to aid in winter operation. Plus, it looks a lot better imo :ylsmoke:

A few pics of the project:

 

[poriggity]

Nice retrofit of the factory filter onto the weber carb.. very nice!

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

Yeah, the chrome had to go. Keep it coming, sweet ride.

 

[IdaSHO]

This thread might as well be a "build" thread.

Ill recap a few of the modifications Ive done.

starting with the mild lift.

 

[IdaSHO]

Lift kit fabrication and install.

This Subaru had a bad "stinkbug" stance. So a type of leveling kit was in order.

I purchased some strut lift blocks from a guy on a Subaru forum. The quality was subpar, but workable. I had to do some work to them to make them meet my approval.

I fabricated the body lift blocks, starting with some square tubing and 1/2 inch plate.

Everything was cleaned, primed, and painted prior to install.

here is the kit in its entirety after final paint. Strut lift blocks on the left, body/subframe blocks in the center and right, and some AC compressor lift brackets I fabricated, along with misc hardware.

 

[IdaSHO]

Once the kit was built, it was time for the install. This was done when the motor was out for work.

You can do this with the motor in the car, but it is quite a pain.

If you look closely, you can see the subframe blocks in this photo. Sandwiched in between the subframe and the body.

here is a closer look

And from the wheel well. Notice the holes, that facilitate bolting things together.

 

[IdaSHO]

Continuing on with the install...

here are the rear subframe blocks

I also had to extend the steering linkage. Since this car has power steering, I was able to use simple "rag" joints. After fabricating the extension bracket, I made the rag joints from heavy duty reinforced radiator hose. Much more pliable than stock, and much more resilient to cracking and tearing.

Lift brackets for the AC compressor. This allows the AC compressor to remain in the same location as stock, allowing the motor to drop. This keeps all of the compressor lines in check. Also, the engine bay is tight enough, that dropping the compressor 2.5" would result in contact with the unibody. :snorkel:

 

[IdaSHO]

And finally, the shifter linkage had to be addressed.

Dropping the entire subframe not only drops the engine, but the trans too. So the shift linkage for both the 4x4 and the case needed to be modified. The shifter linkage for the 4x4 was a simple matter of adjusting it to its max. The trans shifter was altered a by notching, bending, and welding.

And the result...

A much better stance, better approach angle, and a good deal more room between the sheetmetal and the tires if I ever decide to run larger rubber.

 

[IdaSHO]

Thread revival :ylsmoke:

Factory "bumper guards" were removed in favor of a custom push bar.

I scored a 6' section of 2" diameter SOLID chromoly, and I couldnt resist.

The push bar bolts right over the factory bumper mounts, using factory hardware with 1-1/2 Square tubing. Square tubing color matched to the body color, and clearcoated.

5" 100watt round Autopal off road lamps were then mounted to the bar using modified 2" exhaust clamps. Painted and clearcoated black.

 

[Soobarubin]

This makes me miss my '86 Hatchback dearly! I loved that thing, but the time came where I needed more power, more space, and more ground clearance! Nice to see a fellow Idahoan too!

-Jaren

 

[Jrally]

Loving your wagon build, very nice, still looking like the factory could have done it.

-Jon