So, I thought I would throw this out to the awesome community here and see if some folks might want to come together and assist me in saving a couple of old school wagons. First one is a 1984 GL Wagon. 5 speed, front wheel drive, TOASTED 1.8L. Body is good and interior is in good shape. The other is a 1989 GL-10 wagon. I have no pics. It's an AWD turbo but has an automatic. The motor was replaced and I have it to the point that it will start but then shuts down. I'm thinking it needs a fuel pump relay or fuel pump. It is in the middle of a six lug conversion that needs to be completed. Body has a little rust and the interior is filthy. Have not had time to work on this car. First problem is that the friend of a friend that owned the shop where the wagons are located unexpectedly passed away. I now really need a temporary home for these classics. Second problem is that I need some help and some positive direction to go in with these wagons. My idea now is to make one car out of the two. Take all of the guts and suspension off the GL-10 and put it in the GL. Flares if necessary, lower it, 5 speed (if GL's will bolt up, great. If not, I'll get one) and finish with an AWD, turbo, 5 speed GL Wagon with decent interior. It would be kind of cool to find a spot to do all of this where anyone that wants to come by and wrench a little can do so. Good for small get togethers to meet folks from the community and wrench on old Scoobies. I'm out in the Gainesville area but the cars are currently in Canton. Any help or suggestions on how to proceed with these cars is welcome and appreciated so throw it all out there.
They make kits to bolt up ej series motors to those transmissions. Sohc engines fit without too much work. You can find another ea81 at PullAPart too, they're cheap and easy to rebuild. I have an 82 brat GL with an ea81 and a Weber carburetor, it's got a 4 speed dual range 4wd manual transmission and I get 30-31 mpg. If you're going to preserve one I'd say leave the body stock and get an ej18 or sohc ej22 and swap it in, anything else will be too much power for the tranny and cost a ton with hard to find conversion parts. They're old enough that you don't have to worry about emissions so that's a plus. How's the rust on that wagon? I may be interested in it if they decide to sell.
The rust on the 89 GL-10 is not that bad but I'd have to look at it again to get a full assessment. It's not bad at all. A little around one of the front fenders is all I recall. I need to look at the car again because it's been awhile. So, swapping everything in from the 89 GL-10 into 84 GL won't work?
84 body is great. Interior is nice except for cracked dash. I drove that car for awhile until I fubared the engine.
It wouldn't be worth your time to swap everything from the 89 into the 84. Find another gen 2 if you want to have a 4wd one. The rear sub frames are different, as is the rear suspention as a whole. The ea82t also won't fit between the frame rails up front, and seriosuly isn't worth the time or money required to swap it over.
Thanks for the information. Sounds like a better bet to just fix the 2nd Gen and swap it to a 5 speed.
The 84 is the gen 2, Gen 1s are the 70s ones. The 89 is a gen 3. What ever you do with that one, get an oil cooler, 2 row radiator(it should already have one, being an auto), run one of the hi-po coolants, and put an intercooler on it. WRX ones work great, but you'll need to cut a hole in the hood. The 4eat is basically the same as any phase one 4eat, but with the EA bolt pattern. A guy modd'ed one to have paddle shifters, it was pretty neat. The 84 wagon would make a sweet dd. The 5spd plus a tuned webber should lend to some very good MPG numbers. Hows the rust on it? I can put you in touch with a guy who has a subaru only shop in NC, he loves the old ones. Has a couple brats, XTs, and gen 2 and 3 wagon still. And god, I've probably had 10 or so. Still want a brat though, had a couple turbo ones pop up. I'd love to get the 81t and swap into my 84 hatchback. That with an RX trans would be a fun car. Where in gainesville are you? I'm in flowery branch, would love to come by and see them some time.
I'm in Forsyth County with a Gainesville address. I'm just off of 369. Cars are currently in Canton. The Gen 2 has very little to no rust. The Gen 3 only has a little rust on one of the fenders IIRC. I have to move the cars out of Canton bc the owner of the shop where they were being stored passed away. I have no room at my house and really need to figure out a place for them to go and to be worked on.
Anyone know a good place to score a 1.8L engine for that Gen 2 GL? My buddy is thinking about fixing that one and driving it so he doesn't have to commute on his motorcycle.
Thanks for the number. I'll probably talk to you more about these old cars when I meet up with you for the TMIC.