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Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 8:05 am
by FooSchnickens
Anything in particular I should look for aside from the usual inspection stuff? It's a '93 impreza wagon, GF6 if I remember my alphabet soup right.

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:16 pm
by Generz
Listen to the rear wheel bearings... make sure they aren't bad.
Also make sure the car is cold when you start it up so you can listen to see how much piston slap there is.

The piston slap isn't really too much of a concern, it's just a good indicator on how old the car is or how tired the motor is.

Erik's Outback has 230k on it and it pretty much has it all the time now.
Mine is 180k and it only has it when it's cold.. once it warms up it's good.

That's about it as far as the early GC body style cars go.

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:40 pm
by FooSchnickens
Cool, figured there wasn't much to go over aside from the usual stuff. Hopefully it checks out ok and I come home with a rumble. :3

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 7:25 am
by FooSchnickens
I has a suby. :headbang:

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:44 am
by jsquared
Noice!!

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:00 am
by Pittsy
FooSchnickens wrote:I has a suby. :headbang:

Congrats!


Now post some pics.

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:54 am
by down_shift
:jealous: I want a wagon too.

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 3:14 pm
by FooSchnickens
Pics are coming, was going to start cleaning it up today but I didn't find the keys until it was time to leave for work. Maybe tomorrow.

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:48 pm
by FooSchnickens
Pittsy wrote:Now post some pics.
Ooooooooooooooootay!

Happily perched in the driveway

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Moved into the garage and ready to be operated upon

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Pretty clean interior, just a few smudges on the passenger seat that will be shampoo'd out

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CARGO ROOOOOOOM! God it's wonderful having space to lug more than two bags of groceries around in again. Those bits are the stock roof rack. A couple of the support beam bolts rusted out so the PO took it apart. A couple bits of stainless hardware from lowe's should fix that right up. I also snagged a brand new cargo cover for $50, should be here this week.

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The piece de resistance, fresh pine tree air freshener, gifted by the PO.

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And the only visible interior wear I could find

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Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:59 pm
by Greg
what does it need as far as being operational?

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:14 pm
by FooSchnickens
Most likely an engine.

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 10:26 am
by Generz
what's wrong with the 2.2 that's in it?

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:19 am
by FooSchnickens
According to the PO the timing belt slipped some teeth or something and messed up some of the valves. I was going to try and get the front covers off last night but my tool kit has gone missing and didn't want to use SAE sockets on stuff. I'm going to run by the shop today to get my metric stuff and bring it home so I can get in there and find what's up. A cursory inspection of the outside doesn't show any damage (leaky fluids, holes in the head/block) so there doesn't appear to be any catastrophic failure.

I'm really hoping the timing is just off or something and can be reset for a quick fix. I'll know more as the week progresses, or by this afternoon if I don't hear back from work.

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:30 am
by charlie
Awesome. Congrats dude. That's exactly what I'm kind of looking for right now.

Re: Gonna look at a suby this weekend

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:44 pm
by Generz
easy thing to do is pop the front timing covers off and check the timing on each cam.

since it's a sohc.. it's really easy to check it. if it has slipped a tooth it will probably cause it to run poorly or not run at all.

i would put the timing back to stock.. see how well it runs.
if it runs rough.. a valve may be bent but then just pull the plugs to see which plug is fouled and that will let you know which cylinder.

pull the head off.. rebuild the head... and slap it back together.

bingo.

way cheaper than a new motor.