IBratmanI
Subaru Ambassador- AdidaSubarus
That's another thing, it bugs me when they post these as Loyales. They are not Loyales. The Loyale did not start being produced till 1990. They were EA82 GL',s from 85-89. Good luck on getting it though!
das GL!
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
Das GL is coming back to life!
I went to the woods at the top of the hill in my driveway. Put a battery in, and it fired right up on the first crank
I drove it VERY CAREFULLY (wheels aren't torqued on, the entire rear suspension stuff is held on with like 2 loose bolts...) down to the bottom of my driveway. Doing all this messy work outside. I have pretty much all the rust cut out of the pass side of the car. There are some nice gaping holes.
Since I don't have any sheet metal or bondo, and it's getting a bit warm, I'm gonna go into the garage and start working on new rear lift plates. The other ones are too much angle for the axles (as I found out).
Still not sure what to do about the axle/diff. Not too worried about it at the moment. I'll get the new metal welded in and painted and the suspension worked out.
I'm gonna try to rebuild the axle with the cup still attached to the diff, without buying all new stuff, that's the easiest.
But it's all coming along! I'll put it back on insurance and get it registered when I get closer to being done. April 28 is the rallyX, so it has to be finished before then
I went to the woods at the top of the hill in my driveway. Put a battery in, and it fired right up on the first crank
I drove it VERY CAREFULLY (wheels aren't torqued on, the entire rear suspension stuff is held on with like 2 loose bolts...) down to the bottom of my driveway. Doing all this messy work outside. I have pretty much all the rust cut out of the pass side of the car. There are some nice gaping holes.
Since I don't have any sheet metal or bondo, and it's getting a bit warm, I'm gonna go into the garage and start working on new rear lift plates. The other ones are too much angle for the axles (as I found out).
Still not sure what to do about the axle/diff. Not too worried about it at the moment. I'll get the new metal welded in and painted and the suspension worked out.
I'm gonna try to rebuild the axle with the cup still attached to the diff, without buying all new stuff, that's the easiest.
But it's all coming along! I'll put it back on insurance and get it registered when I get closer to being done. April 28 is the rallyX, so it has to be finished before then
Legwagon
BC-BF-*BJ*
YAY! Go Chris!
IBratmanI
Subaru Ambassador- AdidaSubarus
Good news! What did you mean by the rear lift is too much angle for the axles??
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
I think the new struts are taller. Your lift blocks are 2-1/2" or so. And when I went to put the one side in with the new strut it popped the axle out and screwed it up. So now I'm going to try to rebuild it with the cup still stuck to the diff. It probably just needs to be cleaned out, and put back together. I'll reboot it for good measure.
I bend and welded up some new ones today that are more or less exactly 2". With captive nuts and all that fancy stuff to make them easy to install.
IBratmanI
Subaru Ambassador- AdidaSubarus
Huh weird. Not sure about the struts but I don't know why I would have made the lift blocks over 2", but it was a while ago. And yeah those were VERY simple lift blocks. But they have held up damn good for what they have gone through!
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
They've done fine. It was pretty easy to make new ones though. Made them pretty much the same. Two pieces of flat stock bent to shape, welded together. I just added a captive nut so the struts can come off without removing the lift blocks. And a cross piece so they can't shift on me. I like doing things like that overkill.
And it gives me something to do while I'm procrastinating from body work... The pass side is A HELL OF A LOT worse though. I don't know why, but it'll be nice to get to the driver's side.
And it gives me something to do while I'm procrastinating from body work... The pass side is A HELL OF A LOT worse though. I don't know why, but it'll be nice to get to the driver's side.
IBratmanI
Subaru Ambassador- AdidaSubarus
We need pics of the carnage!
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
Maybe I'll remember my camera... I have to work on computers tomorrow morning until noonish. Then I have to work on boats for a bit, then go buy steel. THEN hopefully I can get back to car.
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
I got a late start and worked through the hottest part of the day. Fun fun. Tomorrow I'll try to be out there at like 7am so I don't sweat my balls off.
I did the hard parts today. In retrospect, probably not the best thing to start with. But my welder sucks for sheet metal, and my welding sucks. So it doesn't matter much.
Some of the metal is so thin it can only be tacked anyway.
I re-constructed the rear belt mount area. It was a big gaping hole. Made most of a new rear fender liner. The place where the back door closed and sealed was gone. So I re-fabricated that. That's the only spot I ground, because it has to seal. And a lot of that was thin there, so it'll need just a bit of filer to file in the holes.
Tomorrow I have to deal with the bottom of the rear quarter panel. Which will be easy. It can look like ass, I don't care. The front rocker will also be pretty much easy.
By then it'll be getting a bit hot to work in direct sunlight, so I'll take off the leather welding jacket and paint it all, then move on to fixing the axle and suspension.
I'm fairly certain I can rebuild the axle with the cup still stuck to the diff, it'll suck, but less than having to replace everything. I have to some day, but I can't afford it now. The diff whines a bit in 4wd, but it has about a million miles before it actually becomes a problem.
I forgot to take pictures. Before or after. Well, after I can still do. I'm not cutting it up for before pics though.
I'll try to remember to get pics before I start filling and painting, that should show the scale of holes.
After all the body work is done up, it should be almost ready for inspection. I have to figure out why the front corner lights don't work. I might just wire them right to the headlights if it's nothing obvious. And I have to make the horn work. The horn is broken, and there's no button. So maybe I'll "borrow" the horn from my legacy and just put put a button on the dash.
I did the hard parts today. In retrospect, probably not the best thing to start with. But my welder sucks for sheet metal, and my welding sucks. So it doesn't matter much.
Some of the metal is so thin it can only be tacked anyway.
I re-constructed the rear belt mount area. It was a big gaping hole. Made most of a new rear fender liner. The place where the back door closed and sealed was gone. So I re-fabricated that. That's the only spot I ground, because it has to seal. And a lot of that was thin there, so it'll need just a bit of filer to file in the holes.
Tomorrow I have to deal with the bottom of the rear quarter panel. Which will be easy. It can look like ass, I don't care. The front rocker will also be pretty much easy.
By then it'll be getting a bit hot to work in direct sunlight, so I'll take off the leather welding jacket and paint it all, then move on to fixing the axle and suspension.
I'm fairly certain I can rebuild the axle with the cup still stuck to the diff, it'll suck, but less than having to replace everything. I have to some day, but I can't afford it now. The diff whines a bit in 4wd, but it has about a million miles before it actually becomes a problem.
I forgot to take pictures. Before or after. Well, after I can still do. I'm not cutting it up for before pics though.
I'll try to remember to get pics before I start filling and painting, that should show the scale of holes.
After all the body work is done up, it should be almost ready for inspection. I have to figure out why the front corner lights don't work. I might just wire them right to the headlights if it's nothing obvious. And I have to make the horn work. The horn is broken, and there's no button. So maybe I'll "borrow" the horn from my legacy and just put put a button on the dash.
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IBratmanI
Subaru Ambassador- AdidaSubarus
Welding jacket? What's that?! Haha. If there is any way to remove that thin metal, you really should, or it's just going to get thinner. Looking forward to pics!
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
If I remove it there wouldn't be anything left of the area behind where the door closes. I'm not good enough to completely fabricate that from new.
If it rusts out again later I'll have to get the proper tools to shape the sheet metal and all that stuff. I got all the rust off though, and I'll get it all coated and sealed up.
I don't like burns, leather welding jacket is nice.
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
I took one picture. This is 3/4 done, there's one more piece of the inner fender I welded in. But I didn't take a picture. Because I'm bad at pictures.
My welds suck. If someone wants to buy me a welder with a lower power setting, and gas. I'd love you forever.
I did a whole new inner fender bit in the top of the wheel well. Which was a major pain in the butt. I had to lay down and weld over my head. Lots of wet rags on the rubber fuel fill pipe!!
Then I did the whole rear quarter on the pass side, and the hole I accidentally put in the trunk last winter pulling stuck trucks out.
Then I cut up the front of the rocker to start it getting ready for new metal, and I cut out the new metal go go on the front of the pass side rocker. It's actually not too bad.
Then I got tired of cutting and welding because I was getting hot. I started screwing with the axle, but I can't get it to go back together properly. Ultimate subaru is down, so I can't figure out what's going on, it'll have to wait. I tapped all the threads on the rear suspension to clean them, and wire wheeled all the bolts. Everything threads together really nicely now.
Then I looked at the driver's side. And it scared me in for the night.... It's that bad. the whole rear quarter is gone, I have to put A LOT of metal in there. Not a huge deal, that's easy to access. There's nothing left of the inner fender, it's totally rusted off the outside metal of the car. That's going to be a lot of welding over my face, setting my hair on fire. Again. And the front of the driver's side rocker is horrible. Probably going to have to cut out a 2.5' section and rebuild it. I don't care if it looks terrible, if it passes inspection, I'm happy.
Then the doors are rusty and crapped up. I don't care, I'll halfass them back together. I'd rather just replace the doors with non rusted units.
My welds suck. If someone wants to buy me a welder with a lower power setting, and gas. I'd love you forever.
I did a whole new inner fender bit in the top of the wheel well. Which was a major pain in the butt. I had to lay down and weld over my head. Lots of wet rags on the rubber fuel fill pipe!!
Then I did the whole rear quarter on the pass side, and the hole I accidentally put in the trunk last winter pulling stuck trucks out.
Then I cut up the front of the rocker to start it getting ready for new metal, and I cut out the new metal go go on the front of the pass side rocker. It's actually not too bad.
Then I got tired of cutting and welding because I was getting hot. I started screwing with the axle, but I can't get it to go back together properly. Ultimate subaru is down, so I can't figure out what's going on, it'll have to wait. I tapped all the threads on the rear suspension to clean them, and wire wheeled all the bolts. Everything threads together really nicely now.
Then I looked at the driver's side. And it scared me in for the night.... It's that bad. the whole rear quarter is gone, I have to put A LOT of metal in there. Not a huge deal, that's easy to access. There's nothing left of the inner fender, it's totally rusted off the outside metal of the car. That's going to be a lot of welding over my face, setting my hair on fire. Again. And the front of the driver's side rocker is horrible. Probably going to have to cut out a 2.5' section and rebuild it. I don't care if it looks terrible, if it passes inspection, I'm happy.
Then the doors are rusty and crapped up. I don't care, I'll halfass them back together. I'd rather just replace the doors with non rusted units.
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2point5RS_Dan
HATER DAN
Overhead welding SUCKS. I had to do it on the RS quarter rebuild. At this point it might be worthwhile to cut out ANY rear quarter you can find and hammer it into shape so you have to spend less time hammering a curve out of flat metal?
I wish you lived closer because I enjoy body work.
I wish you lived closer because I enjoy body work.
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
I don't care if the rear quarter is the right shape or not. It's just going to get smashed up again anyway, so strong is more important here.
Dude, I'd pull and reseal your whole engine if I didn't have to weld in those rear fender wells...
I think I just figured out my rear axle, I'm pretty sure it's just me being stupid and not knowing what I'm doing... It would be cool, that means the right rear suspension can go back together. Then once I finish some welding behind the left strut, I can install and adjust that side. That will mean the car is drivable again, which is good.
It's getting cold and rainy next week, so it'll probably just sit inside the garage until it warms up and I can paint. I don't want to screw up the undercoat doing it too cold.
Dude, I'd pull and reseal your whole engine if I didn't have to weld in those rear fender wells...
I think I just figured out my rear axle, I'm pretty sure it's just me being stupid and not knowing what I'm doing... It would be cool, that means the right rear suspension can go back together. Then once I finish some welding behind the left strut, I can install and adjust that side. That will mean the car is drivable again, which is good.
It's getting cold and rainy next week, so it'll probably just sit inside the garage until it warms up and I can paint. I don't want to screw up the undercoat doing it too cold.
IBratmanI
Subaru Ambassador- AdidaSubarus
I welded most of my BRAT on the lift........in a t-shirt. You just get used to it after a while. Haha
2point5RS_Dan
HATER DAN
If you can get it driveable, we can have a welding party...
I need to find not snows soon because I can't road trip on snows.
I need to find not snows soon because I can't road trip on snows.
IBratmanI
Subaru Ambassador- AdidaSubarus
I REALLY wish I had the time to come help you out with this. But I can't even get the time to do anything on my own vehicles!! Just remember it will be worth it in the end. Take your time and do it right and it'll last!
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
I'm doing it mostly right. It's a pain in the butt. I only had between about 12.00 and 2.30 to work on it today.
98% of the right side welding is done. Axle is fixed, suspension is back together.
I tapped all the left side suspension nuts to clean the threads, wire wheeled all the bolts, and got everything ready to bolt the strut in, but ran out of time. Soon as I do that (pretty easy) It'll be drivable again. I think I can access most of the inner fender well through the trunk. The banana dooker isn't in the way like it is on the pass. side.
98% of the right side welding is done. Axle is fixed, suspension is back together.
I tapped all the left side suspension nuts to clean the threads, wire wheeled all the bolts, and got everything ready to bolt the strut in, but ran out of time. Soon as I do that (pretty easy) It'll be drivable again. I think I can access most of the inner fender well through the trunk. The banana dooker isn't in the way like it is on the pass. side.