Just inherited this beast over the weekend. My brother found it at a co-worker's place out in SD. I said "how much?!", he said "come get it...". To make the deal even better, my mom and stepdad just bought a parts truck this weekend from up by Cambridge. They brought this thing with on the way up so I even got free delivery! She's a little rough, but I couldn't say no at that price. Anywho, from what I can tell it's a 1980 GL 1600. 4 spd w/ selectable 4wd. Definitely seen better days but it seems pretty complete. Interior smells atrocious - I'm guessing a combination of mouse goodness and the greenhouse effect of sitting outside for years. My plan originally was to just make it yard art. Would be cool to maybe do "something" with it at some point, but I've got plenty of projects on my plate already so it's definitely not a priority in the slightest. A "modern" drivetrain of some sort would be cool(er), of course but that's a lot of work. And I didn't get a title so it'll be limited to off-road use only. We'll see. Worst case I've got a free lawn ornament.
No idea. No idea how long's it's sat or why. I figured I could give it the justice of putting a battery in it, some fresh gas in a temporary supply device of some sort, and at least make sure there's oil in it and see what happens. If it doesn't run I might pull the motor and hang it on the wall in the garage. It's really the cutest damn thing you've ever seen. The motor, not the car... Haha.
Nice! Photos of the interior? I can only imagine the stench. I'm sure it's been a rodent motel for a long time.
I'll get more pics in the next couple days. There definitely some cool little detail things on it. I'm afraid if it were to ever see use again the interior would have to be gutted. I can't imagine you'd be able to get the smell out by doing anything less than starting over.
Gut it and run RallyX with it? I'd love to see that econobox modified and dressed up like an 80's group B car. Would be even better if you could manage to get an EJ and a Legacy or Impreza drivetrain into it...
Funny you should mention that. First thing I told the wife was how awesome would it be to put the whole drivetrain from our 95 Legacy into it? Got both cars for free at different times and the Legacy hasn't seen regular road duty for almost 4 years now. But it still fires up as soon as you ask it to and never complains when we take her through the woods or a field.
Lol go for it! I was just looking up a little info on the GL and came across a guy that swapped an EJ22 and AWD trans from a 92 Legacy into his 83. Couldn't find any details on the build though, so I have no idea how hard it would be.
That would be the ultimate. I did a quick Google as well and found a bunch of EA to EJ swap stuff. A lot of people going from EA81 to EJ22, and basically doubling the horsepower (70 ish to 140 ish, haha). This thing has an EA71, which I'm assuming is smaller and has even less power. Only downside to my Legacy is it's a 95. Saw a couple things about the swaps usually cut off at 94. I don't know if that's an ODBII thing or what. Assuming it'd be hard enough either way. That said, if you happen to see any solid info about a swap feel free to pass it on. Thanks!
Most of the obdI to obdII cutoffs i've seen in vw, honda/acura and jeep were around 97-99. It's possible though there was something major around 94 involving emissions that messes with things. Through my vw ej22 swap research there was a major set of changes in 94 and 98.
