The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hey all, bought this 1987 Subaru Leone GTX at the start of summer and decided to start a thread while procrastinating. NZ-new, 1 owner from new and 228,000km, turbo and auto. Has a complete service record, 1" of receipts... Has only done 40,000km since its last cambelt in 2004.

Anyway, not so good:
-Numerous small rust spots from stone chips
-Windscreen corners were done in 2008 and are just starting to come through again
-Rust starting to come through on roof and paint is pretty rough in general
-Front bumper is pushed in
-Has a jammed left rear window.

Drove 300km home and went well, temperature less than half the whole way. I do like the 'boost' light. :P
Pics:





More pics will come soon.

Nice score ... any plans for a lift kit with the manual conversion?

The LSD diff is an option extra from factory (many will argue it wasn't and that you car will have the LSD) but remember yours in 3.9 not 3.7 (another point for argument)

The easiest way to see is look at the sticker on the diff if it says LSD on the sticker be stoked. if you have no sticker you can open the top filler hole in the diff and see if looks like an LSD.

look at this page http://www.xcceleration.com/lsd-101.htm for more info.

have fun

TOONGA

Nice find ... where is the :like: button ...

I probably wouldn't bother with a lift kit as Dad has a Pathfinder for actual offroading, and yes, I have watched videos of many modified Subs such as Rooby Scoo, but for the tracks in NZ it just wouldn't work. Too much mud, ruts etc which really need a locker or traction control to stop wheels spinning, not o mention the sheer steepness of most of them... I'd take it on a mild track as is, it has a factory bash plate and alright ground clearance.
Not to mention that a lift probably wouldn't work on my budget (student).

Had a quick squiz at the diff, no sticker.

Oh, and the above pictures are actually approximately 2 years old.

Today the weather gods decided it would snow. In autumn. So I decided I would test the 4x4 out, and it did admirably. Not as much engine braking as I would have liked however, even with shifter in 1.








I would apologise for the picture dump, but I know you all love pictures.

Also, any tips on how to fix the front bumper? It's really annoying me and makes the car look like crap. Window fixing tips would also be good.

And no, the doughnuts on the snow weren't me...

Here's the last two pics:




Also, how do you resize them?

I'd get a straight second hand bumper and replace it. Although yours is colour coded so maybe you could fit your bumper skin onto the straight bumper reinforcement, not sure how the skin will straighten out though.

Nice car though!

Depends on how good are you at panel beating ?

You can 'de-skin' the bumper as Venom says & 'panel beat' the sub frame back into shape - the skin will 'bounce back' into original form to some degree - however it will still show marks from its misadventures ...

Cheers, Bantum ...

Cheers for the help. I'll take the bumper off, remove the skin and try panelbeating it, if that doesn't work then I'll take Venom's advice and get a new beam for it.

As far as the electric windows go, what's the most common reason for a single window (back left) to stop working?

Thanks.

if it will move with a hand assist on the glass when the switch is on then the motor is probably on the way out. If it does not move at all - then

1) possible electrical connection fault, if both switches fail to make it move then check if its the power to the motor in the door -

2) mechanical jam - regulator (gears) or even wear or loss of the "U" shaped plastic/felt channel that minimises the friction so the glasscan slide within the guides

3) something else

Sweet ride mate - and a great colour too!

Have you got the 4 gauge cluster with the turbo light or the 6 gauge RX cluster with turbo light? I'm curious more than anything as I've only ever seen one of these in the same colour at the wreckers and it had the 4 gauge cluster Otherwise I'd have it now, just like the rear discs

Also, a note on the images - best to resize to 800x800 for forums - makes it easier to view them. Don't worry as my first images are the same as above We all do it!

Keep the pics coming

Cheers

Bennie

This one actually has the digidash, in bright green! It's cool, except that at night the tach numbers aren't lit up (it has horizontal tach, hard to explain). I'll post a photo for you guys tonight. I would have preferred the 6-guage RX pod though. And a full-time manual 'box.

The colour is very rare, from what I've been able to work out it was only 86-87.

I really love driving this car. There's something great about hearing the turbo spool and then the wastegate release it. It does have the tick of death when cold but it's not too bad.

Oh, and it has rear discs too.

Thanks.

and rear sway bar?

No rear sway, and I don't think it has an LSD either, haven't had time to jack it up yet and test.

Dash for Bennie:


Here's some more pics:





I should've taken another of the view, it's beautiful up there on the Otago Peninsula at Rotary Park (somewhat ironic name as it's often used as a skid pad)

Also, what are the symptoms of a dying voltage regulator? I ask this as the stereo cuts out intermittently when driving around town and the revs change, but it doesn't do this when the headlights are on, and it was fine whilst driving for 4 hours at night at 100kph...
I also need to reseal the sump as it appears to be leaking. Something is, anyway.
Oh, and it's started rattling something awful when in R.

Thanks, Luke.

Probably just chosen the wrong wire to power the stereo. In my old wagon it was hooked up to the horn circuit and used to cut out all the time.

Interesting dash. My touring wagon has a digi dash too but different again from yours and the vortex ones. Very similar though.

very nice...you're making lots of people on here very jealous lol

Any pics of the engine bay? Would love to see under the bonnet!

So you're in Dunedin. I lived in Christchurch for a year, a few days before I left in July it snowed down to sea level, Dunedin would be even colder. I hear people from Invercargill have antifreeze in their veins

Love the digi dash

I'd say the earth wire is incorrectly hooked up on the stereo and it's using the earth off the lighting circuit but this is just a guess.

Dunedin hey.. did you ever see a white RXII L.Series around? like this one

Thanks for the pics Kiwi L - that's a clean looking digi dash, still not the same I remember seeing years ago from a forum member who's no longer on here...

Your sump leak will be the dreaded oil pump leak - it can do some "funny" things to look like a sump! Get a new rotor set, shaft, shaft seal and the "mickey mouse" oil pump to block seal - that way you know everything is fresh and not going to leak or suck air

RSR 555 wrote:

I think I just wet myself a little...

Cheers

Bennie

So, it's been around 9 months since I got this car, and about 2 months since I passed it on. I started this thread to chronicle the car and throw a few pics around, but unfortunately it's on its way to the great Subaru heaven now.

The reason why, is terminal firewall rust underneath the wiper area and below the spare tyre. When I bought it I thought it looked good overall, with a few rust spots and that, but after owning it and parking it outside for months, it really started to degrade. The rust was coming through on the roof, the stone chips around the wheelarches were not great and the A-pillar bases had come through again. Also, the 3AT was getting rough, it had developed something of a worrying rattle when reversing and the shifting was a bit odd.

30 years in the Dunedin climate isn't kind to old Subarus.


The final nail in the coffin was when it failed its warrant on rust - I needed a car for the winter ski season and being a full-time student I didn't have the time or money to invest in the car (a repair like that requires professional welding here). So I sold it to an American, who'd had a few "GL wagons" as he put it, back in the 'States. He wanted an auto so his girlfriend could drive it too, and he was looking at fixing it up. I told him about the forum here and I'm kinda disappointed to see he hasn't continued the thread, actually.

Anyway, after selling the L, I needed a car - so when a good Forester came up at a price I couldn't resist I jumped, and now own this:

My build thread is here:http://offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=5568

Yes I know, a lot of you guys have probably already seen it.

Anyway, I wish I could have kept the L, but I just didn't have the time or money to do it justice and I had nowhere to store it. There are still enough good ones kicking around in NZ to buy one later on - the problem with mine was both the body and the drivetrain were rough, and I wanted something a bit more modern and safer as a daily driver/trip car. It was a fun car for the time I owned it though. And you never know, I might buy it back one day.

Bit of a sad tale, I know.

Shame to see it go