Mountain Wagon Project aka Junkyard Dog

[northcoast]

I picked up a 1991 LS Wagon for an insanely cheap price. $50 bucks and an old snowboard I was going to use for a bench seat. The previous owner had it sitting under a tree for a year because he thought he had a blown headgasket or warped heads. I figured it was a good deal even if that was the case because the body, interior, and tires were in excellent shape. Car started up instantly and sounded great so I gave him the money and got the title.

I pulled out of the driveway and headed for the gas station since it was on "E". When I turned the corner I hit a pot hole and heard a big clunk. The guy failed to mention the only thing actually wrong with the car...the suspension. The front swaybar was snapped, passenger side ball joint was toast, and struts were OEM. The overheating/head problem the guy was having was actually an air bubble due to the new radiator he had installed himself and a plugged heater core.

After several trips to the junkyard just about everything is fixed or upgraded. Here's the list.

$50.00 - Car
$13.50 - Front swaybar and new roof rack (old one had bent cross bars
$20.50 - New ball joint
$130.00 - Complete strut assemblies and rear swaybar from 98 Outback
$13.00 - JDM Power folding mirrors
$175.00 - New 205/70/15 tires and rims
$15.19 - Oil change
-----------

$417.19 Total

Crappy cell phone pic.

[Saskatoon Subaru]

how does an oil change only cost you 15.19?

[northcoast]

Bucky's Auto ... $13.95 + Tax = $15.19

Cheaper than I could do myself plus nothing to dispose of!

[James614]

Wow, I didn't think Outback struts and tires would make such a big difference on a BC/BJ. Looks a good deal beefier than the Outback (probably because you don't see them like that), me likes!

And by the way, I hate you for getting a $50 car in good condition, sans a swaybar and balljoint.

[vrg3]

Yeah, that is a sweet deal. And what a fun fixer-upper!

On the subject of oil change costs -- The Costco near me sells Mobil dino motor oil in 12-quart packs for about $21. The Advance Auto Parts on the way home sells Purolator L14460 filters for $3.18. That comes out to just over 10 bucks per oil change. Add a couple of bucks if you neglected to get crush washers at some point when they were cheap so you have to pay $2 for the one at Advance.

[Murphy]

wow! thats an awesome deal! my tires cost $80, and they didnt even come with a car to put them on!

yeah Autozone is were i always go, if stuff is on sale you can get 4 quarts and a filter for about $8-9

[beatersubi]

$13.00 - JDM Power folding mirrors

[northcoast]

$13.00 - JDM Power folding mirrors

Yep...thanks to a guy named Andrew in Kirkland who had a 2.0 installed in his wagon. Other than the tinted glass that was about the only thing left I wanted off that car. The scoop and other fun stuff was already gone. Although I did find enough change in the spare tire bay to pay for my admission to the junk yard that day!

Future mods include:
Steel tube front and rear (with swing gate) bumpers similar to the Allied Armament models.





6" Lift
2.5" Headers
Skid plates

[smh0101]

Damn... thats pretty cool!

[Fkyx]

Sick.

[Kowalski]

whoever owns the wagon with the brush guards and big ass tires is my hero. i hope one day my car will have 1/10th of the badassedness of that beast... anyone know whos it is or any more pics? the AA site only has one picture of it from what i saw.

[northcoast]

Update: My little beater is getting expensive.

Head Gaskets and Clutch Replaced: $1,495.00
I ended up have to have the head gaskets replaced. Gaskets were just worn out. According the mech's, "the heads look brand new" and they didn't have them shaved even though I had previously authorized it. Since the engine was out I had a new clutch put in as well since the old one was on it's way out after pulling an oversized load over the pass.

New Tires: $726.50
215/75/15
BF Goodrich Mud-Terrain KM2's (aka Never get stuck in the mud again...at least when it is still lower than the horizontal trim molding on the door. I am still finding mud in strange places in, on, and around the car after that trip.)

(Insert gnarly mud slinging tire image here)

Front brush guard: $28.75
It turns outs that Isuzu Rodeo accessories only need very minor mods for fitment. Well at least to fit on my temp bumper.

(Insert "beefy brush guard with retarded bumper" pic here)


I'll post the pics as soon as I've got them uploaded.

[SILINC3R]

holy badass Subaru batman. i would rock the heck out of that car in a business suit and pull up to work in it. lol

[SWRT]

What's this Rodeo Brush Guard? It fits on our cars?

[northcoast]

Yes...with slight mods. I'll take a pic once the sun comes up so you can see. Sorry it took me a year to respond.

[northcoast]

Originally I was going to connect the stock guard mounting eyes to the two loops on the sub frame but opted for increased ground clearance and welded some angle iron on the guard and bolted it to the frame instead. I then took the sawzall to the brush guard and cut off the stock mounting brackets below my new ones. Here is the finished installation with winch and fog lights.







The back bumper has also seen some changes. For the longest time I had a 2x12 mounted to the stock brackets until I back into a tree and bent the brackets. I was running around without a bumper for two years but finally got off my butt and welded up some scrap I had laying around. I sold my safari rack and had no place to carry my jack so I welded on some studs to the vertical supports. Here is the finished product. Ugly but functional.



6" lift was ordered today. That is the next project. Snorkel and dual range transmission swap to follow!

[SWRT]

Yep. Definitely worth the wait. That looks freakin BA, man.
Where the crap did you get one for $30 though?

[northcoast]

The junk yard. Lucky find on my part.

[SWRT]

I'll say. I'll have to start checking around I guess

[northcoast]

I drove this car to work this morning. 50 mile commute. During the last 20 miles I noticed I was losing power steering. Then when I pulled into a drive through the car was running a little rough. The car has been having issues with the TPS so I figured that was the problem. I revved the engine a couple of times and it started to smooth out. Then while I was talking with the guy at the window I heard a loud ping and a clunk. My car was running fine so I didn't think it was mine. I asked the kid what the sound was and he had no idea but he had heard it too. I left the the drive through and drove to work. Now I had no power steering at all and the battery light was on.

When I pulled into my office I popped the hood and saw the belt was off. Figuring I had a broken belt I grabbed it only to find it was intact. Uh oh...now I knew what the clunk was. My main pulley fell off!

I have a spare pulley at home but do you guys think its safe to drive without it or should I try and find one locally before I drive home?

[vrg3]

Yikes!

50 miles is a long way to go without an alternator, even if you were able to fully charge the battery. I wouldn't try it. If you have the means to stop every 20 miles and charge the battery up, then you might be able to do it, but in the end your battery will definitely be worse for the wear.

Also, you'll probably need a new woodruff key as well as a new pulley. And take a close look at the end of the crankshaft. If you're unlucky, there may be damage to the keyway on the crankshaft itself.

[SWRT]

I agree with the above post in its entirety. You may also
want to check the gear behind the pulley though when
you change out the key. If it's twisted on the inside then
you'll need a new one of those too.

[hallie]

Dont drive without a crank pulley because there will be nothing holding the cambelt drive gear on other than the cambelt!
So if that moves it could be game over for the engine

[beatersubi]

The same happened to me recently. Luckily for me it was on the way home from ~25mi. trip.
I was able to replace the pulley w/ a spare I had and there was enough key left that I just liberally coated the bolt with loctite and gave it little extra torque. I'm planning on pulling the engine for a rebuild soon, so I'm not worried about running it like this for the time being but normally I'd pull the timing pulley and replace the damaged key.

[vrg3]

Woah, hallie, good point! I totally missed that! You could install the crank pulley bolt without the crank pulley, though, right?

It wouldn't necessarily be game over -- it's a non-interference engine -- but it would be a mess for sure.