1991 SS, and a trip.

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1982gl4
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1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Well I found a pre facelift sedan on here, the only problem was it was across the country. I've been looking for one for the last few years, and I made the decision to bite the bullet and make one heck of a trip across the country.

Last friday I took a bus to Boston with my Dad, and then a plane to portland. A day later (after visiting the evergreen air and space museum) Here are some pics of that,

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A giant carburetor from the spruce goose
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Felt so nice to see green grass again!
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I purchased the car from a forum member and and started driving home later that day, the small oil leak, turned out to be not so small, and we were loosing about a quart every 100 miles or so. So we went to an autozone planing on fixing it the driveway when we started talking to this really cool VW owner, and he offered his garage to us! So in Grants Pass Oregon Dad and I fixed the leaking oil cooler.


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California!
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We drove along rt 199 into the redwood forest, and then 299 into redding california which were two of the most amazing roads I have driven in my life, they were absolutely amazing both as far as view goes, and the roads were the super curvy canyon roads, unfortunately I don't have any pics of the roads as I was focused mostly on driving, but I do have some pics of the car in several places along the roads.

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The Pacific
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This is the point where we started running into some pretty crazy weather due to the storm walda that was taking up most of the country. Outside of Redding we ran into snow! This became a problem as the tires that came with the car were sketchy at best.... Other wise this would have not bothered me at all being from the northeast I'm used to snow, and bad driving conditions.

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And as we started going south it got worse, it looked like this for most of the time were were driving from Redding to Reno

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And then outside of Vegas, sandstorms, some of them mixed with snow. This was about the time one of the tires gave up as well, the old tires couldn't take the constant 80mph and one of the belts in the LF gave up causing it to shake at lower speeds.
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By the time we got to the Hoover Dam things started to clear up. What an amazing place this is you could actually hear the power lines.
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The next day in Flagstaff AZ we got some more weather, I also broke down and got new tires to get me home, the last road trip I took I lost 3, I wasn't going to let that happen, so after talking to the guy at the front desk I found anderson tire was a good local place.

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Everything went pretty smooth minus some more rain and snow until we got into texas, where it started to get super windy, and we had some crazy sand storms.
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After that there was some ice, rain, more ice, cars, trucks, campers upside-down off the road everywhere but I gave up taking photos at this point as I was trying to get home, the next real stop was seeing our friend in Tennessee who has a pretty cool collection of cars now. Including his now two oner Lincoln Continental

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And his honda ruckus
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After that my dad and I drove home in a day. We put on 4410 miles in a week, and the car was great except a few small issues, now I just need to sell off some of my fleet so I can start building it up!
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
FundamentalyConfused
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by FundamentalyConfused »

How much did that trip cost you?

I've thought about going out west to get a SS but I've never been able to get that kind of $ together.
1999 Forester S 5MT 200,000 miles and counting.
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1982gl4
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

The trip in total was about $2,100 not including the car obviously, and not the tires because I have already sold them as I'm going to put my prodrives on it. I don't consider it too bad with two people, plain tickets, a day of a rental car, all the gas, food, and lodging for a weeks worth of driving. I've been saving for a while, and a week before we left my father and I got over 1,700 in scrap metal from the parts cars we had around.
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
matt00rs25
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by matt00rs25 »

Pretty cool
SILINC3R
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by SILINC3R »

Wow, great trip. Glad to see yall made it back in one piece.
Tony
90 LS Spec rio red sold
91 SS rio red R.I.P
90 Mazda Miata
2005 GT SWP
92ss satinsvoice wrote:LOL! that block was like F*** THIS! IM OUT!
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1982gl4
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Thanks guys, I wondered if we were going to make it back in one piece during several occasions due to the weather...


I did bring it to work today, and got to do some maintenance, and swap out some broken/worn stuff that has driven me crazy over the lask 4k. First off I changed all of the fluids, including the brake fluid, and clutch master fluid. All of them looked pretty good, with the exception of the gear oil in the trans, it was pretty nasty looking, it was also over filled by a decent amount.

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New stuff!

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I also changed out all of the filters good thing I did, the air filter took a beating in the sand storms
All of the stuff next to it is the sand that came out of it...
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I also washed it, inside and out, and pulled some of the stickers off, I left the Oregon state on in the rear quarter window
She cleans up pretty well.
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I also did my first mod to it! I gave the rear taillights the same treatment as my wagon, I will say it is much easier to do on a sedan, I didn't even have to bake them!
Before
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After
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I also swapped out my seat belts, as one of them no longer retracted, swapped a couple of trim pieces out of my parts car and changed out the shift knob for a non worn out one.
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
Legacy777
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by Legacy777 »

Nice pictures and write up on the trip! Looks like quite the adventure. I've done about 5 cross country trips in my Legacy and while it can be a lot of driving, I do enjoy them and the car does very well!
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
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Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Thanks! It was a pretty awesome trip, and I was amazed how well the car did, for just jumping in something and driving it 4400 miles, I couldn't be happier. I was also surprised how good of a trip car it was, for being 21 years old it was pretty comfortable.
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
cartwheels
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by cartwheels »

So glad to see this car went to a good home. Any plans for fixing the body?
1994 Legacy TW
1993 Geo Tracker
1991 Legacy SS (finally got one!)
1982gl4
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Yes, I usually paint cars myself, but I'm thinking this one is going to get a professional job, I do a lot of body work myself, so that's not a big deal, I need to find some doors, and spend some time on the right rear quarter, this summer I'll probably just touch it up to keep it from rusting, but over all it's very solid so some dents do bother me. Hopefully tonight I'll be changing the leaking valve cover gaskets.
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 pm
Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Changed the valve cover gaskets, they actually looked fairly new, but the drivers side was leaking pretty good, the bottom of the head was all oil, and the up pipe was getting a pretty decent amount of it too. I also cleaned the valve covers while I was there. It basically made me had where I live, just a little scrubbing in the parts washer and they looked like new, if the car had been here it's whole life they would have been very corroded, like the ones on my other car...

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I also replaced some of the very hard and brittle pvc lines with some silicon based hoses I had at work.

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Up next I need to figure out what the check engine light comes on for occasionally, maybe tomorrow night. The abs light is also on, but I think that system may not be around a lot longer, never cared for abs, it just has a bad history of being a garage door killer at my house...
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 pm
Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Got to work on this some today! I swapped out my new wiper linkage, so nice to have that not hitting on the a pillar every time I turn them on.
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the worn section of the old one.
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Swapped on my prodrives today as well, the car is a bit low for how wide they are though, and now they rub on the fenders both front a rear. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it yet. I may roll the fenders, but I kind of have a thing against that. I may see if I can run a slightly smaller tire or something. Anyways it looks great with them.
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1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
beatersubi
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by beatersubi »

1982gl4 wrote: Anyways it looks great with them.
Correct.
Nice find and cool adventure story. Its always fun to hear others' stories and know the feeling of having been there.
93 legacy wagon L, 22T swapped (TW imitator) now with five forward speeds. (Gone, but never forgotten)
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1982gl4
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Thanks! Owning this car has been an awesome adventure so far. I've put over 5k on it now. I also ordered many suspension parts last weekend after selling my wrx. I have whiteline sway bars, links, and rear mounts on the way. I also ordered a momo wheel, boost gauge and a few other things. Tonight I got something in the mail for it! I've been waiting for these for a couple of weeks now.

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New (to me) jdm turn signals! I also hooked up the parking lights correctly for the edm's. Right now the lights I just got are not hooked up to anything, but I think I may turn them into turn signals, as that's what they would have been overseas.

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1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
BiNiaRiS
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by BiNiaRiS »

1982gl4 wrote:I think I may turn them into turn signals, as that's what they would have been overseas.
If they are the same as the US ones, the in-bumper turn signals and the corner parking lights share the same connector. I just connected the bumper light wires into the parking signals and boom, done. You'll have to lengthen the corner light wiring to get them to plug into the bumper but I just left them unplugged. Parking lights are pointless anyways.

And I've always wondered why people on the East Coast don't fly out to the west coast to get their older used cars. I wouldn't' be able to handle the rust :\
1982gl4
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Thanks for the info! I'll never know why more people don't just fly out and get a clean car. I see so many battling rust (and loosing) I'll never buy a car from this cost (unless it is south, way, way south) to keep for my south, or keep it just long enough to sell it...

Today I de snorkused my car, some said it made more turbo noises, but I really didn't notice a difference. I made it from some threaded pipe, exhaust tubing, and some steel brake lines all welded together. came out pretty decent.

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I also got my whiteline endlinks in, and then realized I can't use them without swapping out the rear control arms, but I think I have a set so it shouldn't be a big deal. If not I can come up with a mount. I also got some new speakers in.
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 pm
Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Got some more parts in today! New momo wheel came in, master cylinder brace, and a boost gauge. I love ordering a lot of parts all at once. Swaybars were shipped today as well, those are what I'm waiting for the most. That and the momo hub so I can have the new wheel!

Pics

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I also replaced two of my speakers tonight I think it was past time.

This was the better of the two I took out.
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New ones
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I also got a chance to re glue the rear speaker deck as the fabric was falling off.

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I also got given this sedan (not turbo) this week. I think it threw a rod. I got it to start for a second, none of it sounded good...
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Last edited by 1982gl4 on Sat May 04, 2013 4:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 pm
Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Got my boost gauge in tonight. I also hooked finished installing the speakers. So nice to not have 21 year old speakers.

Peak boost function in use.

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Tomorrow I'll be installing my master cylinder brace, and maybe pulling a motor to put in a 2002 rs that I picked up to sell.
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 pm
Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Got my momo hub adaptor in. Installed the wheel this afternoon. I have to say it is a bit smaller than I was expecting, but I think I'll grow to like it. I also got my rear sway bar mounts in, all I need now are the sway bars, and I also need to get my rear control arms off from my GT wagon parts car so I can mount them.

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I've also decided I don't like my boost gauge in its current location, I may make a gauge pod to replace the center dash vent, or below the radio, I like the dash vent idea, as I'd like it to be as visible as possible
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 pm
Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Got my rear sway bar installed tonight, as the rear links I was missing came in yesterday! Went very well, the car is so rust free both of the giant bolts in the rear hubs came right out, along with all the other bolts. The car handles very well now, and is super enjoyable to drive. It is a bit stiffer, but not annoyingly so. However it seems to be rubbing more in the rear now for whatever reason. I need to order strut spacers this weekend, I'm just trying to figure out which rear mount my car has...

For whatever reason photobucket will not let me upload more than just this photo of the front sway. So here it is for now. I'll add some more of the rear when I can.

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Now i just have to fixed the rubbing issues, and I also have to get some brakes, my rear pads are super thin.
1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 pm
Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Well this is getting old. Next on my fix list for sure....

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1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
BiNiaRiS
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by BiNiaRiS »

1982gl4 wrote:Well this is getting old. Next on my fix list for sure....

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If you're still pissing yourself at your age, you should probably talk to a doctor
1982gl4
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

So if you are going to ship calipers that are painted, it would be really nice if the brake fluid was taken out of them first, the finish on one of them is ruined, and I need to get a new sticker for it.... (The box they came in also looked like it went through a post office war) The rest of them are in great shape. Now I just need to wait for ss lines, and the rear brake adaptors to come in.

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1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
Legacy777
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Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by Legacy777 »

That sucks!
Josh

surrealmirage.com/subaru
1990 Legacy (AWD, 6MT, & EJ22T Swap)
2020 Outback Limted XT

If you need to get a hold of me please email me rather then pm
1982gl4
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Posts: 127
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:40 pm
Location: Worcester, VT

Re: 1991 SS, and a trip.

Post by 1982gl4 »

Got my brakes on last night, I think I need to re bleed them as the peddle feels a bit soft to me still. But over all I can tell they are a huge improvement, And the looks freaking sweet. I repainted that one bad caliper with a por15 caliper kit, the paint is a bit darker, but close enough for brakes. I need to order a sticker, and it should be looking great again.

Fronts all mounted up
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Rear adaptors in place (took a while to grid them to fit....) And rear dust shields removed
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A couple of installed pics.
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We also took this down to WBM, and it was awesome, this was my second year going, car went great, and we had a ton of fun cruising down with some friends.

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Rolling shot!
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1991 SS
1993 SS part's car, dead due to rust
1992 Legacy L wagon
1984 subaru GL wagon
1986 Brat (work in progress)
Several Air cooled VW's
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