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What it needs:

- cupholders: why not be comfier?
- middle door speakers
- rear struts
- inverter: easier to charge household electronics
- jumper cables or some battery start device (emergencies)
- compressor: for airing down & back up
- fire extinguisher: dry summers here
- middle seat headrests: the manual shows them there, but all I have are plastic loops?
- CLOCK: will not keep time, and someone tried prying it off which only bent some of the plastic
- hubcaps from 14" wheels missing
- 14" alloy wheels... are any available? lighter would be nicer.
- wiring upgrade for headlights
- better headlight globes (in the mail? )
- driving lights: if the above globes don't cut it
- fender extensions for the rear
- check out the rear suspension; driverside wheel about 2-3 cm more outboard than passenger rear.
- seat belt return spring a little limp
- body mounts; squeaky over some bumps

What I've added

- flexi flares to the front fenders (rego, but they look nice too)
- 35% tint all around
- dome light had a piddly 3W globe and I replaced it with a 10W globe (before was weak as a single birthday candle)
- convex mirror on the passenger side mirror
- beaded seat cushion

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that you're going through the usual process of pimping/customising your L series to what you want it to be... Many have been there before so do some research as to what and how they went about it.

Another one to add is front seat upgrade to something from the late nineties.

I'd be checking out that wheel that sticks out further than the others - grab some pics of the rims for us and do some measurements as you may have two different types of rims with differing offsets - or something is severely bent/worn out on that rear corner!

Clock: Pull it out, remove backing cover and re-solder dry/cracked looking joints where the wires meet the board, easy and cheap fix!

Middle door speakers are easy to fit so long as they clear the window when it's wound down fully.

Rear struts - Are we talking the tailgate struts or the suspension struts? If suspension check out the recent treads about the honda spring mod. Super cheap to do and a great improvement!

Fire extinguisher is easy - I've got one that will be mounted under the front of the passenger's seat.

14 inch alloys - hard to come by but are out there!

Search forum for wiring headlights. It's pretty easy and your local jaycar or auto store should be able to supply all the parts you need plus a wiring diagram for the negative switched situation

That's about all from me for now.

Cheers

Bennie

Watch the 10W globe doesn't melt your light...

sven '2' wrote:Watch the 10W globe doesn't melt your light...

I took a look at it after I installed it.
It has about 1 cm air gap around it, so not plastic is contacting it.
10W is much hotter than stock?
Perhaps I could drill some small holes in the dome cap for cooling.

The 10W globe looks great btw.
It no longer feels as weak as a single birthday candle,
but like a proper modern dome light.

My L Series also doesn't have a tachometer (none of them do?) and my motor's so quiet and smooth I often can't tell if it's running, leading to occaisional whines from the start due to over-cranking. I was trying to think of good places to mount extra gauges and I'm thinking the factory clock looks pretty cheap. Such a big piece of plastic trim for some itty-bitty numbers. I'm wondering if that might be a good place to install a tach. I'd also like a coulant temperature gauge that actually reads in degrees. A voltmeter and oil pressure gauge would also be appreciated.

What do you think about the factory clock?
Like it and I should leave it, or take it out to put in gauges?

P.S. It seems my car does have pre-heater equipment intact, in the air-cleaner box. All I need is some hose?

There are l series with tacho dashs. The car diagram is alot smaller. As for other gauges there are a couple of guys on here that have put them off the dash unit. And also bennie has them down under the ashtray are.
Have a search through other build threads to have a look.

2nd Hand Yank wrote:
P.S. It seems my car does have pre-heater equipment intact, in the air-cleaner box. All I need is some hose?

I would say your heater has been disconnected because the heater core has crack or corroded (a common problem)

you can reconnect it but it may leak all over your interior floor

TOONGA

yes as toonga sed that was my very first obsticle on the old girl, I just went down to the local radiator shop( shopped around alittle first) and got a nice brass one cost bout $250- $320 from memory 'wagonman' (john) I believe just got one, as for the 10w interior light I've got these, http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-X-CAR-INTE ... 5166wt_952 not exactly these ones but yeah along the same lines.
They are a white light which I like dunno if yours are, as with the rear and tail gate lights are all white ones, realy good.
Also these are recommended unless you have a work light or something else, but they are so much brighter than the stock ones.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-White-19- ... 868wt_1139

As bennie sed the honda civic springs are the way people are going now, I personally are going to do that.

With the realy quiet engine you should be happy with that, alot of L series owners will tell you that they get quiet noisey, mine defanatly is that one of the reasons i'm going for the EJ22 conversion

Another good thing to look at eventually is redoing all the suspension bushes if they dodgey, I just did mine and it makes a huge differance.

Heres my build thread, it's not as big and complete as some of the other guys on the forum but it's got a couple some things you might or might not use, showthread.php?t=19305&highlight=dann%27s

Well thats my two cents sorry if my essay was alittle long and repeated other people :P

Tacho Dash's - came in the touring wagons, GL sedans and the RX turbos. If you want one you either buy an after market tacho gauge and fit that somewhere - typically to the steering column.

Or you get a tacho dash from one of the above models and rewire everything behind it to make it work. By re-wire I mean nutting out what pins need to be changed on the two circular clips and the two rectangular plugs that operate the instrument cluster. That's a bit of work and not many have done it.

I cheated and did a loom swap from a touring wagon front to rear. Epic but worth it in my mind, I think I may have been bored at the time too...

Cheers

Bennie

TOONGA wrote:I would say your heater has been disconnected because the heater core has crack or corroded (a common problem)

you can reconnect it but it may leak all over your interior floor

TOONGA

The cabin heater? It works fine.
I meant a system specifically for heating the air to the air filter.
Are you saying that my heater core is cracked or corroded, even though I have cabin heating?

I thought the carburator pre-heat just uses engine heat or electical heat to heat the inlet air.

2nd Hand Yank wrote:The cabin heater? It works fine.
I meant a system specifically for heating the air to the air filter.
Are you saying that my heater core is cracked or corroded, even though I have cabin heating?

No your cabin heater will be fine then, unless the passenger's floor underlining is wet with coolant... I think Toonga may have read your post about the ducted hot air intake wrong!

2nd Hand Yank wrote:I thought the carburator pre-heat just uses engine heat or electical heat to heat the inlet air.

Correct. All you need is the flexible foil pipe to connect from the cat shield to the air cleaner's intake.

Cheers

Bennie

Other things I thought of...

I bought a can of paint for doing a coat on the underbody.
It says it deadens sound as well as protects from corrosion.
Would it be worth taking out the headliner and spraying the inside of the roof?
On second thought "spray" and "interior roof" sound like a big mess... get a brush on coating? I'd love to have more insulation on the roof,
both to dampen the sound of rain (:???:) and also it might help keep the car cooler.

dash mats claim to make the car cooler,
perhaps by keeping the air ducts cooler from sun heat. Does that really work? The summer sun here in WA is relentless and intense, so even if it's a marginal-but-reliable difference it would be worth it.

thoughts of steering wheel covers?
I've never owned a vehicle with them, but the steering wheel on the L Series is rather hard and narrow.
A steering wheel pad might help a bit in a collision (bouncing off it )
and it might make holding the wheel more comfortable on long drives.
But they could also be a hassle; something else to wear and get dirty...

Auxiliary cornering lights inside front wheel wells...
This is so can see around a corner in the bush, before you start turning the wheel.
I've seen some guys in car or 4x4 magazines do it.
I'm thinking something small and lowish wattage. 55W?

Extra reverse lights? I'm thinking similar wattage to the corner lights.

What are the largest tyres I can fit on my L Series without knocking going over bumps?
Currently I have 185/70R-14's and a subtle lift kit.
I was thinking something in the 195 range could work.
If you need to see photos of my lift kit and vehicle stance, I can post them soon.

Are there any common, affordable and proven mods to improve both power and fuel economy on a EA82?

the driver side headlight reflector is definitely loose.
I can make the whole housing wiggle by pushing the adjustment screw forward.
I want to aim my driverside beam up a little higher, but turning the screw is pointless atm.

Is this an easy cheap fix?

2nd Hand Yank wrote: dash mats claim to make the car cooler,
perhaps by keeping the air ducts cooler from sun heat. Does that really work? The summer sun here in WA is relentless and intense, so even if it's a marginal-but-reliable difference it would be worth it.

Maybe by the heat absorption properties of the mat are different to the dashboard's - thus making it feel cooler or reducing the amount of radiant heat bouncing off the dashboard.

2nd Hand Yank wrote:thoughts of steering wheel covers?
I've never owned a vehicle with them, but the steering wheel on the L Series is rather hard and narrow.
A steering wheel pad might help a bit in a collision (bouncing off it )
and it might make holding the wheel more comfortable on long drives.
But they could also be a hassle; something else to wear and get dirty...

If you were worried about the steering wheel in a collision I'd be wondering about you're mental health. I'd be worried about surviving the crash in an L series!
The skinny steering wheel is not an issue on a long drive - I certainly don't think about it and I don't think it's ever been a big issue either.

2nd Hand Yank wrote: Auxiliary cornering lights[/B] inside front wheel wells...
This is so can see around a corner in the bush, before you start turning the wheel.
I've seen some guys in car or 4x4 magazines do it.
I'm thinking something small and lowish wattage. 55W?

Extra reverse lights? I'm thinking similar wattage to the corner lights.

Waste of time in my opinion, but the reverse lights would be a good idea - I've been meaning to hook up a set on my L but haven't got around to it yet

2nd Hand Yank wrote: Are there any common, affordable and proven mods to improve both power and fuel economy on a EA82?

Yep. It's call an EJ22

2nd Hand Yank wrote:the driver side headlight reflector is definitely loose.
I can make the whole housing wiggle by pushing the adjustment screw forward.
I want to aim my driverside beam up a little higher, but turning the screw is pointless atm.

Is this an easy cheap fix?

Probably a new light is required... I've not had this happen to be before though.

Cheers

Bennie

2nd Hand Yank wrote: thoughts of steering wheel covers?
I've never owned a vehicle with them, but the steering wheel on the L Series is rather hard and narrow.
A steering wheel pad might help a bit in a collision (bouncing off it )
and it might make holding the wheel more comfortable on long drives.
But they could also be a hassle; something else to wear and get dirty...

I own a detailing workshop so we get to 'rubbish' the seat covers, steering wheel covers, floor mats etc. from the dealership cars that come in. I've always hated the steering wheel covers but I now have just a plain black leather one & it makes a huge difference (to me anyway). Took a fair bit to stretch it over the wheel too. If you do get one make sure the inside is very grippy so there's no slippage on the wheel.

El_Freddo wrote:Maybe by the heat absorption properties of the mat are different to the dashboard's - thus making it feel cooler or reducing the amount of radiant heat bouncing off the dashboard.

If the ducts lie close to the dash surface, then a mat would increase distance and insulation to the sun.

Do you think this amount would be negligable?

If you were worried about the steering wheel in a collision I'd be wondering about you're mental health. I'd be worried about surviving the crash in an L series!
The skinny steering wheel is not an issue on a long drive - I certainly don't think about it and I don't think it's ever been a big issue either.

I've had seatbelt cuts to my neck from being rear-ended hard.

If it won't do much, I won't bother.

Waste of time in my opinion, but the reverse lights would be a good idea - I've been meaning to hook up a set on my L but haven't got around to it yet

Now I remember, it was an article on rock-crawling/technical offroading.
I think it makes sense having some sideways lighting for offroad,
but whether or not it can be wired up and look good is another issue.

Yep. It's call an EJ22

Not much love for the EA18's?
Odd that "car buddy" rated the L Series as marginally more efficient than a Liberty.
Perhaps that's due to weight and gearing of the Liberty?

Probably a new light is required... I've not had this happen to be before though.

Cheers

Bennie

I figured...

But maybe with all the money and work required,
I'd get more vision improvement with a set of driving lights.

I wonder how much a new headlight assembly costs.

Thanks

The side lights - Yeah good idea I guess - but I've never been 4wd'n at night when it's really been required. A set of overhead spreader lights would probably do a better job... One way to find out.

The cost of a new headlight would probably be about $30 I'd reckon at the wreckers or you might dig one up from someone on the board (*cough* Guyph *cough*).

I don't think the dash heat will effect the air ducts that much - the car will be so hot anyway that it won't really matter once you've got the windows down and the AC starting to cool down (if you've got it). Also a reason why you leave the windows "cracked" open a little bit when parked.

EA82. Don't waste your money on getting "performance" from it because you'll end up wasting a pot load of money when there's a much easier route to go - the EJ series engine, either an EJ20 or EJ22 will do the job with about twice the balls of the EA82!
Carbuddy may have rated it more efficient but we're talking about a smaller engine in a smaller body. My EJ22 on long distance trips can pull a much better fuel economy figure than my EA82s could. The only one that was the best was a freshly rebuilt EA82 MPFI that consistently pulled good figures but still didn't move as hard as I wanted it to...

Cheers

Bennie

Lights in the wheel well are designed for night rock runss... makes it eassier to place your wheeels

^^ The coast of WA has some rocky spots, so lights in the wheel wells might be smart.

Picked one up from Supercheap this Saturday.
After trying out a few kinds, including a cheap 11L/minute one
I'm loving how easily my new compressor inflates tyres.
I was hesitant at first, thinking it was overkill for compressor size and weight
but it seems to be a perfect fit for a Subaru.

72L/min seems to air up as fast as the regular valves can air down.
I can inflate my 185/70R-14's from 15 psi to 35psi in about 1.5 minutes.

I wonder if I'll be more popular on AUSubaru now, carrying a 72L/min compressor.
I would invite me along for some soft-roading, if I didn't have fast compressor.

- pulled out from a stop, onto a 110km/h-limit freeway with one car maybe 300-400m in the distance
- by the time I reached 85 km/h someone was nearing my bumper, with my throttle still near the floor
- they pass me on the right and pull back in front of me, only they're cruising at 105km/h
- about 3-5 seconds later my car catches up with them, I'm still having my foot near the floor
- another 5 seconds later I'm finally passing them on the right at my desired cruise speed; just a touch above 110km/h

Does anyone else have any funny Subaru stories?