I had driven around with the lift for a while, getting my jollies off by catching stares from passers by and dual exhaust echoing across town.  My front fenders were off, and I had a fuel pump and a gas tank under the hood for a fuel system.  I had this system rigged up just to get it running, because the fuel circuit went out.  I wired up the car's fuel pump to a lamp cord and ran it through the brake line grommet to the front seat area.  I temporarily had a spare battery on the passenger front floor, with clips to the fuel pump. I had a set of jumper cables from the spare to the main to keep the spare up, but I could run it a few days without the jumper cables connected, and 10 minute's driving would top it off.  The fuel pump was wired to a switch and the battery was moved to under the hood.

Soon the rear lift collapsed as I was driving around town.  It rubbed a tire and made it go flat. But it was funny to drive it like this, especially when driving past the guy you fixed his semi trailer for.  The look on his face was unbelievable!  So now the car went in shop for repairs.  I had to take the rear lift out and bend it back into shape and weld in a lot of angle iron. Now we had a sturdy rear lift.

I had to bleed the braking system since In had the master cylinder out. The brake pedal would hang up a bi, and you had to 'stab' the brake pedal to clear the hang up.  But one day it lost feel and didn't act like it was doing anything.  So I was driving around on the parking brake.  But at least they're connected to the front wheels.  But down shifting helps a lot with the braking.

Time had come to junk the 87 GL-10.  My boss had a 2 axle trailer and I had a 2 inc ball.  So we load up the GL-10 onto the trailer and hitched it up to my Soob.  Would you believe my crazy dumb ass would tow a car with no brakes and a floppy lift?  Of course I would, because who else would.  I seen the sheriff and pulled ff to the side and let him pass.  I was pulling along mid way through fourth gear, and the RPM's sat fat in the torque curve at 2500.  The turbo cams with their minimal valve overlap made the Subaru engine pull better at lower RPM's.

Well now I got around to baja'n the TrashWagon. I took it to the field and did a few laps.  Ro-neece was already stuck by the hairpin. I came out towards the front and seen a van coming down the lane. I go to make a u turn and my car just keeps goin' round!  I got out to look and the steering had come disconnected.  I'm there pondering my situation while the lady in the van asks us to leave.  The cross member mount had come undone, therefore allowing the steering to pull apart.  I managed to slip the u-joint back on and drive home.

A weekend of baja'n had taken its toll on the homemade lift.  I decided it was time to take the lift out.  The front end had become twisted and distorted, and the alignment was screwy.  As an alternative to a lift, I wanted to put a suspension lift on the front.  But this was nothing that I had to fabricate.  I simply used the lower control arm and longer axle from an EA82 wagon.  This modification allows for the use of the EA82 strut and steering knuckle. But the Tie-rods would need swapped for the steering knuckle. 

Mounting the lower control arm required modifying the mount on the cross member. The EA82 control arm is longer and sits farter forward than the stock control arm.  I had to cut away the welds on an EA82 cross member and take the rearward bolt-through parts.  Then they are welded to the cross member of the TrashWagon. The EA82 strut rod and bushings are used in the stock mount. The EA82 ball joint is larger than stock, so I used the steering knuckles and struts from the EA82 wagon.  I used the stock strut caps to bolt them in. The strut cap bolt-thru must be drilled out, and the strut itself must be secured for torque.  I tried to swap over the tie rods, but the differences were mine was a manual rack and the parts wagon was a power rack.  The threads were 'same sex' between parts, so that would not work. I had to cit the existing tie rods and weld in little nougats of steel and u channel iron to lengthen them.

My 83 Subaru wagon was now ea82 driven, but it was pyostey yellow with half rusted sheet metal and a big dent in the rear.  It was due for some bodywork.  The dent was pounded out as best as possible, and a slab of sheet metal covered the rear quarter up to the windows.  Its perfect because it fits behind the bumper and mud flap molding.  I did the other side to match, and give baja resiliency.  My past experienced prove that 99 cent Wal-Mart paint will fade in a few months.  This time I opt for the Krylon. The sheet metal used some wire wheel work, and the body was scuffed down with a scotch brite pad.  I removed the roof rack and window trim.  After The paint dried TrashWagon 5 was back on the street.

From a previous purchase I had a set of Chevy 16 inch 6-lug rims.  These rims were going to be modified to fit on the Subaru hub.  First I used a spare brake drum as a template. I popped 2 opposite studs out and bolted it to the rim.  From the back side I used the holes on the drum to drill through.  After the holes were drilled the center of the rim had to be ground out.  There was a lip of metal about ¼ inch wide around the hole, and that is what I used to keep my hole even as I ground it away.  I got a set of 21 mm lug nuts from Napa, as the stock 19mm ones want to pull through the rim.  I mounted a set of 205/55 16's to the rims.  The larger wheels amplified my alignment problem more.

Not having any brakes made the car rather a pain in the ass to drive.  And I had  another Soob that needed a motor.  It was time to retire TrashWagon 5 until it is complete.  The baja lights need hooked up and the motor leaked at the cams. 

After a winter of sitting outside with a flat tire, and after getting the legacy out of shop, TrashWagon 5 gets a new motor.  The motor is from a carbureted 86 4wd sedan with 60,000 miles.  It had a blown head gasket, and that lead to its availability.  I tore the heads off and replaced them with ones from a 150,000 SPFI motor.  I did the swap because the exhaust studs were intact.  After The long block was assembled, it was degreased ans scrubbed down with The Works and a scotch brite pad.   After a rinse, I doused it with acid toilet bowl cleaner.  A nice foam and a noxious cloud slathered the motor.  I let the toilet cleaner soak and then rinsed it off, and then dried it with an air hose.  Next the block got polished up with a wire wheel.  It was the shiniest Subaru motor I have ever seen.  I shot the motor up with some silver spray paint.  I left the timing belt covers off for style and ease of service.  The cam and crank pulleys are orange, and the tensioners are black.  The AC and alternator brackets are painted white. The compressor is black and the alternator is orange with a white fin and a black pulley.  The power steering mount is white, and the pulley is orange. The pump is un painted.  Although the car is manual steering, the pump provides a pulley for the existing belts.