My 1988 Subaru XT 4WD Turbo.

[martinxt]

Hi everybody

I have decided to share my Subaru project with you all. First i will tell something about my self My name is Martin I am 20 yers old and live in Denmark in Koege. I'm currently under education to become a mechanic and I work at the local Subaru dealer/workshop so basically my life is dedicated to Subaru So as my daily driver i've got a 2007 Impreza and from about a year ago I bought 2 1988 Subaru XT 4WD Turbo's as a restoration project

The first pictures is from when i bought the car in Haderslev. I was not able to get the cars home the day i bought them so i took the engine which was totally disassembled.




This is the one in the best shape it has only done 140k KM and is only a rolling shell and it does not have and egnine, brakes or transmission in it.
This is running and will be used as a parts car it has done 265k KM and it shows but it has a transmission and brakes!

More pictures on its way when i know how to use this site

[BenzBoy]

Welcome to RR! I love these weird Subarus, I'd like to own one, or an SVX one day. You're working for the right company to be able to source parts at least. Hope you get a good staff discount!

[pistonpopper]

Wow, I've not seen one of those ugly things in years. What a superb find. What are your plans for these rare beasts, just a bit of a restoration, or are you planning to tweak them up a bit? Looking forward to following the progress of this.

[dikkehemaworst]

Is this the subaru with that incredible weird dashboard?

[martinxt]

Dec 14, 2015 3:52:41 GMT pistonpopper said:

Wow, I've not seen one of those ugly things in years. What a superb find. What are your plans for these rare beasts, just a bit of a restoration, or are you planning to tweak them up a bit? Looking forward to following the progress of this.

It should be the only 2 left in Denamrk my plan is to go original in terms of engine and transmission and then doing a 5x100 swap so I get better brakes and suspension but I'll tell you guys more about that later

[martinxt]

Dec 13, 2015 22:07:05 GMT BenzBoy said:

Welcome to RR! I love these weird Subarus, I'd like to own one, or an SVX one day. You're working for the right company to be able to source parts at least. Hope you get a good staff discount!

Thanks a lot recently purchased a entire parts storage from a closed down Subaru dealer I Roedding so I got 3.000 parts were a lot of the fits my XT and of course there is a staff discount

[Bibbles]

There are only a handful in the entirety of Europe it seems. Think there are 2 left in the UK and 1 more thats beyond repair. Apparently even Japan is running really low on bits for them as the guy in the UK had a nightmare sourcing parts (allegedly so don't quote me on that haha). Good luck and I'm watching with lots of interest.

[düdo]

The '80s on four wheels. Great design but looks like a long haul resto. As you're in the Subaru bosom you've got a better chance of finding the last of the parts! I looked up the 'weird dashboard' as suggested by dikkehemaworst . Do you have this? Looks nice - like a spaceship - but quite a lot to go wrong I reckon! Good luck.

[martinxt]

Dec 14, 2015 3:58:18 GMT dikkehemaworst said:

Is this the subaru with that incredible weird dashboard?

It is indeed but I don't have the digi dash but it's still awesome

[martinxt]

Dec 14, 2015 10:30:46 GMT düdo said:

The '80s on four wheels. Great design but looks like a long haul resto. As you're in the Subaru bosom you've got a better chance of finding the last of the parts! I looked up the 'weird dashboard' as suggested by dikkehemaworst . Do you have this? Looks nice - like a spaceship - but quite a lot to go wrong I reckon! Good luck.

My interior is blue but only analog speedo but would love to get my hands on a digi dash

[martinxt]

Dec 14, 2015 9:32:16 GMT Bibbles said:

There are only a handful in the entirety of Europe it seems. Think there are 2 left in the UK and 1 more thats beyond repair. Apparently even Japan is running really low on bits for them as the guy in the UK had a nightmare sourcing parts (allegedly so don't quote me on that haha). Good luck and I'm watching with lots of interest.

I've got a lot of new old stock parts to the transmission, engine, suspension and so on

[dikkehemaworst]

martinxt If you have some money left. There's currently one for sale in Holland , albeit not with digidash.
bidding starts at 1500,- euro's but always worth a punt.
link.marktplaats.nl/m1000712257

[martinxt]

Dec 14, 2015 13:13:44 GMT dikkehemaworst said:

martinxt If you have some money left. There's currently one for sale in Holland , albeit not with digidash.
bidding starts at 1500,- euro's but always worth a punt.
link.marktplaats.nl/m1000712257

Hmm tempting but I have plenty of work with the 2 I have now ?

[smeden]

Nice seeing you here Martin! Looking forward to more welding on Sunday :-)

[joostvdw]

Hi martin that's some project you've got there! I also own a XT but an 1987 one with MPFI, 5spd and digital dash, sadly no more air ride but I may restore that one day. If you have any questions (I guess not since you work at a subaru dealership and are a mechanic, but hey) feel free to ask, I have multiple manuals and am a self proclaimed specialist Looking forward to your progress and interesting to see what you're planning with the 5x100 conversion (I silently dream of a supercharged EJ15 in mine...)

[martinxt]

Dec 14, 2015 15:47:14 GMT joostvdw said:

Hi martin that's some project you've got there! I also own a XT but an 1987 one with MPFI, 5spd and digital dash, sadly no more air ride but I may restore that one day. If you have any questions (I guess not since you work at a subaru dealership and are a mechanic, but hey) feel free to ask, I have multiple manuals and am a self proclaimed specialist Looking forward to your progress and interesting to see what you're planning with the 5x100 conversion (I silently dream of a supercharged EJ15 in mine...)

Awesome to know I'm not the only one with a xt in here It might be possible I need som help in the future my air ride is also completely shot :/ I have an EL15 in my impreza and it could be fun to super/turbo charge that one

[martinxt]

Dec 14, 2015 14:37:20 GMT smeden said:

Nice seeing you here Martin! Looking forward to more welding on Sunday :-)

This is a nice place to do a build thread because people are interested
And i look forward to get some rust done aswell  

[martinxt]

So while waiting for the cars to be transportet to Koege I started cleaning the engine which was a mess. Who would know an entire EA82T can fit in the boot of an Impreza but it did


You could see the ass on the Impreza was hanging a bit with all this engine in the boot

Cleaning progress, the engine was covered in tar and stonechip paint which all had to come off.

Left side cleaned for old head gasket material yo can see the difference the heads and block will be skimmed later.

Cam housing also to be cleaned

so i cleaned as much as i could at that time and place so i will continue later

[mattiwagon]

Good show that man! Best Of luck with the build dude

[martinxt]

Some more cleaning done.. but i have ordered a soda blaster so everything wil be cleaned againg with that because it can remove the dirt from tight corners were my toothbrush cant reach xD