Subaru XT Turbo Coupe

[nigxl]

Were off again.
Finally bought the car I viewed maybe 6 years ago.
Owned one in the early nineties and they were few and far between then.
Parts were not available then, who knows what's available 30 years on???

[nigxl]

Unfortunately garage space is limited so my Alfa Spider has to go.
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/210264/alfa-spider-extensively-restored-pembrokeshire?page=1&scrollTo=2522036
Open to an offer on this as it's currently in a garage that has just had an offer accepted on the property so needs to be moved pretty soon.
I know I'll be taking a big hit on this but I really don't need two cars and one garage.

[NudgerSS]

Nice. I was watching that on the Bay of E.

[nigxl]

Thanks
It's not without issues however.
Looks like one or both of the head gaskets have gone.
Luckily they are available.

[nigxl]

Decided to lift the engine out and have a look how bad it is.

May as well do a full engine rebuild with new everything as it's such a rare car.
Got a couple of mates who are really good on the mig so they have just become my new best friends.
Think this is going to be a total strip and resto, watch this space.

[NudgerSS]

If you’re stripping it right down then you may as well go for WRX engine swap perhaps? Look well with some wide arches and Gold wheels. Picture for inspiration.

[nigxl]

Oct 16, 2020 22:12:09 GMT NudgerSS said:

If you’re stripping it right down then you may as well go for WRX engine swap perhaps? Look well with some wide arches and Gold wheels. Picture for inspiration.

That may well be an option
I'll get it out soon hopefully when time allows

[nigxl]

So I decided to pull the engine and found the problem as soon as I'd taken the cam towers off.
It had decided to spit out one of the freeze plugs in the head allowing the water to mix with the oil.

[nigxl]

Back in and waiting for water pump and seals to arrive so I can do a pressure test.

[HoTWire]

Always loved these things. Shame they are so rare now, good work on the rescue though.

[The Jackeria]

I'll be following keenly that's for sure. Love an XT, there's just so much tech packed into them, I'm sure I read somewhere they have adaptive steering that lessens the amount of turns lock to lock depending on speed and steering input, not to mention the lift suspension. I have been searching the internet and forums high and low for these over the past few months and think I have finally exhausted the possibilities of finding more - the numbers on how many left.com appear to be close to accurate, I don't think there are any left in the UK that have the digi dash, at least I haven't come across one with it. I really wish I was an infographic designer so I could find a way to display the information of those left in a really cool way.

[nigxl]

There may be another for sale soon.
The guy I bought this one off has offered me another.
I decided to decline his offer as I don't have the space or time for another.

[nigxl]

Parts are really becoming an issue for this car.
I thought I'd found the correct water pump and brake caliper rebuild kit, how wrong I was.
The pump is 6mm higher and the pistons don't have the receivers for the handbrake.
Thanks Autodoc.

[DaveEdge]

It can be a nightmare getting the correct parts for older/rare Japanese stuff, especially when they have a non performance based identical model, part numbers seem to dilute within one another and there's usually several that have now been superseded by several more...

Amayama JP parts might come up trumps if you know the part numbers.

Is there an XT forum? I'm guessing they'll all be based abroad in particular OZ.

Don't like going to the dealer but they might be your only option or at least have some correct part numbers, if you don't have any, to go off.

If it were mine, which it obviously isn't. I'd bypass the engine rebuild and struggle with parts and see what's involved with a EJ swap. Plentiful, parts easily sourced, might mate up to your box and probably won't cost more time/money than rebuilding the engine what's in it?

[nigxl]

Dealer surprised me today. I can get a new pump for £20.
Seems too cheap to me but we'll see what arrives.
Ordered new caliper kits from them too, the original pistons have cleaned up fine.
I fancy keeping this as original as I can, it's already had a suspension swap and has a broken spring so that's another job on the to do list.
Yeah there is a big following in Oz and USA and parts are more readily available, the dealers don't normally post internationally though.

[adam73bgt]

Do like these, really funky looking

For parts, might be worth checking out Rock Auto in the US, can often get good prices on bits (which are a bit offset by the shipping..) but they're fairly quick on shipping if you use the FedEx option

[yoeddynz]

+1 for rock auto. I get lots of bits from them and usually arrive within a week!

[nigxl]

Thanks guys Rock Auto it is then.

[Ritchie]

Rock auto can be amazingly cheap for some parts aswell, I've used them for Sub parts and have never had any problems.

[nigxl]

Bit of tinkering today whilst waiting for parts to arrive from Japan.