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That’s interesting about the raised strut setup. I wonder if Ironman in Oz will be offering the same thing, not that I’ll be needing it. Clearly the US market has identified a market big enough to cater for. Now they just need a decent low range… And Subaru should drop a ute into their line up again. It would be awesome to see a modern day Brat/Brumby built in the same manner as the original was - and make the tray/bed area big enough to hold/carry a dirt bike and some camp gear, then they’d be onto a winner… Cheers Bennie

Good Transmission shop can pull the codes and give you some more info.

So the Tin Can has been sitting for about 2 years. Got it in me yesterday to get the old girl fired up For those that don't remember (I barely do) she's a 93 fwd sedan that I plopped a 96 Impreza 2.2 in with a 94 fwd Impreza 5 speed behind. Well she didn't want to get going but that's probably because I never did finish the swap, but once she did fire up..... Holy spoob did I completely forget how insane that thing is. Talk about a burnout machine that little car will lay about 300 feet of tire on the ground in 2nd gear. I'm gonna see what I can do to get her legal and have one last hurrah before pulling the drivetrain out for my even longer hibernating GL-10 and sending the body off to that great junkyard in the sky. If anybody is near Pennsylvania and wants a $300 shell of a loyale sedan, let me know. It's got lots of good and rare stuff on/in it New brake calipers and rotors, drums, an RX interior (no not the checkered one) Look up the tin can in my posts to see the car. Cheers everybody. Been awhile!

Bloody Murphy! After posting saying I can’t see anything the embed video pops up. *facepalm* Cheers Bennie

yeah, sometimes it goes that way.. I got lucky with that one. even more so since i had a friend in the auto shop classes at the community college i think it cost me $5 to get it fixed, lol the point is, start with simple stuff.. and go from there.

So I went and did it. That 87 DL is sitting in my driveway now. I'll be posting in the 80's Subie section soon I'm sure.

Hey first post, but was proud of my work so thought I'd share... Installed some Mitsubish Lancer seats in my 86 brat. $40 bucks each from the junk yard! Was able to do it with a hand tools and a drill.

Now for the next dose of critters and carnage. We hit the Kentucky Adventure Tour just outside of Lexington and headed east/clockwise. https://kentuckyadventuretour.com/ At least part of it followed the Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway. https://www.ridethedbbb.org/ Fairly early on I thought we should check out one of the “hard” options. Almost immediately it went down a badly rutted out long steep grade. There was a wheel and tire assembly and Land Rover bumper along this grade, probably not a good sign. We thought we could probably get back up if we had to but figured it went through so one way or another we could get out. Portion of this was along an old railroad grade that someone spent a lot of effort building. Some of it was washed out making it barely wide enough for Subarus. Near the end of the day we got to a tunnel which went under the RR grade, drove down to that, through, and back up. Camped for the night along a stream. The next morning we continued down the grade until we got to a four way intersection. Our first attempt was the GPX route which went up a fairly steep long rocky grade. I broke a rear axle trying to make the climb in high range. B towed me up to the next level spot with my car having only front wheel drive (center diff locked). We swapped it out. First time we've ever broken a CV stub, all the other rear axles I've broken have been the bar shaft. On closer inspection it turned out the bar shaft also broke! Just after we finished we were checking out the next portion of the climb which had even bigger rocks and we watched some modified UTVs cruise up it easily. I think we could have done it but we decided to try one of the other options. Our next attempt was to continue on the RR grade. There were a few badly washed out sections, some just wide enough for a Subaru to drive over. Other sections were so badly washed out that there were bypasses. One in particular went down and across a small stream. B tried it but didn't have enough approach angle and got the front end stuck in rocks. I tried pulling him back up the muddy clay bank but his car started sliding sideways. Eventually we used the high lift on the back bumper, shoveled out from under the car, and put a ramp under the RR tire. Then I was able to pull him out. We both drove through the stream and continued on. Here you can see the (rail?) road base. Eventually we came to a bridge that didn't exist but the supports on either bank of the stream were impressive stone structures. There was a trail down to the stream but the bank was soft sand. I think we could have driven across it if we'd been able to get off to the side. I took my shoes and socks off and walked through. Put them back on and walked about a half mile down the grade. There was one narrow section but other than that it didn't look too bad. There was possibly a way down and across the stream and up out of the valley but I didn't walk it to see for sure. The grade eventually came to a narrow cut in the rock with an old locked gate at the far end. We decided to turn back around, this time I got stuck trying to drive up the soft bank on the far side of the one tiny stream. Winched to a nearby tree and continued back to the four way intersection. The last option crossed a river and required driving down the river a bit. B walked it, the water was a little over knee deep. I went first in the Outback with water coming over the front of the hood, probably the deepest water crossing I've ever done with it. Did get some inside but not a lot. Z drove the Forester across and we continued, eventually getting back to a main road. Long story short it took us about a day to cover maybe five miles. Z got stuck in a muddy section of trail in the Forester and right after we pulled him out a group of wild horses came down the trail. We stopped at a railroad trestle that was marked just off the route, there were a few trails there including one that went over the trestle. Sunday we did a lot of pavement driving. We were trying to hit the KY state high point and get close to Knoxville to pick up some wheels for travelvw. Most of the route seemed to be paved. We stopped at a park in VA to get out of the car and make PB&Js. Saw some red spotted newts mating in a small lake. We short cutted the easternmost part as it appeared to be paved on my map and this would get us to the Jackson NF. Unfortunately that was almost all paved too. We got to the high point of KY. Then we continued and eventually got to more unpaved sections. On a rutted out climb I dropped a tire in a big hole and when it came back down it broke the other rear axle. I was able to take an easier line up the hill in low with the center diff locked and made it up with just front wheel drive. B and I swapped out the axle and by then it was getting dark so we made dinner and set up the tents. This one broke the axle shaft but on closer inspection the outboard stub was cracked most of the way around. Monday morning I found a salamander and a big American(?) toad. Tried driving to Hensley Settlement even though that road was marked extreme on the GPX route. Got a ways up it and then stopped at a levelish spot. Just got rockier from there so we decided to turn around especially considering we were running out of time and had no more spare conversion axles. We drove up to Pinnacle Point in Cumberland Gap NHP. Overall a decent trip, way more pavement driving than we like. Plenty of recovery practice and low range use. If this was the part of the country you lived in, a Toyota or something would be a much better tool for the job. Low range in both cars was working great all weekend. Engine oil leak in the Outback even seemed to slow down significantly.

Couple recent fab projects. R was sick of the factory rear lateral link adjusters either self adjusting or rusting solid in place. Really don't like the idea of having the threaded bit right in the middle. We made up these from some right and left hand bolts, threaded rod, bungs, and 1.125" tubing. Brush painted them hoping that will hold up a little better than our normal rattle can painting. Doesn't look as good and started assembly before they were fully cured because we're that impatient. Used Whiteline bushings, have always just used Subaru in the past, they seem to last indefinitely. These are far easier to install though. Had to cut the old ones out. Replaced eccentric bolts with 14mm bolts and nuts, welded some spacers inside the stock rings to locate the bolts. Seems to work so far. Finally got tired of using this dilapidated wooden block for the floor jack for our lifted Subarus.