3eyedwagon

This is yet another thing, that people bawk at, that real world experience has proven works. Is there anything incredibly special about the factory bolt holes that can't be repeated outside of the factory? NO. Sure, drilling another hole in the mounting flange is going to weaken that flange a bit. Apparently not enough that it can't handle a 3,000 vehicle pounding through ORV parks, spinning the tires, and bouncing off of rocks. Alot of guys bend radius arms, and tie rod ends, alot more of that than breaking wheels... Sometimes trial, and error is the best way to learn something.

"Leased" bottles always cause a pain in the A**, and usually the most likely people to get hassled by lease bottles are the ones whom have never leased a bottle in their lives... I've asked ALOT of different suppliers about the lease systems they use, and how they identify their lease bottles. The biggest obvious reason being that I sometimes score a killer deal on bottles at swap meets, garage sales, auctions and the like, and don't want to end up getting hosed by accidently buying a rental, or one in need of recertification. The only straight answer I've ever gotten was from my college's Praxair delivery guy. He said that rental bottles are usually painted rather conspicuously by each supplier, and that some of them are stamped uniquely near the pressure test certification stamp. That's about all the info I've ever been able to acquire. I do honestly think that the whole rental problem is one to be more wary of when dealing with much larger bottles, like on a set of contractor size torch bottles. I just don't think many small bottles get rented. I have had a guy at Central try to give me a rental bottle while I was trading a "K" oxy tank I owned for a full one. I confronted the guy pretty quickly, and he acted like it was a mistake. I wonder just how often that happens to less savy customers.... :-\ I guess my only lesson has been to thoroughly check used bottles before purchase, and keep an eye on the new ones you get when you trade.

Just for a different perspective; I have never had a problem getting one bottle filled anywhere. We have a bunch of different suppliers in our area, and I've got bottles from Central, Airgas, and Praxair all kicking around my shop. I've never bothered to take specifics ones back to the place of their original acquisition, and I've never had a problem. Sounds like you have some pissy suppliers in your area. Nice score on the welder though. We had alot of TA stuff at the college. It was pretty good.

Or you could just save yourself all the torment, and go buy what you really want, or think you'll utilize. If you really want to do alot of wheeling; do some research, make an informed decision, and be happy with your final product. If you want a neat parlor trick of a vehicle, that is mostly a conversation piece, you spend most of your time wrenching on, and enough money to actually go buy something capable of multiple trail trips; then bastardize a Subaru.... The juice aint worth the squeeze man. Just admit it, and get a pickup. Or Jeep. Flame away, but, I'm right.

Just as long as you keep the obnoxious ubiquitous huge wheels off of it; I'll forgive you for the airbags. Huge stupid wheels, hoewever, are unforgiveable.

I enjoy lowered pickups, but, bags are for sissies.

Jeff, Justice said he'll meet you at your place at 9am. Have a good time man!

^ Dear Accel, I'm available if you need a spokesman / PR guy. Sincerely, Will

No. They will gain you 10 Hp. Only by that they mean on a car moving ALOT more fuel than it was stock, and is in DESPERATE need of ANY more spark it can get. Basically, a well built small block Chevy moving 800cfm, or more, and retaining a very overworked stock ignition system, that desperately needs more spark to burn up all the raw fuel that ends up pooring out the tail pipe.... It's probably good for 10 horse pretty easy then! So, they don't really lie. They just are telling "the wrong truth"....

^ WTF? In your defense; what's a guy to do without AM Radio? Keep your KAPS on... eh Jeff?

I'm willing to bet, that in THIS situation, it is being done poorly, wasting fuel, brakes, and generally time.

That should take care of the fronts. Read it carefully, and you should be able to figure it out. The rears are the REALLY simple part. You just need 4 pieces of 1/4" X 2" flatbar. It doesn't have to be exactlt 1/2" X 2", but that is a good size. Anyways, you need 4 pieces measuring 4" in length. You need 5/8" holes drilled 1.5" from each end of the center of that 4" piece. Here's a rough sketch

^ 37s :-p

Wow, your friends had terrible luck, or a piece of crap charging system. With Optimas; they generally are on of those things that you get what you pay for. I've sold alot of batteries and both Optimas or NAPAs copy (the Orbital) have always been excellent. I have a few hanging around from 01, and earlier. The one in my S10 runs a 1200 watt stereo for hours on end without needing to start the truck. As far as all of your brand loyaltys: Batteries are like tires, and oil filters. There's really only a few manufacturers out there. So, there's a good chance that DieHard or Interstate rolled down the line next to one that was destined to get a Schucks sticker, and be sold for $15 less.

I think that banana may either be doing "The Macarena" or saluting Hitler. Maybe some strange combination of the two. Either way; agreed. That banana is both "funny", and "going nuts". It makes my banana feel so in-adequate

^ +10 It is, afterall, an EA82, and thusly, it deserves to be punished. When the motor gos, plop an EA81 in there, and then keep workin' the body.

^ He's referring to the cheaper unmarked base grade bolts that are most easily identifiable by being zinc plated and usually nothing else. I'm pretty sure Jeff understands the basic measurements of bolt hardness, and was using the zinc plating as a descriptor. The weaker bolts act as a "fusible link" of sorts. Solid idea, but, I'm a grade 5 guy. Mostly because we aren't dealing with heavy equipment, so grade 8s are a waste.

A 2" suspension lift would be a good start, and about as cheap as you are going to find. It'd be about $50 in materials (at the most) if you can manage the fabrication. It is not a difficult task, and the MANY threads here showing the installation / utilization of them shows how well they work. They don't eat axles like crazy, they handle pretty well on the road, and depending on how much you are willing to hammer on the fenders/body; you can run tires bigger than the engine/trans are capable of turning. I'd say the guys of NWWO have pretty well spoiled anyones claims that these lifts aren't reliable or strong. Just look at some of their threads. If you have your heart set on going bigger than a simple 2" suspension lift; you should know that you are looking at a much more complex task. You have around 18 total mounting points that need to have blocks between them. You need to consider things like lowering your diff, slightly more complicated strut towers front/rear, carrier bearing fab work, and all the other fun stuff that comes associated with detaching the body from its' crossmembers IE: brake lines, steering extension, coolant hoses, and other goofy little crap that always turns up. And NOBODY can give you an exact list of what you will need to do, or not do. They can only give you ideas, but, you will run into specific problems with YOUR car. The lifting of one of these doesn't take much time, it's the troubleshooting that takes awhile. Once again, if you can fabricate your own setup this shouldn't be an expensive task. I have a piece of 2"x6" rectangular tubing outside that is enough to lift 3 or 4 of these cars. It cost me $62. Figure in trussing pieces and bolts; you should be under $150 in materials pretty easy. Just like with everything else; it's all dependent on how you want to approach it.

You could at least try to be realistic.

tee hee jus wait, it's gonna blow up any second....

You pretty much totally misunderstood what I said, and then re-stated in different words. I've seen what they will break, in person, so you can skip the preaching. I've seen what others will break, in person, as well. It doesn't matter if it is a $1000 plus locker, a mini-spool, or a big nasty puddle of weld goober. They all make the same *SNAP* when the weakest link fails. Try an air locker in the front of your Yota without a Birfield eliminator kit, then get back to me about solid axle shafts not breaking. :-\ My point was: In the case of Subarus; you may as well make that snap as cheap as possible. Like I said; the juice on this one aint worth the squeeze.

What horror stories could there possibly be about welding Subaru diffs that would be any different than welding any other kind of differential. You are heating precision machined gears to about 3000* F and introducing new metals of different composition, and tensile strengths in a somewhat violent manner. Kinda like fishing with hand grenades. What could possibly go wrong? Seriously, it doesn't matter if it is a Chevrolet, Toyota, Range Rover, or Pagani. Welding a diff is welding a diff. Just do it, and live with it. The only difference is if you whipe out a Subaru diff; you are out about $25. This one's been talked to death. Another idea that just isn't worth the time or money for what the ultimate result will be.

The standard Windex formula includes ammonia. Ammonia + tinted windows = purple tinted windows, and a pissed off person They now make Windex without ammonia, but, I have yet to try it. That sucks that you are having problems with the Stoner Invisible Glass. I found it about 6 years ago now, and have loved it ever since. We used it at a detail shop I worked at, washed windows with it using newspaper, and it has always worked incredibly well for me. I'd stay away from the SprayAway. I've never found it to work very well or NEARLY as quickly as the Invisible Glass. Be prepared to go thrue alot more paper towels, and to have huge forarms. It will get a window clean, it just takes more applications, and more passes over it than the Invisible Glass. Check to see if it is tint safe as well. I've never checked. The only thing SprayAway really has going for it is that it is cheaper, and a good looking aerosol can. I've always been a fan of the "you get what you pay for motto".

I would hope you have no problem finding members.... I'd be mad if anything I own didn't make it 100,000.

^ It also matters if it's a drive on stlye lift. The frame grabber lifts need to be anchored, but, alot of drive ons can be free floating. Alot now even have wheel attachments to move them around, yet another bonus. I prefer a free floater as it can, with proper attachments, do both styles of lifting. A frame grabber style can't act like a drive on.