blitz

Gary, great dyno charts. My only two observations about the runs are that the revs begin at 4000-4500 RPM. In a dyno chart provided by Cobb to show HP gains with their straight ram-intake setup, it was obvious that the removal of the stock air-box created a huge hole in torque below 3500 in exchange for a slight improvement above 3500 RPM. Not my idea of practical commuting power, but for racing (in conjunction with a cam and exhaust) it would be sweet. The other thing is that the aluminum intake manifold can cost 7-8 ft. lbs. of torque depending on how heat-soaked it is. This is especially a factor at lower revs on account of the slower-moving air spending more time being heated in the runners of the manifold. I ofter wonder if the second of two dyno runs in a sequence will always show lower figures due to this. **** ******!

How much crud is in the IAC, the PCV, the T/B? (All air-flow at idle is through these three orifices ..two of which are fixed & one which is variable.) How are the underhood grounds? Are the battery terminals clean and tight? When was the fuel filter last replaced? When was the air filter last replaced? When was the last time you've looked at the plugs? Are they tightened properly? Are all the intake hoses tight? Are all the vaccum hoses secure and not cracked? Do any of the underhood connectors have green on the terminals? I just looked in my service manual and I don't see any adjustment specs for the IAC. What specs did you adjust to? **** ******!

California cars don't have those defroster wires in the rear window. **** ******!

I get the feeling your more of a "fix it after it breaks" rather than a preventative maintenance type person. The casual manner that you throw a "maybe this code is actually part of an unrelated fix" means that you complicate the diagnosis for everyone here the same as you do for yourself. When was the ECU last reset? How many of those codes are freshly logged? How many have been accumulating? What exactly is "messing with the IAC"? Finally; what is the general maintenance condition of the vehicle? How much crud is in the IAC, the PCV, the T/B? How are the underhood grounds? Are the battery terminals clean and tight? Sometimes sensors go out of range (defective), but most of these things that "go bad" are related to dirt and corrosion. **** ******!

Hook up a DVM and drive around with it. The TPS is supposed to provide the ECU & TCM both with a solid analog DC voltage signal that varies with throttle opening, but doesn't drop below .45V or go above 4.5V. Start by having it hooked up to the TPS output (right at the TPS connector). When the CEL comes on, check the meter. If the reading is bouncing, then you have a problem upstream of where your meter is tapped into. If the reading's not fluctuating, then the problem is downstream (toward the ECU / TCM). Move on to the next appropriate connector and repeat the test there. Rinse, lather, repeat. This is signal tracing ...it's time consuming and cumbersome, but either you get your mind around the technique, or you pay someone else to do it. First make a little drawing (of the 3 wires) on paper, then follow along it logically. **** *S****!

The flat crank V-8 offers some lesser benefit by way of being able to cross-couple the induction/exhaust pulses differently. I'm not sure if it's necessarily better or just more adapable to a certain rpm range. There's not a whole lot of public domain info on the subject. **** I*****!

I just keep hearing good things about the Triple-Tred. I've never had a tire get quieter with age, only noisier. Noise tends to be a hallmark of directional tread. **** ******!

They do something similar with their V-8's by using a flat crank (180*) instead of the usual 90* quarter-throw. IMO the largest benefit for Ferrari is the characteristic "wail" distinctly different from muscle-car tone.

Yeah, it's the frozen snow inside the wheel itself that'll really get you. Jump on the freeway in the morning on a tight time schedule and hOlY cRaP! I've gotten in the habit of blasting the wheels and the wells at the car wash before I park it for the evening, or at the very least I'll take a snow brush and push the snow out.

I'm with Josh. Also note that the problem is intermittant rather than constant. Important why? Well, when doing your diagnostics, you need to be looking for an intermittant problem instead of a constant one. Checking a sensor is a 5-minute job, but tracing the integrity of the rest of the harness involves starting at one end, and working systematically toward the other - don't jump around ...that won't give you any useful information.

The really neat thing is that you clean the goop off and decide you liked it better with the goop there ...don't sweat it. It'll all be back there within a year. **** ******!

My '02 has a stickyness to the throttle cable. It's not sticky to the extent that it would hang open or anything, but just sticky enough so it's difficult to drive smoothly sometimes. **** ******!

They're part of the I-M-P-R-E-Z-A family. OK, what do I win?

You me and a good majority of people. At one time Fram WAS a quality product, but they couldn't resist cheaping-out I guess.

I envy you. Me...'00 OBS ...almost to the point of having rust holes around the rear fender well ..massive rusting/corrosion on the brake rotors and associated components, worn-out struts, battered suspension bushings. Yes, welcome to the metro-Detroit driving experience. Roads that are one part salt mine & one part saturation bombing.

Most likely. As far as I know, there's only one solenoid - it's purpose to vent/purge the evap canister when the ECU tells it to. Easy as heck to replace. **** ******!

No prob. man. My rant is that Subaru literature plays up the piston design (cut-down crown/high ring pack position, trimmed skirt, and twin coatings) as being a deliberate ecological move when in fact it's just a result of pushing the otherwise excellent EJ platform beyond reasonable design parameters (to wit: more displacement). All the EJ-series motors (1.8, 2.0, 2.2) are based on a common 75mm stroke geometry and use the same connecting rod ...but not the EJ-25. http://www.drive.subaru.com/SubaruDrive-Sum02/Piston-Cranky.asp Regarding the "advanced" 2.5 piston; the fact that the piston used in the EZ-30 has it's ring-pack returned to a normal position away from the crown and has it's skirt length returned back to a normal length sums it up.

Again, quoted directly from my original post: REPEAT: Where am I saying that moving the wrist pin increases the stroke? What I'm saying is that after the stroke increase, the wrist pin (and the piston) will be higher up in the bore at TDC. The top of the piston will be poking up above the deck. At that point how would you get the piston crown back to a zero deck height? Simple, you fit a piston with a cut-down crown. The same thing happens at the bottom. The piston needs to be cut away at the bottom so it clears the crank and the block webbing. There's no room to spare in that dimension with the boxer ... duece and a quarter slant-six maybe, but a subaru boxer no man. The result is a piston shaped like kinda like a wafer ...very tippy in the bore.

IMO, it was greed for displacement on-the-cheap. Bad gamble, and I hate to say it ...but it reeks of "GM-think". Only kidding about the active wheel, but it wouldn't suprise me to something like it someday.

Last week I repaired Kim Wilson's (Fabulous Thunderbirds) famous Red Bassman ...now I'm thinking about developing an "active" wheel that changes shape in anticipation of road irregularities for the purpose of smoothing ride quality and improving handling. Cool huh? The 2.5 is a bored & stroked 2.2 ...it's a stretched design. If you stroke a 2.2, the piston moves farther at both ends (TDC & BDC). The crown pokes above the deck at TDC and the skirt contacts the crank at BDC. The wrist-pin position was raised relative to the crown ...or alternatively: the crown was lowered relative to the wrist-pin position. What it accomplished primarily is that it keeps the top of the piston from poking above the deck at TDC. The skirt was trimmed back to keep it from contacting the crank at BDC. The latest Sube brochures show cutaways of both the "streched" EJ-25 and the more normal-looking EZ-30. The EZ-30 piston looks more sane to my eye.

Straight from my post: I make no mention of moving the wrist pin sideways. In order to keep the piston crown from poking out above the deck, the wrist pin had to be relocated HIGHER on the piston (closer to the crown). In order to keep the skirt from contacting the crank at BDC, the skirt had to be trimmed.

OEM or Purolator Premium Plus #L14460. **** ******!

How 'bout Active Audio Knock Cancellation (AAKC) as part of the car's audio system to improve the S/N (signal to knock) ratio? **** ******!

Recipe for piston slap: Take an inspired design like the 2.2, then lengthen it's stroke by moving the crankpin further out from the centerline so it swings a wider arc as the crank rotates. This drags the piston down further into the bore at BDC (tHAT'S oK, jUST cHOP sOME mATERIAL fROM tHE bOTTOM oF tHE sKIRT) and pushes the piston out of the top of the deck at TDC (nO pROB, jUST pUSH tHE pISTON bACK iN sO tHE cROWN iS fLUSH wITH tHE dECK aND hAVE tHE wRIST pIN pOSITIONED hIGHER oN tHE pISTON). Garnish with moly coating in an attempt to mask the noise through the warranty period. :-\

First check to make sure all the lines that make up the evap system are connected and intact. Check that the purge solenoid is connected and check it's resistance. That's all I can think of. **** ******!