Psyko

It's a backwards mentality, but I'll probably just end up getting a non-Subaru for winter use. This salt business is a load of crap and I'm not going to let it be the reason I have to take my cars off the road for good.

Dang, I'm sorry to hear that. This is really a demoralizing problem. Best of luck.

Well, went out and it didn't want to start. Didn't check for spark this time. Just don't have the patience to deal with it and the rain.

Righto. Picked up some bullet connectors today and just put them in. It fired right up. Going to be a bit before it regains my trust though. One end goes to wiring harness lala land and the other goes to the ignition switch. As for the rest of what you said... Uh... I don't know. :-p

Are these the wires, to the pickup module, you were talking about? Would a bad connection there really prevent the coil from sparking at all? I'm not thinking I found it either. The ignition connector melted due to some sort of current issue with the main +12(?)V feed. It's inside the cabin, so it didn't get too hot from an external source. Amplifier transistor? No idea what/where that is.

If you don't want to read through the history of my issue, skip the next four paragraphs. Yesterday I was driving my Brat and it just suddenly stopped running. I popped the hood and checked spark. None. Got a ride to my parts car, pulled the coil, put it in and an hour twenty I was back on the road. Fast forward 9 hours and 70 miles and it does it again. Luckily I was close to home, so, despite finding it highly unlikely I put a second bad coil in, I walked home, grabbed the coil, from my XT6, and put it in. Nothing. Figured it's 1:30 am, cold and I'm tired. I'd deal with it in the morning. Went out this morning and it fired right up. Tested the other two coils and they worked just fine too. Started home and it died. No spark. Tested the other two coils and they didn't work. Unless they're all in on the same little (rather unfunny) joke, it's not a coil problem. Eventually my attention turns to the pink ignition connector. Both halves are melted and, in order to "unplug" it, I have to cut the thing up. I pulled/cut the male end of the connectors out of the pink plug (left the female end together) and stuck them straight into the female connector. Nothing. Sat there for about 40 minutes tinkering with them and, after one fateful attempt at plugging them in, it fired up and I drove home. So, the big question is, could that pink ignition connector melting cause my coil to stop sparking? Or, while I was tinkering with that stupid thing, did my car just happen to mend itself elsewhere? Oh, and does anybody have a parts car they can pull both halves of the pink connector from? Mine is definitely toast (haha, a pun :-p). (Huge thanks to Rob for his patience with men and what/where advice on testing!)

Crazy, for an EJ22, but, if you did, welcome to the club! Sunday, I blew one of my XT6's HGs. Really though, that sucks.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49241

So, uh, where are the pictures of your engine bay after that?

Hahaha The car variety. I had too many of the others...

Huge thanks to those that put the meet together, got the fire going, brought food, cooked food and everything else. Much appreciated. Despite the wind's efforts and toasting my clutch, I had a blast. Looking forward to seeing some pictures and videos posted. Rob and I evidently missed some great donuts while we were digging out some person's car... Ed's not lying about the slick roads. Bill and ??? got front row seats to me spinning my XT6 around about 540*. It went crazy slow and kept itself in the middle of the road though, so it was just a bit of extra fun to end the day on.

When I smashed my pinky, that was my trouble. Even through the numbing shot, the pressure was next to unbearable. It wasn't until the doctor cut around the nail (that I eventually lost) that the pain subsided.

There are even some pretty good write-ups about it out there... http://subaruxt.com/howto/5-speed-swap/

That thing is awesome. Spare tires.

I'm planning on making it again. Hopefully I'll remember.

I too like the idea of a Brat oriented meet. Of course nobody would tell other models to shove off, but there is an appeal to making the focus just Brats.

If it doesn't turn into some sort of wheeling event, I'd love to make it. Especially come Spring. I just can't do any snow, mud or much offroading thanks to my drivetrain.

+1 You might want to look into doing a 5 lug swap. That'll make it possible to get Impreza struts with coil overs up front. For the rear, Numbchux did some good testing with Miata parts.

Where are you commuting that hits a lot of mud? Or are the unpaved roads, in Albion, becoming more dirt than gravel? I recall them being mostly covered. My dad grew up in Albion. My grandparents used to own the last house, on the left, as you take the road to Pullman. Big white one that used to always have a large garden growing next to it.

It'll be moderately different. You'll need to do a 5 lug swap, modify the strut towers and perform other special fitment work. His user name is suberdave. http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/member.php?u=3822

Nice looking car. EJ it. Funny how something so old can seem so new. Not sure what people like us would do with a real new car. lol +1 What is this you speak of?

I used a bolt with two nuts to spread the flanges wayyyy apart. Actually went together rather painlessly. Instead, my advice is to lift both sides of the car. I only had one side up and could not get my Legacy struts in because the sway bar was holding my knuckle up. Once I got the second side up, it slid right on.

I finally got the rear disc brakes installed on my Brat. I'd love to say they make a huge difference in braking, but I'm not sure how much credit to give to them and how much credit to give to Rob's patience with bleeding the lines (thanks a ton, Rob). Also finally converted the ever flat front air struts, on my XT6, to Legacy coils. I'm waiting to wake up from the dream I must be having. They're so lovely. Especially after smashing and bouncing around on bump stops. Oh, and I pulled my usual mod. Ditched the ball bearings in one of my front axles and engaged the diff lock, so that my XT6 is now, like my Brat, RWD. Sadly, not kidding. Evidently somebody didn't think the driver side front axle's DOJ needed the metal retainer ring that holds everything in the cup. When I pulled the strut, it all just came apart. :-\

Thanks for sharing. It sure brings back some great memories. I grew up commonly seeing a pair of canoes strapped to the top of one of our Subarus and sometimes a couple more on top of a camping trailer behind it.

The dual carb cam isn't even an upgrade. It just has the reversed lobes for the reversed valves. I took mine into Delta Cam and Ken checked the specs on it. Turns out the hydro cam is more impressive.