gravelRX

Finally got around to building a roof rack for the wagon. 60.00 worth of steel and 6 hours later I'm sporting it on the car. Haven't gotten around to building the gutter rail clamps yet and need to get the correct length bolts for the hold downs. Next time I will use a thinner walled square tubing and clean it up a bit more before painting. I'm going to incorporate a place in the front for foglights and a spare tire mount on the next one too. Eh, not to bad for a first try I think. Comments, good or bad, are welcome. Regards, Jay Going to be building front brushguards and swingout spare tire carriers when I get into my new garage.

The truck is probably a transplant from the east coast. If it only has rust on the drivers side it was probably from a bigger city and was parked on the street. I've seen that a lot in Va. Jay

I'm going to have to second the puctuation, use of grammar comment. So I see the title and click, read about half a line and just go to another thread. You may have something good to say. But I'll never read it. Type it in a way that is easier to read. Not trying to bust your chops (much). Jay

F 'em. Be proud of who you are. The best advice I ever got was " You are where you want to be". When you want to be somewhere different, you will take the necessary steps to get there. Obtuse? Yeah. Jay

I have to admit I didn't read all the replies in this post. Cars that have had a lot of exterior modification draw attention, whether you like them or not, laugh or give a thumbs up, they do draw your eyes. Everyones eyes. Including the police. That is the main thing for me. I once went to a RUSH concert in Albany and me and 4 other people rented a Chrysler minivan. So vanilla. We cruised down the Turnpike at 80+. Never caught anyones attention. Could we have done it in a tricked out Honda with bodykit and loud exhaust? I don't think so. The cars I really notice are the ones that look stock put have some kind of tell... Something that a knowledgable person car see and know that it's been worked on. Like a bit of intercooler peeking out from the bumper, or a rollbar hiding in the cab, Stock wheels from another car of the same make that's a bit wider. The little things that only clue the people that know. I build my cars for me. Screw the masses. It's mine. My RX has had most all the spoilers and such removed. Looks like a DL. When I put the steel wheels on it it will look even more innocuous. It's not overtly loud and is very quiet when I'm off the throttle. Ask WJM, he's heard it. Nothing to see here Mr. Nice Officer. I dont' agree with some of the things I've seen people on this board do to their cars, but I'll give them credit for trying, even if I wouldn't go that route. Jeez, I'm rambling. Jay

Well written. And seems like a really good deal. That testimonial was fervent and somewhat religious in nature. Can I get an A-MEN! Thanks for the link. Jay

What tires did you have on your car Will? How did it handle? Did it oversteer? understeer? J

It was an Scca event. Had lot's of fun and learned that you can't brake hard and turn at the same time.(yeah, I knew that but deeper is better.) This was my first autocross in the RX and was pleasantly surprised that the car is neutral concerning lateral motion. Doesn't oversteer or understeer too badly unless I get stupid. A bit of bodyroll though. Remember: Slow in, fast out. Fast in, out backwards. Will, Where are you Buddy? Jay

Will on course Jay on course These cars were in the same class. Guess who pulled the lowest time. Will, Tell us a story. Jay

Look forward to meeting the "Subaru Engineer" in person. And seeing your WRX beater. Jay

Anyone else going to show up at this Autocross? Will, I didn't see you registered for this event on the registration cue. If you haven't, you might want to soon. They fill up quick. Jay

Will, I will have an EZup there and will welcome you into the shade. I usually situate myself a bit farther away from the crowd. I'll look for you there. SubyRally, I don't know of anything else that will fit. Jay

Hocrest, Going to be keeping the alloys. Car does in fact run in the SM class. A new GTO, Ford Cobra, 66 Corvair, ACR Neons.. looks like a fast crowd in street modified. This will be my first autocross in this car so I'll be sandbagging quite a bit. SubyRally, I've looked at the hubs once and didn't see a real easy way to get the studs in. These hubs are off an 88 XT6, so they may be different. We'll see. Jay It's a DL! Haven't cleaned up the bottom yet. RAIN

If you look closely at the picture of the wheel, I'm not quite cool enough for the complete five lug swap either. Going to have to get that stud fixed before the next autocross. Jay

I'm keeping all the spoilers and such. Going to just take all the bottom trim off the car and the rear spoiler. Not the grey trim. The car needs a good cleaning. I like the DL look with the front spoiler. I want this car to appear as plain as possible. Going to either run the steel 15"s for a while on the street or mount up my autocross tires on them. Think I'll paint them white or the same color as the trim. Haven't decided. The anti-bling? Jay

I'm slowly removing all the cladding from the RX. The first thing to go was the rear wing. I think it looks a bit more serious. I'm going to strip the cladding off the bottom, leave the front spoiler, and put a set of 15" steel wheels painted white with autocross tires on it. Different, Eh? Regards, Jay

The old adage "Speed cost money, how fast do you want to go?" applies here more than anywhere I've ever seen. "Bang for the buck" also would be good. I say more power to you and good luck. Not negative, just realistic. Jay Bench racing is just that. Racing with your mouth and not your car. Get some dyno time or get to the track and get a timeslip. Feeling fast because your riding on the bumpstops or close to it is relative. Not an attack, DO IT. show me. i want to see 300hp on the dyno. Hell, Show me 200 and go at the car with a holesaw to lighten it. But, bring the tech, hard solid proof. Until then I am not a believer. My RX feels fast.

Since I reassembled the RX I've had a small exhaust leak. Yesterday it got much louder. Took the exhaust pipe loose from the heads and the uppipe basically fell off the car. Mig welded it back together and put it back on. All better. Boost is back, and more power too. In a post not long ago I suggested that the turbo uppipe could be removed from the car without jacking up the engine. In hindsight, it looks like getting the pipe to come without any other work than spatial relations probably wasn't a good idea as it stressed the turbo mounting flange. I did remove the pipe from my parts car to build a jig and start fabbing up a better uppipe in the near future. Regards, Jay

Did you have the valves reseated? I was pondering mine and the low compression. How about this. If the valves were resurfaced in the seat, couldn't the valves be taller because they are seated deeper into the head? Would that make then open earlier and close later resulting in the lower compression? When I checked my heads for problems the first go round, I took them off and remounted the cam towers with the cams and everything in place. I filled the intake and exhaust chambers independantly with alcohol and found no leaks until I turned the cams over duplicating normal operation. Because I didn't have a baseline, they looked good to me and I put it all back together. My RX is pretty quick over 2700, but anything before that would be considered wanting.(low compression?) Pulls hard up to redline and seems to still have more. factory boost. Jay Tex, how did you come to the conclusion you needed to pull the engine again? Idle issues?

I checked the compression ratios on all four cylinders on my EA82T with the 260 grind cam. All were about 85lbs. Naru could you explain the terms in a more simplistic way? I'm not proud. Jay

Get a small vaccum pump and do it yourself. How did you go about bleeding your brakes? Subarus have quite a specific pattern. Jay I've got the 'mighty-vac' and it makes doing the brakes or checking for vaccum much easier. 40.00 at Harbor Freight.

Do some investigative work. Was is a new sheet of plywood? Is there a Home Depot, Lowes or lumber yard nearby? Most big commercial stores have closed circuit television of the loading areas to prevent theft. Go to the closest stores and ask to have someone review the tapes for that day to see if they can spot the truck. I installed these cameras and some of the higher end ones are very good at zooming in so maybe you can get a tag. Take the police report to lend credability to your story. Most loss prevention or asset protection managers are bored with their job and are looking for something to do. If it was trash plywood then it get's a little harder. Good to hear your OK. Had the same thing happen with a 10 foot john boat. Scary. Big adrenalin rush. Ended up in the median going around 70 in my RS, came out sideways, when the car caught the pavement, went passed the boat backwards looking at oncoming cars. Made me re-think the breathing thing. Life in fragile. Jay In most states your insurance automatically has you pay for uninsured motorist coverage. Try to file under that type and the deductable is much lower. In Va it's 100.00 IIRC.

I'm dead in the middle of a FMIC install. I will document the progress soon. Jay

I thought this had been gone over and it wouldn't work because of the way the differential works. Lock the rear and the front want to lock too.(?) What year is your hatch? Running in 2wd? Jay

In the first picture you parked the car on a slant to make it appear somewhat level. If it were on level ground the rear would be higher. In the second picture the rear is on higher ground and the front is lower, if it were parked on level ground the rear would be lower. Looks like now the rear is lower than the front. Am I seeing things correctly? Jay