Snowman

Have no fear Northguy, I think I've only actually directed any explaitives directly toward Roxanne maybe three times. This wasn't one of those. I don't think the FPR, or my absence of one, would be suspect, as during the first 30 seconds of cranking the engine didn't even try to fire, but after that it tried to start a few times and then did.

Has anybody done a weber conversion that lives in a cold climate? If so, how has that worked out for you? The reason I ask is that after flying back into Anchorage at midnight after being gone for 4 days, Roxanne took some SERIOUS moral support to get started at 5 below. It probably took a total of 30 seconds of cranking (in 5-10 second increments to go easy on the starter) before she would even fire. Then, after much more cranking, pumping the gas pedal, and cursing, she finally sprang to life. After that, she's run fine, but I haven't had another cold-start yet. I'm hoping that this was a case of a bit of ice in the fuel that temporarily prevented flow or something, and not something that will be continued. Any opinions on this? The hitachi carb always seemed to do fine with cold temperatures.

Clean out all the PCV lines while you are at it.

BlueTrain is right. My automotive professor says that running antifreeze that the system is not designed for is a BAD thing. When the Japanese just came out with that red antifreeze, all the American mechanics replaced it with the green stuff, and this caused all sorts of problems. It's the same with running Dex-Cool in our subarus. I've never heard anything showing that Dex-Cool actually does a better job. They're designed for green, so just buy some good regular antifreeze and put it in.

I can also attest that synthetic oil (i run mobil 1 10w-30 year round) does MUCH better in cold climates. Daily use during the winter for my car is starting up at temps ranging from -10 to 40 degrees, then running up to 4500 rpm on a regular basis. With synthetic, it starts easier, and I feel safer running it hard because I know that there is excellent oil in there. I also offroad my car a lot and tow with it, and after switching to synthetic oil, i've noticed a lot less "stuff" in the used oil, and the engine definitely makes less noise. Farther north, EVERYBODY runs synthetic oil because it gets down to -40. If they ran dino oil, they would either have to leave their cars running all the time, or have a serious starter to crank it over. Not to mention the added wear caused by running dino oil in that situation. It all really boils down to this in my opinion: For normal use, dino oil is just fine. But for extreme situations like racing or cold climates, synthetic really is much better.

As for your question about breakage: As mentioned, timing belts probably are due for their third or fourth change by now. While you are in there it's easy to replace the water pump and re-seal or replace the oil pump, and replace cam seals and such. Water pumps usually don't go out, but if yours still has the original, it might be showing its age. As you probably figured out already, old subarus like to mark their territory. They also sometimes have internal seals go in the oil pump, which leads to low oil pressure. If yours either leaks externally or has low pressure, it's time to reseal the oil pump and replace the cam seals, valve cover gaskets, etc. Another thing that tends to happen on higher-mileage soobs is the radiator getting full of crud. If yours runs hot at all, it's probably time for a new radiator. It sometimes works to just flush it, but that usually doesn't fix the problem if it's bad. Other than that, watch out for CV boot and joint failure, which is very common on these cars (that probably has a lot to do with how they are used, though:headbang: ). Welcome to the board and good luck with your car.

it should

subieman- I'm attending college 800 miles from my hometown, and I make that trip on a regular basis, sometimes just for a weekend driving overnight to do it. I've done the trip once in Roxanne running about 80 most of the way, and she did that fine but I want to make her into an offroader which would compromise the high speed ability. And no, I don't really like sustained high speed driving, but it's just a fact of life for me right now.

There's a blue SVX down at AAA-1 Subaru. I don't know if it's for sale or not, though.

In that diagram, which is how it is on my car, the thermoswitch activates the fan regardless of what position the dash switch is in. The dash switch is added so that you can turn on the fan ahead of time if you think the engine might get too warm. I have it that way because in my opinion, the stock thermoswitch activates the fan at too high of a temperature.

I didn't really think about the legacy being more stable, but that sounds like the way to go. I've driven a friend's imp outback at 110, and it was kinda scary, whereas Roxanne handles 95 with a modicum of grace, and could do more if the engine would.

Why not just re-wire from scratch? That way it would be easy to include a manual control switch as well. Just connect a fused hot wire, either constantly hot or from the ignition on position, to the fan. Take the ground wire from the fan and connect it to the thermoswitch and to a toggle switch on the dash. Then connect the thermoswitch and the toggle switch to grounds, and you're good to go.

maybe you could somehow pull the bumper down with a winch or if you have the nerve to do this, put a block of wood on top of the bumper and go at it with the BFH

My question is simple. Out of all the subarus made before, say, 1995 that can be usaully be found for a reasonable price, which one would be the best for high-speed on and off highway use but mostly on-road, as well as being a semi-daily driver? Important requirements for me: able to cruise at 90+ for hours on end decent ground clearance for rally-type use 4wd or AWD is an absolute must reasonably comfortable while cruising at 90+ for hours on end still maintain reliablitly under the aforementioned harsh conditions Cars that immediately come to mind, in order of my current opinion about them for my purposes: RX early-model impreza wagon XT turbo ea81 turbo sedan or wagon w/swapping in a 5spd, tied with ea82 turbo sedan or wagon XT6 SVX isn't really an option, because they are so rare, especially in my area, and swapping in a legacy tranny would be rather expensive on top of an expensive car I would like to spend less than 3-4K TOTAL on this car, but that's sort of flexible, and I can wait for a rare one to appear. I'm just looking for a "road car" so that I can turn Roxanne into a serious offroader. Thanks in advance for your help.

Sorry to hijack, but my situation might be similar enough to help you out. My bumper is now bent forward a bit from catching on something while backing up. What do you think about duct-taping a 2x4 to that part of the bumper to spead out the force, then driving into a tree at very low speed?

I'm actually running 1 mech. and 1 electric fan on my car, which has no AC and is a manual tranny. I have no problems like you describe. During the winter, it sometimes takes a while to reach operating temperature, but it always runs in the normal range. For the time being, I'm going to keep the mech. fan on because I think it's worth the couple horsepower it uses in order to keep the engine temperature stable when running hard. So no, I don't think the fan is at fault. More likely the thermostat is stuck open or something.

I think that at least in theory it could work, but I still wouldn't recommend it. You could probably route your vent and fill lines to the outside of the car and most likely have no problems with fumes and such, but it's still inherently dangerous to be carrying that much explosive liquid inside your car due to the possibility of leaks or rupture during a crash. And if that thing went off, I would be able to see it from here!

Timing belts or alternator/accessory belt?

ditto on zip-tie

You can also take the entire suspension and braking system from an XT6, which will give you the late model 5-lug pattern and with it wheel options that are only limited by what fill fit inside the fenders.

My understanding of shotpeening is that you basically hit it just right, which releives any tension in the part, making it less likely to break when other tension is applied. I am definitely going to have this done on my rods when my engine is apart.

75w-90 Quaker State full synthetic Hasn't gotten below 20 degrees yet, but so far it's made a tremendous improvement in shift smoothness, etc. And now it's not any harder to shift when it's cold outside. Definitely worth the money.

The ASV connects to the exhaust ports on the bottom of the heads with metal lines about half an inch in diameter. The valve itself should be on the passenger side, right behind that head. It is inside a canister about the size of a soda can but shorter.

Viceversa: did you try squirting oil in the cylinder and doing another compression test? That will indicate whether it is rings or either valves or head gasket. If it's only got 75 psi on one side and 115 on the other, I would be AMAZED if you have not had a decrease in power. My #1 cylinder has 75 in it, with the other three at 150, and I'm going to rebuild the engine because the loss of power and fuel economy has been dramatic.

EA81T bolts up to everything, but you also have to swap in all of the computer stuff, wiring, fuel system, etc. That's why it's a good idea to get a complete car to take one from. The EA82T was offered starting in 1985, and can be found in a wide variety of cars. I think they were at least an option in the entire lineup of ea82 body style cars up through the early 90's, but I am not certain of that.