Snowman

Best oil: Mobil 1 Best non-synthetic oil: Castrol GTX

Interesting, I guess it's not due to the lift then. Probably just the loose belt and tons of snow.

Hmmm..... I'll try putting something on my naked belts. I've got the factory skid plate which does a decent job keeping stuff off the engine and tranny (though obviously not good enough). I've thought about welding some extra bits on there to make it larger.

So I finally got to try out the newly lifted Roxanne in some real snow over Christmas break. We got a small dump and there was probably a foot and a half to 2 feet on the roads here. Subarus rock in the snow, and lifted subes kick butt as I now know. However, I noticed one problem that hadn't appeared before. If I drove through deeper snow (2 feet) for a long time, the voltmeter would drop down, indicating that the alternator wasn't turning and the battery wasn't getting charged. If I stopped for a while and let the car run, it would start working fine again. I quickly figured out that snow was getting on the belts and decreasing the friction to the point where the alt pulley wouldn't turn (I could tell the water pump was still working because the temp gauge stayed where it normally sits). This had NEVER happened to me before. My theory is that since the belts and pulleys now sit lower in comparison to the body, they are more prone to getting snow on them, causing this problem. Now, I would mention that the belts were a tiny bit loose to begin with, which may have made this more likely to happen. There hasn't been much snow since I tightened the belts, so I can't be certain whether that had any effect. Has anybody else experienced this after lifting their soob? Is there any easy solution? Bigger skidplate?

1. I don't know for sure, and it may take a bunch of wiring changes, but you probably can. Maybe swapping the entire wiring harness with it would make things less complicated? 2. Piece of cake. You need a 36mm socket, a 3/16" punch, and a chisel, as well as the standard hand tools you would need for working on a subaru. Takes me an hour to do it. 3. Also a piece of cake. You need to improvise a tool to turn the cam sprockets so that you can tension the belts properly. This will take a few hours.

Whether or not a Weber is for you depends a lot on climate. Mine was problematic beyond belief during the winter up here, and even during the summer, elevation changes were not welcomed. Like Qman said, tuning is crucial. If you run the car in relatively constant conditions and you have the time to dial it in right, I'd say go for a Weber. I learned the hard way after spending $400 on a new one that they don't like climate change. The Hitachi is pretty good at dealing with temperature and elevation extremes, so if you see a lot of that, your actual performance may be better with the Hitachi. Something else to consider is an SPFI conversion, which can be done for less than the price of a new Weber if you've got a good source for used parts. Just my two cents.

Okay, maybe we'll just go with black or white with clear background 4" high.

Yeah, put a fan on that sucker. I'm guessing that aside from that one place where it boosts the torque, the greater intake restriction of the IC is enough to over-ride the cooling effect that it generates. If you increase the cooling efficiency, it's likely to go the other way.

I think you'll be very happy with a Baja, or any Subaru for that matter, if you buy one. My parents have owned American trucks and Subaru cars since they moved to Alaska in the mid-seventies. The Subarus were generally far less problematic than the GM or Ford products. The only real issues that came up were brought about by mechanics that did not understand some of the quirks of the 1980's Subaru engines. Specific to the Baja and other newer Subarus, the EJ-series engine in them is a really great motor. Subaru's testing indicated that they run for 300k or 400k before needing torn down. My mom currently owns a 97 Outback with the "problematic" first generation EJ25, and at 130,000 kms, the only thing we've done to the car other than PM is replacing the alternator. My guess is that you will quickly become a GM/Subaru person in the near future.

So I contacted Mick about doing up some stickers, and here's what he said: "Words/Logo: to be placed on exterior/interior (meaning no background) whatever it's placed on becomes the background) Words/Logo Cut-out with shaped background remaining. Letters would be whatever color surface they were applied to. Dual Layer: Cut out Shaped BackGrounds, and then cut words/log out of a different color, and apply them to shaped background for 2-color full decal. (most likely wouldn't last quite as long, and would be more expensive) I can order whatever colors desired basically....." So, tell us what you want. I was thinking either of the first two options would look pretty good. For colors, maybe white, black, and something close to the yellow color used in other Subaru stickers? Sizing of the stickers is also still up for grabs. If you want, we could do a large and a small size, or just one medium sized one. I was thinking about 4" high would look good. What do you think? My initial thought is to come up with two or three designs/colors that people are interested in, then I would order about five of each. That way, after all currently interested people have the stickers they want, I could have some left over for new members and promotional stuff. Your input please. BTW: I think I'm going to talk to one of my more artistic friends and see if she could produce a banner/flag of some sort for the organization that would be a bit fancier than the stickers. Any suggestions would be great.

Hmmm.....I think I'll contact Mick and show him the first sticker design to see if he thinks it's "printable" and maybe get some preliminary prices. I like the web page idea. I used to have a geocities page on my car (probably still around somewhere). Any suggestions on free hosts that don't make the address really long and confusing? Maybe I'll contact the Hatch Patrol guys to see what they went through to get hatchpatrol.com. Matt, I think I've got all the info for you so no problem there. Everybody else, if you haven't sent your contact info, please do so. I know I'm kind of being lazy by saying this, but it's a heck of a lot easier and less time consuming to enter the info for, say, eight people at once than to do each person individually as they stream in.

Good advice so far (listen to us guys from Alaska, we know a little about snow.) Tires: NARROW NARROW NARROW! Get a set of good quality 175/80R13's. They are slightly taller for more clearance and narrower, which is what really matters. Wide tires have NO traction on ice. Floatation is bad for driving on roads in winter as you want to dig down to more solid stuff. Definitely get studs, and buy a set of cable chains to keep in the car. I have yet to use my chains, but I know they are there if I need them. You probably won't need chains, as a subaru with good winter tires can go through more snow than most vehicles on the road. I got stuck once and the "rescue vehicle", a chevy pickup, couldn't get within a couple hundred feet of me. Driving: Go practice in a parking lot. Make sure you can pull your car out of a slide at highway speed. These cars are incredibly stable in 4wd and if you know what you're doing it's easy to control them. If you get into a slide, get off the brakes except for very gentle application, otherwise you can't steer. A car travelling at 50 that can steer is more in control than a car travelling at 20 that can't steer. Often, gentle throttle application is the best course of action as it will pull the car back into a straight line. Like has been said, it's also easy to get over-confident. The best piece of advice I can give as far as driving through deep snow is that momentum is your best friend. If you keep moving, a subaru will do some amazing things in snow. Once you stop, you'd better hope you've got a good shovel. Stuff to have with you: As mentioned before, get a set of cheap cable chains. Carry a good-sized, sturdy snow shovel. Road flares and other safety equipment would probably be a good idea for where you are going. Get a tow strap or two for sure (travel with other vehicles if at all possible). Carry survival gear because you never know what's going to happen. Vehicular checks: All fluids including gear oil. Put some de-icer fluid in your window washer reservoirs. Make sure you've got good wiper blades. Carry a bottle of fuel line de-icer. What kind of shape are the timing belts and fan belts in? The most important thing you can do is learn to drive in the snow, which can really only be learned by experience. What I have listed above is sufficient for travelling across Alaska and Canada in the middle of winter. If you follow the advice contained in this thread, you should be fine. Just remember to be extra careful.

What does the temperature do throughout a normal day where you live? From your first post it sounds like it's hovering around freezing. In light of that, I would highly suspect that water is causing problems. Like Skip said, putting in new gas will not remove the water. At these temperatures, it's also likely that the new gas contained a little water, as condensation is going to happen a lot at temps right above freezing, both in your tank and in the tanks at the station. Even trace amounts of water in the fuel can wreak havoc on carbs, causing exactly what you are describing. Put in a bottle of fuel line de-icer (my personal preference is "Heet" in the yellow bottle. Check the operation of the anti diesel solenoid. It screws into the side of the carb near the top and has a single wire coming from it. With the engine running, disconnect the wire. If the engine continues to run, the solenoid is either frozen open or otherwise faulty. I don't know much about these, but is it possible that it could sometimes be freezing shut and not allowing the engine to start? Skip? I've never tried Seafoam, but it does sound like pretty good stuff. Another product I've had phenomenal luck with is Chevron Fuel System Cleaner (sometimes called Fuel Injector Cleaner). I've worked at a petro products distributor (gas station) for a couple of years, and that is the ONLY product we sold that we guarantee will do something.

SPFI is 9.5:1 just for clarification. That might be a bit much to run with a large turbo because you would run into detonation before seeing the benefit of the increase in turbo size (unless you had big $$$ engine management). Carbed pistons would yield 8.7:1, which would probably be more desirable.

Finally got around to making up the second logo idea, which is pretty close to the first: I personally prefer the first logo design for two reasons. First, since not a terrible lot of people even know what SKA music is, they wouldn't necessarily figure it out with the letters spaced like that. Second, I think the first logo is more cohesive and visually appealing. If you've got any more suggestions for either modifying this logo or a completely different one, let me know as I've got a bit of time on my hands and can play with it right now. Oh, and yes I think we should definitely consider white or black on a clear background, but that could be done easily by the printer (just cut it the other way around) and not as easily by me on the computer. Also, if you're interested, please start sending your contact info to subaruklubofalaska@hotmail.com. So far I have gotten one message.

Ditto on Optima. It will crank our little engines FOREVER. I've had good luck running Castrol GTX 10w-30 in winter and 10w-40 in summer if I'm running Dino oil. I have also run Citgo oil in a few cars. Seems pretty good despite the cheap price, and it's what we run in most of the rigs at work. Mobil 1 is considered the best oil by many manufacturers of hi-po auto engines as well as HD diesel engines. However, it's not offered in a 10w-40 weight, so if you've got marginal oil pressure, I'd stick with Castrol. I'd stay away from Fram filters. Heard too much bad stuff over the last few years. I've run Purolator recently, but then discovered that at least in my area, it's cheaper to buy OEM filters by the case (12) than to buy the "best" Purolators at the store.

It took me way longer to do the only clutch job I've done on a subaru, but that was because I was working on two cars at the same time, and it was the first time I'd touched an SPFI car so I was carefully checking out how everything hooked up. I've pulled engines in half an hour, so I bet I could do it in about the same time that it took you. He he, we should have a head to head competition to see who can pull an engine and put it back in fastest:brow: .

I know that's what my parents are thinking, even if they don't say it!

From the 89 Factory Service Manual: "Put the thermosensor in water of various temperatures and measure the resistance between terminals using a circuit tester. Water Temp: .................Resistance: 14 degrees F ..................7-11.4 K ohms 68 ................................2-3 K ohms 122 ...............................700-1000 ohms"

There are companies that make springs for the legacy that lift it a couple of inches and allow fitting of larger tires. In my opinion, the two biggest hangups the new gen cars have are a lack of ground clearance and no low-range. With more ground clearance, they would probably do quite well. You could always import a D/R transmission from Australia or Japan as well.

I remember some time ago there was a discussion of oil coolers on the EA82T. If my memory is correct, someone was talking about them coming from the factory on the turbo EA82s in Europe, or at least in some countries, and that those engines had minimal problems with head cracking. In fact, they cracked less often than the N/A EA82's, which were not fitted with oil coolers from the factory. Sooooooo, it would seem that maybe if a good oil cooler was included in the mod package, these engines could reliably produce more power.

I'm talking about SPFI/carbed systems, which at least in theory give exactly the same fuel delivery to each cylinder. It would rule out the turbo heat and the fuel system as causes if all of the EA82 variations have the same problem.

Is there anything really wrong with the engine that's in the car now? These motors can run for 300k just fine if they're taken care of. If you are looking for a rebuilt engine, check out ccrengines.com. I have not personally used them, but have heard great things from others.

My vote is for an EA82 (85-94) wagon. I wouldn't go with the turbo car for three reasons. First, they are more complex. This makes trailside repairs more difficult at times. Second, although turbo cars are generally as reliable if they are maintained properly, some problems may arise. Any car that you buy for $1000 is likely to have not recieved the care it should have. Non-turbo cars can generally stand up to more of this abuse than the turbo cars. Third, the powerband of a naturally aspirated engine is generally better suited to offroading. To narrow my recommendation further, I would make a couple of suggestions. As has been said already, the EA82 is larger and in my opinion more comfortable. I would highly recommend getting a fuel-injected car. Carb die-hards might flame me for this, but having been one myself, I can say that SPFI subarus are generally less problematic than carbureted ones, and have improved drivability and fuel economy. If you take only one part of my advice, listen to this when I say to get a car with a dual-range transmission. This will make you and your car much happier in the long run (your clutch will thank you as well). Qman already went through which cars had the D/R tranny available. However, it WAS offered through 1989 (I have owned one of them), although it appears to have been quite rare in that year. So, I would look for an 88-89 wagon with SPFI and a D/R tranny.

Wow, this an old thread.