Mike W

Hey Eric, would you mind posting a thing over on the Outback message board about this trip. They know you over there and I bet some of those folks would be up for a trip like this. Thanks man.

Ok, so 10am Sunday Nov 11th it is then. Any other opinions on start time or day? Oh yeah. For lunch I'd prefer to skip the tavern and heat up some coffee and stuff on the tailgate somewhere scenic. Now I just need to get my legacy to pass emissions. I'm currently driving a honda. yikes

Yeah Rob, I got to thinking that the early launch time maybe wasn't such a great idea. I'm up early for work so it's just my programming. Would 10 or 11 be better? Folks could sleep off at least some of the hangover or go to early church (or both if they're like the catholics I grew up with.) And speaking of spiritual conflicts, are there any games that day I don't know about? Seachickens play on monday night that week so no problem there. Last time I did a Sunday drive to Darrington, we went up North Mountain and checked out the view from the old fire lookout and then we went back down to to Darrington for lunch at a Tavern. Despite what I've heard, the locals were actually quite friendly and the food was excellent.

Well since I currently have no Subarus I can drive, it ain't gonna be this weekend. So how about Sunday November 11th? 8am? Meet at (or near) the Arlington Denny's Restaurant located just off the I-5 exit to State Route 530. How about inviting the Outback message board folks and others? Map to Arlington Denny's (if the link works) Google Maps

Well since I currently have no Subarus I can drive, it ain't gonna be this weekend. So how about Sunday November 11th? 8am? Meet at (or near) the Arlington Denny's Restaurant located just off the I-5 exit to State Route 530. How about inviting the Outback message board folks and others? Map to Arlington Denny's (if the link works) Google Maps

I actually don't know for sure if I'll be able to go, I have a lot of other pressing issues this month. But I thought, what the heck, toss the idea out there and see what comes together. If can go great but if not everyone else should have a blast. It's a fun and very scenic drive. Here's the Scenic Byway webpage showing the route and some points of interest. Two weekends ago I went up to Barlow Pass. I did the one mile hike up to Barlow Point and then explored a number or abandonned roads and got the Legacy nice and muddy. It's alright going alone but it would have been more fun with a bunch of other folks. The road was still blocked a mile north of Barlow Pass. I saw a guy and a kid on dirt bikes go around the barricade like they where headed for Darrington. I wondered where they could be going and decided maybe they didn't know the bridge was gone or did they know something I didn't know? Well today I heard on the radio that the road is officially OPEN.

Hey I just heard that after four years of being closed due to storm damage, the Mountain Loop Highway has finally reopened from Darrington to Barlow Pass! So any interest in doing a tour de Mountain Loop? Kind of a last fall trip before the snow flies. There's lots of side roads and stuff to explore, a cool fire lookout up on North Mountain above Darrington, and even some abondonned/washed out roads for Hatch Patrollin'. If meet-up points were established, this could be a fun day trip for steet cars and offroaders alike. The only catch is that Barlow Pass will be closed for the winter pretty soon, so any Loop trips will need to happen before the first big white dump. I'd suggest doing the loop in the clockwise direction. Perhaps meet near the I-5 exit by Arlington. So anyone interested?

Hey I just heard that after four years of being closed due to storm damage, the Mountain Loop Highway has finally reopened from Darrington to Barlow Pass! So any interest in doing a tour de Mountain Loop? Kind of a last fall trip before the snow flies. There's lots of side roads and stuff to explore, a cool fire lookout up on North Mountain above Darrington, and even some abondonned/washed out roads for Hatch Patrollin'. If meet-up points were established, this could be a fun day trip for steet cars and offroaders alike. The only catch is that Barlow Pass will be closed for the winter pretty soon, so any Loop trips will need to happen before the first big white dump. I'd suggest doing the loop in the clockwise direction. Perhaps meet near the I-5 exit by Arlington. So anyone interested?

If I win the lottery and decide to build something with ARB goodies, I'll go down to their USA headquarters in Renton and ask them about those R180 lockers. Who knows maybe street racers need air lockers and they make a kit now.

It'll be a few more weeks before I can dig out the pics I have of WCSS 1. I made one attempt but couldn't get to 'em.

I might be up for it. I'm waaay to normal for an event like that. But I enjoy a good freak show. Which reminds me, I gotta go to Trolloween. Mike, find costume quick.

If the information in the first link I posted is correct, then you should be able to find a R200 with the 3.9 ratio. So the gearing shouldn't be problem. Getting the output shafts to work with Subaru axles is where it becomes interesting. I was thinking about using Nissan axles but they don't seem to allow much suspension travel.

Couple of links: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=103512 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=114798 If lockers are too expensive, I've seen spools for fairly cheap.

When I was thinking about doing this, I found that the ARB is supposed to fit the R200A found in the front of Pathfinders etc, but that unit is also supposed to work in the R200 found in Z cars etc. Ok R200s could be used in a Subaru but the problem I ran into is cost. If I was gonna spend that much for two air lockers and possibly machine work on axles etc, why put that much cash into a Subaru?

I was thinking about doing a 720 front end but only got as far as stripping the parts off an abandonned truck. The weight of all the components scared me off. With more horsepower it still might make some sense if you really want IFS, locking hubs, and stronger diff, axles, etc for bigger tires. I figured it'd be good for up to about 33" rubber with front and rear lockers. I can't find the link now but there was a cool website for a pre-runner 720 with a lot of travel up front and it was still was 4WD. Simple mods, he basically made tall shock hoops and extended the arms a little. There's probably more Toyota IFS stuff around due to all the solid axle swaps and there's aftermarket for that.

New rule. Any tubing must be made in Japan by Fuji.

Thanks Mick, I was trying to remember what color my desert fox stickers were. I just remembered that they were kind of sexy and that I didn't have a car nice enough to wear 'em. I'll be moving soon and in the process I bet I'll find my set of stickers. If I find them, would it help to see what the colors look like or can you change the color scheme digitally? When you guys copy stickers, do they have to be applied to the vehicle, stuck onto a flat surface or what? I wouldn't mind volunteering my stickers for copying if it didn't trash them. I feel kind of bad hording them all this time but I kept thinking I'd pick up a sweet car to 'em on and then I just got sidetracked with life.

Howsabout a Limited Slip Differential? My choice would be the older clutch type. You should be able to swap the LSD guts into your stock rear diff. Lose (or disconnect) the sway bars? When you get to wheelin' it, notice that the rocker panels are fairly soft. Even a fairly mild high-centering can smoosh in the sheet metal areas under the doors.

How about snow tires on 14" Peugeot rims? Might find a set used and cheap.

"Got WD-40? or "Hey there's a Hobit wrapped around the axle!"

Not exactly baja, but since you mentioned looking for old RX rally footage in that other thread... Last night night I came across footage of the RX running the 1986 Safari Rally. Search You Tube for "1986 Safari Rally." Of course Lancia and Toyota were the big money teams so they got all the glam shots but there is some footage of the RX.

Some years ago I bought Datsun 510 and z-car axles intending to mate them with R200 diffs, 930 CVs, and SVX or WRX hubs. What I found is that those u-joints do not allow much flex. There might be some potential combining the slipjoints with 930 CV's, but I dropped the project before giving it further consideration. I was trying to come up with a flexy and strong IFS/IRS setup that would reliably drive 33" tires with low gears and ARB lockers. Too much time and money for what it could do...

I don't think it's unreasonable and if it makes for a fun adventure/experiment, that's what it's about. So right on, lets see the pictures! If I was going to drive my car some distance and then purely offroad it, I could see trying the wheel swap method. If you have on-board-air, you could swap wheels in about the same time it'd take a big rig to air down. I was wondering, will the ATV wheel set fit on one of those hitch mounted cargo racks? Or got cargo trailer? I remember at the first big Evans Creek meet, Mudrat showed up pulling an offroad trailer full of gear and spare parts. I thought, hey now that's the way to expedition with a Subaru. Tractor tires have been used successfully on Subes for offroad racing (BYB Brett in Oz and that Czech Republic Hatchback for example) and a guy at work was telling me about a crazy gutted Justy with ATV paddle tires he saw flying on the dunes by Moses Lake. Your terrain and winter conditions in Montana are a lot different than ORV parks here in Western Washington. So again, I say go for it and lets see the photos.

To get the most travel you'll get out the EA81 you're looking at a lift kit with longer shocks and the EA82 longer axle joint mod. Building up three or four rear axles with the longer joints is pretty easy, just messy and you need donor axles from somewhere. Go to all that hassle and it still only gets you like 1-2" more down travel and still runs the risk of hyperextending the axle joints in some gnarly inconvienient place. If I don't just get me a 'Yota truck, I'd like to build up a '83-'84 wagon for mountain adventures. I want a car for blasting up potholed to heck logging roads, getting over burms, ditches, etc, and ugly/old enough that it doesn't tempt thieves at hiking trailheads. I'm thinking EJ22 and suspension from a newer Outback/Impreza/Forester under the EA81 body. I like the skinnyness of the EA81 wagons but the new generation suspension is wider and allows use of rally spec longer travel struts and axles. Obviously connecting the new style crossmembers to the EA81 body will require some creativity and I'll be grafting in rear strut towers, etc. If all this proves feasible, my final product would be a EA81 wagon body with new style rally suspension, outback wheels for city and 14x27" Kuhmos or 15" rally tires for going to the mountains. A lot of trouble to get a skinny old gen outback but it might be fun putting it together. That's my thoughts on getting longer/stronger indendent suspension under an EA81 car. I could also argue that a stock EA81 wagon is the perfect all around car. Howsabout a complete Sidekick/Tracker front end. That gives cheap tubular aftermarket A-arms and axles strong enough to handle 31-33" tires with a locker. Or if you really want to get mutant, there's VW/Audi quatro stuff. They have locking diffs and might allow use of 930 CVs, long buggy rear trailing arms... Sorry for the long wierd post...I'm brain dead from sleep deprivation.

I've seen a few cheap Syncros with dead engines that I wish I swooped on. With a Soob engine I could actually see owning one. I had a "bread loaf" VW camper for a while but that cramped engine bay killed my neck every time I worked on it. If I ever have another, I'll make that whole rear end open up for easy engine access. There was video (that I didn't post) of a Subaru powered Sycro climbing some gnarly rock ledges. Not a rock buggy, but for a camping rig, nice. The Unimog videos on You Tube... Oh man, vehicle lust!