Mike W

They look ok especially for the price and cool that it freespools. It's a bummer using my stock Subaru winch since it doen't free spool...I might have to upgrade. Wonder how the quality is on these? I love most of my Harbor Freight tools but you never know until you look at 'em how (bad) the quality will be. Here's the 3000 pound version: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=3442 May not be worth $150 but heck it's half the price of Ramsey or Warn 4500-5000 lb winches.

Wow, sure is wide. Looks good though. Last time I checked your website I didn't see any info on the suspention lift, gearing and beefed up axles. Is that there and I missed it or can you explain a bit if you have time. Thanks and nice work.

Yeah I definitely get what Ken is saying about somethings are gonna break so it's best that it be something easy to fix. So the stubs and/or axles are like fuses. Better them than tranny, transfer case, etc. My reason for playing with ideas is that at some point I might decide to build a bigger badder Soob. But this would only happen if I have it over-engineered to the point that it should hold up to rocky terrain with lots of traction. It'd be independent suspension even though solid axles might be easier and more logical. Whole idea would just be to do something silly and different and make the average jeep guy go "what the f--?" Sorry for the off topic.

On the legality issue, I've been told by multiple Forest Circus employees that driving in rivers is a definite no-no. As in huge tickets. Something to do with endangered species, spawning beds and such. So like have fun, just don't get stuck or get caught. I've also heard that tow truck drivers are supposed to report you if they gotta haul you out of a river.

Despite the time it took you to TIG and mill it, I bet it was still hella easier than my method of machining an adapter on a drill press with a cheezy cross-slide vise. Way to go on doing it the RIGHT WAY! My adapter method also would not have worked on your un-lifted car since my carb sits 2-3" above the intake. I guess it's good for deep water and maybe for extra plenum height and torque. But yours looks almost "stock" and hopefully the emmisions nazis won't even notice how cool it is. Mine however, well I gotta deal with emmissions test again in about 10 months...sure hope they don't ask me to open the hood. Any pics of the intake without the carb mounted? If this was a school project, tell the teach you deserve an "A"!

These WRX LSDs on eBay answer you question about the axles going into the diff. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2444166175&category=33731 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2443821911&category=33731 I have a R180 from a Nissan truck sitting here now. The stub axles on it also appear to be hollow with a bolt going into the diff. They are more robust and have big flanges that bolt onto the axle with like 10 or so 10mm bolts. I've also got the Nissan axles, thinking that maybe I could cut off the outboard end and weld the Nissan R180 end onto my Subaru outboard axle ends by sleeving them inside some tubing. But like you were saying above, if splicing axles is the plan, then Subaru R180 diffs would probably be a smarter way so as to avoid hollow stub axles. I keep coming back to the conclusion that using some other brand of diff for which cheap lockers are available is the way to go. R180 and R200 diffs are freekin heavy by the way, which is what makes me think an aluminum housing diff would be better and lighter. I suspect that some folks out there may already working on this method. Any spy data available or gossip on this subject???

What roads did you cruise? Looks kinda like the Beckler River Road just past Skykomish. I been thinking this would be a good time to try making it over Jack Pass. Looks like plenty of fluff, mmmm bet it was nice and dry.

Hey nice pic Austin! Should have parked it and done some fly fishing from the roof. Lots of blue ribbon trout in that stream. Of course the wildlife occifer might not think it's cool, but hey it's a Subaru thing.

Welcome to the Board! Hey I was wondering how the pass conditions were this morning! With that commute, you're gonna love that Soob. I used to spend a lot of time at Alpental back in the 80's and when the road conditions were their worst, it seemed like the only cars in the parking lot were Subarus. So are you coming over for the Christmas Tree run on the 29th? You're invited if you can make it. Have a good trip home and watch out for those flying suburbans.

Yeah for most applications the 32/36 makes the most sense. I've got the 38/38 on my EA81 and did so only after much research and on the advise of the techs at Redline. I've got it mounted on a modified EA82 intake and a custom bolt on adapter which, by my reconning flows a lot more air than the stock Hitachi intake. Simply put, the progressive 32/36 is perfect for daily driving conditions and good overall performance. For most people it's the best choice. It can usually be tuned to pass emissions and provide good economy while still performing well on the track or in the woods. It all depends on how much that 36mm throttle is used (ie: how heavy your foot.) That's the beauty of a progressive carb. Everybody seems to agree that it's a huge improvement over the stock Hitachi. Now the 38/38 on the other hand, being synconous, both of it's throttles open at the same time so it's inherently more fuel thirsty. But in trade you get more torque at low rpms and at full throttle it can feed as much air and gas as the engine can burn. It can be jetted for dang near any engine but is best suited to a "built" one. Somewhere around here I still have the email I got from the Techs at Redline, hopefully I can dig it up. I basically told them the what I was doing (EA81 Subaru trail car) and they were very emphatic that a 38/38 was the way to go if I could make the intake flow better and didn't mind getting a couple less miles per gallon. I told them that I was going to build the engine, so they jetted my carb accordingly. But after ording it I decided instead to keep my engine "stock" so concequently I need to rejet the carb as it runs a bit rich with the jets Redline installed. My point is that the techs are real good at putting in the correct jets if you tell them about engine it's going on when you order it. Changing the jets is no big deal, I just haven't gotten around to it. Even running rich and stumbling a bit, I'm very happy with mine. It makes much more torque at 1000rpms and has a lot of balls for being on a stock engine. As for mounting the 38/38, the base is the same bolt pattern as the 32/36 but the throttle bores are larger, so the standard 32/36-style manifold adapter would need a lot of porting to work. Carfreak, Redline is the official USA importer and distributor of Weber. Bow Wow is the Seattle area retail chain that mostly sell VW stuff, but have been giving us Subaru freaks discount prices on Webers. Talk to Chris at the Lynnwood store or ask Zap who he deals with at the Lake City store. I forget what I paid for mine, but it was like $20 or so less that anywhere online. Think it took about a week from the time I ordered it for it to come in. Oops late for work again, gotta go.

Well..... So how was Reiter??? Hope the lack of a trip report doesn't mean ya'll are still out there fixing Subarus in the dark. I'm still bitter about not being able to go play in the woods but I had to deal with unpleasant stuff instead. So did anybody get pictures at the Bothell meet-up? It was good to see John, Caleb, Austin, and Todd and his "Northern Alliance" crew (Brin, Mike?...? geez I suck at remembering names.) Anyhow if you guys are on here it was good meetin' ya'. OK so how was the mud fest? (BTW, speaking of mud, I did play for a while at the Mill Creek mud hole and it was as slimy as I expected. Almost stuck it a few times but had fun for 15 minutes or so.)

Get a '90-'94 Legacy, preferably a LS model for the bells & whistles. If you want an auto tranny hold out for a '92-1/2 or newer since the earlier ones were said to have torque converters that shed friction material that then plugged up the tranny cooler potentially leading to heat issues. As for snow and mild offroad driving I'm very impressed the traction of my '93 LS with AT. The AWD hooks up very good on slippery surfaces even with worn out tires. Comptetion for these cars is fierce, so prowl the ads and act fast when you find a potential good deal.

The first guy to do this mod certainly gets the award for originality. With that fake spare tire bulge from a Continental mounted to the hood, I'm sure there'd be some interesting reactions when driving through the central district. One argument in favor of keeping the spare under the hood is that it's there for a safty reason. Years ago I was in a bad crash and that spare tire helped the engine pivot down and under our feet when we piled into the car ahead of at 50 or so mph. My rear tire carrier only cost around $15. It's off a Cherokee and attached to a steel u-channel bumper I got for free from work. There's pro's and cons with any spare tire location. If I did it again I'd either build my own rear carrier styled like the Aussi's or else I stick it on the roof like everybody else.

Lifting a Baja is one thing, but how about actually offroading it...that's what I want to see. I guess if you can afford the machine you can afford body damage too. God I hope they aren't lifting it so they can fit 20" chrome wheels with low profile tires.

Looks like I was a bit off on the snorkle price anyway. It's $32 not "under $20." I guess that's still cheap compared to the official Weber version but I'm beginning to wonder about my brain cells.

Cool. I think you'll be very happy, especially with all the mods you've described. The only possible draw back you might encounter is fuel consumption. But the grin factor should more than offset a few mpg's difference between the 32/36 and the 38/38. Bow Wow in Lake City and Lynnwood are good source if you need other Weber stuff like jets, filter, etc. For a snorkle adapter, Jam Engineering has one for under $20...far less than I paid for mine.

How much total travel is a Legacy/Impreza style rear end capable of? If they flex enough how about switching to that style of suspension or use that multilink as a starting point. Or maybe use Nissan stuff instead with a R180 or R200 diff. Of course you'd be finding a different coilovers, narrow the crossmember, etc. etc. but I'm just floating the concept and haven't analyzed the details.

Hey it's in this spirit that the first WCSS happened and it's because of this excellent and diverse group of people that I know the get-togethers will continue long into the future...with or without PNWSC.

I guess the 29th sounds good and I'll plan on being there. Don't put me down for a tree permit though, I probably won't be hunting and shooting one this year (or at least not until I know I've got a place to put it.) Thanks for the organizing effort there Ken!

I have a 38/38 on SPFI intake on my car. I still need to fine tune the jetting, but even with it running a bit rich, I'm very impressed with the increased torque and power. See it in person on Sunday.

Yeah Austin, the high school chicks would have been all over you with a ride like that. So now you have the rest of your life to ponder the question of how many girls you can fit in a 360 love van? BTW, I've seen pictures of that thing somewhere before too, but don't remember where.

Make that five times. If you're offroading you'll most likely need that spare. Those prices seem much cheaper than when I checked with Stockton Wheel years ago. I'd swear they quoted me more like $100 per wheel. That's cool though, I'm sure somebody will go for it.

I think it was Clint from Austrailia that added a custom made auxillary tank to his EA82 wagon for his outback expeditions. As I recall, the second tank fit where the bottom of the back seat used to be. I have no idea how the plumbing worked. In rally cars they seem to put the fuel cell inside custom fabbed sheetmetal compartments like seen in this photo. I was thinking of doing something like this in my Hatchback but have many more urgent things on the agenda.

Great choice of cars to learn on! Nice and simple, and lots of cheap parts in the junk yards to keep it going. Should get 30 mpg or so highway and be as clean burning as most modern cars. There's a great book, a repair manual of sorts, that'll help ya' and is even entertaining. Larry Owens is the author and it's called "How To Keep Your Subaru Alive." It's out of print but there's still copies floating around used. The book is written for the average person and the principles explained will help ya' understand what's going on with non-Soobs as well. The book has cool pictures too, very much like it's legendary relative "How To Keep Your Volkswagon Alive." Sorry but I gotta disagree about tossing the muffler. An un-muffled Soob can PO the neighbors when you come home late or leave early and gives cops one more reason to hassle ya'. A $15 "turbo" muffler or $30 Dynomax will add a couple horsepower and yet be almost as quiet as the stock one. Down the road upgrade the to a more free flowing exhaust but that can run a couple hundred $. The biggest improvement in power and drivablility will be the Weber carb. Haven't heard of anyone regret that $300 spent and it can be tuned to pass emmissions. With the Weber you can keep most of the stock emmissions stuff on there if you so choose, but most toss it to further simplify the engine. Most muffler shops should have the exhaust gaskets for you, maybe even for free if they're in a hurry.

Just incase anybody is interested, on a '83 wagon I once owned I had a custom 1-7/8" exhaust with an OEM style round Dynomax Turbo muffler. The muff worked very well and cost $30 from JCWhitney. With this exhaust on a stock EA81 engine, it lost a bit of low end torque but improved high rpm and freeway performance.