Mike W

Hey I should have mentioned that Costco recently had a rather nice cheapo come-a-long for about 20 bucks. It was up a notch from harbor freight quality. I wouldn't mind having one of those Wyeth-Scott units, looks like something you could pass down to your grandkids. Winching with a Hi-Lift was a hassle...slightly better than doing the spanish windlass trick with belts and shoe laces. I'm still glad I carry the jack, it's worth it's weight and very useful as a jack. Just not the funnest way to winch a car out.

Ya know, I realize that vehicles are supposed to be "street legal" to operate on Forest Sevice roads, but it seems to me that law enforcement should have better things to do than bust buggies and jeepers at an official offroad park! Writing tickets is a lame way for the agency to raise money. And besides peeving off hardcore wheelers, it's also going to push folks to go wheeling on other non-legal land. Now if the cops down in Buckley or wherever want to write tickets for no mud flaps etc, hey you kind of expect that. But coming down on the guys who trailer their monster rigs to Evans, that just seems bogus and these rangers/cops should have better things to do! Speaking of other non-legal land to go wheeling on and getting off topic... Anyone know if the Black Diamond & Kangley area trails are still open? I was down there a few months ago, found some and it was great!

Couple other things occured to me that might be worth mentioning. "Snatch straps" stretch, great for yankin' someone out, not much good for any kind of winching. I like logging chains too, but it's a bit heavy for Subaruing so I'd rather have a long cable and shorter cable instead. Bring extra shackles and at least one snatch block. I got most of my stuff on sale from Northern Tool and it's pretty good quality. Good bumpers well connected to the unibody. Those factory tie-down points like to rip off if you pull on them hard. Also, it kinda goes without saying that if you go alone, go over-prepared for anything. Also, don't be a "Mike." A couple months ago I had a rare opportunity to go wheelin' so took off solo assuming all my recovery stuff was still in the car. Naturally I was more stupid than usual... I slid the rear of my car off the trail while doing a crazy move and got stuck in such a way that I couldn't go backwards and couldn'd winch myself forward (the 2k # winch on the bumper is almost worthless anyway.) The only way to get the car out was to winch the rear of the car sideways uphill about four feet. So I go to grab my come-a-long and it ain't there! After an hour of fun in a freezing downpour, I freed myself using the Hi-lift style jack, 20' cable, tree straps, snatch block, shackles, shovel and machette. If I'd forgotten anything else at home, I'd have been doing the walk of shame! Oh yeah, there's some great reading on recovery techniques, safety, and stuff. I don't have the links handy, but I think one was on the Pirate4x4 site.

I carry an extra 25' of 1/4" cable for extending pulls or dealing with weird angles. Also couple of 6' tree slings and a big snatch strap come in very handy.

Ok I won't say "use the search". I'll instead say use the Google. Plenty of articles on the web about how to install.

Does anyone else forsee possible issues with having that name on the side of the car? I remember someone parking a truck by that name in Seattle and claiming it was "art." Didn't go over well.

I'm glad to see folks finally doing this and sure wish I did back when I was modding my car. I'll bet the Camero style cowl will work great for venting the heat. I've noticed that when driving my car in the rain, water dropplets just sit there on top of and around the impreza hood scoop. I think that indicates that the back of the hood is a major low pressure area and therefor heat would get sucked out if it was vented there.

The Porsche radiator in my Hatch fits perfect with a 3" Brett Rogers BYB kit. When you mount the radiator, the trick is to make either make it hinged so you can easily lift it up to access the clutch or else mount it directly to the hood as someone on here did. About cutting off the radiator core support on a daily driver...it's part of the unibody crumple zone. So when removing it and attaching a mega-bumper or whatever, it might be worth considering what will happen in a hard wreck. A long time ago I ran a stock Hatchback into the back of a stopped Caprice at about 50mph. The engine ended up tucked neatly under our feet and we walked away and went mountain biking the next day. The outcome probably wouldn't be so cool if I did the same wreck in my current hatchback with 2" tubes inserted way into the front frame rails to mount the Jackman bumper. I wonder if those tubes up the frame rails might just intrude into the drivers compartment. Yikes. My air intake has a cone filter inside a big juice bottle up in the spare tire space by the fire wall. Stays nice and dry up there.

Or like this. The radiator, fans, and pressure tank are out of a Porsche 924s (or maybe it was a 924turbo?) It's a nice quality and very effecient aluminum radiator. Got it back when PullaPart first opened and they only charged me $15 for the whole deal! It cools surprisingly well back there sucking air down from a Impreza scoop and trying to force hot air out the bottom. If I did it again or get around to reworking it, I'd do a cowl (sp?) hood like Qman has on his Brat and exhaust the heat up and out the rear of the hood. The way I have it in the picture keeps it cool enough that only one fan needs to come on if I'm not moving for a while or really crawling up a steep one. The original plan was to completely seal off the grill area to keep mud&water out. That just wasn't enough air flow on 80' days. So it currently has a mostly sealed up grill with air just coming in from the top most part of the grill and that's workin' good. Finding radiator hoses to fit... just ask the part store folks to let you rumage around behind the conter and dig through their complete inventory until you find what works. Anyways... so the rear radiator thing definitely works. As for hackin' off the core support... Man I've been wanting to do that ever since I moved the radiator. No reason not to as long as a strong bumper or something is used to connect the front unibody frame stuff together. That'd leave the oil pan more exposed than ever, but you gotta protect it somehow anyways or else maybe it's time for the divorced T-case "engine lift." Hope that helps a bit. I say go for it, do it, test it, and if it works, post pics .

I'm sure it'll be sick and cool whatever it becomes. For whatever it's worth, I just saw a set of 33" swampers on six lug and a nissan t/c on Craigslist for $300. It's connected to a '75 Datsun with WRX seats Stanwood... if that might somehow fit into this project. http://seattle.craigslist.org/car/152373327.html

Hows about a VW buggy style rear suspension setup with 930 high angle CVs mated up to a R200 or Dana diff with locker? A Quattro diff might work if it's stout enough.

Back when I was planning my next project I was thinking of using some Nissan rear end components. 280ZX stuff would offer the flange mount axles and R180 diff. You can get spools for the R180 but then the weak link might be the diff stubs again. 300ZX stuff gives R200 diff and you could theoretically put a ARB air locker in that (I was gonna run a R200a up front too.) I guess some 300zx also had rear steering, perhaps for those seeking to further complicate matters. Maybe with the Nissan setup, you could use the outer stub as the "fuse" by turning a groove into it to weaken it a bit? Maybe this doesn't help, just thought I'd toss it out there. Whatever's gonna break most often, you want it to be easily swapped out. And whatever's the biggest pita to fix out in the woods, you want to protect it.

I'm no Weber guru but I don't think there was ever a 38 DGAV and if that's what you had I don't think you'd be getting 28 MPG. Any chance it says "DGAV32" or "DGAV 32/36"??? That'd be a lot more likely and you'd find more info searching for one of those. This list here shows that a DGAV 32 exists and apparently was stock on Euro Fords. For tuning info and diagrams you might try RedlineWeber.com If the tuning is perfect and it still diesels, you might try adding an anti-diesel solinoid (available from Redline and other folks.) Hope that helps a bit. Post pics of it if you can.

Also how about the Rguyver rear axle mod. EA82 long cups on both ends of rear axles gives more down travel without hyperextending the joints.

How about getting the y-pipe out from under there. Qman's turbo crossover pipe swap and Zap's radiator swap would dramatically improve front end clearance and approach angle without costing much $.

Not exactly an exo-cage but a fun photo none the less. I'm pretty sure I found the pic on S&N Fab's website a few years ago. Guess the Snort guys enjoy subarus too.

Accra Manufacturing http://www.accramfg.com/ See the employment page. I think they're looking for assembly, shipping, and general warehousing skills. Machine and aerospace background desired, but probably not required. Business is booming. (This is an unofficial posting by the way. I don't represent the company, I just happen to work there.)

I don't think anyone has yet converted an early car to use Legacy/Impreza crossmember and suspension. Obviously you'd need to adapt it to fit the EA unibody, but it might be worth of considering if you don't mind the wider stance.

I did it in my Hatch but only because it's rear was sagging and I load it down. In my opinion it'd be better to keep the springs soft and install air shocks to adjust for extra weight.

For anyone into the $10 junkyard Cadillac compressors, I dug up the link where a guy explains how to mod it to move more cfm's of air. The pictures are now gone, but if you have the pump in hand it's easy enough to figure out how what to do. The Cady pump in stock form works about as well as the Superflow/Masterflow...it just takes a bit McGuyvering to rig it up and of course it doesn't come with the cool nylon carry bag, hose, etc.

Man my memory is shot. The compressor I bought for $50 at Schucks was not called Max-air. It was in fact the Superflow unit in the test. And yes I did indeed pay twice as much as they did. Oh well I had a store credit to use and it gives me one more reason to hate Shmucks. Wow those side-by-side pics with the Viair surprised me. Maybe $50 wasn't so bad afterall. It does work pretty good for it's small size. I'd give it a thumbs-up.

When my last cheapo failed, I bought a $50 Max- Air brand mini-compressor from Schucks. It does pretty good, moves much more volume than the plastic cheapo units. If you're into junk yard crawling, I'd recommend a Cadillac compressor. You can mod these units to move lots of air, or even use two units in series for faster inflation.

Clutch type. R200a diffs are supposed to also fit R200. Purenissan If you're rich, you could also put an air locker in a R200.

Bog water perfume is pretty much impossible to remove from carpets and upholstry. After my first swamping, I yanked out the carpets, removed the tar mats, hosed it out with water and bleach, and dryed it thoughly. I then hammered the front floorboards down a bit so future muck would drain down to holes better. Then I applied undercoating and truck bed liner and instead of carpet I went with vinyl mats from an early Hatchback. It's noisier inside but much easier to deal with getting the water out. That hole Austin stalled his blue wagon in, a year or so earlier I was out wheelin' by myself in and stalled my car in the same spot but it was a little deeper at the time. I'll tell ya', the waves make an eery sound lapping up agaist the car almost up to the window. In a panic I figured I could "key it" to get myself out. But to my amazement the car actaully started even with the tailpipe summerged. Couldn't believe it, never felt so lucky. The door seals leaked a bit, but the water was gushing in through holes in the unibody into the back seat area. So if you're waterproofing, don't forget all those holes and crevices in the body. I was back out to there East of Black Diamond again three weekends ago and the trails were great and lots of water! (Found new trails nearby too!) Anyways, that day I learned that if you take the drain plugs out, it's good to remember to put them back in again before going swimming. Cook with a space heater on medium heat for one to two weeks in a garage. Serve warm.

Best looking ice fishing hut I've ever seen.