Mike W

R180 diffs have been done and Qman has an ARB in his. But as for the R200, I don't think anyone on here has actually installed one in a Subaru (yet.) Supposedly the air locker made for the R200a diff will also work in the R200 but the $700+ price tag seems to be keeping us low budget folks from doing it.

I've been meaning to ask a ranger that very question but haven't had the chance. I have heard that it can be a hefty fine and has something to do with the Clean Water Act and possible the Endangered Speicies Act depending on the creek/river. In practice it probably depends on what kind of mood the cop or ranger is in and his sense of humor. Years ago when I went wheelin' with Zap for the first time, he drove his hatchback right up the main channel of a major whitewater river. So he's in the river up to his windows making good progress swiming upstream, but occasionally floats and slips downstream a bit, then gets traction and continues swimming up again. He eventually gets to a deep hole below a big rapids and couldn't go anymore due to floating too much. But man that was most impressive and would have been the coolest video. Now directly overhead was a bridge crossing the river and a couple in a SUV, drive over, look down, and just freak. They pull over not believing what they saw, I mean it ain't everyday you see a Subaru behaving like a salmon. So they offered him a beer and all was cool and good. I've since wondered what would have happened if that'd been a ranger instead of the couple. Probably wouldn't have been as good and might have down right sucked. I think the moral of the story is be cool, use decent judgement and don't get caught.

Seems like most junk yards sell complete strut assemblies and don't really like taking them apart. With luck maybe you could score a set of used but almost new...then it'd just be a quick swap to get them on the car. I recently converted my '93 Leg wagon to KYBs and love it. I could have kept fixing the air suspension but decided it was replace and be done. Might even improve the resale value of the car if I decide to sell it. I had a set of strut assemblies from the junk and used those springs and tops and bought a set of KYB struts from Tirerack. Cost for the new struts was $327 shipped. I wanted to raise the car a little for improved clearance, so I went with struts spec'd for a '97 Outback but it would have been the same deal with normal struts. The little lift is great and the handling and ride is much better than the air suspension. The whole swap took me maybe three hours and really wasn't bad at all. Jack it up, put it on stands, un-bolt the sway bars, cut the brake line mounts with hack saw, mark lower bolt positions, remove struts and put new ones in. Reassemble and get the alignment done. A cheap style spring compressor worked fine. When removing the rear struts I cut the hoses and wires because looked like I'd have to remove the plastic in the cargo area to unplug them. I removed the air suspension fuse from the fuse box and unplugged the wires to the compressor and tank. That made the light on the dash switch blinking. Next step is to hook up the compressor for use as an on-board air supply and run an big rig style air horn.

How about a plug-n-play kit with a dash mounted switch for changing from normal ABS mode to traction control mode. Has anyone devised something like that?

Got fish? How about considering what lives in the creek before driving in it. This might not be the best time of year for using creeks as trails. I don't know about fishes of the east coast, but around here, the first rains of the fall are when some salmon like to swim up and do the spawning thing. There's also legal issues if you get caught. Rangers, cops, and River Keepers frown heavily upon 'wheelin' in creeks. If you get caught try telling them you're a bioligist and you're counting fish... Now all that said, I've driven in a few creeks and rivers myself and it can be fun. But putting on a pair of waders and walking can be cool too and is a lot easier on the wheel bearings etc. So now that you all want to kill the "tree hugger", I'm going to go out and get my hatchback muddy so I feel more normal and maybe you won't hate me. Oh yeah, have you seen the Offroad Subaru Club of Queensland Website? They have a nice section on water crossings in Subarus. Look in their "tech talk" section. http://www.subaclub.com/

In my opinion there should have been a big red kill switch on the dash to disable the ABS when it's trying to kill you.

I believe the repair kit is made by Permatex or Loktite and I costs under $10. Goodluck if you go for it. Hope it works and lasts.

That first link of the "Legacy" I posted wasn't working for me so I just reposted what should be the correct link. Cool pic...looks like a volcanic cinder cone in the background.

Had some time to kill and surfed onto that Iceland offroad website and searched for Subarus. Here's some of what I found: I've seen this LegaYota with 44's before but in a different pose. http://www.f4x4.is/new/files/photo/?file=files/photoalbums/921/5673.jpg http://kjolur.f4x4.is/photoalbum/images/720-2761-17945.jpg Brat http://www.f4x4.is/new/photoalbum/?file=oldsite/3504 Touring wagon with SubyBeast style lift http://www.f4x4.is/new/photoalbum/?file=oldsite/778 Legacy sedan playing on a ski hill http://www.f4x4.is/new/photoalbum/?file=oldsite/1635 There was also an EA81 powered Suzuki, but man it was ugly.

I didn't want a permenently installed on board air system in my hatch, so I rigged up a portable 12volt system using a dead Harbor Freight compressor. I tossed the POS 110volt compressor and installed a Cadillac compressor in it's place. With this setup it has the built in 3 gallon tank or it can also be connected to a bigger reservoir such as a bumper, roll bar, etc.

I came accross a scuba tank in a thrift store. Yes aluminum but whoa, very heavy. For a light but effective a/c compressor pump, try one out of a late 80's Corolla. Very small and light yet delivers a lot of cfms and is apparently self oiled like Yorks. A guy I work with uses one of these on his trail rig's OBA system.

A fancy hatch/liftgate release lever would indeed be cool. How about using a release lever from a Hatchback and mount it somewhere in the cargo area? In my Hatchback I cut a hole in the plastic trim so I can reach in and pop the latch...but that's primitive and not something I'd want to do in the dark when I gotta pee. Guess if I'm going to sleep in the Hatch I should add a second lever to pull on the release cable. So no one has added a Westfalia camper on top of a Soob wagon? With that safari top opening already there the Westy top could clamp on for camping trips. Mount it with heavy duty buckles and take it off again for commuting to work? Just a whacked idea but I bet someone somewhere has already tried it.

I've been wanting a side awning for years now but haven't gotten around to rigging one up. I want it cheap, compact, and quick to put up. I used to use the poles and rainfly from my backpacking tent. That made a nice awning over the rear hatch but I didn't want to wear it out (too expensive.) So lately I've been prowling the yard sales looking for a cheap freestanding dome tent. I plan on cutting the bottom out and maybe modify to connect to the back and/or side of the car. I don't want to sleep in it, just need a shelter for brewing coffee and hanging out when the weather sucks.

Yeah the rain shadow reduces precipitation over a fairly large area (including as far as Anacortes.) But the shadow area moves around depending on the direction that the storm is coming from (plus other tricky factors like convergent winds etc.) The main thing is that the further away from the Olympic mountains... the less dependable the rain shadow effect and the more difficult to predict the weather and winds. Sequim is so close to the mountains that it's nearly always in the rain shadow and it's common for it to be rainy and nasty everywhere except directly over Sequim. If you could find a very detailed precipitation map I bet it would show Sequim as a small dry spot with precip increasing dramatically as you move away. So what I'm getting at is that just because a given location might be "in the shadow," I wouldn't exect actual SUN unless you're in Sequim.

So how many victims has the "stump of death" now claimed? Was my car the first it sucked in? I'd swear that stump had a Subaru magnet in it. Wish I could of gone. Are the whoop-de-doos still there? Can you still get into that gravel pit? That's a cool area and I bet there's a lot more wheelin over there given the number of muddy jeeps you see over there.

To dis-assemble axles you'll need snap ring pliars (or maybe a screwdriver) and it helps to hold the shaft in a vise. Lots of disposable rags and gloves that go up to your elbows are a good thing. Love that CV grease. Might want to put a box or something under the the axle incase the bearings fall out as you take it apart. The balls like to roll under cabinets.

Sure arc or gas if that's what you have and you have the skills. But for non-welders (like me) mig or flux-core wire feed welders are probably the easiest to learn for simple non-life endangering projects. On a brush guard the strenght of your welds might not be that important. But bumpers, hitch recievers, winch mounts and such... the welds had better be proper or someone could get hurt. Because wire feed welders are easy and handy, good deals go fast on Craigslist (search for "welders.") I had to be very aggressive to score my $100 Lincoln. On Ebay good ones sell for so much you might as well buy new. Craigslist might also be a good place to hire a welder for a project. Try posting in the barter/trade/services sections. The beer-barter method is cool and there must be lots of welders over there on the Kitsap peninsula (ship yard folks?) Lots of free beginner to advanced welding education info on the Lincoln, Miller websites: http://www.lincolnelectric.com/ http://www.millerwelds.com/ Usenet Newsgroups with excellent info and helpful gurus. sci.engr.joining.welding rec.crafts.metalworking sci.engr.metallurgy To reduce the amount of "dumb newbie questions" asked over and over again, the newsgroup members created The Welding FAQ: http://www.weldingfaq.com/ If you can't find the info you need there, try a Google "Group" search. Metalworking-forum.com http://www.metalworking-forum.com Ernie's Massive Metal Links List http://www.stagesmith.com/Metal-links.html Heed the overdose warning, he ain't kidding. The $50 Harbor Freight auto- darkening helmet rocks.

For my air intake, what I did isn't a snorkle but works nearly as well. I put a cone filter right up by the firewall in the spare tire spot. To protect the cone filter from splashes of muck, I put a plastic juice bottle over it so the air has to go around some corners to get to the filter. Works great in water up to the side windows.

Clean water in a pump-up pesticide sprayer. Spray on a few dollar store cans of non-stick cooking spray on before mudding. Most of the mud will fall off and washes off super easy. Electric pressure washers rock. Price equals 10-20 pay car washes.

My memory isn't so good but I'd swear I saw sections of rectangular tubing under the shocks and etc on that snow camo Brat. In any case, I was just pointing out that gen1's are liftable and look cool with gnarly treads.

In case you need a bit of motivation to lift your gen1, here's one from your neck of the woods. The builder showed up near the end of WCSS2 and I think he got the award for having drawing the biggest croud or something like that.

Yeah unfortunately my lights must act like rock magnets down there in the air dam. Guess it must be the location. I've had them on there for three years and both lenses are sand blasted and cracked. But I love them when they work. Thanks for posting the link to the Hella website. I'm going to call customer service and see if I can get new lenses. Regarding switches, I would not recommend the Pilot brand "mini bug switches." That's those small black oval stick-on switches with the push button and LED. I used two of these switches for my lights and both switches crapped out within a year (and yes I was using them with relays.) The clicker gizmo in them just plain doesn't hold up to normal use.

I have those in the air dam of my '93 Legacy and love them. My only complaint is that the lens crack very easily. One rock hit and they're done. I'm going to try to get new lens or else buy a new set of lamps...I like them that much. But next time I'll protect the lens with this plastic stuff I have that's like that sold by Hella to protect lamps.

Just for hoots I Googled "jumping subaru" and came up with these pics... http://personal.stevens.edu/~jwells/photogallery/Final%20Jump%201.jpg http://personal.stevens.edu/~jwells/photogallery/The%20little%20jump.jpg

EA series skid plates can be fitted to a '90-94 Legacy with a little modification. If I remember right, I believe I ovalized a couple of the front holes on the skid plate and drilled a couple of holes into the crossmember. I also did some hammering on the skid plate to make it fit. Once mounted it works great for light duty offroading but isn't all that tough if you're planning on ramming big rocks.