pontoontodd

Impreza has still been wandering a bit so I wanted to replace a couple of the lateral link bushings and CV boots. Got a bunch of Group N bushings so I'd have some on the shelf for future repairs. With the billet knuckles and dog leg trailing arms and the stainless studs in place of the long bolts it's a much easier job than it used to be, didn't take me long to get both axles out. One thing I've been wanting to address almost from the beginning of this swap is the slop in the rear diff stubs. The combination of slop in the diff splines and the splines for the female axles allows the inner CVs to move around more and have more backlash than normal. The splines for the inner CV were worn on the stubs that have been in the car for a couple years now. I peened a pair of them like the one in the bottom of this picture. I tried pressing them first to squish the splines but that did nothing. This may not last long as a means of reducing the slop but I figured it was worth a try. B swapped out a couple of the lateral link bushings and cleaned up the long studs. He also shorted a couple of the inner bolts that were rubbing on the inner CV boots. I regreased and rebooted a couple CVs and replaced one axle. Once we got it all back together one CV had basically no slop on the splines, the other one still had some but less than before. While we were under there I decided to refab the section of exhaust that hangs under the subframe. Cut out that flattened section and replaced with 2.5" x .095" 4130. Actually has clearance to the CV joint now. We also came up with an initial plan for mounting the extra fuel tank. Can't wait to get that hooked up. B unbolted the top of the radiator and pulled it back the little it can move with the radiator hoses on it, then he blasted a bunch of crap out from between the radiator and condenser with compressed air. I want to get/make some different nozzles for doing that more effectively, should probably at least check that regularly. Still hoping that getting the puller fans on the primary fan circuit and the pusher fans on the secondary fan circuit will help.

Posted videos from our trip back in June, one long, one short, maybe the best mix of mud/sand/rocks from the UP yet

Took five wheel and tire assemblies to Discount for their road hazard warranty. Only one leaked, others had big cuts in sidewalls etc. They'd ordered five new tires as replacements and then swapped them on to my wheels. When I pulled in to pick them up the manager recognized me and came out of the building and met me in the parking lot to tell me where they had them stacked. He asked about how the car did off road, how far we go, etc. Not necessarily a good sign when the tire shop manager instantly recognizes you. Drove the white Outback to the machine shop last Monday and the trans broke on the way there. Shifted hard (which it does the first few shifts when cold sometimes) then no forward or reverse propulsion. Faint grinding noise when in gear. C picked me up and gave me a ride to my house. Drove the Impreza to the scene and we hooked up the tow bar and lights. Towed it back to my house. Drove Impreza in garage, unhooked tow bar, jacked up rear of Impreza, pushed sideways, drove Impreza out, pushed Outback in. That week I disconnected everything from the trans and on Saturday B helped me swap it out. I refabbed the exhaust to get some driveshaft clearance. Used a steel cone to make the muffler rounder, replaced the most bent/crushed piece of tubing, relocated one of the hangers for more CV clearance. While I was doing that B disassembled the auto and confirmed that the input shaft broke. There were also a couple of chipped gear teeth on the center diff (?) planetary but I don't think that was a problem. I found one of them on the drain pan magnet. After driving it a bit I am still getting used to how much smoother it is. I knew the old trans was shifting hard sometimes especially when cold but I still find myself bracing for a hard upshift or downshift that is now super smooth. Perhaps smoother shifting than ever in my ownership. Sunday my wife and I went kayaking with the Impreza.

Long overdue trip report from early October. B and I decided to revisit some of the challenging portions of the trail riding with T in 2019. Friday morning before I left I shoved a couple pieces of hardware cloth between the radiator fans and grill/bumper. We met at Canyon Falls and headed north a little bit and started trail riding. Many of the trails we were on Friday were not on any of our maps and were quite overgrown. One of them stared getting soft and the Impreza started digging in to the mud. I locked the center diff and got out the folding recovery ramps and was able to get back to dry ground. We saw several different Notice of Authorizations posted for culvert and temporary bridge construction for logging operations. Some of these were about ten years old but we'd never seen them before anywhere. Impreza temp gauge started creeping up, the main fan fuse was blown so we replaced that. Not really sure why, it was fine the rest of the weekend. The hardware cloth in front of the fans did keep getting packed up with leaves and other vegetation all weekend, we cleaned them out quite a few times. Unfortunately none of the trails we explored for the first few hours went anywhere so we had to go back to the highway to go north a few more miles to some other trails. We were heading towards a hill on the topo that showed a trail going to the top so I tried to get there. Again wound up on some trails not on the maps and eventually came to a sign with a skull reading Paul Hytinen's trail of no return. That trail was basically a straight shot to the top of the hill. The first section was a fairly long and rocky climb, the only time I used low range all weekend. And yes that's an interior door panel lying next to the climb. We both made it up with no major drama and the rest of the trail was fairly mild. It was getting late so we camped in the little clearing at the top of the hill. In the morning B discovered that his RF tire had gone flat due to a small sidewall cut. He was able to double plug it. One of the first trails he had us go down was fairly narrow, rutted, and muddy but we made it through. At this point his plug was leaking so he replugged it which lasted the rest of the weekend (sort of...). Found a big tailings pile back in the woods. Found some decent campsites along a road next to a neat stream. Went to one of the stream crossings we'd turned around at on a previous trip with a less capable Subaru. Crossed it easily and continued. Went up a muddy climb that wasn't too steep but had a lot of logs that we're guessing other people put down but probably didn't help us. We both made it to the top but then I managed to go a little too far to the right and slide into a soft spot. Shortly after this I had a small stick jammed in my LF brake heat shield making an amazing amount of noise so we removed that. At that point I realized I couldn't open the RF door because the rocker was smashed up. Found an old RV way back in the woods. Went up to Mt Arvon from the west. Parking area was full of golf carts so we continued northeast. Got to another stream crossing we'd marked and turned around at with T but this time crossed easily. Eventually reached an old railroad grade that started out muddy and rutted which we had also turned around at on a previous trip. A little ways east a beaver dam was flooding a portion of the grade. This pond looks like it was probably occupied. Fortunately there was basically a beaver dam on either side of the road. We dug some drains in the dam on the downstream side and were then able to drive through. We were both briefly stuck but some jacking and logs under the tires got us back on the move. Just east of that was a four way intersection. We continued east on the grade and stopped at another beaver dam. This one was a similar deal but did not seem active, they had kind of dammed both sides so we dug ditches on the downstream side. Frog eating an earthworm, don't think I've ever seen that before. After a little draining It was starting to get a little late so we decided to go back to the intersection which had a big clearing and cook dinner. We then drove back to the beaver dam to check the drainage. Just before we got there B's Forester got stuck in a muddy rutted section and wasn't driving and making a noise that sounded like splines stripped out coming from the rear end. I was able to push the LR IB CV back in the diff and he was able to continue driving. We dug some more in the main section and fortunately kept walking to the far end and started draining a short but deep section at the end. By now it was getting close to sunset so we drove back to the big intersection to camp out. CV popped out of the diff a couple times on the way back. We jacked it up each time and were able to get it back in but it didn't seem like it had popped out far, maybe 1/4”. The next morning we started disassembling that suspension corner and got the axle out. Splines on the IB CV had stripped out, fortunately the diff gear looked fine. Put in his spare LR axle, ate breakfast, and drove back to the beaver dam to survey our work. Water levels had dropped almost a foot overnight. Found some more tadpoles and insect larvae We were both able to drive through, the hole at the far end was still deep enough to be deeper than my bumper so it's a good thing we drained a foot of water out of that. Of course just a little further was an even bigger beaver dam and this one was mostly on the downstream side of the road so we turned around and went back through the one that had been draining overnight to the intersection we'd camped at. Headed south and then continued east. Looped around to the other end of the grade and found another beaver dam quite a ways from where we'd turned around. Headed north, found some cool waterfalls. Revisited some other muddy spots we'd turned around at before and got stuck briefly and turned around again this time. A while later on another trail B got the Forester stuck in a frog filled stream crossing. Some jacking and shoveling and wood under the tires got him out. Then we got to another muddy rutted section. We walked it and poked at it with sticks and it didn't seem too bad except for the far end. Which is where I got stuck, somewhat high centered on some small trees that were fallen across the road we hadn't bothered to move. Probably with a little more momentum I would have gotten through. Took us quite a bit of high lifting, shoveling, recovery ramps, and wood stacking to get it on semi dry ground. Then B got stuck a little before where I had. We hooked up our straps and I was able to pull him up to the decent section of trail. We continued down that trail and just before we got to the major dirt road there was an RV and a giant tent set up in the trail. Fortunately there was a side trail nearby that connected to the dirt road and we continued. Our next point of interest was the beaver pond where T had flooded his Impreza in 2019. If I hadn't had it marked on my GPS we would never have noticed it. The road was built up several feet and a new culvert had been installed. The pond was still there but not much risk of flooding the road anymore. We went to a waterfall B had taken us to before, it's probably about a 50' slide and does have a little parking spot alongside the trail but no signs or anything. There's some metal chairs and pots and pans, a legit grill, and other cooking supplies stashed there but probably not enough flat ground for a couple tents so we decided not to camp there. We continued north and found a spot on a side trail to cook dinner and camp out. We headed back south, not long after that B's RF tire had another sidewall leak, this one probably worse than the first. We just swapped on the spare tire. Headed down a long somewhat rocky trail/road and rediscovered the vintage Barrington IL city bus turned camper we'd seen in 2013 and haven't seen since. Also saw an old plow truck parked alongside the road. Drove up to Big Bay and got gas at the station on the south end of town, it's well stocked with groceries and even has a decent hardware section in the back. Stopped at Thomas Rock Scenic Overlook on the way back to the trails. Excellent view, short walk. B wandered us down some narrow trails in varied forests we'd never been on. Headed back west on a slightly more northern dirt road than we'd been on. This one must have been some kind of major route long ago as there was a concrete bridge near the (current) end of it. Drove around the trails in that area, some good fall views but everything was eventually either bermed off or overgrown. By this time we needed to go back to civilization so we headed south on a major dirt road. Stopped at a boat ramp/park to air up and eat PB&Js and checked out an old truss bridge that's only open to pedestrians. We were entertained by the bicycle hanging from the top and ratchet straps underneath. Convoyed down to Green Bay, got gas, ate dinner, and split up for the rest of our drives home. Shortly after we split off I was stuck behind some old man camped out in the left lane. I finally got a gap on the right to pass him and as I was doing so I saw a cop parked in the median. Looked in my mirror to see the lights flashing and the cop pulling out on the highway. He eventually caught up to me and pulled me over. I assumed it was going to be for speeding. He walks up to the passenger window and asked if I'd been having fun off roading. Then says he pulled me over for loud exhaust. Asked if the exhaust was modified or if something had come loose off roading, I chose the latter option. He came back with just a warning ticket and said he was jealous of the fun we probably had over the weekend off roading. I would definitely like to make the Impreza quieter I just don't know how. I do have a slightly larger muffler I want to try but I doubt it will make much difference. I have a little more motivation to try it now though. Overall we had a good weekend, only major repair was the rear CV axle, good weather, almost no rain, almost no flying insects, no ticks. Saw a surprising amount of frogs. Trails were relatively dry, fall colors were neat. Should probably go up in October more often. Over 200 miles off pavement, spent the majority of our time and maybe miles on trails/roads we hadn't been on before, probably a quarter to a third of our time on roads that weren't on any of our maps. Perhaps the biggest portion of just trail riding of any UP trip I can remember. We were on some major dirt/gravel roads but it was a small portion of the time. Probably only 10-20 miles of pavement driving all weekend. Had to go out of our way to get to a gas station. We'd both dumped our jerry cans in our tanks but I was still probably within a half gallon of being empty by the time we filled up. Definitely further encouragement to get the extra ten gallon tank hooked up. Used the weavable recovery straps a few times for recovery, 5-10 times for pulling/breaking logs out of the trail. Radiator fans getting blocked by vegetation was an ongoing issue but fairly easy to deal with. Glad I put the hardware cloth in front, it may have saved the condenser from getting truly packed and folded over with debris. B didn't have that problem, we're assuming it's a pusher fan thing. I plan on putting the two small puller fans on the primary fan circuit. Those shouldn't attract as much debris and hopefully will be adequate for cooling most of the time. Then put the two big pusher fans on the second circuit, probably with a bigger relay and fuse. One morning the clutch pedal was almost to the floor but still worked. Eventually pumped up and seemed to work normally the last couple days and ever since. Mpact clutch disc seems a lot smellier than the one I had before but worked fine. It smelled like I'd been slipping it badly a bunch of times and while I was certainly working it in the woods it didn't seem to be slipping. Only used the low range once but had the center diff locked most of the weekend. Unlocked it a few times for long gravel roads. It did lock itself a couple times but then stayed unlocked all the way home and the next day of driving. Not making any more noise than usual. The next day while driving parts to heat treat in town some hispanic guys in their 20s were stopped next to me at a stop light. They signaled me to roll down my window and asked if the Impreza was fast. I just told them it had a six cylinder. Driver says me too and asked if I want to race. Sure. Light turns green and I let out the clutch at about 5000RPM and it proceeds to slip pretty badly as the car accelerates. Meanwhile their Chrysler 300 front driver is burning a tire. I had a couple car lengths on him but he stayed in my blind spot up to about 50mph when I backed off. The next weekend my wife and I went up north and stayed with some of her family. Impreza cruise seems to be working consistently, I wonder if the connection to the trans was getting loose/dirty. Has a bit of a wiggle when cornering sometimes. Eventually figured out one of the inner lateral link bushings is shot. Trans was noisy on the way back up north but has been quiet lately. Mostly in the center diff portion I think, when locking that it's definitely quieter (when it's noisy). It does have three different models of tires on it at slightly different pressures. Did lock the center diff by itself a couple times after the rebuild but hasn't in a while.

Any updates on this? Going to do any racing this summer?

Video from our trip to Arizona in April

B and I went to the UP trail riding a couple weeks ago. Went well, will post a full trip report later. Replaced driveshaft in white Outback. Eliminated that vibration but the engine (converter?) has some kind of vibration related to engine RPM and load. It's most noticeable and actually fairly annoying idling in gear. One possible cause is that despite replacing the exhaust manifold gaskets I think at least one of them still leaks. Have driven it about 500 miles since the front end rebuild though and seems mostly good. Only CEL/MIL is for one of the O2 sensor heaters. Not sure if I've mentioned it here but my wife's 2001 EZ30 Outback has had a wub wub noise proportional to road speed for a couple years now. Has probably gotten worse in that time, definitely louder or quieter depending on cornering. Have assumed it was a wheel bearing for quite a while now but couldn't figure out which one. Wanted to stick with the press in wheel bearings so the ABS would still work. It's stock and still basically rust free being from Oregon and we basically never take it off pavement. Have checked for slop and temperature a few times but neither side seems to get sloppy or hotter than any of the other hubs/bearings. Recently I decided it seems like it was probably coming from the RF and ordered a bearing, seals, and hub. Started disassembly and everything went smoothly, in fact most of the fasteners still have all the plating on them, until I got to the axle. Axle nut came off easily but the outer CV wouldn't budge in the hub. Eventually just took the whole mess off and put it in the twenty ton press. First tried some heat, more penetrant, had the spindle nut threaded most of the way back on and pressed on the socket so it wouldn't mushroom the end of the CV. Wound up shearing off the flange of the spindle nut. Had to bore that out of the socket in the lathe. Now I just started pressing directly on the CV stub and heated the hub with the oxy acetylene torch until it was cherry red. This time I broke the knuckle and somehow popped the CV axle out of the outer CV? Dug an old knuckle and axle out of the basement of the correct vintage. The ball joint in the old knuckle wasn't sloppy but the boot was torn and it was dry and rusty so I didn't want to install that. Took a while to get that out, barely got it to budge with the slide hammer. Took the good ball out of the now broken knuckle, anti seized and installed it. The only good axles I have in the right style do not have ABS rings on them for some reason. And I couldn't find any loose ABS rings. So I put it all together without that, will have to pick one up and install it sometime. On the plus side, there is now no noise when driving it.

Going to the UP in a few days but I don't anticipate using the low range much. Thought I replied here but don't see it now so I'll try again. Got the low range rebuilt with some of the upgraded parts. For instance, added needles to this surface on the input shaft that rides in the high range output shaft. These are locked together in high range but are always discolored and worn after use. Trans went back together fairly easily. B checked the gap on the crank trigger sensor (only .024", would be fairly difficult to reduce) and replaced the clutch disc. We put the trans back in and reassembled the rest of the car. Seems to be back to normal. At first the clutch action was strange, the first half of the pedal travel just got the slave pushrod in contact with the fork so you had to push the pedal all the way to the floor. Tried pumping it up and bleeding it, no improvement. After maybe an hour of city driving it's suddenly back to normal, only have to push the pedal about 1/4 of the way down to disengage. Low fuel light no longer works, it was working during last year's trip out west but I ran out of gas with the gauge a little above empty and no light on the dash. Fortunately was able to coast into a gas station to a pump, did have a jerry can with me. One of the seals on one of B's struts was out of place so we took the strut off and went through it. Got the seal retainer welded back into place, replaced that seal, cleaned up the threads on the shaft, and replaced the bumpstop.

Coincidentally when I typed up that post I was using our checklists for notes. There's always plenty to do on all of our cars, some issues more pressing <cough> than others. Don't hold your breath on the 5MT low range, the odds of me making those are extremely low. No way any of these modifications ever "pays for itself" but yes the rear knuckles with bolt on wheel bearings and big front axles and bigger rear brakes are a welcome improvement. B and I were discussing upgrading his drivetrain to 6MT low range/R180/billet rear knuckles over the winter. We have most of the parts and his rear diff has been making noise for over a year now. Spent some time this week on the trans removal. No major obstacles. Trans crossmember was nicely packed with dirt, took a few minutes to clean that out. Just got it out this morning. Missing one of the brass thrust washers in between the planet gears. Didn’t find any chunks of brass so maybe I just didn’t have it in there on assembly? The brass washers that are still there are worn about 1/3 of the way through from the needles. Going to see if I can find some steel washers that size but not before this goes back together. You can see it was breaking the needles inside the gears that were missing the dividing washer. Found a few partial needles in the trans. The parts of the noisy one in the black Outback that were worn/discolored are similar in this one but not as bad. Finally made parts to replace those with a different material/heat treatment, more oil holes, and an added bearing. Makes me wonder if the low range in the black Outback was missing some needles and that was what was really causing the noise. Still haven't removed and fully inspected it. I should have tried locking the center diff to see if that made the noise go away. Pretty sure we tried that in the black Outback and it didn't quiet down though.

Drove white Outback around town a bit, seemed to be slipping at times. Hadn't realized the auto trans fluid was low, didn't realized it had lost much. Wound up adding three quarts but it is now slightly over full. Back to its normal amount of auto slushiness now I think. Washed it and put the front piece of sheet metal B made and license plate on. I've driven it over 200 miles and about five hours of driving, seems basically back to normal, alignment seems great. Haven't noticed any leaks. Hasn't been starting without using a jump pack so we cleaned up all the battery cable/starter connections. Didn't really help but the lead clamp on the ground post was due for a replacement, cut back those cables and cleaned them up. Eventually got a new AGM battery which seems to be working. Replaced the rear washer pump, old one was leaking. Replaced the RF headlight, one of the bolts had pulled through in the hit. Got a driver's side radiator fan and installed that. Exhaust was rubbing on driveshaft a bit, B had rigged something up that was almost preventing that, I tweaked it a bit and it seems good now but the middle section of the exhaust could definitely use some improvement there plus the cone gasket has been leaking for years because the flange bottoms out. B helped me replace the pitch stopper. The stock plastic one broke in the crash, which I didn't realize until fairly recently. Took some jacking up of the trans and prying to get the new pitch stopper to bolt up. On the plus side that straightened out the trans mount and probably gave us a bit more exhaust to driveshaft clearance. Pulled a vacuum on the AC system, seemed to be leaking a bit. Put a little charge in it and the o ring on the low side of the compressor seemed to be leaking. Replaced that, didn't seem to leak, put the rest of a can in it. Enough to actually run the AC, high side 50, low side slight vacuum, doesn't blow cold. Figure I'll check it in a week or so and see if it's leaked. We're basically past AC season here but it is handy for defrosting the windshield at times. Radiator fan runs with the AC on. We tried pulling the swaybar mounting bracket forward by using a come a long (hand winch) to the Impreza but I don't think it moved. Doesn't seem to hit the tie rod so I guess it's good where it's at. Rear portion of the driveshaft is bent, I'd say 1/8-1/4" (3-6mm). Buckled in the crash maybe? There's a high frequency vibration that's worst at about 50mph, I assume from the driveshaft. Got one on order from a junkyard. We went over some things on the Impreza. The rear wheel bearings had a little bit of play. Slight on the RR, about the amount we start to consider bad on the LR so I replaced that. Much easier with the bolt in wheel bearings. Replaced that CV axle too, inner boot was starting to cut/tear. Old wheel bearing spun freely and sounded bone dry, good thing I replaced it. B tightened down the aluminum bracket for the LF control arm, those bolts were quite loose for some reason. He adjusted the driver's door, hadn't been staying closed firmly again, catch probably just shifted out a bit. He found a leak in the RF tire, seems to be a decent sized stick or something. So I have a few tires to take to Discount sometime for their road hazard warranty. Unfortunately the trans started making a lot of noise Sunday on the way home from a day trip. Made it home fine. Most likely similar low range failure the black Outback had. Going to start transmission removal today. Have some new low range parts made up - different material/heat treat, more oil holes, additional bearing - hopefully will last longer.

Got the spare tire well tank for the Impreza back from the fab shop. Before sending out for paint I capped and sleeved this tube so it doesn't just fill up with a pint of mud. Welded and painted passenger side bumper mount. That square tube goes a good foot back into the body. Replaced the engine mounts, that was more difficult than expected. Split engine mounts in middle, they didn't have the retaining plates like the ones off the other engine I installed. Lowered the exhaust to do it, the gaskets were definitely blown out. Unfortunately even after replacing with new the one still seems to leak a bit. Removed the oil pan and hammered it back out, bit more capacity than stock now. If nothing else it will take longer to get smashed up against the pickup now. Put foam strips around the radiator to seal up the gaps. Who knows if it will help, if nothing else helps keep the top tank from rubbing on the radiator support. Had to put in new threaded inserts for the skidplate. Those tack welds are just so they can be tightened down initially, they expand and clamp on the inside of the crossmember. Bracket for skidplate support, dipped that one in the enamel paint and looks good for now. Replaced trans cooler, condenser, and radiator. Bumper and skidplate etc back on. Maybe should have tried harder to find a paint shop that could match the body side color better but this place at least seems to use some very durable paint. Plus I think they're the only place in town that sandblasts prior to paint which was necessary with some of the old rusty pieces. Thought about going with white instead but I'm not sure that would be any better. I know, travelvw and slammo think I should have gone with black. Still need to replace the driver's side radiator fan and install the front sheet metal panel and license plate. Drove around the block and seems to be back to normal. No leaks I've found. Plan on driving it quite a bit tomorrow.

Made a tube to brace the radiator support longitudinally and to protect the exhaust. Bracket bolts to the body right in front of the subframe where the bumper brace was bolted in stock. Added a tube to brace that and protect the oil filter and cooler. Tubes welded back in to connect the radiator support to the bumper and to mount a piece of sheetmetal. B cut a piece of 1/8" 4130 plate for the front of the skid and I welded that in. Old airbox guard was mostly destroyed so I made a new one. Welded as much as I could on the car, then we unbolted it. B cut a piece of 4130 sheetmetal to protect the condenser and radiator. Radiator and condenser mounts welded on new radiator support. Basically ready for paint. I would like to get this thing back on the road ASAP but I'm going to see if the paint shop can get this all painted up fairly soon. Have new lines/hoses for the oil cooler, new radiator, etc. B took a pair of good engine mounts off my spare EZ30. So we have to swap some of that out.

I definitely considered buying a different H6 Outback and swapping the suspension over. Overall this seemed like less work and definitely less cost. Exactly. Yes, my brother bought this one for me in California, and while it's no longer completely rust free it's still pretty solid. Figure at least $3000 including transportation to replace it. Which makes these things a bargain really. And this car is relatively stock aside from the suspension and bumper/skidplate. But it's still cheaper to fix this one. Plus either way we'd wind up refabbing the skidplate and radiator/bumper support or whatever you want to call it. And I've been thinking for years about fabricating a better lower radiator support for these cars from scratch rather than just adding a piece of tubing underneath. On that topic. We started by getting the radiator support back into place so the hood would latch and line up. Then remounted the bumper so it sat level and square with the lights and fenders. 2" square tube going back at least a foot into the stock "frame rail" with a mounting flange for the bumper welded on the end. This is the only part that will be permanently welded on the car. Below you can see the square tube is only tack welded to one side of the frame rail. When we get things more solidly mounted the plan is to hammer at least two more sides of the frame rail flush with that tube and weld them also. Then B cut and fit a piece of 3" square 1/8" wall tube where the stock lower radiator support was. Since this is about 3x as thick as the stock radiator support and significantly larger section, plus an actual piece of tubing rather than a couple of stampings folded/spot welded together, I think it's easily 10x as strong as stock. Not that what it's attached to will be very strong. We will pick up about 1" of ground clearance/approach angle. Also by chance the stock radiator mounts we unbolted should line up great by just welding them to the backside of that tube. Got the main part of the engine skidpan straightened back out, bolted back up, and replaced some tubes. Have tubes almost fit from the big square tube radiator support to the bumper beam. Need to figure out exactly how I'm going to make the tabs and piece of sheet metal there. I know what I want just need to figure out the most efficient order of fitting/assembly. Then we still need to add a few more tubes but it's coming together. Ordered some new hoses and tubes for the oil cooler.

B straightened out the upper radiator support on the Outback. We cut out the lower radiator support. Hung a straight radiator and the condenser from upper support, hood closed, and started mocking up a new lower support. Got a piece of 3" square tubing to use for that. Put the main bumper beam back into place, squared it up, and cut a new mount for the passenger side. Will post pictures of all that later, planning on doing some fab tomorrow. The main damage to the engine seemed to be where the oil cooler/filter threads on to the block. I tapped it deeper and used one of the longer pipes we'd made when I did the same thing to the black Outback. Also like that time though the block has a hairline crack which was spraying oil everywhere. I cleaned this one out and then poured some super glue in the crack from the inside and outside. Then applied three layers of JB weld. Not real pretty but I ran the engine for a bit and I didn't see it leak a drop. So fingers crossed that will be a semi permanent fix.

I have to look at it closer but yes my current plan is to cut out and refab the lower radiator support from scratch, probably 2x4x1/8" wall rectangular tubing or similar. Might increase approach angle a bit and probably be stronger. Then finagle the hood latch/upper rad support back into place. Right after it happened I thought about just buying another rust free car and swapping things over but I think it will be easier and cheaper to repair this one. There don't seem to be many laws regarding flat towing, certainly not much enforcement if there are. I can't say I recommend towing something as heavy as your tow vehicle without brakes but we've done it a number of times now. It has become increasingly common over the last 5-10 years to see two or three cars hooked together driving down the interstate, likely all purchased at an auto auction. There are stories that people operate trains of up to six of these cars with more than one powering the assembly. Trying to rent a tow dolly from Uhaul on the other hand took some finagling. The van I used is a 3/4 ton, we've towed a 20' enclosed trailer with it. Eventually talked to one guy who helped me figure out which options to tell them I had so their system would let me rent a tow dolly to tow a FWD wagon, I definitely wasn't going to tell them I was going to be towing a Subaru. And the tow dolly has surge brakes, so definitely safer than flat towing from a braking perspective. That day trip was great, every time I take it off pavement I'm reminded that the first gen Impreza with EZ36 is like a cheat code as our friend A said. Didn't bother airing down, never had to use the low range or even lock the center diff, never got stuck. Also reminded me how many trails there are in the UP. My GPS log is up to 5400 miles of unpaved trails up there. There are definitely some repeats/overlapping trails so let's say we've been on 3-4000 miles of unpaved UP roads but I would guess that is about 1/4 of the unpaved roads/trails there. The one loop I did I probably would have turned around where (or before) that picture was taken it was getting so overgrown but I was still following a trail on the GPS. The other area I wound up in there were no roads anywhere on my map for miles yet quite a few roads/trails I was exploring, some of them quite wide and smooth. "Connected the dots" too as we like to say - go off the end of one road on the map and wind up on a different road on the map miles later.

B and I worked on all three of my Subarus and his blue Forester a few weeks ago. Bunch of relatively minor stuff but I went through the front struts on the white Outback. They've been making some clunking/spring shifting noises when turning tight at low speeds so I suspected the steering bearings needed a cleanup. I replaced one and regreased the other, haven't noticed those noises since. While I had them apart I noticed the bump stops were split. Haven't seen this on our other cars but this is the only set where we made the bottom of the body bigger to allow the bumpstop to expand to give it more travel. Perhaps now they can expand too much. Regardless, I replaced them. We got the Ford van heater core and electric fan installed on the Impreza. Tried to figure out which front wheel bearing (I assume) on my 2001 H6 OB is making noise but even using B's multi microphone noise identifying system we still can't tell. Neither side is loose or seems to get hot but at least one of them is making a lot of noise. Definitely louder or quieter when cornering so I assume wheel bearing. We replaced one of the rotors we thought was pulsating figuring it'd be an easy try and it maybe pulsates less but did nothing for the noise. The next weekend we went to the UP with some in laws/friends and went trail riding one day in the Impreza and Outback. Stopped at a gas station after some trail riding and I noticed the temps on the Impreza were creeping up so we pulled over, fuse and relay seemed good but driver's side fans were not running. Without the AC on temps didn't creep up too much even in the sand. I made the mistake of letting a novice drive the white Outback without me in it. Then I noticed the Outback was pulled over with steam coming out of the front end. Driver claims the brakes weren't working. It has some serious lower front end damage after going off the trail a bit and hitting a log. Lower radiator support and skid plate and bottom of engine very smashed. I think the front fenders, lights, crossmember, and possibly hood are still all in the right spots. In the long run probably the biggest downside is I’ll have to replace the head gaskets on my spare ez30. As we were pulling the car back on to the trail, I realized that we’d lost the rear bumper cover somewhere. Hooked the tow bar, lights, and safety chains up and started towing it north on the trail. Not too far down the trail we got to a big steep drop but it didn't look terrible so we went down that. Kept it under 20mph, looked it up later and that's apparently the safe flat towing threshhold for the 4EAT for a max of 30 miles. Still curious what exactly fails if you flat tow it too fast for too long. The rest of the trails weren't much of a problem and we eventually got back to pavement and aired back up the tires on the Impreza to 40psi. Flat towed white Outback to the closest town and asked the guy at the grocery store if it'd be OK to park it there overnight. He said one night would be fine. I couldn't convince others to retrace our steps and retrieve the rear bumper cover mainly since it was going to be dark soon. Most of the rental, almost all Uhaul, places were only open a few hours on Saturday so I either had to wait for them to open or by the time they were open I wouldn't have been able to get to them before they closed, had to talk to one guy for a bit to figure out how to get them to rent me a tow dolly. I did a test drive of my dad’s 1987 full size 3/4 ton Dodge van, seemed to be running rough but not terrible. None of my primitive engine tuning skills seemed to help. After a lot of calling around I drove the van an hour to U haul to pick up a tow dolly. On the way there the engine starting making noise and I looked at the oil pressure gauge (blocked by my hand in a normal 10-2 driving position) and it was reading nothing. Pulled over, after a bit of looking around figured out one of the oil pressure sensors had started leaking badly. We've had this happen on a different full size Dodge van probably 20 years ago. Fortunately there are two sensors on this one going into a tee so I was able to take that apart and just put in one sensor. Dumped some engine oil in and proceeded. At the rental place the lights on the tow dolly didn't work. Wasn't getting power at the four pin connector but had power at the six pin connector (both on van). They of course had just run out of adapters. So I drove to the local Ace and picked one up, drove back, plugged it in, right side light on tow dolly not working. Hooked up to another tow dolly with functional lights. Drove about two hours back up to where we'd left the Outback. During this driving I'd realized I didn't have the keys to the white Outback. But I did have a coat hanger and a screwdriver so I was able to get in. Fortunately for whatever reason in that car you can shift it into neutral without turning the ignition on. Lined the tow dolly up with the car and backed the van up to it. Pulled the car onto the tow dolly with a come along (hand winch). Strapped it down, looped safety chains around the control arms. Then I realized I should have unbolted the rear driveshaft sooner but I was able to just get all four bolts. Was able to strap the driveshaft away from the rear diff so it didn't rub (I assume). Towed it about 1.5 hours back to the cabin. Chocked the rear wheels with some chunks of 4x4 and set the parking brake and drove the tow dolly out from under the car. Sunday morning I drove the tow dolly back and left it at the rental place, a two hour round trip. We drove the van back in addition to the two other cars we drove up there that still ran. Impreza temp gauge was right in the middle even with AC on in 95F weather on the highway. After returning home and tracing the fan wires from the fuse box to the fan I found that one of the pins for the main driver's side fan had pulled out and the connector looked melted. It would still occasionally run when I was pushing or pulling on the wires so I think it was just loose in the connector. Replaced the stock connector with spade terminals and heat shrunk/taped/zip tied everything back up, they all seem to run now. Drove Impreza to the cabin the following Friday morning. Strapped RF of bumper to engine. Removed front CV axles and replaced with loose OB Cvs I found in the basement. Unloaded flat towing equipment and put in Outback. Saturday morning I drove to the end point of our trail riding, filled up with gas, and retraced our steps backwards in search of the rear bumper cover. I figured I now had most of the rest of the day to kill so I'd do some mild trail riding/exploration on the way back. Impreza seems to spin the tires with less forward traction with the tires at 45psi as I had them that day than the 25psi I'd normally drop them to if I'd known I'd be trail riding as long as I did that day. I tried to do a big loop south of where I found the bumper cover. At the start it seemed a bit narrow/overgrown but there was a Forest Service trail open sign so I decided to go for it. Parts of it were very overgrown. Eventually there was a large tree that had fallen blocking it. I drove around the other half of the loop and got back to the fallen tree. There was no way I was going to do anything about it without a chainsaw, which I did not have. Checked out a stunt area I'd found on the satellite that had one big hillclimb and drove a side trail near the top of it. No intention of trying something like that solo so I moved on. Went to the end of a road on the map, figuring I might as well see where it went, turned out it kept going for miles with various side trails, none of them on my map at all. Went by a few old cabins along a river that looked like they hadn't been used in years but in decent shape. Drove down some roads that definitely seemed like they were just for logging, some of the steeper ones were even pretty nicely graveled. Eventually I was heading south on a nice wide dirt/gravel road and getting closer to a paved road we've been on many times. There were a couple of large boulders in the road but they could easily be driven around. Didn't see any signs on either side but decided not to drive past them. Also I think where this road comes out to pavement there might be a large berm. There was also a wide smooth road heading north from the “blocked” road but it had tall grass growing in it so I decided to skip that for the day and head back the way I came. On the way back north as I was heading by the old cabins I caught up to some locals driving UTVs. Each one had a guy in his 70s and one in his 20s. The younger guys were pretty entertained by the Subaru and they all kept asking how it did. I told them the trails around there were no problem for it. I asked about the cabins and they said the one we just passed by used to be theirs, they had a year by year lease with the forest service. Then it was declared a scenic river and hundreds of people lost the use of their cabins. Where we stopped was another one with a similar story. I asked about the logging roads and the big rocks and they said the logging company that has the contract for that section of forest tries to keep people out from tearing up their gravel(!) logging roads. They pulled over to let me by and I kept driving north until I eventually found a different way out. I got back on the highway and found a waterfall I'd seen on a 40 year old Michigan county map. The “trailhead” is a gravel spot big enough for one car along a gravel road with a rope tied around a few trees heading into the woods. No sign or anything. Hiked into the woods, trail was easy to follow, found the waterfall, pretty cool. Near there I went down a dead end forest road and encountered this turtle. When I got back to the cabin I set up the flat towing hardware and did a test drive. Seemed to do OK but tire was still rubbing on the tape I'd put on the end of the front bumper so I cut that off with the recip saw. Had some dinner and went to bed. Got up Sunday morning, packed up the car, checked fluids, aired up the tires in the Outback, and headed south. Flat towing went as smoothly as possible. Impreza has good power and bigger brakes than stock which helps. Temp gauge was right in the middle all weekend, even when towing, climbing sandy hills, AC on, etc. Left tow bar connected, drove Impreza in garage, disconnected tow bar, slid rear of Impreza sideways with a floor jack, drove Impreza out, pushed Outback in garage with Impreza.

Best picture I have of the condenser fins (well OK this is one of the worst areas). Replaced the condenser, slightly different (a little shorter) but it fit alright. Made some brackets and put the worst paint job I've ever applied on them for a puller fan on the driver's side of the radiator, wired that in with the driver's side pusher fan. Also turned up some bungs for temp sensors and had someone weld them on top and bottom of radiator. Hard to see in these pictures but the puller fan has some clearance to the engine. I glued a couple pieces of sheet metal on the fins where the center of the fans had been rubbing a bit. Have had that problem in the past and this seems to solve it. Sealed the sides between the radiator and condenser so hopefully less air can go around the radiator. B did most of the fab work/fitting for a fan/heater core bracket to fit a 1980's Ford Econoline heater core (slightly bigger than the Dodge one that started leaking). Set this up so we can add a second one underneath after we remove the ABS unit. So far though, even without the extra heater core, temps seem stable even driving in stop and go traffic in 90+F weather with the AC on. And the AC works well. Cruise has not worked a few times I've driven the car in the last month or so, but then will work the next time I drive it, and usually works. One time I drove the car the clutch engagement was near the end/bottom of the travel, it's normally (before and since then) closer to the middle or top/start of the pedal travel. All other times the clutch has felt normal. After the last off road trip and I washed the car the rack had leaked some power steering fluid out of the slightly torn driver's side rack boot. Power steering was not always self centering with poor assist at low speeds for a while and the reseroir was very low but seems to be back to normal now and hasn't noticeably leaked in a while. Epoxied a couple of the studs on the hood scoop. Used a screw in the one broken off clip and clearanced the steel baffle plate so I can get at another one of the hood scoop nuts with the steel plate installed. Car has pulled to the right slightly for a long time, we've checked the alignment a few times and it always seems good. The right rear brake seems to drag more than the others. I was going to replace the caliper and then discovered one of the bolts was starting to rub on the strut housing due to brake pad wear. I unbolted both the calipers and ground clearance on the strut housings where those bolts were hitting (or going to hit). So far this doesn't seem to have solved the problem but I might drive it a bit more first.

A friend of ours from Houston drove up to my house a couple weeks ago and we headed up to the UP. Once we got there we stopped for pasties and ate them at a park along Lake Michigan on the edge of town. A younger guy stopped on his motorcycle and asked about the Impreza, we talked Subarus for a bit. He had just imported a 99 STI from Japan. It's funny to me, ever since I got this Impreza I've gotten a lot more questions and had a lot more people taking pictures of the car than with the other Subarus. Not sure how much of that is people's love of first gen Imprezas and how much is the fact that you don't see many turn of the century Subarus driving around anymore. We drove up to the campground along the reservoir in the southern UP. M and B showed up later. Friday we went to the rapids and then hit the mini banked oval. There was a snapping turtle at the edge of the oval. Then we wandered up to the Baraga pipeline grade. We were all entertained as usual. Hit some of the sandy stunt areas nearby and a few of the side trails. Before we got to Houghton we were on a trail in the woods where we decided to turn around. I could not get the Forester out of the ruts so we eventually put a bunch of branches and sticks in the ruts and I was eventually able to get out. Then going back down the trail I was crabbing the Forester sideways for hundreds of feet before I finally got straightened out. Headed north to Houghton and then to Gay beach. M declared it the mother of all stunt areas. Drove much farther south than we had before after crossing a narrow spit of tailings along the lake. Did some side by side uphill jumps and then decided maybe we should leave while we still could. Checked out the mine building ruins, some good post apocalyptic flavor there. Temps were solid while driving on Gay beach which is a good test of high duty cycle and low speeds. Then they crept up in the woods and we discovered one of the fan fuses was blown. The passenger side fan would turn most of the way pretty easily but there was one spot in the rotation it would get stuck. We eventually figured out there was a tiny pebble(?) stuck to the outer ring of the fan blades. We were eventually able to get it off and replaced the fuse. Later we noticed it had a slight coolant leak. We tracked this down to the small welds on the underhood heater core that attach the mounting flange to the end tanks. Rerouted the heater hoses to the stock configuration. Got up to the top of the cliff along Cliff drive. I had parked a few hundred feet back from the first overlook and when I was walking back to my car a UTV was coming up. I heard the driver blurt out “what the f--k?” when he saw the Impreza. He told me he knows people who won't take their Jeeps up the rocky climb we took to get to the top. I then walked back to the overlook and he said the same thing to the other guys. We drove to the next overlook and hard parked on the edge for some pictures. The yoopers showed up again and we talked to them for a while. “This isn't what most people from Illinois do when they come up here” one of them says while holding out his pinky finger. They had both seen different UFOs and had some story about a cave nearby that no one could find with a wall of silver and a bag of gold coins. I believed the UFO stories more. We camped at the overlook. Saturday morning we headed up to Brockway Mountain. As we pulled on to the long road going there we were proceeded by three extremely slow drivers. We pulled off on a side trail rather than test our patience following them the whole way there. This trail eventually led to a very sketchy bridge but we managed to cross it. I think it was in this area I checked one muddy stretch on foot and it didn't seem too bad so I drove through it, but I was barely able to do so and then the ruts were deeper and softer. So I told B he shouldn't come through and I didn't want to go back through so worst case we come back to that spot in a half hour. Fortunately we were able to maintain radio contact and I was able to drive around the block so to speak and meet back up with them. We eventually found a different way out of the area. At one point the temps had started to creep up in the Impreza again and a fan fuse was blown. This one was probably from the fans running while driving in deep water, we replaced it and never had the problem again. We eventually got up to Brockway Mountain from the other side. After we'd been on trails for quite a while and got back to pavement B said the Forester was shaking quite a bit. Turned out all the LR lugnuts on his Forester were loose and one was missing. We tightened down the ones we could and continued. From there we did a little more trail riding and buzzed up to the beach to camp for the night. At camp B swapped out his wheel studs on the LR hub as most of them were somewhat damaged or packed full of aluminum. Sunday we started heading back on various trails. One of them eventually became deeply rutted and I didn't think I could get through without taking off a mirror so we turned around. We came to a fairly long and deep water crossing where beavers had flooded a road. There was a muskrat swimming in it when we pulled up. I walked it and it was just below knee deep for a couple hundred feet. I drove through it in the Impreza after we removed the fan fuses. There was water over the front of the hood for a good portion of the crossing and we realized we should have stuck the gopro on. B crossed it in the Forester and then we put the gopro on the Impreza and I crossed it back the way we came and then back again to proceed. At the top of the hill right next to the stream was a cool old furnace of some kind. Later we found the beaver dam that was flooding that road. The highlight of the day was probably discovering and climbing Mt Houghton. Probably the most intimidating rocky climb we accomplished that weekend (ever in the UP?) and one of the best views in the UP once we made it to the top. Got gas and water at the Lac La Belle resort. Cashier was using binoculars to read the mechanical gas pumps. Found a silly hillclimb along the border of a wildlife sanctuary that M almost convinced me to try but ultimately we decided it should wait for a different weekend. Buzzed down to Lake Linden to camp that night so J could take a shower and we'd be closer to the portage. Monday morning we took the Bill Nichols trail basically all the way from South Range to Adventure Mountain with a few detours and stops for some stunt areas and mines along the way. M and J enjoyed the Firesteel trestles and the lookout near the top of Adventure mountain and we headed back from there. The trail west out from the Adventure mountain climb was rough and narrow but we made it through with some extra dents in the rockers and floorboards. Stopped near the end of that trail to air up and eat PB&Js. We drove down to Watersmeet together and the Impreza seemed to have some high frequency vibration that didn't go away when I put the clutch in. Cleaned some dirt out of the wheels when we stopped for gas but that didn't help. Stopped again and discovered two of the driveshaft bolts were missing from the pinion flange. I had looked before but those two must have been up. Installed some bolts and tightened them all down and had a smooth ride home. Could only run the AC intermittently on the way home or the coolant temp would creep up. Overall a good weekend, cooling issues with the Impreza are still frustrating but we all had a good time. J and M were impressed with the Impreza, especially the EZ36. J definitely enjoyed the UP and quickly got in the groove of following overgrown trails (with a surprisingly high success rate of connecting to other trails this weekend). M said it was probably his favorite off road trip we've taken, no major malfunctions, lots of stunt areas, lots of overgrown trails (which he likes). Removed the radiator after we got home and it seemed clean. I had sprayed it off at the car wash but that's usually not too effective. So I'm still a bit surprised the car was running hot on the highway. We did check the overflow at least once when it was hot and still have never seen air bubbles. After spraying the condenser out from the back with a hose wand it did become clear that a lot of the fins on it are bent over. We did go through a lot of brush so it's probably from the fan blades spinning leaves and twigs against the condenser. Should be getting a replacement today, hopefully that brings the temps back under control. Also got a pair of 80s Ford Econoline heater cores I plan on putting where the extra heater core is now for more cooling capacity.

B and I worked on our white rust free California Subarus my brother bought for us. I replaced all the auto trans hoses on my Outback and replaced all the stock clamps with worm style hose clamps. One of them had sprung a pinhole leak earlier and enough leaked out on my way to work that the car stopped driving. Some of them are 23 years old. Rear axle has been staying put, not that I've driven the car a lot. B replaced the timing belt, tensioner, idlers, some of the plastic, and a cam seal on his Forester. Unfortunately the new cam seal seems to be leaking more than the old one if anything. Painted the brackets and installed the extra cooler and fan in the Impreza. Spliced a couple spades into the wiring for the passenger side fan (which kicks on second) for the small fan. Here you can see it lines up with the hood vent fairly well. Stepped up to a 12" tablet for navigation. Fit in the old mount after cutting down the springs. So far so good, glad I did it. It's summer here so we've been doing some kayaking. Have seen a lot of wildlife. This past weekend we went to the UP and did more off pavement driving than I expected. Mostly just gravel roads but some dirt trails too. One was rutted but seemed dry until I got off to the wrong side and sunk in on the passenger side. Some high lift jacking and shoveling and putting some chunks of found wood under the tires allowed me to drive out. At that time I noticed all the fans were running and I could indeed feel hot air blowing out the hood vent. At no time did the temps ever go above the middle on the gauge. It wasn't extremely hot and we weren't pushing the car too hard but definitely an improvement. We drove up some long steep grades with the AC on (also seems to be working great now) and drove a fair amount off pavement in 70-80F temps. Have a couple temp sensors that have calibration for the Haltech and the tap I need to make bungs for them, still plan on installing those in the top and bottom of the cooling system. Still waiting on fab guy to make my extra fuel tank. Even with a new carbon canister the Impreza still fills with fuel slowly/incompletely. Taking the vent hose to the carbon canister off seems to solve the problem. Might tee a long vent hose into that one or something. I drive the car enough I'm not worried about losing a lot of fuel to evaporation.

I suppose maybe it would close the thermostat but in practice, running the heat always seems to drop the coolant temps and this setup worked in the 99 Outback. When it's running hot I assume the thermostat is all the way open no matter what. Have considered no thermostat, if it didn't require draining all the coolant I probably would have tried that by now.

Definitely not too much data, I love it. We've discussed sending high and low pressures to the Haltech. And again, in AZ, seems fully justified. For sure. In the short run (tomorrow?) I plan on just plumbing the added cooler inline with the heater core with no valves.

Yeah, I think it's good now, been working well and not cycling on and off. It was probably in the 70s when I finished charging it. And not overcharged, I know as you say that can be hard on AC components. Your AC definitely has to be top notch to be comfortable in AZ. I like your technique of monitoring the AC line temp and stop filling when it stops dropping. How do you measure that temp? Dang $5/can is a killer deal.

Thanks for the links. For the ebay addresses, you can just cut off everything after the item number (starting with and including the question mark). Slammo found at least one other one similar to that Holden one you posted but after discussing it with him a bit more I probably won't bother with the bypass valves for now. Make sure the extra heater core does its job and on cool mornings esp up north I still might want the heat from the stock heater core. Plus it will just be simpler and fewer potential leaks. It was 83F out today and while running the AC the temp gauge was up in the 3/4 range most of the time. Would drop down with the AC off. When I got home and it was at 3/4 on the temp gauge, I left the engine running and popped the hood and didn't see any boiling in the overflow. I pointed the IR temp gun at a few things. Upper water neck (where the sensor is located) was about 210F. Radiator was around 200F top and bottom. So probably nothing to really worry about. Gotta get some accurate temp readings going.

B replaced some bushings and ball joints on the front end of his white Forester. He also blew some dust out of the air filter on my Impreza. Messed with the rear seat belts too, they seem to just lock up sometimes. He found that after pushing the belt back into the reel all the way they then work normally. One problem is there's just more friction now with the belt rerouting. Not a huge deal as the rear seat is rarely occupied. The main thing I worked on was mounting the full size Dodge van heater core and 8" electric fan under the passenger side hood vent. B also pointed out there is room for about a 10" puller fan behind the driver's side of the radiator. Fan lines up nicely with the hood vent. Need to paint those brackets. I might get some valves so I can bypass either the heater core in the summer or this one in the winter before I bother plumbing it in. If anyone knows of any good selectable tees with the right size barb fitting on them I'm looking for one. The only tees I've found are fairly expensive and threaded so then I'd have to get barb fittings too. I could get one or two of these: https://www.oldairproducts.com/product/25-1018-bypass-heater-valve https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=10849736&cc=1028012&pt=6860&jsn=647&_nck=Hsaep13M915uuutk8%2Bf0wOeyqERYmFnnScHREpb2kaeQZMBwbsjIzbH8p6X7b8doV7ZhIKZrju0iMu8H6dXM7%2Brn6x%2B0jcKSODBkngSksRc8Zan%2B8zelEqDy3fSWbwfOPltq76G%2F%2BqudM5QnqkfncwVTbvl7WYgy%2FB5R5n7ZhrV7LBZsioiB3TmAKe3DAh41KLIKq6Sxllk%2FuLl9WzsOYRw%2BOcEcAfTSJlHRiVNIl1RPrA%2FNoewztrWsDKuoD6xe7CNXcLhVSC%2FH96c%2B3QTLRwUrVp4D8yNkgd0OuL1jSrQILgJitIgI5w%3D%3D

One of my friends said a good rule of thumb for R134a is that the pressure on both sides after the system has sat for a while should be about 5-10psi more than the ambient temp in Fahrenheit. Seems weird but also seems to check out. I added some with the AC off but it would only get up to about 65psi (both sides). When I turned the AC back on the high and low pressures had gone up a bit. After a minute or so of running it would shut off for a bit, pressures would start to equalize, then it would kick back in. I slowly kept adding more (to the low side) with the AC on until it stopped cycling on and off. Wound up adding most of a second can, probably has somewhere around the 19-23oz total it's supposed to have. Low side is now about 30psi, high side about 150psi, blows cold. Drove around town quite a bit today, never noticed the AC cycling on and off, cold the whole time. The temp gauge did spike up to about 3/4 one time I started driving but then went back down slightly below the middle where it stayed for the rest of the time. Definitely need to get some accurate temp sensors installed.