pontoontodd

OReilly has one but it's $30 to rent it, and I think you have to pay for the fluid, so I'm just going to buy one. I did pour in a bottle of coolant system cleaner and drove it for a few days, just flushed it out this morning. No obvious flood of junk came out. While it's drained I'm going to drill some holes in the thermostat. Another thing we noticed after we got back is that the passenger side exhaust was crushed. First I pried off the heat shields. I cut a scrap of 1.75 x .120 4130 leftover from the cage to fit. Should flow a little better. Yes, I ground the flash out of the inside of the tube. Tack welded it in while the exhaust was still on the car, took the exhaust off, finished welding it, and put it back on the car.

Stopped at the local Advance yesterday and they had no idea what I was talking about with the head gasket tester. I'll look around a little more. I looked them up online so at least I know what you're talking about now. We got the HVAC fan out of the Outback since it was making noise occasionally after the race, especially when turned all the way up. There were some sticks and rocks in it: Couldn't get any pictures but the plastic box the fan blows into that holds the evaporator had an inch or two of dirt and debris in the bottom. The evaporator was partially covered with about 1/4" of mud too, so we cleaned it out as best we could. Should improve AC performance.

This is the strut with the bad hose that was bottoming out. The other rear strut is slightly bent but not as bad. In this picture you can see the weld was starting to crack too: I am going to shorten up the mounting tabs like I did on the front struts. There is room between the strut and the sidewall now that the spring is above the tire. It also helps that these need a little more positive camber which will give us a little tire/strut clearance. I'll also gusset the bottom of the tabs. Trying to find different springs so I can move the spring perch up while I've got it all cut up. Anyone know of a company that makes inexpensive custom coil springs?

Here are a couple of pictures from the race: The race was a lot of fun and I'm still amazed how well we did against the competition. We finished third in our class of nine trucks because there were only three of us that finished both races. There were only three trucks in the class that were faster than us though, the rest were running similar or slower lap times. Perhaps more amazing, only nine of the 29 total entries finished both races. So just finishing was an accomplishment. We have definitely driven over much rougher terrain and we've driven that fast and jumped the car before, but never all day long like this. We definitely had to push the car harder than we would trail riding in order to finish in the time limit. It was probably a few feet off the ground thirty times that day. We might have to go back down there sometime.

Planning on water w/ water wetter or a little anti freeze. Going to drill some small holes in the thermostat. As posted we've built as much of an air dam to force air into the radiator as we can. It's possible that's scooping crap into the radiator but the front of it looks fairly clean.

Thanks for the Oreilly tip, they do have dimensions on all the radiators and heater cores. I'm trying to avoid a lot of work fitting some kind of non stock radiator and fans but maybe I'll have to do that. I just went through all the radiators on Summit with drivers side lower outlet and passenger side upper inlet and they're all too tall. I will see if I can get one of those head gasket leak testers. Replaced the t-stat with one from the Subaru dealer not long ago. I agree with you guys that something is probably wrong, clogged radiator, stuck thermostat, etc since turning on the heat cools it right down. 2005 STI radiator looks about the same as the 2002 H6, about the right size but top and bottom tanks so that might be some work getting one of those to fit too. Other than the overheating I'm really happy with how the car held up. There was barely any dust in the air filter, brake pads still look new, only one bushing in the suspension seems sloppy, wheel bearings seem good, etc.

Do you know of one specifically for 99 Legacy? I've seen them for first gen and third gen legacy but not second gen. I've seen a few others that might fit too, but it would be nice if it dropped in.

I would agree but we probably won't have a lot of chances to do hot weather testing before V2R. Worst case with the rear mounted heater core, if it leaks we put the lines back and add water. Considering we were running a little hot in 70F weather in the race and very hot in 80F weather on the highway we need as much additional cooling as we can get. Also, if a thicker/cleaner radiator, hood vents, etc help at first, how likely is it that will get clogged again by the end of the longest desert race in the US?

Thanks for the answer on the H6 radiator size. Sounds like it'd be worth getting one and trying to make it fit and hook up. It does look like it has two inlets, one could probably just be capped. Where did you get that info? That would be handy if the same source has size information for heater cores (or tiny radiators). I am thinking about putting one in the hatch door. Move the license plate to one side and fit about an 8" square heater core in the door, probably with an 8" electric fan on the back of the door. Should be an excellent low pressure zone to pull air out at speed too. It's a manual trans.

For $150 I can get a new radiator (Denso) and condenser shipped to my house so I'll probably do that. The condenser is far from flat and has a lot of bent fins. The radiator probably isn't as bad. I will probably blast out the old ones at that point to see how much comes out of them, they'll make good spares at least. Maybe I'll wait until it's a little closer to V2R so I don't just get the new ones packed with dirt in the meantime. That will give us time to test some other cooling mods.

Thanks. Yes, the previous owner supposedly replaced the head gaskets. Recently saw a blown EJ in our friend's shop and I was shocked how tiny the bearings are on these engines.

I definitely want to try that. So far I think the easiest way would be to get a Legacy hood (no scoop) and put a GT500 vent on it. Sounds like they're $50 at the Ford dealer. I think we need a big improvement in cooling to be safe though. This was a 60 or 70 degree day and the temps crept above the middle with the AC off a few times. Cruising down the highway a few days later with temps in the 80s we had to run the heat to keep it under control. I'm sure it will be over 100F in Nevada in August and it would make for a much easier day if we could run the AC. I think some sort of additional heat exchanger in the back, new radiator/condenser, higher % of water in the coolant, and drilling holes in the thermostat should all help. The other issue is that living in northern IL we won't be able to test any of this for a while. I would like to have it to the point where I can drive in stop and go traffic in the 80s and block off the radiator with cardboard and not have the car overheat. If part of our problem is that the radiator gets dented and clogged from rocks, sand, and dust, that is guaranteed to happen during a 600+ mile off road race so we need a good margin of safety. We'll see what happened to the shock soon but I think overheating is most likely to take us out of the race based on what we've seen so far.

I like this idea, thanks. Going to start thinking about the best way to do it. I also plan on replacing the radiator and condenser, they're both pretty beat and have some sand jammed in the fins. I'll probably drill some holes in the thermostat while the coolant is out, might go mostly water at that point too. My other thought is to put a big heater core in the back somewhere with a fan. Need to see what temperatures the temp gauge is indicating at halfway, 3/4, etc.

Our drive down to Texas went fairly well this time. As we were getting to the ranch our truck was reading 15V, it's normally 13 or 14 while running. We had to stop at the gate and then the truck wouldn’t start. We push started it with the Subaru (towbar attached). I removed the starter and tested it with another battery to see that it was good. The battery in the truck read 13V but when under a load it dropped to 5V. We took that and the alternator to Autozone in Odessa. They tested the alternator and it passed. I bought a new battery and that fixed the truck. Racing Sunday consisted of a 150 mile race from roughly 8AM to 1PM and another 150 mile race in the opposite direction on the same course from about 3PM to 8PM. This was the same fifty mile loop we ran on in January. That is a 30mph average speed, normally desert races give you enough time to finish with a 25mph average speed so we had to push the car a little harder than we'd normally have to. Sunday morning we got up before 6AM and checked fluids and went to line up for the race. I drove the Subaru the first lap. They have an unlimited class (class 1 and trophy truck), a water cooled four cylinder buggy class, a heavy metal truck class (frame rail trucks), and an air cooled buggy class. They put us near the back of the heavy metal truck class. We asked if we could start last in the heavy metal class but they already had the lineup for scoring and didn’t want to change it. There were six or eight trucks in our class, Raptors, pre runners, etc. While we were staged I realized we’d forgotten the gopros but by then it was too late to set them up. Just after the start I waited for the truck behind us to catch up (about a minute spacing at the start) and let him by. After about ten minutes I turned on the AC and ran it for the first lap. After we started the race I realized we’d forgotten to charge the AC so I told our friend to remind me to do that before the second race. At first he thought I was joking. We saw three or four entries rolled over and a couple others broken down on the first lap. A few air cooled buggies passed us (they started last). There was a red 80's Cherokee in our class which we eventually passed. We were able to finish the first lap in about an hour and a half without pushing the car too hard so I figured we were running a good pace. I had another friend drive the next lap. He put in a good lap and we helped them switch seats for the last lap. Our friend who had navigated the first two laps told us he was just going to take it easy on the last lap and try to finish. That lasted about ten minutes and then he was going just as fast as we were. Sounded like they got good air on a few of the jumps. By this point the temps were occasionally creeping up so they had to cycle the AC on and off. There was a Bronco pulled over at one point that they passed by. Shortly after that they started seeing lights way back in the mirrors and figured the Bronco was going again. Our friend decided he’d try to stay ahead as long as he could and then pull over. They said it took quite a while and eventually it turned out to be a trophy truck. A few turns after it passed them they saw it rolled over. Occupants were OK so they continued on. Later on we heard the guys in the trophy truck saw the Subaru and thought “we’ll pass him on this straight. Wait, he’s going 85mph!” We never saw much over 70 on the speedo but it did take them a while to catch the Subaru. We finished the first race with 10 or 20 minutes to spare. Here is the only picture I have so far, just the Subaru cruising through the pits. We charged the AC in the Subaru. I only had one can of R134a, which was almost enough to fully charge it. Put on the gopros and added a little engine oil and PS fluid. I drove the first lap of the second race also. We were still running an hour and a half pace and everything was working great. We switched drivers again for the next lap. Near the end of that lap they texted us that one of the shocks was leaking so they were limping it back. When they finished that lap we had just under two hours to finish the race. There definitely wasn’t time to fix the shock and finish the race. We might have had enough time to put a stock strut on but it was likely to bend if beaten for two hours at anywhere near the pace we were running that day. We decided our best option was just to drive it more cautiously and hope everything held up. It was definitely a good thing the top of the strut mount is attached to the cage. My friend drove and I navigated the last lap. He put in a good lap about ten minutes slower than our normal pace. By this point we could only run the AC about ten percent of the time or the temps would go up. We finished the second race with ten or twenty minutes to spare to the excitement of nearly everyone there. We had several people tell us they loved the Subaru and everyone we drove by seemed to be laughing, clapping, or giving us a thumbs up. Later that night they had a meeting thanking everyone and giving out plaques for finishing. When it came to the heavy metal class he said when he first saw this car, he thought the team should just leave it in the pits and not bother getting out on the track. We went up to get our third place heavy metal truck plaque (probably because only three finished). A couple of my friends wanted to go to Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe peak while we were in that part of the country, so we parked the truck and wound up putting at least 500 miles on the Subaru before we headed back. The Subaru had an occasional shake in the steering but otherwise ran and drove fine. It was still running a little hot, couldn’t run the AC. They said the Whataburger and Denny’s were the only restaurants open at 11PM on a Saturday night, so we went to the Whataburger. I’m pretty sure there was some kind of drug deal going down in the men’s room when I walked in and there was an armed security guard standing in front of the counter. The car continued to run hot the whole time after the race, the first day we were cycling the AC on and off, by the end it was in the 80s and we were cycling the heat on and off (mostly on) to keep it from overheating.

I made the plastic bumpers on my 96 Impreza and 99 OB bolt on. You can drive them around looking stock most of the time, then unbolt to go offroad. Huge improvement in approach and departure angles.

Wired a switch in parallel with the stock wiring to force both fans on high. Spliced four separate wires into the fan side of the connectors for the hot leads. Probably should have done the grounds while I was at it. This is what it looks like shrink wrapped, wire loomed and tied in place. Used a big 40A inline fuse right off the battery. Ran two wires from the fuse to this four pole single throw switch. All of those leads are wired together. The four going to the fans are kept separate so the ECU can do its magic with the switch off. The radio and CB both died a while back. We had replaced the CB a few weeks ago. I got a new radio/head unit so I put that in while the console was apart and I was playing with wires. This is the old aftermarket stereo wiring. I think I hear baby Jesus cry every time I see it. My wiring for the new stereo. This is what the switch looks like installed.

What is different about it?

I picked one of these up at a junkyard in town out of a Chevy van: Appears to be a centrifugal air filter with a dust trap on the bottom. If nothing else the filter is about twice the area of the Subaru panel filter. Made room for it by removing more of the ABS and the stock airbox. It just fits. I was able to tweak the sensor bracket on the strut tower and bolt it to that and added another mount where the ABS module was. Got a silicone hose adapter to get the MAF sensor closer to the engine and turned up an adapter to mate the MAF sensor to the Chevy airbox. The intake is pretty high in the engine compartment but pointed slightly down. Made a splash shield so the tire doesn't fill it with water. The air also has to flow slightly uphill so I'm hoping it works well in water and dust.

I blast the radiator every time I take it to the coin op carwash. Try to get between the condenser and rad but that's difficult. The water was definitely brown for a while at first when I went after Texas. I'll probably try to do that again before we go.

We talked about all kinds of different alternatives, including making a screw/scissor jack. It seemed like making the HF jack work was the best option. Yes, the fans are two speed. They are controlled by the ECU. There are three pins on the connector, one for ground and the other two for power. They go to two pairs of wires on each fan. I assume these power two sets of windings. If you power one pair the fan spins, power both pairs and it spins much faster. I tried it on the car and they definitely look like they're spinning much faster than they were in Texas when I have power going to all hot leads. Just have to clean up the wiring and I'll post some pictures. I'll consider the speed holes if it still runs hot, but I'm hoping we have it under control now. I might make them in a slightly more controlled fashion though...

Went through the struts after we got back from Texas and changed the valving a little. The main issue I found with most of them is that the bushings had slid down in the strut housings, so I added some screws right below them to prevent that. We've had to replace all the wheel bearings on the Outback at least once, some of them twice, and it's very time consuming. The front wheel bearings were both a little loose. I got a pair of front spindles for a 2005 OB with bolt on wheel bearings and they seem to fit perfectly. The ABS sensor is totally different but that's long gone on my car. I did have to turn up some spacers for the CV joints (probably because I don't have the ABS rings) but the splines fit. The 05 spindles look stronger to boot. While they were off the car we took the wheel bearings and ball joints out and antiseized them. We'll still have to at least partially disassemble the suspension to replace the wheel bearings, but it should be a much easier job. In the short run the knuckles and bearings cost about the same as getting new bearings, seals, and hubs for the original knuckles and they're not sloppy yet. Also, I've got the original ones for spares.

I almost bought a high lift jack but they are big, heavy, potentially dangerous, the base is small, hard to use on any car, etc. So I decided to make the HF scissor jack work after not being able to find anything else I liked. The failure before was from the teeth at the bottom of the arms slipping past each other. They are probably too narrow, but part of the problem is that the base distorted and allowed them to skip past each other. I'd wanted a larger base before it failed, so I made a new one. The top was not very good either so I made a new top also. I cut a few plates with teeth to weld to the arms. This is what it looks like welded and painted. We made it bolt to the backside of the spare tire mount using the same two bolts. Since that had been cantilevered off the cage and the spare flexed around a bit while driving, we added a tab to the jack that bolts to a bracket we made on the fuel cell mount to stiffen it up.

Thanks for the advice, I was already thinking along those lines. I never realized until I recently read in a different thread that the Subaru fans are two speed. Should have been obvious from the wiring. Of course they never run now that we're back home in freezing temps but when they were both working they seemed pretty slow, I'm guessing they were not running on high. I looked over the wiring diagram and played with an extra set of fans I have. My plan is to wire a separate fuse and 4PST switch straight from the battery in parallel with the stock wiring. There are some high quality, high output aftermarket fans that we've used on other things, and they're not too expensive. I have also heard that the OEM electric fans are generally more output and more reliable than the aftermarket fans, which makes some sense. The OEMs probably put more R&D in and they have to last hundreds of thousands of miles. I did also think about putting some vents in the hood.

This is judging by wire colors, you might want to unplug the relay and use a probe to verify. There is a row of four relays and a pair of relays. It is the last one in the row of four closest to the pair. It is labeled AC #4 on the fuse box cover.

Thanks for this info, makes sense now that I look at the fans, wiring, and wiring diagram. So it seems from testing them and looking at the diagram that both hot leads need power for high speed, the black one is ground as you say. I've had issues with at least one pin on the fan connector failing and overheating when running hard. When it ran hot it looked like the fans may have just been running at low speed once I got them both working. Can I just wire both + leads for both fans to a switch on the dash as an override? I'm thinking straight from the battery to a 30 or 40A fuse, to the switch, back to all four fan wires. Or is there a good fused lead I should splice into? This would run both fans on high regardless of some sort of sensor/ECU malfunction, relay failure, or another fan connector gone bad. But they will still come on and off normally with the switch off.