pyromanic

Yea, I'm runing 27 inch tires on a lifted 85 wagon with rear disk conversion, and I'm not happy with it's braking capacity. Where do we find and what do we ask for regarding stainless braided lines? Pyro

I bought one. Think they suck. Couldn't get controlable torque. Prefer brass punch or drift, MFH. (medium $#%@ hammer) Just my 2cents Pyro

I was wrong. Turns out the rod that goes across the fire wall down by the gas pedal has come off the gear or whatever it is which is at the end of the (cable?) that the hot/cold lever on the dash works. I've yet to get proper lighting down there and stand on my head to see what or why it's disconnected. I just pushed/pulled the rod by hand till the defrost blew hot air, then left it. Then tried to change to heat or bi-level, but for some reason neither of those will work, the rod wont stay put, it slide back. But at least we can now have defrost which heats the car enough. I'll look into it further after the hunt. I doubt that anybody has a picture of what's at the end of the cable? Anyway, thanks for the help guys. Pyro

Yup, I built the PK lifted '84 wagon for deer and elk hunting, and right in the middle of her first deer season, the hot/cold lever took a crap, jammed up and feels like something broke back inside the dash. She blows plenty of icy air, but when I slide the lever up to hot it binds and feels way different from when it worked last week. Just what I need here in Central Oregon at 7000 ft. elevation with a cold front settled in to stay like it has now. We're freezing to death here. I don't have a clue how to get inside to see what happened. I'm so pissed. Got two parts cars to scavange parts from, but sure hope I don't have to pull the whole dash to fix this, no time. How do get back inside behind the hot/ cold lever to find the problem? thanks guys, Pyro

My car came to me with a shot auto. I swapped in a Junkyard 5sp of unkown quality. It turned out to be a real grindbox. I assumed worn synchros. Thinking not to take another chance on junyard trannys, I called CCR (Colorado Component Rebuilders?) to check price/availiability of reman 5sp trannys. The mechanic I spoke to said this: Yes, we have re-man 5sp. trannys, (less than 600 bucks) what's wrong with yours? (I told him it grind pretty badly going into 3rd and 4th, and this after several flushings, and then running redline synthetic) He then said, he would not want to sell me a reman trans untill I did this: "Go buy a quart of Reiselene (SP?) motor flush and pour 1/2 of the bottle into your tranny. Drive it. Leave it in. He explained that JY trannys in particular get varnish built up on the synchros, which prevents them from working properly, and that the Reiselene disolves it. He said most people who call him looking for a new tranny never call back after trying this. I did it. It made a huge difference. It kept getting better for like a couple hundred miles. Then stablized. Not like new, but a huge difference. I have since found a low milieage used tranns, that I will install some day, but for now I'm satisfied with what I got. Hope this helps Pyro

You really do not have to remove the steering colum to swap in the pedal cluster, though it may be easier that way. I didn't. It was a tight fit, but it works. Pyro

I heard a rumor today that he's out hunting right now. Being an Oregonion also, I suspect he's bow hunting (deer), as I think bow season just started recently. And I hate to tell ya this, but we have a long bow season. Just thought I'd pass it on. PS Please don't shoot the messanger! Pyro

Yes-------------? And whatcha think of em?

I popped in a spare alt today, and all seems fine, though I only had time to drive it a mile or so. Hope it was just that the alternator was old (it was) and not something else that "caused" alternator failure. (I don't even know if that situation is possible) thanks guys, Pyro

You guys are great. Talk about an imediate response! Thanks. I've got a couple sitting around. Pyro

aross the bottom of the dash came on today! Just before everything lit up red, the tach got a bad case of the twitches. The needle was twitching like a tweaker coming down off a long run. Also, voltmeter in dash is now reading like 8 volts, revving motor makes no difference. However, now tach needle seems to to be working better! WTF is going on?? I'm like super busy right now with a huge carpentry project, didn't have time to do more that pop the hood and wiggle the battery terminals. They seem tight. Edit: Ok, I just went out and cleaned the batt terminal, to no avail. Tach seems fine now, but she's only running on like 8 volts. I'm guessing I've fried an alternator, but that's just a guess. Any ideas apprecieated. Thanks Pyro

Did it yesterday. No problems. And I really appreciate the help guys. It was quite simle, as I expected, and as you stated. Steve, an update on the manual: What my dad interpreted from the manual was not what the manual actually said. He's pushing 80 and and his brain doesn't work like it used to. Pretty heartbreaking actually. I read the sections he was refering to, and he was misunderstanding the information. I'll have to paraphrase: Brake inspection: (1) Check pedel for freeplay. If there's more than _____ inches of free play, see your authorized Subaru dealer. Blah blah balh.... (2) The brake pads have a built in (noise maker) wear indicator. When the pads are worn to a certain point, you'll hear an obnoxious scraping sound. If you hear this sound, see your authorized Subaru dealer. Dad let these two ideas blend in his mind and................ Well any way, I installed new pads all the way around, and it really didn't make any difference with the pedal freeplay. We went round twice, bleeding, and it definatly helped. I thought we should have made a couple more circuits, but he was tired and hurting, the pedal feels WAY better, and he called it a day. I thing ther's room for improvement, but he's satified. Actually, I drove the car around town for a half hour, and tell ya what, it stops better than my lifted '85 GL. (it's got 4 whl disk too) Probably next time I'm up in Bend, I'll try to talk him into bleeding some more. Just for theck of it. Again, thanks for your help gents. Later.... Pyro

Thanks for that link. I see what I'm dealing with. No prob at all. But now I find THIS out: The reason my folks called Hertz in the first place was that the brake pedal is going almost to the floor. The Hertz service dept. told them that it just needs pads. Thats not right is it? As pads wear, the system should self adjust, right? I suspect something else is going on. Air in brake line, or leak in system and low on fluid? Or problem with Master cyl? Thanks guys, Pyro Edit after talking to my folks this AM: I don't know why I thought that hydrolic disk brakes "self adjusted", and that the pedal would stay in the same place as the pads wore, just thought so, maybe something I heard somewhere. But my dad tells me in his "03 Subaru Outback owners manual, it says that when the pedal is getting close to the floor, it's time to renew the pads. Hmmmm. I must have been wrong. We'll install new pads and see what happens.

If it's a correct diagnosis that the wheel bearings are shot, not fixing them now could destroy the knuckles. (bearing carrier) Then youll have a big headache. And "easy" depends on your experience/determination/willingness to learn/patients. Ball joints and tie rod ends could probably be let go with fewer negative consequences. Mostly bad ball joints result in clunking and poor handling, as does worn tie rod ends. All the knowledge you need is here in the archives or writeups, but you will need to take the time to search it out and study. Good luck, Pyro

Since I've restored my '85 gl wagon so successfully, my folks want me to install new pads on their '03 outback. I've completely renewed my wagons brakes, and done the disk conversion on the rear, but have no idea how different the later model brakes are set up. Will I be C clampling the pistons or turning them in? Any other tips or advice? Do they have the same axle nuts and stuff like mine? They bought it from Hertz, and Hertz wants 300 bucks for the job. They can't afford that. If it's as easy to do as my old gen, then I thought I'd charge them like a hundred or something, plus parts. I'd do it for nothing, but theyd not allow that. Actually, that's ok, I could use the dough right now. Oh, by the way, it doesn't have many miles on it, so I'm thinking the rotors are probably fine. Pyro

Hello, When was new to all this Subie stuff, and was doing the tranny swap to 5 sp, I noticed that the U joints had no grease zirks. Then I noticed that the U joints don't even come out of the drive lines. That made me mad, so I got on the old USMB search engine and studied up on the matter. Roughly, this is what I learned. The U joints are staked in at the factory. You can look at where the U joint goes into the pipe and see where it looks like sombody took a small cold chisel and "swedged" )staked) little divits in four (is it four? I don't remember) spots around the edge of the pipe. Apparently Fuji thought these U joints would last the life of the vehicle. I guess they wernt ment to be replaced. I read some stuff where some guy HAS replaced them, and even about which U joints from other vehicles will fit, and about how many times you can replace them before you run out of spots to do the "staking" by hand with a chisel. (it was quite a few) I definately got the impression that almost everybody just gets another driveline from a Junk yard. I think this is a really cheesy way to make a driveline, and always figured on having a custom one made, with replaceable, greaseable U joints. Expensive though, and never got around to it. I assume that since the above is the case, you can't buy U joints for these rigs anywhere? Don't know if thats true or not, but it makes sense. Let us know how you make out. Good luck Leland La Pine

Good job Pete, thanks for the info.

bump again, Shady, you out there?

A little magnet? Well then, that's different. I dunno, maybe ya should bought two at that price.

5.99?!! Ouch! I just use an old mason jar and any piece of hose that fits on the beeder. Now granted, it kinda wastes a lot fluid doing it that way, cause you have to put enough in the jar to make sure no air gets sucked back up. Oh, and then I through away whats left in the jar when I'm done, as I feel it may be contaminated. So yea, it's kinda wasful on fluid, but it sure beats waiting for another body.

Yes, one man brake bleed jobs work. Really. No kidding. Try it.

This got mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, but I want to make sure credit is given where credit is due: Hooziewhatsit and his friend John came out last week, just a couple days after the fire, and donated their strong young backs to that ditch. Who needs a ditch witch or back-hoe with human machines like those two work-aholics?!! Wow, they dug like a hundred and forty foot of 28" inch ditch in three hours! Amazing. Can't thank them enough. A couple of fine young men, and a credit to the human race. I owe them and everybody else on this board a debt of gratitude for your support during this crisis. This is a real hard time for my wife and I. I'm disabled, and thank god for the SS disability payments, but it's nowhere near enough to live on, I double my income with my pottery business, and I'm out of work untill I get power into a new or rebuilt shop. And you all have helped me take the first steps toward realizing that goal. Again, Thank you all. On a side note, I used to ride HDs, from my youth untill just a few years ago. I was always amazed at the brotherhood of bikers. Always helped eachother when need arose. When I became disabled, and had to give up the bikes and the lifestyle, I pretty much dropped out of that group of guys. (there were negatives in that bunch too, don't get me wrong!) But I kind of missed the comradarie and support. I confess that I'm kind of suprised to be finding similar comaradie and quality of friendship amongst Soob owners. (I'm new to Soobs) I don't know why I didn't expect it, but it sure is a nice suprise. All I know for sure is that what goes around, comes around, and when I'm back on my feet I'll be on the watch for anybody needing a hand. You can count on that. Thanks to a great bunch of guys. Ok, mushy rant over. Leland in La Pine

Rick, I've been trying to PM you, can't make that work. If you will send me your shipping address, I will get these parts to you, no charge man, glad to do it. Do you need the hood support rod also, or just the grommet which you found elsewhere? Definiatly have the AC line. Sorry to have taken so long, things are a mess here. our private e-mail is b4thewheel@bendnet.com Leland in LaPine

bump

Yea the jack pines didn't burn cause I spent the last 15 years gradually creating a "defensable space" around my building complex. Of course the idea was so that a wild-fire couldn't jump over to my buildings. Kind of funny how it works both ways. Leland