mtsmiths

We had a New Yorker (don't ask) when we lived in Tucsom. It had all the top-of-the-line features, including leather. I called it the Volare wearing a Tuxedo. You could generate an inch long blue spark from your fingertip to the door handle sliding across those seats. I also found the leather hotter in summer and colder in winter. That car got me over leather lust. Take a tip from aviation, and fit a set of aftermarket REAL sheepskin covers. Get the shorter sheared ones, in a color compatible with your interior. They look nice, are the most comfortable, and can be taken off and hand washed in Woolite if you get them dirty. Quick, clean, cheap ... can't beat it.

http://usmb.net/gallery/mtsmiths/Rancheru The Powder patrol as pickup ... but I want a new rig to alter.

I gotta ask, 'cause there's few old Subarus with roof holes up here in NW Montana. If the moon roof pops up, i'll just delete the retract mech, and cut the top off just behind the 'B' pillar ... if not, and it runs waaa-aaay - aft, I'll have to rethink. I want a longer bed than recreating an '80's Baja. I'm gonna have to park my wagon against the sky and take a dead side-on pic, and see if I can use my digital camera program like photo-paint. If so I'll post the results for comment. It WOULD be helpful if I could somehow learn to do a picture link ... they just NEVER work for me!

I log in when I come to visit, odderwise no can see da supahmahket, eh? Never know when the perfect Subaru will come along, desperation sale right in the next county ... course, BlueTrain is the onliest other member around, and he's TWO counties away. It just ate my post. I did the preview, corrections, posted, and 'poof'. It told me to log in and the whold page was history, piled in some virtual jy somewhere in cyberland. grrrrr.

... until the board ate it, that is. Had they used the bottom half of the hatch as a bottom hinged tailgate? How was the vertical 'B' pillar married to the slanted 'D' pillar? Will be building one sometime this year. First to sell the Powder Patrol wagon, and after, find a good clean AWD/auto wagon with air, power everything and moonroof. Will ultimately want a mild lift, winch and a few other goodies to make it useful as a light pickup

about making a Rancheroo, or El Subamino, and when I posted the board said I wasn't logged on and ate the whole thing. I'm p!ssed. What do we have to do, write in word and cut and paste?

I've seen a few up here in Montana. They are long and run in one piece to the rear of the back door (I've seen wagons only). Don't know where they came from tho. I've been hoping to find one I can chase down and ask, but they've always been going the other way. If I recall the post, they came from England, so-oooo maybe these were down from Canada, eh?

Bought it in Nov '01 with 100,000 miles on it. Now have 146,000. NW Montana, so it sees it's share of snow and nasty cold, and has never faltered (except the two nights it was -27 deg. F, it made some complaining noises when it started in the morning). Much nicer driving and more 'sophisticated' car than our trusty '87s. If you don't know the history, and can't confirm that the timing belt has been done; do it right away. Also, if it's an automatic, don't neglect regular transmission service.

... but a LOT of others would. The car was just voted the 'Readers's Car of the Year' by Road & Track magazine. The general concensus is 'It's put the SPORT back in 'sports car'.

NW Montana, so it sees all outside temp ranges. No HG leaks internal or external. I guess if it hasn't done it by now, it won't.

Classic symptoms, as taught in flight school. Is your Brat missing the heat muff snorkle? It would have actually started off sooner if you had left the hood down. As soon as you stop running cold moist air thru the venturi the heat from the stalled engine will melt the ice block out of the carb. After a couple of rough seconds while the engine digests the accumulated water, and you're off again. If it happens again, note the air temp / dewpoint; the closer together they are the better chance of carb ice. As you lose power put it in neutral and let it coast as it idles, you want as little air moving thru the carb as possible as the engine heat warms the carb throat. If the heat riser is missing replace it. Won't hurt anything but your prode ... unless you're flying over that pass and have to land your new glider on the interstate between the semis!

Are you expecting large amounts of snow?

"Cooling System Conditioner" Testing procedure: Shake thourtoughly, per instructions. Open can, remove seal (which was leaking, BTW?). Decant into clear glass jar. Allow to sit one hour. Observe closely. Characteristics after one hour: a red clear liquid on top of a rich depisit (approx 50% by volume) of tan to light brown sediment interspaced with black flecks. Smells just like paint thinner (turps, not mineral spirits). Judgement: This is a solution of finely ground oatmeal suspended in turpentine, and augumented with ATF (remember the 'lubricant' they promised). That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. This is simply STOP LEAK of some sort, pure and simple; and this is SOA's 'fix' for thousands of leaking head gaskets on low mileage new cars? Subaru should be ashamed, and we should be offended that they think we are SO gullible. Wait, most of America is, isn't it?

rather than a bad car. I don't know what the miss and hard starting is, but the vast majority of CEL lights on later Subarus are bogus O2 sensor faults, and should be ignored. Anyone that gouged you hundreds of dollars to get rid of a CEL was knowingly ripping you off, IMHO. I found an indy when I was working back east for the summer by looking in the phone book for a foriegn parts store that listed Subaru along with the other cars they sell parts for. Then I called them and asked who to go to. I got a guy who knew what he was doing, was cheap, and had me on the road in less time than promised. Good luck.

... I dropped in, had them pull our records and they handed me my little bottle of SUBARU "Professional Use, Cooling System Conditioner". Along with a warning from the mechanic standing by the service writer (who is basically a pretty good guy, and may even be a board member ... or at least benign lurker), to NOT put the stuff in if I'm not showing symptoms. The packaging is relabeled "Holts Stop Leak", looks like Barz-Leak dyed red (you know with those little-itsy-bitsy beads and stringy thingies). It smells just like paint thinner. These guys can't believe that SOA is pulling this stunt. We seem to be in luck, 146,000 miles with no signs of head problems, so the concensus at the shop is we won't have to face the head gasket demon. I guess I'll just keep it around for the inevetible leak in my '87 heater core.

as part of my deBrightonization program. Piece o' Cake. Also picked up a pair of lighted vanity mirror sunvisors from the Subaru site, for really cheap. Just as easy. Use the map lights lots, the vanity mirrors hardly ever, but I sleep much better knowing that they are there.

No drafts anywhere, just cold. If we close all vents and put the heat only on, it passable, but never really warm. Only complaint about the whole car, but when it's -20 F outside IT MATTERS!

Always has been ... whateverthehell it is.

Lasted far longer than the OEM liner. Make sure you get good adhesion, and for gawdssake do't let the sprayed surfaces touch each other until you WANT them too! I covered the dried surface with waxed paper and lined each 'strip' up then pulled the paper out as I slightly stretched and smoothed the cloth down. Good Luck, you can do it!

The local mechanics were SO bad, and would never make mistakes right. "Yah shuah effing haole, geddouda heah, brah 'for I broke yo' face!" One thing about Sears is that they will always honor their warranty. Just make sure that you can absolutely document condition when you take the car in. If you can prove they screwed something up they WILL fix it. Many (TOO many) years ago I got a new set of Goodyear tires on sale in LA. Since we lived in the country I got my front end aligned at Sears (so I could get warranty response). THey didn't tighten one of the links and by the time I got up to the Gold Rush country mountains where I lived the front tires were already ruined. Sears not only replaced the front tires, but because the local dealer didn't have the same tires, they replaced ALL FOUR with better quality as well as redoing the front end. In Hawaii I had my '84 Mustang HB front-end aligned and bought the 'lifetime' warranty. Poor Sears, because the roads on the Big Isand are SO bad, I had the car realigned at least twice a year ... and I kept that little car 12 years!

And I had some errands out at the Kalispell airport. Of course I just HAD to go across the field from my hangar and borrow some wing cradles. All those nice wide taxiways and not even a deer track on them ... WHEEEEEEeeeeeee!

... terminally weird, but pure genius.

It wasn't too bad but we we're heading out for about 8,000 miles of driving so I had it fixed. mid $200's at a local indie. Both of our '87's have had to undergo front wheel bearing replacement. Rotate the tires anyhow, hardly any of us do it enough.

The Powder patrol is back in Montana, and lovin' it!

... eh?