SakoTGrimes

Absolutely gorgeous Brat! http://s680.photobucket.com/albums/vv165/LS650V/?action=view&current=1978SubaruBrat2.jpg

What type of BMW did you trade? You will find that the EA engines are some of the most reliable ever built.

This is a pretty sweet thread. Thanks Mike Kamm! Unfortunately, the best mpg I've done so far in my 1997 Toyota Tercel 5MT is a paltry 47.77. Next summer when I can remove the windshield wipers again (wind drag) and after I block up the lower front bumper, fill in the rear bumper (acts like a parachute) and delete the passenger mirror I hope to bust 50mpg, but I won't stop there. One day I want to hit 70mpg while keeping a stock appearing shape. Some cars I'd like to own one day for extreme mpg purposes are: 1985 Toyota MR2 with 5EFE engine (Tercel) totally gutted first generation VW Golf with a 1.5 diesel Honda CRX HF with silly teardrop looking aeromods first generation Honda Insight, the only hybrid car I don't hate Subaru XT, how could that NOT be aerodynamic? Chevy Suburban (2WD, lowered, gutted, 5 speed, 6.2 diesel, aero mods) Another Tercel possibly a turbodisesel Benz

So for the last months I had been working at the worst job ever, and to pass the time and make it more bearable me and my friend coworker would think up the most extreme automotive ideas possible. Most were completely idiotic (such as the 20 ton SUV that has 4 V8s and no brakes) but every once in a while we came up with something good. Like this.... You take a car like an EA71 hatch (My original idea was to do this to a Toyota Tercel but my Tercel is just too nice) and you put it in a vacuum mold thing to make a big plastic shell out of it like an RC car. Now you build sort of like a rollcage for it, with bars in all the normal places a car needs to have strength. If I actually did this I would like to use titanium as it would be super light, super thin and super strong (not to mention super $$$.) More realistically aluminum or steel could be used. Simply put hinges and latches where you would need doors, hood, hatch, etc. Please keep in mind I have no idea where you would actually find a plastiform thing big enough for a car or enough money for this, but.... just a crazy concept I have. Now you fill the entire thing with Styrofoam which would give the body some strength against wind and would also make a really good sound killer. Carve out the inside leaving a few inches or so and make another plastic shell, this one on the inside of the body. So now you've got a Subaru shaped shell that weighs like 200 pounds maybe? Mount your seats, EA71 and FWD 5MT to the frame, fuel cell in the back and of course paint it so it doesn't look like its made out of Styrofoam as well as a hundred other little things to make it usable. Register it just like a Subaru with a parts car VIN and drive it! I estimated that if I did this to my car I would get 70+ mpg (up from its current mid-40s). But now I believe that with how light the car would be, in addition to modifying your driving style, and, if you wanted to go all out, streamlining it for much improved aerodynamics 100+ miles to a gallon could easily be attained. If you look up hypermilling you can see that people are already getting insane mpg with normal cars. Anyway since I am now pretty obsessed with fuel economy, yet still missing Subaru ownership I thought this would be cool to do. A more practical approach would be to just gut the car for weight and block up the grill a bit and drive it like I do to my car now. What do you think?

Ford Courriers and OM617s FTW!

Rebel scum.

How about spraying the underside and brakes with WD40 or some other oil so they don't get rusty and creaky. Just remember that the brakes are oily the first time you take it out of storage;)

Call me optimistic but I'd say nine thousand dollars. I mean why not? One third to one half the price of a new Impreza or Yaris, with better milage, classic looks, and plus you can actually fix it yourself. old > new

Yeah yeah I know...... why would anyone do that? I don't have a Subaru right now so that's the best I could come up with. So does anyone have or know of a 1990+ Subaru that has a working EA81 under the hood? I really don't care what model my next Soob is as long as it's got an EA81, just pondering my options. Kinda seems like it might actually be easier to "downgrade" to a small, computerless pushrod engine.

Dang, there's a lot of you in Core von die Valley isn't there? Wheeling trip! Oh wait, it's flat, nevermind :-p

How thorough is the rust inspection? I have noticed from eBay that cars in Australia are generally better kept than up here. Most things up here either get thrown away when they're old or restored properly. Not so much of a middle ground.

The wagon I used to drive and sold to Subadoom looks very similar, except he strapped the bottom of the hatch on and it's got a siliconed in windshield from when I rolled it. In Oregon, there's no safety inspection whatsoever on old cars, no MOT or rego (whatever tose are!) or emmisions. It's friggin sweet. There are rules about tire width and such, but I see them violated all the time, most cops don't seem to care. Kinda funny, I thought Auatralia was a lot more lax on those type of things;

We all know you can do better than that Come on, make a good crew cab Brat, er, Brumby.

C Miller perhaps? somewhat related note: I see a ton of (running) Peugeots in Corvallis.

Couldn't a competent welder use scrap steel to reinforce these donut wheels to make them usable?

Yes it does, thanks! I was afraid they might only allow weedwackers, er, dirtbikes and quads on the dunes. For only $10 I can get my proper 4WD out there. Maybe I'll have another Subaru by the time I'm there in September, either way I'll bring the camera.

Sweet pics! Too bad I have nothing to add to it yet....... so... can anybody tell me if it's legal to drive on the dunes in Florence OR? and if I need some kind of permit?

I wheeled my Toyota yesterday. It's an AWD Corolla wagon. No low range, crap ground clearance, FWD most of the time. But it's drawbacks just make it more fun to drive I think, you really have to plan out exactly where you're going to go so as not to get stuck. I was pleasantly surprised how smooth the AWD engages, I couldn't even notice it in the snow, which I did eventually get stuck in even with the diff lock on.

Out of the few Justys that are still on the road quite a few seem to be ECVT4WD. A customer of mine has an almost immaculate 4 door. When I told her to come to me if she ever wants to sell it she just laughed and said "I'm never going to sell it!"

The coal dust engines were actually called "hot bulb" engines and technically were not diesel, but are often referred to as "semi-diesels"

EA71 Brat 4 speed of course, 31mpg hwy at best, 12 mpg in town at worst. I average about 16mpg.

My entire point was that if every diesel started using vegetable oil instead of that synthetic crap sold at pumps and incorrectly labeled as "diesel fuel", which was the good Mr. Diesel's plan to begin with, we'd have none of the problems that have caused new diesels to be outfitted with silly emmissions stuff that makes them significantly less efficient. I can't argue with the piezo style injectors though.

The idea of having a diesel in a Subaru has been getting kicked around here for years. I mean, why hasn't anyone actually done it already? Thanks to the Socialist Republik von Kalifornia and people who like to pretend to be environmentalists, all automakers that sell in the US are now unable to make an actual diesel engine. If and when the boxerdiesel makes it to the US, buyers will pay the premium price for it but be unable to burn proper fuel in them. As far as I know new diesels with their computer stuff, catilytic converters and urea injection (WHY!?) will refuse to burn anything but the ultra low sulfer synthetic petroleum based crap. I suppose one could modify it to work like a diesel is supposed to, but then the I/M Nazis get you. Yes, it makes torque and gets OK milage. Just like any other new Soob. Sorry for the rant, I just wish people would leave a good thing like old fashioned diesels alone.

This information pleases me. Things flying apart really ruins a day. So, can I just simply take the head off, put a new headgasket in and bolt it back on? Even I could do that.

So I just now got underneath the car and took off the exhaust shield thingy which allowed me to see that there was a really clean area (from a flow of oil moving over it) right in the middle of the block and head. So I guess that means it's a headgasket? And, since I've never changed one before, please tell me - do valves and springs and crap fall out when you unbolt a head or do they stay put?