1987 subaru: dual range

[Barry Donovan]

resonance air intake

unintentionally, be it just to make the Rochester happy, I implemented some of the things Porsche did to move air, and stay nice in civilization (calm the engine and noise)

I am finding this photo fascinating..they utilized the bounce (frequency) of the engine against itself to move air and not kill it. I ponder hacking the ends of a Subaru intake, going way up, then back down..it would look a bit like a bug or a spider. The ej series Subaru had some designs that did this..also resonance related.

This move of course, would keep it in a racing mode at all times..still staying calm in the city, but the big end would be a cold still charge (big air)
This photo is from a n/a 400hp Carrera S (2013) and they played with plastic. Using metal does not need the intricate detailing in stopping vibration.

I used to get laughed at looking to Porsche for details, then went on my own. I am glad to have stayed as nerd as I did. I ended up doing similar things. A factual reason for looking into Porsche for an 87 Subaru..
the height , width and wheelbase is within an inch. I can only imagine an 87 Subaru sized car with a 3.2 watercooled flat six..it is no wonder Porsche is famous for going fast. I am stil having fun with a four banger in the same size chassis and five more gears.

the amazing part is seeing they utilize two throttles, one actually as a damper. the carb world has to operate in reverse order. Damper on the top side of venturi. Injection can do any version..but found this photo amazing (never seen what Porsche did there before), it matched what I did to make my boxer work normal with big cfm at slow speeds. More than a coincidence. A boxer is a boxer. To get an n/a version into big flows on one throttle..it needs alot of thought to be a tight standard (no vapors flying etc etc.).

my first year with the Rochester is a fun memory. The sube took off with the wahwahs of a cold gt3 leaving the pits to start a race. I knew I had to think a little more. Today is just right, it even sounds small..never an oem sized small, but small enough to not bother my neighborhood. Now out at speed, 3k rpm and beyond, full air...a silence takes over the cabin..and the exhaust is indeed quite large. Comically a mini super car.

I suppose this is a secret for n/a boxer fans. No secondary damper for slow driving? That boxer is in a permanent small mode, or all large..both easy to identify once a test drive. To have both at once is modern thinking.

[Barry Donovan]

finale

I guess this is it for this one. Diff rumbled for a bit, now quieter than ever. A real brick in the turns. Final weld is a square camber, looking like a truck live axle. positive rake already..unsuspecting to be one of the top ten handling cars of all time. No errors. Finishing off with some raam mat, I melted sound deadener a few years ago.. never needed it, but for the 30 amp alternator to gain some more. (Need to keep the hairy carpet away from the steel). The little extras.. could play with those for years.

Timing ahead a few degrees..I mean very tiny amount. Exhaust calmed, no mig weld noise. Exotic. My definition is quite stubborn. This has two leaps in advance, I have ignition at 6500 capped, and time it by AFR. So, I can keep what sounds a bit too retarded, but leaving the valves alone.. and still leap into strong enough...right to limit. Preservation and touring is the goal. The sound is beautiful when this is right at that good timed.

This may be the final timing advance.. ambiguous. The first time I got this right, I blew the first engine. I was told the block was bad..drive it to the end.
The end for an old Subaru EA82, is missing a rod bearing entirely, zero oil pressure, and driving 650 more miles non stop...to blow it in its own parking spot, because you chose to. The last day, the leap .. it spun up so fast, I could not look at tach, as the back end tried to steer.. spun the pulley right off the crank. It is ready to go now.. every move cautiously thought out. Rear end could do many more pounds than I give it today.

Blue lights flashed as a cop car went by, telling me to slow down...only by a few miles an hour, another car right on my bumper. My first impression of a freakish ea82 over 7 years ago, has returned, bigger than ever. My only speeding ticket was an ea82 Subaru. (I have had 20 cars.)

The sound is calming as well. I was at a redlight and heard the familiar turbo Subaru skipping sound, a wrx in the opposite lane. I realized how full this little sube is from idle all the way through to 6500. A pack of perfect buzzing bees. It will never be a Subaru as most know them.. ever again. I have learned a camera inside the car does not get what it does. The rpm curve of humanity is a v6 or an inline sideways smashing their brain into a scream with no move.. A v8 lets out the grunt. the boxer taking off feisty? one would need a clock right in front of them. Inside the cabin, I don't think much is happening. The Porsche with its shreak when it decides down and out.. this Subaru has its own. A very high moving whistle...the back end a sound I have never heard. You will not assume a boxer...or an inline four.. its a mystery for motorheads that listen. Way beyond my imagination, I only built to respect a flow I generated.

project complete...less than 5k.

I have talked a long time. I began the very first days.. weld photos in a cold January 2007, a cold start video in December of 2006. 3 forums and 6 years. I did not have grey hairs in the beginning. Just when I thought I would shrink to the disease called a Subaru.. I made it the boxer legend it really is...bigger than it has never been. It was a real shame to do that to exotic things...and ship to the world...and lie to it for several decades afterward. I hope it sounds small to anyone who hears it. An American can fake a sleeping giant..in fact, we could be the smartest in the world at it...while pretenders pretend to not be following all along. A real knowledge.

I am off this subject, the car to a humble silent infamy...I should say quietly. It is my last little one. My vows of hard earned knowledge only stab at the common market...I won't say where I go next.

if anyone who should find this owns an old sube, there is the monojet thread.. hopefully still around, buried but findable. A tease of optimism.. this one capped at 6500, shreaking a sound unknown to man..is only half throttled (not literally). Stay serious to the boxer..it exponentially gives you even more in return. I call it a finale here, but it never ends of course. The brut outrageous stuff that leaves these in the crusher is all done.

Creating the weirdly large, yet correct, very bangshifty. I am glad to have shared it in this neutral place of builders of anything. I'll be playing with custom bushings, toe ins and outs, suspension...stuff rally teams do every single leg. Hardly worth a mention.
I may be wandering around in the sube, would like to add stuff to bangshift from hotrodding local.
My next focus is modernize my media stuff.

It has been raining for days. I am one who rolled in the mud to swap bearings on a v8. The sube cannot do that to me..and I like that. I move onto LS, crankcase v8 is a necessity where I live.

At the time of this finale.. there is more deaths than births in the state of maine, and the U.S. as a whole, for the first time ever. I am in a state ranked #50 for any financial daydreams of success. I do not like people telling me what strong is...all while no one fixes the weakness.

I do not need to be told what a legend is.. all while no one lives with one. A pile of metal with wheels, that did drive across a fat part of a continent..is much easier to deal with, and even put a face on. In fact, it is easy, as one starves.. they find strong guts without tearing into anything...and live with it. A sight of life..
Not one to be philosophical, in fact, I am jokester at heart. No hippy poetic songs for me. I do admire quotes, because real car drivers and builders, they are outside looking in...analogy is inevitable.

up and down...and in the end its only round and round.

and round. (pink Floyd- us and them)

walter rohrl is my favorite, casual words. asking about the b-rally days of insanity:

I did it to know if I was a dreamer or not.

another one from another driver:
to play the piano like a maestro, eyes closed , until goose pimples (arousing sound).. that was b-rally. B-rally was a beautiful piano.

I have made some of my own, I come from v8s, iron, heavy, diesels. Heatsoak, long days..not easy in real world. I worked old jets, rumbled bangor maine and surrounding towns. I know the vibe of hate... Man going too far. I have never stayed with one engine for 17 years. The boxer in self balance, old school tight fires to the point of molecular mystery.. amazing. I am not awe inspiring, neither is my project...nor what I have done.

Some pilots, they gain a red spot in their eyes, like a vein to fatten some more flow of blood. Me? I got two white spots, because it moved my bones.
I faced 500mph forward, and backward on the kc135e. I have also belly smacked the ceiling.

When the sound disappears from the cabin, the world hears it...I could do that all day, nonstop. Forever.

I joked to call this little car "thunderhorse". Some years later, I recorded a lightning strike while driving.

I also joked of nuclear, but it was just density, years of recycle.

I smacked the wheel well with a big hammer 3 times.. the sound seemed to disappear. I heard it 8 hours later, as it flickered the light on my wall...3 times.
lastly, I believe in heros. My dad was on the road a lot. I am lucky to have had good boy scout troop leaders, a baseball coach, music teacher, shop teacher.. I was a lucky boy.
I never thought I'd shake chuck yaegers hand...and act as a crew chief to launch him in a p51. when I said godspeed.. it is only to know he is going to come back and land safely. There is indeed an energy beyond us all.. no matter how noble one person might get.

I knew then, to talk if I could. Little people looking up.. to ordinary men. To find a real legend..is a pile of facts not many brains can keep all at once...and a myth, not many can prove.

It does indeed start with self balance, and what we put back out.

I have mentioned making a final video. the giddiness of the new toy called digital, the many thumbs down at my true character in several hundred playful videos. I have gone back to the seriousness of journalism, what reverberates for actions..while never losing my youth. I'll put an effort in just for this little buggy, and my locale, and my past. The way things tie in is a rather large serious paradox..an unlikely story of facts.

have fun.

[Barry Donovan]

finale, the end part 1

haha. As if this thread is ever going to end.

I was thinking of compiling all the physics notes, some are surprising, some are just simply old school (many cars)

this one, the floor under fuse box, driver side. My 301 delta 88 had the same weirdness.. if floor was damp. Not much to notice anymore, the fires are as strong as an accel 300+ with iridium plugs..and intake can't burp on a damper. But this buggy used to notice.
I am awaiting some raam mat, need small pieces..finish this chore off. It aids in keeping amps content. All driver side cars get damp, even if no leak. Could be the wires. Now the new cars or any with a crystal oscillator (digital) mounted and grounding in the area...won't notice it anymore. I still do, but I am a nerd.


Awaiting floor deadener. This is not as rusted as it appears, the weld is quite outrageous. The work done in 2010.

The thing with the driver side is the fuse box and cluster of grounds subaru slams together..up above. This area likes to be electrical insulated. Raam mat being butyl, like factory, will do good. I have this airing out for coming days. The black paint is “oil rubbed bronze” by rustoleum. A real good indication welds are sealed and strong is odor. This car has none. Dampness creates the oxide layer, it would take years to rust through what I have done…more years than it took to need what it did in 2010. 23 years old at the time. The real reason for crazy strong is making a jacking point out of a side arm that is underneath the floor in photo. Does great. I actually like the sight of this, very content. I did both sides to strengthen for jacking point. photo does not show seam were rocker meets floor. that is a big solid bead of weld for a little sube. My version of rocker panel encapsulates this.

passenger side. Easy life here. This will also get a small patch of raam mat.


This one chore just might be the mig weld noise in the exhaust, driver side, when cold. the old sube is peculiar..

[Barry Donovan]

grs/pro .. rsg/pro?

I not only know this car has a world record for its compilation...
I know a category to identify is very confusing. I won't bother the landspeed people again.

I would poop if they call my only lug nuts known for the wheels acorn nuts..but I'll not overthink it, they were approved via photos and email to an inspector.

I did not see anyone running this at loring:

g - my engine fals in this category..2.01 liters is max. and 1.5 is minimum
rs - normally carbureted (this might nail it) real street. No super street for this one.
/pro - production. Confusion of awd in a Subaru would be as silly as a snowmobile with a track. That should keep it out of "special construction"

so...

grs/pro? rsg/pro?
one of those. I almost drilled the airbox, as my duct is for a carbed engine by factory, but the new engine has a carb with a bigger cam...still factory. it said no "modified air ducts".. glad I did not drill. Should be allowed though, dynamics by factory even changed the size.

july is the run.. welding camber is the last chore, I am already playing with tiny extras. Sound deadener for the amp contentment etc. All factory respects.

I just might get to it this time.

[Barry Donovan]

another turn in history

I have slowly made this one bigger, well thought out, sequential order for what comes first. I popped a headgasket and threw a rod in the engine going extinct.. knew to go very easy, that does not mean weak.

today was a nice ride. Solstice here in summer is a peak for a lot of things. The damper makes it year round, this boxer was very dramatic about that. A super lean condition regardless of jet tells me even Subaru maxxed the cam, and utilized the injection to fatten a down flow.

This lays on nice and small at first, and then lets that boxer mystery rip into a self balanced echo out the back. Beautiful.

The last crakle is beyond my engineering, the o2 sensor is quite alive in the chamber I gave it. No cure as of now, just have to live with it.

more importantly is no leaks anywhere, the first exhaust ever to hang onto the full 280cfm in a strong way.

the raam mat is the end of this week, July gets the last bit of crossmember. As little cars notice anything with angles of tread to road, I am curious howmuch more it will gain as squared up camber..

will know soon enough.

this version of big-as-it-gets is the smartest I have done yet. The afr quickly dropping to 14-15-16 just off idle tells me this one was truly lost without the precise progressive damper, it saved the engine.

104 am is the summer solstice. I am weird about that stuff. The steel I guess.

This year has a supermoon, the solstice, and the peak of a 12-13 year sun cycle...
wish I had a better camera.

[Barry Donovan]

loyale optical disty hack

Finally figured this out. Very defined reading.. I look forward to trying this. A most unique firing pickup. Not magnetic. Itgains a resistance reading (off) when the slot is not in line with the sensor..as soon as sensor gets it. Resistance zeros (on signal)..bam. Sends a fire signal.

Took a little while, but wanted to decipher the base signal drop to see if this distributor would work..and found it.

I may try this..as the accel 300+ seems to ignore advance, it likes the stability of no advance at all, which means both dampers locking the pickup tight (full vacuum tug). It then does the climbing on its own.


Seems confusing at first, will try this out. To find the signal, I simply grounded multimeter to the DC 12v+ sources ground, fed the red on disty the 12v+ source, and used disty black wire for ground to the 12v+ sources ground. I then used the red wire of multi meter to see which one was the base signal, not the refined one (big slots, not the little one.) White showed the answer via a resistance reading. It dropped to zero every time the big slot matched the pickup sensor…perfectly.

a .25 volt signal. Hook it to accel as any standard ignition (white wire). Have not found a use for the orange and purple pair...that must ride magnetic curves. The ground from disty to engine block and the low volt, it may explain why my loyale engine was very calm. No snappy noises. I am running very similar to gm HEI, a 1987 something Subaru put together. Nothing unusual, in fact very very durable. Never needs anything.

Daring to be different, the very defined off on feeding a digitally interrupted box, I am easily enthused and curious. I need to solder on a neat plug, and find the cap. Give it a whirl.

730pm
Found a cap in the basement.
Would you believe I installed this on one try, got it up and running.. smelled the new ground burn in…less than 1 hour. The exhaust is way calmer, with an added mini-shreak that has been teasing me to press the throttle for years. It is like a porsches midget brother…it never knew it had. So all that snapping noise was indeed the disty. I also gained two vacuum ports, does not need vacuum advance...that is a little more throat for the big one barrel. The accel knows something we don't..not sure what it is, it knows advance and back off.. Maybe it is the pulses of the slots in the optical.. very clever. I also grounded the sensor from distributor to a strut tower, help reduce noise.

it was a very big change, must relate to operations per second more than 60 hertz. Big move, like changing a computer part.

This is a history turning point indeed. A Rochester monojet on a water boxer, with an optical distributor, and accel 300+ digital ignition to control. Ever been done? let me know...and feel free to replicate.

I am learning electrons as I go, and only begun to build things. a winter project will be basic pwm, or maybe use the second track.. won't confuse anyone, I go off into an abyss to come out with half the parts and twice the function.

as usual.

anyway, I think I found the secret to why the optic disty needs no advance. For one it is the speed of... light. Two: the material looking like stainless may be acting as a capacitor, holding an off position until ready to strike through the open slot. The faster it spins, accelerating, the more a charge builds up inbetween fire signals, and lets it go sooner and sooner until nominal throttle reached, or slowing down. As this tension builds it equals advance on the signal, sending as soon as an inkling of an opening in the slot shows up. Very clever. Ironically, I have it in the same exact timing position as the injected engine. Air fuel did not matter the version. No kicking at the carb is a bonus to this, no bleed...and utilizing the amp of the accel appropriately starting with a low volt signal for real this time. A bit of advice for the opty disty people.. if it seems to be timing retarding, simply clean the disc with citric cleaner, and check the separate ground that leaves the disty (very important one, it even keeps it quiet as in rf stuff)

a nerdy vid related to this in a roundabout way (that is a pun to the opty disc) I enjoy daves blogs on you tube.

[Barry Donovan]

raam mat

the ebb n flo


Installed raam mat driver side. Car warmed up very fast on the temp gauge. The fan is direct on the engine, so for the heck of it I put my hand underneath drive side floor, and there is a whiff of air from fan. It moves amps, wind, heat and whatever is in the air. the last little anomaly conquered. This must have been teasing the cluster fug of intensely smart wiring by oem manufacture eith fuse box being above the floor. My first lesson in this is 25 years old this year. My first road going car, a delta88 with a 301, a monster fan..towing package. Same thing. Driver side floor. It does need something specially strong in these scenarios. Two thumbs up for the raam mat.

good stuff with aluminum backing.

The other factor in warm up is the distributor, no more spinning in circles to an X game. That just might be the smartest fire trigger in the world.
edit:
I go for these short runs, highway.. building from scratch has the darndest routines. I waited till this evening, but there is still too much traffic for me. There is no choice but to be modern. I still chuckle of the paradox I made, cars truly believe they are just going to fly right by on a highway merge etc. The old 90hp subaru with fattie wheels. I outgrew the games with a g-body 160mph monte carlo, I don't need to challenge the sideways average v6 with a perfect ad on TV.

I certainly found what made the loyale I had go infinite.. until air ran out of course, with that tiny MAF. This one has the same feeling, but with more confidence in weight and back end, momentum...and no restriction. The AFR gauge in front of me...I can fuel it anywhere it needs to be. The loyale could not do that, even with a computer. The Rochester is an American mans build no doubt.

The raam mat did indeed find something huge, recycling physic of some kind. The real win, I am sure now, is that disty that uses a tiny low volt signal, and no bleed to the actual high fire up top.

I could drive this a very long day...break a world record, save fuel, go camping in it..but I did all of those things. I may as well make a destination.

The sound is very nice. Squaring up cambers, and seal the hole I put in the boot for the o2 cable. that is all that is left.

[Barry Donovan]

health notes

well, I finally have this one nailed.

Some of the outcomes after welding are just sick, I got hauled off with a deuterium (heavy water) like problem..

but I finally nailed it. The one oddity this one had was sulfur. Adding that to a vacuum environment where moisture can reside literally creates heavy water like a perfect science experiment. I do have some diesel truck parts, in air and exhaust side.. half a million miles or more. That was the sulfur source. It does not take much, and infects every gas engine...don't pretend tough about your own.

The other oddity has been in some of my other cars. the magnetic disty. Being as stubborn as I am with factual opinions.. I am as done with sideways engines, inline fours, the v6...and now magnetic based ignition of any kind.

I worked a lot of cars, and that is very much the stereotyped grease monkey..I am sure as hell not boasting.

To sum this sube up..
air fuel too restricted, elongated science.
Responds to sulfur like a heavy water making machine as an industry might make it (freakish odds - real shame)

density of resonance changes after 10-12 years on any vehicle has to have some extra thought, monitoring. This is the final trick into assuming radioactive. Really is not.. although it is quite a trick sometimes. frequencies recycling, meeting other frequency. I love the mystery of this, it is my fun as a welder. A real nice car of mine will have some raam mat from now on. I do stick to a brand when it proves itself. that was yet another mistake for this sube generation..if the paint exterior was metallic, the butyl covering they used also had the metallic paint. that created yet another trick for altering hertz, and not killing it.
I had a white Subaru that was content, no rust into 15 years. The white paint, dull, non-metallic allowed electric to die on the painted butyl.

Simple mistakes, not nearly as premeditated sabotage as I once thought. (Seriously, this car tugged at my sanity more than once)


that is all for this one. There are much worse.. the cars that respect organics. The tin cans do not...they cannot sit still long enough to be a greenhouse.

I wanted to continually update the health stuff, I have witnessed some terrible outcomes, this very model. Especially the carbed with the crazy distributor. The loyales problem is an engine big enough, cooling not enough, and it has no use for EGR. That really is an easy one..just get some good exhaust setup, like every other ricer is tortured with.

the optical distributor is needed for this boxer, or external pickups..(I don't like those, never used one)

anyway, my grey hairs and I are moving on..

have fun.

[Barry Donovan]

welding notes

I started welding for the first time ever, in what I thought was 2007, January.

I had completely erased from my memory the mobile home x-brace I made, and the box beam for my first Subaru...

in 2003.
Grey hairs mean something.

Anyway, I work alone, started making up my own language about welding.

I liked the concept of "feedback" in a modern invertor welder. like the welder knows what I want and changes amps. No one uses that word. I do not know why. if you slow down, it gets bigger, which seems silly to say..but I mean, it gets bigger, not just piling a weak puddle. I have had the crazy welder, the original primitive.. they ran for more than 50 years.

this video explains what I found in my modern one..and it has been around for a long time for this Lincoln SA 200.

I am reminded I could go for the 6g and other tests, maintain a license.

I'd love one of these:

The sube is a real weld, not a wild stab. In fact, a guru would just put a hand on what's been done and say "good", like a wine tester.

The sube has some serious things needing rework, and I hope I did not make it look simply done. It was not simple.. a mistake is death in a body wiggle, (going for big throttle on a false confidence).

I have this car at $5k if to sell...and it is only going to go up the longer I hang on.
It still sits enough, I am not sure what boundaries I enlarged.
I did notice it loves the summer and spring..it must be the big tranny slicking up to near 150F. The oil, as in most real boxers, takes forever to warm.

The signal for that fire is very very precise, all the while complaining of the wrong cfm size and intake of the original carb engine, the one move to optical could still attempt a world record.

I am over double that sizing of air fuel today. A blast to drive.. that freakish sound.

0 to 60 is indeed under 7, for the tall gearing..it is an eye opener for anyone that would ride along, or drive. Casual big little engine. It gains rpms of gas, and digs in with the low line torque of a diesel. Incredible thing to feel out.

That needed hellacious strong welds. My friend rolled one of these on the highway mysteriously. That was along time ago..I know the flipper stereotype for the sube wagons, that does not mean high cg, it is an anomaly of the kicker in the rear left suspension. I have witnessed it on the net, and less than a mile form me, off an exit ramp.

I won't get into the physics of how retarded the EJ engine is, but the 3 main just by existing helps stop that strange problem.

Welding fixes any version of the subes...just have to know where to put the work. There is not many pieces where the subes need the super slow 70000 psi settings, but they really do have some. Anyone can weld..if you call mig weld a hot glue gun, give the machine to someone else who knows what they are doing, it is not like that at all, it is not that easy.

[Barry Donovan]

500 pounds

I get a call from my dad once and awhile to haul a box or two he forgot while trucking, a lot of money to drive the rig for some small boxes into some rural maine place.

Today he had 500 pounds, 5 boxes. I had to turn it down...but such a tease to my motivation. I am reminded how small that sube is. Several years went by wondering when I'd fill the gas tank again, after breaking the rear end for the fourth time. That may only be a hundred pounds full..15 gallons.

I had a 200 pound on the roof once, did not even notice. This taught me where to weld what, that back end alone needs a 1 ton static value just to park in its spot and stay content.

This one can be done to haul a 500 in the back. I only added honda front springs to the list to add to the back. 300 pound each. I bet it squashes them out of sight too.

Another cool thought,as I have freighted everything I have ever owned. The disty keeping a crisp time could really lug a long hill. the spec clutch hanging on. the big master cylinder helping as well. Tire and wheel ratings way beyond the sube already.

I'll add something during weld to fulfill a 500 pound goal for the back end. Most likely a full cage for diff from rear flat bar to the front one, all boltable.

edit:

All of that work is done, including a center bolt with bushing. Locking in camber to square is the last welds. I want the appearance of live axle, flat as can be. positive rake already in place as well with Toyota 4 runner front struts as the rear. All enlarged. The bearing size, etc, that is what this build is based on. they are all extra large, more than twice over the modern sti.

I could only imagine what that could take off with, four low. Comical. Maybe 25 wrx, or a tractor trailer..

[Barry Donovan]

new description

I was watching a vid on old porche 356.
original owners are typically loaded, could do anything from ground up.

I heard these two phrases

preservation restoration, sympathetic restoration.

This means if paint is still working, dull as it may be..they leave it. Just kept mechanicals like new.

That was my desire for this lightning attacked project. There is even a side glass with a rainbow of some super power embedded.

I really changed my mind, when I joked of it having 1million + 130,000 miles.

I have never seen such along lasting self attacking vehicle ever. It is easier to shrug it off as too many miles to know.

I did find the physics that reeled in the suicidal tendencies, so it really is only 130k. the rear diff would be long gone by now. As far as I know, they only go to 200k or so, need rebuild. (they have no vent).

the original foam type windshield seal would have rotted the firewall and floor and wiring a long time ago as well.

So, back to making underpinnings of a vehicle weighing a ton more, for reasons only this sube could talk.

This is so close to done, I was pondering another jug of urethane, etc..
no rush on that stuff at all.

[Barry Donovan]

in memory

I know this is supposed to be a build thread.. but I am a ten geared ricer in a hot rod forum...
My motivation comes from a difficult place. Kids don't know this today. I am in the last age group where if you are 40 and alive, you are an old man. Part of my motivation is past friends and odd pursuits we have had to gain a tough vehicle using nothing for resources. I mentioned a nissan diesel a friend had. The little Subaru came up in those talks 20 years ago.

I learned he died a couple of weeks ago, age 38. We were in the same accident in 1995. I joked, I was going to check out before him. We drank together many more times than once...early 20s. (I don't drink mind you, I was typical college age wild one for a couple of years). My foot was mauled, I bent a b-pillar with my head...four door ford truck totalled.

We were good friends for a time, his nickname was "fathead" from a previous accident some years before. We got along, both stubborn thick skulls.

When we were much younger, there was four of us. Drinking on a back road. the radio decided to work in my old chevelle, the song "freebird" came on from the beginning. Bizarre timing. Seriously. It is not like any of us that were there to be karaoke kings. There we were singing that song in the middle of the woods, at the top of our lungs.

It was a moment like that, thoughts of time is not ahead. The truth of just existing. A laugh real enough to hurt. It is now I know, it carried the most time of all... living for that moment, as it was.

There were four of us back then. There are two left..one is my brother.

RIP Thale.
you are yet another reason I tackled a Subaru against alot of odds. There is indeed a smarter strength..using hardly anything at all...like us.
I speak this..as I have travelled, even overseas. Our tortured little town motivation is a world scale sized one.

in other news,
I gave my brother a ride last night to a friends. Smell the ocean thick, once in a sun cycle goopy thick. Thermometer once again does not matter. I learned of louisiana and maine natives going way back, interacting, this season is why. It is like a swamp during these cycles.

on the way home, a deer jumped out, I was at 35 mph. Slammed on brakes, not even a creak of steel moaning anywhere. Yokohama avid trz is street tread, they dug in with the sound of mud boggers. The deer hoofed its way across the road, sounded like a little horse clapping the pavement.

my job with this buggy is almost done.

[Barry Donovan]

3rd time is a charm?

I have never done this before...

I installed a rocker, brand new in 2007. I did get hit by lightning, and found the magnetic distributor and my version of boxer is very unhappy...



but I am going for a 3rd. the new in, now six years old, disintegrated in more than one place. Broke chunks out with my hand today, black carbon inside..I know where the lightning went now, from 2010.

No matter the end of this buggy, it is in some kind of legend. I don't even recall the stubborn 73-87 chevy truck owners rebuilding from the ground up.. and then going this far.

got a good ride in, a coastal town, I am still learning rpm, max power.. I do not want damper full open, I stay nice in the streets. That played a role today, Belfast maine. Progressive damper and a clean carb keeping it precise. It opens around 2500-3000rpm on a good throttle.

An ice cream stand and restaurants, people walking. Very good. A most unique sound and feel, and only this car is going to give it... I am quite certain by now. The hills this used to strain over, just like a diesel today. Could even hold a coffee in one hand and drive all the way to the coast without downshifting. If you know maine, you know what I mean about the hills.

will post photo of the rocker. I have never outlasted new steel to done, always started with old...and watched it get older. A first for me.

A unique trait with this, one could use points, magnetic pickup, and stop at their last leap forward with optical. 70s, 80s to 90s.

the optical and digital is very good. Will take my time on the new rocker, it is not going to happen again.

edit:
I was reading this is a wettest month on record comparison for the month of june. Today is july first and records will forget its just one day after a month to compare to. we got a 1 inch forecast again.
This makes in just six years, an alltime cold, warm, snowfall record and now headed for rain. Just six years..

imagine 20 prior to that.

I know how to stop complaining of original ricer tin.. thinking of what work was done, to go farther.

[Barry Donovan]

rear weld

Took 3 weeks. The longest wait state for a weld on this car yet.
The workload was a lot bigger than I did not compute. Just looking at photos, it really is a silly thing to comprehend. The distance, load, and that silly flat bar.

4am ride, I realized the density created. The diff acts like my 84 monte carlo SS.
must be similar, simply different sizes.
Very taught and rugged.

A regret, as there is no book for this, I should have started with the rear diff bar, and went from there. The rocker work driver side would have been nulled a long time ago. Live and learn.

the reward still exists, but the rockers are getting a third .8mm layer. that must be near 1ton caged all around that monster.

It really is a special ride.

I also took out a Makita grinder mysteriously, smell of bleach. Stupid tenants in the same building. I did conquer the polychlorination where it mattered, but that was frustrating finale.. taking out the grinder.

A truly driven old car. Another win is making the past unrepeatable. no oil filled coil, etc etc. Very long list of physics conquered.

a before and after of the diff bar. This was the monster. I feel abit supid about that. I ignored it for 6 years. It even took out the gas tank and front crossmember into a crack.

This could be the biggest advice ever. start with rear diff bar on the old sube...and rid the oil filled ign coil (evidence of pcb infection -enough to kill a good grinder).
For some technical notes. A pcb can take out anything with a coil, in the case of the Subaru it was the magnetic pickup acting as a thief instead of just signaling. A dual 12v was gained, pos and negative. that is bad.

Today it reads a ten volt in to optical disty, and a 6 volt pickup side.. and the box it goes to is dioded, and digital. The coil is electronic with modern insulation and cooling fins.That is the magic of the cure. Past cannot repeat. Been quite a ride for years.
This is actually a cure for any hard core enthusiast. Optical is pricy, but very rewarding. I think crane cam offers it for American v8, and possibly MSD.

[Barry Donovan]

young rocker dead

I took a a hammer to the young replacement rocker. it was worse than I thought. I did have an intention to use this as a outline 6 years ago, I did not trust it then either..brand new.

new rocker is 16 gauge, all kinds of decent structure to weld to. that is where you cannot see, my biggest welds.

then I found a floor problem, also young. In fact, the welds on the white beam scoot right aacross where the floor went bad. That is only 3 years. I did nurture a punky spot a few years ago, this is the finale. Also 16 gauge. The inner rocker seam rides the vertical.

The front half will be 18 gauge. Easier to work. the right side gets nothing. No split in the original rocker, and I went over it with a new one anyway. This should equal out nice, this car is one that needs the concept of panhard bar, odd side torque number unknown. the left side takes the beating forwad of rear wheel. The right side takes the beating after rear wheels. Subaru does indeed have that backwards. Most american v8 chassis gets pummeled the same way as this subaru. I am a fan of the b-pillar..take a guess as to why?
This is very strong. Inner structure is doubled, with a steel rod. Now there is 3 rockers.

mig reel 22 in the box...going for 44 pounds. A tip for suby welders..the license plate is the shield for fuel lines while welding. I pop lines up off of holders, and slip plate under, give a bend.