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Time to get an aftermarket temp gauge that actually give a number reading for the engine temp. These gauges that point into a no man’s land tell us nothing useful. The gauge won’t move but I bet anything the engine temp is constantly fluctuating depending on the situation - and sometimes this will go much higher than you think before that needle moves north! Even better is to get an engine watch dog - you can set alarms and there’s a model that comes with two sensors, many options here - coolant (first one and quite obvious), second one could be engine oil temp/gearbox oil temp/hub temp on one corner/fuel temp etc. pick one and go from there. Cheers Bennie

Once its back from the blaster ill know more, but initial inspections show rust requiring repairs: -top of front right wing (where the guard bolts too) - both water drains under the scuttle panel into the guard are fully gone - front firewall flat panel, around where the fuel line comes thru,and one the front right part of the firewall where the brake master sits - Front/mid floor pan already has patches done and we will unstitch the entire floor and rebuild - as chassis rails has some dints requiring removal - rear wagon floor near end /latch is looking pretty thin and likely need replacement - very minor (at this stage) in the gutters on the right side. A couple of pics from earlier in the piece:

No I didn't bother trying to take the temperature. Since the temp was slowly rising, it's hard to tell if it was a time difference or temperature difference. Assuming the water was at a fairly constant temperature while boiling (should be, right?) I think it was more a time difference. The old one took a minute or two longer than the new one to open to about the same gap. I find it odd that they then seem to gradually close the same amount at the same time/temperature as they cool. Only data point I have to compare is that the second electric fan still cycles on and off at idle which is disappointing. It's been only getting up to about 60F ambient here but I haven't seen the temp gauge move above the middle at all, even with the AC on, so that's promising but far from conclusive.

Rear bumper fabrication conclusion. Added some slider tubes to protect charcoal canister, hang muffler, and provide some kind of ramp when backing over obstacles. Added tabs for license plate and license plate lights. Added lateral receivers for jacking and winching. Ready for paint. Might get the old rusty front bumper on the white Outback painted at the same time. Should protect the body from trees and make recoveries easier. Slammo had suggested the thermostat in the EZ36 in the Impreza might be bad. I drained the coolant, cleaned the radiator (seemed pretty clean inside and out, don't think that was contributing to the problem), and removed the old thermostat. It looked fairly clean but is most likely 11+ years old and sat for a year or two dry. Tested it side by side with a new one from the dealer by bringing a pot of water up to boiling. New one (bottom) definitely opened sooner than the old one. But after a few minutes they both opened the same amount. While slowly cooling down they looked the same. Did that twice, same results. So hopefully the new one will help stabilize engine coolant temps. Still might add inlet and outlet temp sensors that have a calibration for the Haltech.

Friday morning we went to Ely, got gas, and started calling and visiting tire shops. We couldn't find a 215/75/15 of any kind but they did replace one of B's valve stems that was leaking. We'd found Devil's Gate slot canyon online that was roughly on our way so we started heading that direction. Going up the mountain pass we came upon a full size pickup truck with ~20ft enclosed trailer. Truck had a Green Bay Packers sticker in the back window. Fortunately he was pulled over just enough for us to squeeze past him. We stopped at the pass/saddle to enjoy the view and then B saw the truck and trailer coming. We ran back to our cars and made sure we stayed ahead of him. Going down was a narrow, rocky, dirt switchback mountain road. I have no idea how he was navigating it but we looked back when we were near the bottom and could see him slowly working his way down. Continued east through the desert down some washes/canyons. The last one was quite fun, we could go there quickly since it didn't have 2' deep ruts like the Vegas to Reno course. Took it to Devil's Gate. We hiked through it and up to the top and drove out of the wash and while there was a large flat gravel area that could be called a parking lot, there were no signs of any kind this awesome slot canyon is here. It's limestone which is unusual, most slot canyons are sandstone. So the rocks here are polished. From here we headed back into Utah towards Massey northern #13, a portion of the old pony express route. On the way we took a side trail up a wooded valley along a stream with an amazing alcove in one cliff. Cut across Massey 13 and headed north through some hills on some fun trails.