The Beast I Drive

I for one do not want to see you leave this board. I also dont want you to give up on that coupe. I learned to ignore the money I "waste" on my Subes because its just how it goes. Bad things happen, but I dont believe you destroy everything you touch. You fixed a lot of Bucky's problems, and you did all you could to save Rocky until the rust got him. Old subarus have personalities, and some just dont like to cooperate. I went through about 5 alternators and 3 or 4 distys and and a lot of tuning and time trying to get one of the engines to run right in the Beast, only to have my radiator fans die on a 105 degree day on my way back from WCSS10. It still ran, but the HG's are toast. Interstingly enough, the motor in my car at that time was from an '82... All Im saying is you really shouldnt throw in the towel like this. I know Ive spent well over 5 grand on the Beast, and I know I will spend thousands more in the future, and it will give me problems forever, but it comes with the territory. Things like this are very frustrating and demoralizing, but you can pull through. YOU HAVE NOT FAILED at anything! You successfully resealed and did the headgaskets all by yourself, that is a great achievement. I am convinced that whatever hapened to the coupe was not because of something you did. the car is 26 or so years old. Its going to have issues. Please dont give up, we dont want you to. And dont let anyone who thinks to the contrary get to you. -Bill

As far as the disty swap goes, Ive been talkin to jerry and Brian about what they did, and its really simple, and since I live near jerry I often go look at his stuff. I dont plan to run LPG, it would be kinda cool though. Just a thought, what is the minimum compression to make Deisel ignite? -Bill

The compression boost is another reason I want to swap the 2.2 heads. NASCAR may not be on the "cutting edge" of technology, but you cant tell me those engines are not built and tuned to precise calibers and degrees. If Im gonna pull heads to do a head gasket fix, I might as well bolt on some heads that will give me some added performance. Also the 2.2 heads give me a proven way to mount a distributor. -Bill

Im registered now, thanks Brian -Bill

I have decided Im gonna use 2.2 heads as i am getting a really good deal on a 2.2 as long as i can meet a deadline. This will give me the opportunity to pre-emptively, hopefully, solve the weak headgasket problem on the 2.5 by using modified 2.2 gaskets. Also a great time to get and install some aggressive cams. For the record, this motor is going in my RX, which will NOT be a wheeler, it is a street beast only. I am considering a FI swap for my straight axle wagon, but that seems unlikey as I have access to a hellaciously good deal on some stuff I need to make a carbed 2.2. You can't honestly tell me that it wouldnt look cool in any way seeing 4 stainless velocity stacks mounted on 2 Webers sticking out the hood of an 88 RX jacked up in the back, can you? That is just pure sex right there, no matter if you are a inferior carb guy or a Fuel Injection guru. On a side note, the Webers I am going to use are used on ultra high performance sports cars around the world, so I cant really say they are inferior. Carbs are still the only fuel management used in NASCAR, and the preferred device for the NHRA, not to mention millions of muscle cars and million dollar hot rods the world over. FI is great, but its just not how I roll

I think a Turbo exhaust header from a EA82 with some mods to the crossmember would clear your pumpkin, what say ye? Looks like its gonna be fun, Im workin on a straight axle rig myself -Bill

I think it would be fine on a mudd bogger, or a Tuff truck type deal, with the pipes going up higher than the roof of the car, like on those Pull trucks with the boat headers stickin through the hood. thats what we were originally gonna do with the Beast when i got it but i started driving it and decided i didnt want to destroy it like that at a Monster truck rally. For daily driving I wouldnt want to be breathing my exhaust all day. -Bill

I left for lunch after that, but I just checked my mail and nadda. -Bill

Dude, Staters make up some great s**t sometimes. I got pulled over IN A DRIVE THROUGH for having a LIFTED SUBARU. He told me it was illegal. I said that was Bulls**t. I took it to court, and proved him wrong. Jerry(bratsrus1) has had similar negative experiences with some real ************************s in the WSP around our area. For the most part they are cool, but there are a couple that just make me wanna -Bill

I signed up as well, awaiting email confirmation -Bill

Pretty sure that would get WSP on your a$$ in a heartbeat dude, but it would look sweet, I thought about doing something like that on my car but decided i didnt want to deal with the Staters more than I had to. -Bill

That is my dad's, he plans on fixin it up with a built 400 sbc and trickin it out muscle car style. -Bill

This is my most current project, my 1985 DL Turd wagon. Its been in the works for a while, but I never really got anything done until recently. It started as a fairly decent $100 car from Oregon: I pulled the motor and driveshaft, then sold it. A while later, I got it back in trade for lifting a rig. It came back to me with a D/R 5 speed in it. I then proceeded to tear out the original undercarriage: It sat like that for a while until I got a '76 Jimmy off a friend for cheap due to irrepairable rust and plenty of other problems. I am putting the 6 lug axles under the Turd, the wheels will stick out past the fenders but I like that, and it will add some stability to this tall beast. What I have so far: I had to do some serious beating here to make clearance for the T case with out cutting the floor: Im using this Nissan Transfer case: The subframe is now bolted into the car, next will come the suspension work: These came today For now the suspension is going to be Triangulated 4 link with stock springs and about 20" of lift. When I have more cash I plan on upgrading to some nice coilovers, but I need to move this car, I need to make a bunch of lift kits and I need the bay this car is in. I plan on running a carbed EJ motor in it and having some fun until I blow the tranny, then I think Ill try to adapt a Nissan 5 speed to it. I plan on running 33" tires, the axles have well worn 31"s on it now. Anyway just had to share -Bill

I like what Im seeing about 2.2 heads. Anyone got a pair for sale? -Bill

I was reading something about the ITBs on NASIOC a little while back, but that thread turned to poo and never got back on track I thought about that too, but I love the way those Webers look, and parts are very available for them, they are used in race cars all over the world. They are about 360 bucks a piece, but they are brand new -Bill

look at it from a possitive point of view, now you can fix your clutch while the motor is out of the car. You really shouldnt give up on it, keep the car, you will be tempted to work on it after a while, I always am. If something on the Beast breaks I let it sit for months before i finally fix it, but im always glad I did. -Bill

was there smoke coming out the exhaust when you shut it off? If there is no coolant in the block and no coolant in the radiator, and none in the oil and not all of it is on the floor, then it had to have been burning it. Or it could still be in the block. Drain the block and see how much coolant comes out. That is terrible, youve had too many problems with that car since it came to you, but you shouldnt give up on it. Even if you did something wrong doing the HG thats ok, everyone makes mistakes, I know Ive made my fair share. If the motor is blown we both know there are a lot of people here who are more than willing to help you get lil Blue back on the road. Dont give up on that car Connie, you know you would regret it if you let it go, and they arent all that common over here but they are about 10x rarer over where you are, and i would hate to see it go to someone who doesnt have the passion to care for it like you do, that car is beautiful because of the work you put into it. And when its all said and done, you will be glad you kept it and went through all the BS to get it restored like it should be. Ive thought of scrapping the Beast multiple times, namely every time I had to swap a motor into it, it's on its 4th engine now, and I still need to replace all the axles and bearings again. It has left me high and dry many a time, but I still love it, and there is no way I could stand to see someone else fondling my baby. Hopefully I was able to drudge up a little inspiration for ya -Bill

That is something Ill have to look at. Are the coolant passages the same? What are the differences between the 2.2 and 2.5 heads anyways? -Bill

that looks familiar... (enter Jaws theme music) Where have i seen that before..... OH GOD!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! :banana: -Bill

Well, the only reason im concerned with its mileage right now is cuz it has relatively no power. With the power of the Ej, Im not going to be so concerned, that and I will have another EA82 wagon by then for mileage. I am a carb guy, always have been, always will be. I dont like sensors, I like mechanics. And the thought of 2 carbs with 4 chrome velocity stacks shoving up through the hood of a Subaru is just pure hotness to me For future reference to responders in this thread, I do not want to go FI. Period. Please dont try to change my mind, it wont happen. Now its time to check out that link -Bill

Hey yall, Heres what I got goin in my head. I have a EJ25 from a 97 Outback. I want to put it in my 88 RX. I have an adapter plate, installing it I pretty much have that part down. What I want to do though, is run it with twin Weber IDE carbs on a custom split manifold, with some aggressive Delta cams. I will look at it more tomorrow, but how does the spark get triggered on these cars? I know that on EJ22s and such you can mount a Escort disty on the cam but is it the same on the 2.5? If not, how might I go about fooling the ECU into running the coil spark like normal without any of the fuel management equipment hooked up? Second though, 2.5s are interference, I know, but what exactly is interfering? Is it because it has more stroke than a 2.2 or the vlves open more or the deck height is less?? Is there any combination of EJ parts that can be mixed together to make it non-interference? Im not really concerned about it being interference or not, just curious. I got a great deal (read: Smokin hot deal!!!) on this so Im not gonna toss it in favor of an EJ22 just yet, Id like to have some fun for a while. Im gonna do all the belt/pulleys/seals and such before installing it for good measure, im unsure of the mileage and aware of the head gasket problems, but it doesnt seem to leak right now. I just want to get all my facts and info straight before I tear down my nice 27mpg daily driver so it wont be down for very long. The Beast is cool, but 17 mpg kinda sucks lol. Thanks for your help guys. -Bill

another option is somethin GD did a write up on, making hybrid axles with EA82 cups and EA81 shafts, cuz the EA82 units have more travel in them. -Bill

yeah, I cant see them either.

Well, at a grand total of about 157 bucks, the price seems right, but will it be worth the time to you? -Bill

it transformed into a red x?