Tycho

600 lb curb weight advantage in a Loyale/GL wagon vs a Legacy/Impreza? At least? Gonna end up with better economy and performance. Curb weight is the most important factor for all aspects of performance (acceleration, braking, handling). Anything over 2800 lbs or so is just disgusting to drive.

Yeah...once I sorted the issues with the oil passages and did a re-seal for kicks, I picked up a new sending unit. Now it reads 35 PSI hot idle and anything over 2500 RPM or so puts the needle in the 60+ range. I could run 3 soobs with that much oil pressure!

No TOD...not with 60+ PSI of oil pressure the whole time That sound at 4000 RPM+ is just the ehxaust/vibrating stickshift.

Once again the ice track is in full effect. Unfortunately it snowed last night so that made for very slow lap times today, but it was still good fun. Approximate map of this year's track Video of one lap of the track I do the long sweeper after the start/finish area twice in the vid...once at the beginning and once at the end (with much better control the second time). Video of me dicking around in the start/finish oval trying to fine tune my powerslide The snow hurts traction and robs a lot of power. When it's "dry" you can brake really late for some of the turns and stay in the throttle long enough to swing the needle to the better side of 70 on several of the straights. Don't think I exceeded 65 today.

Huh...I didn't know about the "shift up" light. Is that active on the GLs/RXs? Never seen it come on in my Loyale.

Cusco and Kaaz manufacture aftermarket clutch type LSDs. Quaife, Torsen, and OBX (ugh) manufacture gear type ATB differentials. Everybody but torsen makes front diffs for the aforementioned EA/EJ cars. I'll say that gear type LSDs in a front drive application are heavenly. I have a Quafe in my front driver and the operation is completely transparent. You'd think it was an open diff till you put the hammer down at which point it immediately redistributes power appropriately.

Haha. The Saturn 1.9L twin cam is a complete turd. For that lump to cause any aftermarket part to fail, the part would REALLY have to suck. Enter the phantom grip. It took 25,000 miles for the whole shebang to fail there. Along the way the synchros got so full of metal flakes that they quit biting. That's gotta be something you want as a subaru driver (considering how poorly the synchros work in general to begin with). If you want the measurement of just how LSD like the PG is...I measured between 10 and 15 lb-ft of breakaway torque between wheels...and less than 5 lb-ft of constant torque between them. This is with the green "race only" springs. I originally had the red springs and they literally did nothing. The golds are halfway between red and green in terms of pressure (lbs/in). Five pound feet. Put some 140 weight oil in the transmission and you'd probably get more than that! The Quaife is heavenly btw.

http://homepage.mac.com/dgiessel/.Pictures/car/phantom_grip/index.html

Vote number 2 for the SDS system. It is WONDERFUL. Now...ANY standalone should be fully tunable for any combination (that's what they do)...so a feature limitation here or there rarely makes or breaks a tune. Any system from Haltech, Racetech (SDS), Electromotive, MoTeC, Link, Wolf, AEM...load them up with the same fuel and ignition maps and they will all behave identically (within a small percentage perhaps). Keep that in mind when selecting an EMS. The SDS is simple and inexpensive. That puts it leagues ahead of most competing systems from square one. What are the limitations? There were none worth noting for my application, so making the purchase was a no brainer. I've actually purchased, installed, and tuned this system on a real engine that ran in a real car (I know there's a LOT of heresay about standalones on the net because it was virtually impossible for me to get the straight dope on any of them). You can make it work on anything with port fuel injection and the tuning window is literally infinite. I even tuned a set of individual throttle bodies to work in a VERY streetable fashion (cold start, idle, part throttle, and of course WOT). Tuning ITBs is the litmus test for engine management systems in my opinion. I was getting 35 MPG highway and 27 city with that combination (1.9L FWD 4 cyl dyno'd at 140 WHP...stock is a tad over 100). I set it to lean burn with high ignition advance then sweep through stoich smoothly on the way to 12.8:1 AFR at WOT. Seamless and responsive at any RPM and any throttle position.

Indeed...Nippon rings are killer. Most "in the know" honda and toyota builders use them in their 150 HP/L (or more) NA builds.

Penetrating oil and a few whacks with a 4x4. Apply the oil in the bolt holes and around the wheel center. Just did that last night (works every time with minimal fuss). Silicon grease on the hub/wheel surface prevents it from seizing as bad in the future.

What are your plans for the chassis?

Cam journals, lobes, the rocker pads, and the lifters themselves all looked fine. Low spring pressures + wide lobes / large journals was the saving grace there I'd say. These engines really are over engineered in many ways. As a note...there was no sealant sucked up. That's ALL o ring.

Some good technical information and good products. http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html

Beck/Arnley rings at Rock Auto are 46.79/set Sealed Power rings are 81.79 there also. http://www.rockauto.com/ I think I went serious low ball and used the Beck/Arnley rings in my current engine. With a fresh hone and a 2000 mile break in with non synth oil there's no leakdown at all and the rings have survived their fair share of knock when I was playing with timing and different fuels (12,000 total on the engine).

I'd never seen it before. Substituting the wrong o ring + too much cam case sealant = ... (click the pic to see more pics) Pulled that criznap out, cleaned things up, cranked it ... poof ... (enjoy the) silence.

I put Mobil 1 75-90 in my 5 sp single range transaxle and rear diff a couple weeks ago and the car is just heavenly to drive now. Much quieter, much smoother, better milage, more power to the ground, and better shifting (still grinds if you force it...but being reasonable with the stick prevents any grinding at all).

Indeed, ol mickey wasn't looking so hot when I did my rebuild last year (looked the same as that one)...so I thought my woes were over! Sadly no. From my conversations with the guys who fix these things all the time, the tick is usually fixed w/ a new mickey or a new oil pump (the front seal on the shaft can leak air into the oil if it's on the outs). In my case I just had multiple causes (only one cause now). Since you say you have 45 PSI on the highway with a warm engine, I'd bet that you don't have any problems in the oil pump area. Keep the oil clean and maybe try a wider range oil (thinner when cold, the same or thicker when hot) to assist pump up on cold start (I've found the 0-40 gives me better pressure everywhere than 5-30 or 10-30). Super clean oil is key for any HLA car. There's a check valve in the HLA that consists of a spring loaded ball bearing that sits in a socket of sorts. Any particulate contamination in the oil will prevent the bearing from seating and "sealing" the lifter oil chamber. This obviously leads to uncontrolled bleed down which manifests itself as TAP TAP TAP TAP. Saturn tappet type HLAs have "chronic" failure in cars that don't get regular oil changes. The ATF/seafoam thing combined with a return to proper oil change intervals often "cures" these engines also.

If you have chronically low oil pressure, there's really nothing that can be done for the TOD. I had low oil pressure with a warm engine (fine at cold start) on a fresh rebuild (re-used the old bottom end bearings as they were all had .0015" to .0017" oil clearance...BIG MISTAKE). Not wanting to split the crank case, I've done the following: Pulled all 8 lifters and cleaned them (full disassembly/gasoline soak/reassembly) Replaced all 4 lifters in the noisy passanger side bank with some low milage units Re-sealed the oil pump Replaced the oil pump with a new unit (after re-sealing the old unit did nothing as the gasket was fine) Checked and re-checked the O ring on the cam box (put a new one in each time) Heavier oils Lighter oils etc etc etc. It's gotten much better (new oil pump and some 0-40 mobil 1 keep the lifters happy unless I really beat on the motor) but I still have one lifter that lets go when I bring the engine temp up with heavy load. This lifter is not bad, it's just at the very end of the oil path and subsequently gets the least pressure. I think the "one noisy lifter means one bad lifter" thing is a common misdiagnosis based on my own personal experience. Some lifters see less oil pressure than others based on their physical location in the engine...especially if oil pressure is low to begin with. There's no doubt a number of causes of the TOD and several solutions, but the only permanent one in my case is going to be a fresh set of bottom end bearings with a nice moly disulfide coating on them and .0010" or less oil clearance on the mains and rods. When there's an intrinsic oil pressure problem none of the "tricks" will fix the TOD. As a side note, I'd rather set lash every 30,000 miles than enjoy the "convenience" of HLAs... I've never had a 4age tappet go flat...

Look better? How does one improve on perfection? Look at it this way...it COULD have a tribeca grille... Oops... "B9 Tribeca" I don't think a grille would distract anyone from the massive fender rust or very stylish rust outline all the way around the windshield...or the dents all over. The fog lights are the center most ones. They don't do a damn thing as far as lighting...but they look kinda cool.

Ok. Now it's done. http://homepage.mac.com/dgiessel/.Pictures/misc/svx_lights2/index.html Got 4 HIR bulbs on the way that should brighten things up further. Wired the fogs so they are on w/ the marker lights (tho they emit such a pathetic amount of light they might as well be off)...dunno if I'm going to wire the lows so they stay on when the high beams are on. I think the HIR bulbs will make that rather worthless as the high beams will really be kicking rump roast then (even now wiht a regular 9005 bulb you can't tell if the lows are off or on when the highs are on). The verdict...even w/ the "normal" 9005 high bulb the lights destroy my water filled foggy as hell glass units.

As long as the strut mount points and control arm mount points are in the same relative positions the handling will not suffer. There are some REALLY NICE looking GL wagons around Fairbanks...I'm looking to snack one up for myself as a daily driver (or a 92-94 EJ22T Legacy) and either give my wagon to my dad for commuting or put my EG33 in it (and take it off the street). Point being...getting a new chassis with no rust and perfect alignment is a no brainer (for me anyway) as far as these cars are concerned. They're not terribly expensive...

For sure! Looks friggen sweet. Details on the car?

I like my loyale I've yet to "miss" the D/R in my driving exploits (usually mining roads and ice tracks...and daily driving of course). Even with the rather large rally tires on, the stock 5sp ratios were more than adequate. If you get the output up above 100 HP (I shaved my heads and did some work in the valve seat/short turn area in addition to the standard tune up items) I don't think it's as "neccesary." The SPFI starts great in the winter and has decent throttle repsonse and good milage. The lack of an LSD is a downer...MUCH more so than the lack of D/R. Push button 4wd is great for driving around town and winter driving too...you can almost get 2wd milage with the benefit of 4wd starting and stopping if you use the button liberally. I've never been much for gadgetry however. The two other cars I own that came with A/C and P/S have had it removed! Haven't yanked the Loyale's P/S yet tho...

Thanks for the tip on the bulbs! My EA-82 lights weren't doing so hot. There were multiple holes in the housing, the internal reflector thing was broken out of one and nearly broken out of the other. I've had a positive experience with plastic housings on my Saturn...so we'll see how these SVX units do. And I mean...they were just lying around in "the SVX." Free is free.