RavenTBK

Instead of going all custom making wheels or adapters to go 5 lug, why not just go 6 lug and use the nice selection of Toyota rims that are out there? Toy rims can be gotten in 14" and up sizes and various offsets for as little as $50 from the JYs. 6 lugs can easily be had on the Subie 4 lug hub. It'd be a helluva lot cheaper than going one-off. Granted, if I had the money to do it, I'd love to make some custom wheels.. but I fall into the POOR category described above. :-p Just my opinion..

Well, Yahoo came up with this. Altoona is a lil one caution light town, so if you just use the city center as the endpoint, you'll find the spot easy. The official city center is about 1/2 mile south of the station on FL19.. so if you just keep going, you cant miss it. http://maps.yahoo.com/dd_result?ed=xTowJeV.wimQQVd6MsEKU7USFw--&csz=port+st+lucie%2C+fl&country=us&tcsz=altoona%2C+fl&tcountry=us So, outside of my Bronco brothers tagging along cause they cant get any action anywhere else , looks like its just you and me eh?

Well, from the initial response, it looks like two possibly three FSBs. I'm trying to get confirmations tonight and will relay them over when I get them. As for a meeting point, over at FSB, for the last year series of Ocala runs, we've been meeting at the Smokers Express gas station in Altoona at the intersection of SR19 and CR42. Not only gas and smokes, theres a deli there too with some kickass breakfast. From there its only a short hop up to the railroad grade to the power lines to get the day started. Hows that sound?

Is it necessary to replace the other cylinder as well? Will I die like all the manuals say if I dont? personally, i dont think so, but i really dont know a damn thing about anything

Well, the problem is the EZout bottoms out in the bleeder before it can get a grip. There isnt enough for me to grab ahold of, with an EZO, screwdriver, or anything. I would just drill into the bottom of the bleeder to use the small EZout on it, but I dont know how deep I can drill before I'd mess up the cylinder.

Well I finally broke down and decided to track down the cause of the spongy brake pedal in the Brat. I added fluid, and bled 3 corners. When I got to the left rear, I found the source of the spongy pedal. Enough air came out of that line to fill a balloon. Anywho, after I bled it down, I reached up to hand tighten the screw before I wrenched it down. Just as I was snugging it by hand, the top of the screw sheared off into my hand! So either I'm related to Superman, and stripped it by hand, or it was cracked beforehand. I examined the break, and concluded that it had a hairline crack from before, which explains all the air I had to purge from that circuit. I went up to Napa, and purchased an easy-out. No go. I went to Advance and bought a whole set of easy-outs.. so I can try a different size. Still no dice. So now, my options seem to be: a) disassemble the drum, and install a new wheel cylinder pull off the cylinder with the busted screw, and take it to the machine shop to have it removed, then reinstall with new bleeder screw My question is how important is it to replace the wheel cylinders in pairs? I see how all the manuals say to do pairs, but really, will I end up killing myself if I just replace the one? I mean, I've been driving with only one operational circuit for some time now..aint dead yet. Or would it be better to just do option B and call it a day? What yall think?

Thats one of the joys of having a couple big boned individuals come along. You can push your wagon a bit harder and not have to worry about getting back out. Theres two guys over on FSB that are interested in coming.. and even in my original post asking, I made sure to reiterate the fact that the Subarus would be the main star of the ride, and there should be no serious water crossings, but plenty of sand, hillclimbs, and other technical things. I'll have a couple towstraps, a highlift, compressor, and basic handtools. I'll also have my Bronco back from the engine shop hopefully today, so I'll be trailering the Brat down.. so that means if something breaks, we'll have a trailer available to yank the broken vehicle back down into Eustis for parts.

According to one of the locals on FSB, the mondex is in great condition now. Plenty of slick mud that isnt too deep, and not much deep water.

Well, I asked some of my buds on the Bronco board, and they're interested. So if you wanna ride, theres a few of the fullsize boys that would wanna play if you're still interested. Besides, you never know if you'll need something big along to pull you out.

So that we all can expand our minds, please define "very high", and how its "a bad thing" as it relates to the EA engine.

Heh.. fellow roo owners... you mean the like 3 that live here in the southeast? I'd be interested.. I'd probably drive down early so I can pick up a new set of axles from CVO since it would take a week to ship anyways. The last time my Bronco club ran down there in ONF, I planned on bringing the Brat..but I couldnt get out of work.. maybe I can convince a couple of the Bronco locals to tag along. Usually the more the merrier.

Okay.. heres what I did today: I attempted the screwdriver/torch trick.. didnt work. Even with the tip glowing red, it cooled down faster than I could get the screwdriver down to the cock. So, what I ended up doing was pulling the radiator (which was easier than I thought it was) and used a hammer to tap the screwdriver into the brittle plastic piece and turned it out. I then took the radiator up to the local hardware store to search fo bolts. I used an M10x25 size (which ironically has an 11/16 head.. not a metric head) with a 1.50 pitch. Threaded in just like it belonged there. The raised ring that surrounds the hole surrounds the bolt head perfectly.. just like Subaru knew that these things would break, and a bolt would've been the most likely replacement. I couldnt find my teflon tape anywhere.. so, since the radiator is copper, I snugged the bolt down enough to put some pressure on the threads.. enough to keep from leaking, which has worked out perfectly. I left the fans unplugged and ran the temp up above normal on purpose to see if it would drip, which it didnt. If it ever does, by then I would've found the tape somewhere.. I'll wrap it and put it back. Heh... 45 cent bolt fixes what would've been a $5.89 draincock from the parts store.

You could always go to Sears and get a set of these.

My 79 wagon (before the tranny blew) tackled sugar sand with absolutely no problems.. at stock height, even keeping 30psi in the tyres. I just kept it in FWD and the revs up in 1st/2nd till I started to bog down.. at which time a pop into 4wd got me the rest of the way though the obstacle. But being an AWD legacy.. as long as the clutchpacks are in good shape to effectively send power all around, just go easy on the gopedal through the sand, and a lil heavy when you first get in to float over. Also being from Florida, I am intimately acquainted with the "sand" you talk about.

Centerforce makes a Dual Friction setup for the EA series. Last I checked it was under $300. That should provide more than enough holding power for ya. edit Actually.. just rechecked and found it for $239 at DualFriction.com (Centerforce Part #DF504001). 200mm clutch set. And if you dont like the dual friction clutch, the Centerforce II can also be had.. for $185... its part #MST504001. Cheers

Well, since its stripped all to hell, I'm going to pull the radiator tomorrow and knock the lil plastic bugger out with a punch.. well, knock it in and then flush it out. Should I actually search for a replacement drain cock in the Help! sections or will a bolt or somethin thread down into there. I'm more of a lower hose guy when it comes to draining.. so I'll never need the drain hole. What yall think?

Same here.. I just about fell off the bed when I read that.

I thought the drain cock would've been further down.. *shrug* So.. since it was leaking, and now I've obviously FUBARed it.. is there any easy way to replace it or similar sized bolt I can put in its place? Is it actually threaded?

On the radiator, passenger side, below the thermoswitch.. It looked to have a flathead threaded slug in it. I say "looked" as I promptly attacked it with the screwdriver to snug it up when I found it leaking, I found it was made of plastic that was brittle as all hell. So I say it in past tense as its not slotted no more. Anywho.. what the heck is it, and what route should I take to cure the leak that appears to be eminating from this point?

Yeah.. I asked for Subaru stories. I know, its all useless without pics. I wish I had some.. but it was after sundown when I arrived at the pit, a bit after 9p when the ragjoint ripped, and just before 12:30 when I came for it with the towtruck. Unfortunately, my camera was left at home, the batteries on charge to be ready for work later that night. Anywho.. more pics pls!

Two weeks at AutoZone.. that ones a hoot.

Pisses me off, but the night before last, just after sundown, I had the ATV loaded up in the Brat and took my girlfriend out into the national forest to the motocross pits for a ride. She poked around on the quad, and I took the Brat around. I did a couple hillclimbs and off camber crap, and decided one more climb then I'd call it a night and ride with the gf some more. Went up the hill without incident, but the backside was a bit steeper than it looked with the headlights.. about halfway down the right side dropped into a wash which caused the left wheel to hang and spin the steering to the left. Applying counter force to the wheel and continuing to slide down I felt a RRRIP. Damn ragjoint ripped in half. Damn steering wheel spun as freely as that one at the top of the McDonalds playground does. There I was, on the backside of a hill, front end dropped in a wash, left rear hiked up higher in the air than I've ever had it before, and no replacement (its been on order with the dealer for a week). I attempted to get out to flag my gf down, but without my counterweight, the Brat wanted to roll over and lean up against the wall of the wash. Long story short, after three hours and two hands worth of skinned knuckles, I was about to give up as I couldnt get the wheels straight enough to coast the rest of the way down the hill. Then I remembered I had a snatch rope at the house. I used my mom's S-10 pickup to pull on the snatch rope that I hooked into the hole on one of the wheels to straighten the front end enough to roll about 3 ft down. I rolled a lil bit, then rehooked the rope, rolled some more.. about an hour later I get off the hill. Pretty much, I was stuck on the backside of a hill, on a trail barely wide enough for an ATV with no steering control whatsoever. To make things worse, after I got it down the hill, I went into work to grab my towtruck. I arrived back at the pit with the towtruck, but attempting to back to it proved hopeless, as I ended up sinking in the sand and getting my damned towtruck stuck! Fortunately since it was around midnight on Friday night, there were the usual batch of drunken rednecks sitting around a bonfire on the far side of the pits. I managed to find one that was sober enough to still stand, and he gave me enough of a tug to unstick the towtruck, afterwhich I just got on the gopedal like it was goin out of style. Got through the sand, picked up the Ru, and gunned it to hell to get back out onto the hardpack. So, to make me feel better while I wait for my OEM ragjoint to arrive Wednesday-ish, where is the strangest place you've been stuck in your Roo?

This is something I came up with a couple years ago with my Datsun Z cars.. no reason why it couldnt be applied to the Subie too. "Skip81ZX" was my id back then. http://www.zcar.com/forums/read.php?f=1&i=206115&t=205892

Exactly.

Kelly Subauru/Suzuki in Tallahassee is my local dealer. I've been able to stay away from them for the most part.. but when I've had to go with them for parts I get to deal with some of the dumbest individuals the good Lord has ever created. "You're lying to me. Subaru didnt import cars to the US before the 90 Loyale." I had to bring the guy outside to look under the hood. No matter what I said, he didnt believe I had a 79 GL Wagon. I drove up in Bushbrat the other day to order a ragjoint that none of the parts stores carry.. "Wow.. whats that? Thats a Subaru right?" Naaahh.. its a Buick. I just drove up to the parts desk to borrow a cup of sugar for the cake I'm baking. Least the ragjoint was only $32.. a little pricey, but not extreme. My dealer is pretty much worthless.. it makes me feel good to know I'm not missing out on much. heh