Cyfun

They want $30 to rent it? In my experience at O'Reillys, that's just a deposit, and when you bring the thing back, you get the money back. But I can see how you'd still needa buy fluid. I'm honestly surprised you hadn't smashed your exhaust sooner. One mod I've been planning on is using a wrx turbo exhaust manifold that goes up between the engine and firewall, but instead of mounting a turbo, just piping it straight up out of the hood.

I avoid Vatozone like the plague, as they seem the least competent of the parts jockeys. Oreillys tends to have a better selection of loaner tools, and I know for a fact they have those headgasket testers. Otherwise, you can always buy the kit, it's like $30 online.

You might also just flush the spoob out of the system. I've had good luck with water and wood bleach. But that head gasket tester would be the place to start.

I just looked up parts for various models on the O'Reilly Auto website. They give lots of detailed specs. Uberoo is probably right, though, an aluminum racing radiator is a good bet, and they're often about the same price as stock. A little googling found a thread on this exact subject: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/110-gen-2-2000-2004/111962-h-6-radiator-upgrade-will-legacy-radiator-fit-outback-both-02-04-a-5.html I honestly still think there's another reason you keep heating up, though. Either the t-stat is stuck or you've got a leak somewhere. Might also check out WRX radiators. You'd think a turbo car would offer substantial cooling.

Stock 99 Outie radiator is supposedly about 26.5 inch wide by 14.5 inch tall and only 5/8 inch thick. Whereas the H6 radiator is about 27.5 inches wide by 13.75 inches tall and is 1 inch thick. That's 240 cubic inches vs 378 cubic inches of volume. However, I think the inlet hose size is slightly smaller on the H6 one. Might have to experiment with hoses, too. I don't recall if your car is a stick or auto, but if it's an auto, you may consider unhooking the rad's trans cooler lines and running them through a completely separate trans cooler.

I wonder if an H6 radiator would fit...

Another thing common to offroading soobies is that the radiators tend to easily get clogged with mud and dust. I had some overheating issues for a while until I spent an hour hosing out the fins from both sides.

That's what I love about Harbor Freight: it may be cheap crap, but if you weld a few reinforcements on something, it'd be indestructible. And it helps that they sell a $90 welder. Are the fans 2 speed? I thought there were just two fans, and one would kick on with a thermal switch, and the other kicked on with the AC. Guess it'd be easy enough to tell by looking at how many wires are going to each fan. Although some cars have the speed limiting resistor somewhere up the line. Like I said, nothing beats just connecting a fan directly to the battery and seeing if it goes faster. I was serious about cutting holes in your hood, too. Dunno how much you're in love with your bodywork, but aside from a few vent holes, some might help your car to go faster.

You might double check the stock fan's wiring and make sure they're getting all the juice they should. I know Subarus are notorious for the headlights becoming dim due to poorly designed headlight wiring. Nothing beats just hotwiring your fan directly to the battery and seeing if it performs any better. I've heard nothing but bad things about the cheap ebay radiator fans. Actually put an aluminum racing radiator on an old Buick I had cause it was cheaper than a factory replacement radiator, and it came with electric fans. So I deleted the water pump fan and installed those fuckers. Damn thing kept overheating. Thought it was an engine issue since the 455's tend to run hot, and I replaced the rad immediately after getting the car. So I eventually sold the thing. But a few months after doing so, was talking to a guy at a radiator shop who said the electric ebay fans suck (no pun intended) and only put out like 500cfm, whereas a water pump driven fan is like 4000cfm. Makes me wish I'd kept the car, put the factory fan back on, and put the electric fans on front as pushers. You can find decent electric fans, though. Just gotta do good research. And to be honest, even a couple shitty ebay fans would probably be a small improvement since you still have your stock fan. But I've heard a lot of people like to track down OEM electric fans as they tend to pump out resonable CFM. They said to track down Thunderbirds and Tauruses, I believe, as they have this bigass single fan with a dual stage motor. Dunno if it'd fit your radiator or behind that honkin bumper, though. If nothing else, you might sawzall some vents in the back of your hood.

Might not hurt to put a couple pusher fans on the front. You just running the stock fan right now?

A Harbor Freight product broke? What're the odds?

Exactly this. Hell, doesn't even have to be anything serious. Two flat tires will do the trick nicely. Or more common with our cars, CVs will esplode, or radius rods will get bent. Not to mention that if you drive or flat-tow your offroad rig somewhere, you're putting that much more wear and tear on your tires, wheel bearings, axles, diff, and so forth. And it's not so bad with our cars, but a set of tires on a lifted offroad rig can cost more than a whole trailer, which is why many folks who own such vehicles avoid driving them on pavement more than necessary. Plus, trailering makes it easier to get away with welding your diff.

Yeah, there are pro's and con's to investing in a trailer. But when doing any sort of offroading, there is an extremely high likelihood that you'll break something. So if the cost of just three tows is the price of a trailer, which you can always sell and get your money back out of, it's a decent investment, if only for the peace of mind. I went without having a trailer til just last summer. But even though I will only use it maybe five times a year, it's sure handy to be able to just throw a car on it and go. Plus... trailer brakes are nice, especially when your tow vehicle throws a fan belt and you lose both power brakes and steering. Ask me how I know, lol. It could definitely have been the radiator cap. But have you done a compression test recently? If not, you can borrow the tester kit from most auto parts stores, or pick one up for $20 at Harbor Freight. But even if you have good compression, you could still have a leak. There's another method where you remove your rad cap and stick this thingy full of fluid in its place. If the fluid changes color, you have compression leaking into your cooling system. Pretty sure they also loan those out at auto parts stores. And if it turns out your engine is tired, it's a great excuse to swap in a 3.0 H6. When you said 47 miles, I thought that was the length of each lap. Even the Nurburgring isn't that long, lol, dunno what I was thinking.

That's a pretty sweet story, especially with you losing a goddamn wheel, fuxing up your hub, and happening to have the spare parts to get back on the road. I would have thought that your brake disc would be fucked for sure. Pretty ballsy not using a full car-hauler for any offroad activity in general. Next time, might be worth at least getting a u-haul, but I would think you could find a friend who would let you borrow one. Otherwise, might be worth investing in a trailer yourself. If you keep an eye out, can pick up a 16 footer for as low as $1500. At that price, you can always sell it for what you put into it. In fact, I have one I'd sell you for $1500, as it's kind of light weight and not good for hauling anything beyond snow mobiles or Japanese cars. I'm surprised you don't have some sort of skid plate that extends past your bellhousing. Perhaps that would be the best solution. As for your overheating, are you 100% positive it's a cooling system issue and not a headgasket issue? In any case, sounds like a badass course. I'm honestly curious how many people ran out of fuel halfway through.

Only if there's a broken bridge in front of them.

Very nice. My first vehicle was a rusted out '64 Chevy half ton I got from a neighbor for $200. Shocks were pretty much dead, and we put tall passenger car tires on it that we salvaged out of the trash. Damn thing rode like a Cadillac. At my college, they had those sharp little speed bumps. I could fly at them doing 45 and barely feel it. Suppose it also helped that it had a cushy 10 inch thick bench seat. God I miss that truck.

I can only imagine how beautifully it rides around town now. Have you tried hitting speed bumps at 60mph?

As for sun visors, I have a similar problem, this is what I use:

In my experience with German cars, they mind be slightly more expensive, but you save money in the long-run because they're more reliable. They're basically like Japanese cars, cept slightly more overbuilt, but sometimes more complicated, which is where people tend to run into problems: more features mean there's more to potentially go wrong. And there are plenty of specific models and engines to stay away from. The VW 1.8 turbo, for example. They're decent engines, but a pain to work on, especially if the turbo needs work. That's why you can find 15 year old Golfs, Passats, and Audi A4s for $1500: that's their book value because they're kind of money pits. The nonturbo engines aren't too bad, though. The 2.8 and 3.0 V6's are amazing. You just need to maintain them regularly and properly. Whereas with a Japanese car, you can abuse them a bit more, stretch out a few oil changes and timing belt service intervals. What sold me on Audis, though, is their performance in the snow. Modern Subarus have a reactionary all-wheel drive. They wait until AFTER your front wheels start slipping, and then only send 30% of the power to the back. Whereas Audis with their Torsen and Haldex diffs, they put the power exactly where it needs to go. The next time the weather turns to spoob, go find a Quattro to test drive and you'll see what I mean. Besides that, they're wicked comfortable and easy to drive. One advantage for a tall motherfucker like me is that the steering wheel both tilts and telescopes, so I can find a comfortable steering position without feeling like I'm in a sardine can. And the heated seats will roast your rump roast, even in below zero temps. But what really spoils me is the automatic climate control. Being able to just punch in a temperature and never have to fiddle with the HVAC controls again really spoils you. Which brings me to another thing I like about German cars: the sort of people that own them tend to maintain them really well, and not abuse them. Doctors, lawyers, and such. Plus, when they sell them, they don't try to get every damn penny back out. Which is also why I love BMWs. But they absolutely suck in the snow. Hell, the reason I got my GLW is cause one winter it took me 2 hours to make the last couple blocks home in my 525i. As for the Sooby 2.5 headgaskets, where I live, it's common for cars to make it 200k, and some even 300k. I've known a few people with Outbacks who pushed them that far, but are on their second or third headgasket. But as I tell all my friends who consider buying an Outback: Get an early 1990s Legacy with the phase 1 EJ22. And if you want something nicer with more power, find an Audi A6. Jeeps and Soobys really are apples and oranges. Those fuckers do indeed suck doing any more than 10mph. They're only good for rock crawling and really technical spoob. But of course everybody swears by them, and sinks $20k into their rock buggy that sees maybe 20 hours of use per year. My GLW could keep up okay, was great on trails, and AMAZING in muddy ruts, but sure did suck when one wheel lifted. I really just wanna see how an Audi would compare to a Sooby or a Jeep in a true offroad situation.

Outbacks don't have low-range, either. And depending on the model and engine, they're actually cheaper than VWs. I'm a big fan of the 2.8 liter V6. It has 200hp, no fucky turbos, and is surprisingly easy to work on. Plus, they get about 27mpg highway, which is comparable to an OBW. What it boils down to, though, is that all the affordable Outbacks in my area are from the generation where headgasket issues were inevitable. There are almost no newer Outbacks for sale, but the ones that are start around $6000. Whereas my 2000 A6 quattro wagon, with 150k miles, climate control, moon roof, headlight washers, Bose factory stereo, heated seats front and back, power locks, and power windows that will automatically go up or down with a brief button press, and all the other nifty features, was only $2300. And these cars are often seen with well over 250k miles. So when you compare apples to apples, having headgaskets done on an Outback every 100k miles is more expensive than timing belts on an Audi. And if you yourself are mechanically inclined, you can do a lot of the labor yourself, as there are tons of guides and videos online for Audis. Yeah, the torsen diffs do require some resistance, and if you articulate too far, it will just spin. However, this can be somewhat resolved by a simple tap of the brake pedal. Also, one of the points of installing long-travel suspension is to improve articulation. But considering these cars have a pretty nifty ABS and traction control system, the traction control might take care of that for me. And if not, these ECUs can often be modded to do such things. However, I'm like OP, and wanting to build a car more for medium speed offroading and rallying, so the lack of low-range and articulation isn't an issue. I mainly wanna be able to catch a little air, and hit big ruts at 50mph. Besides, a 300 horse V8 helps make up for lack of low-range. If I do end up making this car, imma definitely go follow the local Jeep club sometime, just to see for how long I can keep up.

I don't yet have an allroad, and as luck would have it, managed to sell my A6 wagon two days ago after having it up for sale for 4 months, lol. The stock allroad airbags shocks are apparently very prone to going out, and if one goes out, you have to replace the pair, which is about $1500. A lot of people just slap on some non-adjustable shocks, which are still about $150 each. In any case, you can occasionally find allroads around for sale with blown airbags for under $2000. They usually have the 2.7 liter turbo, which has 250bhp, but some have the 4.2 liter v8, which puts down 300bhp. And of course they all have Torsen differentials, which use worm gears for spider gears to send power to the wheel with the most traction without having to rely on reactionary traction control systems. The Audis from the late 80s and early 90s often came with factory locking diffs, too, so it might be possible to slap one of those on. In any case, I'm very curious to see how they do in extreme offroad conditions.

Considering they're factory designed to have adjustable ride height while maintaining proper wheel alignment, seems like they'd be great candidates for some long-travel shocks. Here's a pic of the front control arm. As you can see, the strut is more like a big coilover shock, as it just pivots on the lower control arm and has no say in the car's alignment. And here are the upper ball joints:

You could apply the same suspension mod technique to an Audi allroad, couldn't you? The damn allroads have this adjustable air suspenion that is expensive to replace when it goes out, so you can find the damn things for $1500 in good running condition. I'm eyeing a 4.2 liter V8 allroad currently that puts down 300 horsies.

After much experimentation, I've found that supposedly better quality parts aren't necessarily more reliable. So what I consider is how hard a part is to replace. If it's something that's a bitch to get to, like a clutch or oil pump or timing belt, I'll try and get something of better quality that might not have a great warranty. But if it's something like an alternator, I'll go for reasonably good quality with the best warranty, and is available at a local retail store. For example: I run a 2 inch lift on my GLW, which puts my CVs at a pretty steep angle. I could get some really nice EMPI axles, but they only have a 1 year warranty, and take a good week to get shipped to me. So I go with the Oreilly's ones with the lifetime warranty, and just swap them out every year. The other nice thing about having a lifetime warranty is that you can keep it as a spare part in your trunk. And if you install it 5 years later and it immediately breaks, you're covered.

When it comes to spoob like Alternators, I usually go with an Ultima at Oreillys. They're usually around $100, and probably made in China like everything else. But they have a lifetime warranty and Oreillys has stores everywhere, so not if, but when it takes a spoob, they will replace it without batting an eye. As I have a bad habit of driving through deep water, I've already fried a couple, and that warranty has paid for itself.