El Presidente

Bump Who else wants to go wheelin? November 29th Meet at Joann fabric parking lot 9am Conditions should be a lot of fun! Josh

Broken front axle or stripped splines in one of the hubs Josh

X2, find another shop. You can take at least .060" off from minimum stock spec. and still be strong enough for an airplane engine running 14:1 compression. Josh

29th works great for me! Josh

I've got a 1/2" thick piece of glass you can borrow if you want to fix the HG issue. It works well and allows you to start and finish a HG job in an afternoon Josh

I was gonna post a trip today or tomorrow..lol. Hows the 22nd work for you? Josh

Yes Uberoo, it was a sign: Use the rug as an adapter plate. Josh

Throw those hubs away and start over. To keep the 14mm from wandering, use a small pilot bit first then drill out the 14mm and make sure your using chisel point bits and not bits ground for wood. If you see the bit wandering, just stop and figure out why because it won't fix itself. Wandering when you first start is usually from a bad center mark or too much feed pressure, even on a drill press. If you do it right, you really don't even need a drill press. Did you use a center punch to get exact center? Josh

Sounds good! Josh

I really want to get out on the trails soon too. This weekend is no good for me, but I'm up for a run in the next few weeks. Josh

Are you planning on honing the cylinders and reusing your old rings? Josh

This is looking like its gonna be an awesome build! I love seeing more chopped subarus! Josh

lol..yeah I imagine a M2 would be a little too heavy for this car, but a M60 could possibly work. I suppose I'd pass on the pintle mount though and fab up an open turret for it to be mounted in..lol.. Yes, I'll get aux. lighting at some point, but I've got a lot to do before that. Josh

Thanks! Yeah, for a few years I used to make custom metal display cases, signs, gates and anything else of the sort for a small custom fab shop. It was a really fun job, but not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I've got pieces in stores all over Seattle, but theres a ton at the Pike Brewery in Seattle. Josh

This is my last update for now. I was hoping to get his upgrade done before WCSS16, but just didn't have time. I however did get it done a week ago...removable roof hatches! The frame is 2x2x1/8 square tube and the panels use the old stock roof that was cut out. Theres a 3/16 lip that goes all arond each opening and a piece of closed cell weather stripping to keep water and weather out. I kept the latches as simple as possible and they work great. The hinges are simple barrel hinges you get at central welding and they allow me to remove the hatches by opening them, and then pushing them to one side to seperate the hinge. Cruising around with no roof on is great! Goodbye subaru roof drum! I fabed up the frame and hatches before cutting the top off and they dropped right in! Josh

The last thing I was able to get ready before the show was a set of rock sliders/subframe stiffeners. I used 2x2x3/16" square tube for everything and started by welding it directely to the 2x4x1/4" lift blocks. I'm going to connect them together from side to side in the front to stabalize them later and also weld them to a clamp/bolt system in the rear to connect the rear trailing arm crossmember. This should distribute any forces put on the subframe to the furthest points, reducing leverage on the unibody mounts. Heres what I got so far - Josh

As you can see from the last post, I rattle canned it out with a good coat of primer and then a bunch of OD green: No, I'm not trying make it look like anything(military, humvee, whatever..) I just honest to god like the color and and think it looks great on wheelers. Josh

Mornin, After finding a really nice mud hole at walker I realized I needed to address my intake system and get the inlet higher than the stock ea82 location. I'm eventually going to have an exo cage which will also shield the roof snorkel(stay tuned) that goes up the A-pillar, but since I don't have the exo yet, I just did a hood snorkel. I'm not a fan of snorkels that run along the outside of wheelers because I've seen a couple get torn off or crushed. Keeping it inside limited my options on where to come out of the engine bay, but I remember a toyota that came out of the hood, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I cut most of the stock Legacy intake down and used the universal spectre intake tube connectors(silicon rubber with two hose clamps) from Orielly's. The airbox sits right under the hood but it fits and is stable after some help from a little bracket.Going from there, I RTV'd a short piece of 3" ABS in the airbox which went to a 3" toilet flange. I used another toilet flange on top and bolted them together through the mounting plate that comes off the firewall. Then I made an ugly little bracket to hold a cut down metal coffee can to keep rain out. So far so good. Josh

I'll post more later, I just got into some peach pie shine and can't be trusted. Josh

After my EJ upgrade, I really needed a skid pan especially because the oil pan sits 1 1/2" lower than the ea82 pan. So I drafted some machinists prints and got to work I don't have any construction pictures but heres the finish product. All the square tube is 1 1/2"x3/16 and the panels are 14ga mild. It attaches to pretty much everything you can attach to; 3 stock skid holes on the crossmember, the unused swaybar mounts, the front core support, and two 1" bolts through the tie-down points. If this pan ever comes off, I have bigger issues. So far so good, I've had it to walker a couple times now and I have not been easy on it. With the edges welded around the 14ga, it makes it really tough. Josh

BBBBBUUUUUUMMMMPPPPPP!!!!!!!!! I've been working on my rig when I've had time and I was able to get a lot done by taking a week off work before WCSS. The upgrades are starting to pile up since I last posted here, so I thought I'd update. The first mod was a new exhaust system and a cat fix. I'm using an ej18 impreza y-pipem so the cat is attatched to the actual y-pipe by a flange which made adapting really easy. Heres what I came up with- Installed: I used 2" for everything from the y-pipe to the flowmaster 50, then 2 1/2 from there back just for sound. Originally I had the exhaust go straight back like a stock wagon, but with the bobbed back, I got tons of fumes in the cab which got really, really old. I fixed it by dumping it out he side right behind the rear tire. I didn't want to deal with crushed exhaust tips, so I used a piece of 2x4x3/16 box tube as an exhaust tip and welded to the bottom of my sub frame. Now if it hits a rock, it'll survive. I've noticed no difference in bottom end after removing the cat, but my top end goes further now, which is fun on the freeway. I love the sound, thats all I can say....At idle(600rpm) it is dead quiet, no blub, no lub, nothing. From idle to about 2700 it sounds a lot like my old Jeep. It has a resonating growl that just sounds angry. From 2700 to about 4500 it sounds like a tuned honda..ehh...but from there to about 7000ish it reminds me of a dirtbike, like my buddies KTM. Its fun More to come - Josh

You could probably use a coupler and some clamps instead of welding it. Josh

X2 on what Gloyale said. I'm turning 31's with an EJ22 with a XT6 spec ground flywheel and a normal 4wd ea82 gl clutch and I don't have any slippage issues at all. Even turbo'd, I think you'll be fine...my clutch grabs hard! Josh

Your not going to be able to just hook an O2 sensor to led's and expect it to work. Start here: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=air+fuel+monitor+kit http://lmgtfy.com/?q=automotive+wiring+basics Its that easy. Google is your friend Josh

I'm in the market for new tires and I'm thinking of bumping from 31x10.50's to 32x11.50's. I'm running an ea82 body, EJ22 in front of a d/r 5mt, 3.90, with stock drivetrain/axles, 6" lift and 1.25" extended radius rods. I can't imagine it makes THAT much difference, but sometimes the obvious escapes me. From the looks of it, I think they'll fit and not affect turning radius too much. Is it worth it? Josh