iceageg

One benefit you do have Crazyman is that you reside at 5000-6000' elevation. Your engine is starving for more power on its stock internals. You could go with 3-4lbs of boost and have your engine back to just a little more than it would have been at sealevel anyway. The stress on the engine internals should be negligible. Just something to consider if reliability is truely at the top of your list.

Noah is right with his pay to play statement. Even with substantial fabrication skills and know people who can get you the parts you want at a discount you are still looking at four figures to assemble a turbo or supercharger system before you tune it. You can piece this sort of thing together from left over parts at a junk yard and ebay used components but you will never achieve any level of reliability that way. You also mentioned an attraction to the electric drive supercharger so you can shut it off when you don't want it. Keep in mind that when it is shut off your engine will have to suck air through the supercharger and all of its plumbing. It is similar to driving around with a really dirty air filter. You will end up with less power when it is turned off, and more power when it is engaged. Probably a larger issue is you will need to run two tunes for your engine depending on whether it is engaged or not. This will require some sort of piggyback ECU at the very least if not something more exotic like MegaSquirt. In the end if you are dedicated to the idea of a supercharger and reliability you are better off either sticking with an always running electricly powered unit or a traditional belt driven one, either pushing about 3-4lbs of boost. Then spending the $$ to get quality parts so it stays together.

Crazyman, lets back up a bit. How much boost are you looking to dump into your DD? Using a system that is designed similar to our aircraft kits you would still be looking at 25-33% more power and be well within the limits of boost stacking. You would also be looking at a 8HP electric motor instead of something closer to 15 or 20+ to achieve the 14-21lbs of boost that are going to cause problems. Directly to your question, I am not sure a standard BOV will release enough pressure for a supercharger or turbo that is continueing to build boost instead of spooling down. You would almost certainly have to dial back the electric motor when the trottle closed if you wanted to push big boost in this manner. And adding a supercharger will rarely improve your gas mileage. Your foot will just get heavier.

There most certainly is. It varies wildly from model to model. For instance, a traditional roots twin screw supercharger is positive displacement and will build more and more pressure at nearly any rpm if the flow is blocked off. Other twin screw style blowers like whipple units are not positive displacement and do allow for some backpressure. Centrifugal blowers and turbos provide the most flexibility here. The blower that we have sold the most of for aircraft is designed to produce a maximum of 21lbs of boost, but will not "stack" boost if it is operating below 14lbs output which is well beyond what we produce with our aviation kits. Instead of drawing more or constant power during this period of restricted flow, they draw less power to turn it. Have you ever held your hand over the end of a vacume? Listening to the electic motor you can hear it speed up. That is because it isn't flowing any air. In much the same way a boat propeller cavitates if you spin it too fast in the water an air compressor will begin to spin more freely when there isn't enough air to compress. To Crazyman's question, the electric motor would turn the blower at a constant speed creating say, 8lbs of boost. If the throttle was closed, the engine would still be operating under vacume. The 8lbs of boost is essentially waiting behind the butterfly at the trottle to jump in. While the 8lbs of boost is built up between the throttle and the supercharger the compressor is effectivly whipping the air it has into a froth the way a boat propeller does in the water requiring less power to turn it. Open the throttle and you instantly receive boost and create a load on the supercharger as it gobbles up more air to feed your hungry engine. The superchargers and turbos do have a point in their efficiency however where this no longer holds true and they start to build up pressure between the throttle and the compressor. Best case scenario here is one of your duct couplings pops and lets out the excess pressure. Worst case you break mechanical parts and have a new project to rebuild in your spare time.

I don't know that an electrically driven supercharger would be any more or less strain on an AT than an MT. You would certainly have boost more readily availible but would always be getting 100% power draw to keep it going unless you rigged a way to modulate it. You would have to use a centrifugal supercharger and make sure you are within its cavitation limit to avoid boost stacking at partial throttle settings. I wouldn't try this setup on a carburated engine.

I'd be happy to help you out crazyman. I looked into it on the '01 RS I had for a bit. Didin't get far on it before trading it in on a WRX. Shoot me a PM and we'll set it up.

Degrease and pressure was the engine bay and what I could reach of the underside. Located the exhaust leak. Now to locate a new EA81 Y-pipe.

At Forced Aeromotive we bench test every one of our superchargers to ensure they don't draw more than a sustained 8.5 horsepower to produce 4lbs of boost. Most of them spec out between 4.5 and 6.5 horsepower sustained depending on atmospheric conditions and the application. The draw will vary wildly depending on the type of compressor, where it is being operated in relation to its efficient range and the application you are using it for.

You might be able to realize a power gain with something like this attached to the intercooler: http://www.summitracing.com/search/Department/Air-Fuel-Delivery/Section/Air-Fuel-Cooling/Part-Type/CO2-Intercooler-Sprayers/ Problem is unless you had it turned on constantly draining the CO2 and refilling it constantly, you would still have a drop in performance. So it is possible to perhaps get a performance increase, but not for any practical on-road use.

New valve cover gaskets. Also crossed my fingers hoping that is the only leaking spot. Where did I put that power washer???

I replaced the passenger front CV in my 85 last night. I had never done one before but with a decent set of tools it took 1:45 from the time I pulled the car into the garage to the time the garage was cleaned up and I hand washed myself the whole event took 1:45 including the test drive. Most of that was dealing with the ball joint. Just saying this doesn't have to be a weekend project. For my 85 it worked like this. 1) Lock your stearing full in the direction of the offending axle 2) Make sure the roll pin securing the inner joint is at an accessible angle 3) Block back tires 4) Break lugnuts loose 5) Jack up car and place jack stands (safety first) 6) Remove the tire 7) Us hammer and a drift to tap the roll pin out of the inner joint (You will need a fairly long drift for this. If you can at least get it driven in far enough you can use a screw driver or allen wrench to drive it through the rest of the way but a long drift is the way to go) 8) Remove the cotter pin and castle nut washer and bushing from the wheel hub (You need a LARGE socket/wrench to do this. The castle nut is in the neighborhood of 30-35MM. I used a massive crecent wrench so I'm not sure of the exact size) 9) Remove the bolt that secures the lower ball joint 10) Pop the ball joint out of the socket *** See Footnotes *** 11) You should be able to pull the break/knuckle/hub assembly far enough away to slide the inner joint apart and rotate it out of the way 12) Push the outer end of the shaft back through the hub assembly (this may take some persuasion by a hammer with light to medium tapping) 13) Remove the old shaf making note of the route it takes around/between any break lines, wires and suspension parts 14) Tap the role pin part way into the new shaft. If it is already inserted for you make sure it is not all the way into the splines. If it is, tap it back out until it doesn't interfere. 15) You could rub a thin layer of AFT on the outer end splines to lube them up and ease installation of the new axle but it mine didn't need it. 16) Pass the new axle into the general location taking the same route through any break lines, wires and suspension bits making sure your roll pin is in at the correct general angle to align with the hole in the shaft and be accessible to a hammer 17) Pass the outer end into the wheel hub but not all the way to the splines 18) Line up the splines on the inner joint so the roll pin can be driven back through and slide the inner joint into place. 19) Drive the roll pin back through the inner assembly 20) Slide the outer shaft through the hub assembly and put the bushing, washer and castle nut back on just enough to keep the shaft from sliding back out 21) Insert the ball joint back into the socket *** See Footnotes *** 22) Insert and tighten the retainer bolt for the ball joint 23) Tighten the castle nut and secure with cotter pin 24) Put the tire back on and tighten lug nuts 25) Clear out anything you left under the car including the jack stands 26) Lower the car to the floor and torque the lug nuts 27) Time for a test drive without clicking sounds *** Footnotes *** Popping the ball joint out and re-inserting it are the most difficult and irritating steps. It requires a bit of ingenuity, a lot of patience and if all else fails, superhuman strength. Inserting it is just as difficult but requires more finess. For removal I used a tapered drift and tapped it into the ball joint socket to spread it just a tad. I then used a prybar and strength of gorilla to pop it out. If you search for videos you will find a number of techniques using everything from pickle forks to gravity to help. Just be careful not to damage the boot on the ball joint. To get the ball back in I again employed the tapered drift to slightly spread the socket. I also took a moment to gently wire brush the rust off o the ball joint and again put a thin film of ATF on the leading edge of the ball to help lube it into place. Again, be careful not to damage the boot. Since the ball joint is free to flop around the hardes part is getting it lined up with the socket again. I found it helped align the ball and socket when the tires were aligned strait again. Eventually I managed to get them lined up just right by hand and the leading edge slid back into place. With a little gentle tapping it popped right in. Again there are lots of techniques you can find online if this doesn't work In the end the only semi-special tools I needed were a long drift, massive cresent wrench and a good prybar. Everything else was standard socket/ratchet pliers and hammer. It was frustrating at times but it was easily doable in an afternoon during the week.

From newbie to newbie, grats on the subie. Welcome!

I will get some picks posted up soon. She's covered with greasy hand prints right now from swaping out a CV last night and wants a bath before the camera shows up. To recipricate the invite to your shop Shawn, you are welcome to stop by our shop sometime as well. It's not subie stuff but it is still gearhead goodness. We're down at Centennial Airport. Anybody is welcome really. Just call or PM in advance to make sure we are not out on the ramp, picking up parts or something.

New drivers front CV. Hurray for no more clicking!

Welcome! From one newb to another.

Thanks Shawn. I'll try to make time to stop by next time I am up that direction. I'm down near Dry Creek and University but we make it up that way fairly often. There's a good chance I'll be picking your brain fairly often.

Greetings from the rocky mountains. I purchased my most recent Subie last weekend. It's a white 1985 GL 2dr wagon with a 4MT and 2 speed TC. The dash has massive sun damage, driver's seat is in bad shape and she has at the usual spots of the fenders but the floors and frame still look solid and the rest of the interior is near perfect. While she's not a total creampuff everything is there, original except for the rear speakers (the P.O. did a hack job of replacing them) and 100% functional. On the short list I will be replacing one CV this week and getting the Y pipe welded to fix a leak. The valve covers are leaking of course so I have a new set of those on the way as well. On the medium term I am still trying to figure out whether to get the fenders repaired or do something more creative, then sand and paint. Longer term who knows. Me, I grew up in Subaru's and continued to own a variety of them over the years and am happy to be resting my butt in one again. I am a CAD Manager by trade and my father and I have a buisness supercharging aircraft as well. Yes, I have already started checking some of our parts for fitment on the new GL. You know . . . just to overcome the loss of power due to altitude here in Denver . . . that's all. Anyway, glad to be here. I look forward to digging through the archives and getting to know some of you. Cheers, Ian