1 Lucky Texan

MAN! - I can't quite remeber excatly where I saw them, but I'm pretty sure somoine makes aftermarket brackets. Maybe kartboy or kastle or sdpusa. Try searching the archives here and over at http://www.i-club.com and http://www.nasioc.com

maybe a smaller alt. pulley?

Round up the usual suspects! karboy whiteline etc. Check over at http://www.i-club.com and http://www.nasioc.com

This probably (guessing here) means most of the gas in the system was well away from heads ana cylinders so I doubt you'd have any seriously overheated ares in the engine.(Unless that's the only place coolant crosses over!) But It is still a weird thing. Why wouldn't the gas just stay up there? HEY! That might be a good place to bleed the system in future coolant changes! You may have discovered a solution to coolant refill problems!

Just finished re-reading the thread. At one point you did say you were watching bubbles coming out the O/F tank with the engine running. If it does do this perhaps it is time for a sniff test and/or a cylinder compression test. Um, after the engine is shut off, does coolant get sucked back in from the O/F? I would expect any overhated air in the system would contract quite a bit and pull in some coolant. These are the cycles I would expect are 'normal' for this engine that setright and others refer too. Perhaps there is some restriction or debri sin the overflow tube itself? Or some type of weird oneway leak allowing air to be pulled in instead of coolant? After you changed the thermostat, was everything OK? Did you notice a notably lower postion on the temp needle? Have you ever seen one of the rad hoses collapsed?

I would say you still have trapped air and it very possibly could've been the whole issue. Did you or the dealer recently do a coolant flush or otherwise have a reason to open the coolant system? I have read where some folks will drive the front wheels up on ramps to help 'burp' the system. Or maybe one 'side' to get air to crossover?Or somehow pulling a vacuum may help (though I suspect hoses would collapse before a hard vacuum would form). maybe it would help to also ensure the climate control is set on 'heat' to get flow through the heater core? Sounds like someone should make a crossover pipe with a bleeder in it. you're to be commended for sticking to this and I appreciate you posting back. Sorry it wasn't the rad cap.

I guess you inspected/wiped off the 'lip' in the neck that the cap seals on? The 'lower' one I mean. If there is a gap/erroded place in the lip, it wouldn't seal. Never thought of it before but could be an issue. Perhaps someone here knows if there are many different rad caps in use on soobs - maybe they just stocked them incorrectly or something? good luck.

My old Datsun SRL 311 would just NOT go into reverse reliably so got into the habit of slipping into 2nd before rev. Worked really well. Some datsun mech. told me to try it. I've seen it mentioned here too. Maybe a different/syn. gear oil would help too.

No way to know without a weight figure. IF they are the same design,alloy, manufacturer then the 14" will weigh less. Probably not even 10% difference though.

Some newer inline 4s are tricky to bleed I hear. A mech. told me about a Toyota that has to have about a gallon put in the rad, some poured down the upper hose into the block, then a heater hose removed until coolant starts to run out. My old Civic had a brake-looking type bleeder that you were supposed to loosen til coolant shot up. maybe Subaru needs something like that somewhere (where?).

try eBay for remotes but FCC numbers on the back or something have to match.

I need to 'tattle' on myself. All the talk of headgasket problems here and on other forums sorta had that issue in the forefront of my conciousness when the Dodge Avenger that is my daily driver (hopefully to be replaced early next year by probably an OBS) started 'gurgling' after any lengthy trip. No temp gauge abnormalities, no major coolant loss. Always just 2-3 seconds of gurgling after stopping. I thought - "Geez I do NOT want to fix headgaskets and then sell this thing in a few months" - but after really thinking about the problem I realized I had no other sysmptoms that should be assoc. with a bad HG. No oily reside nor driveability problems no sweet smelling exhaust no white exhaust vapot no choc. 'mousse' on the oil cap/dipstick no bubbles in the radiator itself. So i just stopped by and spent $8 on a rad cap from Autozone and 'Voila!' no more gurgling! This was 2 weeks ago so your very detailed post led me to conclude (accurately we hope) that you have a bad rad cap. The less well/strongly they seal, the more towards 'normal' boiling point the coolant's vapor pressure moves. Probably, a little latent heat(in a head near an exhaust valve matbe?) after shutting the engine off causes a 'geyser-like effect' and after the 'phase change' removes heat from that location all goes back to normal again. Still, I suppose I could've been wrong (shudder!)

I don't think it would be inappropriate to let us know who this dealer was or, in your feedback (which I know has limited space) to just put a link to this thread! Great for the dealer and for the usmb! Anyway, it is good to see that you're happy with your experience, I would've been living on antacids! And I agree the folks on this board are very helpful and supportive. I've learned a lot.

bad radiator cap.

Even though it's low miles doesn't mean it couldn't have a split CV boot slinging grease. Or you may have simply run over/into some material that got onto the exhaust.

I've looked at a few sites selling wheels and weight is hard to locate. I DID find one site where some alloys were in the 15-20 pound range and one manufacturer were down to 11 pounds! I have a lot of questions about wheels; weight to strength to cost wise. I'd imagine an 11 pound wheel would be a bad choice for rallyX but?

Supposedly, mail delivery vehicles can have the curbside tire in the leaves, mud, water, gravel of the gutter so much that slippage there causes the 'streetside' pads to do more work. I think it is normal for the inner pad to wear a little faster than the outer pad on all wheels because of the pistons being in direct contact with that side.

Hey tcspeer, do your left side pads wear like twice the rate of your right side pads?

Chip, how's idle other than leaving from a stop? Legacy 777 has posted good info on the IAC causing similar symptoms IIRC?

Chip, I'm not familiar with the actual failure mode for MAFs and it may be it takes a ling time for them to fail if a little oil gets on them. However, even if alias missed the 9K mile difference doesn't make his tone anything other than neutral. His posts are often very helpful and he defintely does not have a history or reputation for being condescending. His being new to the board, trying to communicate in text only, and perhaps missing a detail in your post doesn't mean he isn't respectful. I hope your MAF is OK - seems like it should be, but it can be a failure mode I suppose seperate from the oiled filter too.

Well if you open up the original post to all engine choices, there is some merit to going with a ground up custom VW style engine. And, you cannot compromise on cooling the soob engine either. You may need to consider weight issues as well. An EJ20t would be cool if the rad can be worked out!

subytub, there is a thread over at http://www.nasioc.com about cams and mods on the 2.2l . Also, maybe http://www.paeco.com can offer some advice. Also, you might search at http://www.i-club.com , http://www.obsportal.com I've been so many places on the web trying to educate myself for the probable purchase next year of an OBS that I'm losing track of where I've been! Also MRT and other places in Oz have complete stroker kits and other stuff for the 2.2l maybe they would respond with an email?

Do you have a link or other info on the cam?

WD-40 is almost all Stoddard solvent (de-oderized kerosene) with a tiny amount of 'proprietary' substance that is commonly believed to be silicone. I don't think it would be the best stuff for the rubber seal application here. If you do use it, shake the can before spraying. Um - guys, when you use the silicone, would you use it normally before or after any car waxing?