The "BUMBLE BEAST"

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

I change the Motor Oil on my "BumbleBeast" every 3,000 Miles or three months (Whatever happens first), but once per year, prior to remove the old oil, I drive it 'till it reaches normal operating temperatures, then, once the subie is parked at the mere spot where I will do the Oil Change, I shut off the engine and Pour a can of Engine Flush to the old oil, then restart the engine and letting it to Idle for ten Minutes; finally I shut it off again and inmediately I proceed to remove the old oil & filter, while it still is Hot... you won't believe how much dirt comes out... lots of crud and it looks like having different colours ... ...

I've been using "Motul" 20W~50 Motor Oil, ideal for the Caribbean Climates... in fact, the EA82 has been working since its first oil change with that oil number without any problems, 300K miles so far and still Running Strong.

After that Motor Flush treatment, is the only time per year that I'll add an oil additive to the freshly poured oil: a Can of Hydraulic Lifters' additive    

 

 

 

 

I did a Writeup with useful Information about Motor Oils, It has explanations for common terms for easy understanding; Also it has a downloadable .pdf file at the bottom, which has the results of different motor oils' tested against bare metal, and photos of the results; which are very interesting.
 

The Writeup is, ~► Here.

Kind Regards.

► Edited to fix the Web Link, due to the new USMB's system.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

I was working that Engine's oil Change on my Subaru BumbleBeast,

 

and Suddenly I have an unexpected Visit:

 

This Beautiful Butterfly with the Same Colours than my BumbleBeast, was flyin' around

... ...

I was Able to take this Photo on my Garage's sidewall.

Kind Regards.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[TheLoyale]

Now that is cool! Pretty fitting visitor I say :cool:

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Yes, you're Right! ... ... Thank you.

Something similar happened with my Wife's "KiaStein"... See the Photo here: 

 

~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/101718-kia-sephia-sporty/page-7?do=findComment&comment=1116723

Kind Regards.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

While I did that Engine's Oil Change,

 

I also changed the Old Manual Transmission / Diff Oil with Fresh

 

Motul 80W~90 Gear Box Oil with MoS2 (Molybdenum Disulphide) Additive:

 

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

The MoS2 (Molybdenum Disulphide) additive, is used by Motul / LubroMoly \ LiquiMoly

 

European oil Brands (which are Very Popular Here), Also is used in Constant Velocity Joints' Grease

 

...and Engine oil Additives.

 

The MoS2 is Way Better than PTFE (Teflon) Based additives such like Slick 50

 

Avoid the use of PTFE additives, usually they clog the oil passages.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Also, I obtained a Brand New Air Filter for the Weber Carburetor.



Here you can see the (dusty) Metallic Hood Scoop I Made.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Subaru_dude]

The Bumble Beast is looking awesome man!!! Saw all the bodywork you did and all that rust you got rid of that you didn't know was there. Nice job, this car will be around a very long time if you keep the mantainance up like you have been. Being such a bright color, I'd say it's hard for people to miss making it less likely to be hit in an accident too.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

The Bumble Beast is looking awesome man!!! ...

 

Thank you for your Kind words, which I Really appreciate. 

 

---

 

The Air Conditioner's control buttons on the Dashboard and the 4WD button on certain models, are activated by a Vacuum system, provided by the intake manifold to a Vacuum accumulator bottle (or Canister). There are few versions sold of the EA82, with fully Digital, electronic "Automatic" A/C control system (could be seen ~► Here), but that is Another story... 

 

So, the Vacuum line goes from the intake manifold, to a detour coupler first, it sends Vacuum to the Bottle, but also to a solenoid that sends Vacuum to the Accelerator Actuator on the Carbureted models; and said Detour, has a "one way" Check Valve, built it.

 

So, if you remove the Vacuum detour coupler and the Accelerator actuator, but you want to Keep Vacuum sent to the Vacuum accumulator Bottle, in order to keep Working A/C control Buttons and / or 4WD button; you must place another "one way" Check Valve, in the vacuum line that goes inbetween the intake manifold and the Vacuum Acumulator Bottle.

 

I removed the Accelerator Actuator and the detour coupler, so I obtained a "one way" Check Valve in 3/16" size, which can be seen in the following photo:

 

 

I had to obtain custom made fittings due to the lack of availability in our local market, of the proper ones.

 

 

 

Once installed, it prevents the system from losing Vacuum during Hard accelerations, and thus means to lose the proper function for a while. I covered it with Black, electrical isolated Tape, and only a good observer could notice the abnormally on that Vacuum hose.

 

Kind Regards.

Edited to add the web link to the Photo of the Digital A/C control system

Edited January 3, 2016 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

There is a Thread going about Additives, ~► Here, however, I will summarize a little my own experience with such chemical additives, on my Subaru "BumbleBeast" and other cars that I've serviced.

 

---

Regarding Fuels: I've tried Octane Boosters in different cars, both EFi and Carb, with Different Results; usually the results depends more on the Combustion Chamber's design; some engines does run well with lower octane fuels, and you won't notice a change in Mpg's with Octane Boosters, but some (Little) Power gain or Faster acceleration in Some engines.

 

Lower octane Gasolines actually explodes more Brutally on the Combustion Chambers, than Higher Octane Gasolines; so since I advanced the timing on my EA82 further than stock, I use High Octane Gasolines on it, to avoid pinging; and it doesn't need any Octane Booster additive at all.

 

---

Regarding "Stop Leak" Formulas, I really dislike them, avoiding especially the sandy ones for radiators and blocks as they do more damage than benefits; however, I've tried successfully, three "Stop Leak" formulas:

 

► The Q.M.i. stop leak additive for Manual Transmissions, a couple of bottles of such a thing, rejuvenates the leaky Seals as Magic, and the results are Long Lasting.

 

► The Liqui Moly / Lubro Moly brands "Motor Oil Saver" additive, really Rejuvenates leaky seals in High Mileage Engines, I never used it on my Subaru, but in my Wife's Car and another two cars, and I almost didn't believe the difference it made; such additive is Helpful if you don't have the time and / or the money for a complete engine Reseal; it elongates the inevitable, but helps you to avoid from running out of oil on the engine, at a low cost, by reducing dramatically the amount of oil leaked, to near zero.

 

 

 

► My Subaru "BumbleBeast" had a Power Steering Rack Leak in year 1999, it had both steering rack boots torn, so the Leak got even Worse due to contamination of the Seals with road debris. We used Automatic Transmission Fluid on the Power Steering system, since the car was New, as the owner's manual said.

 

I disconnected the Rubber Hose from the Power Steering Pump, also I detached the Metallic pipe joint, and Connected the Rubber hose to the Metallic pipe on the Power Steering pump, in order to Loop the Fluid, preventing Damages to the Pump by avoiding it from going Dry; looping the Power Steering Pump, does Not damage it, as there is No Pressure on the Looped lines, because there is no Resistance to the fluid's flow.

 

I drove the Subie with the power steering pump looped like that, meanwhile I could fix the Leaky Steering Rack; the parking procedure became as hard as to Steer was, under said circumstances; then I had the chance to remove the Steering Rack, and obtain from the Local Subaru Dealer, a seal kit for it... but the Seal Kit they sold to me, was too Big for the Rack I had, and I ended with mismatched parts. 

 

I learnt on the Hard way, during that year 1999, that Subaru made three different bore sized, hydraulic steering Racks for the EA82; being the racks that uses seals with a Blue Stripe, the ones with smaller diameter; the seal kit whose Seals have an Orangish Red stripe, are for the Racks with thicker diameter, and there also are a kit with seals that has Green stripes, for an intermediate bore sized, hydraulic steering Rack.

 

That was what the Subaru Dealer's salesman showed me at their countertop, and they didn't accepted the seal kit back, as it was opened and oily... So I ended buying an Used Steering Rack, from a local Junk Yard. I don't know which size of bore / colour of stripe it has on its Seals, as I never opened that used steering Rack; however, it came with a slight leak already, leaking some ATF on the driveway.

So, I removed -almost- all the ATF from the System, and poured there, half amount of valvoline's "MaxLife" Power Steering Fluid with seal conditioners & Stop Leak, for high mileage vehicles, instead; and half amount from a small, Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak additive, and a brand new pair of steering boots from a toyota tercel; and "Voilá"! ...  ... the Steering hasn't leaked a teaspoon of PSF since more than a decade ago; but to Steer became a li'l bit Harder with PSF, than how it was with ATF.

---

 

I've used SeaFoam's products successfully; the Seafoam's "Trans Tune" on the Automatic Transmission of my Wife's car, the "KiaStein" worked Great; also I've used Seafoam Spray to clean the excess amount of Carbon Deposits on the upper engine, you can see videos on my Youtube's channel; Also I've used Marvel Mistery Oil on the engine oil & Gas. That's it.

Kind Regards.

Edited October 2, 2016 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

The Lifted "BumbleBeast" is used 60% on city and Highways during Week Days, as it is my Daily Driver; and 40% offroading on Weekends; I usually Travel with my Family to Mountain adventure Trips; sometimes we go with the guys of the Local 4X4 teams.

 

So, I Found that for my mixed kind of driving, the taller Tires I could use are 25", so I installed a 205/60 R15" tires' set on my "BumbleBeast"

 

That makes it to be enough tall for the light-to-medium duty Mountain Adventures that we do on weekends, while keeps my average Gas Mileage Low, and the car is Driveable with Traffic at Highway speeds and also on our citie's many steep hill climbs...

Sometimes I need to Downshift, even to second gear while climbing Steep Hills with 5 People + Luggage inside in highway, and even to first gear on slow speed steep hill climbings during offroad, but The Weberized EA82 does move Fine, usually even at 4K RPM's or above and it feels Fast.

 

Beside those Hill climbs, I don't need to use Higher RPM's nor lower gears for normal driving.

 

Kind Regards.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

On the Early EA82 (third gen Leone) Subarus (made from october 1984 to October 1986) like mine, the mounts for the grille comes at the Headlamps' metallic structure, so the Grille directly attaches to said structure on the Headlamps using one screw at each side; and also a center screw that goes to the Frame's vertical Support.
 
But the Newer style Headlamps (found on the 1987+ Models), had redesigned their metallic structure, so those Newer Subarus has two metal plates behind the radiator's supporting frame, above, facing to the front, intended for holding their newer style grilles with plastic screws; those newer style grilles has nothing that goes to the Headlamps' metallic structure anymore.
 
When I changed the Original "GL" Headlamps on my "BumbleBeast" circa 1996 with newer "Loyale" Headlamps, (the older design got rusty easier), I Tried to reinstall the Older style Grille and it was completely impossible, because the older style grille hits the new metallic structure for the new Headlamps.
 
So I had to retrofit the newer style Grille mounts on the above mentioned frame, and install a Newer Style grille there... I stored the older Grille on a wooden shelf, at my parents' Home, in my hometown since then.
 

 

 
 

 

Here is the Original "BumbleBeast" Grille:

 

 

 

Closer View:

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

But when I transformed my Subie onto the "BumbleBeast" I made a pair of Custom Mesh Grilles using two "Newer Style" Grilles obtained at local Junk Yards. Here is a Photo of Both Grilles I made together, the version 1 is above and is the one you have seen in all the previous photos of this thread:

 

 

the "Version 2.0" is Below, now you can see the Differences.




 

The Newer one I made, does match the metallic Hood Scoop Design, I made:

 

the "interFooler"

Edited October 1, 2016 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Very nice! The custom front bumper and grill are nice additions.

 

GD

 

 

I Hope that you'll Like the Newer Grille!

 

 

---

 

► Edit September 21, 2015.

 

After I made my grilles with that honeycomb style mesh, I found online that other people used other styles of Mesh, like this Rounded one:

 

 

Kind Regards.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

My Lifted Subaru "BumbleBeast" also features a

White LED instrument Cluster & Dashboard Buttons:



 

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

I made a Writeup, full of Step-by-Step Procedures, explanations and Photo-guides about how to make the LED bulb Retrofit on the instrument cluster; it also explains how the disassemble the Dashboard without breaking nor damaging the old Plastics.

► The complete Writeup is ~► Here.
 
 

There is also a Discussion thread on the same subject,
 
► Which is ~► Here.

 

 

► Edited to fix the web links, due to the New USMB System.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

I Uploaded a "High Definition" Video of the instrument Cluster

 

Working on my "BumbleBeast" by Night times:

 

 

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Regarding the Feedback Hitachi Carburetors

 

 

I wrote a Complete Writeup about the Weber Carburetor retrofitting on the Subaru EA82 engines, (a Huge part of the information also is applicable to the EA81 engines); it is located ~► Here; however, not all the persons want to remove their old Hitachi Carburetor and retrofit a Weber Carburetor on these good ol' Subaru engines; so here is an easy Repair guide for those Hitachi Carburetors, plenty of pictures:

 

~► Hitachi 2 Barrel Carburetors Visual Repair Guide

 

Also, I know how to Tweak a little the Hitachi Carburetors to gain reliability and improved acceleration when their vacuum operated secondary -high- stage fails; I wrote a small Writeup regarding the Subject, and it is Here:

 

~► Mechanical Conversion on Hitachi Carburetors

 

Kind Regards.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Mechanical_misfit]

That grill looks great bud! Any pics of it installed?

 

Edit: wait, I saw it a few posts back. It looks awesome!

[bendecker]

Even more SWEET writeups! Wow. Well done!

[Crazyeights]

Hood scoop? Looks great! Details please

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

To do the Hood Scoop, I used New Sheet Metal, cutted it to Form the Shape I Wanted and I Welded it to the Subie's Hood... the Original Idea was to Let the Weber Carb to Scream out Loudly the Old-School Boxer Rumble thru that Hood Scoop, using it as a Megaphone ... ... I Named it, the "InterFooler"

 

 

 

Even more SWEET writeups! Wow. Well done!

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

That grill looks great bud! Any pics of it installed?

Edit: wait, I saw it a few posts back. It looks awesome!

 

Well... You saw the very First Version 1 of the Custom Grille I made for my "BumbleBeast" which has Vertical Grooves, as you can see it on the Weber Carb Runnin' Video I posted few posts ago.

This is a Newer Version 2 Grille with Horizontal Grooves, which does Match the Hood Scoop's Design I Made.

 

I Have Not uploaded Photos of it on the Car, yet... so wait a little and I'll upload some, soon.

The Hood Scoop has Been in all the "BumbleBeast" Photos on this Thread since the very beginning, because it has been Part of the Transformation of my Former White Weberized Wagon onto the "BumbleBeast" ... seems like nobody Noticed the Hood Scoop earlier, but the Pictures are Still available for viewing since Post Nº 1

Kind Regards.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo
Look at the Previous Post's Photos to see the Hood Scoop and the Older Grille.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Prior to install the New "Version 2.0" Custom Grille I made,

 

I went to one local Hardware store to buy some...



...Rustoleum Black paint, sandpaper and Maskin' Tape, and I noticed that

 

my "BumbleBeast" now has more Ground Clearance than some LandCruisers!

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Then back at Home, I prepared, cleansed and retouched some...



 

...areas behind the front Grille with Black Rustoleum Anti-Rust paint.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Crazyeights]

Looks great! Also thank you for all of the time spent in your write-ups:D I am interested in your hood scoop.