long travel Outbacks or making Subarus faster and more reliable offroad

[el_freddo]

Awesome pics and trip report as usual Todd. I reckon my favourite pic is the one you walked in for - with the two big rocky outcrops that made a saddle and the sunset in the background; the vegetation on either side of the pic give us a nice amount of colour to balance it out. Mint! 

Cheers 

Bennie

[pontoontodd]

I made a walkaround video of the black Outback and recently revised it with some suggestions from slammo.  It's currently unlisted, I'd appreciate some feedback on it before I make it public.  Too long, too short, additions, subtractions, thumbnail choice, etc?

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:11 PM by pontoontodd

[pontoontodd]

B and I did some work on our cars.  Replaced a front CV axle in the Forester that's been making noise occasionally but for quite a while.  B changed his engine and trans oils.

Trying to figure out Impreza's potential cooling problems.  Seems better with the new thermostat but still crept up a couple times on our last trip out west in mild ambient temps.  Really need to get some temp senders calibrated to the Haltech and get them installed on top and bottom of radiator.  IIRC the middle of the coolant temp gauge is about 210F on the Haltech but I can't guarantee either is accurate.  Infrared temp gun near the coolant temp sensor indicates it's at least close.  Then 3/4 of the way up the gauge is 217F at the Haltech, probably still nothing to worry about but should confirm actual temps.  Also thermostat is at the bottom/inlet of engine while the temp sensor is at the top so I'm getting coolant temp readings from the opposite end of the system than where the temps are controlled.  One thing we did was a smoke test on three different Subarus.  The Impreza's fans seemed to suck in the smoke as well as my white Outback with the stock fans.  Could see at least some of it blowing out the back of the radiator, didn't seem to be blowing around the sides or out from between the condenser and radiator.  So I think the fans are at least decent but since the overheating is a low vehicle speed issue perhaps we could get better fans although these had the highest CFM rating of any fans I could find.  One idea I have is to add a large heater core above the ABS unit under the hood vent on the passenger side with an electric fan on it.  The one we added to the back of the black Outback dropped coolant temps by 20F so that should do the trick and would be fairly easy to add.

AC was discharged before our last trip so I added some refrigerant but now it will cycle on and off about once a minute.  The high side spikes up to about 250psi while the low side drops to 20psi, then they briefly start to converge before the compressor kicks off.  Wondering if I have a clogged orifice as this seems like a much larger pressure difference than the charts show.

One time out west the coolant temps went up the power steering pump stopped working at low RPMs.  After we got home I first tried installing a pump from an EZ30.  Bracket is slightly different, no big deal, I'll swap the bracket.  Nope, pulley is a different size too, not going to mess with trying to swap that over.  So much for Legos.  Got an EZ36 PS pump from a local junkyard and swapped it in this morning which solved that issue. 

We decided to tack up a couple trailing arms for B's eventual billet rear knuckle swap.

Also trying to figure out my gas tank filling issue on the Impreza.  I replaced the carbon canister which is usually the culprit.  Not much better, also the one I pulled out seems good (not dumping carbon pellets out like the bad ones usually do).  Pulled the hose off the canister that goes to the gas tank vent.  When we blow compressed air in the gas filler air comes out that tube (seemed maybe a little blocked at first) similar to the Forester's.  Last time I went to fill up with gas it shut off before the tank was full, I pulled that hose off the canister and then the tank filled as it should.  Next time I'll try to remember to pull the other large hose off the canister instead.

Edited 11 hours ago by pontoontodd

[slammo]

I agree, water temp sensors will tell you if it's an airflow problem. You could try removing the hood scoop and vent inserts in the hood, give all that air from the fans somewhere to go