attacking a monojet

[Barry Donovan]

a puff of sulfur

I guess this meant bad cat.

for a couple of years, the bad muffler, no real vent recirc where the superlites fly to help keep things clean..and that air box with no front opening. Not that it mattered, I have filter box with an extra two inch hole hidden as well. I actually did not notice the airbox being drilled. Cool air is happening. obvious on the gauge I guess. This means a bit more volume as well.

this evening the bloody moon, headed north with the stampede of foriegners who think northern maine and labor day is something special. I was not expecting that on I-95 north where I go to be alone. Living out there, many months of nothing but me..120mph is still too slow.

not that I did that for 30 miles at a time. The proportion of a third of the liters with this boxer, and near the same weight in math..it is humbling, yet no reason to slouch. 80mph forever for all I goal.

now with vent recirc working into intake tube, a truly full exhaust. timing where this engine plays nice for very very long rides (that means correct). A thumping tire kept me at 3200 rpm for 20 miles , then it slowly climbed out faster. I just knew I was going to get a whiff of unhappy cat. so, the steepest hill this one has got on the highway is orono maine, at 78mph.A quick stabbing hill with an onramp for the blind to jet out in front of you and to ruin momentum. 3500 rpm up and over. The calc says 84..but I know it was a bit slower. It is a lottery to get through lately, at speed. A puff of skunky sulfur, and even the header note changed for the better.


the cat was very close to being very wrong yet again. Fixed now,and the whiff of new muffler after 50 miles is the seat I was waiting for. Awesome sound mind you, ricer thoughts on sound are no longer there. That seat does take a long time for this one. The Accel ignition sped up that process by many times over...the rochester being even bigger than that as an ingredient...not to mention the fat equal header.

this could be the finale for this. A night of a bloody moon seems to add to the myth that it might be finally so...

[Barry Donovan]

one more filter

found the cough problem..fuel filter in the back.
it reliefs as it clogs..must have been riding a relief for a year.

boasting of welding, 19th mig reel coming to an end. just might get a twenty for trailer hitch framing. That would be 40 pounds of mig wire..and to find errors is damn near a stroke at this point. Seriously. pain in my left arm to find what I did today at the rear end tube.

at least it is setup with several pounds of mig dumped into it already over the past several years. Quick grind, or even a scratch with ascrewdriver, it is ready to go for more wire. I set the new mig machine on high and slow fed a very hot supper. That is the 80kpsi mode..it took it right in. I filled in some ugliness as well from years prior. First break was 2008. The new machine is a really nice one. The magical feedback.

I learned the rear has a vertece, and subaru made it look symmetrical. The root of the left needs a 10,000 pound beam apparently.(it is outrageous to analyze the sight of it) Everything else follows it. the framing around gas tank, recent welds..that must have triggered an almost fail. I spotted the back left tire gaining too much camber, so I checked it out under there..sure enough, needed more. It is so welded, a quick shot had it back to hardened, I then drove around and decided a grand finale was in order. dumped a pound into it today. It actually looks alot better. I left some holes and ungrinded from previous jobs, filled those in. Today the .25 inch rods on the rear end tube, 3 of them are nearly buried. that is a very thick welding job indeed. I know to keep the top of broken tube open...not going to say why. I'll keep welding all around, just to keep the top of that tube open. I did say that in the past..hence, getting under it was not all that big a deal. Buried plan forgotten really.

about a late in the year as I weld structure..funny enough, it was always the rear end.



to give an idea of some of the drama of that one spot in the rear end..it broke by itself in a record breaking winter for snowfall. I believe it was a 2 foot round ice ball from a plow truck. direct hit into the wheel. I fixed it after finally getting my first mig machine..that was awesome, I was very enthused. 2008. What I did not know is.. I triggered a bio chemcal agent that left me sick for 7 months. brain power and physically. I knew then, in 2008..the engine got a whiff like I did, and it was a matter of time. It finally killed the block in 2012, four years after the outburst was done. The longest running battle with a chemical chain I have ever had..and my dad has million mile diesels for a reference to strange knowledge.

It also may be source of gas tank losing all rustproofing, as well as left rocker disappearing (there was no edge when I bought this in 2006). A worst case scenario, and I had it. I still have not ruled out basic remnants of americas past, agent orange seems to be fitting quite a few facts upon digging and revealing along the way. Not easy to get out of a sealed channel unibody. I then found remnats of an acid that ate steel, of course skin. "Yellow stage" of hydrochloric seemed to fit that find. The odds are astounding.

today, it is a pleasure to weld under there. "Hard" earned.

on a positive exhaust note, I had to take off quick from the driveway..my dad spoke up and said what I thought already "that does not sound like your subaru, I was thinking one of those little euro four cylinders, like an mg with sport exhaust." I asked if it was loud, he said no, sounded really good. I did put in a home made header gasket to finalize this. I found something peculiar with header seating..a clean gas tank is amust...but not too clean. header was trying to seal bad gasket, I changed it anyway.
the bellow of air flow gave it away as a difference, the carb end. I did not think of that..of course, I am sitting in it to make the noise..opinions help. No inline will ever suck air and do something with it.

[Barry Donovan]

fuel filter combo..final

paper elements be gone. Not even the engine has a cheap filter anymore..


Driving around in the rain, a creak from the top of left rear strut tower, like a pop..and a very rugged little rear end sits silent. I must be really using all the framing I welded..finally.

The rain also fixed some fuel problems. That is the magical paper elements for you. Thinking of a way to simply stop the organic combos entirely in the fuel filtering.. I came up with the above. The larger one is glass, and can easily be blown back out with cleaners or whatever. that one goes to pre fuel pump, near gas tank. the other one goes back under hood, of course cleanable, reusable. Now I can see both filters up close. I do not need the loyale giant filter after all. That should settle this chore.

The singular layer of mesh for pre fuel pump is a lot easier going…and no more organic games. I m waiting for a sponge on cold starts..the paper element are hell for this little sube, reason unknown. Maybe alkalines from 26 years of battery. It can be that simple. Not to mention, the ink comes right off the elements. at 38 mpg, this little hypermiler notices it.

The creak from tower..am very curious. Something finally got very very hard, struts do all the work. What a long elusive game for this tin can. I love to feel the welds on my butt dyno. Matches the 4 lo lever in a machine hardened.

[Barry Donovan]

orange infection

what the....?!



this is some feisty stuff here. I let filters drain into mud puddle. gas down my arm needed 5 minutes with lava soap. WTF?

changing this out proved to be some kinda algae attacking paper elements. the front was letting it out both ends as well. Swapped in new filters, still a jumpy low speed ride for 5 miles or so..then back to normal. checking filters again proved nothing of orange silt at all. What in the heck was going on there? paper elements went to hell.

[Barry Donovan]

broken fuel pump

the pump is running, but no pressure..strangest fail I have ever had. Got a ride home on a flatbed...again.
glad I was local.

. Going to check a few things in the morning, as of now..telltale fuel pump. I can thumb it to a stop.
this idles on gravity/suck, it was kinda cool had heater going waiting for wrecker. 250 rpm.

the old hitachi carb was so small, it ran with gravity.

the pump has an 8v mode, and I needed to keep it at 12. The last part for subaru related to fuel...I had an intuition the old chatter type pump could not stay at 12v. The sound lost its spunk. broken pump gear gadgetry. motor still good.
off to another pump.

airtex universal will most likely be the next one. 8012S?

on a really strange note.. I had filter out and connected with plastic to verify no clog (and it was not, it is brand new), well backing off truck the gas was starting to leak, so I jumped under there to throw filter back in.
after the scene cleared, I donlt want gas in my face...

there is this wood screw sitting on the ground. I thought.."that f*ing screw just fell out of the fuel line." I could not sy for sure...but I check my spot like airplanes on tarmacs.

bye bye pump. it was screwed.

that is a very large fuel feed on the high pressure tank. a wood screw can fall right out and stop at filter.



PERFORMANCE ELECTRIC Part # P11K
Universal Electric Fuel Pump;Universal Fuel Pump. LPH flow > 60: Maximum pressure 4.0
went ahead and ordered without knowing old one failed. with an 8v drop by factory bypassed, it is time fro another pump anyway. The 12v hammering the little design of the constipated fuel crunch era of the united states.. is all done. of course today would get a big pump and constipated. I am actually glad to have lived the experience, as it is never going to happen again. Very very humble little design..and it ran and ran and ran on 8v. I simply outgrew it and gained more fuel mileage. Companies had to live and learn too..

some more positive findings..the fuel usually smells like rotten feet this time of year. This tank has it pure as can be. Nice fresh. old tank really was a killer. With filters having no errors and getting not enough fuel..the pump is a goner. My first one failing was subaru oem, the motor quit entirely before it never gutted its little pumper. It took 21 years to fail. I actually kept it for looking like a remnant found next to the titanic or looking like the bottom of an ocean wreck. The mount rotted off the car before the pump never stopped running.

with a spare mount, and actual subaru modular electric hookup..the new pump will look like a clean factory install. I hope its a balanced pumper..round ones usually are, but I did get fooled more than once. Cheap pumps don't give much info.

found something:

Most of the PEFP pump models are designed using a proprietary balanced lightweight zytel nylon turbine design impeller and an encased precision balanced armature that significantly reduces the amount of movable parts to provide near silent operation, efficient pumping characteristics, and longer pump life. Turbine fuel pumps provide stable fuel flow, better performance under severe operating conditions, and operate at lower AMP ratings when compared to traditional rollervane or gerotor pumps.

some more on the pump..it really has been 15 years to forget the little tips and facts. I found the carter I was using, still, to this day, does not mention pressure..but to say "factory flow and pressure". the factory flow was 1psi in 8v mode, and 3 psi at 12.
Another problem was the design that makes the chattering noise..they have been done snce realizing carbs don't need a thump. Why they resembled thumping cam driven mechanical is a weird progression in evolution.
of all engines to prove they don't need that, it is a boxer self balanced at 500rpm enough suppress ripples in a glass of water.

anyway, the new pump mentions turbine driven, this means silent, and max range only varies by one pound it is a 4 to 5 psi. Similar to where rochesters come from.
I am still glad to have used the old weird pump. It is never going to be around again. I like verifying the rochester wanted a smooth injection type feed as well. That part is ahead of itself.

I will take apart old pump when time comes, see what it munched on. Most likely physics before finding physical fails..speaking of electro magnets. I could guess that screw was in the fuel line. Tank was sitting at the back of a garage..hard telling what makes a beeline to the darndest places all by themsleves. I even blew this tank out with air, and a garden hose a few years ago. I am one to slam a screw into a little hose..but this one did not need that. Could have even come from the wagon hauling it. At the time, I had my carpenter toolbelt in the back...6 years ago. Type and color of screw looked familar.

[Barry Donovan]

not a broken pump

took it all apart, saw that it need a little cleaning on the shaft, away it went. had to take carb apart first and get things going. vacuumed out bowl, got it to clean again. the one time crud has not returned.

back up and running.

an intuition a freak screw in the main feed played games...just might be true. it was dark, working quick. the screw appeared out of seeming nowhere after letting line drain for a few seconds inadvertanly. I put two and two together. knew to check pump today, give it a retry.

order cancelled, "modern" times awaits another day..unless that perculating pump is years ahead. hard telling. back to starting the old subae like a ferrari 250 gto.

seeing how the pump worked, looking over the little plate mount I made etc. I felt kinda silly. "must have been bored" kinda day to make what I did. I not only took the plate away, I slapped the pump up on the welded bracket I made previous and quickly strapped it down. Weird thing they did there. the perculating pump loves the springy loaded mount on the little firewall in the back. why did they soft mount it? hard telling.

simplfied.

I am really impressed with the fuels appearance. that tank is a keeper. if any fine poop methane looking stuff that was in the other tanks output was in this one, the vane/rotor type pump woyld be on order. knowing how much crud those little perculators can take, this one is in heaven in comparison to its past.

alot more power driving around..the lean condition brought coolant to low. I have done much worse to these little engines.
I like to mention welding, as that bounces a carb around.
today, checking back end..the weld of rear end crossmember needs rear left camber set again, very rugged piece to get under and look. ALOT of weld. the 80k mode is like butter. no boogery stuff... and the tow truck ripped the little hook in the back end right out of the framing. the interesting part of that? it was attached to nothing. how the heck did they tug at this car with it attached to the skin of a frame rail?
the right side had similar error, welded the hell out of it already. now the left sides turn. that is the last 5 inches of rear sub framing. I have steel all around it welded..must have assumed subaru connected the tow hook better than they did not. Now its going to get MY way.

[Barry Donovan]

trim the gasket

as I wanted to clean out bowl, and set float, see how things are doing..the red goop barely found its way into carb. so what was problem?

air bleeds did not have enough. The cai boot must be feeding it huge..the gasket had to be trimmed. carefully broke away the self made outline..perfect install. Big multi whistle, have midrange and off idle back nicely. This may have made the fuel pump huge, I suddenly had to have clamps. I also noted fuel is crytal clear, and there is a bug to look at at the bottom of glass filter. Glass . that is real nice. Self filled to the brim, it is now fueled. I should have taken the hint with the .25 filled see through acrylic filter...a tip for thos that don't know. those filters pre pump should be full, or close to it.

I also concluded the screw was indeed in the fuel line, and the red stuff was paper filter getting sucked to death.(the only color that matches it in the whole setup..and it is quite a stinker) So much for bad fuel pump theory.

if I am lucky this will be dropped to 30 mpg (safe the expensive engine). header will get nice and quiet. As air bleeds set the pace for the mix...a little more open to rochesters settings.( I did not change the tubes.)

the bleeders are big enough to hear it in the bullit insynerator as a whistle occasionally..my loyale injected engine did that too, but it is not like this one. fulltime big draft. much larger. the midrange is wow. I can shake the whole car to a fuel mixture. the little big cam suby.

I was telling my landlord about the car as he was wondering what I was doing.
"the carb came from a camaro and the needles came from a chevette." it took him a second to process that apparently.
he is into the little gas savers. a toyota with 232 k miles..in maine. does not even look it.

I hope to get that lucky.

some decent sized rainstorm on the way..wash the spot of mess I made on the pavement. nothing worse than doing that in a residential busy place.

safe is more imprtant of course..complaints are trivial at that point.

[Barry Donovan]

back to normal stoich


the hook to the left is what got ripped out. analyzing area, it is doubled steel and welded already. Guy was a bit too ambitious with the hold down cable and electric winch that worked it. no biggie, easy weld. This exposed a channel, and it affects electrical in sealed box beam cars. once to realize it is open, then blippy things for a day after it is sealed. the carb gets a piece of that change everytime.


not many times do I say when this is being good in post by itself. Seeming like timing was retarded, but engine smooth, exhaust full, but no raspy. Static is headed for the deep that sparks this at 28 below zero. Thiuking ahead, the sound of pump, I could even hear choke slam shut in the dead cold..here is to hoping. I decided to try some hills for the cough. engine cold a whiff of fuel..which should be impossible. maybe the vent can out the bottom does work sometimes. As engine was warming up I realized this does not take fuel like the others..as if to be built to fight fuel rather than be old school. The rochester still wins long before full warm. The hill climbing is big as it has ever been. I am glad the exhaust calmed some. Can take it anywhere now. This aint no ricer sound as one might typically cringe to. I feel rewarded for the work as of now. Taking this out of a seeming long term lean, not all that many miles, but it is a small engine to get self-dramatic over stuff. Fuel is richened to normal already.


normal stoich calms exhaust, very nice sound..its like a retarded timing feeling, but ready to pull a dog house down. The pull goes a loooong way for a little engine. This was always its peak the past years I have owned, sprites of normal and a slow fall into the midget I despised...the rochester goes right on by that into a realm not had with this. I call it just big enough for normal modern traffic, nothing more. Accepting static load is a good thing to have for a runtime. the racing scream of manic lunacy has subsided already.

Air duct heater chore due as cold approaches..and then this goes by all suby oem builds of its generation. perfected.

on a welding note.. the tug at tow hook must have been a slip up by the flatbed driver. A chunk of original thicker part of subframe, and backing of tow hook ruptured in a way no one could do with a hammer. This is two for two..down syndrome tow truck driver. weld will be easy nough anyway..all the steel is not only good, it still has the subaru grey internal. I wonder if that was more than a ton by that cable locking down the car to bed. I may make it so it does that very same thing again..no need to break an entire car in half to brutus the tow truck driver.

getting going on this stuff, writing is for my own disorder more than anything.

ten days since tank install, ten days to go back to normal..a broken rear end in springiness, not a physical break to tell me this did have aproblem for years. The rear end is so large on this, the ignition jumps to its lack of content molecularly days after welding (am liking the diodes in the accel ignition right now). Very hard rear end tube now..need to toughen springs. the spring hack from hondas I found fit the subaru with no mods.(300 pound). funny enough, the hondas front fit the subes rear, and toyota 4 runner front strut is what it mates to. Underestimated chassis on this is as bizarre as a dodge diplomat. The back end is off by a thousand pounds in suspension.

I knew the old tank had something that was not only sickening to people, it kept windows fogged no matter how submarine the little buggy is today, everytime moisture was in the air. I joked to call the problem agent orange. it seems to be an herbicide that killed everything. the lawn in front of my car is gone and looks like the ground turned to concrete..and I know my subaru is repsonsible. Note I said front of car. exhaust had nothing to do with it. Today in the hurricane dewpoint remnant, a sweaty sticky drizzle rain maine gets from them..sopping wet..the car is clear. Throttle is the biggest I have ever heard..and do pay attention if to use it. RWD for this would be hilarious.

The orange stuff as a finale with a pussing consistency..it came from the old setup, and got rejected in the new. This tells me new tank is not only good, it is not accepting a standard from some generation long gone rotten to death. I still wonder the whole truth on this car.. illegal garages, junk yard titles hidden, hard telling. Parts not matching parts right next to each other in terms of time and wear. the year of the car, and the old tank was way off in contrast. I had a 1987 carbed before this one..no problems with the tank. and i beat that car to death..physically breaking floor right off the front end.(I gave it away)

[Barry Donovan]

strange event

hitching bucking. stop check. looks like battery is pussing something…shorts out coil, even with the cover on. clean it off, start up again. Verify fuel filter is clear (quite full, it even took out the air bubble).

Down the road again..hitching bucking, even stall. Pull over twice more before finding the little tiny coolant hose near power steering pump with a tiny hole in it. Fix right away, took note the whiff of old battery, very slight, but in the water. I added the coolant that flushes the system (very diluted version – use as backup refill) a few days ago..must have found something. For some odd reason that tiny hole made a spray beeline to the coil, even with a cover on. Caught it shorting out. When the accel ignition decides to short..you will know it. my mig welder sounds like it.
kinda cool to be right next to it to catch it.

I swapped hose for a thicker insulated one.if you are familiar with their original clamps on the hose near power steering pump coming out of block going over to thermostat, they are a horror story for my past 3 engines and learned I was not alone. very silly wire type clamps, no rust protection.. that end up breaking barbs before coming apart peacefully. This one not only unscrewed on its own, I have an option to reuse it. 22 years old. that was one happy engine bay wherever it came from. I do like the sight of the second engine in there.

Very large static pressure dialing in. block self cleaned. I forget the last engine already, but it did the same upon letting it breathe, cleaning up block for long term running. This one is a very nice grade of block, I have more confidence…and that ignition is absolutely HUGE.

rochester getting fed nicely..it is a case of dogged engine for too long coming out of the closet as a little brut unafraid to be itself. it takes some time. A growing boy. Some growing pains along the way. its own height will be realized in due time. Been there with this..analogy inevitable. This very well may be a race car by the signs coming and going. Killing old pig and sucking in nothing but big and clean. air water fuel, whatver itneeded. much larger. This time, with enthusiasm..a clutch that will grip, tires in safety rating needed, welds of structure outrageous..cooling as far as capable.

today with the fuel fixed..it wanted no choke on cold start. flooded right away. not fuel flood, a stoich flood - no air. sparked right up opening choke. so..will be tinkering with that for sometime.

With that stuff out of way, roads are drying after big rain. Took advantage of new welds handed back to nature to analyze carb..a slight turn on idle screw and go from there. The long 80 jet in the past months has proven to be just right. It has been 7 months now...so adjusting is all I am going to do. The vid does not capture the feel of an almost sputter at slower rpm, any gear. it is at below 3k...but it is there. The carb cleaned up itself alot this summer. Still no air intake heater, and I did find it responds to that very nicely. So, I may add one sooner than later.

the car on the highway in front is simply doing 70 something. I should be taking this to a track sometime. the boxer sound and speed, I always need a reference to explain it. An inline is 4k rpm higher one gear behind and bragging just as large as their hollow scream. It has kept me with the 3 main boxer for a long time now. The ramp, it may be less than an eighth mile..I am ten over speed limit at the end. Quick beyond displacement normally justifies. The torture for me when this car was oem was this very event in the vid. the little onramps to 70s. Does good now. The onramp is at dysarts heading north, a long hill actually. Right near the end of this ramp is where my loyale sat totalled. I slid sideways what appeared to be more than 100 yards. ended at a guard rail, bent the tunnel. That was almost six years ago. Glad I slowed down sideways some..75 is fast for the 2wd versions of these tin cans. Crazy drivers at fault...when misjustice goes this far...well. I never thought I'd be taking this ramp and doing 75 at the the end of it in a similar subaru...several thousand psi heavier. I do wonder the religious things sometimes. The buggy don't seem to care about that hill anymore. just right. I go no further to sustain 30s mpg. A jet size or two larger, and the last venturi out of oem intake tube...a jumpy start and its a race car. It is fun. For me, as the builder, it is the sound of the working pressure...
a real eye opener as a kid locally, 25 years ago now..100 miles into a 200 mile highway. The pipsqueaky stuff has got to go back to its island.

a quick recap for the unknowing..
43mm throttle on 1781cc. (that is 10 mm or more beyond the limits of rally racing if you must play with facts). Everything oem failed, even the gas tank. Subframing there for some giant engine it never got.. I worshipped it with a mig welder, all the dainty connections holding it together. Stepping it all up to EFI standards, even the gas lines where critical. Body doubled and many psi one end to the other. over 2500, less than 3000 pounds. Ten speed dual range transmission. Stereotype local for this are very bad.. just look at one of the wheel bearings outer race welded as an exhaust tip on the 2.25 inch pipe.. then look at the size of the car. Any other questions? ask someone else. I know its doing something astounding...and likes it. The most bizarre mismatched retarded giant ape combo in one car I have ever encountered.

always my tin can.

[Barry Donovan]

landspeed stuff

there is the landspeed stuff. Even with 15 inch wheels, I think the little boxer can dig some more..and so did subaru, on their 180 foot pound version of this same engine. I guess to be beyond the numbers of 140ft pounds. An email arrived with a rare gear set for this model, it came with the real go fast subaru of its time. not many have it, never even seen one. Alot of false claims with this tortured buggy. the rear gear is one of them. I even had one that was mismatched by factory, a 3.7 on a 3.9 tranny. my own has a 3.9 open diff sticker on it with a locking diff enough to crack the rear tube. Real smart move on their behalf(that would be sarcasm).



from svx. of course this would require 2wd conversion..a whole load taken away, and talling the rear to add another load for top speed instead..

3.54 vlsd, non vent. this tells me old school, except for studs. the little subes often had bolts. The svx flat six explains it.

at 5k rpm this is 133mph, versus the 120 even on a 3.9

[Barry Donovan]

the 550

I need to uplift myself apparently.
this porsche 550 vid is good.

seeing the jetta hybrid from hell at 1.4 liters going 185 at bonneville is leaving the real 4cyl engine in falsity again.

the balanced little boxer is a world record someday. I hope I am around to see it.

this is the same engine in my car with custom dohc heads. For some odd resaon, they went all that way for formula 1 race throttle in a home made plane. Humanity and the boxer...absolutely more sprites of idiot than any other engine known to man.I am glad above was built, no matter how dumb they got with its destination. No offense to engineers that got it done.

occasional rant over.

I noticed the weld #5 in the back end is keeping car down even with a four inch lift over subaru. this means subframes are stretched to the long wheelbase. (they can play no game anymore).I loved that first conquering, it has been 3 years for the last of that one (or two years?) realizing they made the back end shrink and grow. I left it to the "big" mode forever. That was some long days getting that done. even the wheel wells have a percentage of structure. the main framing was a pleasure. my favorite welds on the whole car. Big work. very very big work for the steel. That conquering is very satisfying. Another reason for that was the perfect 500 dollar tank. I don't want shrinking and growing beams around it. That was the last step indeed..the nice tank. Back to a fat sube it has been since the first beam welds. I hope to share this in life with those that know these cars.

the sputtering I found something peculiar. I took top cap wire off and put it back on, sputtering stopped. I guess a cleaning, and using that as a reset for the box when timing changes take place..make it immediate. All else is new tank. Accel does have a hefty capacitor..the sticky little something. no big deal. A basic switch would indeed be the main wire to cap. Simple heh?

just drive.

I got to chuckling over the tow hook, and the way they mounted it. there is even paint in the pinch. Real good job by subaru. Its like a fish hook holding down a hippo.

[Barry Donovan]

slow rpms dialied in

this is important, or car stays parked more than not. I did give up on factory muffler type stuff. 6 times in 6 years is ridiculous. spotless system, aside from new tank working in.

was having a sputter, fake hitch at slow speeds, found problem at disty cap wire yesterday. Today, q-tip to disty cap, spread plug and firmly put back in. Still took some minutes, little poppers still happening. sputter calmed. I need to teach this little hard rock there is a slow going mode. This started for me and this model when they turned ten years in 1997. (This january will be 16 years - same model engine as my only daily). Now going on 26..the japanese bronze sword games even had a way almost to tough.

I must have slow and tuned for city driving. Showing good signs. the accel owns this stubborn old rock, am liking that alot. It is loud, but nice..the poppers need to go. I can't seem to stop them. not much after 25 years gaining them is going to be easy. I referred to other cars , little engines..when they pass 15 years or so, factory exhaust is useless. must be metallurgical change for any engine..the soft suppressors just don't exist anymore. EGR becomes a killer in many ways. the boxer was very dramatized by that whole retarded think. seriously sickening.I probably just described pistons more than any other part. hard telling. This engine now is once again a lucky save..the cams are centered, did not utilize egr anyway..and at 98k it is a clean baby. My best version yet. I saved one at 104k, only to watch it die to a bad gas tank poison. the patience for us preservers..it is almost crazy.Working errors unknown to man.

off to another day. A contentment with these engines... break a hose, and a day later it is getting rid of the last half tablespoon puddle on top of engine. Cool is not even the word for that. it is a nice word..but can't think of it. thick-skinned might be the word.

a note for welding..
this time of year it gets real heavy for 7 months. I literally look at corners of glass to see if any changes happened to my structure from previous weeks welds, the psi is high enough to take glass with its fame to its own measurement. from what I found this year, the right rear is a bit tighter to base of window frame, just aft of right rear door. Expected. I hit the sweet spot in math exactly underneath the car this year. this goes away of course. sheet metal is like a heart contracting..coming back even slower. The left side has been bricked for quite awhile, like the front. I don't even need to check the glass ends anymore. ..it only gets harder. I make some of the chores seem terrible, and not worth it. I don't mean to do that to a priceless outcome. weld finale is never right away for a machine on four rubber tires. Ever. That goes with the art of winning...and it takes its own damn time.

the 19th mig reel, 38th pound. that is most likely going to finish tow hook. As not to get that in too tough, mimmicking subarus reason. I will use that is left as alimit. less than a .25 reel.

if welders could use how much they dumped on a resume..I wonder where I am at now. invisible changes are my own language, left on my own. as much as I babble out here in internet land.. it has only been less than 4 years from never welding, to my own chassis. I did have a strange knack for steel, trucking around me my whole life. I took right to the speechless language anyway. My first road going car was a heavy american..two broken frame rails. I learned fast.

not to shit on subarus forever. I am simply serious after my drama breaks the toughest of everything. I saw something in the 80s subaru, the front strut tower away from firewall is only one of the good things. that was 15 years ago. This needs a strong ass. I could guess they messed that up even in 2012 given the racer videos and mod companies describing the quirkiness. I do like to compliment the new coupe rwd, the ass end is gong to be problems, (the 80s did this too..) but hey..some are prepared to go aftermarket already.They brought back alot of what made the 80s a go kart jumping animal. the front is good. the front just might last a very long freaking time.

it is ashame to call something evolution because the market gave it a big loan...I am talking to you. mr extinct EJ engine crook. I can say I won the 23 year old bet now...

[Barry Donovan]

tow hook weld

got some weld in before the big storm front.



this channel open, jumped at the electrical system. I had it welded to the point of insanity a couple of years ago..surrounding the hook. I made the back end after finding japanese 20 gauge, I was not happy about that. A rock fromt he road could have gone through it.
This one was lucky. The only oddity I found was, the shape of tow hook bracket allowed for 1 pinch to framing, and the rest was held in by japanese 20 gauge. It had every right to fall out ..it did it with a bang, but still no good excuses. This is surrounded now with 16, some good frame shots. as the way this channel works, I can get all four sides when one flips the lids inside car. I got that welded several years ago. This was overdue I guess.

I left some holes, as this channel went airtight..it may have been the stuck timing changes. the static ball near (the hot exhaust challenging the tight channel.)

this will not only pull itself, but can be used to tug at another vehicle. I decided not to make it a weak connect, all kinds of framing to play with. A cool thing I found was it took the high setting on the mig machine due to previous welds and the thickness i chose in the area. The little buggy is conquered.

off to 300 pound honda front springs for the back to go with the toyota 4runner front struts...also in the back. You know you welded the back of a car when the springs and struts by factory are useless..not just under par, I mean break out loud useless.

the ride home proved a lower torque line, and my dad gave me some rare fluid for gas tanks to stop a particular algae. The problem wanted both vehicles..the rig and the cars.

here is this same engine with a weber. I think they go for 32/36 progressive. the rochester is much bigger. I still get uplifted seeing others custom common sense. this car resides in central america. They got all kinds of clean air.

the owner of this car spoke up in another forum about the rear springs. That ius where I got the idea from. being he is in an active geology, strangely maine had same problems.

[Barry Donovan]

porsche with #66

knowing a boxer breathing ten to twelve miles away..a perfection even with a crazy crank. As long as it is not japanese oem. (I tend to ignore the 3.25 cylinders of four firing twice.)

I looked out window to an older white porsche, some fancy lettering and stickers coming at me down the street. The thump between gears, a pause as if all fuel knows to shutoff, because that boxer can keep right on going on a whiff...listening to discipline of driver taking it easy on a city street, there was a desire to keep it in 2500 and above, but not too far.. the let down to redlight past my place still had little echoes and hints of crackle.

my sube is even louder, doing the same exact thing.

the boxer is a boxer..that is one addictive lesson. My ears dial in like an animal hearing its own kind.

making an ass of people for 111 years...
anyway, a run to store, the sube knows its back end is sealed again.

I got a grumble in the drivers door at an idle, even after all that steel. Big pressure in the storm front coming through..

and that is a nice porsche, not seen often at all..the porsche 911 here.. given the elongation of gearing, the take off.. 1986 or earlier air cooled is my guess. (4 speed) nice machine. I like seeing local driving. the hearing of a drafted boxer, its the real thing.

I am getting to be a little more than feeling like a bum in a gutter with the little sube now. I could not quite place the sounds I was making, until that old porsche passed through. I exist. I chuckle, in previous posts I called it like an I-6..I was off a bit on the layout that is all.

the monojet with the needle and seat, the fall storms really get a gas sucker going for the boxer. the monojet shuts it off ,every single let down, no getting away with bleeding draft anywhere. I love it. excellent choice for this one. The hitachi could rop this downto 22mpg. For 1781cc two valve sucking throguh the hitachi straw, that is like dumping gasoline into the cylinders...never to happen again.

I have a desire to keep this sealed tank at 8 gallons and no less for sometime..dilute the air it got for 6 years. it is already coming around nicely, and the anti-algae chemical did something right away (dad was right there I guess)

the algae stuff. My dad was experimenting with a glass jar. I cut open the rather large CAT fuel filter, and the paper was like mulch. my car did the same thing recently. the red ink of element just fell tight off as a goop. We both had the same poison. my own as high octane ricer, and his 550 cat. The interesting thing that emerged was drops of what looked like water jellyfishing at the bottom of the glass...minutes after he added the chemical. What is it? we both had the same question. Any petroleum gets it apparently...and not often. I was thinking a sunstorm direct hit. the sun is nothing but a big hydrogen bomb anyway (just my far fetched guess). I did record a red fireball with a tail on it a few nights ago. Nobody what in hell that was either. maine sky and ground...I don't generalize anything for anybody again. there is a place doing something strange. maine does get the arctic version of cold.. possibly hydrogen blobs. they are not friendly if they should fire through fuel system.

taking note the runtime is actually back to what the loyale injected used to do occasionally. most blamed fuel filter under the hood. more than coincidence, but an indication I got some serious math correct, the little buggy even has the fake hitch below 3k rpm at times. the loyale was notorious for that...same time of year. that chemical added was noticable right away for the better. the difference today is at at least 100% more cfm to barrel (pun) right past the little problem to recover nicely...back to slower rpm driving. with a standard tranny kickdown does not need to happen, just give it a throttle dump, no one around car has to notice.

that seems to be climbing out. I attribute an over electrified ignition to the loyale problems. This one does not have that of course...but the fuel mystery is ongoing indeed. A good tank is a must, even more than the super micron filters. in fact, that maybe my latest lesson learned: too much fuel filter. the rochester is an old rock designed as carbs can take crap all day long. Taking advantage of that now is a bit overdue. I only have one filter in a see through glass casing, pre fuel pump. No more paper elements for me. in the oil or fuel. The boxer pcv venting literally has to get a whiff of carb at whatever times subaru designed it too. I am glad I did not doubt that setup this time. at most oil goes carbon, time to change anyway. Another oddity is synthetics for this one. Does not like any version but the partial.

[Barry Donovan]

heat riser

I finally dug up some more pennies and got the heat tape. this will hook up with wires not in use by the rochester. the old carb left two switched spares, by the rochester only using a choke.

with the hurricanes squeezing the myth back into maine. A 50F today is not like a summer one. As if the ground lost all the hot days at once..





the air heater subject got a decision (finally), and I went and bought this for mercedes bio-diesel conversions. $38.50, 100w worth of heat, meant to wrap around a cylinder. Comes with a spare wire, some rubber tape to cover it, and some metal tape as well. This wraps around a filter to heat the thick fuel. My mind was made up , when , at an idle, the heat in engine bay was enough to get the tune I needed for slow rpms. As air flow increases, it gets cooler, and engine is happy there anyway. This will act as a primer for the big flow on the air duct, the steel part coming off of air plenum. The barrel is quite large for the little buggy. Seven months after carb install..the short hot summer that carried this perfectly has come to an end already. Learning that air duct heat (almost like the monojets origin with the heatriser), I am more then optimistic this will work. I tried heating fuel, but there is a lack of precision. Subarus loyale intake had a very hot maf, all air had to cram past that megawatt roaster..and it worked, until mid summer. It was way too much in the summer. The 3 inch duct I have now is steel, and is slow enough to accept heat if I wrap it and that will get slow moving air nicely. I will put this on a switch at first, determine what I want. when it is just right in the tune, I will use my dads thermal point and shoot infrared gun and find a temperature. When that sweet spot is found, I will find a temperature switch to auto regulate the duct. The dead of summer and CAI full cold is nice only for a short time. the rest of year needs heat. This is respecting the heat rising concepts of the past as well. Only my version continues to get fresh air from outside only, no recycle or restrictions by other heaters of the past.

with spare wire, a continous source for sale..this was worth it already.This latest spell does coincide with getting real fuel flow to carb. No doubt needs help at part throttle atomizing. All else is , dare I say it...perfect. Tearing off float bowl cover one last time, all is well, doing what it is supposed to. The tune is so close to nice , just idling the engine heats the duct that few degrees, and it runs perfect. I must declare this 300cfm, maybe more...

to try this needs a large pausing plenum, like todays cars anyway. An irbox with the filter in it, away from engine. a separater is simply a pinhole in said plenum, keeps heavies outside of engine.(I found mine works incredibly, being all steel. A pile of oil from a fresh paved road sat at the bottm, never got past filter). Also heater should be after air filter if to try the mentioned setup.. the separations need the cold only, and the box to keep it, let it out the bottom.. Trying the heat on a duct that just sucks in with no box is going to blow your engine.

for subaru gurus who are familiar (newer subes got even weirder with airboxes- the loyale has two, like my own build). I used the genius of the loyale version, and gave it some american muscle. About as smart a hack can get. I used something that worked, and simply make a bigger version.

on a welding note, I need a day afterwards, like the weld the day before, to see what it has become. The towhook is quite robust. This cars model by oem even vibrated bumpers at the ends of its framings.. I will not forget the years I have had this tanked. the towhook is even tougher. Does not care if muffler is nearby. I was impressed already, in other words. this is just a deeper finalizing.

and a last note on airflows. this car gets so tight the power steering track can leak. today there is no leaks, and simply screams like a supercharger at 6500 and beyond. that means the crazy pressure at airbox is truly done. I put that power steering pump together myself, all those little sliding vanes...come to think of it, everything spinning that stupidly fast is put together by me. here is to balanced eyeballs...or is it that conectric self balanced engine doing the work for me..