In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
Glad to hear you're alright.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
Glad to hear you're alright.
Hell ya! Looks fantastic!
250 miles of clutch break-in down. It's feeling really good, a little firmer and grippier than the stock clutch without being annoying, and the rest of the car seems happy- all of the emissions monitors have cleared, the check engine light is off, and it has one ABS code for an open circuit due to the missing fuse that doesn't seem to be effecting anything.
Now, a quick note about tires. The car came with a set of Yokohama Avid Envigor somethingorothers on the stock wheels- they have very little wear on them, are about 3 years old, are the right size and set to the right pressures, and are most likely the worst tires I have ever had the misfortune of driving on. And the "most likely" in that sentence only exists because of the various 25 year old corded race tires I've owned and one particularly cheap set of Flying Dragon Radials.
Dry grip is pathetic, wet roads might as well be ice- I can spin the tires in 3rd at 2000rpm. I can't imagine why somebody would buy these. But oh, maybe you're thinking that it sounds like a perfect tire for slidey shenanigans- except the moment you do so much as think the term "slip angle" they emit an ear splitting shriek to let every police officer within a 5 mile radius know that there's a wannabe Tanner Foust over here volunteering to help fill their monthly ticket quota.
The only positive thing I can say about these tires is that they're doing a great job of reminding me to be nice to the clutch during the break-in period.
It never ceases to amaze me how many complete garbage "OEM-type" tires are out there, and how many people buy them. Point in question was the Potenza RE-92s that about 20 OEM cars came with in the early 2000s. Those are some awful tires and I would describe them similar to what you just described the Avids at.
Funnier is that so many sheep would buy the RE-92s again as replacements because they are "the OEM tire" as if that's a good thing and not just a way for manufacturers to cut costs by putting on some crap tires that one of the tire companies can't actually sell to thinking customers...
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
I've never put OEM tires back on a car...
This longboi is now hogging the shop because everything in the hydroboost system exploded:
First the hydroboost itself leaked a whole lot, and annoyingly the inside of it is scored pretty badly so I can't get away with a cheap rebuild kit:
The power steering pump was also making some pretty horrific noises, and since it destroyed my pulley puller I had to remove the entire cast iron accessory bracket to change it:
And, when I pulled it inside, it shot power steering fluid out through the grill because it ruptured the power steering cooler:
I'll be taking this opportunity to upgrade the pump and booster to the improved 2011 units, and will replace the cooler with a bigger one. This has rapidly become a much more involved project than I wanted, but to GM's credit, absolutely everything on the 8.1 is cast iron so I can pry and flail and hit stuff with hammers without worrying about it.
Well hot damn, I just read this whole thing and I'm just blown away by everything. I have absolutely nothing to contribute, and will now go back to lurking. Great job, and come to rally-x this weekend!
Ive been there on the hydroboost, even when you fix them they still leak. I hate them.
great idea to loose a serp belt you cant steer or brake, berkeleying idiots...
Fresh pump, hydroboost unit, and oversized power steering cooler installed and the truck is back in action. The steering and brakes feel pretty great by 3/4 ton truck standards:
It's worth noting that, while the 2011 pump and hydroboost fit, they take a little fiddling with bending lines and remaking a low pressure hose- not a huge deal but annoying. The brake switch shift interlock is acting funky now so I'm not sure it survived the repairs, I'll replace that when it gets here- it's an incredibly stupid design that relies on slop in the pedal linkage to trigger it. The more I work on GM stuff the more I'm convinced that drinking on the job is encouraged in their engineering department.
In other news, I'm signed up for two days of DC rallycross at Summit Point this weekend.
In other other news, the rear sway bar from a frisbee bolts right up to an '08 Outback Sport and makes for a nice increase in roll stiffness.
I said I was going to leave the suspension alone for now, but then a pair of 14" long 200lb/in King springs popped up on eBay at a deep discount so:
Totally eyeballed the height settings and the car settled right back to the same ride height:
I drove it briefly and it feels more composed at the back, at least on Bucks County's finest choppy pavement. I think it'll have to go back to stiffer springs with all of the rally stuff in the trunk, but this is hopefully a nice rallycross setup.
I would bet the unsettled feeling on stiffer springs is mostly due to the Torsen diff- since it basically becomes open when one of the rear wheels becomes unloaded, it's easy to have the tail step out over a bump if the rear suspension isn't as compliant as you can reasonably get away with. We'll see how it works this weekend!
Interesting, those new springs have the coils much closer together than the other ones, will coil bind not be an issue due to the height of the spring? I had severe coil bind on the rear of my car when I switched to linear/coilover springs, but they were only half that length, and were on the control arm. Looking forward to seeing the car this weekend!
In reply to 95maxrider :
14" spring, 7" travel shock. More of the space in the spring is open than taken up by coils, so I think it'll be fine unless I run a crazy amount of preload, but that concern is exactly why I run the longest spring that I can fit.
so you making plans for LSPR or what? If you need a stop over you got room here on the way up outside of the Detroit area.
In reply to fidelity101 (Forum Supporter) :
I could crew maybe, but I'm not planning to have this car caged by then. Cage time is probably over the winter. Thanks for the offer though!
I need you to beat on Santiago while I beat on Al.
In reply to fidelity101 (Forum Supporter) :
Badly enough for you to put the cage in for me? 
So about that frisbee swaybar on the outback.... easy swap? You happy with the outback? Considering one to replace my 128 in the next year or so
In reply to shagles :
Bolts on like it's meant to be there! The Outback Sport is slow as hell, but has been reliable and is super easy to work on. I think they're generally way overpriced, we bought ours cheap with blown head gaskets and destroyed suspension and fixed stuff. I'd probably get a WRX if I were doing the whole thing over again, assuming I could find one in similarly cheap/broken condition.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
Good to know.
Also, loving the King stuff on a rally car. I come from the Tacoma world and some kings on a truck a while back. Rarely see them on anything but trucks.
Ya know, for all the hate on the hydroboost, it does make the brakes better over a vacuum system. I still dont know how you manage to live with driving that limo though, I have the extended cab/short bed and I still feel it's too long sometimes.
In reply to Gaunt596 :
I think this was relevant when brakes were E36 M3, but everyone uses a vacuum booster, none of these huge engines have crazy overlap or poor vacuum. Just stubburness, its quite a terrible system but you are right it does work really well when it does but its just too complex for what it is and plenty of failure points.
new dodge 2500s use a vacuum booster, its not a big deal and its simple - therefore it works. one less fluid to leak is nice too.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:In reply to shagles :
Bolts on like it's meant to be there! The Outback is slow as hell, but has been reliable and is super easy to work on. I think they're generally way overpriced, we bought ours cheap with blown head gaskets and destroyed suspension and fixed stuff. I'd probably get a WRX if I were doing the whole thing over again, assuming I could find one in similarly cheap/broken condition.
Just to be clear, you are talking about an Outback Sport (Impreza based), not an Outback (Legacy based, different rear suspension), correct?
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
Correct, "Impreza Outback Sport" sorry about not being specific.
I'm about to spend a whole weekend outside at Summit Point and sleeping in a tent, I should really be relaxing a little so that I don't die. So why am I at the junkyard?
That is what's left of an is300, the only car that shares a differential housing with the frisbee twins. This one has an open diff, unfortunately, but $50 is a hard price to pass up:
Man that thing is heavy. I'm not even sure I will use this diff or anything in it, but it'll enable me to take it apart, measure things, and try to come up with clever solutions for a final drive that doesn't cost $600 and a clutch plate LSD that doesn't cost $1500.
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