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Just thought I'd check in. It's been a while since I actually talked about cars n stuff.

We have been here since Sept and now it's time to head back north for more fun. Fortunately Arcadia Ca. doesn't get snow and I'm grateful for that. Conversely, having been raised in Minn. and Iowa, I do appreciate the seasons that you Easterners have. I still truly miss all the seasonal changes.  However, I do recall that after all the fall holidays and celebrations are over, it goes into what I used to call the Winter doldrums for a couple months. For me, that was a dreaded time and I couldn't wait for Spring.  In SoCal. it's a nice time without the raging hot weather and a good time to start on new projects that can be done outside without heatstroke. I'm looking forward to a new car project ! Some of the following photos are of my new Subaru engine waiting for me in the garage when I return from Baja Mexico. Ever since we arrived down here this engine has been driving me nuts with the anticipation of getting started on a Spyder from Greg. That will start very soon now.

The other photos are just small windows of the beauty around here in Loreto Baja Mex.  We had our home painted just before Christmas and the next morning after it was finished we had this beautiful sunrise which illuminated the sky in the west over our home so I thought I would share that with you. The next was a photo of our neighborhood  New Year Day Pig Roast. The whole pig was wrapped in banana leaves and buried in the ground in a pit lined with red hot lava rocks for 30 hours. Fifty four people "pigged out"!!  The last is a photo of my wonderful wife who puts up with my "madness " for building all sorts of things.

Lastly, Thank all of you for being my friends and sharing your experiences ! I hope that we all will have a chance to meet in person at various times throughout the coming years. I might even get to Carlisle this year. Probably with out my new ride but that's OK............Our Best to all of you...........Bruce n Susan

Attachments

Images (7)
  • IMG_0602: Subaru DOHC N/A. 220hp
  • IMG_0603: Subaru DOHC N/A 220hp
  • IMG_0604: Subaru DOHC  N/A 220hp
  • IMG_1090: Sunrise looking West
  • IMG_1088: Sunrise looking East
  • IMG_1133: 2019 Pig Roast
  • IMG_1142: Susan and her friend on the garage
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aircooled posted:

Just thought I'd check in. It's been a while since I actually talked about cars n stuff.

 

Lastly, Thank all of you for being my friends and sharing your experiences ! I hope that we all will have a chance to meet in person at various times throughout the coming years. I might even get to Carlisle this year. Probably with out my new ride but that's OK............Our Best to all of you...........Bruce n Susan

Wow, Bruce....LARGE congrats on all I can see. Could you please give a little info on the engine ? It looks to be wired and plumbed and ready to go. What Soob engine is that one, why did you chose that particular engine and where did you get it ? 

Wolfgang....I think I'll just keep using "Aircooled" since I'm a little bit known by it now. I guess I could say that the Subaru is still air cooled since it cools the water circulated inside. This subject reminds me of what an old mechanic once told me when I was trying to get info to solve an engine overheating problem I was having. ( A 389 Pontiac V-8 in an Austin Healy 3000) ( I also had a Jaguar XK 140  6 cyl. in a Ford Falcon). Both miserable endeavors ! Anyway, this old sage mechanic said, "Well Son, you've one or both of two problems. The air ain't cooling the water or the water ain't cooling the engine !" Surprisingly, I was 50% on my way to finding the problem with that information. That's another story for later though.

David.... Basically it's an EJ25 DOHC with an after market ECU that the builder (Outfront Off Road in Buena Park Ca.  I chose the Subaru because of it's relatively low CG and high power production W/O a turbo. Also I just wanted to break away from our old air cooled technology and venture into the modern realm of ECU's for example. It's been a long time since I wrenched on a water-pumper too. 

The engine has been totally overhauled and in the process I added lots of shiny stuff so it will look brilliant when the lid is lifted. I'm pretty sure I will polish the transaxle to match it. I'm not sure what the trans will be yet. Either a VW or a Subaru though. The engine is set up for VW right now.

For me, this is the first time I have NOT built my motor from the crank up so even that is new ground. Looking inside of my Subaru crankcase as it was being built just dazzled the crap out of me.  Jeez !...A 5 main bearing crank !  Ultra strong looking crank case with heads to match !!  Oh....And don't forget DOHC !  You know ! ........When you look at those MASSIVE valve covers on any DOHC engine !

Anyway......I'm pretty anxious/excited to get started  !  2019 is gonna be fun ...Aircooled

Aircooled wrote: “engine overheating problem I was having. ( A 389 Pontiac V-8 in an Austin Healy 3000”

OMG!  My brother and his friend did that exact same thing back in athe 1960’s!   Once they (almost) solved the overheating problem, the next problem was MASSIVE axle hop after dumping the clutch in 1’st and 2’nd, plus this nagging habit of always wanting to keep going straight ahead on almost any turn.

Guess you were not alone in your efforts.

Yup....This was 1965  Gordon.  Didn't have a lot of $ back then to fix the overheat problem.  More radiator was needed and a customer one was  not in my budget. It took about a half hour to overheat but we got into plenty of mischief in that amount of time before shutting it down in the local Rod's restaurant to cool off.  My brother told me how to fix the wheel hop with some home made traction bars. Transmissions became the next weak link . Scary when I would stand on it !  ..........Bruce

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