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Old Skool Subbie

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Everything posted by Old Skool Subbie

  1. I used fog x in a few different applications and never had it work. One time we used it on a prewar car. It just still foged up. had to wipe all the fogging up and condensation off the glass 2 see out. Rain X worked fantastic. Worked better on the prewar cars glass. since it was more vertical than modern windsceens. It just beaded off even in the heavyest rain. Never had to use the window wipers for a few years untill it wore off. Out of interest- where abouts do you get the heater lines etc from? Thanks
  2. Same thing happened with drug company sponsorship. Didnt that happened to the Propeca Rally of NZ?
  3. 7.4 Group B Cars 7.4.1 Those Group B cars regulated out by the FIA in period from rallies for safety reasons, can only be used for circuit racing, in hill-climbs and demonstrations / parades and their HTP must be checked by the Historic Motor Sport Commission before being issued. These cars are the following: Audi Sport Quattro S1 Homologation n° B-264 Austin Rover MG Metro 6R4 Homologation n° B-277 Citroën BX 4TC Homologation n° B-279 Ford RS 200 Homologation n° B-280 Fuji Subaru XT 4WD Turbo Homologation n° B-275 Lancia Delta S4 Homologation n° B-276 Peugeot 205 T16 Homologation n° B-262 Other Group B cars may participate in events without restrictions.
  4. Well guess what.... It turns out the Subaru XT 4WD Turbo has Homologation for Group B in 1986 I just saw it in the FIA rule book. Thing is we dont actually know if they built the Group B XT? There are pics of a Subaru World Rally Team XT turbo. Weather this was the car to be turned into the group B car or another one built for other classes we just dont know....?
  5. Saw this on the FT86 Site so thought I would put it up here. Such a great read. I so cant wait to take the FT86 out for a test drive once they come out. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/08/the-truth-about-the-ft-86-straight-from-the-mouth-of-the-chief-engineer/ “When we started working on the FT-86 we had no idea where we would end up,” said Tetsuya Tada, whom I met last Sunday to talk about his work. The FT-86 that eventually took shape on this blank sheet will be in showrooms down the street from you, all over the world, next year. The FT-86 ”may just be the car to herald Toyota’s ‘second renaissance,” if some enthusiast blogs are right. At the very least, this car will change how we think and dream of a sport scar: We won’t. This is not a dream car. For most of us, it will be an impulse buy. Tetsuya Tada tells its story. Tetsuya Tada is the Chief Engineer of the FT-86, Toyota’s new sports car that had powered the rumor mills for many years. Some enthusiast blogs enthusiastically painted Tada as the “Jason Bourne of Toyota Sports car development.” If that is the case, then he is the friendliest and most unassuming Jason Bourne I ever heard of. He is the man I’d expect to see carrying two bags when I take out my carefully sorted garbage after midnight in a quiet Japanese neighborhood. As a Toyota Chief Engineer however, Tada carries more responsibility and more power than the Ludlum hero. Scott Bellware once described the role of a Chief Engineer at Toyota like this: Tada indeed is a rare person. Dressed in khaki pants and a striped shirt, the affable attitude accentuated by rimless glasses, he hides all that power well. We met last Sunday at Toyota’s Megaweb down by the waterfront. Megaweb is part theme park, part test drive venue. We met there, because an FT-86 prototype is on display. We didn’t go there to drive it. First off, Megaweb is not a test track. It was barely appropriate to give the iQ a slow spin. Second, most of the FT-86 is still a secret. Doors and hatches of the car on display are locked tight. So were the lips of its Chief Engineer. “You can ask anything except specs and price,” Tada-san announced after we found a quiet space away from the din of the Megaweb. “In that case, let’s have lunch,” was my answer. In lieu of talking about cars, we found out that Tada lived where I lived during his time in Germany: In Düsseldorf Oberkassel, me because of its watering holes, him because of the Japanese school. Japan’s Jason Bourne is a dad who rather did a 100km round trip commute to Toyota Cologne each day than put his children’s education at risk. Speaking of lunch, we established that we both had regular lunch at the Kikaku, Düsseldorf’s best sushi place. That created a bit of bonding, and Tada started talking about the car. When Tada stared at a white page, it was 2007. He didn’t know what to think: The customers wanted more: They wanted a sports car for less. A Veyron makes for good copy and dreams. But it also causes can’t-have-it frustrations. Tada listened intently to his future customers: Tada and his team set out to design the impossible. A year later, they had the design, the specs, and the price point. Tada presented it to the board of Toyota. The concept was approved. The project had an important advocate on the board: Akio Toyoda. At the time, the CEO was Katsuaki Watanabe. The time was 2008, and all over the world, the skies were falling. Tada puts it in his trademark humble words when he describes the boardroom discussions: At the height of carmageddon, Tada received the go-ahead for what we would call an “enthusiast car.” The Japanese have a more befitting description. It’s a “nekkyousha car” a car for maniacs – in a good way. It helped that Toyota’s resident auto otaku, Akio Toyoda, was behind the concept, and it helped even more that he became President of Toyota a year later. Asked what changed for the FT-86 when Toyoda took the helm of Toyota, Tada says: ”He became one of our test drivers.” Asked what it means when you work in the shadow, but also in full view of the President of the world’s largest carmaker, Tada changes the subject. His true boss is the customer, and the customer didn’t want another rice racer: As for low to the ground, Tada promises a “production car with the world’s lowest center of gravity.” The FT-86 will be a tinkerer’s car. The car is named “FT-86” for a reason. Toyota wants to make a mental connection to the AE86, the archetypical cult-craze car from the Star Wars era. Nearly 20 years later, the hachiroku (Japanese for 86) still commands a following for which some modern day Messiahs would kill. Toyota wants to build a new millennium hachiroku so bad, they even kept the number. Says Tada: Tada indeed is a rare person. The Teutonic engineers I grew up with used go into convulsions or threw screaming fits when people modified “their cars” – except maybe using factory-approved and overpriced accessories. Tada smiles when you ask him whether is hurts his pride as an engineer when the people of SEMA gang-rape “his car.” “Yes.” A short, but honest answer. Isn’t it painful to spend years designing the perfect car, and to make it so perfect in a sense that some guys in a garage can modify it beyond recognition without even breaking a sweat or lighting a welder? “Yes.” The Chief Engineer’s sensitivities are touched by the most benign act of modding – the choice of tires: That owner may not need a lot of money, but he will need to know how to drive. He will need to use his own brain and the seat of his own pants. Tada had jotted down the principle in his self-derived design guide, and he sticks with it: The FT-86 has about half of the computing power that is dragged around in a modern day car. The preferred shifter is a stick. An automatic is optional. The slushbox is nothing fancy. “No DSG or anything of that kind,” says Tada, and is proud. Sure, the automatic has a computer, but the shift points cannot be changed – at least not at the flip of a switch in the dashboard. Computers want to keep you on the straight and narrow, but some FT-86 owners want that car to go sideways. If you need nannies, go down to the children’s hospital. The FT-86 will be built at Fuji Heavy’s Subaru, and when I mention that, the engineer’s pride shifts into low gear – for extra revs. Tada quickly explains that this is just contract production, and it’s the same as “when we make cars at Central Motors or Kanto Auto Works.” Both are separate companies, but they are also part of the greater Toyota empire. Toyota owns a good chunk of Fuji Heavy, so Subaru is part of the family – in a way. Subaru will produce its own version, probably called the BRZ. Both companies also developed the car together, and that must have been an interesting exercise. Recalls Tada: In the maniac, well, enthusiast scene, it is pretty much gospel that the cars use Subaru’s flat four “D4-S” boxer engine. Depending on whom you believe, the production engine ranges from a tried & true to a refined & modified D4-S. That elicits protests from Tada, as loud as the softspoken man can manage: Imagine how much engineer’s pride that one did cost. A completely new engine was developed. At the same time it comes with an invitation to be swapped for whatever follows the Subaru bolt pattern. After years of concept cars, the production version of the FT-86 will debut at the Tokyo Motor Show, December 2 – December 11, 2011. “Next year” (most likely in spring), the car will be launched. It won’t be available in Japan first and years later elsewhere. It will, says Tada, be available next year “all over the world.” In the U.S., it will definitely by a Scion. In the rest of the world, it will be a Toyota. Jack Baruth and Sajeev Mehta equipped me with a long list of questions. After Tada’s initial admonition that we can talk about everything except specs and price, I didn’t have much hope for answers, but nonetheless, I tried. The following Q&A ensued: “Can you tell me the weight?” “No.” “Can you tell me the horsepower?” “No.” “Can you tell me the weight distribution?” “No.” “Can you tell me the price” “No. It will be affordable.” “Suspension?” “McPherson, double wishbone.” And a smile. And so it went while Tada was conspicuously consulting his watch, signaling that time, patience, or both are running out. All I could do was to use the old investigative reporter trick, put two versions on the table, and ask which one is close. I used the crowd-sourced specs from the fountain of knowledge. Tada eye-balls both. And gives his verdict. See above. Last question time! “Mr. Tada – is it true that you compared the color of the FT-86 to the ass of a monkey?” Ooops. The Chief Engineer covers his mouth in feigned shock and explains that he indeed had experienced “some trouble” after magazines had written that he indeed had compared the car’s color to a monkey’s derriere. He quickly adds that he had referred not to just any monkey, but to a genuine Japanese monkey, those amicable animals that visit hot springs in wintertime, with icicles dangling from their furs – parts of Japan’s storied heritage. And that’s not all, says Tada. The FT-86 red can also be compared to the world famous Japanese sunset (no sunrise is mentioned) and to the dragonfly. In Japan, the dragonfly is a symbol of courage, strength, and happiness – it even symbolizes the whole Japanese archipelago. So there you have it. The FT-86 is so customizable, so tunable, so hot-roddable that it gives you a choice of associations triggered by its color. Depending on your mood, you can pick sunset, dragonfly, or an entirely appropriate greased monkey. As long as they are Japanese.
  6. I saw this in the latest NZ Performance Car Mag :lol: I liked how they did the drawing for it :twisted: This is pure fantasy. Also a few things that not quite right if it was a 1986 model... Notice the bumper :wink:
  7. A FHI Subaru Justy owns a speed record aswell http://driveperformance.subaru.com/Print.aspx?printpath=/Articles-(1)/dp41/dp41_attic&classname=custom.SDArticle
  8. ah Joker you bet me to it. I saw the link and was going to post it up om here.. Cant wait to see what the subaru verson going to look like Countdown from Subaru Global. http://www.subaru-global.com/11frankfurt/teaser/
  9. What is allowed? Can you have them fitted to a road car. Do you need a cert etc? Thanks
  10. I went and got a nice hot feed of F&Cs earlyer on. I was watching so many cars sliding/ guys losing it on the roads idiots :. But this one thing really stuck out to me...This one old RWD Starlet came around the intersection drifting so slowly. It reminded me of that F&F Tokyo Drift snece when the RX7 driffs thru the that intersection with all the people crossing and they slow it right down
  11. Had that happen twice in my Subarus and it did sound like a tractor... Once I had the O2 sensor fall out. The other time I had had to weld up my exhaust so I pulled the Down pipe off and drove my Vortex down to nite class..
  12. I went out to pick up some tea monday nite. Man it was funny watching the People trying to drive in the Snow. One guy driving a Holden, he did a U turn. then he nailed it and just about slammed the rear wheel into the curb. He jumped back in the car and attemped to take off. Thinking if he gave it more power he could move. He just sat there. Had to push him to get him out. Another guy in a big jacked up off roader with big nobbly tires all most lost it just turning out of his driveway
  13. Does any one have pics of the grand charncler covered in Snow?
  14. I think I may still have a ea71 that has a blown head gasket. It came from a old 1981 4wd leone wagon
  15. EJ single cam conversons is common in the states on the old Gen1 brumbys and 1600cc wagons/sedans like dubbedup has. I cant remember but I think still maybe have to cut a wee notch in the chassie rails? Not much of one needs to be done.
  16. I always wanted to hot rod my old parts coupe. Fast back would be one of the things I would like. But like every thing, it comes down to money I dont have to spend.
  17. 194,000Kms on my old EA81 brumby. Engine Original. Its now powering another brumby 318,000kms on my Legacy Wagon EJ18 SOHC. Engine Original. 300,000kms old turbo EA82T Vortex 1986, That was totally original. Motor never touched. But was very well maintained since new. 1400 would had been around the clock a few times... since its only 5 digit reout on it. Engine Original. 260,000kms SVX EG33. Auto shot tho. Engine Original 300,000kms on dads old Leone EA71 1600cc. Engine Original. It would had been good for another 300,000 if the body didnt rott.
  18. Ive never had a problem with adjusting the hand brakes on my old 1400s/leones/brumbys/vortexs. I just wound the capliers in fitted new brake pads. put foot on the brake. Then adjusted any slack in the hand brake. Has any one forced the cailper in with out winding it in? Hang on come to think of it, I came across one pair on my old blue vortex had a problem. Had to throw away the capliers and put 2nd had replacement ones on.
  19. Some cases its actually cheaper to get a custom alloy raditor made than get the original brand new replacement. this was a few years ago... But for a oem raditor it was going to cost $700. Infact that price mite had just been the price for a replacement plastic tank? I found a place that would do a custom raditor for a reasonal price. Also did check out A1 as well.
  20. Saw this up on the FT86 site. So thought I post it up. TOKYO -- Subaru will display the production version of the long-awaited sporty car it is co-developing with Toyota at the Tokyo Motor Show in December. The rear-wheel-drive car, which has a Subaru-designed drivetrain and Toyota-styled body, goes on sale next year. Toyota will sell its version as a Scion in the United States. Subaru expects a longer-than-average life cycle for the car and is looking at variant packages, including a possible STI version, to keep the offering fresh, says Toshio Masuda, a Subaru senior general manager of product planning. Subaru's STI tuner package typically offers turbocharging, lower profile tires, more powerful brakes and sport-tuned suspension. But going turbo is doubtful: Subaru officials say the vehicle's original concept calls for keeping the engine naturally aspirated. The car will be built on a new line at Subaru's plant in Gumma, Japan. Styling will draw from Toyota FT-86 concepts that have made the auto show rounds since 2009. Power is expected to come from a new generation 2.0-liter, four-cylinder boxer engine that will be used in the redesigned Subaru Impreza arriving this fall. But the engine will be positioned nearly 5 inches lower than in the Impreza to bring down the car's center of gravity and improve handling. The car also will have Toyota's D-4S fuel injection system. And unlike the new Impreza, which gets an option for a continuously variable transmission, the sporty car will get a manual or automatic. Subaru hasn't officially commented on the price. But Japan's Nikkan Kogyo business daily said the company plans to price the car in the $20,000 range http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110530/OEM03/305309986/1423
  21. I liked some of the subjections camble live came up with to use instead of the Wellywood sign.
  22. Just out of interest, Are there any kits that you can buy that come with a reflector and are legal?
  23. It was the concept that turned into the Subaru Baja. Its a Outback ute. Fitted with a small deck.
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