cmc subby project

HOLY COW, Dustin - What a beautiful car!

Tell your wife I LOVE the interior.  Porsche did a bunch of different interiors - Plaids, Houndstooth, Checkered Flag motif and lots more - during the '70's so your red plaid isn't all that out of place on an outlaw.

Lots of very nice touches - Keep it up and keep the photos coming!

Gordon - The Speedstah Guy from Massachusetts

Happy Holidays in Mesa!  Get in touch with Cory McCloskey on here - he's over in Phoenix and likes to ride!

Very nice, The Scotsman will definetely like it  

I think you're doing just great. I find it refreshing to see an another homebuild going on. I realize that it's not for everyone and it makes me feel...well...just a bit more normal.  :-)

Several of us have done home brew Soob conversions. Ed Ericson did one for his MGTD replica too. My cooling system works very well with an almost horizontal Saab rad up front. I put a heater in it too mounted behind the rear seat area and it works well. I chickened out of the electronics and put a Weber carb on mine with a Ford Escort ignition system. I find it interesting to see what others have done. How did you configure your cooling system ? 

While most on this list have and prefer air cooled engines, there is some movement towards liquid cooled for a variety of reasons. Welcome.

I like the touch of the Subbie stars on the back!  Motor on!

Thank you for all the posative replies. I love driving the car and do most days. While this is my first kit car build I'm not new to putting a modern engine in an old car. I own a 70 mini cope rhd with a honda vtec, built a mid travel manx with a ecotech. This is my favorite build though,and hope to do a 550 someday.

David Stroud posted:

I think you're doing just great. I find it refreshing to see an another homebuild going on. I realize that it's not for everyone and it makes me feel...well...just a bit more normal.  :-)

Several of us have done home brew Soob conversions. Ed Ericson did one for his MGTD replica too. My cooling system works very well with an almost horizontal Saab rad up front. I put a heater in it too mounted behind the rear seat area and it works well. I chickened out of the electronics and put a Weber carb on mine with a Ford Escort ignition system. I find it interesting to see what others have done. How did you configure your cooling system ? 

While most on this list have and prefer air cooled engines, there is some movement towards liquid cooled for a variety of reasons. Welcome.

That is a beautiful car,nice work. That seems like a lot more work to go carb,did you already know about the escort system or was it trial and error? I know the best place for a rad is up front, but was so much easier in the rear.so far so good. Thank you for the posative response,dusty 

dustin posted:

That is a beautiful car,nice work. That seems like a lot more work to go carb,did you already know about the escort system or was it trial and error? I know the best place for a rad is up front, but was so much easier in the rear.so far so good. Thank you for the posative response,dusty 

Thanks, Dustin. I've got an older IM with very little cash invested in it. My first two engines were straight out of a junkyard. About $350 each. I'm  fairly old school and I don't like electronics. Internet research led me to the Megajolt ignition system using the Ford EDIS parts. Easy for me to do and I saw enough of modifying the Soob wiring harness to scare me off.

The cooling was a learning curve I could not avoid. I did try a rear mounted rad at first but it looked like hell, everything was in the way...exhaust etc. so I just gave up and mounted a Saab rad up front. From what I read on the net, a rear mounted rad was a bad choice but perhaps your setup is a good bet. My coolant goes up to the front and back via a pair of 1 1/2" aluminum tubes that used to be wing spars off a hang glider. I did most everything on the cheap not knowing if the end result would be a viable setup. It seems it is. The cooling was the trickiest  part to figure out for me and I did make several trips from Canada down to Key West with a dicey system.

I finally got it sorted out and since everything seems to work fine I invested in a beefed up tranny with 3.44:1 R& P and built a Frankenmotor out of rebuilt 2.2l heads and a low mileage JDM motor. Here's a dirty pic of the engine and a rough sketch of the cooling system which works best for me. 

The internet is an excellent source of info for me. I discovered that the '90's 2.2l Soob engines have a location on the back of one of the heads where you can bolt in a mid '80's Ford Escort distributor with no mods required. Stand alone old school stuff again. 

Please keep us posted on your progress.

I love the subaru platform. Like a small block chevy,everything interchanges.I owm 2 a wrx and forester xt both over 300whp. How do you like your gear ratio?that's my next project was gonna go 3.88 with taller 4th,any opnion? When I'm done with the speedster I'm gonna do a 550 with big hp and a subby 6sp,at least that's the plan. I went to seduction to look at the 550 they had on consignment but had just sold it.

Dustin: you need to buy a new camera, some of those shots are petty fuzzy.  But what you can do w/ a car is awesome.  Love the interior.  We would love more pics of the set-up, and all the cool stuff you've done.  Party on!!

Gordon Nichols posted:

HOLY COW, Dustin - What a beautiful car!

Tell your wife I LOVE the interior.  Porsche did a bunch of different interiors - Plaids, Houndstooth, Checkered Flag motif and lots more - during the '70's so your red plaid isn't all that out of place on an outlaw.

Lots of very nice touches - Keep it up and keep the photos coming!

Gordon - The Speedstah Guy from Massachusetts

Happy Holidays in Mesa!  Get in touch with Cory McCloskey on here - he's over in Phoenix and likes to ride!

Thanks gordon, Cory mccloskey is somewhat famous here. He is on the local news, doubt he has time to talk to a gear head. I do need to find some local groups though(coffee & cars). I've just recently got the car sorted enough to trust it more than 20 miles. The afternoons here are great 60-70 drive it daily.

Cory is a down to earth guy and I'm sure would love to meet you. Just send him a message. Perhaps the three of us can get together for coffee and cars.

dustin posted:

I love the subaru platform. Like a small block chevy,everything interchanges.I owm 2 a wrx and forester xt both over 300whp. How do you like your gear ratio?that's my next project was gonna go 3.88 with taller 4th,any opnion? When I'm done with the speedster I'm gonna do a 550 with big hp and a subby 6sp,at least that's the plan. I went to seduction to look at the 550 they had on consignment but had just sold it.

My gear ratio involves stock 1st through 4th and the 3:44  r&9. Nothing fancy...most of my driving is cruising or long distance highway and it pulls well with the Soob torque while good gas mileage too. 3.88 is 94% of 4.125 so a first with stock ratio would be still more of a stump puller. I found the 83.39 % by the 3.44 better for my application. 

If you ask questions about what's the ideal gear ratio set, you'll get plenty of opinions for an ideal setup including 5 speeds.  You'd likely get more agreement if you asked what's a nice pair of legs is supposed to look like on a woman. :-) Plenty of info on the search function too. 

David, you've done some stellar stuff all by yourself for sure... I think I remember that  Tom's new Beck Subie also has 3:44 as well.. I think it works well for him too. I had that in my 2110cc and it worked well in my first IM... just saying. 

dustin posted:

Gordon Nichols posted:

HOLY COW, Dustin - What a beautiful car!

Tell your wife I LOVE the interior.  Porsche did a bunch of different interiors - Plaids, Houndstooth, Checkered Flag motif and lots more - during the '70's so your red plaid isn't all that out of place on an outlaw.

Lots of very nice touches - Keep it up and keep the photos coming!

Gordon - The Speedstah Guy from Massachusetts

Happy Holidays in Mesa!  Get in touch with Cory McCloskey on here - he's over in Phoenix and likes to ride!

Thanks gordon, Cory mccloskey is somewhat famous here. He is on the local news, doubt he has time to talk to a gear head. I do need to find some local groups though(coffee & cars). I've just recently got the car sorted enough to trust it more than 20 miles. The afternoons here are great 60-70 drive it daily.

@Cory McCloskey

He's right here on the SOC. Send him a message, he's a real cool guy.

He seems like a real nice guy, and definitely has good taste in cars his is gorgeous. I'm undecided on a gear ratio, probably make a game time decision here in January. Can't believe my stock trans with 4.11 have held up and I drive it like I stole it.

Here is a few more pics I found. I love my projection light on the floor,everyone thinks there floor mats.

You're car looks great!  What size tires and what width wheels are you running?   They seem snug on the back, but look good.

James

Stock wheels 165/80/15 nankang's

With that much power, you're really going to need something wider in the back. If you look at the space inside of the wheel/tire, how much room is there before you get to the springplate and top of the shock tower? You could have the wheels widened (to the inside, of course) 1" (or 1 1/2") and then you could run 185/65's. Ask around at any tire place that does a lot of high performance and hot rod stuff and they'll know who can do it. Expect to pay 100-$200/wheel. It's not cheap, but you have to look at the end result. Al

PS- we can find ways to spend your money....

                    Merry Christmas everybody!!!                                           _{(that includes you too, somewhat new guy Tebs)}                             

That's a great car.  I love the 'racer' look, and that interior is beautiful!

Two thumbs up!

Ive been in this thing... Holy **** its fast. 

To much power for the stock clutch aleast the way I drive it. Putting in a Kennedy stage 1.when are we going to subby yours drew?