Flinkly

cruised past 125k yesterday, apparently. filled it with gas and while marking down the numbers i noticed i'd missed it by 22 miles... bought it with 55k on the clock, so 70k is all me. and 7 years. here's to another 70k and/or 7 years, whichever comes first.

VDC - Destroyer of component swaps...

poor 'chopping. the cat is out of scale, among other things...

Got on the schedule to get a new jackshaft garage door operator installed. gonna be super quiet compared to our chain drive, which is why we're doing it. will be internet capable too with fancy features...

he's building on what i think is called "Hydroblock". a closed cell foam board with a skin layer of modified concrete (i think for "stickiness" to the tile adhesive stuff - mortar?). wife pulled up Youtube videos of people using it and all i could see was the 18 joints they were sealing up along just the floor. what happens when one joint or once section of a joint isn't sealed? or when it isn't sealed a few years after install? slow water leak and major damage. hopefully we're out by then... and i'm sure we're going to be the lucky 95% of people that don't have a problem. crosses fingers. the pan i wanted: but instead of alcove, wall on left and back, shower head on left, bench on right side (beyond the pan, bench in tile...), and glass walls on front and right at end of bench. but it's not happening. lol

my wife is in it for form, i'm in it for function. she asked why have an ugly white shower pan (which i was opting for a Kohler Groove pan in white, with aluminum drain trough cover. i thought that was pretty chic...), i told her it'd be easier to clean and much lower chance for leaks. and if it does, it'll be obvious (I assume a crack, cause i've never seen a pan leak). she asked the contractor (of course, cause i'm not a professional and my opinion is invalid) and he said a tile floor will last longer than a fiberglass/acrylic pan (both fading and physical durability) and said they don't leak and are way easier to keep clean (tile). he obviously isn't around for the leak down the road, or the monthly cleaning of the rough tile/grout floor with tons of little tiles and grout lines... also, all three of our current acryilic pans/showers/tubs are all just fine, and 20 years old. no leaks, no discoloration, no replacements due to issues.

I still need to capture a picture, but this is all in the master bath. there's also another bathroom on the second floor for the kids with a basic shower/tub combo (as well as sink and toilet). there's also a half bath downstairs, which has so much room that we'll either pull the laundry into it eventually, or could add in a shower as well. it's awkwardly big at the moment, and has a pedestal sink too, to maximize the giantness emptiness. the current tub is in a built out box that's ~40" wide by 76" long, with a strange 3" merger wall (between tub box and vanity), then a ~80" double sink vanity (currently like 32" tall). so we're essentially replacing the tub space with a shower (with a bench on the vanity end) and will put the new vanity in the same vanity spot. current shower is in a 36x36 alcove, but is 33x33 inside, but some is taken up by shower head/control, etc. tiny master bath shower in a giant master bath. just chose out tile today. i wanted an acrylic shower pan and would give in so the wife could have tile walls, but she got the tile floor she wants. i've just heard so many leak/water damage stories. the new vanity arrived and is in the garage, and the countertop people are paid and waiting for the vanity to be installed. the bathroom will continue to have a grey wood looking vinyl plank just like i installed (some is being redone due to the layout changes). also getting a new toilet to replace the "builders special" that clogs for any solid matter. so wait, you guys think that a 42" x 60" shower is big? i mean, it's not small, but the space is there and a standard alcove is 36x60. and they sell 42x60, 48x60, and even sizes up to 66 and 70+. usually not over 48" wide though unless square.

at least no plants are growing under there (probably), weeds or not. might be a few snakes though. our neighbor just gave us a free big pile of barkdust, so our front looks pretty good again. need to fix a front sprinkler line that cracked, and a few valve heads, and get back on the watering in the front. homeownership. there's always something. oh yeah, and to follow up on my last group of posts, we had the leak on the front of our house, lots of rot and mold, had it all repaired and figured we'd submit a claim to insurance (they denied it all for several reasons), and now they're demanding we take a bunch of our siding and some roof off to redo all the flashing on the house cause the builders built it wrong, or else they'll drop us. funniest part is that no insurance person has ever been at this home before (we've also had a roofing person out to specifically look at the roof flashing and he added a few things). so we're looking for a new insurance provider, cause we're not taking all our siding off. insurance. what a pain in the @ss.

i guess i can take some before photo's, but we were going to have a little work done to our master bath (new 36" vanity, new tile around tub, new shower door and fan, etc.) but just friday we decided to remove the tub entirely and put in a giant shower there (42" x 60" with 15" bench). we'll swallow up the current 36x36 shower alcove into the master closet. no tub (we almost never use it...). i'll get a before picture up so that it's more meaningful to add an after picture. i do keep trying to get the wife to let us putnin an ofuro tub to put in that alcove instead, but i think it'd have to be free for her to agree (and none of the ofuro tubs are free...).

funny. your body panels seem rounded off. it's got to be just the rear bumper that's making me think that though. or maybe it's the corner bumper guards (the black strips).

i was wondering the same thing the whole time i was reading the last few posts. that, and how most aftermarket filters aren't made to Subaru spec (which probably doesn't matter as much to a race engine).

never thought to look for pussy at the local oriental market...

hmmm.... their site seems to be down. maybe due to the rush of traffic you just caused.

I tend to go to the Depot to get lighting, Lithonia Lighting has yet to fail me. Used their low temp florescent lights in the last home i was in, and their LED lights in the new one. mucho light. and when shopping locally, you can return to get good/unbroken lights. I did get quartz countertops installed. been meaning to post up a picture...

i think that may be a finger....

it's got a 90 bend in it right where it hooks to the manifold. but could take it out under the TMIC (if you used a straight hose). i'd almost suspect that the BPV to BPV-inlet hose (or some other seal) is blowing oil onto that tube though.

cause their awesome wheels. super light and good looking. and obviously comes in a reasonable fitment.

this is where the "knowledge" begins to break down though (not that it was ever based in fact anyways... ). While 2x 2.5" pipes are only ~2% larger cross sectional area than a single 3.5" pipe, the drag on the flow from the tube walls is (approximately; comparison of total circumference) 43% higher. If you really wanted to get to the same "performance" as a single 3.5", you'd need to go larger. In simple terms, the engine is going to have to push harder to get the exhaust out the tailpipe(s) with 2x 2.5" pipes than 1x 3.5" pipes, which is lost performance. This idea is also why we use round pipes and keep it as straight as possible. might be one of the reasons that Subaru did 2.5" pipe split into 2x 2.25" pipes and not 2x 1.75" pipes.

you make taking off the intake sound like a breeze.

just to round out the exhaust discussion, a famous exhaust dude (granted, worked on V8's most of the time) stated that: - A pipe flows 115 CFM per square inch of cross sectional area - You need 2.2 CFM of flow capacity per HP (this is probably not based in science, more likely experience...) So for 350hp, you need ~3" exhaust. It does make me wonder what you actually need, in a science/data way...

i wish there was an OEM style single muffler with 2.5" in and out. nothing since the old STI days and it's too long and tall to fit where ours belong. beginning to think about a custom muffler... i'll add it to the list of things i need and want to do but never get around to.

doesn't disabling VDC also disable ABS? that's always been my main concern with the current status of the swap.

In an attempt to lay all my "snakes" straight, here's my plan (...and does it make sense?): Notes: - Battery still in engine bay - Following the UD FPCM & FP wiring upgrade chart (except wire GA) 1 - 6 GA battery cable from Battery+ to FPCM B+ (with fuse and relay) 2 - 10 or 12 GA for FPCM FP+/FP- to FP (with original wiring) Questions: - Why use a 30A fuse or 40A relay when the pump (DW65c in this case) only maxes out at 14.6A @ 100psi? (norm is more like 12A @ 45psi) I feel like a 20A fuse and 30A relay would be sufficient, if not still overkill. (stock fuse is 15A...) - And your wiring upgrade (Underdog) was from a trunk-located battery to the trunk-located FPCM/relay/fuse with 10/12 GA wire and ended up with .05V drop? seemed like that would take a 6 GA wire from the engine bay to the trunk to accomplish the same result. yeah?

45 minutes to remove and replace the master damper and bleed the system?!? i haven't done it cause i'm afraid of running out of time and needing my DD. and i've temporarily lost my garage parking spot. and it's cold and wet and slanted in my driveway. and i'm lazy. lol.