Bajas in South America

[jseabolt]

First of all, I'm new to the forum. I bought my '03 Baja about two weeks before Christmas in 2002. So I own one of the first Bajas built. It's been a very good car. It's a 5 speed and it took me awhile to find a manual with all the options I wanted. Unfortunatly I couldn't find one with heated seats. Apparantly they didn't send any Bajas to the southeast with butt warmers. I can understand not installing block and battery heaters since the average low at night in the winter is around 27F but why not seat warmers?

It's got about 55,000 miles on it. The only trouble I've had was #2 plug wire developed corrosion and triggered the check engine light and one time the bed extender shrank after sitting in my basement for a month. Other than that it's been a very good car.

My only complaint is the oil consumption. I own allot of old cars that naturally use oil even from the factory but my Baja has always seemed to use oil. One time at 7K miles it lost a quart. The next oil change it didn't. Right now it's using about a quart every 3000 miles. Which is nothing to worry about. I just expected a modern vehicle to not start using oil until it hit 150,000 miles. I change the oil and rotate the tires myself every 5K miles.

I seem to believe allot of unsold Bajas were shipped to South America. I was watching an unrelated clip on TV from Chile and caught a glimpse of what I think was a Baja. Then there is some guy from Chile on You Tube doing doughnuts in a sand dune. But I haven't found any information on this.

I bumped into a guy at the gas station with an '06 he bought in 2007. The way he talked he got a really good deal on the car because it had sat on the lot for awhile. he said he heard there was a storage facility in Alabama that had several unsold Bajas. I just wonder if these cars were shipped out of the country because nobody would buy them?

It's such a shame because the Baja has everything I need in a car/truck. I think it would have been a big seller in Australia where Utes are popular. But sort of expected it to be a hard sell here in the US when the local Chevrolet/Subaru dealer was selling full size 4 wheel drive Chevy trucks for $17,000 along side of $25,000 Bajas.

I do wish they had left the body cladding off and the stainless steel rolls bars and made the roof rack rails removable. I removed my roof rack rails along time ago. I've read that the body cladding turned allot of people off.

I'll post some pics when I get home. Like stuff I've hauled in the past, my homemade bike carrier, $20 bed mat I cut from a utility mat. I'm also working on a performance intake system. Hopefully the 45 rubber boots will be here Monday.

[YBajaSteve]

45 rubber boots???? Post pics or it didnt happen!!! Interesting thought about Bajas in South America. Arent they made in Mexico or something like that? I think it wouldnt be too hard for them to work their way down to S. America.

[Thacrudd]

please excuse my ignorance, but what are 45 rubber boots?

[Hawk296]

Subaru only sold the Baja in the United States, Canada, and Chile.

They were made in Lafayette Indiana, along with the Legacy.

And I can only assume he means 45 degree rubber elbows for the intake system? Other than that, I am confused

[jseabolt]

Subaru only sold the Baja in the United States, Canada, and Chile.

They were made in Lafayette Indiana, along with the Legacy.

And I can only assume he means 45 degree rubber elbows for the intake system? Other than that, I am confused

So you confirmed my suspicsions about the Baja being sold in Chile.

The rubber boots I'm referring are 45 degree elbows:

http://store.airflo.com/ruinel45de21.html

Rather than build a snake like intact, I'm going to replace the plumbing between the intake vent and the air cleaner with a straight section of 2.5" pipe. I measured the snouts on the air cleaner and intake vent and one is 62mm and the other one is 67mm and the only thing that comes close to both sizes are 2.5". I'll post photos once I get it build. The boots should be here tommorrow.

Here's some of my other projects. I'm big into turbocharging cars that have no business of being turbocharged:

http://users.chartertn.net/jseabolt/

I think it would be cool to couple a turbocharged Baja engine with a non-turbocharged 5 speed transmission. I test drove a new WRX and was not impressed because of the gear ratio. The car was geared too high. I was still in 2nd gear doing 40 mph! The car felt like it had no torque. I popped the hood just to see if it actually had a turbo on it.

[Hawk296]

WOW! a FIAT and a YUGO!? you must REALLY like working on cars!

Seriously though, I can't recall ever seeing a Yugo as clean as that.

Just be careful turbocharging the non-turbo 2.5. It can and has been done before, but there have also been a lot of blown motors. Even though it is very similar to the turbo 2.5, there are enough important differences. Ideally you will want to change pistons, as the NA engine has a history of burning through them when boosted and it also has a fairly high compression ratio for a boosted engine. Also make sure you get a really good engine management system and spend the time doing the calibration. You should also be able to use a lot of factory parts that are already out there (some exhaust pieces, oil cooler etc).There are even aftermarket companies that make up pipes that clear the SOHC cylinder heads.

You sound like you have experience and I am sure you already know all that but I just though that I would point it out.

oh yeah, if the trans. fails, there are plenty of options for stronger gearsets to replace them with

[jseabolt]

WOW! a FIAT and a YUGO!? you must REALLY like working on cars!

Seriously though, I can't recall ever seeing a Yugo as clean as that.

Just be careful turbocharging the non-turbo 2.5. It can and has been done before, but there have also been a lot of blown motors. Even though it is very similar to the turbo 2.5, there are enough important differences. Ideally you will want to change pistons, as the NA engine has a history of burning through them when boosted and it also has a fairly high compression ratio for a boosted engine. Also make sure you get a really good engine management system and spend the time doing the calibration. You should also be able to use a lot of factory parts that are already out there (some exhaust pieces, oil cooler etc).There are even aftermarket companies that make up pipes that clear the SOHC cylinder heads.

You sound like you have experience and I am sure you already know all that but I just though that I would point it out.

oh yeah, if the trans. fails, there are plenty of options for stronger gearsets to replace them with

I figured it would be easier to just find a Baja already turbocharged and swap transmissions. I'm not sure if the Baja is like the WRX where they put higher gears in their turbo models. Like I said the WRX I test drove just didn't feel like it had any torque to it.

Sort of an unwritten rule but as long as you don't go over 7lbs of boost (50% increase in HP and torque), just about any engine can be turbocharged without having to upgrade anything. I mean as far as the clutch, pistons, headgasket, etc. Usually all that is required is a rising rate fuel pressure regulator.

I don't know about Subaru internals. Wheather they are "better" than Fiat engines.

The compression ratio is an issue. My Spider has a factory C/R of 8:1 and the Yugo's 1500cc Fiat engine is 8.5:1. Subaru being 10:1 an intercooler is a must.