Subaru gives us a closer look at the new “FB25” Flat 4 motor

It’s been some time that our beloved EJ20/25 motor had been “replaced” by a new motor. Yes, the EJ series had many variants but this is the first time that another designated boxer motor took its place and that is the FB25 flat four motor.

The bore and stroke is different from the EJ series. The new longer stroke improves the fuel economy of the FB25 Motor which is what Subaru has been aiming for since they are moving towards “green” campaigns.

Subaru goes in depth with the motor:

Despite the longer stroke, engineers were able to maintain the dimensions of the EJ engine with revisions to connecting rods and valvetrain components. Maintaining engine width was a concern in designing the FB power plant. The new engine was required to fit in the same-sized engine bay as its predecessor.

The change in the combustion chamber’s displacement and surface area helps to reduce engine knock.

One of the most noticeable changes from the EJ to the FB is that the cylinder heads rather than the intake manifold. According to Subaru it improves the fuel economy and reduces emissions.

As for the Cylinder Head itself this is what Subaru has said:

The cylinder heads and the camshaft carriers consist of separate pieces instead of one metal casting. That allows a reduction in metal thickness, simplification of the engine’s structure, and reduction in weight.

Revisions to the valvetrain include the use of roller rocker arms instead of lifters to actuate valves. These components and their layout contribute to reducing the width of the cylinder heads and overall engine width.

The FB Intake System has changed with a new intake manifold without a large intake plenum and smoother runners.

The exhaust system has also been revised with a different design from before. The runners before going into the cat have been separated to improve the warm up of the catalytic converter and again reducing emissions.

If you want to read more about this new motor will is featured in the non turbo Forester and the up coming FT86 coupe, check it out on Subaru’s Drive Webpage!

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Subaru Commercial makes it to Top 10 in 2010 from Time.com

As a Dad and being a Dad of a daughter (another 10 years till she drives) this commercial that won a spot on Time Magazine’s Top 10 Commercial for 2010, was one of my favorites. I’ll admit it, this commercial tugged at my heart a bit.

I love this commercial!

Video: Subaru Rally sounds Nirvana

In 1999, the WRC was filled with great iconic vehicles including the GC8 from WRC. The Subaru Rally Team had a great platform at that time and here is a video with pure engine sounds from this vehicle!

Rumors: Could the next Tribeca be based on the Toyota Highlander?

Ah, the Tribeca. It’s a great platform that hasn’t really received the well deserved love that most of the other Subaru models have been welcomed to. However, I have a soft spot for the Tribeca. Why?  Because there aren’t any other Subaru models that can haul so much stuff, people, and have the stout flat 6 motor.

So what comes out of the rumor mill next is (or isn’t if you have been in the loop with the Toyota / Subaru mash ups) a surprise. Motor Trend has mentioned that both Toyota and Subaru are talking about integrating some platforms including the Tribeca and the Highlander. The new Subaru Tribeca may share the same frame as the Highlander however the Highlander will have to use the Flat 6 motor currently found on the Tribeca.

If we find out any new news, you’ll find it here!

Source: Autoblog

Video: Best Coffee Table ever… using a Flat 4 with working parts!

Somehow I doubt this is an IKEA built table… The Fly Wheel actually turns the internals.

I don’t think a simple Allen Key set is going to put this together.

 

Video: Towing your Subaru is fine, unless your steering wheel locks up

There are times when you need to tow your Subie. Sometimes you can call for a flat bed and get it towed or have dollies on a two wheel tow, but doing a “tug boat” fashion is quite dangerous. In this case, these guys are doing some dangerous towing and you can see why it ends up the way it does.

Oh and the video has some language so it’s borderline NSFW.

Message from Yukio (our head blogger): Good Bye 2010! Huge Plans for Subie-Life.com for 2011!

2010, the birth of Subie-Life.com. From just an idea that sprouted at 2am in my head to a full out obsession to find the freshes news, great event coverage, and in depth interviews. 2010 has been a huge learning curve and I’ve learned a ton from it!

2011 will be a huge year for us at Subie-Life.com with some changes coming up! We have been blessed by the support of our readers and fans from the events that we attend to our personal friends that go out and spread the word about Subie-Life.com.

EVENTS: That’s right! Now, there’s two sides to Events in 2011. We will be at MANY events including: Redline Time Attack, SubieFest, Wicked Big Meet, SubieTech Cruises, and S3: Subaru Summer Solstice! We will be there promoting Subie-Life.com and all the cool stuff. Now, here’s the exciting part.

We are going to be putting together our very own: Subie Life Matsuri! Now I bet about 90% of you guys are asking what the heck is “Matsuri”? Simple, it’s the Japanese Word for “Festival” and since Subaru is a Japanese company, I figured that it would be a perfect name for our favorite Japanese vehicle brand! Not only will SubieLife Matsuri will be a great festival with vendors, contests, a car show, and entertainment, we will be incorporating a drag race with the “Traction: The AWD Battle“. We want to open this up to the Subaru vs. Mitsubishi crowd (STi vs EVO) AND we will allow other AWD vehicles to compete including GT-R’s, Audi A4, S4, etc., VW R32 etc. Competition will be open to street cars all the way to full race cars. We will include “Fun Runs” as well! We’ll keep you all informed on what happens at this event!

 

Format: When I first envisioned Subie-life.com, I just wanted to have a news source that everyone can go to and read about Subaru News. As things have evolved, I’ve been compelled to do interviews,  event coverage, and reviews however, I needed some original content. This will include fun articles, vehicle reviews, and Subie Features with photos taken by highly respected people within the industry!

Now as things are growing and so has my readership, again this is going to be taking a lot of funds and time. We have gone well over 6 months without having to have advertisements on this website, but we need to “keep the lights on”. You will start seeing SOME banners, links, and ads but we promise this won’t be packed full of useless links. No, you will see RELEVANT links and banners that have to do with YOU and YOUR Subie! So you won’t be bombarded with “growth” ads like “other” blogs.

Content: I touched a bit on the content when I talked about the format. Well, here’s a little more info on that. We want to do more original work like reviews. A lot of websites (well, almost all of the websites) that have done reviews on the new Subaru Models have been from people who are automotive experts, NOT Subaru experts. Luckily, I love Subarus but I can be very critical as well. That is why I am going to work with Subaru to get the hands-on approach on looking at these models and hopefully they’ll let me take them on a spin at a local track!

Additionally, I will have some original video pieces that will come along with those and some event coverage! I am looking into getting a decent camera that isn’t a point and shoot and will be using that to my advantage as I practice my picture shooting skills!

Lastly, I will be bringing on some guest bloggers that will be covering events for us from around the World! This will allow me to share as much Subie News as I can so that everything and anything will be covered onSubie-life.com!

Subie-Life.com Ambassadors: Now, spreading the word of Subie-Life.com has been pretty “grassroots” aka not-much-money-to-spend-on-advertisement. So, we have been doing what we can to link up with other groups like Subaru of Las Vegas, Apollo Performance, Apartment107.com, and various other sites but you’ll start seeing requests for people in other parts of the USA and the WORLD to help spread the word of Subie-Life.com. We need foot soldiers out there to let other Subie Fanatics know about Subie-life.com! We’ll be sending you a care package including your exclusive Subie-life.com shirt that ONLY ambassadors will have, fliers, goodies, and stickers. This will happen soon so please keep on the look out on our Facebook Fan page and this blog!

Subie-Cast: A few weeks ago, I asked on our Facebook Page (don’t forget to add us if you haven’t done so) if we made a postcast if you would all listen. Seems like it will be done! Now, what we’ll end up doing on this Podcast (SubieCast) is simple. We will review what we put up on the Blog and go more in depth with it. I am in the process of working on this but the format will be fun, informative, and we’ll also throw out some chances to win prizes (and we’ll talk about this later), have guests in studio (aka in my office), and have guests phone in! What kind of guests? Well, we’ll be talking directly to Subaru Race Car Drivers, Subaru of America representatives, Key People in the Subaru Community, and people that I know (because they’re so darn interesting!). Expect this to happen in the Spring of 2010!

Contests: The advantage of having a great group of supporters, sponsors, and advertisers is that they want to promote their products and services. What better way to promote their products and services through a campaign where we spread the word of their business and let YOU our readers, a chance to win their great stuff? Exactly! We’ll be giving away great prizes from multiple companies that will be through our blog and our facebook fan page! So if you haven’t had a chance to “like” our fan page, do so now so you have a chance to win!

Conclusion and a Message from Me: So this is pretty much sums up what will happen through 2011. Also, be on the look out for a newly designed blog and a slightly different format but not much will change as far as content. We really do want you all to come here as often as we post up and help spread the word. This has been done  as a passion and less as a way to “get rich” because I’ve been doing things like this for the Subaru Community for the past 4 years and it keeps me going strong. I love what I’m doing and I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving the Subaru Brand as long as they know that I’m letting people know how awesome Subaru really is!

I know people are always asking me for more content and I’ll do what I can to find the best content out there and keep you all entertained. The more you send me feedback the more I want to do keep doing this. I will do my best for you all as long as you keep coming here, spreading the word, and coming to the events that Subie-Life.com will be at! Again, I can stress this enough but you, the reader, have been my inspiration, my motivation, and have given me the strength to do this great blog. I don’t think I would be here writing this if I didn’t have people coming here often as I’ve seen. This has been an amazing trip through 2010 and I am looking forward to seeing what 2011 has in store for SUBIE-LIFE.COM!

Top 5 things that happened to Subarus in 2010

Now that the 2011 year is upon us, we can take a simple look back on the top 5 things that happened to Subies according to Subie-life.com. I’m sure you all have your lists and we encourage you to post them up on our Facebook Fan Page!

5. The 2 Door Test Mules caught testing: It’s been some time since we have had a strong 2 door Subaru on the market and we are glad to see that Subaru thought so too! During this Summer, we saw MANY images of the “FT-86” that has been tested that is a combined effort between Fuji Heavy and Toyota. Many rumors circulated for a while about the Subaru Variant and when we saw these images of a chopped up GRB with a skin of a coupe, we all giggled like school girls.

4. Travis Pastrana’s Red Bull Pier Jump: Now, I know this happened AT Midnight on New Years Eve, but we’ll just let it slide for this list here. Subaru, Travis Pastrana, and the STi were now in MILLIONS of households this year as Travis jumped his STi at the Long Beach Harbor at this Nationally and Internationally televised event. Yukio, our head blogger was also there to witness history being broken with a Subaru. Now, most Americans KNOW about Subarus and the STi and the Subaru brand has yet again grabbed the title of being a “Cool Brand” to own by the youth market.

3.  The New FB20 Flat Four Motor: It’s been some time that the EJ20 / EJ25 motor has been with us. In September, Subaru introduced the new FB20 Flat four motor. This is the first change in the Flat Four motor since 1989 (with updated / upgraded variants). Now, this isn’t about power or about performance rather, a change that Subaru has made a strong evolution to make a reliable, environmentally sound, long lasting, flat four motor. Rumor has it that this will usher in the Hybrid motors and the FT-86 couple will also have this motor in it which will make us giggle when we know about the “STi” Variant of the model!

2. Confidence in Motion: Impreza Concept: There were teasers. There were rumors. During the LA Auto Show, Subaru of America finally revealed what “Confidence in Motion” and our jaws dropped. No more what Subaru labeled as an “Ugly Duckling” (even though we all know that Subarus are great in the performance / reliability department) and was being cheered on by designers and critics. The new design also saw the first ever “cockpit” interior of the Impreza which we all were impressed with! We do hope that this concept doesn’t deviate from the final design but we all know how most concept cars are. However, Subaru has announced that this isn’t too far fetched from the actual design that will be released in 2013!

1. The new 2011 STi Sedan: When Subaru teased us (wow, they do this often huh?) about the sedan version coming out for the STi, we all got excited. When we heard that the WRX will share the similar “Wide Body” of the STi, we all got hyped up! When we saw the final version in the dealerships we almost lost it! It was amazing! We all said it in unison though… “Subaru should have done it like this from the beginning”.

So this is our list for 2010! I know many of you have your own lists, so feel free to post them up on our comments section! Thank you for an amazing 2010 everyone!

Subaru makes the cut for “Best Ad Songs” on Adage.com

These days, you have to have a great jingle, song, or slogan to really make an impression on the mass media and their audience. Luckily Subaru hit the “right note” (yes, that’s a winner right there!) with this ad featuring the Subaru Legacy titled as “Tighten Up” by the Black Keys. Adage.com has named it one of the top 2010 songs in a commercial. Check it out:

The Black Keys put out a fantastic album this year called “Brothers” that is as sexy and energetic as anything they’ve ever produced, and Subaru and its agency were smart to pick up this track from it. The song piles on layers one piece at a time, and, by the time you discover where it’s headed, you realize that the ad is just about a guy who really loves to rip his car through puddles. Sometimes that’s all you need.

 

Source: Adage.com