Hello from Tokyo

[subaru360sd]

Greetings to all Subaru 360 fan!
Although this is my first posting, I am with the club (with a break) since 2001, when I got my first Subaru360. There are pictures of it at the sedan section of the photo gallery.
Last year I have purchased my second 360 with great hopes to drive it from Tokyo where I live to Budapest where I am from.
Unfortunately my summer leave has been canceled (yeah, I have to work) so I can not make it this year.
I will try to drive around Japan instead.
Thanks to the club, it was much easier to restore my cars from English manuals than try to figure out Japanese
Imre
http://subaru360.blogspot.com/

[2stroketurbo]

Wow. I am speechless. You have ambition aplenty! Your car looks fantastic with the new yellow paint AND you're preparing to drive it 12,000 Km. from Tokyo to Budapest! holy cow!

I gotta ask, why did the crank bearings fail?

Mark

[subaru360sd]

The engine was build for me as a spare engine/mission for my first car about two years ago by a friend. I have never opened the engine or mission in my first car, it makes noises but "if it is ain't broken don't fix it" I just got another engine in case. Now, that I got the fever for a second car I thought I just pop in the engine that I have.
After the break down we took apart and found that the spacer around the bearing balls has failed. We were not able to figure out why.
Now, I put over 2000km into the newly rebuilt engine (that is a lot in Japan) and I am very please with it.
Not so much with the mission...
I guess it is better that I have another year to fine tune the car before I hit the Siberian road

[azspud]

Very nice work! I would like to have a convertable top for my 360. Welcome back.

[subaru360nut]

Imre - thanks for the great photos and the story! The longest single trip we drove with a 360 was when we moved to Arizona from New Jersey in 1980 - 2600 miles, and the longest day we made 725 miles - speed limit was 55 mph then. Got about 53 mpg for the trip. You will be covering a lot more road than we did, but your 360 should make it.

I have never seen a crankshaft bearing come apart like that! I have seen some that were damaged by condensation, when an engine sat for years, and others that were damaged when a piston failed and little pieces were left in the crankcase instead of cleaning them out. My best guess is that's what originally happened to yours.

If the new rings were broken in right, your rebuilt engine should last at least 100,000 miles before it needs any more work. That would be several trips to Hungary and back.

Ed

[Tom]

I remember coming across your blog a while back. I just went and read it again and saw all the updates. The cars look great. Good work!

[subaru360sd]

Thanks guys.

Unfortunately my leave THAT WAS APPROVED has been canceled.
So, this year I try to see Japan, and cover as much as I can.
The season is good now, but I am pretty busy with the G8 Summit.
It will be very, very hot in July and August...
I hope that I can make this next year, but I will get a new boss in September, and have no idea of how much time (if any) I can take.
For this trip, the ideal would be two months, so I could see a bit the countries too, not just drive trough...
I would go if I could get 6 weeks, but I am a public servant, and it is not easy to leave my office for such long time.