I never knew this about subaru...

[WRXdan]

They kept the spare on some models under the hood. Sound stupid to me, yes more trunk space...but come on...nothing like reaching over a hot engine in a downpour to change your tire

[vrg3]

Or finding that the tire's rubber falls apart when you look at it funny because of all the heat cycling...

See that yellow connector over by the windshield wiper motor? That's the Select Monitor connector. They put 'em under the hood or in the trunk (on XTs) until they realized that electrical connections shouldn't be left exposed to the elements if you might need to use them someday.

[WRXdan]

Or finding that the tire's rubber falls apart when you look at it funny because of all the heat cycling...

See that yellow connector over by the windshield wiper motor? That's the Select Monitor connector. They put 'em under the hood or in the trunk (on XTs) until they realized that electrical connections shouldn't be left exposed to the elements if you might need to use them someday.

Good point...

A good aspect is that the firewall has a nice large cut-away...hmmmm EJ22T transplant with a large TMIC:)

[Brat4by4]

Or finding that the tire's rubber falls apart when you look at it funny because of all the heat cycling...

Vikash, are you implying that the tires on the ground don't get heat cycled everytime you drive the car?? It is not hard at all to reach. I guess if you had a suit on and your tie got caught in the radiator fan or something, that'd be bad. But regardless of where they put it, you are reaching over a bumper to get it. It's no where as dumb as having a spare suspended by a wire you have to crank to drop the spare UNDER the vehicle, like on american trucks. And there is a very huge added benefit... lets say you are in a horrendous frontal collision. Guess what can absorb tons of energy and is placed between you and the engine? Oh yeah, the spare.

Since it is exposed to the elements and heat, you just have to make sure you armor-all it every once in a while so it doesn't dry-rot... just like any tire that is unattended to.

Ea-81 haters!

[vrg3]

Do they reach the same temperatures as the engine bay, William?

I just remember hearing lots of stories of people with EA81s trying to install a spare tire and having it practically come apart in their hands... I guess, though, it's possible that just as many spares go bad in the trunk. Neglect is neglect.

[evolutionmovement]

Brat said what I was going to say. It's actually very convenient and I never had trouble with rubber deterioration. It also makes for an easy way to drop a little weight off the front. Also doesn't take up and interior space

Steve

[aspect]

Do they reach the same temperatures as the engine bay, William?

I just remember hearing lots of stories of people with EA81s trying to install a spare tire and having it practically come apart in their hands... I guess, though, it's possible that just as many spares go bad in the trunk. Neglect is neglect.

My donut is still good after 15 years. I think if I had a tire sitting over my engine like that, it would burst into flames!

[douglas vincent]

I dont know about the 80's up models, but the 70's subies allowed full size spares. None of that dinky donut shit! I never had any problem with my spares, and I used them plenty.

[evolutionmovement]

I know at least until 1984 they were full-sized. The jack was also kept on the inside front fender and the ratcheting rod for it under the spare.

Steve

[Brat4by4]

You can fit a full-size tire in just about any of the old body styles. They just didn't always come with them.

My Brat spare which was 18 years of age (wow, that thing could have voted ) was in absolute perfect condition. In fact, I sold it on e-bay .

[FG!!]

Rubber actually likes heat. The easiest way to keeping the rubber on a stored car from deteriorating is to drive it every two months. You're engine bay is full of rubber.

[entirelyturbo]

That's a Subaru DL, late 80's, SPFI.

Actually, the XT was the only old-gen Subaru that didn't have the spare in the engine bay. Ya kno what's funny though? I still have a shelf of sorts on my XT that a spare tire could be mounted on if it weren't covered in wires.

The spare tire would deteriorate slightly faster than one in the trunk, of course. A spare in the trunk isn't subject to the heat. But it won't matter that much, because as William said, tires are designed to withstand drastic temperature changes.

[georryan]

The tires under the hood were made of a special compound that was more resistant to heat. It isn't a normal donut tire. Although, even they can't take too much. I don't think the one on my gl-10 was ever used, and the guy that owned it before me had overheated the engine, bown a head gasket, and cracked both heads between the valves. So at around 160k miles when i got a flat and with the spare not being full of air, the rubber split when the car was on the ground.

-Ryan

[Legacy777]

Another tid bit that I don't know was mentioned or not. The tire was actually designed into the safety/crumple zones of the car.

So if you took the tire out, you actually could get injured "more" due the car not behaving the way it's designed to with the tire in there.

[evolutionmovement]

Right, and the engine would go under the car in an impact (as it still does). The old cars were flimsy in terms of rigidity, but they were built like tanks when the ability to take multiple hits came into play. I wonder how they compared safety-wise to their contemporaries.

Steve

[legacy92ej22t]

Hehe, reminds me of old times! My mom had an 84 hatchback that had the spare in the engine bay. Many a friend in OR had old Suby DL and GL's with that setup too. I never had the pleasure to actually use one though.

[isotopeman]

The strangest setup I'd seen was on a 1972 VW 411 wagon. The spare was under the hood, and the windshield washer fluid was in a pressurized container that was driven by the air in the spare tire. There was a valve that let it work only as long as the spare had 28 psi. Strangely enough, it also had stock EFI - on a 72 model.