[elhigh]

Hi,

Getting into the upper 20s with a Subaru is pretty good. I can't do it with mine, though my son has managed it on a couple of longer trips. Breaking 30 has been beyond my capability.

With all your short trips, weight reduction and mechanical drag reduction are probably going to be the biggest contributors to any gains you get in terms of mods. That and adding heat to the engine, which I see you've already got in the cards. I don't have any experience there but some of the guys do it even in milder weather and report good results.

If you're not going to use the AC, you could consider removing it entirely. The compressor alone is 13 pounds and if you're never going to use it, that's 13 pounds that's getting a free tour of the city. The hoses and other ancillary hardware is another few pounds here and there. As to it not coming back on, it's probably lost too much of its refrigerant charge to engage the low pressure cutout switch.

If you choose to remove the compressor and other bits, seal them in heavy-duty Ziploc bags to keep them safe so you can include them with the car if/when you sell it on. Sealing them in zipper bags will help prevent the seals drying out too much.

Any other weight reduction you can do will simply be more to the good: unused seats, whatever interior bits you can live without, spare tire if your roads are fabulous or you have AAA, etc.

Congrats on the EJ22. That's a good'un. I have the EJ25 and there are days I could cheerfully shoot it out of a cannon - preferably at Subaru's engineering department.