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The 4 speed automatic is virtually indestructible if maintained even a little bit. Far more reliable and less maintenance than the 5 speed manual. Smarter and better at traction, and with a built in "low range" (torque converter/multiplier). Honestly the only reason people go for manual cars is a perception of fuel economy benefits (there are none) or they like having something to do with their right hand. The manual from this era loses in every way. GD

Engine block came back from the machine shop yesterday GD

Thanks heartless

This custom modified adapter could butt up at either end , radiator or engine, or mid hose. It was made from same as red thing in photos

The 4EAT automatic was a good transmission. I would much prefer them over today's CVT transmissions.

it is relatively easy - just need to get the brakes loosened up. might be as easy as a short tow (preferably backwards & only a few feet - don't want to tear up tires) to break them free, or it may be more involved - as in jacking it up, pulling the wheels and getting in there to free up the pads/shoes manually. hope it goes easy for you.

Switching to a 16" wheel probably went to a larger (wider, at least) tire. The extra weight reduces braking, and if they're any taller OD, that reduces braking leverage. Relatively small change, but still worth considering. This is why the otherwise-identical cars with wider (LGT) or taller (Outback) tires got larger brakes. Your observation of the rear brakes heating up at different rates tells me that they're not working correctly. Here's what I like to do when servicing brake systems. It is very effective, and requires no disassembly other than removing a wheel. I open the bleeder and compress the caliper with it still bolted to the car. This is more effective at removing the worst brake fluid (much moreso than a conventional flush). And once the piston is compressed, you can slide the caliper back and forth and make sure the slides work (crucially, that they work together, I've seen slides that move individually that bind when bolted to the caliper).

Monday morning we took the highway south to the stunt area south of Seney. When we got to town we filled up in the gas station where we'd flushed out B's clutch on a previous trip. Got to the stunt area and M&B realized it was a lot bigger than the little section we'd looped around you can see from the dirt road. Drove back in it and through some big sand bowls and kept going to a big banked turn and hill climb. Climb wasn't as bad as it looked at first, B and I got up it on the first try but Z took it too easy on the first try and had to get a bigger run at it and made it to the top. From there it kept going, there was a little loop/bowl around a tree that I made but B got stuck in. Z pulled him out, ran the loop a couple times, and we kept going until we got to a different gravel road. Went back through the stunt area a different way to the dirt road. I decided to hit a small uphill jump. Got decent air at about 30mph but it was difficult to get a good run at it through the soft sand to hit it faster than that so we continued south, mostly off pavement down to 2. When we got back to pavement we cleaned out our wheels at an abandoned gas station (otherwise they shake from imbalance). There is an axleshaft poured into the concrete. M thought it was a cheap substitute for rebar. Maybe the person who put it there is trying to confuse the next species of intelligent life on earth in a few million years with this strange fossil. Got down to the test hill I wanted to hit but the path we normally take to get to it was blocked off and it would have taken a long time to “drive around the block”. At this point B was getting a shuddering in the rear of his car occasionally and noticed his RR wheel bearing is a little loose. We stopped at a gas station to make a decision, at this point we would be heading west to the super whoops so Z would probably have to backtrack to get home. He made up his mind with a coin flip that determined he'd follow us to the super whoops. We got some video driving alongside the Outback going through the little whooped out trail along the pavement leading to the ORV parking lot but it wasn't ideal since the grass in between the cars was pretty tall. We ran the super whoops a little and measured the larger ones. The rear end of the Outback was kicking up a bit on a few of them. We made PB&Js and at this point Z decided to follow us down through Wisconsin as it was probably faster than going back over the Mackinac bridge. Mike had left the burger patties for the trip in his apartment so we'd already decided to cook those in his parking lot before we all split up for home. Not far from Milwaukee we saw an Outback XT with some mud on the sides towing a teardrop trailer. We kept seeing it when we were stuck in a slow moving traffic jam. When we pulled off the exit to go to M's apartment they followed us. We were wondering how long they were going to follow us so I rolled down my window and waved for them to follow us around one of the last turns. We introduced each other and we invited them to join us cooking out. The husband had built the trailer about five years ago and it was still very nice. He'd also done some modifications to the engine of his XT running E85 and 22psi of boost. They had some brats and veggies that were added to the menu and they stayed for hours as we all eventually left for home. Overall a good trip, cars all held up pretty well. The guys learned one of the reasons we made better struts. Outback went through 1.5 quarts of oil. Have seen a few clouds of oil smoke at startup in the last month including one when I parked the car with one side jacked up overnight on the trip. On the plus side the last couple times I checked there is no noticeable blowby now and it ran fine all weekend so I'll probably leave the engine in at least for the next trip. Plan to replace the other u-joints in Outback driveshaft. While that was off I noticed there's quite a bit of backlash in the rear end so I want to check that out. RF CV axle made noise all weekend and LF was leaking grease by the end so those both need to come out. Clutch got used hard so while the driveshaft and axles are out it's not much more effort to pull the trans. Need to adjust parking brake. One radiator fan is rubbing on housing and the other one wasn't working despite having a good fuse so need to check those over. HVAC controls still not working so I should sort that out. Need to replace at least the RR wheel bearing on B's car. Really needs softer springs to lower it before our next big trip so we don't have to take a dozen spare CV axles with us. We now know that the ball spline axles are junk. Still need to get the center blockoff plate mounted to Z's bumper, he ran out of time with the sanding and painting on it and putting the bolt on wheel bearing front spindles, smaller front brakes, and 15” wheels with mud tires on his car.

View from our campsite Sunday morning: In the morning we packed up and headed west. Took a washed out road down to this river. The climb back up was challenging but not quite as bad as it looked. A got the Outback stuck on a stump near here and Z decided it was a good place to get a picture. Again the Foresters were starting to run low on gas so after some trail riding we went to Grand Marais on the highway. There was a triathlon and possibly some other things going on in town so it was pretty crowded. This guy was directing traffic with a stop sign he'd pulled out of the ground. We got gas, ground beef, beer, etc at the gas station. This guy was selling dreamcatchers and other things out of his Cherokee. Don't worry, the interior was also spray painted gold and decorated with drift wood. Then we decided to just run the highway down to the bar and unload some of our stuff there. It was early afternoon and I'd seen some trails and lakes just east of the bar so we wandered in that direction for a few hours. We decided to hit the wheelie jump and C's pond and see if we could get through on some roads that were flooded in June before we went back to the bar to cook dinner and settle in. We were able to easily drive through C's pond and continued west. Neither road that was flooded in June was flooded at all and I decided to head north to go back to the bar on a smoother gravel road than the whooped out snowmobile trails we'd been on. When we turned around D got the Outback stuck in the soft sandy road temporarily and I was able to barely drive it out on my first try. Z also had difficulty but B had an easier time due to the low range. When we got back to the bar we raised the passenger side of the black Outback with the jack again and M took the nut and washer off the end of the control arm and I ratchet strapped the wheel forward and he packed the remains of the bushing with RTV to try to minimize the slop and noise. Put the washer, nut, and cotter pin back on and left it to cure overnight.

Soldier lake Saturday morning: In the morning we paid at the honor box and trail rode up to the giant hill climb we'd found a couple years ago. Pictures really don't do it justice but this is the top. We stopped at a park just west of there, walked down to the beach, went to the bathroom, and then drove across the highway to ride trails west. In the distance in this picture you can see the bluff that the hillclimb goes up. After a while we started hearing a bad clunking noise from the rear of the Outback so I got out and watched M drive a bit, sounded like it was coming from just in front of the rear suspension. Figured out it was a bad u-joint so we got off the trail, jacked up the car, and M pulled the rear half of the driveshaft. The cross had actually broken and at first I was nervous but then remembered I had spare u-joints so I swapped it out and we put it back together. These have been in the car for about five years. The downside is since the cups are thicker walled than stock and the cross is hollow it's weaker than stock. The upside is that it's easy to replace on the trail. The u-joint at the trans seemed loose too but we decided to leave it and it lasted the rest of the trip. Later on D was driving my Outback with M navigating and they hesitated to make a turn and got stuck in a soft sandy intersection. I told him to stop trying to get out when smoke was coming out from the clutch and the car wasn't moving much. We aired down the tires to about 15psi and I drove out on the first try. I think it was in this section I got the Outback stuck in a big mud hole that B bypassed in his Forester and pulled me out. It was halfway up the door on the driver's side, not quite as deep on the passenger side. There was another even deeper mudhole ahead and I think due to this blockage we had to make a big detour around to get to our campsite. After a while I noticed the temps were creeping up a bit and the fans weren't running, both fuses were blown. There were only a few spares under the fuse box cover so I put in a 20 and a 30 and the 20 immediately flashed out. Later in the day someone noticed there were occasional rubbing noises in Z's Forester. Both rear spring perches were shiny and the tires were extremely close to the strut tubes and spring perches so the rear struts had probably bent a little. We jacked up the car, removed the wheels and tires, and Z hammered the spring perches. I think about this time I aired up. We eventually headed back north up another highway towards the campsite on the bluff I wanted to stay at on Saturday night. When we were within about 20 miles we rode various trails for an hour or so on the way to the campsite. I was relieved to see it was unoccupied on Labor day weekend and the guys who hadn't seen it before thought it was awesome and worth the drive. After we'd been there at least an hour, someone drove there with an FJ cruiser and turned around, they may have planned on camping there and fortunately we'd gotten there first. A cooked dogs, we set up tents, I started to replace a control arm bushing that was blown out on the Outback but then stopped when I realized my spares were pretty rough too. I left the car jacked up on the side to help drain mud/water out of it and left the doors and hatch open overnight. I dug out a few more 30 amp fuses in camp to put one in to power the fan and put a couple more in the fuse box cover for easy spare access. After we'd set everything up and eaten dinner and were hanging out around the campfire I saw a few people down on the beach a half mile away. Eventually one guy with a purple/UV flashlight was slowly heading towards us along the beach. A few of us walked down to the beach to see what he was doing. He was concentrating so much on looking at rocks with the flashlight he didn't notice us until we were about twenty feet away. He was a typical old yooper guy and explained that someone was trying to find an easy way to find agates (a semi valuable stone found along Superior that's often sold in gift stores, etc) and tried using a UV flashlight at night about a month ago. Didn't find agates but started finding rocks with portions that glowed under a UV light. They sell them as yooper rocks in the gift stores and on ebay and he was saying a rough one about an inch across goes for about $25 on ebay. Sounds like they get cut, polished, and made into jewelry (earrings). After talking with him for about five minutes he asked if we had any pot. Must be a side effect of UV light. We all laid down on the beach, looked at the stars and milky way and small northern lights since it was a clear night and talked for about a half hour.

Drove up to the UP over labor day weekend for some trail riding and camping. Most of us met up north of Milwaukee at M's apartment Friday morning. As we and Z were all getting to the UP, B said that we should replace one of his CV axles that was making a ton of noise. It was the front ball spline axle, we replaced it in a gas station parking lot east of Escanaba. The inner CV housing was blue but the boot was intact. Met Z in Naubinway around 1 or 2PM EST. This is how his bumper turned out: Used PDF of Mackinac county on Avenza, sort of useful. One issue was that your location on the map is just indicated by a small gray circle. There is a small arrow next to it to indicate direction but it seemed to point the opposite way of where we were going. I did use both tablets for navigation using mytrails most of the weekend with two different maps at different zoom levels, that was more useful than just one. We hit a lot of overgrown trails or trails with trees fallen across them that we cleared out and eventually connected to other trails, where they normally seem to dead end. Also found a bunch of stunt areas, at least four. At one of them a pair of women we'd seen hiking along the road walked by and one of them commented on how she had a Subaru and shouldn't have to worry about getting stuck in the snow after seeing us driving in soft sand. B tried the low range but it just got bogged down. Not many jumps or whoops this weekend but lots of fun sandy trails. Camped at Soldier lake Friday night, came in off some narrow trail to find out the campground has a paved loop and running water. Nearby are east soldier lake and a small lake called toy soldier lake. Fortunately we found a site that wasn't reserved for Friday night fairly close to the pit toilets so we camped there. A cooked burgers while we set up the tents.

if the car was left sitting for the entire summer & never moved, and as wet as it was this year.. the brakes are seized. I would put money on it the flashing lights are a completely separate issue.

So I'm gonna dig a little deeper in examining wheelbase as it relates to drivelines. (Props) There are only two lengths of wheelbase in relation to the length of the prop, body datum point lengths, suspension mount points, etc. the actual listed length varies by 15~20 mm when you get into different weight/trim/fwd/4wd option, because the rear trailing arm torsion setup makes the wheel travel fore/aft in it swing, so depending on height, the length between front/rear wheel centerlines changes. Hatch is anywhere from 2370~2380, and wagon/sedan/hardtop/Brat/Brumby are all 2445/2460 With the lower riding models being the latter in each set. So when evaluating prop lengths, just think Short vs. long body wheelbase. FSM lists length of the 2 props at 1057mm and 1136mm respectively. Measured as "distance between joints"

If you're going lifted, get an '85-'89 part-time 4WD dual range transmission. Much better offroad performance. It'll bolt up to the EA82, but you will need an adapter plate for the EJ22. Should be the same axle ratio, so you don't have to swap the rear diff. You'll loose the push-button (and relays, and solenoids, and vacuum lines) in favor of a mechanical lever.

First make absolultely certain the converters are bad, there's no exhaust or vacuum leaks from the recent engine work - it's not uncommon to have one leaky hose or exhaust flange gasket, etc. Generally speaking spacers aren't as effective in 2005+ models, but im' not sure on specifics.

2008 is definitely worth fixing though - get a reman short block from Subaru. 3 year / 36k warranty. And replace those AVLS switches when you do the short block replacement. You can't prove the oil change shop is at fault. The remaining oil was black and nasty because the remaining oil was overheating due to there not being enough oil in the system and the complete volume of the pan was being circulated through the engine more often than if the full capacity was present. GD

That’s absurd. They’re replaced all the time for the last 15 years. Next time stop by in person or look it up on the Subaru parts website yourself. Sounds like your dealer might have non technical staff answering phones and pushing buttons. I can’t imagine anyone that’s ever looked at one of these engines saying that or not being able to figure it out in 60 seconds. I use OEM for those but I wouldn’t be scared to install the Fel Pro if I had too.

I may have one for sale in the near future, not cheap but one of the cleanest in existence and running excellent. Check my posts for more...

I got some good feedback from Mike at Feal Suspension, sounds like I can move forward with my next phase of part design!

It's not actually the metal that warps and the term warped rotors is just a popularly accepted moniker, despite being misleading. In short what happens is that when your brake pads get extremely hot, they can actually transfer friction material from the pad itself and essentially weld it to the surface of the rotor. The vibration you get from 'warped' rotors is the uneven surface of the rotor due to various pad material that has transferred.

aha, another case of not getting the whole story up front. Goes like this, while it was laid up waiting for the dizzy to be returned .... OK. This relay people speak of but don't really explain - might be a good time to do it to save hassles in the future. It has something to do with the old contacts in the back of the ignition switch or wiring, letting you down. Trick is a horn relay of 30 or 40 Amps. I like the ones that come with a joey pocket (as in marsupial joey pocket ) that takes a blade fuse That black wire with white ? trace that goes to starter solenoid goes to 86 of relay. get a good earth from body to pin 85 . Get a nice chunky wire with good connection to battery pos and connect to pin 30 Pin 87 chunky wire then goes to starter solenoid. So, when you hit ignition switch to crank position only needs a light trigger voltage to trip the relay to make it feed direct from battery to solenoid. Should never have a no crank problem after this unless flat battery or the relay blows up !