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You probably already do this but - use excellent quality 6 point sockets. No 12's. Use the combination of socket/adapter/reducers necessary to get a 100% perpendicular seat on the bolt and torque on the socket handle. It's fairly easy to get "close" on these, when actually it's at a slight angle because the socket or extension is too thick and doesn't have clearance in those pass through ports. Such a silly design. But I've done it before - had them rock/wobble/slide off because they're not perfectly seated. I hate them too but haven't had any 05-09 rear caliper bracket bolts not come out yet. A little valve compound in your socket adds grip and can mitigate small clearance issues due to rust/wear between the socket and bolt head. Unlikely to help in this case but if you've already got some laying around....?

For extra fun, those covid worker face shields were like $5 for a 15 pack at local swapmeet. Taped one to a helmet and it's been ghetto fabulous. Skater helmets are designed to be really comfortable for lying on concrete; the default position of many new skaters.

No it had a blown 30a fuse in the under hood panel. It runs fine and obviously has good fuel pressure. The issue now is that a friend of the OP's replaced the fuel pump before doing proper diagnostics to determine both the failure (pump has no electricity due to blown fuse), and the reason for the failure.... at this point we have no idea if the original pump was the cause of the blown fuse or a wiring deficiency that has yet to re-occur. We test drove the car and had no issues with that fuse after replacement but we can't rule out a short somewhere that's caused by the right bumpy road or was prevented by the movement of harnesses and testing that was done over a period of like 9 months in someone's garage..... someone that failed to use proper diagnostic procedures and never found the blown fuse. At this point it's a matter of waiting till it happens again and crossing fingers that the pump was the problem. GD

Thanks Bennie. Well my fluid flush and fluid swap seemed to help it... a little bit. I have been thinking about it a lot, and calling around different shops, no one so far wants to touch something as old as this transmission. I could try to swap internals, but I wonder how long something like that will last for? I'm concerned about it not being sustainable, and I'm already having problems with parts. I will probably look to EJ transmission swap it, which looking on this website.... doesn't seem too bad. Have to shorten the drive shaft, custom mount the trans, and swap the diff to match. I'm going to keep an eye out on marketplace to see if a wrecked one of an ej with a blown motor shows up. Unfortunately I got rid of my donor car a few months back, could have used that. Going to ride it out this winter and weigh my options. Open to all suggestions. Thanks

I put a bit of JB weld on the radiator. Leak has slowed enough to run it. I'm going to flush the engine to get the coolant cleaner out and then put in new antifreeze and the Subaru coolant conditioner. I'll run it to see if the HG are OK. If so, I told them they would need a new radiator.

Are you getting notification emails when I post on the thread? Just wondering because slammo and I haven't been all year. Glad you enjoyed the pictures. It was a good trip. Most of the trails themselves weren't exceptional but I agree, probably the most scenic off road trip we've done. You really can't go wrong off roading in Utah. Interesting on the drums/discs. I think all the base model Foresters and Imprezas here had rear drums. And all Subarus have been AWD since 1997 in the US (except the BRZ I guess). Eventually it'll get the billet rear knuckles with big rear discs. Maybe not too eventually, I might get those made before this all goes back together. My black Outback with the EZ30 and 6MT is pretty fun, my white Outback with EZ30 is fun even with the 4EAT. Definitely looking forward to the EZ36 and 6MT in a lighter car. Are you talking about the rear trailing arm brackets? I did rip one of those out of my Outback but it was super rusty. Good point, we have run longer bolts up through the floor and welded a plate to the top on a few of these cars now. I'd really like to tie that into the strut towers and tie those together along with a spare tire mount but I think that will all have to wait. On to the long travel progress. After removing the front suspension, I disconnected the pitch stopper and unbolted the bracket that holds the AC line there. Removed the front subframe nuts and lowered it a few inches. Then I noticed the upper radiator hose seemed to have a lot of tension on it. I don't think it was holding the engine up but I slid both ends about halfway off the necks and retightened the hose clamps. Would a Forester or Outback upper hose be a little longer? Will have to post pictures later but made some 1.5" x 2" subframe spacers and bolted them in. B and I cycled the front suspension, seems like it's going to work. Front bumper cover will have to be removed. I could just trim it but it's coming off eventually anyhow. Tire is worn but really only hits the outer lip of the front fender and that's with the bumpstop removed. Couple inches of space in general between tire and wheel well. This was the main thing I was concerned about since the Impreza had smaller tires stock than the Outback and Forester, but seems to have similar wheel wells. Next step we were trying to figure out if subframe spacers were needed in the rear. We've measured about half a dozen EJ Subaru bodies now and they all seem to be the same from the strut mount to the subframe mount, front and rear. First gen Impreza, second gen Impreza (STI), second gen Legacy (Outback), first and second gen Foresters. Front measures about 15.75" (lip/flange in the picture hangs below where the subframe actually mounts). Outbacks/Foresters have ~1.25" tall cast iron subframe spacers there, Impreza has nothing. Rear of all the cars measures about 18". Only the Outback (second gen Legacy based) has subframe spacers in the rear, also about 1.25" thick. Both here at the crossmember and at either end of the diff mount (front of the rear subframe). Outback also has dogleg brackets for the front of the rear subframe and taller trailing arm brackets. Will try to remember to get side by side pictures to update. A little surprised the Foresters don't have any of those taller parts. Those subframe spacers don't really lift the car at all, they essentially lower the subframe and reduce the angles on the links and CVs. We've been running the long travel on a first and second gen Forester without any rear subframe spacers but it does limit the droop a bit and makes installing the struts more difficult. I plan on adding subframe, trans, driveshaft, etc spacers to the Impreza. The other issue we ran into was the rear top mounts. I had read it's a slightly different bolt pattern so I fixed that. Then I realized our top mounts won't fit through that hole in the Impreza body. Per B's suggestion, I dug out an old one and notched the tabs and ground down a bolt to fit so we could check other things. I think I'll wind up opening up those holes in the body and welding a triangle of 1/8" 4130 over the top to make up for it. Didn't take pictures but similar story with tire clearance in the rear. Hits the lower front corner of the wheel well and the top outer edge of the rear fender but decent clearance to most of the wheel well, so again seems similar to the Outback.

No mice activity that I could tell @el_freddo Wish I had more to report however life has been crazy for me at the moment, only have had time to do the minor upkeep on my hatchie to keep her on the road lately. She's the daily right now

Restored over the pandemic owned since 1999