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Website for www.1stsubaruparts.com is back up now. Search for alternator came up with $179.96 for OEM with a $50 core charge. Ignore the first few items that come up with a search for alternators (how did the search engine come up with bearings??). alternator, Legacy 90-94 $249.95$50.00$179.96 Now, I don't know whether that's new or rebuilt, but it is genuine Subaru OEM.

Size of the shop is not the issue; it's the quality of the rebuilder. My shop in Ballard is a one man marine electronics specialist. He is most busy during the boating season from May to September (which is why I keep a rebuilt spare on hand). The fact that he is almost overwhelmed with work indicates the quality and reliability of his work. Lastly, the deals you found; my Ballard shop has never been over $120 for a complete rebuild, usually less. I'd get my alternator fixed with the shop you found but I'd still keep on searching. Word of mouth among the local industry people is how I found the Ballard shop. I did find this deal on the 'net: http://www.expressautoparts.com/PartSearch/getpart.cfm?year=1993&make=SU&model=LEG-4WD-001&category=F&part=Alternator Amazing; even the part numbers are the same on the two "deals"; it's striking to see the difference in the prices. Lastly you might call www.1stsubaruparts.com at 866-528-5282. Ask for Jason in parts and tell him the website is down (it was down now as I was looking) and ask for pricing on an alternator. This is a Subaru dealer in Auburn, WA and their internet prices often rival, and sometimes beat, the aftermarket prices. Good luck finding a replacement at a reasonable cost.

I've given up on the auto shop rebuilds. A lifetime warranty is worthless if you have to replace the alternator 3 or 4 times in the life of your car. It's not the installation of another alternator that annoys me, but the inconvenience/cost of getting towed home because the battery is dead. I found a quality rebuilder in Ballard; costs me a little more than the aftermarket jobs for a complete rebuild, but I've never had one of his fail after 2 to 3 months (as a matter of fact, usually my cars have died before his alternator went south on me). I've always gotten over 3 or more years of use out of his repairs. If I were in your shoes and had a good shop near me, I'd get a wrecking yard alternator, install it as a temporary fix, and bring mine to him to rebuild.

Ugly!

Stripped hub or a very loose castle nut. If the latter, the hub will be stripped out soon if it's not already. I'm not sure about your transmission, but on my old '86 when that happened I managed to drive it two miles home by dropping it into 4WD mode. Crazy thing to do since the wheel might have come off too, but I made it.

I'll probably do both, but I was hoping to do the rally cross school again...that was too much fun. But aside from that, it's less than two hours drive for you from Portland and about 2-1/2 hours for me from here. Where I think they'll have trouble is that ORG and NWR often share workers on their separate events; I don't see that happening on the 25th.

Two more events at the Brooklyn, WA site (I guess by NW Region). The first one would be a double header weekend with the ORG event on Sunday to NWR's event on Saturday. Unfortunately this conflicts with the Rally Cross School scheduled for the same weekend. Anyway, here's all I have: Just a blurb to inform anyone who doesn't know, there will be rally crosses Saturday, June 25th, and Saturday, July 30th at the Brooklyn site. Free camping is available next to the Tavern on Friday or Sat nights. There is a large covered area in case of rain, and a brick cooking thingy for BBQ. For more info, contact wyndriver@olynet.com Thanks, Janice D

I'm really in favor of the Nokian WR's....an all season radial with excellent winter and wet traction. Tire wear isn't that great, but if traction is an issue, I really don't care about wear as long as I can go a few years on them. I'm approaching 50K on my set with our Legacy wagon and I'll need to replace them before the winter since they'll be over 60K by then. Look at www.nokian.com for more information. Not everyone carries them since they are exclusively sold by Tire Factory.

You were a busy guy this weekend. Good job (how could you do it any other way!).

Erik's price is pretty good. Check out www.1stsubaruparts.com ; oem is $39.56 each; website is difficult to navigate but you'll find the rear strut for your car at that price eventually.

Find out where erik got his; good price. http://www.expressautoparts.com/PartSearch/getpart.cfm?year=1992&make=SU&model=LOY-4WD-001&category=L&part=Shock%20Absorber

This conversion write up should really go into the repair manual section. Great job, Josh.

Austin, I have a utility trailer; you've seen it. I'd consider selling it. ---ed---

Good luck, Sparkster. I have an older set of 15" wheels on my '91 Legacy; not a problem.

My wife's '97 has the early 2.2L engine and manual. My kid has a '93 (I think) with the 2.2L engine and manual also; I'm positive about the manual, but not sure of the engine or year. I'll update the post on Monday when he's back from Spokane (at the races this weekend....http://www.wmrra.com/). I checked with the kid and his Impz is a '96; has a manual; original engine (has the 2.2L designation below the rear tail-light). Sorry, the kid got such a good price on his car that I keep thinking that it's older than it really is.

His timing is correct, he's running high-test, and he's got the O2 sensor disconnected now. Still pings.

He's trying to resolve a chronic "pinging" issue; he's down to thinking of trying to get the carbon out of the engine.

The three lights coming on usually indicate that the diode trio in the alternator have failed (not the main diodes that supply the current output). Sometimes you just have to chalk this type of failure to bad luck. However, I once had a battery with an intermittent internal open (not short) that caused two good alternators to fail (sorry I can't remember if it was the diode trio that went out or just no output). This can happen inadvertantly if you disconnect the battery while the car is running; or if there is a really bad connection at one of the battery terminals or at the other end of both ground and positive wires. Make sure everything is tight and clean.

Stopped at Lynnwood today to find an '89 FWD Legacy LS and a '90 FWD Legacy L in the yard. The '89 is a dark blue sedan and the L is a red sedan. The LS was probably running just fine since it had extensive damage to both passenger side doors.

I picked up some parts for my Brat today from I-5 Wrecking in Napavine, WA (just off exit 71 of the interstate). They have an '86 Brat with about 150K miles which was hit in the right rear corner. I suspect the engine and tranny are both okay since this was a working truck (carpenter type work). Condition was as good as any I've seen in a long time with no obvious rust anywhere. I got the tailgate, bed trim, front bumper and left rear tail-light, but front fenders, doors, hood, running gear and everything else is still there and intact. Their prices are more than fair for a non-PAP yard (I picked up 4 alloy wheels off a '96 Legacy for $140 plus tax). Brat is dark blue in color. Any other information you need, call them at 1-800-551-4489.

Keep it. Like northguy said it's not costing anything right now. And it will be invaluable as a backup car later when you need to put some repair time into your daily driver.

It is on the early EA81s and EA82s; not sure about the XT6. You need to remove the inner door panel on the passenger side and with a flashlight and small inspection mirror you should be able to read the keycode.

Super pro bushings fit with the steel sleeve gone.

Paul, as the saying goes, "life goes on." Remember your friend for the good times you shared and don't dwell on the fact that he's passed on.

Heck no, they're not standard seats. They sure look comfy. So what if they're another shade of blue.