edrach

Two things: Get a carfax report to try and see when the salvage title was issued and where it went then (i.e. did it run 4 more years after issue? was it sold to a dealer immediately and then sold again? will you be the first to get the car with a "branded" title?). As others have said, if you decide to buy it have it thoroughly inspected by a reputable shop of YOUR choosing...both mechanical and body....before you actually plunk money down on it. Personally, I'm not adamantly against branded titles for a number of reasons: 1. A bargaining chip to lower the price. 2. I normally keep cars until they have 250K on them before I sell them. By then the salvage title doesn't mean anything. 3. I go into it with my "eyes open." If I find something later, hopefully my "bargained" price savings will cover it. Anecdotal advice: Many years back my wife and I bought a '93 Geo Metro. I found it in Spokane while on business and we had been looking for a while for this model at a decent price. It did not have a salvage title but I was suspicious since the right rear quarter panel paint didn't quite match. Also the title had been "cleaned" since it was an OR title being sold in Spokane, WA. I managed to negotiate a little more off the selling price and put down a deposit on the car with a pickup later. 'Drove home and flew out the following week with my wife for a "getaway" weekend in Spokane. We drove the car home without any problems. Found a funny "thump" a few months later and discovered that the body shop repairs (remember the slightly mis-matched paint?) had neglected to replace the rear shock absorber on that side. $40 for a replacemtnt shock and 30 minutes of my time and the "thump" was gone. My wife drove that car over 200k miles while we owned it. We sold it for a reasonable price when we got her Forester. The point is we were fortunate; but we were also careful.

thanks. It's not so much I want to get an electronic speedo but I want to get clean VSS pulses from the later version sending unit rather than the noisy reed switch VSS in the cable driven speedometer. I'm looking for a way to tie the later version VSS unit into my speedo cable. I need to be able to get pulses off the cable without having to modify the harness so drastically. Once I get the sending unit in there, I'll just have to wire power, ground and signal from there to my rally computer.

I agree with others that it's not the VC. But if you need a new one drop me a PM and I'll pass along the phone number of the person I buy parts from. I paid $550 for my '97 Impreza's VC a while back. I'm not sure he can ship internationally but it can't hurt to try. Worst case i might have some shipping options for you. My son lives in Bolivia so I have a little bit of knowledge about that. Just for grins, when is the last time that the transmission oil was changed (if ever)? Bearing noise from the front is more likely an alternator or compressor if you haven't investigated that yet.

See we told you it could be done. The nice thing about getting a key cut from the code is that it's virgin....no wear at all and you can have duplicates cut from that cheaply rather than from a 20+ year old worn key.

If the severe vibration stops almost instantly when you lift off the gas pedal and comes back again when you get on the throttle again, it could very well be a bad DOJ (on the axle you installed recently). Very characteristic symptom of a bad inner joint on the axle.

Jeanne was thinking about an old school BBQ at our house before winter sets in. Watch for the announcement.

Sorry I couldn't make it. Great sunny day today in Duncan, BC.

AM! No too early! Glad I don't have to get up so soon. Just kidding.

0.56A is 560 milliamps not 56. More than enough to discharge a partially charged battery overnight. Can't believe that the computer said that was normal.

It pays to be fussy. Cost without labor for a new viscous coupler on a manual tranny is around $575. I haven't a clue what it costs on an automatic.

Thanks for reminding me why I moved here from Wilmington, DE!

By ORG in Chehalis, WA on the last Saturday and Sunday of July. Check the http://www.oregonrally.com/ 'site for details. Please note that the 'site has been hacked but all the information is still there. For those wondering about the weather: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Chehalis,%20Washington

Definitely swap the rear diff. Easiest thing to do and not an expensive replacement to try and eliminate the problem. Especially if you do the work yourself. Odd that the rear diff would go. I have to ask (my apologies) but are both tires on the rear the same size, type and air pressure?

I bought one years ago from Fry's. A universal kit that had enough pieces to fab one for my Brat.

Hey, glad to see you finally got past 10 posts. Nice to know you can PM now.

Why would you want to do this?

I've had numberous keys cut for many ea81 vehicles over the years with a W123 code. Your dealer just doesn't/can't do it. Find a decent locksmith that's been in business for more than 20 years and he'll get it done.

Thursday mlorning. Hi from beautiful, SUNNY, Vancouver Island. I thought I'd try to attend this weekend's get-to-gether in spirit if not in person. Keep in touch and send lots of pics. Thanks.

Try NAPA for the bolts; they usually have a good selection. Or if you have a McLendon's.

Thanks, I'll have to look around for that. So far everything I've found doesn't have compatible fittings. That's why I'm thinking of fabbing my own.

My '97 Impreza with 5MT has a two piece speedo cable. I'm looking for damaged, broken cables for the two metal portions where the two part cable is joined. Just the two fittings is all I need. No need for the rest of the cable or the inner portion. I'm trying to fab a pulse generator for the rally computer. Glad to pay postage and a small fee for your trouble if you have a cable you're planning to throw out anyway.

Trust me I've looked. Most of the current crop of TSD rally people are driving newer cars with an electronic VSS. If I had a '98 Impreza instead of '97 I'd be one of those. There are ways around this. I have two magnets epoxied to the inner hub of my rear axle on the passenger side along with a hall effect sensor (i.e. magnetic pickup). Gets me thru most events, but I'd rather have pulses off the transmission since it will average wheelspin/lockup better. In the past, I used a impulse unit that went between the speedometer and cable at the speedo end. Unfortunately I haven't found cable fittings that are workable in my Impreza (besides there may not be enough room back there for such an impulse unit).

Interesting url; I didn't know the speedo was two piece. I'll have to grab one at PAP and see if I can connect an impulse sensor between the two pieces of the cable.

I already have a scan guage. I use it to keep an eye on alternator output as well as water temp. It shows me lots of other stuff if I want it, but I leave the other two slots open for rpm and corrected mph.

Just for laughs, here's the VC from the '99 and newer models.