jamal

You should really come up with a better argument than "it wasn't designed for that." If it wasn't, the car probably wouldn't have manual selection, and in the case of a BC/BF, a manual button. There would be P,R,N,D. I have 165k and I pretty much constantly manually shift my car. Anyway, explain to me how having it in 3rd most of the time instead of 4th when I'm not on the highway is going to cause any more wear. Explain how having the transmission shift LESS is going to cause any more wear, and explain how avoiding high stress downshifts to 6000 rpm at full throttle is going to cause any more wear. Then maybe someone will take all your "oh no it's bad for it" arguments a little more seriously instead of making comments about your age.

I do it all the time for lots of reasons. Primarily just because I like the added control and wish I had a manual (but when your parents surprise you with the car one day in high school you can't really complain too much). 1) While driving around town. When I leave my parking lot and go down the alley to get on the street it shifts 5 times in D. Why have the transmission shift 5 times when I can put it in 1st and leave it there the whole 1/2 block at 10mph? Why have it in 4th when I'm only going 40mph? I'd prefer to sacrifice the .5mpg for the immediate and extra acceleration available. 2) For performance. If I'm on a spirited drive I don't want the transmission constantly upshifting and then have wait for it to kick down to 2nd rather un-smoothly midcorner when it's time to accelerate. If I downshift before the corner I get a bit of engine braking going in, and then immediate, smooth acceleration coming out because it's already in the right gear. 3) I don't like how the car downshifts sometimes. If I'm going 60 and stomp it in D, it drops to 2nd at ~5800 rpms, runs to redline, and then upshifts to 3rd. If I put in 3-manual, it hits third as it's getting into peak torque and doesn't make a 4->2 shift at full throttle. 4) For traction. When you put the selector in 1, power is split 50/50 at all times. Is any of this going to create a significant amount of extra wear in the transmission? Doubtful. It's probably better for it because it shifts less, and has fewer high-stress shifts. The only thing I try to avoid doing are downshifts to high rpm (as a note if you were to put the selector in 1st at 80 it won't downshift that far until you slow down enough) because they're a little jerky, but you can blip the throttle a bit to "rev-match" so to speak. Yes, I actually heel-toe an automatic. As far as the parking brake goes, the only stress on the parking pawl comes when you're on a hill. There will be tension in it that makes it harder (and sometimes impossible) to shift out of park. On flat ground it doesn't matter.

I saw that listing and I'm wondering if they're actually made by apexi. I had never heard of them making an n/a header before that. It looked a lot like a generic borla-type to me. Anyway, the borla and OBX are the two most popular it seems. I think I'm going to get the OBX because people claim higher gains and I have only heard that maybe the cracking issue is resolved. The sound will change I guess but the clips of Subarus with EL headers sounded pretty cool (although a bit less rumble-y) to me.

The top bolt that attaches the front strut to the spindle is cammed and allows camber adjustment (on all "new generation" Subarus). I've found that alignment shops sometimes don't know what they're doing and it's helpful to show them how to do it. Well, that happened to me at pep-boys anyway, but I was there and had him set the alignment how I wanted, so I basically got a custom alignment for $50. Then he didn't tighten a bolt but that's another story. You can use the aftermarket bolt pictured above in addition to the stock bolt. The aftermarket ones are smaller and designed to fit in the lower hole on the front or the two holes in rear on the spindles. They're also a bit prone to slippage from what I hear. By putting one of those in the lower hole and maxing it out, you'll be able to adjust camber and not worry about slippage assuming it is installed and torqued correctly. With the bolt set at the maximum no moment can develop to turn it.

There could also be a tweaked lateral link, control arm, strut, or crossmember. The first three are pretty easy to replace. A crossmember takes a bit more work but is do-able.

timing, spark, fuel- it is probably one of those things. For example, a clogged fuel filter or bad pump would probably let the car start and idle, but when you need more gas it can't handle it. Is there a check engine light? The pops and whatnot make me think of anti-lag which makes me think timing. There are two marks on the cam gears so it's pretty easy to get them mixed up I hear. Good thing it's non-interference. On the other hand I could very well just be talking out of my rump roast.

Doubtful. The beam pattern is completely wrong. US headlights go like this: __/ __/ Japanese headlights are like this: \__ \__ So not only is doing that illegal, it's really not good for oncoming traffic. Finding some glass lights from a european LHD car would be a much better option (although it still probably wouldn't be legal). Is it possible to put newer (98-99) lights in a 96 or whatever?

I really don't think you want them. 1) Japanese headlights have the wrong beam pattern for LHD and driving on the right side of the road. 2) It sounds like e-bay ricer crap from that description. 3) The would probably fit. Wet sanding and clearcoat worked pretty well for me. They're not perfect, but it's a lot better than it was. Make sure you are very thorough and use very fine grit. There's a good nasioc thread here. Read the whole thing there is some good discussion.

I think they put the 6-speed with dccd in the Forester STi. Edit, yes. First hit on google brings up a two year old car and driver article. With that picture.

from what I hear the strut is longer and the spring is taller (and yes probably stiffer), and the combination of the two along with taller tires creates the higher ride height. Just having the struts will still lift the car, but not quite as high. A weaker spring is in no way going wear out the strut. Most of the extra strut travel is going to be in the droop with a shorter spring, and it's not like it will be slamming into the bumpstops.

Good point. if you have uneven sized tires on one axle it just seems as though you're going around a corner to the differential. The only place I would expect damage after 10 days would be the center, because it has to deal with the speed difference between the front and rear. I don't know much about the dodge awd system though.

I'm assuming you're trying to use outback struts? Because those will lift the car because the strut tube is longer. So even with the same springs you'll be higher because the distance from the lower spring perch to the mounting flanges is farther. Tell him that and see what he says. Oh, and the outback sport is the Impreza-based outback.

I went on a fun mountain road drive that lasted about 70 miles longer than I'd planned last weekend. The outsides of my front tires are not looking too good. I think I'm going to drill out the knuckles and run stock camber bolts in the bottom holes.

bbs.legacycentral.org is where all of us 1st gen legacy people hang out. Manual mode only works when the selector is in 2nd or 3rd. It basically just holds it in that gear, although from a stop in 3-manual it will start in 2nd and then shift to 3rd pretty quickly. It will also upshift when you hit redline. Another thing is that when you put the selector in 1 it sends more power to the rear wheels before the fronts start to slip. the full time 4wd isn't any different than the non-vdc AWD in newer Subarus. Just a marketing/terminology thing. Oh hey you're in Hamilton. I'm from Missoula. Unfortunately the only time I've been home in the last two years was Christmas.

Toyota owns a little over 8% of FHI and is going to or already does use the Indiana plant to make Camries. Anyway the TSB might have been about the change in tophats from 91-92. The springs also changed so if that's the case they are not compatible.

the only person I know of with king springs bought them in Australia and then brought them back in his luggage. Although that's not saying much I suppose. Ground Control sleeves could do that if you ordered the right lengths and rates I suppose. Tein apparantly makes a gravel-tech spring. Maybe that's stiffer and doesn't drop the car as much. Well that's all I can come up with.

I bought my 16" wrx wheels with new RE92s for $220. You can usually find an older set of 15" Subaru wheels with decent tires for less. Most any other Subaru wheel since 1990 will fit (05+ STi and SVX wheels don't). Check the local nasioc classifieds and try to avoid needing to have them shipped.

Having something like a degree of camber won't cause noticable tire wear on the inside edge, especially if you like to drive on twisty roads. From what I've heard, it doesn't become much of an issue until you have more than 2 degrees, and even then probably only if you do nothing but drive in a straight line. I just checked my treadwear. With -0.7 up front and -1.5 rear the depth is even all the way across on all corners although the front outside blocks are a little more worn than the inside. Also I found out I should rotate my tires.

I wrote this for legacycentral and it is intended for 1st gen legacies, but it applies to Imprezas without an RSB as well. So I changed a little of this and it mostly applies to all Subarus now. For early Legacies, there are two different lateral link/endlink setups. The 90-92 cars have droplinks, which are a vertical endlinks that fit into a hole in the rear lateral link. Picture: The 93-94s, along with most other newer Subarus, have C-links that connect to tabs on the endlink: AFAIK, all the BC/BF mounting brackets are the same, as well as pretty much every other Subaru mounting bracket. It should also be noted that the mounting brackets on 04+ Imprezas are beefed up, and are a good option if you don't want to spend all that money on the HD whiteline or whatever parts. So, anyway, if your car doesn't have a rear swaybar, it's not terribly difficult to install one. The benefits of an rsb include better handling due to more evenly balanced roll stiffnesses and less body roll. It really makes the car feel a whole lot better and creates less understeer. What you'll need to do this: -A swaybar* -Rear lateral links with endlink mounting tabs -Endlinks -Swaybar mounting brackets and the right bushings for the bar you're using. -Possibly a thread chaser -Probably new hardware to mount the lateral links -An alignment afterwards *Only swaybars made for 1st gen Legacies will fit other 1st gen Legacies without issue. The tire well is in the way of impreza bars, although they can be made to fit by "moving" the bump out of the way. WRX sedan bars might be too wide as well. If you have an Impreza, you don't have to worry about this, and Legacy bars will also fit. If you shop around and buy the parts used, you should be able to get everything for around $100. My swaybar is 18mm from a 94 turbo Legacy, and was $50 shipped. The lateral links and endlinks are from a 99 Impreza, and I think I paid around $40. The mounting brackets are from an 02 WRX, and cost me $20 or so. You wouldn't want lateral links from an 02+ Impreza sedan because they are longer. 93-99 Legacy links are all the same as far as I know. After that the Legacy rear suspension changed to a multi-link setup so that stuff doesn't work. I think Outback swaybar mounting brackets are taller so you might not want those, either. Once you have all this stuff, you'll need to replace the rear lateral links. This part may or may not be easy. I had a hard time with the bolt that connects the link to the crossmember. It's a cammed bolt that is used to adjust toe, and mine was fused to the metal part of the bushing. After a whole lot of prying and burning, I cut off the bolt with a sawzall. Before this I had brought it to a shop, and their impact gun couldn't get the bolt out of the bushing. The side that connects to the knuckle didn't come out very nicely, either, and I ended up destroying the bushing. Burn baby burn: Ha ha take that: I had to bring the long bolt that connects the links to the kunckle to pepboys to get the remains of the bushing off. I recommend just buying new bolts, nuts, and washers beforehand, then it won't matter if you have to cut things off. I waited 3 weeks to get the cammed bolt because we kept ordering the wrong thing. Alright now things are looking better: Time to get the mounting brackets on. The holes are already in place in the frame, so all you need are the mounts and hardware. The right one is a little difficult because there isn't much room to get at the front bolt, which is above the gas filler tube. I found it was best to take off all the plastic shrouding and such on the tube to get at the hole, and also to chase the threads because the bolts didn't want to go in very easily. I don't remember the pitch off the top of my head. Here you can see that there isn't much room: Putting on the swaybar is pretty easy. You just need to feed it over the exhaust and bolt everything down. Endlink bolts should be torqued to spec with the car on the ground. Since you messed with the cammed bolt that adjusts toe and put on different lateral links, you're going to want an alignment. You should probably mark where they were in the first place, so you can drive around a bit without trashing the tires. Other threads of note discussing rear swaybars: http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=25767 http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=22175 http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=19565 http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=15736 http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=15967 http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=2366 http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=986 http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=195 Another option could be to buy the endlinks that attach to the end of the lateral links. Bonus picture:

I would suggest as much negative camber as you can get. I have -0.7 degrees up front with STi struts, and plan to drill out the bottom holes in the knuckles to run oem camber bolts top and bottom. Hopefully that will get me close to -2. Even with that much you don't have to worry about added tire wear (provided you go around corners with some regularity). There are more precise ways to determine how much negative camber you should have, but in the case of a Subaru having the stock bolts maxed out is a good start.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=749402 I have an 05 6-disc changer sitting on my desk and I'm waiting for my David Carter reverse harness. Damn 1st gen legacies and their oddball connectors.

I have a t-leg rsb when I originally had nothing and am pretty happy with the balance. Something I've been hearing a lot of is that a bigger front bar is better. Increasing the front roll stiffness will actually improve the camber curve and provide better contact to the point where it more than cancels out the added weight transfer. The problem is that the people who say this didn't just put on a front bar and nothing else. They've probably already done significant suspension modifications and don't really have a good baseline to relate to. It's important to keep in mind that an awd inherently understeers under power and there isn't much you can do about it. Think of it this way: You have 4 wheels driving the car, and the front two have the additional task of steering it. Which end is going to lose traction first? You can compensate by messing with relative roll stiffnesses, but an awd car that tends to oversteer is going to be very scary in transitions and under braking.

wow how did I forget to mention aim. That's the most important part. i had having everything pointing the general right direction, then I went to a parking structure with a level and some tape and aimed everything properly (directions on daniel stern's site). The difference is incredible. The light only where it should be, and very bright when I turn everything on.

Of course they do. Canadian tire sells like everything. I'm pretty sure that's where all my hockey sticks came from when I was a kid. When I seafoamed my car I sucked it through the PCV. Detach the side of the hose coming from the block, twist it around, and slowly pour it in while the motor is running and warmed up. You're going to have to do it slow and open the throttle with your finger to keep it from stalling.

Do not buy any of that crap or silverstars. Silverstars are okay I guess, but they're tinted blue, which is a big no-no for a halogen bulb. HIDs look blue because they actually put out light that has more blue in it. A light that is tinted blue must be overdriven to meet light output standards So while it may look brighter, it actually isn't because that blue tint is taking so much away. Most of the light from a halogen bulb is in the yellow-red spectrum. Blue tint takes away everything but blue. The best readily available bulb in the US is the Sylvania Xtravision. I have them and they're great. In europe the Osram Silverstar is a non-tinted bulb that is apparantly a step above the Xtravision. But they're not the same as a Sylvania Silverstar you find in a parts store (even though Osram and Sylvania are the same company). Anyway read everything on daniel stern's website. Good bulbs and clear lenses will make a huge difference. If that's not enough, do what I did and get some quality driving lights. Another thing people do is run relays to the headlights to replace the thin and old factory wiring. It can make a difference, and I'll probably do that eventually, along with 100w bulbs in my Hella FF1000s.