mdjdc

I moved into the realm of an outback owner. Actually two outbacks. Got them for 500.00 each and fixed them up. Great cars. My daughter is getting ready to drive, so we are in the process fo building her an old gen ea82 wagon. She wants something she can bury in the mud and have fun with. For right now, I'm still around and lurking.

you have an inner cv going bad. Replace the axle and you will be fine.

I use "right stuff" on the cam towers and never wait to start the engine. I haven't had a single leak since started using "right Stuff" as a sealant. It was recommended to me by my mechanic and is all he uses. Me too now.

One other consideration is the integrity of the bikes for the trip. Most roof carriers have locking mechanisms on them and that gives security at rest stops. I used to use a hitch mount system until I was rear ended...twice!! After that I went with the roof system just for the safety of the bike. Luckily, I didn't have the bike on the rack when I got hit, but if I had I'd have lost my canondale. That would've hurt me more than a few miles to the gallon on trips. Also, I use a cargo box for vacation and this year it allowed us to make several stops for touring and not have the worry of stuff getting stolen out of the roof bag we used to use. Just another consideration. Plus, I really like the look of my car with two bikes on the roof.

If you hae lenghtwise rails then you can use the lowrider towers from Yakima to attach a set of round bars to the car. Go to their website and research the lowriders. If you need a set of bars I have a set you can for the cost of shipping.

Does the impreza have the raised side rails like the outback? By this I mean the rails that the cross bars are attached to, do they run from front to back and are raised above the roof. If so, you can use a set of lowrider towers to attach the yakima round bars. They are a bit pricey, but they work great and can be found on ebay all the time. You can also find them called doublecross towers. These are just the older models and function the same way ans the low riders. Good luck If you can send me a pisture of your current setup I may be able to help you figure out a solution. mdjdc1@gmail.com Good Luck

This should be the same as the rack on my outback wagon. Loosen the screw as far as it cvan go and then shove hard on it and you will see the bottom of the "claw" mechanism move downward. You will have to loosen both sides before you can get it off and if it hasn't been off in some time it may feel like it is stuck. Tap it up and down and it should move. You can then either remove the cross bar or move it to a new position.

Hey Guys: Thanks for all of the suggestions. Yesterday I replaced the plug wires (plugs were new), the O2 sensor with new ones. I swapped out the coil pack and TPS with younger ones and the car shifts like a dream now. While I was there I also replaced the differential fluids. Evidently the previous owner didn't believe in routine maintanence. Slowly but surely I'm replacing worn elements of this car. It's a nice car and my wife really likes driving it. Once again, Thanks for the help.

Remember, this is my wife's car and she is a little heavy footed. I get better mileage in my 99 ob wagon 5spd, but I am not on it like she is. She jokes that if you want a tranny tested, just let her drive it for a week. Her first car was a honda four banger and she learned to romp it just to get out into traffic and the habit is now ingrained. I did the brake work myself and the calipers are free and the ebrake properly adjusted. I really need to replace the leading O2 sensor and possibly swap out the TPS with another I have. Do I need to swap the whole throttle body, or can I just swap the sensor. If is easier to do the whole throttle body due to adjustments in the TPS, then that is what I will do tomorrow. By the way, I really appreciate all of the great tips you guys are giving me. Thanks Mike

Thankfully the brakes have just been reworked and are in great shape. No dragging, so I will look at the other areas. The electronic issues may be why the mileage is lower than expected too.

This is my wife's car and I only noticed the problem over the weekend when I had to use the A/C. She is kind of oblivious to car stuff and usually lets me know when something is broken.

I have had probably two dozen subes over the past fifteen years. ( I rebuilt them and sold them as a hobby) Some lined up perfectly and some didn't. I guess it is an issue of manufacturing tolerances.

You do not need to take the machine shop the cams and caps. The valvel seals go in before the cams so they do not need them. Once you get the engine back you can reassemble the head on the car. I surely hope you marked the lifters as to the holes they came out of as they are already adjusted for thoes cam lobes. Do not mix them up or you are looking at more work.

The trans fluid level is right. I even had it flushed after the engine swap. The tranny doen't necessarily hunt for the next gear, stutters between shifts. Like it is bouncing back and forth for a second. It doesn't last long, but I want to be sure the tranny is working properly. I guess you might call the stutter a hunt. It doesn't have a hard or rough shift though. Once in gear the tranny works fine. I'm going to go over the engine electrical and see if that fixes the problem. I guess I could swap out the TCU if necessary as I have one of those lying around too. A friend of mine is a subie master mechanic and his son has a forester with the same tranny and 400k original on it and he says not to worry about it. Then again he isn't married to my wife and this is her car.

I've had several ea82 engines in the past that did not line up perfectly. I never thought about it and just drove them and then sold them. I guess it is just a quirk of these engines.

I'm going to replace the wires and swap out the coil pack today. I hadn't thought about the MAF, but I will clean that too. I guess I should just do a general tune up now. The plugs are new and the engine is one with solid lifters. They weren't adjusted, but everything looked clean and free when I had it apart for new HG's before I put it in. Thanks for the info. Would you recommend against the K&N type filter? That is what is in it, but I can swap it out for a paper style filter.

First line up the three lines on the fly wheel. Take the belts off and try to line up the cams and then replace the belts. If you are still having trouble getting it started, then you probably are having a problem with the distributer position, so I would take off the set screwss and monkey with the disty until it runs nice and if necessary, reposition the disty shaft. It sound like someone messed with this engine before you got it, so you may have to play a little to get it right. As far as the 1/2 off deal, I wouldn't worry about that much. There is alot of forgiveness in these engines and you should be able to make the thing run right just by adjusting the disty a little. good luck

When I had mine resurfaced I just paid the extra 50 bucks, gave them the seals and had the machine shop replace the seals.

I have a 96 outback with the 2.5 dohc and auto transmission. When I first got the car it had 250k on the drivetrain and the engine had a slight bearing noise. The engine has been replaced with one with only 120k on it and that one is quiet as a church mouse. When I am driving at times the transmission will stutter between 2nd and 3rd gears. It is not a consistent stutter, but if I put the A/C on it gets worse. My mechanic says that is a sign of some type of engine involvement, possibly wires or coilpack. Does anyone have any other ideas? I'm going on vacation soon and I want to be secure in this car. I have another trans with 120k on it that I could swap into the car if needed. I just want to chase down all of the possible causes first. Thanks in advance Mike

That puts me out of the game. I don't have a way of towing it home. If you think that a relay will allow it to be driven let me know and I can get one for you to try out. Mike

is the car driveable? I can get a travel permit if it is and drive it to richmond, va.

Relax: As long as they both come out of a 2.5 DOHC car you are golden. Put it in and have fun.

I wish I was there to help. I can have one of those out in 2 hours and back in in the same, so three nights is very doable. Just be methodicle about it and keep all of the parts seperated so you know where they go. That makes reinstallation much easier and faster. Good Luck

If the 99 has a 2.5, then you are looking at an outback and the tranny will not work unless you also swap the final drive. The 2.5 and 2.2 drivelines are different, so you would have to swap them alltogether. The other issues shouldn't be a problem though.

I had my mechanic look at the pics this morning and he said that little ding will not effect you. it isn't touched by the rings and you shouldn't worry about using that block. Let me know when you want the heads