porcupine73

For the '94 the stockers are relatively new futura I think they are, I think it's the pepboys 4 tires $99 special; they were on there when I bought the '94 last summer. They seem to be ok, they seem a little sloppy though, like side to side movement wise. The '96 has bridgestone I think for the non-winter tires, those seem to be ok. '00obw has pirelli p400 they seem fairly good but one has a separated belt or something messed up with it that if I put it on the front it makes the car shake like crazy above 50mph but is fine on the rear.

I have the DS2's on my '94 (so they're the smaller ones, like P185/70R14), they're awesome in the snow with deep tread but yes on dry pavement esp if it is above freezing they feel very squishy and I'm sure don't help in an emergency maneuver.

Id start by checking the sway bars and endlinks, make sure nothing is broken or loose there. How does she fare in the 'bounce on the bumper' test for the struts?

Oh and the valve cover bolts torque is low, like 3.7 ft-lb(f). I just gently snug up each bolt and then repeat that a couple times (since as you tighten each one the others might tehn feel a little loose as the gasket compresses a bit). These bolts will snap off pretty easily with much more torque.

Hi. Yes I just did the valve cover gaskets on my '96 2.2L. They're only three bolts each. The RH/passenger side is very easy. The driver side is easy too if you have the battery and washer tank out of the way. I think I removed the oil filler neck (just two bolts - BUT there is some sort of o-ring in there). I replaced the o-ring but it didn't look right so I put a little permatex ultra grey around the mating surface just to be sure. MAin tip for valve cover gaskets: make sure the area around the valve cover is CLEAN before starting, like blow it off good with compressed air. Any grit around there will promptly fall on the valvetrain otherwise. I got the Subaru kit that included the two gaskets and six bolt hole washers. No spark plug tube hole seals required since on this engine the holes don't penetrate the valve covers. VCG AA012 KIT VALVE COVER GASKET SET WITH 6 GROMMETS FOR 90-98 LEGACY 2.2 ALL (for both sides)

mmm, not sure. The worst that will happen is the valve covers will leak oil. With pcv valve she might 'drink' more oil than normal. How much are these parts at napa? Then we can compare with prices of a typical Subaru dealer sellings parts online..... :Y

Hi nipper. I don't think I hit anything, but it is possible. There was some snow and ice on the road. But this was loud, like explosion backfire loud; it didn't seem so much like hitting something though that is possible. I was ready to pull off to the side of the road when it happened but nothing seemed amiss afterward. The tune-up was this summer maybe 1000 miles ago (I don't drive the '94 a ton), with new ngk v-power, new oem spark plug wires, coolant change, engine oil and filter change, ATF change, front and rear diff oil change, etc.

My pic? Yah the bolts were so rusted that when I tried to loosen the nuts, the bolts just snapped in half with not too much effort.

Hm...okay good point! I'll give 'er a looksee this weekend. It is snowy and wet here right now. It does have new ngk v-powers and new oem wires. Coil pack condition = unknown! Thanks!

Those are the harbor freight nitrile gloves. When they're onsale for $5 a box in the XL size it's a bargain! Summitracing was also closing out their gloves for $5 a box last year. Oh yes we get ladybugs in NY. Hasn't been too bad the last couple years, but like four years ago there were literally hundreds of thousands of them around the garage and yard and stuff. I read they released a few million up in Toronto to try to combat something.

Ahoy mattejb! I went to RIT about 10 years ago. Your leak could be the donut connection. Here's some pics. You can get a kit from Subaru with the donut, springs, etc to fix this, it's pretty easy to do and the kit is maybe $25 I think. To add to Skip's already nice pic!!!

hehe, that's just a glove I put over the throttle intake to keep spiders, ladybugs, flies, bees, etc. from getting in there while I was doing the timing belt and some other work.

Hi all. I heard a loud gunshot like BANG from the front of the '94 Legacy on the drive home today. It was crusing ~60mph when it happened. It sounded like a misfire possibly and it was LOUD. It only did it that once; never heard it before. Didn't notice any smoke or anything afterward, no dash lights....not sure, looked under hood didn't see anything strange, no blown cv joints or anything like that. What do you think it might've been?

That'd be one way to do it! If you have a manual trans you can just put 'er in fifth to hold the crank while you torque up the bolt a little more. If you have an auto you can cram a small pry bar or brake adjuster tool or something like that in the flywheel plate. There's a little access hole right near the TPS. I would torque it to the 125 at least. There have been a number of horror picture posts about what happens when the bolt loosens up....

Also some good endwrench articles don't show up in their search because the article contains mis-spelled or oddly spelled words. Like 'axel' instead of 'axle' and I know I've seen a few others but I forgot what they were....

hahaa no kidding the salt and chloride states are absolutely brutal! Any class action suits against the municipalities for these vehilce destroying chemicals?

erm ok this vehilce is out 'o commission now until this leak is fixed. Yes yes it probably should have been out 'o commission as soon as I noticed the leak, but it got much worse today. It leaked out enough in today's trip to make the brake light come on and I could feel the pedal dropping in hard braking. Unforutnately this is my serious deep snow vehicle and right now we are getting serious deep snow, but the '94 will be up to the task I am sure! Some supplies are on order will probalby be until next weekend until I get them and get to the job. Dang local parts stores including autozone, carquest, and pepboys seem to be USELESS for this job.

Hm...well it does make sense, at least for soob which has the 'waste spark' setup of firing two cylinders at a time. For spark it only needs to know the position of the crank, however for fuel, it does need to know which cylinder to inject at any given time (hence fuel injection depending on cam angle sensor).

It's not necessarily the 'quality' but perhaps more so the specification it is built to. Now I love Subaru OEM parts are much as the next enthusiast, but I have used the bosch generic (wayyyy before i knew anything about soobs) on my '96. I ordered the OEM front o2 sensor for my '94, and it does say bosch on it. However, '00obw the front o2 sensor is a five wire sensor.........

Ditto that fnlyfnd! That soobs looks like brand new!

hehe ok thanks. Good point on the practicing first, especially before I try to cut and flare the existing line! Funny thing is Summit appears doesn't appear to sell regular steel brake line (only stainless), but the only double flare tool they sell says 'not for use on stainless'.

Thanks nipper, that c/kunifer was tempting but is too risky. I want something that will last. It seems steel line even aluminum or copper coated people say in super salt areas only lasts maybe 3-4 years? How about stainless steel brake line? I see summit has it: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=SUM-220236

If the engine is mechanically sound you could consider an HDD oil (heavy duty diesel). They have more antiwear additives, better resistance to acidic combustion byproducts, etc. (This would _not_ be a good choice a gasoline vehicle under warranty though, it would have too much phosphorous for the current API/ILASC specs which can spoil the cats if the vehicle burns much oil).

Interesting article on brake lines and corrosion at http://www.copper.org/applications/automotive/hydraulic_brake_tube.html What do you guys think of the products at http://www.fedhillusa.com Their three questions are...and my answer in green. 1. What size and how long is your brake line. 3/16"/4.75mm od 2. What kind of flares are on each end of line. 45 deg. SAE double flare 3. What kind of brake line nut is on each end. 10mmx1.0 SAE nut So based on that info I need a double flare tool kit and supplies: The tube nuts will all be either 10mm x 1.0 male fully threaded steel nut, 16mm overall. SAE (double) flare. standard Asian style nut. or the longer: 10mm x 1.0 male fully threaded steel nut, 21mm overall. SAE (double) flare. standard Asian, long style nut. and then where I tap into the existing lines under the seat will be: 10mm x 1.0, SAE (double) flare, Asian, metric, female steel union, 26mm overall. Use with 10mmx1.0 male SAE nut and 3/16"/4.7mm SAE (double) flared brake line.

Nice! The rub strips are great for carrying stuff on the roof. erm...is it just me, or is that an airplane in your garage?