Virrdog

KYB GR2 or KYB AGX. AGX is adjustable to make it suit your taste. But they don't make that model for all cars. GR2's are an upgrade from stock valving.

You might want to try upgrading the wiring for the alternator and battery to make the best of both. In car audio circles its called the "big 3". Run additional large gauge wire from 1. the battery negative terminal to the chassis 2. the alternator positive to battery positive (fuse this one) 3. engine ground to chassis. The biggest help for sound systems seems to come from the battery to chassis connection. But you might benefit from the 2 others since that is how the neg. and pos. of the alternator get to the battery. Alternator casing is "negative" and bolts to the engine which is grounded to the chassis. Doing this certainly wouldn't hurt. By the way, lots of newer Subie owners see high 13's voltage stock.

Ok, I'm sorry, but most of what you are saying sounds funny. Please post pics. Did you install little 6.5" speakers in the same box as a subwoofer?? That's bad all around. The pressure from the air movement of the sub is going to blow those speakers to bits if that's the case. And speaker salesmen (similar to car salesmen) typically don't know anything except how to make a sale. Every set of speakers can benefit from a real amp with a switching power supply. What made the speakers different? Were they of higher sensitivity or maybe a lower power rating? So you plan on having the references in the back with their woofer and tweeter firing forward and only a set of tweeters in the front of the car? That is not going to sound right. :-\. I would start out by reinstalling the References PROPERLY and go from there. You can put sound deadening or a reflex pad on the outer door skin directly behind the speaker to help out if you don't want to deaden the whole door.

I think we are now to the point of arguing the same side. I never said setting the gains will allow you to prevent clipping of the amp. The original point I am trying to make is that saying "underpowering can kill a speaker" is asinine and ignorant. I was merely pointing out how you can prevent clipping the source unit with an amplifier by adjusting the gains properly. If you have a digital volume control that goes to 40, you should set your amplifier gains to produce your highest volume before you get to 34-36 (or wherever the headunit starts clipping the signal) on the volume knob. This is very true. But underpowering it will never kill the speakers like 86Bratman originally said. Trying to turn up the amplifier gains or volume control too much can. The idea that hooking up too small of an amplifier to your speakers will make them go up in smoke is ridiculous. If you have a sub that can handle 1200W continous RMS and you hook up a 100W amp at full distortion at full volume... it will never blow the speaker. The speaker can handle whatever power the amp can throw at it, even at continuous full rail voltage. Its when the clipping power of the amp is more than the rated power handling of the speaker where problems happen. Don't try to crank a crappy amp and/or radio too high and you won't blow anything underpowered or not. You will see a need for more volume and get a bigger amp to accomplish it. I'm trying not to write a book here, these topics are well covered... everywhere. I just have a pet peeve against the false statement that underpowering will kill a speaker :-\ It's the retard behind the volume knob that cranks it into distortion that does.

Please explain how the lack of power caused a mechanical failure in the speaker... :-\ If that was the case he would damage his speakers everytime he turned down his radio even with the amp (very little power). I still say its because clipping the signal generates much higher average power. If he didn't crank his head unit so high the speakers would never have blown. He doesn't have to use such a high setting on the radio with the amp because he can adjust the gains to satisfactory volume at lower volume settings (where it doesn't clip the signal in the radio).

Those special clamps are annoying. I have an inner joint that flings grease onto the hot cat... that's not so bad as my wife complaining about the smell!

Common wives-tale. Just make sure you don't say that over on NASIOC... Underpowered amps tend to get turned up (gain and/or volume) until they start to clip... clipping is 3 or 4 times more average power than a sine wave. This overloads the speaker (suspension, spider, or heat tolerance) and then it fails. The logic behind "underpowering" is whacky because then you could blow up a speaker by turning the amp off... :-\ That being said, its better to have a high quality amp of excessive power with its gains turned down than vice versa.

Umm... :-\ Ok, the sound quality probably didn't sound great because References are not known for their mid-bass. You need to sound deaden your door to get the most out of ANY speaker, but especially Infinity speakers. If the speakers were new, the rattling had to be installer error. How you held that against them, I do not know. But it must have sounded better than coming out of the trunk. And how in the world did you mount them in a sub box?? We are talking about 6 1/2" speakers, right. Subwoofers may rattle when installed in the front doors regardless... I am not a brand fanboy, but I know that my References sound just fine with the spacers I made for them. I helped fill the mid-bass hole with my 10" kicker in the trunk. Its not perfect, but sounds good enough for me to listen to and enjoy. I seem to have deveoloped a minimum quality tolerance, I didn't turn the headunit on much at all until I got the References in there. I just listened to the 3" exhaust instead.

Do you have a picture of what you are talking about?

Has the fuel filter ever been replaced?? One of the simplest tune-up items you can do. And since starting up the car after is filling up is usually a hot start... you might have a problem with your coolant temp. sensor.

Driving long distances is not the problem, its when you get stopped in traffic with high temps and A/C running. Just make sure your fans are working properly. A new thermostat doesn't hurt and checking the hoses is good insurance like mentioned before. And remember if you start to overheat, you can lower the coolant temperature by turning on the heat full blast. The heater core is a little radiator and can make a difference. (Just remember to roll down the windows!)

The rubber belt could not even hold the shock load of pulling the engine down 30hp over and over again... It would break or slip.

You are much better off fitting the Subie intercooler if you can get it to fit. The Saab intercooler is much, much smaller.

I'll second this. 2.2L and non-interference engine. Avoid lots of possible hassle with better gas mileage.

Exactly, one racing team already switched over to the new Turbo Legacy because of its inherent better handling. The new WRX is bigger internally in EVERY dimension, full power and torque comes on 400 rpm earlier, wheelbase is longer, handles better and rides more comfy, trunk is much more spacious with new rear suspension (side effect)... AND the car is lighter than the preceding model. What is there not to like performance wise? Remember what makes Subaru's what they are. Boxer engine, simple AWD, and top-3 reliability. Stuff like window frames and emergency parking light switches were just little side stuff that was Subaru specific. I don't know the reasoning behind the headlights, but the window frames makes the car better.

Simply, your best bet is to keep the car in tip-top maintenance with things like copper plugs and clean air filter. You can swap out the muffler with a free flowing unit. After that you get into engine management.

Sounds like you don't drive much. Get the car up to operating temperature and really drive it. Do some pulls on the highway, get everything nice and hot to evaporate any water. And you can start spraying WD-40 on some of the underhood connections, it will displace the water.

Go ahead and change the fuel filter if you have not done so already.

Usually burns the alternator up. Then the subsequent driving on battery power drains it pretty good. I went through this multiple times in my Brat.

Radiator is eaaaaasy. Might find some hose that needs replaced, but that's a good thing to find it then instead of on the highway.

Its much better to let time tell the tale. Why get so upset now? I'm sure lots of people wanted to kill Subaru when they axed the Brat. But then came the EJ engine. The first Impreza's were quite ugly, but the STi was downright beautiful. They killed the dual-range trannies then, too. On top of that in '95 they castrated all the USDM cars and took away turbos and added the fake abominations (non-functional hoodscoops). Then in '97 they gave us grenading engines if the timing belt broke. Move along to '02 and the hideous new Impreza came out... at least that's what everyone whined about then. Now they are loved pretty much across the board. The thing is with these new Subarus, besides looks which is just personal opinion, FHI is settting up these cars to be very capable in motorsport for years to come. Looks and lack of quirks will grow on anyone who has them. Some people act like they abandoned the boxer engine, they just keep making it better.

First job I did on my wagon also. Very pleasant to finish. If you have the luxury take the time and clean up all the parts as you take them off. The front of your engine will look very clean afterwards (and as a bonus you will notice leaks faster). Go ahead and take the radiator out. Not that hard, but worth it. If you don't have A/C working, get the condensor out of there, too. You can reach big tools through the grill area easier on some things. Remember the car needs to go into 5th gear high range to try to break the crank pulley bolt, oh and block the tires. And for pesky spinning belt cover bolts... just take an angle grinder to them and start to wear the head off. You won't actually take the head off because the heat will melt the plastic and the bolt will come right out. Replace with a nut & bolt or zip-ties like mine. I got my timing belt kit off ebay, very good price.

Honestly, most of those problems are from lack of experience and not knowing the tricks to fix the actual problem (as opposed to symptoms). I know its frustrating, though, when stuff starts adding up. The axle boot stuff can be a pain. Way back when I had my Brat (and didn't know about places like this) I had an axle done. Warranty to the rescue!! I went through 5 axles in a row on the same side. Boot kept coming apart. And the exhaust gasket stuff... I had the same problem on one of my wagons. The nut was not holding tight enough, and I couldn't fix it right. The shop ended up putting in a new longer stud, double OEM gasketing it, and running two nuts up on each stud with locktite. Never leaked again. The axle stuff is definitely a Subaru trait, but the other things are problems that would be found on any car that had a bad stud in the head or a leaky vacuum hose. Imagine throubleshooting a VW which runs everything of vacuum!

I can understand why people are scared about flushing, though. I had a 1984 Olds Delta 88 with an auto transmission. Had the fluid flushed just for regular maintenance (had recently bought the car). Afterwards the tranny just started going to crap. I kind of felt its impending doom before anything bad happened and sold it. A couple of months later the tranny crapped out. So, I have a feeling in the back of my heart not to flush auto trannies, just leave it be. What was the deal with this failing? This will be of concern for me because I am about to get another automatic transmission car for the wife.

Honestly, since you seem to have a desire for lots of power, NA will be a big waste of money. You'll need the same money for turbo 300 whp to get 200 crank with NA. I think you get the point, money jumps REALLY quick to get mere stock turbo power. The fastest 2.5RS all motor car I have seen runs stock WRX times... If you have NA, just leave it stock until you get the turbo engine. Hundreds and thousands of young people have found this out the hard way. They dump money they can't get back into an engine they end up changing later... and can't use the old stuff. For example: NA headers then you have to sell them for pennies on the dollar because turbo exhaust is completely different.