davebugs

Engine comes out the top. Sorry for the confusion. Not a bad job really.

I definately second the yank of the engine. I always do it that way. With the extra difficulties yo're having it's really the only choice to me. Yue need to have the engine/heads out where you can see them, get ot multiple angles, etc.

Welcome. Search is your friend. Often discussed. Some drop the tranny. I ALWAYS drop the engine. I think it's simpler and usually do all the other major maintenance at the same time. HG's, crank and cam seals, reseal baffle plate, etc. There was a thread here yesterday/today about someone doing this exact job on a 99. If you search and read you'll see what most folks do. I happen to ge thte new clips from the dealer and a Valeo kit with only japanese and american parts.. I always get the pressure plate resurfaced - but that's me. ALWAYS reseal the baffle plate given the opportunity. Stay away from the rear main seal (don't replace it). My opinions. Search, read, develop your own opinions. Folks here are willing to share. They do prefer that a little research has been done before hand.

Those bolt extractor sets work good. Some of them a tap of the hammer to start them to "set" is nice. I have the originals called "Xtractors". I also own the Sears knock offs. Often you can buy the little and slightly larger sets of the Sears ones pretty cheap and about half the price of it you get the whole set at one time. Everyone makes these now. All the major tool manufacturers. A must have in my opinion. Add: If you're removing the head and lacking metric stuff you'll be running back for that 12 point socket for the head bolts next. I bought a 1/2 deep drive one specifically for this job and my 1/2 torque wrench.

I clean the threads after the nut. Then I get about 50/50 nuts versus studs. I don't care I just mark them so I know where they go back and am liberal with the anti-seize. BTW those nuts are also what's used on the engine mounts and exhaust. And they are coated and kinda pricey for just a nut. Therefore I have some new ones on hand and a drawer full of nuts and studs from cars I've scrapped. I usually break them loose with a long snap-on breaker bar. Then run them off with the IR impact. Don't know if hitting them with the serious IR 1/2 Impact first may be the way to go or not. I seem to like to "feel" bolts when they snap, rather than just wondering what happened with a gun. Then again I guess the repair is the same. Just don't know which way increases the odds of not breaking the bolt.

How many miles have you put on it? MMO often helps make them quiet - I just change oil shortly thereafter. Also are you SURE there wasn't a bunch of crap in the exhaust from the old engine? Hate to see you chasing a problem that doesn't exist. They can make lots of noise for quite a while. I heat cycle them twice to check the coolant (you know how tempermental the 2.5's are). Then take for a SPIRITED drive after it warms up for a few minutes. If that doesn't help I add MMO and do it again. Usually that does it.

Wow. Someone clueless must have been in there before. Those don't get torqued all that tight. You may want to shop for new heads. By the time you have them do the "normal" head work and possible remove the broken off bolts it may be easier. Since I'd be concerned about what else may have been done out of spec. Good luck. I've had to remove the front bolts after I snapped them off using the wrong torque on re-assembly. It may be difficult to extract your broken bolts using standard methods available in your garage. Then again I'm not a machinest.

PP = pressure plate. Clean the baffle plate and matching surface with carb/brake clean or similar. Small bead of Ultra Grey to reseal it. Those clips I get at the dealer.

I always replace those clips. Cheap insurance. I almost always replace the pilot bearing and often throwout bearing. The clutch and PP are up to you. I'd certainly look over the flywheel and atleast buff it up a little bit. And reseal the baffle plate on the rear of the engine while you have access.

Heat is your friend on those exhaust bolts. Never stripped one. Have broken a few off though. Make sure to use a wire brush to clean the threads off before you try and remove the nut. Sometimes the nut breaks loose than hits all the crap in the crappy threads then it has problems. As has already been stated all gaskets dry. Hope you're resealing the baffle plate while it's out with the Ultra Grey. If you're doing the oil pump it gets Ultra Grey too.

My guys sawzall off the tubing on the car back to where it's sturdy. Measure, cut a new pipe, often need to expand the ends a little to slip over the existing pipe. Then weld it up. They leave all thehangers connected when they weld it to keep it naturally aligned. Takes them less than 1/2 hour usually. IIR the new piece is 8-10" max. It's been a while so I forget. Varies with rust situation, year of car (distance before the cat IIR can vary a little).

On MKIII VW"s this is often a problem. I usually clean with product of your choice. Then wipe both sides down with dry gas (IPA). Then the 3M double face tape. I prefer not to use glues for this trim stuff. I'm just simply not neat enough. I'd imagine they would work better. But I know I'd make a mess of it.

The kits I've used have basically a clear coat that comes on little wipes. The sanding/buffing I think we could all come up with ways to do. But thic clear sealer which stops them from getting bad again quickly is the ingredient I can't figure out how to source by itself.

10$ cats? Hang onto them. Don't know what they are now worth. Haven't been playing with cars lately but I've got a dozen or so to scrap probably this fall before the holidays when they have a tendency to pay less because they figure folks are selling all they can to get cash for the holidays. As GG said (and I believe I posted last night in another thread) I get that mess with the flanges by the second cat welded all the time at a local exhaust shop. Easiest, cheapest in the long run and a more durable, long lasting solution. They basically cut out the flanges (or what's left of them) and place a sleeve over the ends and weld it up. Seriousely no matter how tight you are this just isn't a place to try and do it yourself to save a few bucks.

I get them resurfaced locally. A lot of folks just buff them up with a scotch brite pad on an air drill basically.

Try an exhaust shop for that short piece of pipe. I gave up on fixing them years ago. By the time you get 2 bolt kits to try and replace the flange, and the donut gasket. Swear a bunch, end up with than a less than a bullet proof repair. It's easier and more cost effective to have a shop do it. My local shop charges me 40.00 to replace this piece. And as has been pointed out I have them do a lot of these, so you may need to spend a few more bucks. But it's one of those things better to be done by someone with the correct parts, tools, and know how. More efficient and cost effective in my opinion.

Please update your profile to say Danville, PA so we can tell in the future. Members have been known to stop in to be a second set of eyes and offer a second opinion to other members. In my experience a Knock sensor causes performance to suck but not pinging - perhaps I've just been lucky. And it causes a CEL. My daily driver is a diesel and when I'm driving something gas I'm towing something so it's hard for me to tell when our gas hits the official "crappy" stage. I didn't even get any antiques out this year to see how it's effecting they but I run a cocktail or lead substitute(which is a salt I believe) and Sta-bil. Please report back with a solution. I think the gas may get a little "better/less crappy" about the end of this month IIR.

I have success with Seafoam for O2 sensors and cats. Usually Lucas Fuel Injection cleaner does well for me in the fuel. I buy it by the gallon and run it in all my gas vehicles. Definately try a different station for fuel though -a different brand.

Probably the crappy Ethanol gas and nothing more. Like here the gas gets worse in the summer trying to improve the ozone or something. Result is the gas is crap. Really kills small engine stuff (chain saws, weed eaters, somewhat lawn mowers). Not only is Ethanol crap, and "corn based Ethanol" specifically pandered to last election instead of Ethanol made from biomass waste but it ruins the pumps at the gas station and they don't care much about our cars because they have deemed it "good for us". I laughed when they were saying it took 8k to retrofit pumps at the gas station because Ethanol eats them up internally. The interviewer asked what it did to our cars then. The fella being interviewed said the new cars can handle it. The interviewer asked how many people drive new cars? The question was never really answered. Ethanol draws WATER. Water in all phases of a fuel system does bad things. Heck - Ethanol can't even be put through a pipeline because it eats up the pipes! The current pres PANDERED to Iowa with the "corn based Ethanol" rather than jsut Ethanol. A coincidence they are early in the primary process I'm sure. So the do gooders are screwing us again. Try different fuel. In the fall the blend gets a little better. They want to INCREASE the Ethanol blends in our gasoline - the Ethannol producers are heavy political contributors. You can research on your own why we're forced into Ethanol. A product that takes more energy to produce than it generates and isn't profitable on it's own. The important thing is it's screwing up OUR stuff. Virtually anything with a gasoline engine. I have antique cars - carbed and fuel injected. Ethanol is evil - although good intentioned I'm sure. Like a lot of gov't mandates. Not a chemist, not a corn farmer, didn't vote fo rthe Bozo's currently running the country. I do however have a dozen cars of my own, work on other cars, and have a small army of small, 2 and 4 cycle powered things. BTW 2 cycle is evil and they are phasing them out as well. Bottom line is probably crappy gas due to politics more than science.

I have 6 still (I believe) all off 96 & 97 Legacy 2.2's(single port) and a few from 2.5's around (dual port). I'm in 15613. I sell them for 50.00 plus (if they aren't picked up). Have then hanging in the rafters in the garage.

I'll send you the info on someone in Bedford that does lots of Suby's. Last time I tried you couldn't get PM's. If you're interested PM me and I'll reply w/contact info for someone in Bedford. I've purchased parts from him in the past. Seems to have a good Subaru business and know how on HG's and 2.2 swaps.

Left me in a bit of a jaqmb but they were good about taking it back. Next time I have a need I'll probably check with them along with others.

FYI the only new rad I've ever bought for a Legacy came from there and was wrong. I needed the weird, expensive one. Had to pull one from a running parts car. They were good about taking the wrong one back, but I was still kinda screwed for the car I was working one. I couldn't see how to make the "normal" radiotor's bottom pegs to work where they fit into the rad support.

Typically when those TB's break nothing else gets hurt. Probably TB, idlers, WP, some seals and some labor and you're ready.