lostinthe202

Here's our nine month old. She's the shop dog, she's part Lab and, like every other dog from the pound, part Pit. She'll lay like this under my desk for most of the day This is Ruth Ann, she's part pit and part boston maybe? Both of our girls ride in the back seat in our OBW. Some lady saw them in the backseat and saw that I had the cage separator up. She said something like, "your dogs got out of their cage". I told her they were right where they were supposed to be, the back area is for passengers. I don't think she got it...

Dylan's favorite chord progression?

Might be that the wires are already there as part of the harness (cheaper to make one harness instead of lost of different ones depending on options). Not sure how you'd find that out without digging into the door though...

This is what I meant. The arrow points to the stub axle, the circle is around the hole in the stub axle

This is like an Escher drawing, it looks like the "female" portion, but the hole for the roll-pin is visible in the pic so we must be looking at the stub axle, no?

Also, windshield prices go up and down with availability so if you don't like the price and it's not urgent to have it replaced, try waiting a month or so and you may be able to get a better price.

Niiiiiiiice. However, I don't see getting my hands on one of those anytime soon....

How do I get to your photos? There used be a link over on the right by one's location info. Now I don't see one anywhere, am I blind?

Weeeellll, there it is there. Thanks for the speedy replies!

Do any of the 80's subarus have a frame or are they all unibody? Thanks!

This seems to be known issue with this engine (on this board anyway) as I've seen LOTS of warnings about checking them when doing the timing belt.

For what it's worth, your input bearing may also have slop in it along with the TO bearing being bad, as I believe the case to be with my trans. When I got the engine out, I wiggled the input shaft and got a decent amount of movement. I have no idea what amount is acceptable (I was working without a net on this... aka no service manual) but seems to me it was a fair amount. Check the condition of your pilot bearing, if it's really bad then you know your input shaft bearing was doing more work then it would like to. It was suggested to me, and I believe this to be good advise, that if you're going aftermarket on the parts to buy at least the clips that hold the TO bearing onto the clutch fork from the dealer as the aftermarket clips are sub-par. You should also consider having your flywheel turned if you have the time. This is my daily driver so I really didn't have time to mess around, but I work in a machine shop so I was able to do it myself. If time is a constraint and money is not, you could pickup a used flywheel and have that turned so you're ready to go. Again for what it's worth, this was my first clutch on this car and I chose to go the "pull the engine" route. The only real difficulty I had (aside from the expected rusty exhaust bolts) was in getting the motor back in. I had disconnected the engine mounts from the engine to get it out which worked fine, but on reassembly, I couldn't get things to line up. I had to take the mounts out all together, mate the engine and tranny, then pull the motor/trans up a bit and slip the mounts in. Otherwise, it was all easy if a bit more time consuming than the "pull the trans" route and nice to be on my back under the car the whole time. Good Luck! Will- If you haven't already, be sure to do some searches and check out all the info people have posted about doing the timing stuff, lost of good info there.

I've got a '96 Legacy Outback (trans as yours) with about the same miles (189K). Mine had a growl with the similar characteristic of going away when I put in the clutch. I changed my clutch along with the throw-out bearing and the noise went away. How it was explained to me is that the bearing is always spinning but when the car is in neutral or it is in gear driving, the bearing is has no load on it and will make noise. Once you push the clutch in, you put a load on it and the bearing gets quiet. So you may just need to do a clutch job. Just thought I'd throw that out there..... sorry....

For what it's worth, my '96 OBW has a cable clutch. I'll check the tranny code tomorrow and report back if you like

Maybe really cheap pads were used. Cheap pads have a way of disappearing in a cloud of dust:grin:

Haha, nothing wrong with good ol' home schoolin' Great, thanks. I'll take a look. Thanks for the tips! Will-

Awwww, so sweet! That's awesome Gary, thanks for posting that info. Eight bucks a boot sounds mighty fine to me. If they have a few brands, I"ll have them pull one of each and pick the thickest, most convoluted one I can find. How can I tell if they're stock? Will they have a sticker or something that will help me identify? And, thanks again! BTW, on a total side note. That's some amazing country you've got out there in WV. I did some camping/hiking/climbing in Monengahelia (spelling?), Dolly Sods, Seneca Rocks area. Fantastic. Being used to the expanse of the Sierra's, it was great to find a place that wasn't all trailers and school kids.

Thanks Gary, I think I've got some smooth band clamps around here someplace at the shop that should fit so I'll just use those. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the grease, I've done this with ATV axles, but it needs to be done so I'll just be thankful axle grease doesn't smell as bad as hypoid gear oil! Will-

Thanks for the replies everyone, that's great info. Gary, thanks for the tip on the 2000+ MY boots, I'll definitely check them out. Couple more questions. I recall reading someplace that a special tool is sometimes required to put the clamps on the boots. Do you remember if those Autozone boots are that style and if so what the tool looks like? Also, I haven't read up on the instructions for boot replacement yet, but I'm assuming I'll be doing it by removing the DOJ. Do I need a press for either removal or install? Thanks again! Will-

'96 OBW, 188k, 2.2L, 5spd I'm getting ready to do the clutch in my wagon and I'm thinking about some preventative maintenance. My boots aren't split yet but when I did my brakes a few weeks ago, they looked to me like they are starting to crack. I don't know how old they are. I got the car with 120k on it and minimal service records none of which mentioned axles so they have at least 68k and 3 years on them and possibly as much as 188k and 12 years. given the relative PIA nature of axles (for those of us with no paved surface to work on and who don't do axles all the time) I was thinking about repacking the axle grease and putting on new boots. I looked into boots from the dealer and it'll run about 65 per side before tax and shipping which puts the cost right around what an MWE axles costs. So my questions is, assuming my axles are fine with the exception of aging boots, would they last as long as they did the first time with no more attention then a cleaning/repack/reboot? Or should I just drop some extra bucks on axles and have done with it? Money is tight as always, but this is my main transportation and I have to make special arrangements to do major stuff like this so I'm willing to throw a bit more in to save some headache and downtime later on. Opinions please, Thanks! Will-

Vacuum booster bad?

Yikes, that'll be some slow going especially if your tools are a quality brand. Use a good quality hacksaw blade. You'd probably have better luck with some kind of rotary cutoff. Don't suppose you have an air compressor and a die grinder? Or failing that a dremel tool with a cutoff wheel. So is the plug cross threaded and that's why it's not moving? If it is cross threaded, then yes cut your extension if you can instead of damaging threads. That's assuming you can't change the situation by undoing an engine mount and and jacking something up or down. But of course I'm sure you've thought of stuff like that. Good Luck!

can you get a pair of slip joint pliers on the extension and give it a turn or two? Someone just posted a write up on changing plugs in your style engine, http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=92477 Good Luck!

Ah, I think I get it about the dremel. Well at least the current setup is working for the moment and will buy you some time. If the first two threads are really messed up then yeah it might be tough or impossible getting enough good threads on there to get a seal. But at $7 for the thread chaser, it's probably worth a shot to try. The next cheapest option would be to buy a used manifold. I see some on http://www.car-part.com for around $30. Pick up another gasket and you're ready to go. Good Luck!