Fairtax4me

You can pick up a set of Wearever brand from Advance Auto for just under $50 if you order online and use promo code VISA. ($30 off $75 order) Pick up at your local store, then you don't have to wait for shipping, and you get a 2 year warranty.

Looky what I found in my oil pan tonight! [/img] It's actually TWO halves of TWo spring washers from the rocker shaft assembly. They were stuck together until I picked it up and cleaned it off, then literally pried them apart. I get the feeling they've been down there floating around for a really long time. Now the question is, where did the other halves end up? I'll have to check over inside the block and pan really well to see if I can find them. Oil pan didn't appear to be leaking, but It's probably worth it to reseal it while it's easy to get to.

The male end packs apparently have higher output. Subaru may have wanted some extra oomph in the ignition systems for the higher compression motors. It takes more energy to bridge the gap in a spark plug when the compression goes up. There are two ways around that, either A: close the plug gap, (which means you have a less efficient spark. It creates a smaller initial flame which takes longer to burn through the entire fuel/air mixture) It also creates localized hot spots on the plug which causes it to wear faster. Or B: Up the power of the spark, by creating higher discharge voltage in the coil.

I haven't read of any ill effects from moving the knock sensor to another place on the block. Unless you start having issues with pinging I'd say it's fine.

Ahh so it came on the SUS? Hmmm.... I can probably forget about ever finding one of those then. If I see that car again I'll chase them down and steal it.

That's the tough question. I think you would be better off with a cable actuated valve, but I'm not entirely sure where you would find one. Plenty of cars these days use electric operated valves to change flow rates through dual heater cores so you can have dual climate zones. The problem there is you then have to have some sort of electric device to operate the valve. And they're not as simple as using a potentiometer to limit voltage. The ones I'm thinking of typically work on a pulsed voltage to open or close the valve in small increments. What sort of air distribution system does that thing have? If any? If it has some air flaps on the heater core you could maybe go with a simple vacuum or even electric operated valve that could be either on or off. I seem to remember seeing those used in some older Ford and GM cars. This is the sort of thing that you may be best to spend a day at a junkyard scouring every car you come across for a heater control valve, and take a few home to figure out how they work and see what sort of system you can come up with to utilize it.

Hey speaking of grilles... (goin offtopic as usual) I saw one today on a 95-99 model Legacy outback wagon, but it wasn't the typical outback grille. It looked like more a waffle iron type grid. Vertical and horizontal slats about 3/4" square all the way across. I didn't see it close enough to tell if it was home made or if it was an alternate factory type. I really liked it though. Anybody else ever seen one like that? Actually I think it was this one: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/1st_Subaru_Outback_SUS.jpg

Depends on if you have the male end pack or the female end pack. They do not interchange easily.

Who cares. Unless the stud is really rusty or corroded, just put it back in just the way it is when you reassemble. First time I pulled the head on my wagon (to change the burnt valve, I left the engine in the car) I made a point to pull the studs out of the head so I wouldn't have to drop the Y pipe. But if you're really hell bent, thread two nuts of the proper thread onto the other end, tighten them down against each other so they grip the stud. Clamp those in a vise to hold the stud while you crack the flanged nut loose with a wrench.

Through the hole in the bell housing, jam a large flat head screwdriver between the flex plate and torque converter, and pry the converter back away from the flex plate. It should slide back something like 1/8" and stay there. If it stays, the TC is seated properly and there's something funny going on.

It would start to sound like a jack hammer under your hood. Then it there would probably be a big thud and the engine would quit. Normal around town driving shifting at 3500 is probably fine, I wouldn't go out on the highway and try to run 85mph for any length of time though.

Wow. Yeah I'd be worried about the pickup tube being partially blocked. That would lead to low oil pressure because the pump can't pull enough oil up from the sump. You are probably alright though if it's gone 100 miles without blowing up yet. I would just try to drive very carefully (no high revving) until you can find time to get it straightened out.

It's done by a flap in the air duct box. It mixes hot air flowing from the core with cool air from another source. The temperature changes depending on how far the flap is opened. But you could just install a valve in the hose to the core to control coolant flow through the core. BTW that car is SWEET!

Check engine light? Plug in the black(?) connectors that are under the dash and turn the key to ON, and the CEL will flash any stored codes.

I can say that the Viscous unit is sealed and contains it's own silicone fluid to make it work. Just fill with plain gear oil to keep the ring and pinion gears and bearings lubricated.

Do the pistons seize or the slide pins? Slide pins are a big problem on any car. The dual piston calipers work much better than single piston from what I've heard.

GPS measures speed based on change in position relative to the satellite the unit is tracking from. So the only reason it would be wrong is if there is some sort of obstruction between the unit and the satellite (trees, building, tunnel, etc). My sedans speedometer reads 3 mph high.

Delta sent me the wrong cams. I noticed holes in the face of the cam lobes while I was putting the driver side cam in the head. And I got to thinking I didn't see anything like that on my other cams. So I called and aksed. Turns out I ended up with a set of cams for a flat tappet rocker setup. I have roller rockers. So they're on the way back to WA. I sent mine along to get the regrind treatment so hopefully I get the same set back. Yay two more weeks (at least) before I can put my car back on the road!

I can show you a better reason to flush the cooling system. Just look what it did to the heads here: http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/CadiLLacPimPin97/Random%20photography/IMG_0851.jpg That's pitting from corrosion. A fair amount of that came out with machining, which required taking off .004". But the stuff closest to the center of the pic was still very deep even after machining. Randy (the machinist) guessed it would take at least another .004", but probably more to get the rest out. To put that in perspective, that chunk I was so worried about came out with just taking .002" off. That makes the pitting about 4 times deeper.

My engine project is to a can of worms, as your's is to Pandoras Box. I feel your pain.

I think it's a combination of light reflecting and coolant pooled in the bottom of the cylinder. But you're right it does look in the picture like its scooped out at the bottom. There is also a recess cut into the cylinder wall for one of the case half bolts on the outside of the cylinder if that's what you're talking about. One on the top left one on the bottom left.

I found another problem. I took the driver side rocker shaft apart and found some scuffing on the side of one of the rockers. The spring washer that keeps the rockers pushed together is missing. Don't know if it broke and got washed down into the oil pan or what. So I'll have to dig up one of those now before I put the rocker shaft back together.

Thanks. Any idea how much taller?

Actually the heads are nearly identical. With some drilling and tapping you could swap heads from left to right or vise versa with no trouble. Actually I think as it sits you could do what John said, and put a drivers side head on the passenger side if you wanted/needed to with no modification. Just swap the cam, rear cam plug, install a front cam seal, and plug the EGR port.

Randy milled .002" off the head and the mark was gone. Not as deep as I thought it was.