Setright

I trust you will find that is money well spent, Snotrocket :-) Subyluvr, I respect your approach. I just like to pour lots of money into my cars, regardless of whether I can afford to! Dino oil makes cold shifts very baulky. Frost and city driving, means that the gearbox takes a long time to warm up... Synthetics have a clear advantage in this discipline. As for when to shift into what gear, I will make my own decisions ;-) (Although that pesky rev-limiter always cuts things short!)

Okay, so I have been driving with Castrol TAF-X 75W-90 for over 3000 miles now, the shift has improved considerably with the miles since the oil change. There was a slight improvement initially, but as the oil has conditioned the surface of the synchro rings, the shift has really improved quite a lot. Slowing down to walking pace it will slip into first without any need for double de-clutch, and no sign of the clonk of previous oils. The dreaded 2nd to 3rd upshift is smooth too! I would strongly recommend trying this oil the next time any of you change tranny oil. Especially if you feel Redline let you down :-) List of others tried: Mobil Castrol Redline Quakerstate

A friend of mine from the local "Impreza Club" (www.impreza.dk) has turbocharged an EJ20. Apparently it was quite simple, but of course labour intensive. He bought the stock turbo and piping off other members who have upgraded their engines, and it all screws on nicely. Extra's needed include a new fuel pressure regulator, fuel pump, ECU. This method has the advantage of not needing the engine removed from the car. Intake and exhaust can be accessed from above and below, while the block is in situ. You can make your own front mounted intercooler or buy a WRX hood. I would recommend sticking with a low boost 0.4-0.6 Bar, since the heads and pistons are high compression not suited to high boost. A total engine swap is the best solution, but requires a great deal more work, and gives a power rise that DEMANDS new brakes.

I miss the days of the timing CHAIN! Toyota "Avensis" has gone back to chain. Hats off!

The whole schmere! The assembly will come out before the button, so it'll make sense.

Happy re-assembling :-)

The de-frost button I am assuming is in front of your left knee? The whole assembly will pop out if you pry it carefully with a flatblade screwdriver. From the bottom, that way the inevitable scratches won't be visible in future. Once out, you undo the bulbs with a flatblade, they move about 90 degrees and will then be ready to be pulled out. The Hazard light switch, I will assume is just right of the center air vents. THIS is a pain, it's screwed into the dash, from behind. Really, the whole dash needs to come out for proper access. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? If you have small hands and acute manual dexterity, you might be able to get in via the air vents. The central air vents are pressed into the dash, and can be pulled out. With a short philips screwdriver you might be able to get the switch out. Good luck!

Sounds like an IAC fault. Check the rubber hose that runs from the IAC just next to the throttle body and follow it to where it attaches to the intake pipe. If this hose is lose, leaky, or blocked you will have trouble idling.

Not exactly, but usually if you remove the glovebox, you gain access to the ventilation system. There should only be two screws, securing the bottom hinges. The filter slides in and out of the vent housing.

Installed in the engine, the oil system pressure keeps them from compressing, and allows them to act solid and open the valves.

195/60R15 gives more predictable handling. 205 looks better, but since it's still 60 profile, you'll get more squashy steering, and more sudden break-away.

The solid ones are bad. The oil squirts out of the other three because the inlet hole is free of sludge. Try to carefully clean one of the solid lifters inlet. Start with a small diameter needle and work your way up... Soaking in petroleum og gasoline could help loosen things up, but be aware of the fire risk with open tubs of these chemicals. You MUST have a powder-type fire extinguisher nearby.

Get a long funnel! Use a new washer on the drain plug and don't overtighten it. 40Nm is enough. Also, be wary of the oil capacity listed in the manual, that's for a totally dry transmisson. I usually pour in three litres and then drive for a day and top of the level, next morning. If you put in the full 3.5 litres listed in my manual, you will overfill the gearbox. And wear latex gloves during the whole procedure, tranny oil STINKS!

Odd, my kit came with a bearing. Maybe there are two kits? I did the work cause my main bearing was worn from the previous owner having tightend the drive belt too much.

As long as you replace coolant and oil at reasonable intervals, the EJ22 will take a hammering and just come keep coming back for more. I drove one from 120k to 190k miles and revved it to 6500rpm daily, and cruised at 100mph daily, during the two and half years I owned it. It easily pulled 120mph, and I once managed 130mph! (GPS certified) Oil was Mobil 1 5W-50 replaced at 6k intervals along with Sube filter. Coolant at 30k. All that engine ever did was growl and hum and shrug off the stress of WOT driving, and writing about it makes me miss it :-(

Autoglym! Have been using their products for the last fifteen years and I still haven't seen anything that combines the ease of application to the perfectly controlled results. I even use the "Car Glass Polish" on my apartment windows and mirrors, too. No other product cleans glass so well, with so little effort and no streaks or smears. Paintwork polished in "Super Resin Polish" and sealed with "Extra Gloss Protection" has a surface like Rain-X treated glass. http://www.autoglym.co.uk/index2.html Rain-X has glass treatment cornered, by the way.

2005, you'll end up regretting that you bought the "old model". Teething problems would be the only worry on a brand new model, but for the looks and those engines, who cares? Even BMW and Mercedes have serious teething problems these days. E's and SL's are experiencing total brake failure...

Wow, I wasn't sure I get a reply, but it seems I hit a point on the head. Okay, Sube air-cons are a little bit weak, but for sure it beats not having one!

"Rubbing strip" in English, not sure about SubeSpeak

Just had air con installed and I just wanted to hear if mine is the only one that is a little bit feeble. The air coming from the vents is cold, but I doubt it would be able to cool the cabin on a really hot day. I don't want to run to the dealer and have him feed me the old "they all do that", excuse. Are Impreza air cons just lousy or what?

Peugeot built an overhead cam, 4 valve per cylinder engine in 1903. Hardly F1. In fact, in 1901, Daimler was developing a throttle-less engine, intake charge controlled by varying the valve lift and timing. A hundred years later and BMW has been toting this as a new idea. There truly is nothing new under the sun! :-)

Does your AC blow cold air? If yes, it did not leak.

cobbtuning.com I haven't actually tried their products, only because I live Europe. They seem very professional and their website isn't full of bull :-)

Bad luck never comes alone! At least never for me ;-) Anyhoo, you will need to remove the instrument cluster, which involves removing most of the dash and center console. Get low and you should be able to see the "hidden" screws holding things together. Most of the vents and buttons can be pulled out. Basically, it's matter of feeling your way around carefully - or getting a Haynes manual. I have the book for your model (used to own a 1990 Legacy) and it's quite comprehensive. There are three things that can be difficult: 1) Not breaking anything on the way in 2) Removing the instrument cowl without scratching something. Lower the steering wheel as much as possible. 3) Getting the darn speedo cable connected again. It clips onto the back of the cluster and is only JUST long enough to reach, so you can't connect it before the cluster is back in place. This means reaching up from under the dash and through the wires and steering column and up behind the cluster. Dealers might be able to supply a bulb-kit that will have the relevant bulbs. Otherwise have another car handy so you can shop around for a replacement. Beware that Subaru has revised the bulb types a number of times through the Legacy's lifespan, so you can't be absolutely certain until you have opened the dash.

Me again! I also tend to take it easy in the wet, mainly because the AWD allows you to gain speed so easily, and fools you into thinking that anything is possible. Keep in mind that we cant stop faster than any of the 2wd's around us! AWD can help catch slides in the wet, more so than a 2wd. Neutral throttle, the back end starts to slide....accelerate! This presses the rear wheels down and will help them regain grip. Doing this in a FWD will almost certainly result in a four wheel drift, because the fronts have to put down all the power, and simply join in the slide. A RWD would require even more care, because you risk spinning the rear wheels and pirouetting off the road. A tyre can "generate" only so much grip, for a given weight pushing down on it. Forget the old adage about not being able to turn and brake at the same time, it's not true. The TRUTH is that you cannot generate maximum cornering force at the same time as generating maximum acceleration or de-celeration. However, half of both is perfectly possible, and perhaps you only need 10% of one, and 70% of the other. Braking whilst turning into a bend is good thing, because the car leans forward and pushes the tyres into the road, and help generate more lateral grip. Of course it just wont work during the stage where you are braking as hard you can. So, correcting a front wheel slide, will actually require a small amount of pressure on the brake pedal... Legacy and Impreza are equals, it is just that Imprezas tend to have more power and more sports oriented suspension. Although as Leonard Setright once wrote in CAR Magazine: If done properly, what is good for grip, will also be good for ride.