bratman2

Hello, I am all the way over on the east coast, 25 miles from New Bern or Washington NC. Kinda in the sticks so to speak. It is so good to see so many NC people on the forum, when I joined the original forum (before the big move) I think I was one of only three. We have three Subs, my 87 brat that I have had for almost 7 yrs., my daughter's 93 Legacy fwd we have had for 3 yrs. and my wife's 2003 Legacy. I can imagine that it is some great fun four wheeling in the mountains. Hope to see you all on the board frequentily.

If you jumped the starter out of the vehicle it has to have a good ground to work, the starter grounds itself when you bolt it in, been through that before. I would try replacing your battery cables and starter wires. had the same problem as yours a couple of years ago and wire replacing cured it.

My 87 Brat came with a 11" shroud electric fan and a 12" 3 bracket ring shrouded fan, I had AC but removed it and the man I purchased it from 7 years ago had started adding P.S., he had installed the pump only. These factory fans were not touching any components. The ea81T engine that much different or did adding the lift change component locations that much? I have both of these factory fans if they would help you. I removed them and installed 1 14" Hayden "S" blade fan for a cleaner look. This keeps my 87 cool in the hot eastern NC climate with no trouble but I don't think it moves the air of the twin fan stock setup. I also have a extra 14" Hayden that might work, it is 3" thick 14.25" x 13.75", looks like you could shift it left or right several inches for clearance. The 12" factory fans are only a couple of inches thick and still will not fit? I have two of them if they would fit and they move right much air, I think they are the cooling fan and the 11" shrouded fan is the AC fan. Let me know if I can help you with any of these four fans I have Shawn.

I agree with the Chief on this one, snapped the end of the biggest Craftsman screw driver I have in my daughters 93 Legacy doing the timing belts 7k ago. She is still driving it with no issues.

We bought our 2003 Legacy from Heuberger Subaru visiting our daughter in Colorado Springs last July. Our purchase was first started by email throught the Internet sales dept. We were only asked one time if we were interested in the extended warrenty and after saying no, no price was ever given. This had to be the one of the better experiences we have every had purchasing a new vehicle. Sorry to hear of your your aggravation HPNG, I second what the others have said about extended warrenties. My daughter is driving a 93 Legacy that wouldn't have used the lowest price quoted for extended warrenty on repairs yet with 167k on it.

I am here on the east coast and we own three Subs, 87 Brat for almost 7 years, 93 Legacy fwd 3 years and 2003 Legacy 1 year. I guess you could call us odd. Visiting my oldest daughter in Colorado, that is were we bought the 2003 Leg, I would say they are the Subaru capital of the US. Sitting on her balconey sipping coffee and eyeing Pike's peak in the morning every 20th car or so was a Subaru passing by on the four lane below. I think the drier air out west also helped stretch the life span of older Subs. It was kinda of like being in Subaru heaven, the Colorado Springs dealership had 120 new Subs on the lot back in July of 2003.

Mattocks, switched my 87 Brat over to Mobile 1 at 140K, currentily have 189k with no problems or leaks. I use 10w-30 and had replaced front seal and rear seals years ago as preventive maintaince. Change it once a year which comes to about 8k, add 6-8ozs every 3k. Switched my daughter's 93 Legacy at 115k (bought it with 114k), change it every 10k adding app. 8ozs due to use every 3k, front seals were replaced with timing belt at 159k also as preventive maintaince. The 93 currentily has passed 165k the last time I saw it and has no leaks. Wife's 2003 legacy I change at 7.5k by the book with mobile 1 was using 5-30 with no engine noise but just changed it to 10-30 so I could just buy 5qt jugs of Mobile1 in one weight. I would be scared to go 25k without oil testing and as someone else stated the cost of that you might as well change it. 99 OBW, Mobile 1 being thin is not were the rumored oil seal leaks come from, when Mobile 1 was firsted marketed in the mid 70's it would cause seals to shrink and this was not a rumor as I used it in the seventies. This has been fixed by Mobile along time ago but rumors are much harder to fix. Mobile 1 being thinner can have advantages such as higher flow rate, slightily higher fuel economy ( probably really hard to measure that one), and better low temp starts. Amsoil weight for weight will most likely have the same advantages. I would not assume Valvoline synthetic is the same as Amsoil or Mobile 1 as it is legal to call hydrocracked conventional oil synthetic now thanks to Castrol. They are not the same period. The only advantage to synthetic oil might be if you planned to keep a vehicle till it expires, you wanted to extend the changes somewhat, wanted a good warm feeling inside( that's me), drove under harsh conditions ( super cold, heavy load, super hot, lots of idling). I would suggest doing a search for " spacebears synthetic oil test", very interesting reading.

Be sure to have your flywheel turned at a machine shop. No need to go this far and have shuddering and stuff. Also Qman had posted a couple of years ago that it was easier to drop the transmission to change the clutch than to pull the engine. I had already pulled my engine.

If the brakes have not been bleed in many years you could have particles of junk plug the bleeding nipple. Also you could have a flexible line that is coming apart inside working like a one way valve, seen this on a old chevy truck once.

I also use 1stsubaruparts and I am in eastern NC. Needed a part in a hurry the other day and order from a dealer 45 miles away and paid nearily 40% more than 1stsubaruparts would nave charged.

Meeky mouse, nice rims. That's what I get for searching for Carl Zeiss fernglas all the time. Would have never figured they would have anything like that in Germany for us.

185/80/13's are about the tallest tires you will find, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inches taller and should fit with no problem. Another thing to consider when jacking the front end up is front boot life drops pretty fast.

I have used factory pads on my daughter's 93 Legacy and they are good. The 195's will fit your rim properily allowing you to run a wider tire ( better handling) and are only .5 inch taller( maybe slightily better ride). The Cooper Classics are around 5.6-inches wide and are a great tire as I have owned a set several years ago, they also have a white letter sport tire (forgot the name) in 195 that is a hair over 6-inchers wide. A 60 series may ride in the center if your rims are the 13x5's that most subs come with. They also make these tires in 185 if you want to stay with the same size.

I usually order most of my parts from Discount Auto Parts on line. Tires I would go with Coopers, they make two 195-70-13s that are a little wider and taller than 185s.

Should be 10.6-11.6-inches with 185-70-13's properily inflated on level surface. This is measured to the center of the lower "A" arm through bolt. If in doubt i would drop it all the way down, I believe that is how they came from the factory. I had the same issues as you, eating up boots, suspenion was topped out. You should be able to easily tell that without removing tires, adjusting nuts are front and rear on the front struts.

That is a nice setup. I would guess you can feel a difference in power?

Garner that is an outstanding job on the pulley. For others out there I took the double pulley off my Brat and took it to work, on the digital scales it figured out to be 38oz. I believe. The maintaince shop cut the AC belt pulley off the front and drilled about 8 lightening holes around it, it weighs 18oz. now. Removed the working AC because it caused such a drag on the engine when I used it plus converting to the Weber it would drop the normal idle to low. It seemed to really free the little motor up alot. Just for those that might be interested Ram Performance makes an EA81 alloy under drive pulley for about $100. I personally like the standard size in a pulley better.

03 Legacy LSE 5 speed bought in July, 14k and no problems.

Welcome to the world of Subarus and this board. Subarus are a great value for the money. It should be on par with your BMW as Subaru is a leader in all wheel drive. I can't speak about an Outback but our 2003 Legacy has been great so far.

Crawling over bumper high rocks, maybe he should include picture of under carriage to go along with mud incrusted picture. I know I would be sold.

JWX, I am not arguing just disagreeing as I think Bushbasher and I just as you both have a common fondness for Subarus. I have never dynoed my truck as I see no point, but let me explain, it weighs 4500lbs. has 205hp at the engine, to see any change I would think you would need at least 5-10 hp to notice any difference at all. The twin electric fans put more felt hp to the wheels than the exshaust and K&N intake together as they were installed by me together and the fans a month later. Also a 2000 F-150 has a 20-inch clutch fan weighing 10 lbs, according to the dyno charts that were posted on the F-150 forum when an individual brought up the exact same argument as you most hp was gained in the 2000-3500 rpm range (12.8-16hp) while around 5-6hp was produced at 5k. this has been well over a year ago and I don't remember all the points of argument. The person disputing the fan conversion was replied to over 50 times and still not convinced so I doubt you will be by me, 12 dyno charts were posted with none lower than 12.8hp gain. I know dynos are not very reliable unless a huge amount of money is invested and testing done under identical conditions. But not one individual produced a lower reading after doing the conversion. Flexilite and Permacool both make drop in fan kits for full size Fords and Chevy trucks at a cost of 400-550$ and they sell real well with not a single person ever stating they wanted to go back to clutch fan cooling. Now for JWX with his clutch fan on a Subaru he may not see 5hp do to a smaller fan. A Chevy 1999 model truck has 12lb clutch fan spining up front and that is alot of weight. Think about people that have their flywheel turned down for performance reasons, were does the power come from? I think JWX will see some small improvement by going electric. Hope I have not offended anybody and sorry for side tracking your post JWX. All Have A Good Day.

Bushbasher, first I never said they would always be on, I would think the mechanical fans on a Subaru would still have a clutch just as an electric fan would have a thermoswitch. Second if clutch fans are better why does all the new Subarus come with electric fans? The only advantage to a clutch driven fan would be water submersibility in off road conditions. The lowest dynos I have seen on the new model F-150's show a low of 12.8hp gain by converting to electric with some over 16hp, this is from over a dozen individuals who have done before and after dynos. A clutch fan will cause drag on an engine even when disengaged.

The Ebay tip was a good suggestion but you first need to measure to see how big a fan you can use. The 14-inch Hayden that I have will not alllow you to keep the AC fan so 12-inch might be your only option. I would want a high flow fan for cooling if that is what it is solely dedicated for. I would think you need 1300 cfm or more and they may be hard to obtain with some 12-inch aftermarket fans. You might want to find a 12-inch factory Subaru fan and an aftermarket thermostat. They are several kinds that can be purchased, mounts in radiator return hose (that is what is on my Ford), mounts in the top corner of your radiator fins, and wraps around the return hose externally. You may have a port that is capped on your radiator for a thermoswitch which would be best. Have you checked for a thermoswitch in your radiator?

Lesbaru, Just done the timing belt on my daughter's 1993 2.2l with 159.5k and I replaced the orginal water pump which was still good, preventive replacement. Alot of factors can effect water pump life, do you have the cooling system flushed or replaced on a regular basis? I guess the point of my reply is that a water pump can last longer, how much is hard to say and at the same time if it does go out it may take the timing belt with it leaving you on the side of the road. If you have the 60k timing belt routine catch it the next time, if you have not recentily changed your antifreeze now would be a good time.

Cougar, removing the mechanical fan is an excellent idea if done right. A mechanical fan will always use more hp than an electrical fan. With JWX I don't believe he will have any fan unless he turns the AC on and that might not be enough when hot weather approachs. Example, my 2000 F150 V6 supercab had a 10lb clutch fan, averaged 19.5 mpg with K&N intake and Magnaflow exhaust, replaced the clutch fan with dual thermostat controlled fans and average 21mpg and a big jump in low end performance. Fans only will run if idling alot are driving slow for extended distances, like off-roading. At speeds of 25 mph or more the fans should never come on unless a vehicle is under heavy load.