AdventureSubaru

it's happening here for sure. If you're a toolkit rewards member you get half off on Thursday before the general public. I'll be going out.

used JB weld and a piece of an aluminum can to patch a crack on the top of a radiator on the Impreza. Got some water down the intake of my old toyota truck. Would stall if below 1500 RPM. Rigged some wire/duct tape to limit the throttle from going below. Hardwired the starter on a 93 Impreza to an interior lightswitch to bypass a bad sensor. Turn the lightswitch on until the car starts, then flip it off and drive! Rigged a suicide shifter on a friends volvo. The car was stuck in park and he didn't have the $$$ for a tow. Disconnected the shifter linkage and bolted a piece of aluminum. (An angled piece cut from a lawn chair) to the shift linkage. Hung it from the fuel line with zip ties. You had to open the door to put the car in drive, reverse, nuetral and park, lean down, grab the piece of aluminum and push or pull it. Got him home. Hardwired cooling fans to the battery on an overheating F150 to get it home after the fans stopped blowing on their own. Did the same to an Oldsmobile Cutlass which my friend ended up using the prior mentioned light switch technique to drive the car for a year or so afterwards after I sold it to her. I have heard of, but never had to do the following- Bad fuel pump - empty out your windshield washer fluid and fill with gasoline. Stick the squirter tube down your carburetor and use the squirter switch as a manual fuel pump to get you home. Dead battery on an automatic - disconnect the alternator belt from the engine. remove the blade etc from your chainsaw (or anything gas/battery powered that you happen to carry. the chuck of a cordless drill would work) Pull the belt tight around the motor shaft (Make sure it spins the right direction.) and rev up the motor for a while to let the alternator charge your battery back up.

oil in the plug wells/weak wires can make it gutless and eventually misfire. I'm replacing the grommets on our 2000 for that reason. How new are your plugs and wires?

And unless the clutch was done recently, you may just want to replace that while you're in there. Kits can be found cheap on Ebay and a whole clutch job only ads about 20-30 minutes to your whole process.

You could always slap a $100 pick n pull trans in there and drive it. Take your time repairing this one and assuming it's good to go, have a backup waiting. Done 2 5MT swaps in the last few months and they are a relatively easy job.

Took a long weekend and went exploring in northern California and southern Oregon last weekend. Had a great time. Drove up Friday morning. Took a few stops for baby so he wasn't stuck in his car seat for too long. While Kira fed him, I got to wander some trails and such. Stayed in Klamath Falls at a nice little motel that was surprisingly inexpensive for all it offered. Next morning we drove to Crater Lake for some great views. I ran the car over a few snow piles on the shoulder of the road for old times sake. No white coating of salt to go with it anymore. Made friends with an XV. Ground clearance is similar. The XVs exhaust hugs the body better than my Impreza. Better approach and departure angles on the Impreza. Probably more clearance at the rockers too. But the rear diffs were nearly even. REALLY pretty country up there. Visited the Collier Logging Museum in Chiloquin. Lots of neat stuff there. Way better than expected. More of a walking self guided tour with all kinds of machinery and info from when they used horses to modern day. Since squirt is now closing in on 3 months old, I figured it was time to start teaching him about operating machinery. Did a bit of exploration up a couple of forest service roads. Was pleased to see a family picnic/handgun shoot happening at a makeshift shooting range. Such things are not seen near Santa Cruz California. The trails were rocky but relatively mild with some great views. There were offshoots that looked tempting/more rugged, but wasn't wanting to push things without having a partner vehicle/more recovery gear. I'm already researching some of the longer, more involved off road trips available to this area. Should be a good way to test out the new outback once it's lifted and ready to rove around off road. Hiked around some of the trails in the lower elevations. Mama and baby aren't quite ready to go too rugged, but we stretched our legs and logged plenty of miles with great views. Squirt and I were not ready to come back home so soon. Great trip and has me doing lots of planning for next time when the tent, a big cooler and a small grill can come with us on that mountain.

Hey thanks! Yeah, I was stoked to find this one. Comparable cars in running condition (as it is now) are selling between 3500 and 5000 here in crazy California and it's high prices. Took me less than half the time to do the trans swap on this car compared to the Impreza a couple months ago with rusted bolts and having to cut a few with a grinder. Ski Team wagon is being driven by some friends in southeast Wisconsin/northern Illinois. I'll probably put it up for sale in the near future. I want it out here, but we don't have much parking space and storage is (go figure) outrageously expensive. So if you know anyone who might be interested, you can point them my way.

Great idea. Love the disclaimer I looked around. Found a shop locally that rents them for $45. a day. Everything is more expensive in california. But still, third hand smoke is a thing. And I've got a infant now.

I've had the impreza for about the last 100k and got a lot of info from the previous owner. He had pulled the engine and done a bunch of the seals and did the head gaskets as preventative maintenance. The rear struts were pretty much done by the time I got the car, which was replaced when I did the lift. Other than the usual maintenance of tune up/brake pads (the disposables.) the car has needed starter at about 260k trans at 276k (Which probably would have gone longer were it not for lift/off roading/towing etc. The car has worked hard for me. clutch at the same time as the trans. It's probably on it's 3rd clutch. knock sensor Mass Air flow sensor timing belt All that comes to mind. Cheap and easy to maintain. Never left me sitting. And apart from the clutch and a few sensors, I've kept it going on used/junkyard parts. When the time comes, be sure to get your hands dirty with this car. They're a little different than most, but you'll soon learn just how simple and straightforward they are to work on compared to other brands. I did a transmission swap/clutch job on my "new" Outback last week in our driveway without a transmission jack and it took me 5 hours solo. (And I'm no mechanic, just familiar enough with these cars.

$4. worth of dollar store carpet cleaners/deodorizers. Good start to getting this car smelling nice again. Going to just hose off the floor mats.

Great looking car! I love that subaru had the vision to make this car. It's basically a new version of what I, and others, had to do through custom work - lift an impreza. But they gave it great styling to match that added ground clearance. I love the performance/durability and capability that my Impreza has delivered. (And it's 18 years old and close to 300,000 miles.) I can only imagine what one with 10,000 miles would feel like. Welcome to the board!

There's a sub forum on here that discusses the XV. From what I've heard, there have been one or two little glitchy things but it lives up to the Subaru name for performance and dependability. I love the look of them. Welcome!

Welcome! You'll get there. My daily driver is the same - 97 OBS which is at 278,000 and counting. Keep the fluids fresh and topped off and they just go and go! Picked a great car and a great forum!

What fuse is that? You've got me curious. I took it for a quick spin last night and was impressed with the acceleration compared to the 4EAT in my wife's twin car.

Nice clean car! Welcome! You should find all you're hoping for and more with the guys and gals on this forum. great place to be.

Good to hear if I'm understanding right. The engine was still running, but the timing belt itself has been damaged? I'm one who'd not afraid to throw some junkyard parts at it as a temporary fix. Just go really slow when compressing the tensioner. And I haven't heard of these being brand specific. Some parts they say go Subaru or nothing. But probably count it as a fluke that you got a defective part. Buy a new one, or a good timing kit and heave a sigh of relief that you're not shopping for a new motor or looking at replacing the heads. Was in your shoes similarly last year. One of the sprockets failed and could have easily jumped timing or snapped the belt. Had to grab one from a junkyard and do a timing job in a Dennys parking lot. Sprocket came apart in my hand when I pulled it out!

With new baby and all, it looks like it's time to finally upgrade from the original Adventure Subaru adventure-subaru-lifted-1997-impreza-outback which served me so well over thousands of miles, 14 states and 2 canadian provinces. It forded rivers, towed boat and car alike, climbed mountains, conquered desert heat and Wisconsin cold. And stayed faithful on very little $$$ and lots of use. Basically, this car will be built to do all the same but with a little more size, towing capacity and general safety for the little guy. Found the new outback advertised for parts locally in the Santa Cruz mountains. It had sat unused for the last 18 months with a "bad transmission." Looked it over and it the car really wasn't bad other than having a nice buildup of dead leaves and spider webs. It was filthy outside and in, but body and interior were in great shape other than needing lots of cleaning. Got it for a mere 350 bones and towed it home. 2000 Outback - 221k with EJ25 and 5 speed (don't find a ton of 5 speeds from 2000+ cars.) Gave it a quick hose off to remove some of the dead leaves and all. Roachy interior. Smoky car, dirt crusted console. Dust on everything. battery was dead. The original intent was to simply fix it and sell it to contribute to the fund to get my wife a 05+ outback, but as we both saw the potential of this one (And I marveled at how simple it is to work on a rust free car!) it got me thinking that it may be time to change vehicles. Got a used battery from pick n pull for $25. Hunted through Pick N Pull's inventory, online, dismantlers and craigslist looking for a donor car or transmission. Came across a guy in Watsonville (only a 30 minute drive) who was clearing his garage of subaru stuff after having sold his car. He had a 2001 Impreza RS which blew the motor. he ended up replacing both motor and trans with a turbo model, so the good trans from the original car sat unused. Only about 150k on it. Checked the numbers and the final drive was 4.11. Bought the trans for $100! Steal of a deal. Got a clutch disc off ebay. Figured while I was in there, best to know that it was ok. Put it up on jack stands. (The scissor jacks were there for a little added stability but were a backup) Pulled the old trans. I could hear the click of metal chunks hitting the oil pan when I drained the gear oil. Trans could only go in 3rd and 4th and even then, the wheels would spin while in gear. Did the clutch and found this. And it was an exedy so not like it was a cheapie. Never seen that before. the disc was ready to tear into two pieces! new clutch. "new" trans. Had to swap one of the sensors over and put the outback crossmembers on it. Put it all back together and took it for a drive. Will have a few little things to chase, but it handles well. Good power. Shifts smooth through all gears. Plans as of now (I will be applying the K.I.S.S. method that worked well for the first car.) body lift of about 4-5 inches or so. Custom front strut lower ends 30-31 tires roof rack/fog lights (probably from the first car.) Trailer hitch & wiring Front brush bar. OBS hood scoop/vents Maybe a rear mounted spare eventually. For now... onto the cleaning!

As requested by wife and baby - Adventure car is now for sale! in good running condition. Put it on CL and will transfer the rack etc. to the new ride - see the start of my other build thread. If anyone is interested, shoot me a PM. Hoping whomever buys it is either a member, or becomes a member to continue the documentation this cars adventures.

No idea on warranties, but if the timing went on a 2000 you probably have valve damage. Set of used heads and a good (Subaru or equal) timing kit will get you back on the road.

Coolant temperature sensor is often linked to difficult starting when warm. Replace that with a good one and you'll probably have the starting issue solved.

torque bind will feel like driving a truck in 4wd on pavement. if you've felt it before, you'll know it. it should make itself obvious. Get the engine up to full temperature and check for bubbles in the coolant overflow. You can also look at the head gaskets from below for external leaks/weeping.

guess I'll oil it up a bit and hope for the best unless anyone thinks otherwise.

That's a gorgeous wagon! DO NOT let the salt monster of the east eat it away!

Love all the effort put into this! You've designed what would be a dream car for many of us.

Welcome! Best place for advice and fun and all things subaru. Your legacy is a great platform. My wife has a 2000 Legacy Outback... it's at 341,000 miles and going strong.