AdventureSubaru

Have not completed the snorkel yet. Doing my own fiberglass. Got it about halfway there.

Not sure that's a fair question. I feel the right question is, "Have the original gaskets been properly replaced?" If the car was overheated, you never know what's going to happen. If the heads started leaking and they were done right, you'll be set for quite a while. Our 2000 Outback has just turned 333,000 miles and is still going strong. Just noticing a bit of weeping on the passenger side head. The 2.5 is a good engine. If it's not showing issues, I wouldn't worry about buying one. It's just a known spot to keep a close eye on. I just check the heads and temperature gauge on the 2000 more often than the Impreza.

Can't beat that. Pinnacle of the cheap and reliable transportation. Congrats!

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/79130-how-to-seat-your-torque-converter-by-mnwolftrack/ Read up. I posted some pics of what it should look like. It's not very difficult. Just make sure you do it right so nothing gets crushed.

If it's a Phase II, any Phase II 99-04 should drop right in.

Rock Auto has the rebuild parts. Pick N Pull Oakland has a 93 Loyale in it. Stockton has a 92. (Any GL or DL of the same body style will fit.) I've had good luck grabbing a decent used axle. Less work and pick n pull charges less than $30 for an axle. general rule is, if a boot is torn but not making any noise, you can re-boot them. If it's making noise, don't bother, just replace the axle.

Drive shaft is 6 bolts and a hammer to tap it loose. 1. Disconnect the 4 12mm bolts that hold it to the rear differential. (A wrench will reach where a socket will not) 2. Disconnect the 2 14mm bolts that hold the carrier joint to the body. 3. If it doesn't come off on it's own, tap the rear of the driveshaft loose from the diff with a hammer and maybe a flathead screwdriver to knock it loose. 4. Pull back on the driveshaft and let is slide out the rear of the transmission. 5. Reverse the process to install the replacement. The only way this job would be difficult is if the bolts are really rusty. A little PB blaster or WD40 helps if the bolts are difficult - particularly the ones that bolt to the body of the car. If you have wrenches and can follow, righty-tighty, lefty-loosey you can do this job in an hour. Happy wrenching!

Unless, of course, you also swap the rear diff from the same car. Direct bolt in will have to have the 3.9 ratio. If you found an Outback or Forester donor car, you could put both the transmission and the rear diff in there and you'd have a 4.44 ratio. The ratios just have to match. generally speaking the extra part will cost more $$$ but you never know what you may find. Helps to have options.

Yah. The rear main should basically go forever if it's not messed with.

Sounds like a good lineup. I believe Sachs is the same as exedy - Good clutches. When the engine is out, take a look at the oil separater plate on the back. (it will be above and to the right of the the rear main seal. These were prone to leak and are generally responsible in my experience for the classic burning oil smell of subarus.) A seperator plate leak will drip right down onto the y pipe and give that roasted oil smell. On a 2000, they were aluminum and far better than the plastic ones of the 90s, but if it's showing leakage, the dealer has a steel one that was an upgrade to fix the problem. I think it cost me $13. a couple years ago when I did it on my wife's 2000 Outback.

As dependable as the EJ22 is, if you did get a forester or something of the like, your best bet in my opinion is to find a solid used EJ22 and drop it in. Self serve auto yards will sell them for around $100. and dismantlers will generally have some in the 300-500 range. I did this a while back. Found an immaculate 91 Legacy Sedan with a bad motor (rod went right through the block.) Found a good motor from a fellow board member for $150. For about $500. I had a great running car. I let a friend in a bad financial spot drive it for several months and later sold it for a good profit.

Rims for these 80s cars are unique in that they have a 4x140 bolt pattern. There's a variety of 13 inch rims that came on the subarus of the 70s 80s and early 90s. Enkei and a few others made aftermarkets that are hard to find and usually pretty expensive. Peugeot is the only other car to have that bolt pattern and are popular on these cars because you can get a 14 or 15 inch rim on them without any modification. other options have been to swap Subaru XT6 spindles onto Gls and put a 5x100 rims on. You can re-drill your hub to fit 6x140 rims (toyota, old chevy, nissan etc.) or drill holes on 6x140 rims to make them 4x140. (use the search in the old gen section and you'll see write ups on it. Last option, buy spacers that convert 4x140 to 5x100. There's a thread on that somewhere in the marketplace. Lots of options though. And lots of people to help and answer your questions. Congrats on finding one! Even here in California I see very few old subes.

Welcome! You came to the right place. What engine does your outback have? That will determine some of your future maintenance path. And what sort of aftermarket are you looking for? Going fast and furious or camping/trail riding?

Yes, but lots of work. requires at least the following 4wd trans, driveshaft, differential and hanger, rear axles and 4wd rear spindles, 4wd clutch Some will say to just wait and buy a 4x4 but if you aren't afraid of wrenching for a while and have access to parts, it can be done. Or sell yours for a profit and get a 4wd. Front wheel drive get's you through a lot in these cars though. A little ground clearance should have you ready for light trails/snow. Find a way to get 4wd if you want real off roading/wheeling.

Yeah, I noticed a little squeaking the day before when I was making a quick run to the grocery store. Came and went in about 3 seconds. Listened to the car while running and couldn't pinpoint anything going on. Good to know that they can be re-greased. We're going to replace everything anyway since the car has about 60k since we bought it. The previous owner did the timing belt recently before we bought it, but I have no way of knowing if he did the water pump and idlers and all then. And since one failed, I feel the others can't be too far behind. The tensioner also didn't "spring" back on it's own. I had to push it a bit and help it expand to get adequate tension. I think this may have been why the timing wasn't perfect the first time and I had to reset the belt to get it right. And in general this is my wife's car. I use it since the kayak doesn't fit as nicely on the Impreza. But I'd hate for it to break down when she's on her own. Especially since Santa Cruz is just a little crazy in general.

Here are some pics from a couple weeks ago. My cousin came out to visit over her fall break as a nursing student so my wife, cousin, dog and I took the Impreza for a day trip to El Dorado National Forest. Hiked into the cascades and up toward Horsetail Falls. Bout 4 hours drive each way. Elevation about 7000 feet. The dog was thrilled. Colors were about at their peak. Not the sugar maples of Wisconsin but the glow of the aspens is great in it's own way. Close to the top of horsetail falls. On the other side of that ledge the water drops about 80 feet straight down. The car was right at home in the mountains. On this trip, the transmission started popping out of 4th gear on occasion. I have since gone over the mounts etc and it's a safe bet that it's internal. After 277,000 miles - 27,000 of which the car was lifted and 4200 of which it was towing a heavily loaded boat, the transmission is finally on it's way out. I'm driving the current transmission into the ground while searching for a good used one. Pick and Pulls in San Jose have a number of Subarus listed in their inventory. Clutch has good timing as well as it has started to show a little slippage when it has a lot of load. 5th and 3rd now occasionally will pop out of gear and the trans is getting a little growlier than usual. So it will soon be time for a little TLC on the adventure car. Missed out on the EJ dual range for sale recently. If another one pops up somewhere, someone send me a PM and let me know. I plan on putting an EA series 5 speed dual range in here eventually, but for now, am probably just going to get a $100. trans from Pick N Pull and keep driving.

Yeah. It was a hour drive round trip and the yard charged us $12.88 Lost most of my day off, but at least there's a good story to tell.

My day off was supposed to be spent kayak fishing the Santa Cruz harbor for halibut and lingcod to name a few. I was drivng down ocean street in Santa Cruz and the front end erupted into a horrible shrieking/screeching/grinding sound. Quickly sort of coasted my way into a Denny's parking lot. Had to break some of the timing cover off to find this - pic doesn't really show how bent and bad it was. Was sitting at an angle and there were balls from the bearings rolling out from under the car. Called my wife and she brought the Impreza and we went to pick n Pull moss landing. Found a 96 Legacy wagon that had a decent looking idler sprocket. Came back and managed to replace it and do the full timing job in the denny's parking lot before it got dark. First time I turned the cams by hand it stuck and I was scared that it jumped timing as I turned the car off and bent something. Reset everything and triple checked all my marks and this time it all rotated around just as it should. Started up and drove it home. Now i have to find a new timing cover to replace the one I destroyed. No biggie. This is how roasted the sprocket was. Came out in pieces! So glad that this was just a surprise roadside fix and the the belt didn't slip or snap. Going to budget a full timing replacement in the next month or so to avoid repeating this.

Thanks! And yes, the AC would have been nice. We only had a few days a year in Wisconsin that the windows didn't supply sufficient breeze and now in the redwoods it rarely gets above the 80s. The Mojave and surrounding (valley of fire etc.) were simply miserable without AC. It will probably be a while before we have to do anything like that again.

Welcome! The engines will have the model stamped on the block. Occasionally it's covered by grime, but usually you can see it on the left side as you face the car from the front. EJ22 is a fantastic motor. Ej25s were pretty horrid to start with but got continually better starting in 2000. My wife drives one with very high miles and it has been super dependable. In NJ and Eastern PA there are still a handful of older subies around. You might find an old GL lurking in someones garage pop up for sale. The EA81 engines in the early ones were nearly bullet proof, the later EA82 was a great motor as well but not as legedary as the EA81. You'll mostly see the EJ22 in the impreza and legacy. I've seen a couple outbacks with it from the 90s. You can always swap them over. A favorite of board members is to find a cheap car with a bad EJ25 and swap an EJ22 into it to get a more dependable motor in there and save money. These cars are extremely simple to work on in general and a motor can be swapped in a matter of hours with only basic tools. Any of these platforms Impreza Legacy/Outback, forester are good cars capable of lasting for 200, 300 and 400k miles.

A thought on that busted bolt. You have at least one more good try before you have to think about drilling. Soak it in PB Blaster or something similar for a while. If you can weld, or take it to a shop and have them weld a nut right to the bolt. (You can fit a pretty big one on there.) Then put your socket on there and spin away. With the amount of material sticking out, there's a very good chance you can spin it on out. Even if it snaps again, you're no worse off than where you started. I've done this a number of times both successfully and unsuccessfully. (Probably about 50-50 split.) But you've got more material there than most of my attempts so you've got a good shot at getting it out of there. Heat from a propane torch can also help coax it out.

check engine lights are worthless for internal issues. It just indicates air/fuel sensor stuff. Maybe get a video of the noise so it can be identified? When these engines get low on oil, they do die. Possibly a faulty oil pump, but they don't go out that often. I had a 91 legacy that had thrown a rod right through the top of the block. I sourced a used engine and put it in - bout $200. all told to swap it in. Good news is, even if this engine is toast, you live in an area where you should be able to source a good used engine cheap. Colorado has lots of Subarus. Takes an afternoon to swap an engine in these cars. Figure a full day if it's your first time. But they are easy to work on.

I did a forester lift on an Impreza OBS - Yielded about 3 1/2 inches of lift. I had to re-drill the upper holes in the rear to accommodate the forester struts but it's one hole to drill per side. Forester will give you a little more lift than Outback struts. A little firmer ride too. I also made a set of 3/8 HDPE spacers for a little extra lift, and to clear the forester top hat in the back. I'm not sure if the forester rears are identical to legacy bolt pattern or not. You may not have that issue. Handling on my impreza is still fine, but it drives more like a small SUV now than the rally car feel - which is totally to be expected. Still winds around curves in the road just fine. Wouldn't want to go at high speeds though. (Not that I really care to anyway. Forester struts/springs let you clear up to a 28 inch tire. No need to lengthen the steering column unless you do a body lift. A 4 wheel alignment would be ideal after the lift since the lift changes the camber noticeably.

I did have 5 of the 6 of them break when i lifted my impreza. Royal pain to get them out.

Sounds like you're putting together a pretty solid vehicle. I think you can swap over the Forester rear control arm brackets to the legacy in place of Outback to avoid the tires getting stuffed forward. I've never heard this with 100% certainty though because I know they are a different style than the outback. Might want to take a measurement and check and see.