AdventureSubaru

okay. I'll keep a close eye on it. If I see any uneven wear, I'll have her take it straight to an alignment shop. It's only FWD so it can't be too expensive.

you can always try http://www.picknpull.com

Seems like that was the problem. New tires on the front and the wobble seems almost non existent. Saves the trouble/cost of an alignment.

got it. I'll get on figuring the leak issue. There are about 5 Imprezas sitting in the Wadsworth pick n pull right now.

My girlfriend is thinking she might like a little lift on her 2000 Outback. My thought is 1 inch spacers and 28 inch tires. Would 1 inch spacers harm the camber on the car? Wondering as far as alignment/tire wear. Would 28s or similar affect the automatic trans? longevity is the priority but would like to make the car a little more trail ready. Not an off roader, but something that can handle dirt roads and Wisconsin snow storms even better than stock.

My friend is driving a $400. 2WD Impreza with EJ18 and 5 speed that has a bad power steering fluid leak. She has been content driving it as is for a while but the whining of the dry pump is annoying at best. She doesn't want to spend money fixing it if she can help it. How hard would it be to remove the power steering stuff from the car?

I think there's maybe a half inch difference between an outback strut and a forester strut. I put Forester struts and 3/8 spacers on my impreza and got about 3 1/2 - 4 inches of lift at the rockers. (This was before the bigger tires) I would think with a one inch spacer you should be in the same ballpark of about 4 inches. Any spacers more than 3/8 require longer bolts through the strut top.

Not with a suspension lift. If you lift the body you would have to lengthen your steering shaft, remount radiator etc. Suspension lift is easy. it's why most of us lifting newer generation subarus do it that way.

can't feel any play. The wear is just in that one spot. Rest of the tire is fine. I'll swap good tires on and see what happens. Spring/strut seem fine too.

the forester or outback front struts are a direct bolt on in the front. I believe the outbacks at least should be a direct swap as well. Foresters may be different in the tophat. Not 100% on this. Either way it's way easier than a body lift. depends which yard you go to. I got a full set of forester struts for $60 at my auto yard. I've heard as mush as $50. a piece for a strut spring combo used. You can add HDPE spacers between the strut tops and frame for some extra lift. I make them pretty cheap. 3/8 inch can be put on with no modification.

I made two of them. I test fitted the other one on my girlfriends 2000 Legacy Outback. She kept glaring at me the whole time it was on her car, so I removed it after a couple days. At one point someone told her she had a nice rack. She didn't know how to respond. :-p

x2 on what Fox said. If all you're doing is replacing that seal, pull the engine. Way simpler than wrestling with a 250lb trans under a sky high jacked up car.

Comparison next to my friends stock 93 L sedan. It really is fantastic the way that everything sits tight to the body underneath. A stock Jeep Wrangler Rubicon has 10 1/2 inches of ground clearance at the diff. I've got about 11 1/4 at the rockers and not much that hangs lower than that under the car.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=81925&highlight=torque+converter The last couple pages of that thread have pics. I just did a trans swap in a 2000 outback. It's pretty straightforward, but takes a while. Two trans cooling lines come in from the drivers side. (below the starter.) I avoided a tranny jack by hanging a come along from the roof of my garage and clipping it to a bolt threaded through the top trans mount, and a ratcheting strap wrapped across the inside of the car to cradle the read of the trans. The torque converter really isn't bad if you follow the directions in that link. I waited until the trans was separated from the engine and pulled back a few inches before removing the axles all the way.

I'm told the front axles from a 93 or 94 2WD Impreza are the same spline to bolt up to the EA series D/R trans. Easier than fabbing for sure.

No need to go overkill. I saw a jeep with 16 off road lights on it. I think it was a testosterone imbalance of some sort. Quality over quantity. High quality/bright headlights. A pair of lights on top, stock/smaller fog lights at bumper bottom, maybe one or two facing rearward for backing up. I use a 12v plug in yellow flasher light on top if I need to pull people out. Just sticks to the roof by magnet. I can put it up in 30 seconds. My old 83 wagon powered 4 big off road lights plus high beams without trouble.

Trying to help my friend fix up her Impreza. She's in a tight spot financially and is driving a beat up, $400. 200k+ 93 L Sedan with crappy 13 inch wheels and tires on it. Thanks to some of the Milwaukee guys I got a set of 14 inch Legacy Aluminum rims and some nearly new tires for her on the cheap. I was swapping over the new wheels for her this morning when I found this on the front drivers side tire. It is only worn this way on the drivers side tire. The steering wheel shakes/vibrates as she's driving. it is wearing unevenly as you can see the tire has tread on the outside edge near the bottom of the photo but has a bald edge on the top of the tire. I'm pretty green when it comes to steering/alignment stuff. trying to make this car decent and as reliable as possible for her. Is this something that can be fixed with just an alignment? Or am I looking at replacing ball joints or something else?

Out here that would be a great buy. If you can source an EJ22 from a junkyard and do the work yourself, you could have a good runner for a little over $1000. total. Engines in that generation are usually pretty easy and cheap to come by. Body looks great.

Finally got lifted! Took a while to get all the pieces together for it. Here's what I started with. 1997 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport. EJ22 with 5 speed. 250k Shopping list was Set of 4 99 Forester Struts/springs 3/8 inch HDPE Strut top spacers 99 Subaru Forester Swaybar Brackets 97 Subaru Legacy Outback Trailing Arm brackets 4 2001 Chrysler Sebring 15 inch steel rims 4 Sentry LT 215/75/15 tires 15 inch subaru rim (spare) 215/75/15 jy tire (spare) Safari style roof rack (a little welding goes a long way) Fog lights Fresh meat. First strut/spring/spacer installed. Gave about 3 1/2 inches of lift alone. Front complete. Front is super easy. took less than an hour. The rear was much more. Broke 5 of 6 welds on the bolts for the trailing arm brackets. Had to cut through the floor with an angle grinder and cutting disc to gain access. Replaced the old bolts with shiney new ones. Had to drill a new hole for the strut tops and widen two of the existing ones on each side. I'm thrilled with the final result. Took some cutting and bashing to get rid of the rubbing on turns. (Still have a little to find.) and there's a rattle somewhere when i hit a pothole on the passenger rear. I have about 11 1/2 inches of clearance at the rockers vs. 6 1/2 at stock. Still handles well. Working on swaybar links now. Alignment is also next on the list. (Any advice for getting back to normal camber? Is this something an alignment shop can do? or am I shopping for camber bolts?) Car is ready for some adventure. Too bad I have to drive a ways to find any decent trails in this part of the country.

You can fab them up yourself or I think Paranoid Fabrications sells them. there aren't any spacers though that will widen the space between the tire and the lower spring perch. Wider tires however... will fling plenty of mud.

You should be able to use any EJ22 or EJ25 from 2000-2004. Browse a few sites like mypartshop.com etc. to get an idea what you're looking for. (The part numbers are different year to year, but any 00-04 ej22 or 25 should be a direct bolt it. I like to browse craigslist and see what cars are being parted in the area. Be careful as you search though as this generation was the most prone to head gasket failure. It would be sad to go through the work of engine replacement only to face a head gasket job. You came to the right place for advice. People on here can get you about any answer you need. Search bar is your best friend.

You are correct in the Forester struts. I believe the 03 and above generate the highest lift. I played with the idea of extending the strut bottom too, but welding and gas shocks just don't seem like a good idea to me. Strut top spacers have been done many times and aren't very difficult. Either metal or HDPE (I used a cutting board from Wal Mart for a 3/8 spacer on my Impreza.) You probably don't want to go very high if extending the bolts since the gap will put extra strain on them. Maybe an inch, inch an a half tops. Any higher and I'd fab up metal spacers and go with two sets of bolts. The limit I've seen so far on tires is 235 75 15 on a 15 inch rim with Forester Struts. Any taller and you'll be hitting the lower spring perch. Anything close to this size will of course require trimming/bashing to fit the tire. With 99 Forester struts/springs and 3/8 spacers I achieved about 4 inches of lift. Further 2 inches with 215 75 15 tires. I've got over 11 inches of grouncd clearance at the bottom of my rockers.

That's what I ended up doing. Cut out the floor on the side of the seats above the brackets with my angle grinder and a cutting disc. There are 18mm nuts on the inside. I backed out the broken ones with a wrench on the nut, and my breaker bar and a cheater pipe. Soaked the other side in pb blaster overnight. One of the 3 came out. other two broke. Oh well. Replaced the broken ones with 1/2 inch zinc plated bolts from Menards. Tightened them down with the breaker bar. Should be all set now.

Had same problem in reverse this year with a imprexa I bought. Pull the vents/switches and see if the cable came loose. Those plastic switches will break sometimes. They can be replaced or I adjust it in this car and my toyota truck manually with needle nose pliers.

It was loose before exiting the car. I can spin it as fast as my impact wrench can go, but it's not coming out. :-\