cal_look_zero

HF sells a decent body hammer/dolly set for like $20. I would use a comealong or ratchet strap to pull the support back out though

Conservative estimate would be $800-1200. Hood would be $3-400, then paint matching, labor to fit, labor to straighten the supports. Just a WAG based on contracting to a body shop on occasion.

I'll replace the fuel filter and see if that helps. I forgot to mention above also, that after the mpgs were consistently crap, I opted to desnorkus, build a UEL header, and install a freer flowing muffler. So far, no change in mpgs positive or negative.

The night that I bought my 97 OBS, I filled up the tank in Bend, OR, and drove nearly 360 miles before I needed to fill up again. Being that the car was used to drive 2 - 5 miles at a time, I flogged it hard to clear the crud out of the engine; like 4th gear pulls to 80+. This was all during the 360 miles I got to that tank. Immediately upon getting back to Grants Pass and filling up, my fuel mileage dropped from about 27, to around 21. At that time, no modifications were made, I was driving it easier than I had coming back from Bend, and the vast majority of my driving is on the freeway about 28 miles each way; per day. A few weeks back I did a large amount of repair work to the chassis: Fixed the bad inner tie rods, installed all new front brakes and wheel bearings, lubed critical points in the front end (ball joints, brake slide pins) and installed a new clutch. I'm running 60k mile tires inflated to 38psi, and they're 205/55/16 on WRX rims. I replaced the PCV valve with a Subaru part, replaced the Fram air filter with a Wix, am running Rotella T5 and a Bosch oil filter, and use cruise every chance I get. Cliffs: OBS got 27mpg or better after purchase/hard driving Get home and fuel mileage drops Done everything right IMO and repaired everything I can think of. So being that the car is OBDII, I'm under the impression that any bad sensor like a coolant temp, knock, or o2 would throw some sort of code alerting a bad condition. At this point, I'm hovering around 18-19mpg; 90% freeway driving at 70mph or so. In other words, I'm stumped and leaning towards trading this for a more fuel efficient lifted F350 or Freightliner tractor. On a slightly related note, my 2003 Mitsubishi Montero Sport which got around 18mpg at purchase, is down around 13mpg as well. Could it be that we just have really REALLY crappy gas where I live?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Standard-Motor-Products-TC501-Trailer-Connector-/150724410554?fits=Make:Subaru|Model:Impreza|Year:1997&hash=item2317dffcba&item=150724410554&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr#ht_1439wt_1139

Judging by the looks of the tire, you're running 205/55/16s on a set of 2005 WRX wheels (16"x6.5") Even just going up to a 205/65 is going to give you an extra 3/4" radius on the tire, and if you throw a set of Paranoid 3/8" spacers (biggest you can run with stock tophat studs), you'll be raising the ride a total of 1 1/8"

Unless they're coilovers, then no. You'll need to change the springs and probably the struts as well. If they are coilovers, you'll just need to crank the lock rings back against the spring to get some ride height back.

Tire shops like to play AWD owners like damned fiddles. Have him buy his replacement over on tirerack.com and have them shave it to the same depth as his other 3. After 5k, it's probably nothing to worry about, but better safe than sorry. It's cheaper to buy and shave 1 than replace all 4.

Mine has it on cold starts. It's a 99, it should have the SLAs.

So it's a direct bolt in then? I do want to run the 1000 cam as well as the dual port for ease of exhaust choices on the frankenmotor.

My search terms were a little too specific to bring up what I was after. I'm getting nearer to building my frankenmotor, and although I built a super sweet single port UEL, I'd prefer the option of running a dual port head. Am I able to bolt my SLA/roller rocker assembly onto a dual port head, or are the valves designed differently?

I lied. I don't know exactly what it was. I had a machine shop press the bearings, and he said that the outer bearing on the passenger side front wheel was pretty thrashed. He also said that he strongly doubts that could have been the noise. My pilot bearing was exploded and missing about 1/3 of it's bearings. My inner tie rods were floppy All I know is that the noise is gone now, and it drives like a whole new car.

Well I got the pics, and I'm taking the drive to go get the engines tomorrow. 2 complete, albeit disassembled, EJ25? DOHC engines. My dad doesn't want to risk shredding the stock transaxle in his vanagon with anything over 150hp, so I'll be rebuilding one and selling it to recoup costs. I'll be up to 3 1/2 complete EJ engines in my shop... And I had the audacity to question this Subi "addiction". Shame on me.

:rolleyes: I was shooting at a drift event and had to do some matrix moves to avoid an XXR that was coming my way at a high rate of hooah; off a nissan 240. Stripped the hub out as a result of additional strain from a 1" spacer and launched the wheel mid transition. Not trying to tell you what to do, but wheeling is going to put a lot of torsional strain on the assemblies as it is. I'm sure you could find steelies in the offset you need and save yourself money and heartache in the future.

Don't run spacers. Just don't. Buy wheels with the proper offset for what you want. Spacers are just disasters waiting to happen. Aside from additional stress due to amplified leverage on the bearings.

I may have just stumbled onto a couple of good 2.5 shortblocks that will soon become frankenmotors. I do have a couple of questions though. Aside from 2.5 head gaskets, is anything else specific to the 2.5 needed, or is it pretty much a straight forward shortblock swap? Also, I have a phase 1 ej22 for my dad's vanaru with the HLA dual port heads; will those heads work on the interference style 2.5 engine, or do I need to swap in SLAs/put on SLA heads from an interference 2.2?

I'd jump on that in half a heartbeat. All of the work listed (clutch, rack, axles) are things that would need to be done at some point anyways. I'd source a 2.5 block and make it a frankenmotor if the only the block is bad...

Seafoam through the pcv valve. Run about 8oz through it, and stall it with the last ounce (or have someone shut the car off) Let it sit for 30 minutes, then flog the ever loving crap out of it.

That's actually a short ram, or "hot air intake" as it sucks in all the hot under hood air. If I were you, I'd find a stock intake box and bolt it back in. Then modify the "snorkus" (google for different ways to do it) to allow the intake to breathe nice cool inner fender air. Though, if you plan to wheel in the mud and such, just leave the snorkus alone. Keeps a lot of crud out of the intake.

Technically, a true equal length header designed for optimal back pressure and flow, is the only real way to get noticeable performance out of a header on the EJ22. I've heard that a 2" UEL header will get a little power on the butt dyno, but I'd bet it's more a placebo from the boxer rumble. Myself, I'm building it 95% for the sound and feel, and 5% for any power gains. That's why I'm also building an axleback exhaust with a grapefruit shooter. Ok, I was conservative when I bought it, it's more of a large navel orange shooter (only 4")

Fair enough, been having a bunch of people with useless input about "Why you build those and not swap in JDM turbo engine instead!?!?", so I may be a little defensive. But yes, I'm aware of what kind of talent and pricing needs to go into a header to be competitive in the market.

In any case, a little bit of selection/competition will be good. Finding these things has been a chore which is why I'm bothering with building a set anyways.

I bought my initial materials online. Shoot me a message with some info to contact you or your work though.

Oh man, I guess that means I'm not allowed to build any. Damn. FYI, they're a different design (of my own) than the supers header that you plan to copy, but thanks for implying that I need not bother with another offering in a vacant market.