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OEM thermostat, or parts store? These engines really do not agree with anything other than OEM.

I have never had bad luck with a basic Murray or other "house" brand from somewhere like Autozone or O'Reilly's. A lot of their stuff is rebadged name brand anyhow. I only see a performance radiator being a need if you race or live somewhere like phoenix AZ.

When it comes to multi cam multi head set ups, I like to use binder clips to keep the belt in the right place on the camshaft. Probably not the kind of advice you were after, but it makes things 100x easier when you're not fighting with the belt skipping around.

Because other companies have the market cornered. Subaru would have to make a small fwd car to compete with the price point and fuel economy of vehicles like kia and hyundai. The era of the WRX pretty much killed Subaru being an entry level name, which is fine by me. I've never once heard of an Impreza post 1996 being referred to as an econobox, and I like that. I'll admit I saw a new foz in traffic and it rivaled the size of my Montero. I didn't realize it was a Subi until I saw the badges. They're possibly a bit too big now, but like I said, Subaru isn't synonymous with economy anymore.

There's 2 silver auto OBSs for sale in Oregon that I know of right now. Not sure about options, but one is salvage title for $2850, and the other is clean at a dealership for $4800

Nice. I pulled the trans dipstick and popped off the fill plug from the rear diff, both are full and the fluid looks new. The p/s pump was nearly empty when I bought the car, so I figured the worst. I flushed it today, and nice translucent red atf came out lock to lock. Looks like my thinking that the car used to be well cared for was correct. My punchlist is whittling down: Determine failing front axle (Makes no noise turning, but distinctly klunks on heavy acceleration while slipping the clutch. Fix HVAC lights. A/C non op (probably fuse, just discovered it 10 minutes ago) Cruise non op (Probably need new brake switch) Steam clean/extract interior.| Such a score:headbang:

Little quips of knowledge like this, never cease to make me grin when I think back on situations where I wish someone has told me beforehand. Good looking out.

I have to dig through my post over on NASIOC. $520 is a Tsudo UEL header, midpipe, and catback; shipped. http://www.semotors.com/products/.htmltsudo_97_05_subaru_impreza_2_5rs_ej_header_w_downpipe.html http://www.semotors.com/products/tsudo_982d05_impreza_2.5_rs_n1_catback.html

What's the budget? You can get a nice Tsudo system from the header back for around $520 shipped.

Apparently the cruise hasn't worked since the girl before me had it. The original owner put a new transmission in it, so who knows if all the doo dads were hooked up right. I'm going to check the basics; clutch and brake switches and cruise switches. If it's any deeper than that, I'll accept that it's non op.

Yeah, way too much red tape for manufacturers to bring in extremely fuel efficient, low emissions, extremely long lasting diesel engines. The government and oil tycoons would never allow it... It was my understanding, that a lot of the japanese "racing" engines like the RB26DETT are brought through customs under a "for off road use only" type of transaction. Not to advocate undermining the nanny state's laws, but you could go about it that way.

Yes, yes they are. I'm allergic to hippies;) I'll post up a few pictures later, but thus far I've put a set of the 2005 Limited WRX rims on, detailed the heck out of it, and gotten most everything in good working order. I still need to troubleshoot the cruise control and HVAC lighting, replace the front brake pads, and steam clean the interior. Long term? Leaving it pretty stock as far as performance goes. Would like to put in a nice stereo, WRX interior, tint the windows, and some sort of short shifter.

I love love love Northwest cars. If the environuts have done one thing I agree with, it's making salting the roads illegal.

Your fenderwell makes me sad. Mine was pretty thrashed. Spent an entire day cleaning the interior from hippy smell, and buffing out the exterior. Came out looking pretty decent. Febreze, ok? Has cleaned up some of the most vile smells that I've encountered. After 5 treatments, my car still smells like petiole oil and pot.:Flame:

Another thing to check is your coolant temperature sensor. Not the one with the single female spade, but the one with the brown plug. They're located on the passenger side of the engine underneath the intake mani. Primary o2 sensor in the y-pipe is a culprit, as are clogged cats.

Had to drive about 4 hours each way to get it, but considering I scored it for $1500 after selling my Loyale for $1800; the drive was worth it. Thanks to MeekyMoose for being my wingman. Has a few glaring needs; cracked windshield, fog lights are non op (burned out probably) cruise doesn't work, HVAC lights are non op... and it stinks of petiole something fierce. Drives and shifts just fine though. Gave it a good ol "Italian Tuneup", and after puking out some nastiness from the exhaust, it pulls nice and strong; idles smoother than any boxer I've ever seen.

It's all relative. I would buy it for $1000 knowing that I would have to put a gasket set and probably a timing kit for good measure; turn around and sell it for $3k or better. I don't know any "pros" who hate rebuilding the engines. They're super easy to work on; in my opinion. Assuming I had all the parts and pieces to go through it, I could pull it, go through it, and stab it back in within a weekend. That's a leisurely pace too. What's your level of mechanical experience?

Congrats. I don't envy you guys with your rusty stuff. I worked on a 1940s GMC truck with less rust than that... that had been sitting out in a field for 30 some odd years! My experience with anything moderately rusted has been to soak the crap out of it with PB/WD40/similar and ever so gently go after it with a long ratchet or breaker bar. You can apply more torque than an impact (with a long enough bar) and taper into it a lot more smoothly. Sounds like what you did!

This thread is making it really hard to even consider selling my Loyale.

The wiring and everything is there for the rears, in the rear doors. Just have to cut the door panel and mount them up. Make sure the window clears the back of the speaker. I'll have a set of 6 1/2s freed up from the legacy this friday if you want em for $20 or so.

Being the litigious country that we are, just have a super basic waiver handy. A basic "I hereby waive any and all damages to my person or property during extraction of my vehicle" will keep out you out of the courtroom.

Are the gauge/climate control lights working or not?

Well not that this helps much, but I nudged a big ol F350 out of a snowbank with my lowered 69 VW bug, some ratchet straps, and a look of sheer disbelief on Buford's face. That said, I have to imagine the stock hardware on the car will suffice. If you're concerned and will actually make money at it, just have an exhaust shop weld some D hooks right to the frame. I would get one of those big ol water bags that you put in a pickup bed to add weight over the rear axle. Is there really a "market" for pulling people out? I used to fund my snowboarding by chaining cars up for rich old skiers every morning when I was jobless, but never really heard of anyone but tow companies making money from pulling people out.

I'd drop in an EJ22 with a 5mt d/r behind it.