Andyjo

I'd go with new caps either way, drilling a new hole won't mess w/ your structural integrity that much ... i didn't when i did my forester swap and i wish i did... the caps i have are pretty old, and showing signs of the abuse i've put them through, and the high milage (cracking etc..)

You've got it buddy As for the 1st gear 50/50 split thing... i think it's crap. I've been stuck before... stuck pretty good, thrown it into 1st and only had the front spin for a few seconds before the rear kicks in... the TCU is sort of slow sometimes, you're better off installing a 4wd switch to beat your TCU to the punch line, 50/50 split. The AWD is also sort of periodic, i was heading up this hill one time... relitivly steep (ski hill) and i was in AWD mode.. and it'd go.. then sort of surge a little (rear end kicking in), then come off again (rear end going away) and sort of keep doing that, say.. mid-way up the hill i flicked the good ol' 4wd switch, and it just charged right up the hill, no surging or oscilations between front to back. Another cool thing, with the switch you can romp it up onto 3 wheels and still have a wheel with power somewhere, subaru says that you're supposed to in AWD mode there... but it takes some time for the computer to sense that your front wheels & back wheels are moving at different speeds :-\ Oh well, good luck!

I've heard you can get the 5MT's relitivly cheap from junkyards... but if you can get one for 50 bucks w/ your inscurance.. for a new one... go for that

I've ran quite a few tires on my OBS... have a large stack in the barn Littler: 195/60/R15 - Yokohama Avid Touring Tires Stock: 205/60/R15 - Yokohama Avid Touring Tires -Dunlop Graspic DS2's Not So Stock: 215/60/R16 (Stock for a forester) -Cooper Life Liner Classic II's More: 225/60/R16 (a little rubbing, with lift.. took off the mud flaps) -Cooper Life Liners I really don't like the coopers, but i got them for free.. soo... take what you can get right? I think austin is running 28" BFGoodrich AT's.. but he's also got a lift and did some bashing i believe... I think Zapar has gone through a ton of tires, i believe he ran some 27" Kumko MT's.. but dont' quote me on that... ask him

Oh Oh! i figured it out, i know where you can get 'dirty' gas that your car will hate! The indian reservation in Massena, NY, your car will hate you, forever if you get gas from there sorry, i knew there was somewhere that you can get a nice chunky tank o' gas

wouldn't the wheel in the air spin then if you've got open diffs that is... odd.. :-\ i believe the only solution is more go juice... an more approch/departure angles just noticed you have a CB on that subi, it's good to see other new gen roo's with large antennas hangin' off em

you could try dumping sea foam into the pcv valve.. and seeing if the smoke comes out anywhere besides the exhaust pipe? good luck! sorry to hear about the blahness :-\

you may want to change your o2 sensors... i believe those are the only sensors down there to measure wether the cats are doing their job... i think. As for aftermarket cats... all i know is that you can't 'buy' them from junkyards... but you can buy an odd shaped 'muffler' from some of them

4EAT or 5MT? i don't remember which one.. but one's more forgiving then the other if you're running different tires & sizes, how often fo you change your tranny/diff fluids? I ran around for a day w/ an odd sized tire and i got worried about the awd... :cool:

hott!! now let's see it get muddy!

A buddy of mine just did the bed liner stuff as the bottom trim, on his Heep, it looks pretty good. But not as good as a lifted sedan

I stand corrected i read ealier on the forums somewhere that more air, more gas can be burnt, i guess i didn't put that into prespective, and limits I also agree with your statement here, there is a very large population of 'engineers' at my school that couldn't get themselves out of a practical hole of engineering if their lives depended on it :-\ I like to not be one of those people. I respect other and understand there's a place for everyone, hell half of my auto-friends buisness majors & liberals arts peoples, know a ton more about automotive stuff than i do. i dont' mean to bash heads, after all USMB is one big happy disgruntal family i only asked for perspective, not saying anything about psych. majors, great people, always messing with my head :-p And the title reads "How I increased my gas mileage", so hell, you could strap a poodle to your undercarrage and it may improve your efficiency no need to get flamed up.

I wouldn't get into finances like that on this board, don't want to get into a flame war or anything, but 22k/yr isn't something to get flaired up about. just trying to be helpful. sometimes things get a little out of hand, back to efficiency: Gas milages: What makes it happen & what effects it: -Drag -Mass -Friction & Viscosity (not in that order) So, i suppose someone could derive some form of equation for all of this.. but it would be worthless... Pretty much: the more mass you have to move, the more force/power required, the faster you go, the more drag you have (proportional to velocity squared), Larger cross sectional area, also larger the drag, decreasing your efficiency. And finally Friction & viscocity, yes cleaning out the fuel system can decrease these two factors, by getting rid of the ************ built up in lines, etcc... I dunno.. i think this thread has gotten a bit too heated, and maybe should be let to rest, aye? Cars are cars, they burn gas, gas is expensive, we all deal with it. :cool: End of Story

you are one informed subaru user! i don't know the answers to your question.. but man!! you tried alot!! go you! sorry... just thought i'd throw that in

Also, the fuel pump grabs gas from the bottom of the tank, where stuff floating on the top of the gas would not be sucked into it... and if you've checked out the fuel pump assembly.. there's a nice mesh 'bag' over the sucker part (yes, technical terms here )

Not bashing, cleaning out the fuel system works, if your vehicle needs it, usually this does not occur under 100k, but yes it can, And there's cheaper ways to get the same thing done. And you disconnected some pistins? maybe i'll do that to my ej22... run on 2 cyls when gas prices go up again boy would that be an interesting ride

i believe they do... with just the struts i think you'll gain something like 1.5" with the springs... more... i did a forester swap with my impreza... but i know some people have done outback swaps to their legacies... check out the offroad forum.. maybe a search in there will yield result... it's a really easy swap, 2 bolts & 3 nuts a piece and some spring compressor action if you're keeping the original springs.. but no big deal right? Where in vermont? i may be able to give you a hand if i'm still around. I know superu has done the outback swap to his legacy sedan... people around here are very helpful, ask around, just be careful, some people will get all high & mighty because you don't use the search function.. i usually just ignore them this might help too: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49336&highlight=lifted+legacy or http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50268

The problem w/ the K&N is that most people Don't know how to keep them properly maintained. You should also take note that the MORE air you get the MORE fuel you can burn... yielding less milage... get it? The hood scoop: if you take the backing plate out you WILL recieve a higher drag coefficient, why you may ask? it's all about the pressure bouble it creates in front of the scoop, which keeps the flow laminar over the scoop, opposed to slaming into it and creating a turbulent flow before it normally would (around the top of the windshield or so... Re ~=500,000). Now if this theoretical explination isn't enough for you, i've done an experiment myself. Last summer, road trip, from VT to Strakes' house (TN), 3 tanks of gas w/ the backing plate in, 3 takes w/o the plate, and what do you find? you get better milage with the plate in, with the plate i was averaging 28-29mpg, without i wa getting about 27-28 (2 drivers for each control, to even out the data). These tests were controled to roughly 65-70mph, windows open most of the way. Now, this isn't a HUGE loss, but it goes to show you not to mess with your car's aerodynamics. I'm currently running my obs w/o the plate.. but that's only because i lost it in our basement somewhere If you really don't believe me, next time i'm back at school i'll fire up the stereolyth machine and do some wind tunnel tests for yah. Fuel Filter: It filters your fuel, it doesn't matter how crappy the gas (if it hasnt' gone bad already) your filter will most likely spit out something that your engine will enjoy, and keep all the junk in the filter. I had a noticable increase in milage after i changed mine, at 160k. Fuel Injector Cleaning: Go to your local auto store, pick up some Lucas Fuel injector cleaner, dump it in your gas tank, and away you go, no need for dumping 200 bucks on something you don't know the exact process of. Alot of these things can be mental, you can think that you're driving the same... but your foot isn't... you can beat the piss out of your car, and maybe the conditions (pressure, density, humidity, etc..) are optomized for your milage? who knows. Just a quick question, what are you doing at Penn. state? Science, Engineering, Arts, Buisness, etcc.. ? Hey! that reallly works!

KYB GR2's are what alot of people around here use, i load the piss out of my impreza and that's what i'm running, back roads, highways, offroading, they get the job done. I hear they're Supposed to be 10% stiffer than OEM also. You may also want to think about changing all of the struts at once, instead of just the rears, depending on how many miles you're running etc... because the fronts will go eventually.. eh. need a set of impreza struts? lower the legacy a little? ehe.. or if you're looking to lift it a little you can throw in some outback struts.... oh yeah, i got mine off of tirerack.com, descent prices & shipping.

dump some sea foam into your pcv valve, clean out the vac system a little maybe? You could also go ahead and add another large grounding cable to the block, from your battery... i've found that my imp. shifts alot nicer now with this mod.

i switched to synth a while ago... and got a nasty leak in my valve cover gasket... switched back to good ol' 'real' oil and the leak stoped again

i bet you're right silly me, grabbing the nice rusty ones out of the junk yard :-\ sometimes if i nail the thing w/ pb blaster it will chear right up and act fine :-p

The newer subarus have very 'touchy' clutches... you'll let used to it in a few days... my girlfriend's brother has a 06 STi.... you only need to move the pedel like..... 1" to get it to go

it only started happening after i changed the rack out... i still have the old one.. needs new boots & a cleaning, i may end up throwing that in this summer if it keeps acting up :-\

can you say short throw on a d/r tranny?