Spiffy

the thread you mention has a lot of good info it in... basically the white canister behind the strut tower (passenger/right side in the US) gets vacuum from the manifold and uses that to actuate the vacuum solenoids behind the other strut tower... the same white canister also works the vacuum actuated vent system inside the car... I had a problem with not being able to have defrost while going uphill because this system had a leak... so if all positions of the vents in the car work while going uphill then the canister is probably fine and the problem is in the 4wd actuator or the diaphragm it connects to near the transmission... --Spiffy

drive it! or at least try... (: looks like it has the 4WD badge on the back, but as far as I know the Loyale only came in a push-button 4WD, not dual-range... I'll never own a Loyale again due to the lack of the little creature comforts (map/cargo lights, dead pedal, auto-seatbelts, etc)... seems that by that point they were trying to strip down the Loyale body style to make it unappealing so they could push the newer Legacy series... pretty ballsy putting their entire inventory on craigslist and linking it from their web site... that's likely to get them flagged off... --Spiffy

I used this Yakima box (side opening) on our '98 imp... took it to California and back (about 1500 miles) with no problems... had to move the mount holes back to get the box forward enough to open the rear hatch... used the stock mounts that came with it on the factory Subaru cross-bars... and we tried not to put anything too heavy in the very front... also makes for a nice rain visor when stopped... --Spiffy

is that an uncracked dash?! looks to be in pretty good shape... --Spiffy

that's the guide I used when I took the rear discs off my '88 turbo wagon and put them on my '82 wagon... really easy... although getting the right combination of brake lines took a few minutes... --Spiffy

the blue looks really cool, especially with more done... but you gotta get the gray bits in the center console done... how you gonna do the doors? can you use that same paint on the cloth parts? or you gonna get blue door panels to start and just do the vinyl? --Spiffy

you can post on the Subaru Stuff Wanted page asking for some... I agree that turning off caps lock would be a good suggestion... otherwise, yeah, converting the hubs to 6-lug is better, because you get more wheel options... if you want to drill extra holes in a 6-lug wheel it has to have a flat lug area, which means no cool alloys... --Spiffy

I agree... no sense in chopping off the back of wagon since that defeats the purpose of it being a wagon... but the biggest roadblock to the front end is the radiator mounting being too low... would need to relocate it, or get a shorter one... it's just not as easy as it is on a vw where everything is just bolted to the floor pan... --Spiffy

that was my first thought... --Spiffy

I'm going to lose faith in subaru if they make a non-awd vehicle... what's next, manual windows? it might as well be a toyota... are they just doing this to conserve weight in a small sports car? --Spiffy

mine did that once... bad tensioner caused the timing belt to skip a tooth... I'm sure it'll be fine... but sucks when you get stranded, which seemed a common problem with my old '88 turbo... --Spiffy

that link from I)arkZrobe is correct... I just replaced mine, twice... the threaded bezel on my button was broken, so I had to hunt for it behind the dash, but it was there... it's now poking through the hole, loose... maybe someday when I'm really bored I'll find a nut or proper bezel to put on it... --Spiffy

I found that the rear seat mounts are really strong and have enough access behind them to allow me to use the LATCH system to attach to those... it's not a loop, but with everything tightened down there's no way those clips are going to back out of where they are... this will be a lot easier than having to use the actual seat belts without the child-seat base and having to strap it in every time... still bugs me about how much the front end flops around, but others say that it's normal... --Spiffy

there are plenty of men around, but brats are getting rare... I think you know where you should put your priorities... --Spiffy

doubleu tee ef?! a stock mini van? suicidal much? --Spiffy

it's the american model of capitalism, of course they'll target it... but it's not 4wd... how many zombies could you run over before it gave up? but it'll be the last thing in my garage that's still running, and it holds the entire family... we'll be turned into a 3rd world country with our ruins and old cars everywhere... --Spiffy

good theory... after I got my impreza detailed by some horrible rinky-dink shop the stereo didn't produce any noise... came on and lit up and functioned like normal, but no sound... I was a little upset, but since I was swapping it with the forester stock unit I was willing to see what happened after disconnecting it and putting it in the forester... after the swap the next day both stereos in both cars worked fine... *shrug* and it didn't work 20 minutes earlier before the swap... --Spiffy

except that a lot of people say that will just draw the EMP pulse towards you and make you even more susceptible to it... *shrug* they say it won't be good if you're near a lot of power lines or radio towers... --Spiffy

your in-law's 2.5 RS has a center diff, which helps transfer power between the front and rear, so that bind in the tranny doesn't happen... the older 4wd subies have a direct drive, like a 4x4 truck, so that both the front and rears go the same speed no matter what, even in corners, resulting in the bind on hard pavement... you shouldn't need to force the tranny by hand, as the vacuum system should (key word) do all the work... but yeah, sounds like you got it stuck good... not sure where to go from here... it sounds like the vacuum system is doing it's job (judging by your gauge), but the tranny just might be stuck... --Spiffy

whoa, Little Rubicon looks like it would eat most subarus... need a lot of clearance there... but it all looks really fun... I totally need to get some 14" pugs... you were out there the day after my friend and his Land Rover group... --Spiffy

I've had a pushbutton manual and a pushbutton auto... both with the buttons on the gear stick, so not the full-time with center lock that's on the center console... both of them were a bit tricky sometimes to get out of 4wd... sometimes I'd have to take it out of 4wd, then back up a few feet... but they never got THAT stuck... I'm not sure where the exact mechanism is, but if you follow the vacuum lines it'll lead you there... don't you have the spare tire scissor jack? not that it's the safest... you could also drive up a curb... --Spiffy

I'm thinking it's all on the same power circuit... either way you're going to have to pull it out to check it... not sure if the changer has a fuse on the back... I have an MP3 player in mine now... might just be a lose connection though... take it out, unplug it, plug it back in, see what happens... --Spiffy

have you tried backing up? sounds silly, but as ivantruckman said, if the tires are mismatched and you torque-bind it then this might help... or getting onto some loose road (gravel/dirt) and backing up... if it's a pushbutton 4wd then there's a vacuum activated thing behind the driver's strut tower that gets a vacuum feed from the cannister behind the passenger strut tower... this then feeds the switch on the tranny... --Spiffy

that doesn't sound too terminal... east coast peeps are always fixing rust like that... a frame rail (get some U-bar) and rockers (sheet metal and angle bar) shouldn't be too tough... bed fender wells might be trickier if you want them to look stock... don't know how much luck you'll have finding an old subaru body out there with less rust... I had an '85 wagon with the same frame rail rot... I never fixed it and it took a lot of abuse... but I also am on the west coast where we don't have to get inspection stickers... (: --Spiffy

a quick google search turned up a lot of interesting discussion on the topic... most people agree that keeping a points distributor to replace electronic ignition is your best bet... although quite a few people argue whether a car will even be effected by EMP, especially when it's not powered on... but it's not a bad idea to be ready, at least in a not super-paranoid way... I mean, north korea has been trying to get our attention for a while now... and they're pretty close to me... --Spiffy