heartless

nicely done, but as was mentioned... you wont get nearly as much articulation out of that suspension with the sway bar in place. kinda defeats the purpose of the lift... but to each their own.

interesting... my "quality" comment was meant more for the 1/2 drive stuff than the 3/4, lol like i said.. i have an extra long 1/2 breaker that i keep in the car (w/19mm socket) for lug nuts.. the head of that bar is FAR beefier than the standard breakers. I would not hesitate to put a nice long cheater pipe on that bad boy and have done so.. i forget exactly what we were doing... axle nut, maybe... but yeah, 5-6 foot cheater and other half basically bouncing on the end of that and it showed no signs of giving way.. the nut, however, did break free... and when it was all said and done, the cheater was bent, LOL would never attempt a cheater that long on a standard 1/2" breaker...

yeah, take the sway bar off with that extra height you will never get a "more normal" position from the sway bar with the car on the ground.

i thought i saw an 11, but was not positive so did not say anything.

If you can find one, a lower mileage '95 Ej22 is the way to go, engine wise. Non-interference, so no major damage if a timing belt lets go. Also stupid easy to work on with basic tools... but as GD said, it will be under-powered for what you are wanting to do. beyond that, best I can offer is to make sure ALL maintenance is up to date. Fluids, brakes, cooling system, and so on. I get the sentimentality of keeping the car, but in all honesty, I would fix it up for a daily driver, and get something else more suited for the offroad adventures. Can you go "offroad" with it? yes. Are they fun to do a little mild offroading with? most definitely, but as mentioned, will not be nearly as capable as the vehicles mentioned by GD.

the "quality" of the tool has a lot to do with things, too... lets not forget that. we do have some 3/4 drive stuff here, but not a lot.. one set that was purchased to do a hub on a Dodge truck.. go figure, LOL we have several 1/2 breaker bars here.. including an extra long, heavy duty one purchase from HF.. i love that one.. being female, the extra leverage is a wonderful thing, @jonathan909 does Canada use the salt or brine on the roads up there? Here in WI we get both.. depending on the situation... the spray the brine before a storm, and use salt after if things get icy. makes for some interesting times dealing with under the car stuff.

and not many have 3/4 drive at their disposal. just sayin.. @ThosL - there is a product called "Freeze Off" - not exactly cheap, but it does work more often than not.. read and follow the directions on the can carefully and you could have success. Living in Wisconsin, I know the pain of rusted fasteners.. Freeze Off has saved our butts more than once when working on the older, rusty vehicles.

i am assuming by this comment that it has a current headgasket issue? If yes, making sure that job is done right is job number 1. There is a specific gasket recommended for this job.. part number ends in 770, i think... a search should turn that up.. look for info from user General Disorder... also do the FULL timing job... belt, water pump, all idler pulleys, new oil seals behind the cam & crank pulleys.. and tensioner, if warranted. And do NOT use a Gates kit - their quality has dropped dramatically. Aisin is the best option. A search of this forum will give you lots of information on that job. not a lot of "upgrades" available for these cars in general, but there are few items... King Springs is one that comes to mind that would be ideal for you. not cheap, but well made. There are some smaller lift kits available with a bit of searching.. nothing extreme, but moderate. OEM axles are still the best available - aftermarkets have a much higher failure rate... reboot & regrease of the OEM axles will provide better longevity. I know others will have more info.. so be patient..

honestly.. sounds like someone just likes to stir the pot.. If it was an ongoing issue with new cars, then maybe i could see the idea of a CAS - but the vehicles in question are OLD! Some over 20 yrs old. My 2002 Forester, with nearly 270K miles, will be 20 yrs old next year - if the headgasket were to fail at this point, do I really have a case for a lawsuit? Short answer, No, i do not, for multiple reasons, not the least of which is age. And as others have said.. in general, not really any worse with Subaru than with other manufacturers... At least my Subaru is not going to explode if I get rear-ended... LOL

wish i could be of more help. unfortunately, the only way you are gonna really sort it out is to pull the headliner so you can get a good look at what is going on as a temporary fix, maybe a small wedge (or two) shoved in the back edge to hold the glass up?

no problem Bennie. and to be very honest, i did it as much for myself as for anyone else, lol trying to get my brain to think in metric terms a bit more... I have several 3d printers, so working in the smaller sizes is becoming old hat, but those longer ones.. yeah.. hard for me to go from millimeters to kilometers yet, or even meters, lol.

yeah, i have had very few problems out of mine.. engine wise.. and just because some don't understand the difference in km vs miles... 270k mi = nearly 435k km 470k km = about 292k miles

uh, yeah.. WELL under that figure.. my last job, I brought home about 600 every 2 weeks.

does it do it all the time? as in makes no difference if tilted up, then closed, or slid open, then closed? kinda sounds like it is not locking into the fully closed position... possibly the operating cables need to be adjusted? been a long time since i had one with a sunroof, sadly.

if it is a sohc version, should be EJ251, and those are fairly plentiful if you look and reasonably robust if taken care of. Have a 2002 my in a Forester with nearly 270k on it, still runs great (hgs done at about 85k, give or take), but the car has other issues, so is being retired..

you should really replace those headgaskets again.. i would anyway.. why go thru all that work just to have the gasket fail.. reusing one on such an important area is folly to me.

Thanks, GD! great info, as always. =)

Don't suppose you would be willing to share that trick, would you? we just recently got our first hydraulic clutch Subaru here... the 2004 Forester... last manual Sube was a 1991 Legacy, lol

stay safe, Texan, and hope that steak was delicious! and I hear ya on the stupid bursitis.. both hips tho, along with some lower back issues. I cant do long trips in one go anymore either.. and to think I used to spend 10-12 hrs behind the wheel and not give it a thought... gotta love getting older

Well said, GD! for me.. with a job this complicated, I would gladly pay someone like GD to do the job for me and know it was done right. Do I have the skill set? yeah, maybe... the tools? most likely... the time? most definitely. but, there are things about this job that I feel are worth paying someone (that is competent) to do it for me.

yeah, shop prices are going to vary dramatically depending on location. East coast, or major metropolitan area, yeah.. $2500-3500 is probably a good estimate. Rural midwest, it might be a little lower, but probably not by a lot. head gaskets are a major job.. just to pull the heads is going to take time - ie: labor.. intake has to come off, various things disconnected, moved out of the way.. then clean up of old gaskets, inspection to make sure everything is ok.. head work to make sure it is flat/not warped.. valves inspected, possibly lapped while the head is out if needed.. lots of work for the job means lots of labor and at going shop rates ($80-100/hr around here), it adds up quickly.

i have no idea on the mounts, but i would seriously change that oil pan drain plug - that thing looks nasty.. somebody used the wrong wrench on it or something..

i can verify 2002 and 2004 Foresters have the EJ251.. assuming 2003 does as well.. possibly earlier models too

totally unnecessary in an EJ22 - best plug for those is basic copper core NGK the iridium plugs are spec'ced for certain models, but they would be MUCH newer than anything with an EJ22 in it.

22mm i believe is the minimum thickness... at least that is what the FSM says for my 2002 Forester, with similar specs for a 16" wheeled 2006 Outback... the 17" wheeled version has slightly larger specs, so I would suggest checking the FSM for your vehicle per the 2002 Forester FSM... Standard value - 24mm (0.945in) Service limit - 22mm (0.866in)