heartless

King springs, if you can get them, will net a little bit extra lift - like a 1/2 inch or so according to their specs, but they are not cheap - over $200 a pair OE springs can be found here: http://www.parksubaruoemparts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?siteid=215943 cost is around $50 each, plus shipping.

yup, wacky fuel gauges seem to be the norm with the older cars. My 90 would work from full to 3/4, then be dead until I got down to about 1/4 tank - sounds like the opposite of your old Impreza. I usually go by the trip meter - altho it does take a bit of guess work to determine just how far you can go until you get used to it. on the 90 I could easily get about 275 miles out of a tankful (14.5 gal tank) - the furthest I ever pushed it was to about 320 miles. Only ran that car out of gas once, and that was right after I got it - didnt know if the fuel gauge worked or not at the time... the 95 fuel gauge is iffy, and with a hole in the tank, I dont put more than $20-25 in at a time...

the manual button had nothing to do with AWD or FWD operation. it allowed you to manually lock it into a lower gear and hold that gear - useless in D, only worked in 2 and 3 if I recall correctly (would have to dig out my old owners manual to verify that and no time this morning) for FWD you have to physically put a fuse in. if it is still binding, even with a fuse in, I would suspect a bad/failing Duty C.

ah - a camping rig! I dunno - the Subaru wagon is pretty versatile as it is, without major modifications...the only things I can think of to make it more of a dual purpose, on-road/off-road type vehicle tend to cost a bit of money. suspension lift would be top priority (after getting engine/tranny in tip-top form) larger wheels & tires would be next modifying front and possibly rear bumpers for better approach/departure angles on the trails roof basket for carrying things - camping gear, full size spare, extra fuel can, etc... but none of these are exactly cheap. maybe others can offer up some other ideas that would be more budget friendly...

check your owners manual for recommended viscosities in temps below the freezing point. you may be fine with the 10w30, or it may recommend something else. Here in Wisconsin it can get to -20 F for a week or two at a time, -10s and -teens are common - we change oil viscosity in the spring and fall, thicker for summer heat, thinner for winter cold.

LOL - you can have cheap, or you can have easy, but rarely both. dont really know what you are trying to achieve with this car, but i will say it again - get it running smoothly and reliably in stock form first, before you go tinkering too much. If it isnt 100% to start with, messing around with modifying things could take a small issue and make it into a huge one.

this ^ actually, line up one, and see where the other one falls - if timing is on, it should be lined up correctly - as johnceggleston said here...

very simple - take the strut assembly out of the Forester, put it in your Legacy - straight swap-over with no mods needed three nuts on the tophat, two bolts at the hub, remove the brake line clip holding the brake line in place, move it back a little and snip the bracket with a pair of bolt cutters to remove the line without disconnecting. did this on my 95 Legacy L with 98 Forester struts - the 99s should be the same thing. yours being a 95 Legacy 'Outback' however, not sure how much extra height you will gain, but I got nearly 2 inches, plus larger tire fit.

what year is the postal wagon? not much of a difference between doing the outback struts versus the Forester struts - when all is said and done they will be virtually the same. there are some that do a combo of strut from one, and spring from the other - but I have never done it myself. on my 95 Legacy L, I just used the Forester strut assembly - strut, spring & tophat - no hub changes. works great. And fitted the Forester 15" wheels with 205/65R15 tires - no rubbing or anything. In fact, got to test it out on some back woods trails today, hehe - had fun.

you must be missing something - the cam covers should come off just fine without removing the crank pulley - they are supposed to be 3 pieces just for this kind of inspection 3 bolts each hold the outer covers in place.

in all honesty - try a junkyard. doesnt really matter left or right, just needs to be in decent working order as for getting to the connector, you may need to pull the interior panel loose to get to it. I used one from a 98 Forester on my 95 Legacy - my drivers door switch was shot. the Forester unit was identical and works just fine.

yup, use a reducer to get to the 2" inlet size - the 1-7/8" pipe will fit nicely inside of that. if you want a nice rumble - not obnoxious, but definitely noticable, I can highly recommend the Cherry Bomb Turbo style (oval can) - cost was about $30 - 2" inlets, 1 end centered, 1 end offset. It can be mounted in either direction (reverse flow capable) Mounted mine with the offset inlet towards front and drivers side of car, centered outlet to back - fit the stock muffler location very well. I made a rear hanger out of some plain steel rod - 3/8" i think it was - bent to the shape of the muffler can (under side), then bends to go thru the rubber hangers on either side at the back of the car - trimmed to length so that the ends of the rod stuck thru the rubber hangers about 3/4" or so when installed. drove the car for years like this. If you want more noise - go Cherry Bomb Glasspack...

yes, it could very well be - worth checking it to make sure.

to see the changes in different tire sizes try this: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html enter your sizes in the appropriate boxes and it will show & tell you the differences. It will also tell you how much your speedo will change and which way (faster or slower)... my 95 Legacy came stock with 185/70R14s - after a forester strut lift I am running 205/65R15s with no rubbing or any other issues. could have run the stock 98 Forester size - 205/70R15 - but it was mighty close to rubbing in front on turns, so I opted to drop the sidewall just a little. on a side note, the tire size calculator said my speedo would be too slow by 5.4% (60 on speedo would actually be 63.2)- using a GPS speedometer app to check it, it is almost dead on...

new PCV is under $10 - if the problem persists, maybe try replacing it before moving on to something else.

getting a decent set of used tires would probably be much more cost effective for your needs. tires will 'dry rot' long before they wear out if not used (driven on) for extended periods. UV damage from sitting in the sun will hasten the process. there are many shops in my area that will sell decent used tires - price varies depending on condition/wear. check the tread wear & depth - make sure it is even, check tread area & sidewalls for cracking - tiny cracks in the sidewall are indicators of dry rot, as are cracks at the base of the tread lugs. another alternative if you dont want to go used would be an online tire store, such as http://www.tirerack.com/index.jsp

I grew up in Michigan, and have lived in Wisconsin for the last 22 years - I can completely sympathize with BB's93LegacyL Finding any car more than a couple years old without at least some rust is pretty much impossible without going far out of state. you do what you can to maintain what you have, but when it is -20 to -30 F for days/weeks on end, there isnt a whole lot you can do...not many of us have heated garages... and then there are the days when it is snowing and blowing so bad that it packs your car full of snow (my profile pic is of my 90 Lego's engine bay packed full - taken after I had scraped the snow off the top of the motor - was packed so full that you could see the impression of the underside of the hood in it! wish I had thought to take a pic before I started digging it out) Funny thing was - the car started and ran fine - until it started to melt that snow and got connectors wet...took 3 days to get it thawed out & dryed out enough to be able to drive it again.

make sure the caliper pins are clean and greased properly - caliper should slide back & forth easily with no pads installed. if it doesnt, you need to do a bit of work. also make sure the caliper piston is working/moving properly. had to replace the caliper on the other half's 2006 recently - one piston (dual piston caliper) was siezed up - refused to budge either way.

sounds like a plan. You may want to soak all the bolts/screws ahead of time with a good penetrating oil - mine had three screws at the cap and 2 small bolts down along the filler tube. all but one of the upper screws came out ok after soaking with PB Blaster. the one screw twisted off - had to hunt down a replacement for it - fairly common one on a Subaru tho, so it wasnt hard. make sure you keep track of where the evap/vent tubing goes - mine being older only had one tube (vent) so it was very easy.

just out of curiousity, is it also damp/humid when you are having the problem? my 95 has a similar issue when very damp out (high humidity) & engine is still "cold" - mine tends to throw a misfire code, tho. I thought I had a leak in the filler neck, but it turns out it is in the tank itself, near the filler neck connection. either way, it is drawing moisture into the system thru the leak point. Once up to full operating temp it runs fine, but that first few minutes can be rough...

my condolences. but this is precisely the reason I prefer the older, non-interference motors.

going back to another era, almost all engines were timing chain driven. Granted, it was an entirely different setup than a modern car...but those rarely had timing chain issues and when they did it was generally due to higher mileage and a stretched chain and/or worn drive gears. a modern overhead cam engine has a more complicated timing set up, but a chain will still outlast a belt, many times over.

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how long was the CEL on before you checked the codes? I would start with a new knock sensor, and possibly the O2 sensor, and see what happens, what codes come back... Knock sensor will cause the ECU to alter fuel & timing advance, which could be the cause of some of those other codes. O2 sensor will also cause driveability issues.

Door jamb tire pressures are recommendations ie: suggested pressures - not carved in stone. running slightly higher - if your tires will allow it (check max pressure on the sidewall) - will not hurt anything, and will slightly improve fuel mileage