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I did cover my grille for a week or two. I actually had my license plate covering the driver side of the grille since when I replaced my bumper it didn't come with the license plate mount so I had to get creative. I think it'd be cool to have a vacuum solenoid and actuator hooked up to the thermo fan relay. That way I could have some sort of active louvre that opened with the thermo fan in cold temperature. Of course I'd need to 3D print a custom grille but I think it'd be a fun project.

Ok so on the ground by 2026 didn't happen - but i did finally get things to the point where the subframe and diff are now semi-permanently attached to the car. Hooray! Using the holes in the bed for access I cleaned and tacked in the subframe, using the diff and its sheet metal as a jig to get everything in evenly Once everything was pretty sturdily tacked - I pulled the jack out from under everything. So far so good! I pulled the CV axles off of the knuckle/wheel assemblies and bolted in the stock lateral links and stacked the tires on blocks to get an idea of where I want the wheels wheels to sit at rest, and this is where the next complication arises - overall things look really good, except the wheels rub on the front of the arches left to their own devices. I'll need to play with this a little more - I'll either need to do a little bodywork to extend the wheelwells about an inch or two forward, or I may also consider options to move the whole diff/subframe assembly backwards about the same amount, though then i run into other clearance problems in the tunnel. I'll need to spend some time under the car staring at it to figure out which I'd prefer to do. Currently my gut says the latter is the easiest. For now, however, this still lets me move forward somewhat with the suspension construction. the more pressing issue at this stage is that the rear track is still several inches wide at the back. I loosely bolted the rear coils in place, and that let me get an idea of how much room I have to cut and move things inboard. I can almost see the end result - II'll be able to scrap the plan of using the impreza towers and modify the stock wheel wells without too much trouble, even though I might want to reenforce them after the fact. Had I known this prior I would have just cut the tops out, but oh well. Maybe if i do another in the future I can save myself the exploratory chopping. Or hell, even if someone else does this similarly - hopefully I can save you a little trouble. Did a little measuring and this is what I came up with: Forgive my mixed units and felt tip marker sketch on my mechanics crawler (free USPS cardboard) - but here's the broad strokes: I have a little more than roughly 2" / 5cm of horizontal clearance before the coils begin contacting things they shouldn't. The stock rear lateral links measure about 41cm long bolt center to bolt center, and I'm estimating about 10cm of vertical drop from their frame mounts to the knuckle mounts. if my math is mathed correctly, that means I'll need to shorten the link about 6cm to get the wheel moved inboard the requisite 5cm. I'm going to pull the links all the way off so I can measure them on the ground to double check these measurements - as I've found some adjustable links that would appear to be able to get close to these lengths without much serious modification and if i can do that and save myself a few hours of fabrication, I'd prefer to do that. I've also gotta figure out the trailing arm mount, but that'll come after I figure out the width issue. Anyways, that's all for my new years update - until next time kids!

www.car-part.com is a good search platform.

I am looking for a standard 5 speed transmission for a 2007 Outback basic. It has a sticker that says TY757VCDBA. Mine is showing metal, noisy and is hard to shift into gear. I changed the fluid. It has new throw out bearing, master and slave. When in gear you can still move the shifter back and forth like it’s in neutral. Can I rebuild this and if so any hints on where to find the parts? Any information is appreciated thanks!

That cogged idler would cop the most pressure on it in comparison to the other two smooth idlers I reckon. If offroading it’s the lowest one in the system so it’ll cop any crap that gets in past the cam covers first.

2 cylinders will do that! The H6 mated to a manual is quite the animal - especially back when the H6 only came with auto from the factory early on. L

Only cover half the grille. That’s what I do in winter - but I do it over half the radiator behind the grille on my EA81 brumby to help it get to operating temp quicker and hold it there during our winter weather. It’s only a piece of cardboard so it’s easy to remove when needed if there’s a warm day. Sometimes I run to work with the cardboard in place, then in the arvo I need to remove it otherwise the engine runs on the hot side enough to trigger the thermo fans.

I've been digging through shocks in hopes of finding something that could work to replace the obsolete shocks on the front of our EA82 cars. If turned up a few promising options and I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than me can take a gander and either tell me I'm stupid or confirm that these shocks will work. First up, for stock or possibly lifted rigs, the front struts from a 2014 Nissan Rogue seem to be a good candidate. KYB part # 3340158. As best as I can tell, they've got a 46mm where they clamp to the knuckle which might be close enough to work. The extended length is 18.92in, compressed is 12.32, for a travel of 6.6in. Really hoping this one is a viable option. https://www.shockwarehouse.com/products/kyb-3340158-front-right-excel-g-gas-strut-nissan-rogue-awd-rogue-sport-all Next option that seems like it would work for a lowered car is a front strut for a 2000-2005 Hyundai Sonata. Monroe part # Monroe 71417. It's a 45mm strut body with an extended length of 16.75in, compressed length of 12in, and 4.75in of travel. https://www.shockwarehouse.com/products/monroe-71417-front-oespectrum-strut-hyundai-sonata-kia-magentis-optima

I've been digging through shocks in hopes of finding something that could work to replace the obsolete shocks on the front of our EA82 cars. If turned up a few promising options and I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than me can take a gander and either tell me I'm stupid or confirm that these shocks will work. First up, for stock or possibly lifted rigs, the front struts from a 2014 Nissan Rogue seem to be a good candidate. KYB part # 3340158. As best as I can tell, they've got a 46mm where they clamp to the knuckle which might be close enough to work. The extended length is 18.92in, compressed is 12.32, for a travel of 6.6in. Really hoping this one is a viable option. https://www.shockwarehouse.com/products/kyb-3340158-front-right-excel-g-gas-strut-nissan-rogue-awd-rogue-sport-all Next option that seems like it would work for a lowered car is a front strut for a 2000-2005 Hyundai Sonata. Monroe part # Monroe 71417. It's a 45mm strut body with an extended length of 16.75in, compressed length of 12in, and 4.75in of travel. https://www.shockwarehouse.com/products/monroe-71417-front-oespectrum-strut-hyundai-sonata-kia-magentis-optima

100%. It's really interesting to me that the toothed idler fails at such a higher rate than the smooth ones. The one spontaneous timing failure of an EJ25 I've experienced in about a dozen years of driving these things was that idler seizing, and the result wasn't pretty.

No argument here, just asking the question. And important to note that this is the 3 litre H6, not just another 2.5 . If you haven't driven one, then you're going to have to trust me that regardless of whether it's interference or not, this motor kicks the 2.5's @$$ in a way I didn't expect (and we've owned more than half a dozen EJ25s (AT and MT, all NA of course, no turbos) in addition to a couple of EJ22s). When it's all loaded up, towing a boat, and climbing a hill, it has the juice where the 2.5 struggled.

I thought I'd update on the coolant pressure performance. It's on the brain now that my radiator started leaking. Turns out Subaru still sells radiators for my GL. How grateful I am for that. From a cold start by the time the RPM's have fully dropped it'll be steady around 10-12 PSI. When driving it'll fluctuate anywhere between 4-12 PSI. I think I should have tapped into the thermostat rather than the heater core inlet, that way I could see if the thermostat has opened or closed. There is a correlation between RPM and pressure, however the temperature of the engine does play a factor. I'm not informed enough to say how much is head pressure and how much is the pressure buildup from heat, but it's cool to see them all interact by watching the gauges. I live in an area with lots of rolling hills and vastly different temperatures between summer and winter. I actually have to keep the revs above 3k in order to keep the engine warm enough in winter. I don't cover my grille, I've found that prolonged highway driving with it covered can cause the engine to get a bit too toasty for my liking. About 1/2 way up on the temperature gauge.

This is the one - worked a treat, fit perfectly, without having to unnecessarily dismantle stuff that's just fine where it is. I found it locally at Canadian Tire as OEM Tools 77515. It's also on amazon.com as 37308 and 26553, and god only knows where else by what other number(s). OEM Tools doesn't appear to be a "real company" - that is, they just link to their amazon store. So without an actual catalog or data sheets where I might confirm dimensions, I can only say that I think that these are all the same tool rather than, say, different versions (e.g. sizes) of the same style of tool. What-ever, it works and I like it. And I see that amazon.ca has a $45 five-piece kit in a case that includes this puller. I paid almost that at CT for this one, so it is left as an exercise to the reader what my plan is now.

We bought a 1998 Forester in 2003 with 100,000 miles on it and kept it until it had 335,000 miles on it. We sold in in August of 2025 for $500 and it was still going. Looked like hell though.

Still have the random power loss. Seems to be more frequent. Still no CEL lights. I've found if I just select N, the engine revs just fine and I drop it back to D and keep on going. Crazy

Smart Kid. Values passed down, well done Parents

Get new cam cover seals

There seems to be some piston slap or rocker arm noise. So I am planning on doing the adjustments on the valves and reseal the covers. Probably will do the timing belt at that time also. Changed out one of the axles and did an inner tie rod end and new boots on the rack. Thanks Hush

Yeah the sundials are different- the stubby shafts on a manual trans don't pull out of the front diff from the outside like the auto's.

They're a solid platform. Interference engine so I'd immediately be installing all new Subaru or Aisin timing belt, tensionser, pulleys, and water pump if it's in good enough condition to warrant that. You don't really want a 25 year old lower cogged idler - they are by far the most failure prone item on there. If minimalist is preferred: replace the timing belt and lower cogged idler - those are the two parts most likely to fail. The others don't fail often anyway and often times give you warnings the others don't. After market belts and pulleys aren't as good, I've seen the pulleys fail and the included tensioner bolts shear. While you're in there it's not a bad idea to reseal the oil pump (anaerobic sealant, one o-ring, and the crank seal) and tighten the backing plate screws - more than one are always loose.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've passed them on to my daughter. She has a big savings account and could easily buy a very young car if she valued having a decent looking car, but this one is generally super reliable, which is good enough for her. She'd rather buy a piece of land.

Next time it happens ask her to try starting it with the throttle flat to the floor. This cuts the injectors when cranking to remove a flooded situation. You might find the engine is full of fuel from stalling and just cranking it puts more fuel into the system so it won’t start.

That may be the style I need to find.

Forgive any errors here, because I'm working from memory. So I'm now unbolting the caliper in order to take the rotor off in order to get at those dust shield screws. And I think that there's an opening in the shield that will then allow me to slide it off (and not unstake the hub nut and pull the hub) - but that's the part I can't remember for sure. Regardless, that's a lot of stuff that's working just fine and doesn't need to be disturbed in the interest of simply getting a puller around that tie rod end. Not a lot of work by any means, but completely unnecessary. I just got the two pullers that Princess has, and neither fits.

I rented (for free) this tool from autozone last summer and it worked well. I replaced both the ball joints and tie rod ends, and I'm pretty sure it was the tie rod ends I was having trouble with (hammer not big enough?), so I went out and rented this as well as a pickle fork that I didn't end up using. https://www.autozone.com/p/oemtools-ball-joint-separator-57308/787834