edrach

Honestly, I can't be sure what they came off of anymore. Free or cheap doesn't leave much room for argument. I think one came off an RS and the other a WRX. Anyway, the front bar is 19mm and the rear is 20mm. Not quite as beefy as the 23mm bar on the link I sent you. But the really important thing is to get the rear bar replaced. That will help a lot to stiffen it up without getting too "lively" going around corners. My entire purpose was to get it to sit flat in the corners. For rallycross I don't want it too stiff since I want to allow the suspension to work and keep the wheels on the ground and not bounce around a lot.

Center diff is ~$550 plus tax from 1stsubaruparts.com (call Jason in parts at Mike Scarf Subaru..Auburn...and ask for the internet pricing 1-866-528-5282). Replacement takes an experienced mechanic about 3 hours or less (if I remember correctly). That 2000 quote is exceptionally high. I know there was one poster who bought the center diff himself and then did the job in his driveway (search for it). I chickened out when my Forester had this issue and had an experienced mechanic do mine (I can recommend him highly; drop me a PM and I'll pass along his information if you like). You might find one at the wrecking yard, but the PAP yards don't normally get cars newer than '97 (Subaru changed the center diff design in '98...all 5MT models have the same center diff from '98 to '03 I believe). I spent 3 months living with the torque bind looking for a used one and never found one and finally bit the bullet and bought it through Jason. If you're planning on keeping your Outback for a while, I'd go with the new part. My Forester had 125K on it when it failed and I hope to keep it past 200K.

I tried to clarify my earlier post on that. I agree with you about understeer and that's the first thing I tried to correct with my '97 Impreza wagon. Rallycross is my thing and understeer just frustrates me. If it will help the OP, I'd be glad to measure my front and rear swaybars since I've got a suspension that rotates when I want it to, and is fairly neutral when I don't. It's also delightful to drive on pavement with no ugly surprises. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't spend big bucks for the two bars, but bought (for cheap or free) castoffs from others who did spend the big bucks.

23mm sounds a bit too big for me, but you can't beat the price. Also, you need to check which year WRX since only the early years will fit your car. Also, front swaybar won't help the understeer much; might even make it worse. Getting rid of that 12mm rear bar will help your car a lot. I've got to clarify the last sentence. I should have said replaceing the 12mm rear bar with something stronger (18 or 19mm) will reduce the understeer significantly. Just getting rid of it will make the handling worse. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2044922

Got this in my email today. Some of the prices are very nice. http://www.rockauto.com/RSS/vehiclefeeds.php?carcode=1267747&m=wc&l=en&html=true

If you have a cable driven speedometer, the VSS is in the speedometer/odometer housing. If you don't have a cable driven speedometer (LCD display of mileage), the VSS should be a small unit on the transmission where the cable originated on the earlier models.

You really want to do this in the winter???

I read well enough; it just didn't sink in. As it was, I think yours was the only suggestion.

Good job; now you can rest for the remainder of the holiday. I think you're correct in that the tranny drainplug is a 21mm and not 22.

Wow, six pages and you still haven't gotten a suggestion on the rear swaybar! Funny how a cute pic can distract the youngsters. Anyway, if money is an object check craigslist or nasioc for an early WRX swaybar for the rear. I put one on my '97 Impreza and it works just fine. I think it's a 19mm but I can measure it to be sure. Whiteline is great and so is Rallitek, but a used WRX 'bar will work just fine until you find what you want. Endlinks can be had from the same source for cheap. Funny how the kids upgrade their WRXs and then practically give away the old pieces. As to stiffening up the ride, KYB shocks for sure. The GR2's are just fine for street use. I found a new set of AGX adjustable shocks here on the USMB for $250 a few years ago and found that I like them with the full soft setting for street and rallycross use. Also Polypropelyne bushings to replace the rubber ones will work fine (check with Sean at Rallitek for those) to reduce the roll a bit more. As for the tire gap on the wheel well. You get used to it. Here's how 14" tires look on my Impreza. I put the 15s back for street use and I'm going to go with 16s next year just to save a bit of gas.

You're correct about removing the air filter housing. I think I managed to replace the gearoil in my Impreza without doing that, but it was a pain. It's also a bit of a pain to remove the air filter housing but that's the way it goes. If you do need a dipstick, I can probably find one for you locally (we have 3 PAP yards within 40 miles of here). The real difficulty is finding a late '90s Forester which has a 5MT.

You probably still have the dipstick; it's just very difficult to see. Here's a pic of the one in my 1999 Forester: The dipstick ring is that shiny curved thing just below the blue connector and above the smaller corrogated tubing. My dipstick ring is black; I don't understand why they didn't make it yellow like the engine oil dipstick. I had to take 10 pics before I got the light just right to see it. The real trick is getting it back into the hole after you change the gear oil.

Pull a part is your friend if you have one near you. Should be the same dipstick for lots of model years as long as it's a 5MT transmission.

Good job. Luckily you got him before he started to build his nest and raise a family in there. Framingham doesn't sound too rural to me. But it doesn't take too large an opening for a mouse to get in. Word to the wise, don't leave anything that looks like food in the car overnight. Otherwise you'll have more visitors trying to set up house keeping.

You forgot to mention it rains incessantly.

I just use the 1/2" ratchet that I have; no socket needed needed for the rear diff. Transmission dip tube and filler access is on the passenger side as you said, but you have to look DOWN; it's not sticking up in the air like you would expect. I used a long necked funnel to fill the transmission last time I changed the gear oil. By the way, remove the fill plug on the diff first and then the drain plug to change the gear oil. Nothing worse than draining the diff and discovering you can't get the fill plug out!

EA82 flywheel isn't too hard to find here on the west coast. I may even have one in my "stash." Otherwise, I'm sure someone here can find one for you. You'll find that the holes in the EA82 flywheel are slightly larger. Most people just bolt it down snugly. I bought some brass tubing in 1/32" wall thickness and cut 1/2" lengths and used them as spacers to take up the small gap.

I keep reading that the code is produced by filling the tank with the motor running produces the code. Read the section on understanding P0440 codes in this endwrench article and I don't see anything that is related to filling the tank with the engine running. Thanks to OB99W for the pdf. http://www.endwrench.com/current/02SpringInsiderInfo.pdf Very specifically, it lists some conditions for generating this code and engine running while filling the tank is not one of them. "The testing of this system is only conducted once per drive cycle and only under very specific conditions: • The fuel tank must contain less than 9.6 gallons of fuel. • The fuel temperature must be less than 113°F. • Engine speed must be over 1500 RPM. • Vehicle speed over 28 MPH. • Throttle position must be mid-range. • Intake manifold vacuum must be equivalent to cruising vacuum. • 455 seconds must have elapsed since engine start."

Gas cap loose; gas cap defective; leak in any of the hoses and/or fittings around the charcoal cannister or purge solenoid; clogged charcoal cannister; faulty purge solenoid or connector. The error doesn't affect the running of the engine; it's just an annoyance in addition to indicating you're venting gasoline to the atmosphere.

They would like to establish a rallyX area and run those events but there are some hurdles they need to overcome. Also, they really need to establish their core business first before attending to the rallyX issue.

I might as well get this posted up before Turbone beats me to it. We went out to the DirtFish Rally School facility today in Snoqualmie. Great site for playing and they are moving toward being ready to open the school to students shortly (although they are already getting advance students in now). Lots of potential here and and they plan to use all of it. They are currently re-furbishing the main building of the previous Weyerhauser owners for classrooms and potential meeting halls for clubs and perhaps a joint start/finish location for TSD rally and other motorsports activities. They toured us around their garage and we got to inspect some of the cars they use for the school. Also drove around the grounds for some of the rally roads they are currently using for the school. Lots of land for expansion for that purpose. We watched the slalom exercise with some current students and two of the instructors came by and offered a few of us a ride around the slalom course. Fortunately, I had brought my helmet and was lucky enough to sit next to Forest Duplessis for a couple of runs around the shortend course. I found it doubly interesting since I had co-driven stage rallies in my youth and never had the chance to watch the driver's technique since I was too focussed on the route book, mileages, time and so forth. Today I had the opportunity to watch the driver's technique from the perspective of a learning rallycross driver. It was great fun. Thank you Forest! More information at their website: http://www.dirtfish.com/

Interesting, that thread was started by the same user. And I thought I had a short memory! However, more information can be had here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=114669&highlight=P0440 I've been plagued by the same error code, all be it with a different model Subaru, but the hints and tips are similar. I'm still coping with mine but I'll post up when I find the solution to it.

Yes. You should never run in 4WD on dry pavement. The earlier cars can't deal with that since they don't have a center differential. In snow, on dirt, or mud they work just fine.

The swap in our Brat involved modifying the transmission cross-member, modifying the shifter linkage, and using the driveshaft from the donor car (or having a custom one piece driveshaft made). Check with bratsarus1 for his kit to make this easier for you.

Yay, I'm looking forward to it. I can't believe that more people haven't signed up for this!