Skid542

First off, my appologizes if this has been beaten to death. I did some searching and haven't found a similar senario to what I am experiencing. On my 96' OBW, 5spd, I am occasionally getting a P0106 code being thrown but only on occasion. The trend I have noticed is this - I am driving for a couple of hours on a long road trip, pull over for gas, fill up, hit the road again (highway 55-70 mph depending as I've been driving in MT) and after about 5-10 minutes the code comes up. No issues the car running, i.e. no sudden missing, stumbling, etc. This has happened several times to me. So I just keep on cruising with the cruise control set and reach into my glove compartment and pull out my reader. I pull the code to make sure it's nothing critical, and get P0106 everytime. Continueing to cruise at speed I go ahead and clear the code. It stays gone until I get gas again or I get home. It doesn't happen everytime but isfairly consistent. On rare occasion I have an issue where it throws it running around town. Normally I wouldn't really sweet it much as it hasn't stopped the car. But my folks are coming out in a few weeks to visit and will be borrowing the OBW for a road trip from Northern Idaho to Glacier Natl. Park. I don't want this to happen to them and freak them out, or worse, have it take a real crap and leave them stranded. They have offered to pay for any new sensors it may need as a 'rental' fee. I haven't done much, any, diagnostics on the system as I've been busy working on my 93' Legacy turbo. So before I dig into everything or start buying sensors, I thought I'd ask the experts over here what their opinions were on the situation. FWIW, most of the time it was doing this to me I was in a high altitude enviroment, 4000' ASL though around town I'm around 2200' ASL. Any insight you guys can give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Lee

I highly suggest Avid TRZ's. They're not too pricey. Super quiet on the road and at highway speeds. Pretty decent grip on the dry, seem to do great in the rain, and handle the snow pretty well. I'll go as far to say that they're the best all-season I've run. My two cents on the matter.

I'm not sure I completely understand your question due to my lack of familarity with a lot of the new stuff :-/. Are you wanting to cut up the side rails? Have the cross rails cantilevered?

My 96' has solid lifters, and single port exhaust.

Manifold... intake or exhaust? Pressuming exhaust.

MJM, I totally feel you. ABS on slush/snow can be very aggrivating and definately causes longer braking distances. The problem, as I see it, is that if only wheel locks and happens to be the one with the sensor then the ABS kicks in and reduces the braking on the tires that are still gripping fine. I find stopping at stoplight/signs terrify sometimes since it's that last little tiny bit where a little lockage isn't a problem versus letting them roll another 15 foot. On asphault ABS is fine with me since I don't want to flatspot a tire but that's not going to happen in the slush/snow. Having had two previous non ABS cars, one being a 93' Legacy, they all stopped before my 96' OBW. I've often wondered the same question you're asking and keep us posted on what you do and your results.

There is also some small differences in the suspension in that the 90-91 had tapered rear springs and the 92-94 don't. *I think that's how it went, though I do know there was a difference.

Have you checked your CV's and wheel bearings?

I have no desire to get into the merits of street racing, track racing, riceness, pimpness, etc. but I do feel that some 'hard' numbers should be somewhere in this thread. Assuming the wing has a chord of 7 inches and a span of 4 feet and an airfoil that is operating at a CL of 1 (perfectly reasonable for 'general public', once you start getting into the real racing stuff they use high lift foils with CL's approaching 1.5-1.8), and assuming standard sea level conditions. 45 mph - 12 lb 60 mph - 21.5 lb 70 mph - 29 lb 80 mph - 38 lb 90 mph - 48 lb 100 mph - 60 lb 120 mph - 86 lb 140 mph - 116 lb 250 mph - 370 lb Again this is assuming a CL of 1.0 and I could easily see the wing on the STi, EVO, Porsche, etc. operating at 1.2. The drag penalty is going to vary fairly significantly between wings due to inferference effects at the ends, the flow quality, aspect ratio, etc. but at 80 mph for the pressumed wing above (assuming minimal interference) it'll be around 2-3 lb. For those wondering, I'm 3 weeks away from graduating with an aerospace engineering degree and I spent last year as the aerodynamicist of a very successful human powered airplane design team and have also focused my schooling on aerodynamics, so these numbers do have merit.

FWIW, my 96' Outback with a 2.2L and a 5sp Manual has the 4.11 gearing, definitatively.

So yesterday I finally broke down and spent the day working on trying to fix the bad bearing sound I've been hearing in my drivetrain/clutch. Replaced the TO, the old one had just a tad play in but not much. I also replaced my clutch since the one in there had radial play in the plastic piece that holds the female splined 'socket?'. The rest of the clutch was in good condition though. The pressure plate was also in pretty good condition with even wear on the fingers and none that were broken/cracked/bent. There was some discoloration, looked to be due to heat, on the clutch disc surface so I went ahead and swapped the pressure plate too. When I had the clutch off I checked the pinion bearing in the crank just to be sure and it felt just fine, nice and snug. However, the input shaft of the tranny had between 1/32 - 1/16" of radial play. It'd wiggle pretty easy by shaking it with your fingers. But since there wasn't anything I could do about that I put everything back together. Once I got everything hooked back up I started the car and sure enough, the sound was still there. Slightly less loud though only very slightly. I figure having the other clutch in there with the solid center piece is helping hold it better but it's definately on it's way out . How long have others ran their's in this condition? What broke first? Thanks.

Your final drive ratio is 4.11, I know some of the RS's use this ratio but I don't know what year and if the NA's are the same. But there are definately options out there, sorry I'm not more help.

Out of those whole dang 5 page long thread that has wasted too much of my time that I'll never get back, the last two posts are perhaps the most relavent. Jesus Christ people, a lifestyle is just that, a lifestyle. And a good car is just that, a good car. Having either or both is a choice that is an individual decision and you're worried about the ones others are making? Yes, I'm straight, but it's all too often overlooked by others and I feel should be re-instated - gays and lesbians are humans too.

Cool, thanks Nipper.

I have a quick/silly question. Where do I stick my thin tiny screw driver to pop out the foglight switch that is mounted in the dash? I pressume it pops outwards with just a little slack in the wires? I'm sure it's easy but I don't want to break something accidently and surely someone else has taken this guy out before. Thanks a ton.