jamal

Try a rally cross, or even an autox. You could probably check out specialstage or the local nasioc forum or something to find out when one would be. Down here there's a rally club that puts them on, and they post about it in the SCIC. One of these days I'll get out to one. Being a student and working and all that makes it kind of hard to do that stuff, though.

I really like my Thule racks. Yakima is pretty good too. Just go to one of their websites and put your information in, and you can price out a rack for your car. It gets pretty pricey, though. I'd say I'm in for about $600, with racks, locks, ski racks, a bike rack, and a fairing. It looks totally sweet, though.

Won't clear the brakes. well, most wheels won't. There are some rally wheels that will.

And struts.

yeah, at least try compressing it with windows movie maker, which is free. I got reasonable sizes that were watchable with it using 720x640 and 1.5Mbps (~10mb/min). Otherwise you could try virtualdubmod or quicktime or something. I'm kind of new to video editing.

Rear suspension from an 00+ does not fit.

yes. The whole assemblies bolt in directly.

I've been getting the same thing. I've also been getting an odd sqeak from what seems to be an injector, so I bought some fuel system cleaner. It seemed to help a bit after the drive I took the other day, but I won't be able to even really touch/drive my car until Thursday or Friday. I have some seafoam and new spark plugs, too, so I'll see if that helps. I suppose at the worst I'll have to buy a used injector.

Only FWD rear struts will fit, and I don't think there were any fwd outbacks.

I just started getting some odd hesitation at low idle this week so I'm going to try it out. Suppose I'll run it through this weekend and do an oil change and replace the spark plugs.

There are four or five endwrech articles that explain it pretty well, so check out that site, in the meantime I'll give a little summary: There isn't "on" or "off." The system is always splitting power front to back at a ratio between 90-10 and 50-50. As the front and rear differentials are both open, on a slippery surface you would only be able to spin one front and one rear wheels. Without another front axle there is no way for the front differential to transfer power to the ground. The center differential on Subarus is a strange device seemingly filled with magic (especially those in autos). MT uses some sort of a limited slip differential and a viscous coupling and is purely mechanical (aside from DCCD), whereas the autos use a set of computer controlled clutch packs. When you start out is that the center diff sends enough power to the rear wheels to get you moving. As the speed increases, I'm going to assume that the amount of power transferred to the rear decreases and the system gets a little less sensitive. This would make the car a little more efficient, and prevent any binding between the front and rear at higher speeds. In addition to that, you might be overheating the center diff, and it's refusing to transfer power in order to save itself. Hopefully I'm not talking out of my rump roast completely.

How about using newer Impreza sedan (02+) control arms/lateral links/axles? I think all you need to do is cut off a bit of a bushing on the control arms.

Mine came out fairly easily after I pre-lubed the bolts and bought an 18" flex handle (on a 93 from Montana). I think the other stuff I needed were a 19mm combination wrench and a deep socket. Well, and a floor jack and jack stands, but I was going to get those anyway. I switched out both front assemblies in less than an hour. The rears took a lot longer, but that was partially because I took the springs off. I rented a spring compressor at autozone, which was surprisingly easy and not scary to use. I'd say buy a can of PB blaster or something, spray the bolts every day for a few days, and then give it a try Saturday morning. If things don't go as planned you have the whole weekend to figure it out.

I did that whole deal where you wet sand and clearcoat lights. It made a noticable difference, but I'm not happy about how the clearcoat went on in a few small spots.

sensor, and yes, it could be the cause of your lower mileage. Something about how when the ecu gets a bad reading it will run richer to be safe. I've been getting a cel occasionally and should probably replace mine. subarugenuineparts.com says $92 each for the oem part. I think you can use a parts store sensor but have to splice wires. Other than that, it just threads into the exhaust (but could be a little difficult to remove/reach).

silverstars are crap because they're tinted and overdriven to produce the proper light output. They just look brighter, but don't help you see any better than, say, a new set of Xtravisions (my recommendation). Because of that they won't last as long, plus they're way overpriced. A source. You might also want to check out relays for your lights, which allow you to run a shorter circuit with bigger wires, which creates less of a voltage drop than the stock lights loop going all the way back to the steering column. danielsternlighting has a guide which explains this, although I'm not sure if his diagrams will work properly on our cars. You should also make sure they're aimed properly. Relays and xtravisions are on my list of things to do. I haven't looked into the details really closely yet, but it seems like there are relays in the fuse box for the lights. I'm thinking it would probably be possible to replace them and run better relays with bigger wires. Until then I just bought a set of huge bright driving lights:

No the 06 17" wheels go for more. I think I saw one set that was for sale for like $700, and then another guy selling his for $450, which I think is probably closer to what they'll sell for once they've been out for awhile. The wheels I got were 04s with pretty much new tires, and 05s seem to sell for slightly more. The first set I got was only $200. 16x7 GC RS wheels also sell for more.

Kuhmo seems to make inexpensive tires that are pretty good. Or you could see what kind of deals they have at costco or priceclub or whatever. When I looked into buying new tires, Kuhmo ASXs were going to run me about $450 to have mounted and balanced at a discount tire store, so I bought another used set. Look in the classifieds on Subaru forums. I got a set of 100 mile WRX wheels and tires locally for $250, which is a bit high for a set of WRX take-offs with RE92s unless they have no miles and no scratches like mine. Anything other than 05-06 STi and SVX wheels will fit. nasioc tends to have the most stuff for sale plus classifieds by region, but the site is down at the moment because of the hurricane I guess. I checked aroud a bit but didn't see a lot.

I can answer one. Yes, the CEL will give codes. The info on how to do it is on Legacy777's site, and I'm thinking he could probably answer the rest of your questions, too. They use ODB1, and a subaru select monitor, or this deal, might be of some help. 92 was the first year for the "facelift," but the mechanical aspect mostly stayed the same.

Manual LGTs exist. I've seen quite a few. And sat in one.

bam

In a corner, the front and rear wheels are turning at different speeds, which is what the center differential tries to prevent. It slips a bit to compensate for slow tight turns on dry ground, but a little bit of shudder (or wheel spin, if you try) is normal. If it's really bad and is happening on regular corners, it could be torque bind, which has been discussed pretty thouroughly on every Subaru message board if you want to seach.

You can just buy ski holders (I prefer Thule) and some adapter clamps to attach to the stock rails. Stock rails are fine for a few pairs of skis or a bike or whatever. A whole setup, with bars, feet, fit kit, rack, fairing, etc, is pretty pricey. Bars, feet, and the fit kit were about $250, plus $60 for the fairing, $120 for the 6-pr ski holders and $120 for the V2 bike rack. Locks aren't cheap either. I don't notice an increase in wind noise or a decrease in mileage unless I have the ski holders on, so I take them off when I'm not going to be skiing for awhile. Bonus picture of my sexy rack in action:

Well, not really. In a 5-speed the front diff is driven directly by the output shaft, and the back of it is attached to the viscous coupling (which is attached to the transfer gears which drive the prop shaft). So, the car is sort of FWD until there is a speed difference, at which point the VC splits power 50-50. Of course, the vc won't ever allow the car to be only fwd, which is why I said "sort of." Autos are pretty much the same way, but instead of a viscous coupling there is a set of computer controlled clutches, which can vary the transfer from 90-10 to 50-50 (or 45-55). For the 45/55 thing, the transfer gears are different sizes and the rear diff ratio is different, giving greater mechanical advantage to the rear prop shaft, and then the diff keeps the rears turning the same speed. Kind of. If you had turned a little and then put it in first, there would probably be a little bit of rotational difference between the front and rear, and then the shudder would be the slack being taken up when the center diff forces the rears to turn at the same speed (although some slippage is allowed so we can drive on dry surfaces). I guess.

it doesn't differ so much from Forester to Outback or Legacy, but from automatic transmissions to 5-speeds. Automatics have computer controlled clutch packs in the center diff that will send more power to the rear wheels when slippage is detected. Normally it's split 90-10. The transfer is very quick, though, and not really noticable. I can't tell when it does it, unlike, say the delay in GM trucks in 4x4 auto mode. Also, in an automatic, when the selector is in 1st power is split 50-50. 5-speeds have a viscous coupling, so it's sort of split 50-50 at all times. When there's a difference is speed from front to back, the fluid shears, heats up, becomes more viscous, and forces both ends to turn at the same speed. I've heard it doesn't react as quickly as the auto. The 6-speed in the STi is different, and I think the automatic WRX has a 45/55 rearward bias or something. There are also two traction/stability control things available. Something like VTD or VDC or VTC. Anyway, one of them will brake individual wheels to keep traction, the other will brake individual wheels and vary the front/rear torque split. IIRC. The Subaru Global website has a bunch of really cool stuff. Like this. Also check out endwrench. They have cool technical articles. Okay my bad partially not right