Durania

Imagine my dismay. The tophats wouldn't even turn smoothly when removed and spun. The underside had grease blown out of the inner race.

Yup. I saw a writeup on the RS board on how to wire them so they can can stay on with the high beams as well as come on independent of the headlights. I would have attempted it but people were mentioning burnt wire issues.

Update that I forgot to post from back in early March. The PO ran camber plates that caused a TON of unnecessary wear on certain suspension components. Pulling into work's parking lot one day at a slow speed, I was getting a real bad popping sound. Turns out, the spring was trying to turn causing the bound up sound. The car sat for a week or so while I gathered thoughts, purchased a set of spring compressors and tackled the job. I ordered new group-n tophats, new conical washers, new upper spring perch, and a new upper rubber seat. The tophats are really hard and have a nice Bridgestone emblem imprinted on the top. The bearings were completely shot in the old ones and would not turn smoothly. The carnage, used vs new.

Lets see some interior and engine bay pictures.

In addition. Remember a good metric ratchet set. Edit: John beat me to it.

The used Subaru market is flooded with 08 WRX's after all. When I was looking for me an STI, just about every single dealership I looked at, had an 08 WRX.

First of all, buy an 09 and not a 2008 WRX. The 08 got 224 and the 09 got 265, ball bearing turbo and some exterior upgrades. Plus the 08 looks hideous in comparison. Or buy a used STI. As for the forced induction mod, you open yourself up to a huge world of pains in the @$$ doing so to a naturally aspirated engine. Save the three grand, buy an accessport, a downpipe, up-pipe, exhaust, and a beefier rear sway bar.

That is a new one! I bet he said that an old man had the car and just drove it to the grocery store and church?

Got the car fixed today. There is a local performance car shop called European Auto Garage in Knoxville. I had lost a lot of faith in the service department at my local Subaru dealer so I figured I would give these guys a shot. Figured that the turbo 911 guys trust this place for major repairs, so can I. Good friend is also the service manager. The fix: the o-ring where the line meets the compressor was nowhere to be found. 2 hours and $120 later my AC is now back again. By the way, it didn't get out of the 40's here today.

Stopped at the dealer today and had a chance to inspect the new FB engine in person. It was installed in a new Forester and that thing had way more than enough room. Even the water pump looked like it would not be too bad of a job to change.

Random fact: Last summer when I was changing the plugs and wires on my RS. I had bought the OEM plugs but the wires would not be in till that Monday. So, saturday I decided that I can go ahead and change the plugs and do the wires on that Monday. Well, the wire breaks off on the plug leaving me in a bad spot and not having a car at the time. Well, I call the AutoZone to get some wires and had my dad pick them up for me. The wires were FHI wires with the emblem imprinted on them but in a Duralast box. Compared them to my Subaru ones and they were exactly the same. Just a thought.

Agreed. Sounds like classic slave cylinder failure.

Good job on the swap. Good gravy what a project!

Wow, I had always heard lots of good things about CCR. Condolences.

Seems like a gamble to me. I would get one here: http://www.ccrengines.com and not worry about the quality of the rebuild.

Quoted for greatness and I can relate.

Thank you very much. -Kyle

Thanks. I am an utter noob when it comes to timing belt jobs. Do the cam gears move when tension is removed? Does the motor need to be retimed? Or do I just take the old belt off and throw the new one on?

Probably why it was traded in.

Good job on the timing belt, Tom. I really want to tackle the job myself on the Outback. Don't have a good picture writeup handy, do you?

Please post lots of pictures when you get it.

I got a two year old silverstars in my Outback that I yanked them out of my RS before selling it, still doing fine.

I don't see what the problem is, both low beams burned out, you replaced them, problem solved. Are you making sure to turn your headlights off during the day so that the daytime running lights are getting lower voltage and not wearing out the bulbs as fast? What do you mean regular style bulbs? It's a pretty common bulb used in those things.

98 will have DOHC.

Sounds like you have the driveshaft in a different place. I remember having this issue on my brat when I did a u joint. I remember there being some markings to show where it needs to meet with the diff in the correct spot. My suggestion: take it loose and rotate it one spot and drive it. Use trial and error from that point.