destey

Pretty incredible. Anyone else think it wasn't quite as quick as it should be?

I also did the steering rack bushings since, which improved the handling a small bit more. I ordered it from renickmotorsports.com. The final cost for two rear control arm bushings and steering rack bushings were $125. It was the cheapest I could find anywhere, but still seemed a bit much for what you get. The poly bushing came in two halves with a metal sleeve. I reused the nut and the two backing plates. Here's what I did: First removed the retaining nut. Removed the two mounting bolts. Used a crowbar to move the control arm enough to slide the bushing/bracket off. Pressed the bushing out of the bracket. I thought I might have run into trouble when it came to removing the bushing from the control arm, but the bushing was not rusted to the shaft and slid right off. I suggest spraying some PB on the nut beforehand to ease in removal. Mine was pretty tight (though I live in salt central). There's another bushing on the front of the control arm that I did not replace. Mine fronts seemed ok, whereas the rears were definitely bad.

Second to that. The Nokias are excellent tires. Here in VT I live on a driveway that has 25% grade, nokias have been the best I've tried. Nordman bought out the 1's tire pattern. I paid 60 something mounted and balanced for the nordmans.

Yeah, it could be the bushings. I haven't done enough driving to know if the wear problem is fixed, though I suspect its corrected. I'm about to put the winter tires on, so I'll send an update when I've driven on them for a bit. Does the jeep handle ok, or is the handling delayed (understeer then oversteer)?

I replaced the bushings in the control arm and the car handles 1000x better! No more delayed steering, wandering, or understeer/oversteer that was going on. I'd forgotten how well these cars handle I recommend this upgrade to anyone that thinks their handling is <100%

I tracked the gas mileage on my '95 5spd AWD for about a year and I came up with 28-31 when driving mostly in the country (50-60, rolling hills) and 24-27 in the city. The mpg was consistent enough that I stopped bothering to check it (varied only by my driving). Having the tires +2psi from stock definitely helped a mpg or two.

I work for a power equipment company, and our OEM belts aren't always the best. So long as they pass our tests, we use 'em. I suspect Subaru operates similarly. I can't comment on Gates auto belts, but I've used Gates belts on my snowmobiles and they last much longer than OEM belts.

So my '95 legacy is sitting in the parking lot at work and I've lost the keys. Yeah I could go to the dealer and have them make a set from the VIN, but what fun would that be (too late anyway, I've already cut wires) So I have the column exposed. I bridged the top and bottom wires and the car functioned like the switch was at the ON position. So I think to myself, those are the ones. so to make it semi-permanant, I cut the wire and tape it to other one. I blow a fuse in the process because I hit the knife on the column. I replace the fuse, but now nothing happens when I touch the two wires together. Any idea of what happened when I blew the fuse? I was so close to getting it going

I just did my brakes and left the anti-squeek spacers out.... and it squeeks. Maybe they left those out?

I'm no expert, but doesn't the ECU pulse the duty C solenoid when it detects wheel slippage? So, am I right in saying the rear wheels are the things turning the rear driveshafts until the solenoid locks up (for that brief instant).

Does anyone know if the impreza aftermarket hardend steering rack bushings fit the legacies as well ('95 legacy)? Thanks,

My car ticks like crazy, runs 100% though. I had the HLA's out 10 times at least. Never got it to go away more than a few days. Its poor design... Do like i do, crank up the tunes!

What kind of modifications are we talking? Going this route interests me because of the lower insurance / sleeper car effect.

I've been pondering this for a few months now. I want fast. First I was certain I wanted an '04+ WRX. Then I checked the insurance rates (I'm 25). IMO the '02-03 WRX are ugly because of the headlights, I won't consider them. Then i thought SVX. But there aren't a lot of them around, and they only come in auto (not sure I want to convert). I like the legacy gt (w/2.5 turbo), but I'm guessing it has the same problems as the WRX -- high insurance Here's what I was thinking: Sedan Turbo Not outlandish insurance rates What do you guys think?

It seems kind of lame that subaru is charging for that information. I work for a company that produces power equipment, and we'd be laughed at if we tried charging for product fixes... That'd be like Bill Gates charging for Windows security updates. Seriously though, I saw a little blurb on that site that said something to the effect of "its not free for us to put stuff on here." Well its not free for me to fix some of the lame engineering i've run across over the years. Everything's fixed costs for them anyways. The servers are already running, bandwith already bought, html software already purchased, developers already on payroll, searching software already developed... For them to post some pdfs that already exist costs them an insignificant amount and would help their customers a lot.

Springs are stock. Never overloaded. Under suspicion: * front control arm bushings * steering rack bushings * toe in / out * rear suspension? The rear seems pretty tight, after prying with a crowbar.

So I'm guessing I have the symptoms you've listed. Question is, is this caused by a bad control arm bushing, or poor suspension adjustment? I'll probably do the rack bushings in any case. Should I do the control arm bushings? When up the lift, I pryed against the rear point with a crow bar. It moved, but how much movement is ok? I checked a couple places online and the bushings are almost $70 a piece. Is it worth getting poly bushings?

I had it up on the lift today and the tires are worn on the insides. Might this have something to do with the handling? Would it be toe or camber?

Rims are stock. I was at a boneyard yesterday, and I checked out a couple of Sube's that had only control arms (everything else in the suspension was gone). I noticed something interesting. Each one didn't freely swivel. It had a point that it wanted to be at. I could move it up and down 4-5", but tension increased as I went. Is this from a malfunctioning bushing? Is this how the control arm is supposed to work? I've never seen the bushing's internals, but I assume the bolt that goes through the control arm is surrounded by a steel cylinder, which is surrounded by the rubber bushing material, then encased in the bracket or control arm (depending on whether its the front or rear mount point). On one end, if the bolt rusts to the cylinder, the bushing will disintegrate from the twisting. At the other end the cylinder could rust to the control arm causing the same thing. Am I right here? Thx, Derek

No, not even close. What an insightful post. This seems like the most likely cause of my poor handling. I think I'll run those test. Thanks much!

I'll give lower pressure a try and see what happens. I too am running a little over, 33 for front and 31 for rear for the same reason. I have a handy dandy digital gauge from walmart, so it'll be simple to do. The poor handling had been with the car since I bought it at ~170k mi. I suspect the previous owner beat on it, as evidenced by a new(er) transmission and poor engine mounts. Thank you for the reply. I'll post my findings...

Thanks for the alignment info. I'll give it a try next time it needs aligning. I don't think it needs aligning, as i got it aligned right after I replaced the steering rack (which was definitely bad). The poor handling is still present, albeit not as bad. Its been a while since I updated the situation, so here's what I've done so far to correct the problem: *New struts. Kyb gr-2's on all four. They were so stiff at the beginning, i got a headache driving my car. Since then they've softened up a bit. *30,000 mi used Rack and pinion w/tie rods. This helped somewhat. I'll elaborate below. *Balljoints. Again, this helped a little. *Alignment. This just pointed the wheel straight. He said he only had to adjust the toe a tiny bit. *Sprayed open gear oil on the following bushings: front control arms, sway bar, rear control arms. This surprisingly did the most to improve the handling. It still feels loose, but doesn't float all over the road, and doesn't understeer/oversteer in the corners as much. I suspect the bushings are worn and are causing the suspension to hang up slightly when it should be freely going with the road. Thus causing the drifting. Here's my wish list. Please comment... Control arm bushings Sway bar bushings, front and rear Sway bar link bushings, front and rear Rack bushings Sway Bar? The rear looks small and weak. The front isn't much better. I am going to a boneyard soon, do outback bars fit my '95 legacy sdn? Anyone got good sources for the first four items? Thanks much!!

I live right down the road in Bristol, so I feel your pain. Every bolt snaps off. Any job that brings you under the car is a major undertaking. An acetylene torch and a bottle of antiseize are requirements here. Or if you're like my father -- don't touch anything unless you absolutely positively have to.

I'd think it'd be more than that. When a cylinder goes down, now not just that cylinder isn't producing power, its also along for the ride. It takes power to move the mass of the piston, piston rod, 1/4 of the valves and 1/4 of the crankshaft. Not to mention the biggest hurt of all, the compression.