destey

I had the same rear upper fender rust as you do. I did this: 1. Cut out rusted sheetmetal 2. used rust converter all around the inside and outside of the sheet metal 3. filled the inside with expanding insulation 4. cut / trimmed the insulation with a slight recess to the sheet metal surface 5. filled it in with bondo 6. this is where I am now So next is to get the surface perfect, with the help of an aluminum ruler and a sanding block. I've got plans to spray on acrylic enamel through a displosable aerosol sprayer. Never done this before, though my father has (didn't look all that good though).

So these are just fuel tanks that reside in the trunk? Does my regular fuel pump work in that type of setup? Thx for the replies guys...

Anyone had sucess using JB weld? Reason I ask is I've got a few tubes sitting around waiting to be used, versus having to order the POR-15 stuff

That's definitely the crux, pulling the tank. All the bolts on the exhaust are rusted solid, the driveshaft bolts are frozen, the rear tranmission crossmember bolts look horrible as well, and so on. The same salt that ate the seam on the tank, ate the rest of the undercarrige too. In other words, pulling it aint gonna happen. So I'm left with sealing the tank from the inside, or sealing it from the outside.

Hello all, I got a doozy here. My tank leaks on the drivers side at the front right along the seam. Given the rust prevelent in the rear of the car and the scope of the repair, I'm not sure its worth swapping tanks. Does it work to put a bunch of tank repair goop all around the outside of the seam? What about reaching in through the sending unit hole and sealing it from the inside? -- Bummed in VT

I just recorded 31.3 and 32.1 mpg on the last two tank fillups on my '95 Legacy 5MT. The conditions are fairly ideal, as most of my driving is done 50-60 in slightly rolling hills (in VT). I was getting 24-27mpg with 80% city driving before I moved two months ago. With the rising cost of fuel, I'm happy with the increases I've seen (offset by the increased miles I put on, however).

I can tell the replacement steering rack is much tighter than the original one, but there is still the poor handling issue. The easiest way to explain it is this; Holding the wheel straight, the car gets pulled to the left or the right, depending on the surface of the road. My parents 2001 Legacy, and my old '95 do the same thing, but to a much lesser degree. There is some freeplay in the ball joints, shown by the pry-bar test. Is this handling issue due only to the balljoints? Or could it involve the control arm bushings too?

I too would like this information. IMHO, engines are systems, and systems can always be optimized. I'm thinking engine mods could be broken into these categories - Intake flow improvement + forced air - Exhaust scavenging improvement [how does this differ from two strokes, if its even signifcant?] - Ignition timing - Fuel delivery / amount - Intake/exhaust port timing - Cylinder/combustion chamber enhancements I know theres a fair number of options for the wrx engine, but what about the ej22s?

Just replaced a steering rack on a '95 Legacy w/170k because of poor handling. Looking at the old removed rack, the tie rods, both inner and outer, were fine while the pinion and rack gears were worn. Tightening the lash bolt removed half the slop. I figure the rack takes much of the abuse because of the suspension design and high turning ratio. The replacement rack had 36k at installation. I've noticed much tighter steering since the new rack. The car still has slop at interstate speeds, which i think will solved once I put in new ball joints. The old ones failed the pry-bar test.

I've got two '95 Legacy sedans. Rear wheel bearings are somewhat prone to failure. I replaced a steering rack after 174k do to massive slop (previous owners must have beat on it). The rack on the other car is not perfect, but not worth my time to replace (130k miles). I'd do the pry test on the ball joints. The more there's movement, the more they're worn. Regular oil changes are ideal. The tick of death can result from irregular intervals.

HLA tick can sound like long fingernails taping on school table (not the cheap newer ones, but the old metal ones). Try locating the tick with a garden hose with one end on your ear and the other moving around the valve cover. The HLAs will be pushed into the rocker arms from the piston side (as opposed to the valve cover side). You'll see the nipple of the HLA, as I like to call it, protruding out of the rocker arm. Most of the HLA is inside the arm. How I fixed mine was to do this: Take out the 8 bolts that hold on the rocker assembly. The assy might stick, hit it with something softer to free it up. Take it out and examine the HLAs. If you have a depth gauge, check each one to see if any are low (you might be able to do it visually). I've had a couple that were stuck 3/4 of the way down, and others that would tick only .5 mm collapsed. Now might not be a bad time to drain the oil out of each one (checking for crud) and feeling for pusher smoothness. Though I've had smooth ones tick. Bleed the HLAs until no air appears, and fill some oil into the rocker arm before insertion. I just got done fixing this exact thing, so its fresh in my head if you have any questions.

This might be whacked, well, definitely whacked, but it works for me. I installed gr-2 struts all around and found the ride to be pretty stiff for my liking. It didn't help that the pillsbury doughboy owned the car before me. Or that the seats in this '95 were not good to begin with. Needless to say, seat support wires were stretched and the cusioning all but gone. Riding in the car made me feel like I had just gone 10 rounds with Rocky. I seriously think I was getting very minor concussions riding in the car. What'd I use? An air envelope (used for package shipping), two plastic liquor bottles and the yellow pages. You can probably picture the monster I created. Taped the two liquor bottles together, and taped the air envelope on top of that. Then shoved them under the seat, positioned where my rump roast lands. And finally pushed in the yellow pages to create the proper height. I was worried the air envelop would pop, especially in the cold we get in VT (I know, vt winters aren't nothing to you eskimoes), but it stayed intact, even bouncing up and down on it (now I know how girls feel). In short, the headaches have ceased. My woman won't ride in my car because she get the same headache I got. She wants me to build her one too. Wish i had a camera so you guys could see the freak I created. I'm sure the mental pictures are wild enough.

As a last ditch effort, I did this. Removed two random mizpah HLAs from about the area I heard the tick coming from, and replaced them with the old ones. Tick is 85% gone. The only tick sounds like its coming from the other side, and is probably just one. My reasoning tells me mizpah sent me 3 junk HLAs. I swapped out one set of partial failures for another set of partial failures. What gets me is the faulty mizpah lifters show no signs of problems outside of the rocker assy. I doubt I bled them twice improperly. I read a post here once that alluded to washers or orings that raised the whole HLA up, allowing it to have more usable range. Anyone know of these?

I've got a 1995 Legacy SDN. I've read a lot of TOD threads and tried several attacks. Its getting the best of me. Here's what I've tried, in chron. order. Each step I reinstalled rocker assembly and drove for a week (except seafoam, only drove 100 miles for both). * Seafoam * MMO * Seafoam again * Remove HLAs, purged of oil, filled and soaked in seafoam, bled air and replaced * The latter once more * Confirmed oil passages in each rocker arm are not blocked * replaced every HLA with a mizpah rebuilt. * removed HLAs, purged oil, checked for smoothness, bled of air and reinstalled. * installed oil gauge, oil pressure=80 cold, 25 warm idle, 60psi at moderate rpm (can't remember exactly) I haven't seen any evidence of oil aeration, on the dipstick, oil changes, or in the valve cover when removed. I tried locating the tick with a short garden hose, but had a hard time telling exactly where it was coming from. Every time I have the valve cover off, I wiggle each rocker arm and they're always tight. While driving around, the tick only ceased for 5 minutes the entire ordeal. Once a week the tick seems to lessen for a few minutes, then comes right back to full strength (maybe a lifter or two frees up for a min.). Anyone have any ideas that I can try? If I understand correctly, the oil flows through the block to the forward part of the rocker shaft, then through the shaft to disperse through holes to each arm. Then travels through a passage to the base of the HLA recepticle. I'm really at a loss to see where my engines failing. The tick seems just as bad as when I started. Thanks all, Derek

That's good advice gg. I also had a rear bearing go. Sounded like a rumble that got progressively louder wi th speed.

I too suffer from the TOD. I don't see any bubbles on the dipstick on mine. Because I don't, does that mean oil aeration isn't a problem? I've taken the rocker assemblies out 4 times already. All the HLA's were replaced with rebuilts from Mizpah, so i know that isn't the source. The oil passages in the rocker arms are clear (blew through them). What does that leave? I've heard about aeration from the oil suction tube and bad oil pumps (low pres) cause the TOD. But if I don't see aerated oil on the dipstick, doesn't this rule it out? Still could be a bad oil pump I guess. The tick seems to come from the rockers closest to the firewall. Is this where oil pressure is the lowest (ie are the other cylinders fed better). thanks for the help guys, Derek

I'm sitting here thinking about suspensions, and I have a couple of questions. I'd like to lift my legacy, but not stiffen up the suspension (already stiff to my likening with gr-2's). 1. What percentage of travel is extension slowing rather than compression of the strut in everyday bumps on the road? 2. How far down from fully extended is the suspension at, when a Legacy is just sitting there (stock parts). If the answer to 2 is 75% up, and the answer to 1 is low, couldn't I get away with lifting my legacy by just putting spacers in somewhere (or multiple places), thus not stiffening the ride? Or am I off base here?

Could be that, tie rods (outer or inner), worn rack bushings, or the rack assembly. If its determined to be the rack, theres adjustment for lash under the pinion gear. Adjusting involves loosening a lock nut, then bottoming out the center screw and backing it off a specified amount. The FSM has some tests for the rack, but they involve removing it and having some test equipment. Better off to find a low mileage rack at a junkyard.

The rack bushings on mine look good with no movement. Do you hear a clicking / knocking noise when you turn the wheel back and forth quickly with the car on the ground? I do. Looks liks subaru has a TSB out about this problem, about August 2001 . Anyone have the text of it? What about reman racks? Do they just replace seals or do they put in new pinion and rack gears?

I was thinking the same thing, except that worn pinion/rack gears were the culprit. The bear hug test yielded no issues, the steering wheel turned accordingly. About the understeer/oversteer. Say I enter a constant corner (same degree turn throughout), I'll turn the wheel so far, the car will turn, but immediately drift outward towards the yellow lines, forcing me to compensate with more turn. Now that I've leveled out (but only for a split second), the car then steers too much and I'm closing in on the white line. This struggle cycles throughout the corner. My guess (I haven't gotten under the car to check the suggestions since I first posted) is that this part of my steering problem is due to worn sway bar bushings (and whatever else is wrong exacerbates the problem). Time to go outside and get up and personal with my steering system. I'll keep everyone updated. thanks again for the assistance everyone

Thanks guys for all the replies. nipper/frag: Hadn't considered the two u-joints on the column, I'll check that tomorrow. I probably used the wrong term with the struts. They seem to cushion down and up ok. There doesn't sound like a leak. grossgary: Steering does feel sloppy, I'll elaborate. The steering slop and wandering seem to get worse at higher speeds (inertia). The more abrupt the turn, the longer the delay until the car is turning at a constant rate (if that makes sense). I see the brackets and bushing in the haynes man. I have, I'll scoot under the car tomorrow and have someone turn the wheel. blitz: The swaybar bushing do look a little oval shaped, which is definitely doing something. I have a feeling something else is also going on too Handtool: I have a feeling our cars have the same problem. I have to decide whether the shocks in mine are worth replacing. I'm definitely going to put in new rears, but fronts would be an extra $120 (would i really see a difference by switching to gr-2s?). I think its likely the rack. Perhaps subaru used poorer rack in our generation legacys. I think a reman. rack would be little improvement. Buy new, and maybe the same rack brand that went bad arrives. Anyone know who made the '95 racks? I see A1 Cardone, Maval, and Ac Delco all make racks that fit this legacy. I'd like to stay away from the brand thats currently on there.

I got a '95 Legacy L AWD with 177K and it doesn't handle so great. I had a '95 Legacy L auto when it had only 30k and the car went exactly where you pointed it. This car does not do that. I drive a newly paved interstate each day, and if you point the car straight, it will drive straight... for a moment. Then, keeping the wheel still straight, it veers to the left. Or it'll veer to the right. Within less than one second i'd be off the shoulder if i don't correct. I also get massive understeer/oversteer problems in corners. Now, for what I've checked. - Front shocks have zero bounce. - Right rear has slight bouce, left has none. - Tire pressure 32 front / 30 rear (Bridgestone potenza 1 yr old, no wear). - Ball joints have no movement when tires are shook, or when pried w/prybar - No slop felt from tie rod end at steering knuckle. - * Some kind of slop or knock felt inside the bellows/boots - * Knocking sound from unknown source when steering wheel is move back and forth. Seems like the rack, doesn't it? My questions to all you experts... -What is between the tie rod end and the geared rack cylinder, that resides inside the bellows? The problem is either there, or the rack gears / pinion gears are worn down. -Are all racks the same from 90-99? -I bet remanufact. racks are worn just like mine (they prolly replace just seals). Where can i get new racks cheap? Or low,low,low mileage used racks..? -Everything is rusty under the hood, especially the hydraulic lines going into the rack. Am I doomed?

For $85 I bought an interface from multiplex engineering, that allows me to use the free software explained below. Freediag is a open source linux obdII software. It allows you to connect your computer to the obdII port through your rs232c/db9 serial port. All you need is an interface to convert to computers voltage and timing (I sound like a saleman, don't I?). With the software, you can:</p> read trouble codes read freeze frame data rpm engine load coolant temp oxygen intake in grams/lbs manifold pressure shortterm/longterm fuel trim oxygen sensor voltages Be aware that this software doesn't work for 1995 cars with manual transmissions (the ecu isn't fully obdII).

If I remember correctly, the center differential is a viscous coupling. Meaning the rear set of wheels are just along for the ride unless theres a significant difference in RPM between the input and output shafts. Differentials explained

This is right on. Snowmobiling taught me never to come to a stop while on level or uphill ground. If you have to stop, point downhill. The main problem isn't so much traction, its bottoming out on the snow (which pushes up on the body causing traction loss). These cars do amazing things though. I've gone up logging roads with ease that Chevy 2500's could hardly make. My suggestion is to find some class IV roads (means unplowed in our state) and go wild.