Born_a_Brat

OK...I've got the paint code off tag by the strut tower...Now I'm trying to locate a used fender in the correct color (to avoid paying to have a new or a used one painted) and am wondering how to find a part number for a fender. With the year and model of the car, there is still some confusion out there concerning Outback vs Legacy vs Limited. If I am going to order something, or drive very far to pick it up, I'd like some way to be sure it will fit...and that it is the right color. I doubt the color code is anywhere on the fender...but perhaps the fender part number includes the color?

OK, now I know to call it an Outback Limited Sedan, and that '02 through '04 Legacy front body parts will fit. I need a driver's side front fender, and a headlight assembly. These were damaged in a wreck and the car was totaled by the insurance company before I bought it. The DMV says we have to submit to a rigorous safety inspection before it can be registered...So I am looking for an inexpensive fender which is already the correct color. I've heard I need to call a Subaru dealer with the vin number and they can look up the paint code...but I also ran across something listing "White Frost" as a color for 2003 Outback Limited Sedans. Somewhere else the color is called "White Frost Pearl". Anyone think I will be able to find a replacement left front fender in the correct color? Any suggestions on how to go about locating such a fender? Thank You.

Just purchased a 2003 4 door sedan. Has OUTBACK and LIMITED and LEGACY on the outside...and inside has heated leather seats, electric driver seat, cruise control, A/C, electric windows/door locks.....and a SPOILER ON THE BACK! I thought I knew what an Outback was...but this is not a hatchback wagon. This is not an LL Bean, I've seen those. The owner's manual was printed for generic Subaru's...and does not name the model or paint color. It has a smashed left front (driver's side) fender and headlight assembly and I want to order one off Ebay, or somewhere, but I'd like to make sure it will fit and is the correct color. The car is off white (not white) and google says there was a color in 2003 called "White Frost Pearl". Does anyone agree this is the color name? Sorry, don't have pics yet. I also need a front bumper, unless there's some trick to cleaning tire rubber off of the plastic. Maybe what I need is called a "Bumper Cover". Perhaps some of the supporting structure under the bumper is also damaged. I bet there are posts here which would be helpful. Thanks

It shifts poorly when cold and have been advised to sell, not to do a flush or pay for adjusting or rebuild. Is this a notorious problem? Would a flush and adjustment extend life? A complication is that the former owner reamed out the Catalytic Converter and this will need replacing before it will pass California Smog testing. We paid $6000 less than a year ago and it only has 185K miles on it. Any suggestions? Thank You

I have sold my 3 brats and no longer need the 5-speed sitting in my garage. It came out of a wrecked wagon with low miles on it. Hopefully someone can use it. I paid $200 and just want to break even. It's been a few years since I posted here and I cannot remember, but thinking I'm not supposed to post my phone number…hopefully you can send an email off my profile and at least tell me how best to handle this posting. Thank You.

My 99 Limited Outback has no sunroof...

We are in California, up in the foothills above Sacramento near Placerville. I agree, the 2.2 is the way to go and I am searching the internet for one. If any members in my area have any leads or can suggest someone to do the swap, I'd be most grateful. Thank you all for your support.

Where do I find a good ej22? How does one determine if it is good? I've read a lot of posts here about how simple the swap is, but the mechanic acts like he's never heard of this swap, which makes me think he's not the guy to be doing it.

She got it REALLY hot, I guess, and ran it till it wouldn't run anymore. She paid to rent a truck and trailer ($600) to bring it home, and is paying by the mile to borrow a friend's car while her's is in the shop (another $500). Today the shop called and said there is coolant in all 4 cylinders and it looks like things got too hot to risk a re-build. What to do? I assume she already owes the mechanic for tearing it down and probably owes the machine shop too, as I think he sent the heads out...at least to be looked at. This is a "limited" with leather seats. The interior is good. The outside has a few parking lot scratches and a couple of minor dents in the liftback, but no missing paint or rust anywhere. This is a California car, and the transmission (automatic) was rebuilt on the warrantee right after she bought it. Both front cv's have been replaced in the last 2 years. Another mechanic says he can put in a rebuilt short block for $2,600. I think she could sell it as is for $1000, and then get an older subie for one or two thousand and start saving up her money for something newer. All this is even more of a bummer since she overpaid for the car at a dealer 3 years ago and just finished paying it off at a high interest rate. I think she gave the dealer close to $14,000 alltogether. It has 160,000 miles on it. Of course, we are wondering what is the best option. I will be lending her the money, so I'm concerned that we make the best choice. Where do we go from here? I wish we could find a cheap beater so she could get back to work and start saving.

Thanks for all the suggestions I am going to try some serious jumping up and down on the bumper. Also thought of using a tractor bucket to push down on a piece of plywood in the bed....but it seems to need to be going forward and back at the same time it is going up and down. Potholes really do it...so perhaps i will try going back and forth slowly over the same one till i can get the noise consistently. It seems to be on the right rear. It never happens when stomping or letting off the gas....and never makes it on smooth surfaces, only on un-even surfaces.

I've had 4 Brats...all of them have had this noise...but my current Brat has it in spades. I get a loud hard bump which sounds to be coming from the right rear wheel well area. It only happens on potholes. Everything underneath looks good. This Brat has very low miles but spent a long time sitting stored. Can a shock absorber make a loud clunk? It does not make noise on paved surfaces. We jacked up the wheel and pushed down on the bed, but could get no sound. Another symptom is that it veers differently when you jerk the steering wheel....it's softer to one side than the other which makes me think one shock is dead...perhaps broken inside. Do the torsion bars in the rear suspension ever break? We thought maybe this could be the problem....but the Brat sits level, and when raised up on a rack all the wheels hang down the same distance. We have thought about just taking off the shocks to check them and to see if the noise disappears....any suggestions?

there are usually 2 fuel filters....one in back by the fuel tank, and the obvious one under the hood

Turns out the primary problem was a dead spark plug. Complications included the non-functioning vacuume advance, the fact that the valves were set to the wrong specs (advance gapped to exhaust specs and vise-versa) and old cracked plug wires. I bought this Brat cheap because the seller thought it needed a new engine or a re-build. Lucky me.

when we brought over the working disty, it came with a working cap and rotor. Gonna pull plugs and check compression.

I GOOGLEd "nutcracker" ....no success. Is there another name? do you know the manufacturer? thanks

swapped in a good working Disty....3 plugs firing steady..but #1 is randomly missing. Changed to good wire on that cylinder...still misfiring. Definately a random pattern. Will go 3-8 flashes of the timing light just fine, then miss 1 or 2 (OR 3) and then be ok for 3-8 firings. Have not pulled that plug, since all are pretty new. Realize a bad plug might do this....but what else do we look for?

I have an 82 with no cyclops light

Thank you both so much - your info is very hepful. The engine was running ok except that it was not accepting fuel at the first push of the pedal, and we started thinking "accellerator pump". But when we looked closely at the disty, we saw that the cap had no nubs therefore could not hold it's orientation perfectly. The new cap from the parts store was the same, so we looked in the 85 and started thinking too much. That's when i pulled the 82 at the JY thinking the problem was from someone putting the wrong one in. We also found that the advance diaphram was not holding vacuume, and have since found and installed a good one. we also discovered the intake and exhaust valves were adjusted opposite to correct (exhausts set to intake gaps and vice-versa) Not sure what this was doing to it, but they are now corrected.

this was a duplicate post

My 82 brat has an intermittant spark to the #1 plug and we think its some kind of problem with the pickup in the coil in the distributor. We had pulled out it's distributor (which matches the one in my 85 brat) and replaced it with one from an 82 (non-brat) from the junkyard becuse the cap was not fitting on properly and the vacuume advance wasn't working. We also saw that the plug wire configuration did not match the manual. After the new disty got in, we started having this intermittant spark issue. We also think we might have accidently dropped the "E-clip" from the vacume advance tie-down into the disty...but could not find it or get it out. We're wondering if that could be causing the problem of intermittant spark. We of course don't know if the junkyard disty is REALLY an 82, or just a transplant. The one we removed from MY 82 matches the one in my 85 exactly....so we are assuming it to be an 85. Anyone know if there's a way to tell the difference, or make a positive identification of one or the other? The caps have different hold-down nubs, and the plug wire configuration appears to be different, Both are electronic with vacuume advance devices. thanks

The syncros are failing in 3rd gear. It's a 4 speed with: 2WD/4 high/4 low. I hear there are a lot of newer Subaru vehicles whose 5 speeds will fit into my brat...but to avoid turbos because they have a different final gear ratio. I hear the 5 speed has more or less the same gearing, but with 5 gears pushed into roughly the same general ratios as a 4 speed's. I am told it is better to lengthen the drive shaft....rather than modify for a split shaft. I hear there is a detailed discussion somewhere of this entire conversion. Any comments or suggestions? I'd like to know what models in which years would have what i need. Thank You.

I just fixed a cold heater in my Brat....there was a large duct between the blower and the center consul which had sagged and shrunk, allowing the warm air to disburse rather than come through the vents. I don't understand why the car wasn't still getting warm, since theoretically the heat was escaping INTO the cab...but maybe the incoming air pressure created by driving 70 MPH was pushing cold air into the system through the vents without the fan's back pressure to keep it out....all i know is, after a 10 minute fix, the brat is now totally hot within a few minutes.