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The horn (just one) is in front of the battery. I spent $20 at the Pep Boys on one that's much louder and a lower note. It was much easier to remove the battery than it was to try to work around it. Your gas mileage is better than mine, I'm a little jealous. I asked the same question about AWD a month or so ago (http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=77660). It's full time 50/50 split between front and rear. The differentials are open differentials, so you can have wheel on one side spinning in the mud and the other side doing nothing. I guess you're alright as long as you only have one corner stuck or just a little bit of traction on all 4.

None of that beats services like EZSniper.com I've found myself in the past ready to dig deeper into my wallet than I really wanted to, so I started using the automatic sniper. I figure out what the average price of an item is, think about how much more than that I'm really willing to spend, and enter that number in the sniper. No fuss, no muss, no stress, no neglecting the dog because an auction is about to end... I'm a much happier camper, even though I pay about 1% extra for it.

So besides better throttle response, what else do the STi parts do for you? I kind of assumed more vibration and noise than standard, which is why I decided to go for stock instead of performance parts.

Yeah. Is there another option when you order from the dealer?

Jason hooked me up today and I am very excited to soon be able to drive my car without the motor vibrating it apart :-) FYI, motor mounts for my 98 Impreza L 2.2L were $55 each, which is the same as generic parts are retailing for. I am not so incredibly happy about the bill adding up to $300 by the time I was done, but that's the way it goes, I guess. I love the way Jason puts things. There were a couple of parts I needed that were a little pricey for what they were, and Jason said "Yeah, Subaru's real proud of that one I guess."

There are two round cushions on the back that are very, very expensive. Those are the ones I was talking about. Thanks so much for the link. The procedure was about what I'd planned on doing, but with a couple of refinements. The pictures help a lot.

I'm curious about whether you need to actually remove the engine to replace the mounts, or if you can just support it enough (maybe with a jack or something) to slip the mounts out and slip the new ones in. Draining the coolant and undoing and redoing all those connections doesn't sound like a lot of fun if I can avoid it. When replacing the mounts, is it necessary to also replace those round rubber baby buggy bumpers at the rear? Do they wear out enough to cause problems?

I would never argue that OEM is always higher quality. Engineering and sales simply don't work that way. The engineers make a design, and come up with a spec for each part they need to source. Then purchasers go find parts that meet spec AND that are a good deal. Managers try ensure that the parts purchased are not going to cause warranty issues or other problems. Parts are never sourced because they're the best quality. They're sourced because they're the cheapest that the manufacturer feels they can get away with. The only time I'd normally really insist on OEM is with parts unique to the car because aftermarket stuff often does not fit quite right.

A/C does in fact take away both power and gas mileage. How much it does this varies. In my 2.2L Impreza I get 22 mpg w/ the A/C on and about 29 with it off.

There are 2, one upstream and one downstream. Do you know which one you need? If you know where the sensor is, it's easy to follow the wire to the connector. If you're not buying an OEM sensor, be aware that they sell them with and without the connectors in place. You'll have to decide whether or not you want to splice the old connector onto the new wires or buy one with the connector already. All the advice on here is to use OEM for the upstream sensor and other assorted things. I've failed to see any reasoning why a different quality sensor (or plugs, or whatever) wouldn't work, so I'm not sure if there's anything to those opinions or if it's just one of those beliefs that stick on internet forums. (No offense to anyone! )

How much is excessive? I'm not sure I've ever looked at a normal one for comparison.

New news... It only vibrates when it's in gear, and I can feel it equally in the clutch AND brake pedal. :-\ Any ideas?

I swear, if I find one more problem... Now I can feel a pretty strong vibration through the clutch pedal, directly related to RPM. It's as strong as an electric massager, but only when the clutch is engaged. I also have to push the clutch pedal almost all the way to the floor to get it to disengage. Before this happened there was about an inch of travel between the floor and the engage point. 98 Impreza L 2.2L 5MT. What do you guys think it might be? Think it might be related to that thunk I get when I push the clutch in too fast?

I've got one! I'm just on the wrong coast. If you want to pay the freight, let me know. It's a '95 EJ22 with a new timing belt but something wrong on the right cam.

Sounds like it's coming from the front, and it doesn't happen when engaging the clutch, just when I disengage it abruptly.

Harbor Freight seems to have a completely wonky web design. If you go to Harborfreightusa.com you can view items, but not get prices or order directly. If you go to harborfreight.com you can. Amber fog lamps $16: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=37350 Projector beam fog lamps $40: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=37536

When I'm rough on the clutch I get a big thunk. This is particularly noticable when I step on the clutch pedal quickly in first gear. Is there something broken? Maybe a tranny mount?

Thanks for the info guys. I love how much I learn here

This is going to show how much I don't know, but... Why wouldn't you just tighten to final spec using an appropriate star pattern? Why this tightening-loosing-tightening routine? And howcome the spec isn't the same for all of the bolts? I'd think that would cause the head to warp.

My first Legacy was a '90 Sedan 2.2L that consistently got 30 mpg on the highway and 27 or 28 around town. On a highway trip to Chicago where I averaged 65 mph on the whole trip (850 miles in 13 hours, and that included rest stops, so I was flying) I got 32 mpg. Second Legacy was a '96 wagon 2.2L that would only get 26 mpg anywhere, anytime, no matter what I did. Highway, city, idling for a year and a half...

Am I the only one who thought that frameless windows were a problem waiting to happen anyway? I always thought it was a fragile, stupid design, destined for failure and expensive repair. The headlight thing is nice to have, but I can learn to turn off my own lights. There aren't many manufacturers who use this feature, so I can't see getting that upset about it and leaving Subarus for another maker who also doesn't have the feature. The design of the Tribeca and new Impreza make it obvious that Subaru is trying to plant itself firmly in the mainstream. It seems like a good strategy now that most manufacturers have some version of AWD available. If folks are going to buy a mainstream looking AWD from someone else based on styling (which is likely), Subaru's gotta play the game. I'm pretty sure that Subaru's fine with losing old customers if they gain more new ones. One thing's for certain, they only way to let Subaru know how you feel is to tell them. http://www.subaru.com/tools/contactus/index.jsp

awesome! do you have the part number for the bracket and hardware that the servo mounts on to? I'll keep my fingers crossed that someone still stocks those. I could fabricate one if I had to, I suppose.

You know, I was just talking to my brother about this last night. He just took over as manager of a shop in a major chain and he and his mechanics went nuts over this exact issue and finally found that it was a head gasket. They figured it out by going to some really expensive web-based diagnostic tool which costs hundreds a year for a subscription. He should have just asked on here :-)

Are the fans working?

Can anyone tell me what years and models have this little piece on the passenger side intake manifold? This is a little nipple that the vacuum line from the cruise control servo attaches to. Since mine came without CC, I just have a plug. Anyone know the formal name for this part? I know that Imprezas 98-01 have them, but I'm not sure about anything else. Junkyards with Soobies are in short supply around here, and I figured I'd let my fingers do the walking. So far I've found only a '93, and if I can I'd like to avoid driving all over the place to find the part.