porcupine73

Nice. Isn't it great to have a new member to the family? With soobs it doesn't happen to often because they just keep going and going.

That looks pretty good and an easy to build project. The vacuum bleed might be easier because you don't have to remove the master cylinder cap each time you need to top off the reservoir.

This was my experience

Not sure about the bearings and brushes, but there was a guy selling the diodes/rectifiers on eBay some time back. They looked like this

It might work ok, but you'd have to check a few things. Some of those years had different part # o2 sensors for cali spec vs non cali spec. If it does, then the ECU programming may be slightly different as well to handle the different cat. Stay away from cheap cats, they have less catalyst (which is expensive such as palladium, platinum, rhodium, etc) and that's why they're cheap.

I use a homemade vacuum bleeder and it works great. It makes it quite easy for one person to bleed the brakes. I also used it on one of my motorcycles which specifically said use of a vacuum bleeder was required.

Yes alldatadiy is what I've been using. I find it very convenient as you can search and print what you need. Then you can through out the greasy printouts when you're done. I also bought the hard copy paper genuine manuals off eBay but I hardly ever use them because it takes longer to find things and I feel really bad getting the pricey books all greased up. You can use Haynes/Chilton etc and I have tried those for Subaru, but I find they are much too general. Also there are just downright errors in those books in some places. Sometimes they can be useful for comparison, i.e. they have a neat tip on how to do something without a fancy special tool.

Not sure if anyone posted it already but here's a diagram:

If you want to install one, I would go with the genuine Subaru thermostat. If you're running in hot temps at high loads in the buggy then you might as well leave it out for less restriction as under those conditions it would probably generate enough heat that the thermostat would simply be fully open all the time anyway. In those conditions a person might run just distilled or RO/deionized water with water wetter instead of any glycol as well.

You can also check Joe's http://www.cars101.com site. He has the rotor sizes for most years and models along with just about every other spec.

It's a little more work when swapping tires between winter and summer, but a person could also swap back to the original rotors, calipers, pads, etc., in the summer along with the smaller size wheels. When running larger tires it does reduce the mechanical advantage of the brakes so an upgrade to larger rotors can help. I know on my '96 Legacy brighton with the single pot fronts the brakes are barely adequate with the larger Outback size tires on there. It will stop ok but you are really standing on the pedal if you have to stop quick. I'm planning such a swap on that one.

Found some more pics

10mm is the size. On some models one of the bolts is really close to a cross member and a flex socket or flexible ratcheting wrench can be helpful on that one.

Generally matching rotors, calipers, caliper brackets, and pads are needed to do this kind of swap. Sometimes you can get good deals on the whole deal when someone upgrades their brakes and sells all there old components. Sometimes people do this on WRX's etc so you can sometimes find all those components as a set. Shipping is kind of a killer because of the weight involved.

Yes I eliminated the junction box too because the lines going to it were rusty. I used a cutoff tool like a dremel and cut the lines under the seat. Then I put double flare fittings on them and flared the ends. Then I put couplers in there. Then I did the same thing with my new brake lines and attached them to the couplers, all right under the rear seat. I'm guessing the couplers and such are all readily available at the parts stores (I got all my supplies from the place that sells cunifer). You can use any thread you want for the couplers; the connection to the caplier hoses has to be M10x1.0 though. I have a picture of the completed work under the seat if I can find it. I had enough room to work to flare the fittings and such right under the seat. I was using a double flare tool by KD Tools that I got from MSC Industrial.

Two lines do go under the rear seat, one for the rear left brake and one for the rear right. Then they penetrate the floor into a junction block and then go who knows where in the routing to get to the calipers/cylinders. I hacked them off under the seat and spliced in there and just routed my new lines over the tank or wherever it was convenient and secured them with stainless safety wire. I have some pics I took of the job here: http://www.porcupine73.com/pics/brakes/leak96/

They're probably saying that because the Subaru service procedure does not say to replace any of the pullies. But yes it is prudent to at least check them over. The geared/toothed one and the lower smooth idler seem to be the ones that fail.

That's true. I think that type of oil cooler/warmer is great if the vehicle is being used for a lot of short trips to help the engine oil get up to around 180F faster to avoid condensation build up.

Hi sorry to hear about that. Yes that can make quite the mess! A full fill on those automatics is around 9.8 quarts I believe. So a case of 12 qts should do it. They just use Dexron II/III type ATF, which you won't specifically find anymore since it isn't licensed by GM, but there are alternatives out there. I personally wouldn't use Dexron VI but some people do. Also I'd make sure it has that Subaru ATF filter mod installed and also I'd use a flush kit on the in tank cooler in case there are shreddings partially blocking it at all. I was doing front diff gear oil yesterday and I had put foil over the exhaust below the drain plug to make sure to get none on it so I woudln't have to smell that for a few days while it burns off. So all was going well. Then I was using a hand pump to pump the new gear oil in. And wouldn't you know it, the dang hose popped out of the filler hole and I was pumping the gear oil all over the front cat. Great.

I had this happen too and had to replace the rear line sections on '96 Legacy. They were completely rotted. I lifted the rear seat and cut the lines under the seat right where they go through the floor. Then I spliced in there and ran new brake line back to the wheels. I just routed the line wherever I could and where I could secure it. I used cunifer line; it was very easy to work with, though maybe a bit controversial (some people don't like it). The Subaru brake fittings are double flare, M10x1.0. KD Tools has a nice double flare tool; I got it from Grainger. Spliced in here under the rear seat

I don't know if it will help, but a product I really like is Schaeffer's #132 Moly E.P.

Ah ok maybe part of a towing package...hm some research on cars101.com might show it.

The filter wrenches are definitely worth it. The best one in my opinion if you have the space to work it and have an oil filter with a fluted end is the cap wrench that fits over the filter. With a breaker bar on that thing the filter will succumb to your advances. Harbor freight has a four set of aluminum ones on sale sometimes for as low as $4. Second best if you can't get the cap wrench on is a chain wrench like the vise grip kind. It will crush the filter and may even rip it a little but it works.

Up through around '96 they had the HLA's, then they went to solid lifters. The HLA's are nice because they never need valve clearance adjustment, but sometimes the HLA's get noisy if they get to the point where they can't hold prime. Subaru switched for fuel economy reasons - the solid lifters are a little more efficient than the HLA's.

Hm not sure, actually I didn't know they came with them. I know the H6's have that setup. Must be in the Forester they saw the need to buffer the oil temp against the coolant temp.