Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

mwills

Members
  • Posts

    36
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by mwills

  1. Did some measuring and got started with a few holes in the top layer from the trunk side. The interior stuff comes out easy enough. Noticed there's a second horizontal layer of sheet metal within the unibody rail. So, I got one hole thru that and can't find the captured nut. Not quite as easy as hoped. Time to drill out the problem bolt from below. I need a bit more coffee and time for this.

  2. I have 98 forester. I've broken and replaced a few rear sway bar brackets on each side a few times now. I was trying to replace a newly broken one yesterday and one of the captive nuts holding the bracket broke loose in the uni-body. I've read about a few fixes including drilling a hole in the floor above the nut to get a wrench on it from the top-side. Anyone have any good experience to share?

    thanks for the input 

    matt

  3. thanks forum folks for all the feedback. i haven't had the wheels off the ground yet. one thing i am noticing, is that the noise isn't just at highway speed, as i first stated. it's pretty much always there, just increases quite a bit at 45+mph. you can hear it at 25 and 30 tho too. noise builds with speed and drowns out my usual purr. luckily we are still in biking weather...

  4. so...98 forester, almost 200k miles.

     

    i'm used to a farily loud car as mine has an aftermarket header and exhaust. at interstate or highway speeds recently, i can hear some noise from the back wheels. it's fairly loud. my mind wants to make it into the sound you get from grooved pavement, but it's not that because i can hear normal tire on pavement sounds coming from the front wheels.

     

    i figure it's one of three things, but i'm not a mechanic, hence i'd appreciate some input from the forum: wheel bearings? out of alignment? rear dif?

     

    thanks for any input.

  5. checking back after a few days...thanks for all the comments. i didn't perform the clutch work. i've done some stuff, but not the clutch.

     

    anyways...mileage. car has just under 170k. clutch is brand new except for some in town driving and a trip from lincoln to albuquerque and back. so something like 2000miles on this clutch. i'll ask my wrench about the clipy things. thanks again.

     

    to update. drove about 90 miles or so yesterday with no symptoms. clutch was adjusted just prior. not sure what they did exactly...wife had the car.

     

    i'll post my progress.

  6. so, new clutch installed by my favorite mechanic.

     

    seems like it gets weird when it warms up. like after an hour of driving, not necessarily alot of shifting either.

     

    like it doesn't want to return to the nuetral position all the way.

    it feels like the clutch remains engaged but the pedal doesn't rise all the way back.

    has me worried. any ideas?

    thanks in advance.

  7. I had an ACT Streetlite (or however it's spelled) in my 98 Outback with 5mt and had it in for 30,000 miles. Made it fun but not trying to leave while stopped on a hill (which is my terrain now) or trying to crawl up steep slopes so I'm going back to my stocker. Not looking forward to the performance loss but looking forward to not stalling as much or burning my clutch so, yay. Not to mention the fact that my older friend who would borrow the car sometimes won't be roasting my clutch or complaining about not being able to leave from a stop at below 1500rpms :eek::confused:.

     

    very good to know.

  8. so...having some clutch work done soon, and i'm contemplating a lighter flywheel. i've always wanted to try one and i know it's now or never, with regard to saving the labor cost.

     

    what i've found is Exedy and ACT make street-able lightweight one-piece flywheels for my 98 Forester.

     

    i'm about 90% sure i'm going to, but now i'm wondering if there's a big difference between the two products? there's a bit of a cost difference.

     

    surely would appreciate any comments or suggestions, especially if anyone has done this and has regretted it later...thanks.

  9. so my right rear seatbelt won't release. its drawn tight. no slack. stupid thing. i checked with my favorite upholstery place and they suggested the scrap yard and they'd install it. checked my favorite local yards and came up empty. looks like i'm headed for the dealer...which is fine...but does anyone have any suggestions?? i'm thinking i'm having someone install a new assembly. any thoughts? thanks for any help.

  10. anyone have any suggestions for a replacement clutch? i had real good luck with an aftermarket clutch in my civic. it was from RPS and it was overkill but it always felt solid and didn't affect the pedal feel negatively for daily driving. i'm wondering if there is something equivalent for my 98 forester.

     

    on the otherhand my stock clutch is about at the end of it's life with over 160k.

     

    thanks in advance for any advice.

  11. Unless there is a compelling reason to change it I recommend checking all gaskets before the cat and possibly replacing the secondary o2 sensor. If the cat is fried you have to start looking at why it's fried and hopefully its not oil.

     

    I went through a huge debacle with my cat and eventually I ended up pulling the front cat pipe to find a little gasket leak. Fixed that and now p0420 free. Theory is that the exhaust leak will not let the cat operate at the required efficient levels.

     

    You may end up having to cut the cat off the downstream pipe so expect lots of fun if you have to go the replacement route.

     

     

    I have a direct bolt magnaflow on the other car for 10,000 miles and am happy with the power gains and no problems. plus it was $250 instead of $850. I've been told by many to stay away from eastern catalytic.

     

    THANKS for this info. makes sense. i have noticed a bit of an exhaust leak. and the engine code is that the device is not operating efficiently, correct?

  12. ok. so i finally got my beloved car back. 1400.00 in work. new headgaskets, new plugs. machined the heads flat. valves were checked and determined to be ok. they were adjusted. block was determined to be ok. seems to be running great since the work was done. much smoother. hit the highway last night some. hope my troubles are over for a long long time.

     

    next. new tires. new front endlinks.

     

    future. lighter flywheel. new clutch. stiffer transmission mounts.

×
×
  • Create New...