dhise

thanks for the heads up, I just ordered an axle from amazon for $50 + free shipping. Just replaced the passenger side recently, now I have a backup. -Doug

It's perplexing because every little thing under the hood can affect it. I cleaned all the sensors, electrical connections, did the tune-up stuff, replaced all the old vacuum lines including making sure the pcv hoses were tight, and finally changed the o2 sensor and after all that no more hesitation issues. It's a process of elimination I guess... -Doug

So I've been wanted to make the stereo a little better sounding in my wagon. I wasn't too keen on replacing the factory deck and give the neighborhood kids something to steal, they'd be nuts to steal a 14 year old subaru around here, but would think nothing of smashing a window out to take whats inside. Instead, I figured I'd upgrade the speakers and see how that would work out. Hit the ebay scouring for stuff and found some like new 2 way infinity's to replace the door speakers with, and best of all found a used kenwood woox subwoofer that fit very nicely under the passenger seat. With a little bottom umph that the door speakers never had, the old wagon sounds great now! very happy with my subaru radio on the cheap, Doug

Sounds like fun Tony! You'll have to let me know when you are playing close to home so I can check you guys out. I will be at Hoodstock 2007 this weekend. Our annual end of July party at Mt.Elliott and Ferry in what used to be the ghetto but is now a remarkably vacant neighborhood..... the only "loyale" driving bass player left in detroit, Doug

Loyale too, push and turn them in. It's because the parking brake uses the front brakes.

That's one heck of a trek though. I drove from detroit to jackson, mt by myself in thirty something hours with a big camper on my truck and didn't freak out until wyoming. Gotta love south dakota though, it's like the blair witch project to drive through. Hours and hours and hours of the same scenery...... congrats to Connie and Tommy, I just had my 4th anniversery on Tuesday. Got married in my backyard, blah..... -Doug

Here's some pics of mine...

I have one similar to this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SAAB-FOLDING-CUP-HOLDER_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ63691QQihZ020QQitemZ300105640747QQrdZ1 It's mounted to the door next to the arm rest and folds up out of the way when I'm not using it. Very convenient setup. -Doug

When I had my '00 legacy, I upgraded the rear sway bar to a beefier one and that made a world of difference for that car. Reduced the understeer greatly without making the rearend too loose in the winter. I also went from the re-92's tires to some Dunlop S2's(not sure, working from memory here) and there wasn't much of a difference in handling. Left everything else alone and was pretty happy with the way it could cruise around the mountains of North Carolina. -Doug

Lost my job to czechoslovakia. Luckily I was elidgable for TRA benefits. Going to school and still have 50 weeks of unemployment left. Also, my wife and I were able to get our business going before I lost my job. Unluckily, but not a problem so far, my Kuhmo tires say "Made in China" on them -Doug

Dunno about the fan... Cold start idle seems normal. Recently I replaced all the 14 year old vacuum lines under the hood and the motor really smoothed out for me. Maybe you have a vacuum leak? -Doug

oh yeah, forgot to mention that platform eventually was used for the chevette of all things.....

I used to have a 70 Opel GT and a 69 Kadette. The GT was a way cool car with a weber on it. The motor sat back a little ways compared to the kadette and that put the shifter in a really sweet spot. In fact the whole cabin of that car was laid out really well for the driver. Very fun car to drive, luckily I was never rear ended in it though! Mine was rusty to begin with and finally succumbed to MI rust heaven..... -Doug

Yeah, my Loyale usually stays at 1/4 on the guage. Maybe 1/3 when the temp is in the 90's, I have the a/c on, and I'm stuck in stop and go rush hour traffic. If it goes over that I get really nervous..... -Doug

You can try these guys out, but you still gotta do the work to bring out the shine. http://www.automotivetouchup.com/index.htm -Doug

I think bgd's posts are written in Japanese and then translated:grin:

We could give him his own forum...... -Doug

Last year I broke the ball end of the cable where it connects to the latch. I could reach up from underneath to release the hood w/o too much trouble. The cable was still intact thought, so I ended up bolting it to the latch and it's held up for a year now and it gets used often lol! -Doug

Yeah, keep in mind that he is a wagon and can probably hold more than your other two cars combined and a vehicle like that is pretty useful to have around even if he's not a daily driver. -Doug

I had a 2000 Legacy and used to live in those mountains, the roads would eat tires pretty quick. I don't know what they put in the asphalt there, but if he put alot of miles on in a year then I could see the tires wearing prematurely. -Doug

There is a way to clear stored codes, but I don't remember it so you'll have to search. I reset the ecu by disconnecting the battery and turning the headlights on for a few minutes to drain any residual charges. -Doug

If your check engine light is out, you are good to go. With just the ignition in the on position you should be back at the 7 rapid flashes. Are you plugging in any of the connectors when reading the code? You could be reading stored codes and not the current state. I don't see how the purge cannister can affect any emission testing. -Doug

pfft.. see what you gotta go through when you use a fram filter? -Doug

I had an old Opel GT that developed a rod knock. I would think if the noise was coming from the bottom end, you'd hear it loud and clear especially at idle on a cold start!...think TOD, but deeper more solid sounding... Rattling noises could be pulleys, tensioners, etc. -Doug

Dude, you have sooo easy out there. If my wagon had that little bit of work to do, I'd have a show car by now! -Doug (endorses por-15)