Reveeen

I kinda "reflected" on this very thing today. I'm lifting/rebuilding my $60 '92 Loyale, out at the crack of dawn grinding and welding (trying to catch the cool of the day), there are some choice words, and some serious talking to one's self going on (how else is a fella going to get the answers he likes?). My neighbor drops in on his way to work, seeing the completed lift on the one side he comments "where do you buy the stuff to do that", buy? I say, you "make" it. The skills to do this type of work are rapidly disappearing, you don't see them on TV (unless you count a couple of "drama queens" assembling motorcycles out of parts as "skilled"), parents don't teach these things to their kids (I'm as guilty as the next, 2 doctors, 1 engineer, 1 army guy, in my family). We are becoming a nation of "desk operating do nothings", who, for the most part, buy their toys. It becomes a "faith thing", you do it because you can, and because you like doing it, sure I can buy, but I choose not to. Too bad there is no one to pass this stuff on to.

I'm sure, with enough time, effort, and money, you can stuff any Subaru engine/transmission combo in there, but wish to point out that the farther away you get from "stock", the more reliability suffers, not to mention economy. Me, I'm still sorting out my chassis, once I get the chassis where I want it, only then will I *think* about re-power.

Probably a little shy of width between the frame rails. Not sure a 6 is a good idea (heavy as in "boat anchor"), maybe a "7" based engine, no trouble snagging 300HP out of a Saab (probably a bolt-in, though I'm not sure). Rover alumnium V-8 (Buick 215)? Twin cam Lotus (200-250HP without trouble)? Mazda RX7? I stuck a Buick V-6 in an MG once.

can an inner tie rod be bad enough to cause alignment issues without making any noise? A "inner tie rod" on a car with rack and pinion steering is not what you would *think* of as a conventional tie rod end. What you are looking at is a kind of ball in socket arrangement, the socket screwing to the end of the rack, and the ball with attatched shaft hooking up with a conventional outer tie rod end. With "play" in this socket assembly you have no control of a toe-in/toe-out situation, thus burning the tires off of your car, and making alignment imposable). Usually on a "loaded" suspension any play here is noiseless. What you would do is jack up your front wheels, one at a time, and using a stand of some sort for safety, and grab the tire fore and aft checking for "play" (top and bottom for wheel bearing). Inner tie rods are protected by boots (to keep the crap out), so they are not as prone to wear as an outer tie rod end, but they do wear out. My '91 Legacy needed 2 inner tie rod ends @ 260,000 mi. parts cost (moog, lifetime warranty) was $80 each CDN, time to change about 1/2 hour each. But at this point, as was suggested, maybe a visit to an alignment shop should be in your future (a "proper" alignment shop that does only alignments).

Well Dude: The "thing" of it is that, unlike many other cars out there, a older Subaru, from say around 1975-1994, is pretty well completely re-buildable. There are only 2 things that will "get" a Subaru, one is rust (rust too bad to recover from) and "bad" mechanics (the kind that will find a SAE bolt they can screw into a metric hole). I am not saying that the newer models are not re-buildable, but they require 2X "greater": greater automotive skills, and greater amounts of money. The reasons are many that we find ourselves here, most of us can go out and buy a new car without thinking twice, but for whatever reason, we seem to like being here. If you happen to live in a Subaru "hot spot" (where there are and were a lot of Subaru cars sold) you have it made in the shade, as there is very likely a large parts pool, and folks that can fix these cars. If you find yourself in a spot where there were not a lot of Subaru cars sold, you face a much, much, smaller parts pool (with waits up to 2 weeks), and better be able to fix it yourself. The advantage to living in a place where Subarus are few, and far between, is price, you can buy these cars for nothing under these conditions (eg: 92 Loyale $60, 91 Legacy Sport Sedan $400). Whatever your reason (and reasoning), the folks here will make you welcome, and assist you any way they can.

Don't forget to check the "U" joints in the steering shaft and/or maybe a loose end of steering shaft. My bet is a inner tie rod...........

There is another way to *look* at this............... If your quarters are rusty, so are too your front fenders. Strangely the part that doesn't rust on your front fender will fit almost exactly the other side rear quarter. Speaking of fenders, the bit that rusts (directly behind the front wheel) is the same from 1990-1999, so with a un-rusted junkyard fender (in that area), you take the side moulding off and do the join under the moulding, replacing the moulding when done, no one the wiser! (leaving plenty of wheel arch left to repair the far side quarter).

Or............. Maybe the last guy that changed the plugs *thought* it prudent to put a bit of oil on the threads before screwing them in an alloy head (rightly, or wrongly, I always do).

Thank you!!!!!! Will file that name for future avoidance. Fenco clutches, be they be for a Subaru, or an 18 wheeler, are best left where they are (on someone's shelf collecting dust). If you were in Canada, Dave @eurodrive is the guy to see for a rebuilt clutch: http://www.euro-drive.com/ While "doing" a clutch is not hard, from the front, or back, the "trick" is to do it ONCE.

At one time I used to sell clutch cores to rebuilders. The only company that accepted everything (even the rejects from other rebuilders) was Fenco/Fenwick. They even bragged to me that they rebuilt everything that came in the door. I *think* it best to steer clear of Fenco/Fenwick.

porcupine73 I *think* that is the idea, but the flanges rot off these cars as they get older, so to avoid cutting and welding, you would buy the two piece flange kit (two 1/2 flanges that join at the through bolts in an interlocking kind of way). What did Subaru charge you for the bolt/spring/nut combination? (After market kits, eg: Dodge 3.0, same set-up, are $5 for two sets)

As far as I know the flange is not serviced separately, your local generic auto parts store can hook you up with a generic flange (after you measure yours) and gasket (donut). At least that is what I had to do here (I replaced both flanges, so the "key" measurement was the pipe diameter), they do sell a two part flange that fits together, so you avoid a complete disassembly.

9 times out of 10 here, the ball joint pinch bolts are tightly rusted, needing heat to remove (and I'm not too keen on heating close to a ball joint I wish to re-use). Unless I'm replacing the ball joint, I usually split the assembly at the bottom, loosening the nut, with a jack under it, and tapping the control arm, to pop the ball joint out. Whatever method you use, liberal application of anti-seize is your friend, the next time you find yourself in this area you will thank yourself.

If it was me............... I would check the connector, back of the engine, about center, heading to the transmission. Does your windshield leak? The reason I ask is if leaking on the driver's side top, all kind of nastyness can happen with the wires/wiring behind your dash, including, but not limited to the connector on the TCU, and the all important fuel pump relay.

a Bycyle chain has a fairly short life, just very few reach it. On my 10 year old Racer its been through 5 chains, and my motorcycle had a interval of about 12,000 miles on its chain. Neither application a "clean, well oiled, properly adjusted enviorment". Trading a belt for a chain under these conditions (125-150,000 duty cycle) offers no improvement that I can see. I'm willing to bet that timing chain replacement (with associated "stuff") @ a Subaru dealer would cost at least 4X what you would get 2 belts (with associated "stuff") changed for.

Antique EA82 DL 5spd gets 45mpg (Imperial) loaded, empty, up hill, down hill. 92 Loyale EA82 5spd, as purchased, gave me 43mpg (Imperial) on a 2000 mile drive home (car currently getting rebuilt). @ sea level, or near enough to spit into the ocean.

I think reasonably 125-150,000 miles can come out of chain before replacement is due. How about a fella that does not think, a bicycle type chain, running in a clean, well oiled enviroment, that a 125-150,000 is a "reasonable service life" (unless you are shooting for a 3 year buy/trade cycle), but does "think" that with a tiny bit more QC (quality control), and minimal effort, a service life of 250-300,000 is possible, Saab managed it in a tired old BMC TR7 block.

maybe I'll just get a 3.0 H6 The short service life of the timing chain makes me wonder if the older Subaru cars were built too "good" and Fuji is doing a revenge thing.

is that what the K stands for???? No, I'm trying to be polite, so I won't say what it stands for. get a K car and use it as a sleeper body for a mild SRT-4 driveline Wouldn't a "better" fit be a 3 liter Mitsubishi DOHC turbo? (cross member/transmission/block from a Caravan, fun stuff from Mitsubishi)

You have to define the owner before you can make an "average" call. An "average" car owner buys a new car with a warranty, and a monthly payment. They have "average" jobs, mostly being desk operating do nothings, hopefully making above average money to afford a Subaru (because we have to admit a new Subaru is a bit more expensive than a Suzuki, or a Honda Civic). These types of folks trade their cars every 3-5 years, so the "mileage expectancy" does not come into play. If you do your own work (tinkering?), and have (or make?) a habit of catching a "problem" before it becomes a disaster, plan on owning a car for 10+ years, and have good mechanical "karma" (for the want of a better word), then the limiting factor becomes the effects of rust and corrosion. (there is not a Subaru in attendance here with less than 300,000 miles, and one with 400,000 due to retire because of rust)

I believe the Bosch knock sensors are identical (eg: Saab) and about $80. Of course a 520k resistor is about 5 cents........... Wait until you need a turbo crossover pipe in Canada, retail is $400+, then you WILL be looking aftermarket.

bellowed like an american four barrell got me my first speeding ticket 90% increase on fuel mileage The most exotic sounding 3 main boxer subaru I have ever run the egr light on the dash (it stays on of course- I killed it very much intentionally- it was dangerous) I'll take a pound of the substance being abused here, keep the intake!

Next time, while junkyard "hunting", I can testify that a Dodge Crapvan antenna (pre 1992) will match the contour of your rear fender. I find those "replacement el-cheapo" things to be of dubious quality.

Retail Fuel Prices on 3-Jul-2007 NB Canada: (as reported here: http://fuelfocus.nrcan.gc.ca/prov_map_e.cfm?ProvCode=NB ) Reg gasoline $1.07L Auto Propane $1.02L Propane is 80% as efficient as gasoline, to be equal in value propane at this time should cost .86L. As I said earlier, there was a time here that propane was worth converting to, it no longer is. (when I was busy doing conversions propane was .19 a liter) The real "bonus" of a propane installation is when the propane pump jockey figures, with his minimal training, that the surface rust on your propane container (the propane tanks installed under your vehicle) makes your propane container unsafe and refuses to fill you. (in Canada both the system installers and the re-fuelers have to hold a licence, the installers licence is a 2 week course with gov exam giving you a "gas fitters licence", the re-fuelers licence is a 2 hour course, with an open book test at the end).

I'm not quite sure I catch the drift of the thing.