subie_newbie

The hubs are cast iron. While the re-drilling process does 'weaken' the hub, I'd bet you can ask around and no one's had one fail from the drillings. The casting is pretty soft and I'd imagine you'd bend one before you'd crack it across one of the new or empty holes. Someone with a CAD system could easily do a FEA on it. Any bored drafters around?

Fuzion HRi, made by firestone, asymetric tread, quiet, and $60 a pop. Do spectaclar in all conditions but snow, and even then they pulled my dumb a$$ out of a ditch I'd spun reverse cookies into

I do declare: it's a fuel pump Not enough pressure

Just measured the rear springs on a bone-stock 97 Legacy L. OD is approx 6.5", ID approx 5.5", both outside the spec listed in the discussion forums referenced at 5.25". It seems we may not have the whole picture!

dja makeit?

HEY MODERATOR! Can we get this as a sticky, asking people to grab a tape measure and list their application and compressed (and free if known) spring lengths? I'd start it off!

I thought I'd add this, too. If you get totally hosed in the deal and the mechanic tell you to go pound sand, there are a ton of people in your area who know their stuff and would probably be willing to stop by your house and donate a half-hour to showing you what's what so you can replace it yourself. Particularly after this fiasco. If the time comes, just ask!

I'll try and answer in as clear-language as possible so you have a good way to talk to the mechanic: Subarus of the eighties came in two varieties (for this matter), turbo and non-turbo. Turbo cars had different output shafts to the front axles than non turbo cars. The turbo cars used 25 spline (read: groves you can see when you look at the shaft coming out of the transmission; there's 25 of them) and non turbo used 23 spline. At the wheel end of the axle they are both the same. The 25 spline is bigger around. Sooooo, if someone were to put a turbo (25 spline) axle on a non turbo (23 spline) car, it would fit into the wheel end properly and then SLIP OVER the transmission end, but be too big and not engage the transmission at all. Here's the important part: at the transmission, these axles are held in with a little piece of metal, called a roll pin. It's ONLY job is to keep the axle from sliding off the transmission hub, to hold it from going in and out. The splines are supposed to take the rotation force. Here's what happened to you (it happened to me, too). They slid the 25 spline axle over the 23 spline tranny, easy because the axle is much bigger, and then pounded that roll pin in. As soon as they tried to engage the tranny, that roll pin broke and made all kinds of noise, and they assumed bad tranny. That's what you've been seeing that will 'catch' every once in awhile, the broken part of that roll pin catching on one of the splines from the tranny. Here's the good news: it almost never messes up the transmission. I drove one for 40 miles at 55 with an incorrect axle and broken roll pin and no damage. They should just be able to get the correct axle and install it. As has been mentioned, you may still have a striped hub out at the wheel. Also, there's a good chance they installed the wrong axle on the other side, too. Go grab it and see if it will 'wiggle'. Of course, the roll pin is still solid on that side so it won't be nearly as loose as the broken side, but if it's the wrong one you will be able to wiggle it a little, kind of rotating it around the roll pin. If it's the correct one, you won't be able to budge it. You don't owe them any more money for this. In fact, they should be giving you BACK the labor charges for the axle install since you had to tow your car all over the damn place to figure out their mess up. But I doubt that'll happen. Best scenario: they replace the axle, and if you have a stripped hub find you one of those and install it for parts cost only. I would STRONGLY recommend asking to talk to the owner, whom probably isn't ever there, instead of talking to the grease jockey who may have taken part in this mess up the first time. The owner will be much more likely to want things put right than the guy that messed up. If this is a shade-tree operation, you may be lucky to get them to replace the axle they messed up.

+1 for smacking the tech at that shop you got the axles replaced at. I can see a newbie at home doing that, but someone that replaces axles all day should notice the gigantic amount of difference between the 23 spline and 25 spline. Tim, I know you hate to do it, but drag your rump roast back down to that shop and make them replace that axle with the right one. Check the other side, too, and make sure the axle isn't all sloppy at the tranny. It would suck to force them to replace one axle to have the other fail 10 minutes later.

Does your souce of this info have any more? I'd be interested to see: Outback and turbo legacies included Spring length free and compressed Thanks!

Yall need to know about this... particularly if you're in the Portland area or don't mind paying for shipping. This guy is moving locations and cleaning out all his parts and cars. I've been to his shop and he's got a lot of turbo stuff. I didn't see it posted here so I thought I'd just pass along the link for you that need cheap parts: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=73488&highlight=rear+bar

I've used the screw-based clamps before, and after only a short time they deform the springs and eventually lead to failure. That, and they stiffen up the spring, making the spring rate ratios front to rear less desireable. All I'm looking for is an inch raised.

Doing a search I couldn't find anything immediately gratifying, so I just decided to ask. I've got a 97 Legacy L EJ22, and I like it well enough. For a grocery getter. But, my fun *other* car isn't so fun anymore (Corrado) so I'm looking to get something new, and I don't know what the major differences are between the Legacy family and the Impreza family. I'm aiming for good handling/acceleration and daily driver. Oh, and I'm cheap. So between the two, what's the difference:] Engine/Tranny Weight Suspension Electrical General Impression General Reliability I'd say 99% of the posts in this forum are about legacys - should that tell me something?

I just pulled that pass two weeks ago with my EJ22. It isn't tooooo bad. Other than what's been already said: a mildly lower speed, one gear down, higher RMP and less throttle will load the engine less, create less heat and, if you keep the clutch fan, help the fan's pulling power.

Yeah, this is for a newer car and I posted it over there, too, but since you guys are more likely to have taken the least expensive route I thought you may have had experience with this... plus this is a general question not year specific. This is the post from the newer page: Hey all, I searched high and low across the board for info on this, and didn't find any... so if you know, let me in on it... I've got a 97 legacy L with a mildly lower rear than front. No big deal, except I put GT fitment tires on slightly offset wheels and now the tires rub on the rear fenders even though I rolled the lip. Just barely :-\ So I want to lift the back an inch. Cheap. Have any of you used these spacers before, and with what success? http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=MRG%2D1285&N=700+115&autoview=sku If not those, do any of you know how the spring diam. compares to chevy or ford or toyota stuff? They make specific, much nicer spacers for those applications but not know the spring diameter ( even of the legacy! Best I've found is 5.25", but I don't know if that's inside, outside or center). I'm also putting in an 18mm sway bar, so yall can avoid that suggestion now. Thanks!

Hey all, I searched high and low across the board for info on this, and didn't find any... so if you know, let me in on it... I've got a 97 legacy L with a mildly lower rear than front. No big deal, except I put GT fitment tires on slightly offset wheels and now the tires rub on the rear fenders even though I rolled the lip. Just barely :-\ So I want to lift the back an inch. Cheap. Have any of you used these spacers before, and with what success? http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=MRG%2D1285&N=700+115&autoview=sku If not those, do any of you know how the spring diam. compares to chevy or ford or toyota stuff? They make specific, much nicer spacers for those applications but not know the spring diameter ( even of the legacy! Best I've found is 5.25", but I don't know if that's inside, outside or center). I'm also putting in an 18mm sway bar, so yall can avoid that suggestion now. Thanks!

do you know if those dia. are inside or outside?

Well, like the name says...... Lots of time under hoods, just got my first subaru (to wrench on) and haven't even touched the motor internals yet. I'm still learning. By the way, found a solution yet? If moving the distributor around gets some results, it sounds like you're 90 degrees out with the cap or the wires... but I'm guessing you've already tripple checked all that.

Timing belt/chain (whatever it has) jumped a tooth, lifter jammed in the bore, anything that'll keep an intake valve open at the wrong time. Like has been said, start simple. Other than that, you're screwed

Check the gear on the end of the distributor, and make sure nobody switched your plug wires around? How are the dist. driven on therse engines? I've had a cam gear wear off on other engines

This discussion board is such a funny place. We all know we are polishing huge turds, trying to keep dying 20 year old rust heaps crawling down the road while at the same time dreaming of racing them and making huge rock crawlwers, and here's the thing: we're EXCITED about all this It's a strange, strange world.

Here's the pretty classic formula for fuel economy, I think this has all been mentioned by different people before: 1. Taller (lower ratio) differential gears, or at least 5th 2. Skinnier tires at maximum or a bit above pressure 3. Reduced mass, and in particular reduced rotating mass such as wheels, flywheel, crank and accessory pulleys. 4. Remove all exterior trim, antennas, mirrors, door handles etc 5. Reduce parasidic engine drag such as AC, power steering, and get/build an underdrive crank pulley 6. Do an engine tune-up 7. Use fuel injection with a management system like MegaSquirt the GD is always talking about. Go with a maximized fuel economy setup. A final thought about intake/exhaust: open intake and large diameter exhaust are meant to make power by getting more air into the cylinders per stroke, but this more air must be accompanied by more fuel = less economy. Also, when you make these changes they are often at the expense of low end torque, meaning you will have to use more throttle off the line and run at higher RPM's to make the car driveable. While you don't want to have overly-restrictive intake or poor flowing exhaust, a good muffler on the stock sized exhaust and a reasonable air filter are probably your best bet economy-wise

As for the brakes, the booster should only use a very very small amount of vacuum and shouldn't affect idle perceptibly. If the brakes are making a big difference in how the engine runs, your booster diaphram (the rubber cone that holds the vacuum in) may have a tear in it, creating a vacuum leak when you use the brakes.

What the F is bolted on the bumper of the subaru in the pic? In other matters, you could put an inline pressure gauge on you hydraulic supply and do the ratio-math to figure out how much force your bucket applies for a given pressure, then watch the gauge and pull away! That's how we do it in testing, except we actually record the pressures and convert to lbs. I'll think of a more creative way soon I bet

About thermostats: they have a few purposes so let me go over them. Others chime in what I've forgotten if you know. 1. They stay closed when the car is cold, letting the 1.heater work faster and 2.warming up the engine faster, to keep you from breaking cold parts and let the choke open faster and thus run less rich/more efficient. Number 2 there is a bit of a throw back to V8 carb'd days, but it still holds true for fuel injected - if the engine doesn't reach the right temp the computer will stay in open-loop mode and maintain a very rich mixture 2. They regulate the temperature of the engine *fairly* efficiently no matter what the ambient temperature is. Engines run efficiently at about 160 - 180 degrees F, and if you're fuel injected that's where the comp. is set to work correctly at. This allows for a clean burn at stoichiometric fuel ratios, relatively dense air charge etc etc; it's a good compromise. Loyale 2.7 Turbo, you're right that no thermo can make your car faster/more powerful, but thats because lower temps mean a more dense air charge and, if your f.i. is in open loop, more rich mixture 3. Thermostats create a resistance point in the cooling system, forcing there to be a pressure differential point beyond the pump, and this helps reduce air pockets in the engines water jackets. Air pockets can cause 'hot spots' that can lead to all sorts of bad. I've ran many an old V8 without thermostats, and the old coddgers I knew always told me it was a bad idea for the reasons above and probably others. I never saw any problems because it always kept my POS's cool and happy, but in theory it's a bad idea. I still dont run one on my 93 Corrado, but it's an overheating bastard and deserves what's eventually coming to it (whatever that may be)