Infidel

You are correct. The leaks from the headgasket etc. are minor in comparison.

Should I post a warning? Been out of town so I haven't drive it yet to see how it works.

Based on experience with other cars, and the suction I felt in the little airbox snorkel, I felt that my Subaru would run better with a less restricted airway. Normally I just drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of the airbox and drop in a K&N panel filter, which has always worked well. However, the Suby is a little more complicated, and I didn't want to irreversibly screw up the airbox, so I bought a short runner intake. Based on browsing NASIOC, I knew that my options were ill fitting ebay crap or really expensive stuff that actually fits. Being on the tight budget I am, and being somewhat handy, I figured that at least the cheap ebay intake would get me the difficult part, the bent elbow. In actuality I had to buy an adapter plate for the MAF, chop a good 6" off the intake tube (taking a nipple for a vacuum fitting with it), buy another silicone connector, do some stupid crap with vacuum lines. Ultimately I'm happy with the performance gain. It has the same problem everyone on NASIOC mentioned, very low rpms at idle, have to nurse the throttle at start-up until the computer figures out the right air metering, but it runs good after that. The cheap supplied filter will be swapped for a quality K&N soon. All in all I spent maybe $65 on it, using some ingenuity and spare parts I had around. Also in the picture is the cheap ebay strut bar, these things fit and work great, not sure why everyone pays through the nose for the name brand stuff. Mounted upside down due to the hood scoop covers sticking down into the engine bay. I've got some annoying handling issues I'm trying to correct, so a cheap strut brace is just one more step towards the solution, I hope.

Tired of being engulfed in a cloud of smoke and awful smell at stoplights due to oil leaking onto my exhaust. A few inspections shows that it is coming from a million places (ok, all the common places and then a few more). I don't have the time at the moment to trouble shoot all the potential leak areas, so as a short term solution I installed a metal belly pan that catches the drips and keeps them off the exhaust. The pan is a piece of 22 ga plated steel, cut to fit, wedged between the transmission and the "Y" ahead of the cat, then bolted to the frame with 1/4" bolts. Here's a pic. It's amazing I didn't chop off any fingers on the sharp edges shoving that thing in there.

Dang, new pump from the parts store was $25. Poor guy behind the counter didn't know how to find something "generic", it had to be in his computer, and it had to be "for something".

Just did some work on mine today, my front windshield wiper squirters didn't work anymore. Pulled the reservoir and played with the motors. Both ohmed out at around 5.5. The rear washer motor circuit would receive really high voltage and then drop to nothing if the motor wasn't attached, guess it needs some resistance to work. The front washer motor circuit show a slight voltage increase when activated, but not a lot, so I still question the circuit. Putting the rear washer motor on that circuit still got nothing. Putting the front washer motor on the rear circuit got nothing. Short term I swapped motors, now when I activate my rear washers, the fronts squirt until I can get to a part store and get a replacement front motor. Quick question, are the connectors filled with dielectric grease or something? Mine were all full of a white grease like material, cleaned a bunch of it out but didn't know if maybe it was supposed to be there.

Any info on the bounciness of the suspension. I've got these new struts in my garage but I'm thinking about selling them since it seems to handle fine for now.

Thanks for the info. It's an auto trans.

Now that I've been driving it for a month, I have several questions. I can push on it and bounce it up and down in my driveway, very springy, bought new shocks n struts because I figured that is what that means. However, while driving I get no bouncing, in fact I feel the road a bit too much and its pretty noisy. Is this normal for these? How does the AWD work? Is it all active all the time, only when the drive wheel slips, work well enough to help on wet pavement or just out weelin? What is up with my windshield wipers? Replaced the bushing, still had the wrong stroke, seems to work better without the bushing in place almost. Is this common on these things? Mixed driving I got around 27 mpg. All highway the last tank and I got a hair over 30 mpg, pretty happy about that. Replaced the PCV valve right before, the old one was shot. Vibration seems to be pretty common in this car, according to the PO. Brakes are good and it doesn't seem to be speed sensitive. I have a very weak sounding horn, is there more than one? If so, where are they? A few more things I forgot, I'll add them as I remember.

I went to the dealer a few days ago and asked, they told me the lifetime warranty only applied to the retractor mechanism. Didn't even look at the seatbelt. Not real impressed with Subaru at the moment. They didn't have much of what I wanted, had to order a bunch of stuff etc. Anyone know if the front and rear seatbelt can be interchanged on a 98 OBS? At least the frayed belt would be in the back where I didn't have to use it.

Same prob with my 98 OBS, but I think its just 4 blown shocks. Have the new shocks/struts sitting in the garage, just waiting for the time. If there's cheap spring upgrade though I may wait and try to get the springs. Anyone know what bushings/bearings should be replaced when replacing struts?

Hi from the Woodlands, just bought a 98 Impreza wagon with the 2.2, so I'm also interested in any local subaru mechanics. I do most of my own work though. I have a pretty good oil leak on the back side of my engine I haven't fully investigated yet, figure it might be a rear main. Not interested in tearing into it until I have to though. For leaks I go to a car wash, spray engine degreaser on the suspected area, blast it clean, then observe for where the leaks originate.

Sorry, new to this board and I bring a lot of baggage with me. <-----------Veteran of many pointless flamefests.

So...you like non-functional things, but functional things are "gay". Got it.

I just bought the 65/66 fronts Exc. ABS. But I believe I have ABS. The 55/56 are new however, so that should be an indication that the 65/66 were ok prior to the new ones being introduced. Wonder what the difference is.

I've noticed that, air horns are definitely on the menu Actually, the reason I bought this car, with the auto trans, is that I currently drive waay too aggressively. My goal is to be mellow, not continue on my anti-social path. The sport logo bugs me, it will be coming off. I don't need any more badges though, the additional HP they add I won't be needing. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. It's like factory rice. I think I may try to devise something that will direct air into the engine but let water pass through or something.

Looking to pick up some regular old KYB GR2 shocks and struts for my 98 OSB. I only see references for the "Impreza" though, nothing specfic to the wagon. Can I go with the 98 Impreza RS shocks?

Hi all, just picked up a 98 OBS and I know nothing about Subarus but plenty about modifying and maintaining cars in general. Seems to me like there should be a way to make that hood scoop help get more/cooler air to my intake etc. My hood has block off plates on the scoop and vents. Can someone explain all this to me? Here's a pic of the new ride