Caboobaroo

I believe the bushings in the shifter rod are 35035AC000, those are where it meets the u-joint (they will be fixed with a verticle bolt/nut and a metal inner sleeve). Just done a couple sets in the last week. The two horizontal, if it's serviceable, I believe are 35035KA040.

The one question I have, what code(s) have prompted the check engine light to come on? Edit, I finally got your PDF file loaded. I would have the freeze frame data looked at to see if all these codes came on at once or are they separate. If nothing is found to be out of the ordinary, have the ECU memory cleared and drive it until the light comes back on. Then start diagnosing...

I want to go but I don't think my wife would want to ride in the XT6 all the way there. I do plan to go one of these years though!

Patrick, we should get together one of these days as I have a few ideas for performance stuff for EA82s and XTs including a new bell housing to bolt an EJ transmission to an EA/ER engine. My father in law lives out past Sandy and my wife and I head out there every couple weeks so it wouldn't be hard for me to stop by.

If it's a 2003, make sure it doesn't have EGR. If it does, the options are slim as it was only offered for a couple years (2003 and 2004). If not, the list is good. Just reuse the intake manifold that is on the current engine on the new engine.

In the past, I jumpered the wires for the neutral switch at the shifter itself, since the two wires (black and black/yellow) connect to the automatic shifter assembly. I never had to fuss with grounding the ECU at all and I put 20k miles on that car before I stripped it. See are the biggest gauge wires at the shifter, just unplug it, put a jumper wire in and wrap some electrical tape around it. You will also need a driveline to go with the manual transmission.

For whatever reason, the manual transmissions in 2000-2004 Outbacks have issues. Out of all the Subaru transmissions I've replaced in the last year, 70% seem to be from that era of Outback. Also note, if the noise is pretty bad, it's also likely the front snout on the driveline is eaten up, this needing it replaced as well.

On the passenger side of the block back by the bell housing, there should be a smooth spot with a vin number on it. 10th digit will dictate what year it is. Not all engines have them for whatever reason but most of the 90s stuff does from what I've seen.

I use the Six Star MLS head gaskets at work all the time and they want no more then a 50RA surface from what I can remember. I use wet 220 grit to cut down the surface of imperfections and then go back over with wet 400 grit. I use it on a sanding block from Harbor Freight and either brake cleaner to lubricate the surface or Deep Creep if the imperfections aren't coming out with the brake cleaner.

It's easy and I believe it's been hashed out numerous times on here. Search around for a 3AT to manual conversion, should net you the parts list and what needs to be done to make it work.

More then likely is the vehicle speed sensor in the transmission that is going wonky. My '99 GT has a speedo head that will flake out every once and awhile but it's a speed head issue. Easiest way to find out if it's the sensor or the head, see if you can plug into the car with an OBD scanner and see if the ECU is seeing vehicle movement. If it reads 0mph while moving, it's going to be the sensor. If it reads the vehicle speed, it's going to be the speedo head.

For doing the complete EJ engine/manual transmission conversion into an EA82 chassis, the stock drive line needs to have the front section shortened by 55mm. This is only for the 5-speeds though. Since the STi 6mt is longer then the 5mt, the driveline will need to be shortened more or a sweet aluminum 1 piece custom driveline made.

You have a couple of options. You can get the XT6 flywheel modified to fit the EJ. It is also lighter then the EA82 flywheel, or... Have the EA82 flywheel cut to the XT6 specs. There's a lip down where the clutch disc touches the flywheel and it has to be ground flat. It's not very big from what I can remember.

Still can't believe I drove it from your house in Bonney Lake to Astoria that one year.... With Brian and Johnny in the backs seat the whole way...

I've been running NPN oil filters on my XT6. I also use Motul synthetic 5w40 oil as well. Don't seem to have any issues whatsoever BUT it's also not cheap either...

Yes, they did. There was also a nonturbo EA82 MPFI GL-10 that you could get too.

My wife has had her 2004 Outback 3.0 sedan for a couple years now. Done quite a bit to it since we bought it. Recently did a small change to the the ride height of it... Before Now

Was a valve adjustment done when the head gaskets were replaced? If the valves are too tight, they hang open just a bit and can cause a misfire and roughness at idle. I recently diagnosed the same vehicle with a cylinder misfire and found all the valves on one side to be too tight. Adjusted them and the misfire and rough idle went away.

The TriBeCa has a larger hole in the swaybar compared to every other Subaru because they run a heavy duty ball joint style end link. On my Outback, I had to drill out the upper hole in the end link to accept the larger bolt.

I knew a guy in the Seattle area that had fitted a supercharger to his 2003 2.5X. I think he's over on the Subaru Forester board.

My sedan gets about 20mpg around town and have seen almost 30mpg on the freeway. I hate how it drives with the 4EAT and have been contemplating on converting it to a manual since I don't have the VDC garbage to deal with. I figure with a manual transmission, I can see more like 22-25mpg around town and over 30mpg on the freeway as it compares very similar to my 5-speed XT6.

Nope, thy just don't want to do it. I know on the older Legacys '05 and newer, you have to turn the key on, click the buckle in and out 20 times within 30 seconds of the key being turned on and then the key has to be turned back off within those 30 seconds. Not sure if it works on the new cars but worth a shot...

Check out www.books4cars.com I had to get section 6 of the 1987 FSM and they were the only ones who had it.

I have seen cracked heads on the phase 2 3.0 with the variable valve timing. Last one cracked between the intake and exhaust valve seats on #3 which caused a coolant breech into the cylinder and a misfire.

If you're looking to do the H6 upgrade, might as well fit the 2005+ Legacy GT vented rear setup. Same diameter rotors but dissipate the heat better and don't fade as badly.