Gene J

The car will be used for normal driving with some track and auto cross time. Everything is stock except for the KYB GR2 strut upgrade. Any suggestions?

I am almost positive there was a recall of the master cylinder for this very symptom. At least there was on my 98 GT. Campaign Number: 99V040000 Date: 1999-Mar-03 Component: Service Brakes, Hydraulic: Foundation Components: Master Cylinder Defect Summary: VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: PASSENGER AND SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SYSTEM (ABS). (THE 1999 2.2 LITER LEGACY VEHICLES ARE EXCLUDED). IN EXTREMELY COLD WEATHER, THE BRAKE PEDAL GOES TO THE FLOOR AND THE VEHICLE STOPPING DISTANCE IS INCREASED. Consequence Summary: THIS CONDITION CAUSES THE VEHICLE STOPPING DISTANCE TO BE INCREASED, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN A CRASH. Corrective Summary: DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER. Sorry. Close but no cigar...

The exhaust on my 98 rotted where the resonator is. When I had it replaced at a muffler shop they left the resonator out and there is no difference in sound at all.

I remember reading somewhere we should not use petroleum based lube for the brake sliders because it will cause the rubber parts to swell. What else is there???

My 98 had a problem where the resonator is. It was cheap to get that fixed and eliminate the resonator. Oddly it sounds exactly the same.

Ah Ha! You are a genius! Those pieces are in the reseal kit! It looks like they provide a little bit of drag so the caliper kind of stays where it was instead of sliding back and forth too easily! OK. One of each kind of pin goes on each side. It shouldn't make a difference which is front or back. Those engineers at Subaru are kind of smart too!

The pins are new so the color is very apparent! The pin with the three machined sides is silver. The pin with the narrower end is gold. What does the "lock" pin lock do? It looks like a clip could go there but there is no clip in the diagram.

MY caliper brackets finally arrived for my 98 GT Legacy with two piston front disks. And of course I have a question. The 26226AC012 brackets are interchangeable. They are exactly the same from side to side. No problem there. The slider pins look like they should be the same but they are not. They are the same length but different shapes. They slide down to exactly the same depth. (dial indicators are cool) Guide pin 26228AC002 is solid all the way to the bottom but has 3 flat spots machined on the sides. Guide pin 26228AC011 is similar except it has no flat spots and one end is a smaller diameter. Could there be a spring that goes there to preload to caliper? No springs or other additional pieces show on the exploded parts list. I cannot believe the engineers would have designed two different parts with exactly the same function. What gives??? Which pin goes towards the front? Remember I could not get the pins out of the last brackets even with a torch and a 3 foot pipe wrench. Hence the new parts. I want to do this right and not half anused. And last question... Do I lube these things with brake caliper lube? That would be my guess.

When our head gaskets went it was an intermittant problem like yours. Replaced the gaskets and all has been well.

All seasons work well on our Subaru. It is difficult to break the tires loose on snow. As for the Tire Rack reviews, pay close attention to the sizes and the cars they are put on. A tire that works great on a FWD Honda Civic may not work well on a RWD GT Mustang with a different size and vise versa. I have the G009s on a pickup and a little FWD car. They work great on both. However the FWD car has traction control and they never break loose.

My sliders are similar to the picture except they are two piston 98 GT brakes. Only one out of the four sliders moves freely. The bolts are in good shape. The caliper solidly rests on a flat surface and moves on that. I tried the vice, vice grips and a giant pipe wrench to at least break them loose. Not happening. The brackets are only at parts stores sold with packed rebuilt calipers. My calipers are fine. I bought new OEM brake pads. I wonder what new brackets cost?

OK. The verdict is in. The slave cylinder was not so good. It made a big difference when I put the new one on as all of the slack was gone. The fork was solidly against the plunger. I then replaced the master cylinder and got all of the air out. A nice solid feel again!! Too bad the clutch still does not disengage! Oh well. It was good bonding time with the kids.

It all started as a "While I am at it..." project. While putting in new struts I decided to do the brakes. I had a shimmy in the front and the rotors were only worn in the center third. The brakes were a bit spongy too. OK got new rotors and real Subaru pads. But 3 of the sliders on the calipers are frozen. The auto parts store does not carry replacements except for Honda etc. Ideas or just get new ones from a dealer? If I have nothing to lose I will hit them with a mallet but if they stuck once they could stick again.

My GR2 struts came with new top nuts. The originals would not fit anyway. One nut fell out of the box during shipping but the auto parts store had a suitible replacement. The bolts and nuts are all some type of metal lock nut. The type that go on tight! They will not come off.

23 and 26. Watch it buddy!

We finished putting the KYB GR2 struts on the 98 GT this afternoon. My daughters just loved the air tools which really helped. There were no real issues. The best trick was to slot out where the brake lines attach to the struts so that we did not have to separate the brake lines. A Subaru mechanic confirmed that this is also how they do it! Thanks for all the advice from this board! Now on to the front brakes and master and slave cylinders for the clutch. Those parts did not arrive in time. Next weekend for sure!

I will second that. Parts are easy to look up, prices are right and emails are answered promptly. I just made a good sized order.

Well I am not trying to be disrespectful. I am just trying to understand this. I have had diaphragm clutches in Chevys go over center to the point they would not release. That is why I was wondering how there could be space between the fully released slave (pulled all of the way out) and the clutch fork. There is a lot of space there. I would think the clutch would push against the plunger and offer some resistance. It does not. It does push the fork about 3/4 of an inch. This may not be enough. But heck I can replace the hydraulics next weekend. It does not look difficult,

So even with the push rod pulled all of the way out, there should still be play on the clutch release shaft???

When we push the clutch pedal the arm does move a bit. Maybe 3/4 of an inch. I can pull out the shaft of the slave cylinder to the end end of its travel and wiggle the throwout arm about a half inch. It looks like the hydraulics are working. But there is so much slop that the pedal sticks to the floor. For a few weeks the clutch was engaging close to the floor.

98 GT Legacy wagon. Only 105,000 miles. With the slave cylinder plunger fully extended I can wiggle the clutch release lever about a 1/2 inch. It appears that the clutch is not pushing back on the plunger. The clutch is fairly recent with about 25,000 miles on it.

OK I can see the slave cylinder move and I can hear squeaking in the bell housing. But the clutch pedal does not come up on its own. Still think it is the clutch fork? Is the clutch fork tough to replace?

Front....

Update. If found the car with the clutch pedal on the floor. I can pull it up with my foot . No effort to push it down. The MC is full. Is the likely culprit the slave or MC?

On a 98 Legacy GT? Or do I need to remove the bolts for the axles too? I seem to remember the rotors just pulled off last time. No amount of PB Blaster or rubber mallet seems to do the trick.... There are no screw holes to push the disk off like on other Japanese autos.