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Sorry if I missed the ship on this going down, or being relocated. But the ea81 SPFI guide website is down, and has been for over a month. I've been trying to reference something from it. I had it downloaded to my old laptop too, and that died :/ Link to what I'm talking about ... http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/EA81_SPFI.html And for some reason I can't drag it out of internet/google cache.

The forester XT has a 4.44 transmission, LSD rear end to boot! Although, with any amount of miles an LSD on a turbo car is likely to be totally shot...

Doesn't look like it. The one out of the bushes wasn't two tone.

You can get that on the 4eat too if you put a switch to lock the clutch packs. Or make a knob to better control the clutch packs... But 5speeds are more fun

Yes, there's a shudder in the projector at the focal point of the beam that moves up and down. When it's down it makes that nice sharp cut offline for the low beams. When you flick the high beams on it lifts the shudder allowing the light to spew all over the place and light the whole road. The ones that move in and out for H4 and similar bulbs are sort of a terrible hack, IMO.

One other concern, do your low beam lamps turn off when you turn on the high beams? because that's going to ruin your low beam HIDs, you need to wire the low beams to always be on. Probably as easy as grounding the switched negative on the low beam. That way the low beam HIDs aren't always going on and off. The expensive cars you speak of use a bi-xenon projector. A projector that has a movable shudder on a solenoid that goes down when it's on low beams, and comes up to un-shudder the output for the high-beams. This way the lamp is always on. That is the CORRECT way to use HIDs... Or, some of them have a projector for the low beams, and just a regular reflector for the high beam with a halogen. The low beam is still always on though. This is how the JDM lights work in my legacy.

It's looking good! But you can't use HIDs on the high beams when it's a two light system like that. Constantly flicking the HID bulbs on and off will kill them in very, very short order.

Counting the turns isn't always a failsafe way of getting the alignment the same. I've seen quite a few inner and outer ends have different amounts of threads between manufactures. Just one thread difference is enough that it'll be out of whack. Best bet is to measure the length of the tierod, and make the new assy. the same length.

Do you have any check engine light codes, or a flashing AT temp light? A faulty speed censor (or wiring) can cause weird stalling like this. Sounds weird, but I've had it happen. You should get a check engine light with this, though.

Wouldn't that overload the pinion bearing?

How much mine is spun? I dunno... Enough to clear for the right angle. It doesn't really matter how much you spin the strut top around. It's just a bearing.

Having the strut top spun like that makes it easier to bolt together. You can just reach an extension with a wobbly down to get at the strut top bolts. And probably mainly for clearance. When I made my 2" lift blocks with camber correction I had to turn the strut tops so a flat side was on the inside to clear the strut tower.

Those wheels look great on there!

Not to start an argument here... But the 4eat is known to have less long term issues than the 5speeds... Well taken care of they last longer.

Not looking, no. A sedan pretty much just fell in my lap. But maybe someday... So far between two 2nd gen legacys in Maine I've had three broken front coil springs. Not really abuse related, just rust :/

I don't see any way the ignition lock could come out without removing the plastic. It's just a top and bottom piece, not really that hard. Then you have to get the head eye bolts out. I usually drill two holes in them and use a spanner bit. The rear hatch key probably only turns one way because the key or lock are worn. I've had door locks that only turn one way. A good tear down, cleaning up of the cylinder and wafers usually fixes that.

Rust. Rust, and more rust. That's a pretty common thing to break. I'm jealous, I want a first gen legacy wagon...

Is this your way of saying your next project is going to be a Unimog?

A little strict isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's been some arseholery lately about people not liking each other's builds, etc. So some of that getting cracked down on wouldn't be a bad thing. I wish people could shut up if they don't like someone's build and let live, instead of

That doesn't make any sense... what are you talking about? I haven't seen any incriminating posts from you... You should keep an update of these somewhere else though. I enjoy your project threads.

You can scoff at waxing your car, but it does help to protect the paint. Especially in the winter with lots of road grit. The PO of my car said he waxed it at least once a month, even through the winter. And it really does show. 240k miles in maine, and the paint is still pretty damn good!

Only issue I can see is that if you do this the exhaust can't move with the engine. The exhaust is hung from rubber hangers so it can move the same with the engine, if you weld it to something fixed it will crack as the engine moves and the lift blocks (hopefully...) don't. Guess you would put in a flexpipe... but those are expensive and prone to falling apart.

That sounds like a fun project!! Pics

Just keep track of your trip meter if you don't trust your gas gauge. My 96 had a random gauge sometimes, BUT, the low fuel light is a totally different circuit. And that always came on when there was just over 2 gallons left, regardless what the gauge said. So that's nice, at least.