rugbyben

What is the difference between the air intakes of different years of impreza. To clarify, I have an '00 Impreza 2.2L non turbo. aftermarket performance intakes for that year all seem to be "short ram" intakes. in 2002 and up or in the '00 2.5L there are "cold air" intakes. available. I know the difference between the intakes. But why are only short ram intakes avaiable for that year and engine? Is there any advantage to a short ram anyway since it is sucking hot air from the engine compartment. It seems to me like there are plenty of places to take cold air i.e. the fender well... Does the 2.2 have trouble with cold air?

related to your other question. I put on a short shifter and i love it. It makes the driving experience a little more fun. nothing else though. it seems to work equally as well as the original shifter did just faster. I got mine for $11 on ebay. it is all stainless steel. If you decide to do it PM me and i will give you a couple install hints that i had to learn the hard way.

Im looking to put waterproof seat covers in my 2000 impreza outback sport. I do a lot of active stuff outdoors like mountainbiking and camping,i also kickbox so im always sweaty or muddy getting back in my car and i dont want to ruin the original upolstry. I have found too many choices on line so i am hoping someone can offer their experience. I want them to fit nice and tight, not those roll down/one size fits all types. they are going to stay on all the time so i want them to look right and feel right. sofar the best i have found are custom made neoprene covers from wetokole.net. They seem perfect except they are $250 for the front pair. any better ideas.

Good choice. I love mine. not sure if the suspension is "lifted" but i parked my Outback Sport next to a regular Imprezza wagon and it looked about an inch taller at the fender. but could be tires or any number of other factors. I do know however that i only bottomed out once and i was doing somthing i shouldnt have anyway.

I used seafoam to clean the top end this weekend. sucked in through the break vacum line. it had all the expected results. ran rough for a while....lots of white smoke, but the CEL also came on. The car is running much smoother and starts quicker then before, but after about 8 starts the cEL is still on. should i get codes pulled or ignore it? In my limited experience the CEL shuts off after a bunch of starts if it doesnt detect the problem again... right? Could the rough idle after the seafoam triggered somthing?

I have one point to make. Take it however you want. But the cats are there for a reason. and its not to limit the performance of your car. that is just an unfortunate side affect. However, they serve a much better purpose, which is to limit the toxic chemicals in your exhaust. Have an ounce of responsibility! you dont have the right to pollute the air i have to breathe and our children will have to breathe to gain 3HP on a car the functions just fine as it is. You dont need to take the cats off. it doesnt have that much of an affect anyway. Immagine if everyone bypassed their emissions controll systems. (I take it you have never been to Mexico city). the world is just more noisy and dirty.

cool. Well that will save me $70. Sears (where I get my tires) says they will do an alignment check for free. but if its out they fix it and charge. Meaning if they do the check, and its off they dont ask you before they fix it. I immagine very few cars get out of there with no charge because they probably "fix" even the slightest missalignment.

I am getting new tires soon. Should I get alignment too? I last had it aligned about 2 years ago. I havnt had any major bumps that I recall, and it still tracks straight. But recently I got new rims (up one size) and im about to get new tires on them, should I have it done?

I'm pretty sure the lack of a cat would cause a CEL, not to mention an inspection failure (if yours area requires). When my CATS went bad it caused a cel, so i assume a gutted one would do the same.

The EXACT same thing happened to me. sort of. Mine passed except the rear whiper blade was shot. He said he wouldnt give me the sticker with it that way. So i ran to Auto Zone right across the street and got one for $3 and put it on my self right there. The dealer would have charged me $20 to put one on. But he was cool about me doing it this way (in fact it was his idea) and aploigized for the incomvenience. So it dont think its a dealer scam since he reccomended i get one my self. but you are right the inspection laws are getting rediculous. I think they were originally made to prevent unsafe vehicles from hurting other people. The blinker thing is just overboard.

Huh? Who?

I'm smack-dab in the center of the state. Go PSU!!!

My passenger rear went out last summer. Luckily i have a very good "small shop" mechanic who did it for like $350 out the door. That included an oil change and gear & differential oil since i was at about 65K miles. On a side note. Saturn dealerships seem have excellent service for fair prices. I took my car to them ocasionally since there is one next to my office and i wouldnt have to hitch rides back and forth from work to drop off or pick up. I was pleasantly suprised. They did good work and were friendly and professional, and really fast.

I think but am not posative that the glove box lock doesnt use both sides of the key, it should be relaitvely easy for a lock smith to pick so probably cheap too. But go to him insead of calling him to come to you. This is if you want to preserve it. Otherwise a screwdriver gripped with some locking piyers can break it.

Well I only have 75K miles on it, and i keep up with oil changes, I use valvoline (since thats what they put in at Valvoline instant oil change shop) I check the stick every few fill ups and add as needed. The color is very good all the way up to when i get changes, so i think flushing the oil system might be overkill at this point. I think i will do the half can in the vacum, and then half can in the oil just for good measure and since i have it open already. Then get an oil and filter change. I really do appreciate the good advice everyone. Thanks.

Thanks Gary. all sound like good suggestions and i will try to get them done piece by piece. I also use the low grade gass, and should probably switch to mid grade at least every other tank. The issue i am experienceing is mostly a last of HP going up hills and a difficulty acellerating in the higher range. I noticed some improvement after my cats went bad and were replaced under warranty. But not much.

Okay I finally figued out how to read the entire post linked to by dmanaenk. It is fantastic. Thank you! Answered most of my questions. Especially the one about adding it right in to my intake. I will not do that now, since it might explode... I have yet to look for the PCV hose but it doesnt seem to hard to find. My only remaining question is about how long until the oil change if i do like 1/2 in the PCV, and the rest in the gas tank?

I truly and sincerely apologize for beating a dead horse here. Please dont feel obligated but patronize me if you have a moment. I did a search but the term seafoam is used so often it is difficult to get a definitive answer. I'm not much of a mechanic, so I usually need a translator for posts here, or help applying them to my vehicle. (2000 Impreza Outback Sport, 2.2L NA, 75Kmiles, named Kermit) What I am trying to do is clean out the whole engine. It is not that old. Only 75K, but Kermey doesn’t have the get up and go he used to. I’d like a little spirit back. Again Im not well versed in engines but Im trying to learn. So please clarify. Adding it to the oil cleans the bottom, adding it to the intake cleans the top, right? Can I just remove the air cleaner and dump it into the intake while running, instead of pulling a vacum tube? That seems to me like the easiest way to get it in to the engine. I assume that will clean the injectors and inside the cylinders and exhaust valves? which will give back some pep. But do I miss out on anything by doing it that way? I am taking a long trip this weekend from central PA to CT (6hrs / 400mi each way). I wanted to do it prior to the trip since its supposed to help with mpg. I usually take my car to valvoline for oil changes especially in the winter. That is about 15 miles from my house. Is it safe to drive that far after the procedure before changing oil? Thanks for helping.

I just got a can of seafoam.... Now what do i do with it. Gas tank? Oil? Vacum hose? all of the above? And where might i find the correct vacum hose to suck it in?

Yah Gary, youre probably right. Have you ever turboed an NA engine? it would probably actually be easiest to just find a 2.2T from near the same year and swap that in whole, but i will find it difficult to take out a perfectly good engine that I KNOW has been taken care of, and put in another used one with an unknown history just for a little more power.

Were these Pics taken in Texas? it looks just like PA with the bare trees. we actually have quite a bit of sand here in the central PA too especially in the riverbead areas and mountains. I'm no geologist so i dont know why though.

You guys have great information. Thanks. So with a boxer the engine as a whole has 1/2 as many power strokes as it has cylinders, although each stroke's force is doubled because two are fireing at the same time accounting for the unique sound??? at least thats how it seems in my brain, which has lied to me before. Which models come with the 6cyl and has anyone stuffed one into a smaller model? like a 2000 Impreza Outback Sport he he he?

Sweet... next time make the passenger get out and take some action shots too..

Sweet.... Drifting off topic here for a sec.... did you see the TV version where he actually explains to "The Bobs" what TPS reports actually are? I dont recall the quote but basically they are useless.... that leads in to the joke where they ask Lumberg how much time he spends on TPS reports a week... Aad before you ask....Yes i am a HUGE Movie Dork!