NWSubie

Wow now im really hoping my axle nut is not stuck as bad as that one was. I think I would have mounted that nut on the shop wall as a trophy! Haha

I'm pretty sure the reason its stuck on is due to me being dumb and jamming the flat head screw driver in that notched part of the axle. once it snapped off I knew I was in trouble. I did use my 1/2" breaker bar and a 2 foot pipe on that and it didn't budge. A friend I gonna try his impact on it tomorrow I'm really hopping that works. Its funny as soon a I broke the screw driver I found the chisel I was originally looking for... Figures haha.

I ended up callin it quits for today. I may just take it to a local 4x4 shop and see if their impact will get it off.

so I was not thinking and I was using a flat head screw driver to bend that little indented part of the axle nut and I snapped it off... So now the broken tip is acting like a wedge. And i dont own any ampact guns unfortunetly.

When I bought my 98 impreza it had the same issue the guy I bought it from had a spare clock spring and he actually swapped it out in about 20 min while I stood there. From what I saw he disconnected the battery so the air bag wont accidentally deploy and he took the screws out that are on the backside of the steering wheel Assembly (right behind the horn) and I believe the whole air bag Assembly should come out. DO NOT JUST PULL THE AIR BAG/HORN ASSEMBLY OFF UNTIL YOU REACH UNDER IT AND UNPLUG THE WIRES/CLOCK SPRING just in case its still working fine otherwise you will just snap it off anyways. Guy I bought my car from runs a Subaru shop out in Damascus OR. and he said most of his airbag dash light repairs were due to customers trying to fix something else on and they don't unplug the spring and the snap it while removing the airbag/horn. I may have missed a step or two so do some research but over all its not too hard of a job. Good luck

Well thats good to know for future refrence. I was out looking at my car today and noticed both cv axles had torn boots with very little grease left in them. I have bad luck buying cars I guess, I belive the last four cars I bought I had to do front axles on shortly after buying them. But oh well shouldnt be to hard I have done quite afew diffrent cars now. but im assuming the thuding I get hiting bumps is just the axles but I guess I will find out.

OK well thank you all for the help I will defiantly make sure I'm buying the kyb's stated to be for the OBS wagon. And Fairtax4me I'm pretty sure its a strut they appear to be the original ones and it now is 14 years old with 136k on them. I had an 87 GL that was making a noise that sounded just like the ones my impreza is making now after swapping the struts it rode better and did not thud over bumps any more. I jacked up the car and tried to wiggle the front tires both side to side and the top of the tires all seems to be fine there and I have new wheel bearing so I'm sure those are fine.

Well its time for me to replace my struts on my car im getting tired of hearing the slight clunking sounds when driving over bumps. My question is what are the best ones to use for an OEM ride quality I just need her for a daily driver and am like most of us these days on a budget... So any sudgestions on where to buy all four struts at a good price would be greatly appreciated. And also im kinda unclear on if the impreza struts are for the outback sport. I know I will be using my obs coils on the new struts but are there spesific struts for yhe obs model? I like the higher ride hight the car has because I take it up camping and mountian biking. Thank you, Nwsubie

I know this is an old post but I just wanted to add my fix for the missing nylon stopper that some previous people had mentioned. I to bought a 98 OBS that had non working cruise control. And after finding this thread I found it to to be that I too was missing the white nylon stopper leaving me with just a hole on the clutch pedal arm. my quick solution instead of taping a penny is to get one of those little plastic trim fasteners. I used one out of a hatch I have its the kind that hold the rear hatch plastic trim on inside the car. I would suggest finding one that is flat on top so it makes even smooth contact with the switch. Took me a minute to install cause it just pushes into the hole in the clutch arm. I thought I would just share how I fixed my cruise control problem so others searching can have a few ideas.

Well shes running again turned out to be a few things, I had a drain from the stereo that killed the battery while it had been sitting. And I had a cheap harbor freight tester so it didn't read my battery correctly. So with the help of Sube4x4 we swapped out the battery and positive terminal head and now shes running like she used to. Thanks for your help/ suggestions I guess I learned that most of the time cheap tools and equipment are not worth wasting money on. haha

Its been about a week and a half that shes been sitting but I do have a jumper box I can hook up and see if that does the trick. And the ground cable is only about 4 months old and I did check it to see if its tight and all seem fine.

So went out to fire up my wagon a few days ago and it just made a few clicking/buzzing sounds and the starter never even attempted to engage. I had previous problems with the starter before so I just swapped it out with a junkyard one. But its still doing the exact same thing leaving me to assume its not the starter after all. Any ideas on what to check? I tested the battery its fully charged so that should not be the case and I cleaned up the two connectors (the positive lead cable, and the spade plug) that attach to the starter. I hope its just a simple thing I over looked. Thank you, Nwsubie 1980 DL Wagon With 86 Hatch EA81 swap

I also had a gas smell in my 98 Impreza outback sport ended up being a small crack in a fuel vapor line right above the gas tank, I could really smell it on hot days. And my CEL came on. I had my mechanic fix it since I really didn't want to try to drop the tank myself. Had I had a lift then I would have been able to though. I would definitely get her checked out soon though gas leaks can get scary really quick! When i was a kid my parents had a 67 camero that caught fire from a fuel leak, luckily someone passing by had an extinguisher and the car only needed some rewiring in the end. Good Luck

I cant remember if I have the warmer thermostat in this car or nor. Its on its second motor and im not sure what one I swaped it on haha.

So just a plain fan will defog the glass? Im not sure that will help in a few weeks when its frozen though. I had thought about wiring in some pc fans since they are small but I still dont have much heat in the car until I drive for at least 30min.

So here it is winter again and back to sitting in my car waiting 15+ minutes after work just for the windshield to un fog enough to safley drive, forget about the rear it takes at least an hour to unfog. So my question is has anyone found a cheap solution to install an electric heater? I was kinda wanting to install it in the roof right at the rear window so it would defrost it. (not a single one of my defroster lines work due to an exgirlfriends dog clawing them) I have seen the little 12volt golf cart heaters but $200 is way out of my budget plus way coller mods can be done for that. Haha any help or ideas would be awsome. Thanks 1980 ea81 wagon

Thats a good lookin car you have there that body does not look like it has 204k on it. I wish my 80 was that straight. I also like how you cut the front fenders at a tapper looks like it was made that way. I have been debating on the ej swap but unfortunetly living in an apartment really hold that project up. haha

My 80 4spd D/R once got stuck in low range and no matter what I did I couldnt get to to shift into fwd. so thinking my tranny was done I got another. But before swaping it I found oit that I had only lost a bolt in the end of the shift linkage that connects to your 4x4 lever. You may check this linkage its located on the drivers side if the tranny you can see it from the engine bay. I was lucky and I just had to replace the bolt in mine and its now been a year down the road and shes still moving. Knock on wood haha now that I have said that ill probably blow my trans on my way home from work tonight. Good luck.

That is a good lookin subie and I like the bumper! Is itsturdy enough to mount a skid plate to?

Thanks for the reply and link ill order the correct seal and get this project underway soon.

So I recently found out my rear differential is leaking on my 80 wagon its leaking at the part that connects to the drive line. I think I found the right part on Rockauto but wanted to double check that that I am looking at the right seal. Is the seal that goes to the drive line called the differential seal sorry if its a dumb question haha. Thanks http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php

If 205's are close to rubbing then 225's would probably not be good for me I go camping a lot and frequently load gear into my car I would most likely rub. Thanks and I'm starting to think that buying rims with the same offset as factory would be smarter I read that it can take a toll on the bearings having wheel with a lot different offset, not sure if thats true but seems possible.

Im looking at buying a set of wheels for my impreza but I cant seem to find info on if that size will fit. They seller thinks they are +40 or 45 offset. Thanks

Well after several trys still not getting the key fob to work not a huge deal but this is my first car with a key fob so I was kinda excited for that when I bought it. Oh well maybe ill figure it out someday.

Im pretty sure it is its a small black button that has two small brown wires that run to the wireless door lock box. The button mounts just under the steering column.