curtisbad

it's welded to the two tow hooks under the car. i'll get some pics tomorrow and post them here. i basically built the push bar with a frame that mounted to the tapped holes under the car. they aren't strong enough to hold it,but i used them for centering purposes. then i ran some 5/8" solid round bar from the bottom of that frame to the tow hooks and welded the crap out of them.the pics should be self explainatory. and thanks for your comments so far. i'm pretty happy with the outcome. curtis

pics of my 4 inch lift. curtis its sitting on 235/75/15's. 4" lift , struts and sub frame.

got the lift finished on sunday the 13th. pics are on the way. the car looks great. will post pics within the next few days. curtis

thanks for the help and advice. i'm doing the lift next weekend (2/12). hopefully it'll go smoothly and without too many troubles. i'll take lots of pics and post them when i'm finished. i mounted some offroad lights on my pushbar today. i look something like a lit up christmas tree when i have my headlights , fog lights , my overhead lights and my pushbar lights all on at the same time. i love it!!!!! curtis

where are you located? i can get you some 2" or 2 1/2" diameter , thick walled pipe.... really cheap. pm me if you're near south carolina and i'll hook you up. got access to alot larger bender too to bend it with. curtis

yep , that's exactly what i was thinking. thanks for the advice. i'm going to drop everything 4" , i only have 2" and 4" tubing and i've talked myself out of only going 2". what about tires? i'm thinking a 235/70/15 . i'm currently running a 205/70/15 , which i am pretty sure is stock on an outback. does the 235 sound about right? i'll gladly go bigger if it's doable. curtis

just out of pure curiosity , how bad would the camber be if i did not drop crossmembers and how much stress would the axles be under? seems like they'd be just a pothole away from destruction. somebody (not from this site) suggested to me that i don't need to do anything but the strut blocks , but that seems crazy. curtis

what about extending the steering. i'm thinking about just cutting it , sleeving it and welding it into place. how much longer do i need to go ? i'm guessing it's probably a considerable amount. curtis

thanks. i appreciate the info. curtis

those look awesome! i bet they're fun to play with too. have you had them in any gooey mud yet? curtis

i'm doing a 4" strut block lift here in the next few weeks on an ej25 obw. my question is, how far do i need to drop the crossmembers? will 2" be enough, or do i need to drop them equally with the struts? thanks for the help in advance. curtis

i had exactly the same problem with my 97 ej25. the fix for me was removing and cleaning the IACV. i took it off, sprayed it down with carb cleaner and scrubbed it with an old toothbrush. that , a new gasket and some new bolts and i have no prob with the vibration anymore. hope this helps. curtis

there's about 8000 miles on the gaskets now. i did them in april. they were actually fel pro gaskets , even though i was told to go oem on them. i did go with a new oem rad cap and an oem t'stat when i did the head job. i am wondering however why my car is a 97 but the coil i had to buy for it was actually listed as a 96. the coil that comes from auto zone , advanced auto and napa for a 97 were nothing like mine. but i figured it out.

hello , i am curtis i live in south carolina. i have been a member here for a while but seldom post. i mostly "lurk" and use the search button. i drive a 97 legacy outback. thanks to this site and haynes, i have successfully replaced headgaskets on my ej25 (imagine that , huh) , removed and cleaned the IACV, and have done a ton of routine maintenance. through time i've become quite a good Subaru mechanic. i am now in the process of making her offroad capable. i have already fabbed up and installed a pushbar , put offroad lights on and am in the process of making a 4" lift kit , that i am going to install within the next month. look forward to talking to all of you. Curtis

in the past two weeks i have :replaced all of the ignition wires in my 97 legacy obw , the coil , the ects , cleaned the throttle body , regapped the spark plugs , ran sea foam thru it , built a home made lift that i will install in a few weeks and built and installed a pushbar

i have a 97 legacy outback and want to lift it . a body lift , maybe 3 inches. has anybody done one of these ? what was the outcome ? i'd appreciate any ideas or pics on a cheap yet good way of doing it. thanks

if it were me i'd just replace the head gaskets . i'm like 99% positive that is the problem . i had the same symptoms on my 97 obw and i fought with it for a month . new t'stat (oem) new rad cap (oem) all new hoses , flushed the radiator ; all to no avail . finally i broke down and did the head gaskets and corrected the problem . the cost of a new gasket kit , new head bolts and a few other odds and ends is well worth it . i did the job myself and only took two weekends . maybe 20 hours worth of work . or if you're not in to the diy thing it cost like $2500 at a shop . so if money is an issue ......... i dunno know what to tell you .

does anyone know how difficult it would be , or is it even possible to put a turbo from an ea81 (1983 gl) on to an ej25 (1997 legacy obw) . i just recently got my hands on a free 83 gl (its pretty ragged out) and it has a turbo . my obw doesn't . hmmmm , sounds like a good project . i just got finished doing a head gasket job and i'm feeling rather full of myself:banana: , i need another headache . lol . anyone know if its even possible to retrofit the turbo before i create a mess . btw , anyone need any parts from an old gl ?

thank you all ! i found the haynes and downloaded the files . now if i could just find the right torx head to fit the dang head bolts . i have all the others in my box but somehow i have managed to either lose or never bought the one i actually need . the engines out , stripped down ready to take off the heads and then . . . . . . . . yup , don't have the correct tooling . i guess a trip to sears is in order .

spent ALL afternoon driving around town looking for a dang chiltons with absolutely no avail . finally had to order one from the bookstore . looks like my project is off to a grand start . i read somewhere on the site about downloading the manual from subaru , i guess thats my next move . i've done a small amount of searching on here and been very sucessful finding the info i need . my symptoms are the very infamous overheating - 97 legacy outback with the 2.5 L . already replaced the thermostat twice . once with an after market and then with an OEM . i have also replaced the rad cap , flushed the radiator , replaced the ECTS , and had the check done to my radiator ; amazingly it came back that my gaskets were ok . i pieced together however that something wasn't right when every bit of coolant i put in the radiator mysteriously disappeared . at first i foolish thought that this was because i had HUGE amounts of air in the system and i burped it for 2 hours . obviously its the head gaskets , am i right to think that ? man , i really want to get my car back on the road ! i bought it to be a "project car" but this isn't exactly the project i was planning LOL . my ultimate goal is to lift her up 3" or 4" , put a breather on her and make a fun little toy for myself . the problem is right now its my main form of transportation . my wife has a nice new durango and i got my little soob about a month ago . before that i had a 87 f 150 (a true piece of crap) . any ways i'm just rambling . . . . i'll keep you up on my progress , wish me luck ! i need it LOL and yes , as of right now cost is an issue .

thanks . i was just trying to get a quick answer while at work

I have been through my entire cooling system and have come to the conclusion that the problem is indeed the head gaskets . (thank you for all the guidance to get me to that conclusion) I plan on starting the project tomorrow morning . . . . hoping it isn't more than I can handle . My question is, are Felpro gaskets a good replacement part , or much like the t'stat do I need to go OEM here also ? What brand of gaskets would the dealership sell me if I went there ? I plan on doing the complete overhaul while I'm at it , I figure that as long as I'm in there I might as well .

thanks . yeah , i had the t'stat in already and its in correctly , i was just pondering the wiggler . i've wondered it before . like i said maybe i'm just stupid .

Exactly what in the world is the "wiggler" on the thermostat for and does it matter what its location is when putting it in ?