Setright

Subylvr, that's not good practice. Over torquing can cause bolts to snap.

When designing an engine, I reckon air flow around the valves, into the combustion chamber and around the piston crown plays a bigger role than snapped timing belts.

IAC Idle Air Control valve. Search the board, you'll find loads of info on how to clean it. Check also for a sticking throttle cable.

For peace of mind and straight con-rods, stick with 91. 89 is risk, and the damgage could cost far more than what you might save at the pumps.

Not stuck on, more likely it's disconnected. The Oil light should come on before starting the engine, along with all the other dash lights. If it doesn't either the bulb is blown or the wire to the sensor is disconnected. Sensor looks like a spark plug screwed straight into the engine block. Not sure where it is on your engine. Dash removal is quite easy. Two "hidden" screws inside the dash cowl, above the dials. Then pull toward you on the base of the cowl. Don't break it, but you might be surprised by how hard you have to pull. Undo the screws securing the dash binnacle (not the ones holding the perspex on the binnacle) and unhook the wires behind it. Mine has three, but it's a 1999 model. Your's may have two wire sockets and a speedo cable. Presto! After a bit of juggling the thing will come out past the steering wheel.

Warm it with a hair drier and then dental floss as above :-)

Red is to be used only bolts you have no intention of removing again. On a "service" item like the crank bolt, blue is the way to go. Stops it shaking lose, but will come off with a small extension on the wrench come cambelt-day.

For those who are like me and have the irrational-fear-of-stripping-threads disease, try this: Lift the rear of the car so that the rear wheels catch about 6 inches of air. This tilts the engine block far enough forward to let the coolant drain out through the thermostat hole. If you also suffer from I-am-a-bit-nerdy-about-car-maintenance disease, drain all the coolant into a graduated container, just to verify the volume of drained coolant. The tilt system drains all but ca. 400ml of the entire 6000ml capacity

Yes, it sounds like the headgaskets are tired. My EJ22 behaved exactly like yours when it blew a gasket at 120K miles. Do the work, keep the car. You'll miss the EJ22 if it goes.

K&N panel filter and a "Ganzflow" re-route will give you all that you need :-)

Adjust the fluid level in the reservoir. Use ATF fluid. The "cold" marks mean less than 20 degrees C. And, tighten the drive belt a bit.

The most likely result is more understeer and more roll in corners. My Impreza doesn't have one, and it's not an essential component. However, a car that has one fitted from stock, will also have it's springs balanced to accomodate it. Removing it will produce understeer for sure, and maybe some odd behaviour, but it's not gonna throw you off the road without warning.

Not at all. It still sucks from the same fender cavity as the stock system. Arguably it's gonna be better, 'cause it faces down instead of up like the stock mouth. Although the intake silencer that I suggest you remove may help separate some water droplets, due to the sharp turn inside the silencer. Just throw a K&N filter in the stock airbox. Ran my Legacy EJ22 for 70k miles like this, from 120k to 190k and it is still running fine. Now with over 200k on the odo. So, this setup is tried and tested :-)

Support the filter with some sturdy rubber bushings and the like, too many vibes will kill your MAF sensor - expensive. I would stick with the stock air box and just remove the intake silencer that lives inside the fender cavity. Run a short pipe from the air box into the fender cavity to feed cooler air. End that pipe in a trumpet/bell mouth. In fact, that's what I did do! Makes a nice sound, without being too loud. http://www.geocities.com/vik2r/Sube/intake2.jpg

Well, I had a hitch on my year 2000 Impreza and it fit okay with the Subaru branded hitch and the Subaru branded "Sport Muffler". I took the hitch off 'cause I never use it and I might as well the save the weight. The outer rear hanger attaches to the frame rail, and this is automatically lowered when you install the hitch because you just bolt the hitch frame inbetween the hanger and chassis. 2005 models aren't very different underneath, so I would surprised if you couldn't combine both on these two. Come to think of it, the president of the local Impreza club has a 2005 STi Impreza with STi exhaust and totally hidden trail hitch. Fits easy! So, assuming the hitch sold in the states is the same shape....you should be okay.

Sure, but I would suggest only re-using the black shims. These have a soft coating that will absorb vibes and keep the brakes quiet. Tips that come to mind: Get a big g-clamp and compress the caliper BEFORE you undo anything. This keeps the brake piston moving straight, as it is still controlled by the caliper slide pins. You might need to compress it some more when installing both new pads and discs (not much room!) and therefore run the last stretch straight on the piston, but starting this way helps. Oh, and you might have been knocking the CV lock pin from the wrong side. It's conical. They have a small mark (triangle?) to indicate that's the side to hit.

Those little stress warts can turn humungous at speed !

That's a lot of oil going down the pipes! I would reckon that your compression rings are letting oil slip by and get burned off. Yes, there is a third "oil scraper" ring, or two rings actually, separated by a wavy spring, kinda like sandwich cardboard. The oil scraper is there to deliver oil to the top of the cylinder wall to prevent wear. With a lot of wear, to either compression rings or cylinder wall, oil will burn off. Surely the car emits some blue smoke from the tailpipe? You could try to run some "Seafoam" through the engine in the hope that you're rings are just coked up and not sealing properly.

Please get a picture of the hammered bolt. It would help us decide if you have damaged something vital. Can you find someone who has worked on brakes before to assist you? The construction is pretty simple - and therefore reliable! - but there a few things to be aware of. In particular, you must use a torque wrench to tighten the caliper support bracket bolts. Too loose and the brakes will be very erratic and rattle. Too tight and the bolts might snap suddenly and leave you with NO brakes. At least get a Haynes manual for the car, it'll steer you clear of the big mistakes.

Something inside the gearbox is worn out. Could be synchro ring, could be a main bearing. Geabox has to come out to remedy. Unless it's a gear stick linkage problem. Should be easy to check, there is only link.

On my Impreza it is IMPOSSIBLE not to spill on gearbox oil on the exhaust pipes when draining the old stuff out. No amount of wiping will get it all off. Then you go a drive and burn it off! Dang that stuff reeks!

High frequency noise could be the diode brigde in the alternator is bust. Stereo doesn't have to be on to here that. Does the alternator become too hot to touch? Sure sign.

The funny thing is, that no matter what the brand, or whether its mineral or pure synthetic, it ALL stinks! The "Extreme pressure" additives must the culprit. YUCK!

The Sportshift has been developed in co-operation with Prodrive, the English company that builds the WRC cars. It should be good ;-) However, be wary that not all models have this as standard!

Which plugs? NGK "V Groove" are the best suited.