sasquatch

the headers stock are actually quite good, cat backs are tricky if for no other reason then well...go under there and have a look, it should become clear pretty quickly. air intakes are cheap as are under drive pulleys. sticker are good for like 5hp/apiece right?

exactly, it's actually very, very common in all vehicles (even trucks) the sides are plastic and once cracked...you're f*d. I just replaced mine for $120....it's cheap and a pretty easy swap out. once it warms up use a flashlight and shine it on the passenger side, you probably have what looks like a hairline crack but you'll probably actually see small, sharp jets of water shoot out of it.

keep at it and have patience....it is a real PITA to bleed them right....you'll find pretty much everyone here has had to do it..

alternator sounds likely but I'm going to go out on a limb and say bad negative battery cable

That's not stupid at all. Stupid would have been to put the wrong stuff in even though you weren't sure.

likely the hydraulic lash adjusters. I had that problem for awhile...went to replace one...smacked it with a rubber mallet, it came unstuck.....50k later problem never came back.

p.s.: what really does make that knocking noise? the monkey I keep locked under my hood.

sounds like you might be vapor locked.....try *burping* your system...be patient, in can take time.....fairly common problem it seems with Subarus....

uh...no.

ahhh...that makes sense...thanks.

I presumed it was a big pain in the arse but was curious what all is involved. It'd likely be much easier to take the motor out of a FWD A/T car and put it into an AWD M/T car right?

There is a strange growling sound coming from the motor when the defrost button is engaged. I was hearing the same sound before when the A/C was pressed so I just thought it was the condenser going bad (still blows cold though)....but now on the way to work, the defrost is doing the same thing. What's up?

What's needed to make this happen? Anyone done this? I presume it's easiest w/same year but what range of years will work easiest? The current car is A/T

This is great advice....2 timing belts ago I was in to big of a hurry and I rounded off the bolt some.....I literally ended up grinding off the head of the old bolt and buying a replacement....pays to have the right tools....since them mine has come off with just a socket driver (a long one) but if it's stuck the wheel puller works well

I think that may be a different commercial...Subaru ran a lot of print ads before the commercials of a silver WRX they called a "rocket ship". Maybe I'm confused, but I still say WRX

I'm pretty sure it was the WRX

I would think it'd be hard to miss if you managed to short out your whole battery. Will it jump start?

Well, tonight I went to test my IAC...it seemed to test just fine. I pulled my PCV hose off to see if that valve was working....it was. I noticed though the the PCV hose was kinda crunchy. $0.99 later for a new hose and $2.50 for screw-type hose clamps and the problem appears to be solved. THANKS for all the advice and those that emailed me offering to sell me parts on the cheap. You guys are great.

sweet! That is good news... alot of belts come with the marks already on the belt.....so....we'll see if you remember that in 60K more

i've only done one drive in a Forester XT but i'm pretty darn sure that kicked in about 1200rpm.....that and they're suprising light weight is I think how they get such suprising 0-60 times. That was months ago though....might be wishful thinking on my part

That's true of the WRX but the Outback I think is much lower like the Forester XT...with that said I haven't driven an Outback XT so....FWIW

I'm too lazy to look it all up, but FWIW... It's all pretty easy...the belt tensioners are self explanatory and are around 10 to 13mm. The main pulley bolt is something like a 22. The only tricky thing is blocking off the main pulley. There is plastic port on the passenger side of the bell housing right behind the injectors. Pull the cap off and you can see little holes in there when you turn the pulley. I use a long screw driver stuck into one of the holes. oh yeah...the hydraulic tensioner for the idler has to come all the way off. It takes a lot of pressure to push it back when you go to reinstall it. Once off, use a C-clamp to push it back in. There is a little hole well you can stick a small allen to keep it depressed. The cam pulleys move pretty easily so you'll probably have to reset the timing. Again easy stuff...on the cam pulleys as I recall there are notches in the cam pulley and then also arrows...use the notches...they line up with obvious notches on the housing. The timing housing cover? Those are just little knurled nuts with a friction fit against plastic as I recall...don't overtighten them, or they'll become useless and just spin freely in the plastic. That's all I have time for right now. good luck

I definitely agree with the "burping" My Legacy was very, very finicky about having air in the system...took several times to get it right. Also, when the temp starts to creep up, feel the upper radiator hose....if that isn't hot then your thermostat might either be bad or installed upside down

holy crap, you got a free turbo wagon. Wow, good for you.

I was bummed after Tenacious D kicked me out (if you don't know what I'm talking about, ignore me).