bluedotsnow

a few days ago i got a text from the owner of the 2000 outback after replacing the whole engine wiring harness, she reported that the trans still shifts a bit hard sometimes but no check engine light and she passed smog which was the whole reason they came to me in the first place. CASE CLOSED!

again if you don't lower your main cross members with lift blocks and all the other jazz involved its not going to line up I'd venture to bet you can worp the top hat mount by hammering and other buffoonery just do it like it was intended its not that hard and adds a lot to controllability of the car

if you list that brighton your going to have to grab alot more parts than just the struts at your local junk yard. people do just the struts but it is extremely hard to get the bolts to line up, in my case getting all the right parts was easier than forcing the struts to fit. if you want to go from base brighton or L to outback this is what you need! struts and springs lift blocks with longer bolts rear diff guard spacers rear control arm brackets rear sway bar with mounts front control arm bushings or as SOA puts it "Transverse link" drive shaft with appropriate carrier bearing trans cross member steering wheel column extension link and proper steering wheel ^ all of these parts are different with different part numbers check opposedforces.com they are ment to work together, after doing mine WOW! with some 17's it feels like a while new car and I'm getting 30.1 MPG with a ram air mod and grandma driving. I'm using my L steering wheel column and an outback link extension and its way to tight I have to have my tllt wheel as high as it will go and have some washers as spacers to keep the ujoints from hitting the brake master cylinder. I have read that you can use the stock base,l,brighton steering link but only a small portion of the splines grab so in rally conditions they can come loose or shear, NO STEERING, NO THANK YOU! and then thats only for lifting if you want to have it all you gotta swap engine and trans to0 2.5l with an outback/ forester trans for the proper gearing and don't forget about your differentials the trans will come with the front bolted on but you have to drop and swap the rear diff to match the front. BTW if you get all the parts this can be done in about a day it took me several because I had to keep going back to various yards for different parts. I also lifted my rear months before I did my front for larger load capacity, I only installed rear struts, sway bar, lift blocks. ramble ramble have fun!

best cooling system purchase ever is a radiator filler funnel! locks in place so you can keep the cap off while filling and the engine is running. when I change my coolant I fill the block then the radiator turn the car on let it idle for 10 minutes while I add coolant till burped and topped off.

I took a field trip to my friend for testing purposes and to verify my solder joints were not the cause of the problem returning, they were not. I was able to prod the lower engine wiring harness enough to make the symptoms completely disappear.she told me to come out because the car was bucking every trip, when I was prodding I could change the idle with pressure on the harness! I think the 5V reference wire is not fully intact will update after I install the new harness on saturday btw random rant I was working on my moms 91 volvo 740 installing a new computer, the last rump roast HAT who opened it PENA AUTO OF VALLEJO, CA ripped a chunk of shielding from a wire along with several strands of metal and left it exposed to ground to the frame! thanks heavens for common sense and electrical tape I almost blew a gasket!

W0RD gald someone else is trying to keep these cars on the road, I swear people do the darndest things to these subys! I'm based in cali and trying to get my own subaru repair business off the ground. atm I'm dealing with a poor women who has had 3 tps replacements but no actual diagnostic work just parts throwers...... I didn't know the wiring could be so brittle have you had any wiring harness problems where more than half the strands in a given wire are broken under the plastic shielding?

make sure the trans your putting in matches the rear differential gear ratio! if not your going to shred a diff! we just got into a a 98 obw that someone thought it would be a great idea to replace only two front tires so they mismatched 205/75/15 in the front and 205/70/15 in the back BAD NEWS! got the new trans in and found out my roomie who did the inspection didn't even do a compression test or really check the block so now we have to do head gaskets too x.x measure twice!

your going to need alot more parts to make what you started right! you need front control arm bushings or as subaru puts it transverse link rear control arm bracket rear sway bar with mount brackets ^ those parts will help your travel and wheel articulation it also centers your wheels in the wheel wells. body lift blocks with bolts for front and rear cross members drive shaft with proper carrier bearing rear diff protector and brace spacers transmission cross member engine dog bone mount ^ these parts are only needed if you want the rest of your lift and depending on who you ask the first set of parts can be used without this set. drivetrain to make a real outback you need 4.11 differentials with different gear ratios soooooo your going to need an outback trans with rear diff plus TCU I will take a better picture from dead on side so you can see the difference in where the wheel is compared to the wheel well

HA HA it works better if you just nip the entire thermostat mechanism where it attaches to the circular bracket my girlfriends wagon came with this mod if you can call it such a thing. the previous owner had a stuck closed thermo so he cut the functional bit out leaving a metal ring for the rubber gasket and a big hole

if you don't want to loose your refrigerant use the rope trick. when you need to crack the crank bolt loose take a spark plug out and run CLEAN thin nylon rope into one cylinder, fill it up with rope when its a the bottom of its stroke or opposite of Top Dead Center then gingerly use a breaker bar to crack loose. if its stuck on it could bend valves but with the nylon cushion I have never had it happen to me. used this trick on several ej22 motors last time I had my timing belt done I couldn't do it myself I found out after the fact that the guy's impact gun was several inches to big so he just took the condenser off venting my refrigerant....

when your taking it off the car it would be a REALLY GOOD IDEA to remove the tire and compress the spring before doing ANYTHING ELSE. if you really did brake the "jesus"nut or nut that holds the spring tension when you start unbolting the knuckle or top hat bolts spoob will fly apart from the springs tension! be very careful depending on how and whats broken it could hit you if you don't compress the spring first!

just thought I'd chime in doesn't sound like this but I was talking with my roomie and he said that on a manual trans if you move the car while in gear engine off you change its timing. these cars are tempermental when it comes to timing half a tooth off will run like crap.is it possible you parked it on a hill in gear then released the ebrake and let the car roll? engine off of course

check air filter? check compression? check spark plugs? check for vacuum leaks 5 times then have someone else do it. some are very hard to see and require uv gasses to find. I know when I did my air intake muffler swap to the new generation from the old single tube style one of the vacuum hose connecters was somewhat cracked where it mounted to the plastic box. I just epoxied it but thats a good example of a phantom leak that would be hard to find. \ I have heard alot of sticky iac stories....

to test the cooling fans just turn on the AC and look at the fans they should both run when the AC IS ON. where is the general area the coolant leak is coming from? when I bought my car it needed heads so I replaced all the main coolant hoses but forgot about the coolant bypass going to the heater core sure enough right at the hose clamp a small rip had developed from being old and pinched in place for so long. it would only leak when the car had driven for a half hour because of the size of the tear, on a 70 mile trip it was enough to deplete my radiator causing the car to overheat. .

OH YES

Please guys help me figure this out so I can bring a subaru fan back from the scrap yard! or so to speak. I came into contact with a women who owns a 00 outback since 09 the car has randomly throws TPS codes and in doing so creates a "blind shifting" scenario or "shift shock" as the owner puts it. I replaced the TPS pigtail portion of the wiring after dissecting it I found that the reference voltage wire had only 3 intact strands and the rest were broken evenly in one spot.she drove 300 miles after this service no problem then it started again. in the last few days when she first saw the at light flash indicating an upcoming episode of "shift shock" she kept driving instead of powering off the car to reset the computers (doing so prevents shift shock) the car stayed in second and would not shift out of second no matter what speed she was going. this sounds like limp mode to me! my plans for her next visit are to voltage drop test every sensor pathway under the hood thats on the same circuits as the TPS. as well as monitor graphs with my scanner. when I fixed the TPS pigtail my l;largest clue was that when in run the transmission would emit a high pitched buzz when the TPS pigtail was wiggled dropping the reference voltage due to the broken strands. could reference voltage slamming around like that damage the trans solenoids? anyone know exactly what part that was buzzing? I also noticed that prefix the tps when graphed had a stair step rhythm to it but post pigtail replacement it was a very smooth slope. any and all help appreciated I really want to restore her faith in subarus she has shelled out over bluebook to dealers just so they could do things like install 3 NEW TPS, one place apparently replaced the whole engine harness. last code she got from her scanner a few days ago was a p1142, the car also randomly throws thermostat codes too but does not overheat or exhibit signs of a cooling problem.

after a trip to the junk yard for a rear trans cross member and she lives I like my girls big x.x

its official! all "necessary" outback suspension parts on my 96 L with some 05 outback wheels I picked up for a $100 with tires. 17x7 225/55/17 millimeters of clearance at full lock but absolutely no rubbing on anything.

USE ANTI SEIZE!!!!!!! it pays off! ON EVERYTHING POSSIBLE! I even used to anti seize my steel rims to the outside of the rotor

why is it these places hire people who read about working on cars in magazines but don't seem to have a hint of applied knowledge? I have applied at many auto parts stores and was only called back by one but I had a better option at time time.

today I'm installing front outback kit ie steering extension, lit blocks, struts, control arm bushings... a few days ago I installed the final piece to my rear end, the rear control arm bracket. I have to say that the car handles a little differently and I think the articulation is important! plus if you want to go really big with tire wheel combos you need the extra bit of clearance! I can see on the red subaru above that there is clearly more space on the outermost part of your wheel wells, between the tire and wheel well I experienced the same thing in the rear with just the control arm brackets missing. will get pics up when I'm done got some 05 outback 225/55/17's !!!! gonna look SICK!!!!

can and should are two different matters! wont struts with no lift blocks increase the angle of the cv axles both front and rear? I hear the more angle the faster they die.

I have a 96 legoback. I have been told and seen a 96 impreza with 01 forester suspension.... I have a friend with a first gen legacy and was wondering about strut options for him.

I have grabbed a few cv axles out of the junk yard OEM FOR CHEAP! if there is no play in either joint and the boots are good WHY NOT?

a few months back I smashed my y pipe on a large piece of assfault, mountain road.... I think the pipe might be craked and am going for a replacement tomorrow anyone know how this could negatively effect preformance ie to much back pressure if pipe is smashed or faulty o2 readings from a crack thats leaking? Thanks! 96 legoback