idosubaru

i would buy a complete timing kit. they're only $80 - $120 and include all the pulleys, tensioner, and belt. can't beat that price for 60,000 mile reliability. i can't tell what's going on by the pics. the bearings in the pulley can seize and the belt then slides over the pulley instead of rolling with it. this sliding heats up the belt and can leave deposits on the pulleys. in some ways that doens't look like what's happening here...but who knows, maybe it did and hte belt broke and this is a new belt? or it's something else. don't know. clean up the snout with a file, grinder, disc, sand paper, and just bolt another crank pulley in place, no big deal. i wouldn't bother with the keyway...heck i probably wouldn't bother with the crank pulley until you figure out the belt thing and get it running. it'll run without the crank pulley and belts in place if you have it hooked up to a good battery or another vehicle.

google some other pictures online and post a link to the bolts that were hard to line up. for instance: http://repairguide.autozone.com/znetrgs/repair_guide_content/en_us/images/0996b43f/80/22/f8/0f/medium/0996b43f8022f80f.gif pull up a pic like that and tell us which bolt/part you had a problem with. drink some coffee, use those neurons a bit, and you can help us help you! honestly suspension bolts/parts are often hard to line up because of the suspension being loaded by struts pushing down - sway bars pushing back up - and the weight of various items. lots of suspension parts are hard to line up even on brand new vehicles. come along or tow strap wrapped around a tree will pull that bumper out easily. loosen bumper mount bolts in frame rail (it's only like 2 14mm bolts each side next to engine) and pull the bumper out.

i have a full under seat wiring harness including heated seat wiring and I think the switches for 95-99 Legacy's, yours for $35. i'm not sure if there's another reason or the seats are better but the OBW and such seats have felt notably better than the L seats I've been in.

get a Subaru drain plug gasket (washer). if the drain plug isn't Subaru, get a Subaru drain plug. i've seen aftermarket plugs and gaskets leak. clean the mating surface up really good on the oil pan. i never replace Subaru drain plug gaskets (the washer) - i've run them over 100,000 miles many many times. get Subaru parts and be done with it.

i'm pretty sure the pulleys are interchangeable even if there are two part numbers.

Best bet would be to post some pictures so we can see what you're talking about and how bad the damage is. some of us have repaired lots of Subarus and they always do basically the same things just to varying degrees - so we can tell you exactly what's going on if you give us more information. i've repaired a number of wrecked Subarus - including totaled/salvages which had to be recertified by the state to be able to ever register/tag them again. what exactly is wrong - so far "body is twisted 1/8 to 1/4"....that tells us almost nothing. hard to say. 1/8" to 1/4" is such a small amount i seriously doubt you need to do much of anything...but again you need to tell us what you mean. highly doubt your "body" is truly out that much. you can have one particular bolt hole or small area that's off by a little bit....but everything else is spot on. in those cases - it's meaningless. minor stuff you can usually work around and it's not a big deal. you can most likely get an alignment and you're golden. if it is truly bent beyond simple at home stuff (i highly doubt it) you can get a quote for some time on a frame rack to straighten it out.

sounds like headgaskets, but of course rule out simple stuff. that engine is the worst engine Subaru ever made in terms of major repairs/failures, so this is very common. cooling issues, lack of cabin heat, bubbles in overflow - all classic symptoms. the 1/3 temp gauge does sound like the thermostat is compromised, either intentionally or not. if it was an older lady she also probably wouldn't know what a mechanic, friend, or relative may or may not have done to the vehicle.

ah ha, indeed.

crack, sorry about your loss. very cool you have a remaining common interest! Engine repair algorithm: Does it have a carb? YES: that's the issue NO: check fuel, spark, compression with those three things an engine runs. joking (somewhat) aside - it's probably the carburetor. it'll need cleaned, rebuilt, replaced, or adjusted or two or three of those things multiple times. LOL Did the car change altitude when it went from you-to-dad? Carburetors need adjustment for altitude I think?

The keyway is entirely unnecessary if you don't want to dig into it right now. I use a 3 foot cheater pipe over my socket and get it "good-and-tight" with no torque wrench. Crank bolt never loosens. I don't even care when I pull a pulley and see no pin/keyway in it or come across one with a damage/sheared off/broken crank/bolt/sprocket/keyway, don't even hesitate or think twice. I'll install a new pulley and bolt and done, no worries about the key.

a good paint job will cost roughly $200 per panel or $3,000 minimum. you get what you pay for. a cheap $500 MAACO paint job will look like a cheap $500 paint job. it'll look good from 20 feet away and not last as long. done right it is extremely labor intensive - the prep, application, and prepping between coats is the difference between poor, good, and great. generally the primer?, paint, and clear are bought/used as a set, the new paints are highly technical and work best together as a complete system. there are probably ways to parse that if one knows a lot about it. i'm sure you can google enamel and get comparisons and pros/cons lists - that won't be subaru specific. i've looked into this before and i think the answer is no - but is there a way to re-clearcoat your vehicle rather than completely repaint it?

There is no practical reason to buy a JDM EJ22. but practicality holds little value to most people, so if you want one, go buy it. perfectly good EJ22's are easy to find in the US, so obscure sources aren't much needed. although i get that the NW is a challenging place for Subaru parts. www.car-part.com someone on the forum probably has one as well. JDM is a good source for EJ25's due to their prominence and propensity to blow headgaskets and lower end bearings. they have a higher failure rate, higher prices, and the demand is such that sometimes it's hard to find a reasonable solution. it is then that JDM is a good fit. but none of that holds true for EJ22's, so it would be a last resort for me.

$50 is certainly fair and on the low side in rust prone areas where these things are always replaced. probably worth $50 - $150 for both pieces. out west, where they never even have to replace this stuff, probably harder to find someone that needs it. the converter might be worth more than that at a scrap yard...but that's only if you know how/where to sell one, it's hard to find places that will give you real values.

easiest and most practical solution is to install a set of used EJ22 heads - any Legacy or Impreza 1996-1998 EJ22 heads will be a direct swap. www.car-part.com alternately you can have a shop simply replace the valves and do a valve job. that will be $200 - $500 depending what all they do. generally don't need a part number for the heads, they'd be killer expensive from subaru.

yes - when buying a blown head gasket subaru you really have no idea how well it was treated or badly it was overheated. what if they knew they were going to dump it cheap on craigslist and abused it? if the timing covers are melted/distorted (which i've seen before) you may want to look into another engine. 99-01 EJ22's swap in place of that engine as well.

i generally stick with stock unless there's a compelling practical reason to upgrade. if they're original or really tired or were used on gravel/rough roads - i'd probably replace the springs rather than get beefier struts. (coming from the guy who replaced his struts and had a spring fail a few months later - and had to disassemble them again LOL) you'll get 90% improvement by just replacing the old warn out stuff. if trying something else is worth another 5% to you - go for it!

what does that mean? if you literally had nothing then that means no power: 1. battery 2. terminals 3. battery cables 4. main fuse/fusible links (if equipped) if by "nothing" you mean you have power but the engine won't turn over: 1. starter 2. ignition switch 3. battery cable if by "nothing" you mean the engine turns over but never runs....

ignition switch?

tire age and quality will mean more than anything else. flatland like IN is so easy to drive in the snow in - but also because of that people pay little attention to tires. poor snow performing tires can leave you sliding right down a snow covered steep mountain with no ability to stop. once a few thousand pounds starts sliding down a frozen/snow packed, steep incline, you're done until you hit something. you'll be fine. i doubt you're downshifting on a snow covered highway bend?

i've gotten KYB's for mine and they seem well enough.

1998 OBS has ABS. you can check by looking for the sensor on the front hubs. It's really obvious. ABS equipped vehicles have a wire running down the strut (usually bolted to a bracket on the strut) and running into the knuckle/hub. ***this bracket is probably why there's a difference in struts: you can install ABS struts on non-ABS cars since they don't need the bracket it just wont' be used. but installing non-ABS struts on ABS vehicles will leave you without a bracket to bolt to otherwise i bet they're the same. Non-ABS vehicles don't have that. look at yours - behind the wheel - on the strut - you'll see a wire i'm almost positive that it's ABS equipped.

engine and trans will bolt up just fine the EJ18 intake manifold/TPS sensor (which the transmission uses info from) are way different than the EJ22 electronically. i'm not sure if that matters...i'd guess it doesn't matter - but clarify that... instead of swapping the torque converter - you can also swap the flexplate. i've got an EJ25 flexplate on my EJ18 - so you can definitely bolt your EJ18 flexplate to your Ej22. i'd guess the torque converters are interchangeable, but just a guess. someone recently saw different torque converters (i'm wondering if it was me on my 03 AT frankentrans this summer?).

what brand headgasket was used? if it wasn't an MLS headgasket (Six Star, Fel Pro (some), or Subaru Turbo/variant) - then the headgasket is likely to blame. Don't use cheap gaskets on this. when you removed the head the second time could you tell where the breech was? 1. if it was "vomitting" coolant i would expect the breech to be obvious 2. if you didn't notice - i wonder if the headgasket was for sure the caused? i doubt the pins are the issue. i can't imagine the headgasket shifting once clamped into place properly. but i would certainly make sure they're in place the next time around.

Gates kits on Amazon are only $100 and are good. theimportexpert kits on Ebay are good as well - check them and see what brand they sell - i forget. GMB components are good - and may be what comes in theimportexpert kits i think? check other sources - like ebay, Subaru, google etc and you can usually find out if impreza and OBS struts are the same or different and get part numbers/different that way. don't put blinders on by only relying on rockauto - i've seen enough discrepancies in their online database that i generally don't trust it without crossreferencing to another site.

that is only applicable to automatic transmissions - the manual trans don't have FWD fuses so if the VLSD center diff fails there is no work around for it aside from converting the car to FWD or RWD. which brings up the point that i'm assuming the OP has a manual transmission but they never said.