idosubaru

i've seen those clips rusty enough i'd never want to reuse them before....but hard to imagine that new - how bad is the ocean induced rust there? probably not bad enough for that. first hunch is bad luck. that's a lot of miles for a small island, was it shipped there? is that 97k of stop and go Kona 3pm-5pm traffic? the big island is awesome! poking sticks in lava and having them ignite, yes!

aluminum wheels are known to have the lugs come loose for some reason. i've seen some shops *require* (probably more of a CYA many times) you to return within 50 miles or something to check/retorque them. i'm not sure why they're known to come loose, but they do. a good clean up of the hub, wheel mating surface and chasing the threads of the studs and lugs with taps/dies would probably be my first step. are the studs/lugs compromised from the first time they came loose?

good call john, could put two 175's up front to see what happens. if they perform terribly in the rain or otherwise i can throw them away or put them on the rear for a year. i *might* put two spares in the trunk just in case.

some year legacy's need the cruise control computer swapped as well if you have it and want to retain it. i've done later ones, not sure about 1st gen stuff. easiest way is to get an entire donor vehicle that's wrecked, blown motor, etc. i just picked up an 03 Legacy manual to be used for a trans swap for $500.

ended up being a missing bolt, which I had never touched before, in the engine bay was rattling - the top pitch stopper bolt. it was right against the firewall and sounded like it was vent/dash related. would only vibrate when in drive and brake on - so I was never able to hear it from the engine bay without putting it in Drive and Ebrake on at the same time when i realized how loud it was outside.

i've gotten them before without issue from advanced auto parts rockauto or thepartsbin. won't be surprised to one day have a problem but so far not yet. haven't done turbo rears.

yeah do the exhaust gaskets now before the rust/bolts get any worse!

right on. no word on the cause? gasket looked good...so, who knows?

i'm ready to go to 185's at least....175's seem too small...for no other reason than they aren't common to recent subarus. comparing winter/summer driving is hard. air density is different, cars run/idle more in the winter, people travel and drive different in snow/ice verses summer time, etc. interesting math, i see what you're saying. maybe i'll try 175's on the rear and see how they do. or i'll go look at them first before installing them and say "WOW, way too small"

on wet roads you are screwed...what do you mean - it's more likely to hydroplane in a 175 than 185? i'm not too worried about it. like i said i have a whole fleet of subaru's to pick from, this one is not my rough weather ride.

i've already done the higher PSi - i do that to all my cars. i'd rather talk about the question in the title and not discuss this. no one else is driving a heavy EJ25 vehicle swapped to EJ18, it's totally different from most other subarus. and after 60,000 miles i already know it helps: going larger than stock significantly reduces performance/mileage, it seems quite logical to presume the opposite could happen. it does fine in flatland, but i rarely drive where it's flat. the XT6 is the opposite - i get better highway mileage with larger diameter tires, but it's got way more available power.

don't forget the sticky traps too - i add some bait to those. they work good but not sure how you'd position them so they don't flipped or drug onto carpetting, etc. in a box maybe?

i say that with respect, i have EA82's and ER27's (XT6's) too, i don't want to scare them all away. they are constant reminders of how accepting, affirming, and loving my wife is.

when you say 175's rveroold, what size wheel and what vehicle was that and do you know if the 175 would fit the rim? smaller tires to ease the load on the dinky EJ18. larger wheel/tire combo's reduced mileage and performance, i'm hoping for the opposite with a size or so smaller. it's not for snow/ice traction, I have other vehicles for the rough stuff.

not paying $200 per tire but price isn't really in the picture. 185 should be doable but 175 sounds crazy, just because i've never bought any tires that skinny before?

1996 Legacy LSi with stock 5 spoke aluminum wheels. Stock tires are 195/60/15. What are the thinnest tires I can install on those rims? I don't know the technical aspects of tires and installation. I can go down to 185 probably....can I go to 175 or is that just ludicrous? I have other 4WD Subarus, so I don't care about handling or snow performance on this vehicle. For example: I castrated it to FWD and EJ18 in lieu of the stock EJ25!

traps definitely work in the home, don't see why they shouldn't in a car. ozone rusting the car really?

smoke them out with smoke bombs or use an ozone generator to suffocate them? that may be limited if they're in an isolated body panel cavity or something though.

parts for this car are very easy to find so I'm not sure what the problem is, but we can help make this very simple for you. A quick google search gives this part number: Crankshaft seal part number: 806738070 along with other part numbers on this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41172 It's available at *any* subaru dealer. you said you're calling SOA - i would not talk to regional or SOA rep's if that's what you mean, they aren't equipped to deal with parts - just go to a dealer. Subaru definitely has all the maintenance parts you need and many of us on here have been buying hundreds of parts for decades for this engine/vehicle. any dealer will have that part. or type that part number into google and you have thousands of options to buy it from. go to: https://www.1stsubaruparts.com/partscat.html and type in that part number and they have it for $5.03 for timing belts i recommend ebay kits - very reasonable prices and all new pulleys/tensioners for the timing belts.

i would guess a rocker arm wasn't set properly or something or HLA not pumped up? no, - that's just the torque sequence, a retorque procedure is completely different: some engines require a retorque and some do not - the EA82 does per the FSM. retorque means that a headgasket is installed, then the engine is started and allowed to heat up and cool down for one cycle, i don't think it's 1,000 miles but the FSM or headgasket installation instructions should say. then after that, you go back in and loosen and retorque the headbolts. what is strange to me is that the EA82 FSM requires a retorque but the XT6 (a partially siamesed EA82 block) does not. i don't know what happens if you don't retorque - i don't know if a gasket could not be properly seated right way because of not doing a retorque because i've never skipped that step. EA82 engines are supposed to be retorqued, the only gaskets i know of that are designed to not be retorqued are the Fel-Pro permatorque gaskets, which tell you not to retorque. that's why they're the most popular headgaskets used on the engines. or "were" the most popular since the EA82 has gone the way of the do-do bird with time and rust.

97 EJ22 $250 in Indiana with a bent timing gear: 1-800-288-6787 1997: 1-317-831-2627 $350 in indiana 1996: 1-765-948-3659 $295 they all need a 96-98 EJ22 single port exhaust to go with it and it needs to have EGR to not have a check engine light if you care about that - but other wise are all plug and play. good luck, you're in a tough spot. a mechanic can't deduce the condition of the engine. doesn't matter how good they are. oil inspection is about as good as you can get but that can even be limiting when it comes to non-disassembly bearing inspection. if i could get it done cheap, like do it myself for costs of gaskets, i would repair it. if a friend was paying someone to do it i'd probably suggest they pay $300 for a block and sell this one for parts for $100. i have a severely overheated SOHC EJ25 in my garage i haven't decided what to do with either. do i risk it? tough call. i also have EJ25 blocks with holes in them, rod knock, and seized laying in my garage which do not give me warm fuzzies about it.

i've melted bushings away with a torch before too. even a simple cheap-o propane torch will melt/burn bushings. just be prepared for lots of black smoke, warn your neighbors, but it works. i'm surprised you got the thing out of the knuckle, those rear lateral link bushings are pure evil for us rustcoasters.

seems like it goes under the heater hoses - but if you hook it up right on each end it's going to work, it shouldn't matter. should be obvious which one gives the most clearance, least contact, and if it's so close it's hard to tell then it won't matter. like you said - eventually it'll be lower than the steering column since it's going to the pedal on the floor. that will be clear to you since once it goes through the fire wall there really isn't any routing to figure out - it goes straight to the pedal then which is really close to the firewall. all of the "excess" cable is in the engine bay. if you find my old thread from 5-10 years ago someone posted some pages from the HTKYSA manual regarding the clutch cable. good luck!

it's really easy - like he said just follow the existing cable as a guide. install the clutch pedal end. the pedal end is the only one that can be tricky (at least on an XT6 which in this case i think is similar in set up), i incorrectly installed one the first time i ever did a clutch cable. once it was off it wasn't immediately obvious which way a pin or clip, or which side of a bracket it attached to..something like that. memory isn't clear how i messed it up, but i would take a picture first of the old one before i removed it if doing it for the first time again. **it's actually really, really easy. on a scale of 1-10 - it's like a 1. the annoyance factor might be different since you have to work down around the footwell area with limited light, working with your feet over your head is no fun! follow the routing of the old one which is really simple, it just goes through the firewall and a grommet. the shifter fork end is straight forward and has like a 12mm and 10mm nut (from memory) on the end. loosen those up appropriately to attach that end.

i've never gotten the outer CV's off without bashing the joint so much that i don't know that i'd ever want to use those parts again - excdept as place holders for FWD conversions. so i hear you on not being able to get them apart. if you already have the impreza FWD axles then maybe another option is to just get some EJ hubs on the front. then you'd have wide open brake options too, being able to use a multitude of EJ brakes for upgrades. XT6 stuff isn't that hard to find but brake pads, rotors, caliper hardware, bearings, seals, and axles may be easier to source and have more upgrade/OEM and aftermarket sources if they were EJ.