idosubaru

still not sure how those 4 blocks are supposed to be used for the rear diff? i know there are 4 bolts holding the diff to the rear hangar/bushing, but i'm not seeing how those blocks do anything since it's also bolted to the rear mustache bar and that huge 22mm/17mm bolt through the bushing.

You can reinstall everything and do a compression test to see which side is hosed. A leak down can be done without reinstalling everything though. I pulled a perfectly good timing belt off a 98 EJ25 wagon in the past week you can have it if yours is broken or damaged from skipping.

check engine light? brand of spark plug wires? how many miles on plugs? i was asking about the cam sprockets (the wheels you line up for the timing belt to go around), not the cams themselves. did you remove those - they have to come off to replace the cam seals, which most folks replace on a job this big.

i think he meant to say exactly what he typed - he did that before he knew better than wait that long to change the oils. 60,000 is roughly what i change my transmission and diff fluids at. if it's never been changed before though you might have a mind to check it at 30,000 and replace if it's dirty at all.

it's best to do some reading and searching here for the swap, take a few notes as you go along. it is really easy, but it's a very lengthy discussion with the small details and choices to make. get a good grip on it all and ask what is confusing you. used the advanced search so you can narrow it down some.

sweet, thanks guys. so the two long pieces that space the cross member just lay flat on top of the ends of the cross members, spacing them maybe 1/2" or so? how do you install it - remove the bolts and....support the crossmember with a jack, then lower it a bit once the bolts are removed? "spin the rear strut top around" - what does that mean? if you spin it around 360 degrees it'll be right where it started? i know that's not true, but that's how it's in my head!

i asked you a few questions when you were talking to me via PM - can you answer those? you didn't mention the spark situation to me before, is the check engine light on? miles and how old are the wires/plugs?

I'm not seeing how these pieces are to be used on the SJR 2" lift kit. The front strut tops are obvious, everything else has me confused. http://www.sjrlift.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=3 on the top row is the two longer rentagular channels. below those are the 4 angled pieces. in the center are the 4 small blocks. These were in a bag with the 4 longest

common stuff i think he usually has on hand. i've gotten a few axles from him. if you're time is valuable at all, it's nice getting brand new axles that you know for a fact will never need to come out again.

Awesome, thanks Susie for the info. You'll want to probably replace the O2 sensor. There are other things this could be, but i've seen this before on Foresters of this vintage. if you're around 100,000 miles, that's about the expected useful life of an O2 sensor anyway, it's usually the front that needs replaced. a bad MAF sensor is another possibility. O2 sensors are really hard to diagnose. O2 sensor you would want to buy new, preferrably from Subaru. MAF sensors fail so infrequently that used is the way to go with those. they're like $400 from a dealer or $25-$50 from a yard - buying two is better than one new one. both of these are really easy to replace and only take about 10 minutes.

something is causing this indeed, this isn't just 3 failed VC's - that is a symptom not a cause. only thing i can recommend to verify ratios is to get the entire car off the ground and rotate a tire by hand - the opposite side/end tire should also spin i think. if you spin the drivers side rear, the passengers side front should spin. count 10 - 20 or 50 revolutions of one and make sure the other does the exact same number of revolutions. hard to imagine the manual being off, but you need to check something because something is defintely wrong. essentially subaru offered 3 different common EJ final drives 3.9, 4.11. 4.44. spin the tires enough times to make those differences stand out. you can also count number of driveshaft rotations verses wheel rotations for the rear to get a final drive ratio in the rear diff. then do the same with the front - rotating it via the engine with the car in gear. compare those two numbers. is your gas mileage good?

go the extra mile to get a Subaru axle. either listen to that advice or if you don't trust/believe it, then just search through all the problematic axle threads on here. there are more reasons than just nipper shared for avoiding them. it's not like they just dont' last long, they're often bad right out of the box or within a year or less. leaking, clicking, exploding (seen one do that myself on day one after install), vibrations...etc. get an MWE axle (who nipper is referring too) or get a used Subaru axle. used Subaru axles are way better than gambling with parts store axles. if the boots look old, reboot them. don't be a sucker (and i'm speaking about my best friend right now).....buy one axle...and there's a bad vibration. thinking it can't be the "new" axle, they replace the other one. then they wonder what's wrong.

some legacy seats are on DC craigslist right now - $200 for a set of nice black looking ones.

okay Dave - save thing here - right around 5psi max. so actually i lied - it works great at 5psi. there's just something cool about pressurizing it to 20 and watching it squirt like the good old days of trying to pee further than my cousin. that being said - works great, keep it at 5-10 psi for Subaru's. that being said, i'm definitely making one out of a spare cap. that's awesome. guess i'll just need to create an insert of some sort into the cap that is sealed but will also turn so i can screw it on.

anyone else use these? i pulled it out again and it is awesome - screw it onto the Master Cylinder and instant, easy brake bleeding. But - it still leaks out the cap on every subaru i hook it up too, rather profusely, a constant steady stream. Really annoying, you'd think they'd work that out before selling a product like this? Glad i did it outside and not in my garage, not that i want fluid out there either..

so this seems simple but the rack side of the boot does not want to stretch and stay on the rack. i've done this before but for some reason i'm having a harder time this time. are there any tricks other than "install onto rack"?

right, i saw that some 15" would fit so i wasn't sure if it was a steel verses aluminum thing or what. i don't know what "rally" wheels are, but that seems to be the mention of the kind of 15" that will fit. thanks, looks like it's a no go then.

I have a set of nearly new 2004 WRX calipers i've had for a year or two and haven't done anything with them. Wanted to install them on my Legacy Lsi which has 15" rims, will they fit? I need jamal!!!!

i sprayed the tie rod end nut and pin, but when i tried to get the pin out i realized it's perma-welded into the nut. i started thinking it'll need to be drilled . so i figured i'd try spinning off the inner tie rod without removing the outer. it worked. don't know if i'll be able to get it back together though, i'll try later.

i went and replaced the tie rod, was already in there like nipper said, no point in cheaping out on an important part like that. what is that tool for? i ended up replacing this tie rod without removing anything, i thought that was bizarre. probably a bad a idea.

i agree. i have leather in both of my legacy's and i like the ride better also in those, although i haven't driven much in clothed legacy's either. distance kills it but i have a spare set will, which i need, but you could "test out".

awesome, i'll give that a whirl. i'll at least douse it with PB Blaster first, then get more drastic as needed.

thanks BWB - i bought the part since i can always return it. i'll just make a call based on what i see when I remove the boot. Much dirt/rust and I'll replace it. If it looks fine - what kind of grease should I put in there if I only reboot it?

there are folks that i know that have been driving like that for years on a center diff with torque bind. quite a few miles and at least a couple years service on them. i'd run it. torque bind doesn't seem to go away, so it seems legit on those grounds. for the average daily driver I wouldn't worry that a hosed 5MT center diff is going to cause problems. one of the guys that is still running it is even doing it behind an H6 in RWD so it's getting some hp and torque pushed through it.

When you run across a broken inner tie rod boot, how do you decide whether to replace the tie rod and boot or both? I do both on my own, but being a friends car I don't want to spend their money if no need. I'm wondering if there's anything to look for because i've never really heard of Subaru tie rods failing, so maybe replacing them everytime is over kill?