idosubaru

unfortunately there's no way to promise anything and there's too many variables to put a number on something like this. transmission failure is very much related to care....many people change oil every 3k miles and at 150k have never changed the ATF!! also there's mismatching tires, improper towing, towing or hauling heavy weight, and overheated ATF that shorten transmission life as well. there's no way to know if any of those things apply to a ten year old vehicle. i would guess that more auto trans fail prior to 250,000 than make it past that mark. i've replaced two at 150k and one at 120k in my own vehicles. i'd get the mileage out of the existing transmission before scrapping it for another. the 4EAT is a great transmission and very reliable. it's probably fine and may treat you well if you keep up with maintenance - tires and fluid changes. they give fair warning as they age or start to incur problems, so the worries of being stranded shouldn't be a concern.

if you can't repair that inner fender well and have to replace it - then yes, cutting and welding in a new (used) one is the way to go. someone has a great thread on here where they did it to an entire front end (both sides basically) of a wagon. neat thread. parting out that thing is going to take as much time as fixing it and the parts aren't all that valuable so fixing might be a good solution for you if it's in that good of condition. it's getting rather easy to find decent subaru's of that vintage for $1,000 so if you start approaching that price tag you might consider just getting another one. i'd want their insurance to buy me another car if i were hit and it wasn't my fault. why should you have to work and give up your time and effort for free to fix this thing? i'm not sue crazy and try to avoid courts/lawyers, and have so far - but i don't want to pay for someone else's mistake either.

the EZ30 will not be a direct swap - it will require wiring, which a dealer won't do (unless they are very different) and lots of smaller but easier tasks. although it has been a very reliable engine with no head gasket issues. the later model EJ25's would be far easier. i'm not well versed in how many changes happened in the 200x models but i can't think of any significant ones. the easiest solution is to get the latest model EJ25 that your intake manifold will bolt to...then it becomes a direct swap. my guess is that an 04 EJ25 would fit the bill.

either i'm insanely beef and strong or they don't weigh anywhere near 500 pounds, i'll let you guess! a small trailer maybe? more expensive, might need tagged, might need inspected, needs lights...yeah PITA. maybe you could borrow one when needed? a friend of mine has one and it's super nice for all sorts of stuff. it's one of those foldable jobs too, but big enough for two motorcycles.

nice hit!!

I pulled the center console of my 1996 Legacy LSi today out and saw no connectors. What exactly am I looking for, for the switches? Are there connectors buried under the carpet or under the dash somehow? Do some switches have long wiring looms with them that reach somewhere I wasn't looking?

I tried installing an LL Bean (H6 - but don't know the year) center console into a 1996 Legacy LSi today. It would not work. Seems like just about everything would probably be workable, but up front the LL Bean center console terminates differently at the dash - so it wouldn't line up. Does anyone have a picture of how the LL Bean console meets the dash? I'm curious how it terminates. The shifter looked a bit different as well, but I would think it could be made to work. Since I have the complete interior I was hoping I could keep the center console to match plus it has a cup holder next to the ebrake, the shifter looks cooler, has heated seat switches, I think it's a bit higher so it works better as an arm rest, and two cupholders on the back.

wow, that is awesome...sort of, no it is...well it sucks, but it's so darn cool, but man is that sad. well, "amazing" was a good description.

ah, crack. hate to hear that but glad you don't sound too jaded by the whole deal. maybe we'll meet up some day if you stick around the subaru world (which you should, and i'm not biased).

tie rods are replaceable items. find good used ones or get new. if you plan on keeping the car awhile new ones are a good idea. they are one of the few very serious safety items if they fail. the rubber boots are 20 years old, it's hard to find good ones now days. if you buy a new rack it won't come with new tie rods or if it did you'd be paying for them, so that's not an issue that goes away with buying a new rack. i'm one of the proponents of going used here, so my apologies if you get hosed. i wouldn't worry about a little wetness or seapage at the top seal at first. i think there's a decent chance it will be just fine.

nice find. some of us don't know if the 83, 84, or your transmission are from an EA81 or EA82 vehicle, might help to clarify if you know. that 4 speed D/R will certainly be nicer than the 3AT. and a 25 year old transmission, particularly the 3AT doesn't sound appealing. but of course it's all going in a $100 car and the automatic swap would be way easier. be done that easily in a short day if you wanted too. transmission swaps are nothing crazy. if you're not scared of bolts you won't have a problem doing it. the manual swap will require pedal assemblies, cables, wiring in the reverse lights and other fun stuff. not terribly difficult but a much more intense job than a straight swap. the easiest way to do a conversion is to have an entire donor vehicle, that makes it 10 times easier rather than trying to piece it together. figuring out how you're going to do it is the fun part.....crawling underneath, pulling it out, etc.

my favorite ones are "it randomly overheats but i don't have the time to mess with it and don't know what's wrong with it". yeah right! they punched it up on the internet or took it in for a $1,500 quote and boo ya - off the auction block it goes before it gets any worse. that's better than the hosers trying to pass them off as perfectly good running vehicles....then the buyers end up here. new member = awesomeness. getting hosed = sellersucksaphatty

seems like that's onto the best starting point, that thing is probably perfect for everything but color? is there software out there that can combine the two...put the coloring of one onto the black white (but better) drawing? i have someone i can ask if you want. does adobe premier elements or higher end software offer any more than photoshop?

there are bad head gasket EJ25 vehicles for sale all over the place, they aren't hard to find at all....at least not if you're in an area with a decent subaru population. use the search function there are a few very good EJ25 head gasket discussion threads.

since advanced auto parts is 1 mile from work i just ran over there and they had the 4 ribbed 27.5" belt in stock as well. thanks for the help kiddo's! it's sort of impressive how long i've driven it/run it with the optima battery in there and no alternator! but relief is in sight now.

since advanced auto parts is 1 mile from work i just ran over there and they had the 4 ribbed 27.5" belt in stock as well. thanks for the help kiddo's!

thanks guys. Autozone guy was good, took about 20 seconds to figure it out over the phone. Had one in stock but unfortunately it's not very close. 275K4 is the Autozone part number, i'm assuming that's a 4 ribbed belt given the K4 on the end.

are you doing all this yourself? if you need help rendering the pictures in a vector format, .emf or any number of formats used in the industry i can help. if you go with a high quality company and machinery they generally can't or won't use just a picture (jpg, gif, etc) format.

ah no kidding, exactly what i need. no autozone's around here. maybe i can call one, get the part number and order on line or something like that. thanks.

i have a legacy with a non-stock drive belt set up in it. i need a 4 or 5 rib 28 inch serpentine belt. local stores don't have anything that will work...all i can find locally is 25" and 31.5", nothing in between. looking on line i can't find places that sell belts other than by model/make/year, which won't work here. suggestions?

both sides are doing the same thing? too much heat? somebody doesn't like you? that's a strange one.

since you have an extra i'd try and source the bushings/bearings in it. something tells me this has come up before, did you try a search?

XT6 is good for a few MPG if you replace the stock muffler - and it seems like a reasonably stupid design for a muffler, so that makes sense here.

it's easy. more important than detailed instructions and pictures is the suggestion to make sure you know exactly how it's attached on the clutch pedal side. it's not that hard to install the new one improperly if you don't know exactly how it goes on. snap a picture of how the existing one is attached if that link doesn't have good photos.

gotcha, i should have suggested rather than say to do it that way, good point. from what others say the finish is also crucial to properly sealing/seating a head gasket for longevity. with being so inexpensive, on a head gasket issue prone motor, and a one time job, i have it done. curiously, how many of your replaced gaskets have 100,000+ miles on them? i'd think that with a job this large, the $80 to mill the heads is rather insubstantial, but that's certainly up to each person to make. if you're flipping tons of subaru's and doing them as a side job then $80 x 20 = $1,600 plus the wait time might be substantial.