MorganM

Ah good old Legacy777. Do you have a link to his site? I'd love to read over his write up. Thanks!

After work it behaved itself; no problems and I hadn't really repaired anything. Last night I did the O2 sensor and knock sensor. Taking special care to make sure the knock sensor was at the 45 degree angle. Everything seemed normal this morning and the CEL stayed off. I guess it's fixed.... for now =P I've had many bad O2 sensors and knock sensors with no problems besides worse fuel millage. I'm not fully convinced this fixed whatever was ailing me; mostly because it behaved just fine after work yesterday before I even fixed anything. Glad I replaced those parts regardless. Still was the right thing to do whether it fixed this particular problem or not. Now I must drink Mt. Dew because I was up past midnight working on her... 6:30 AM came too fast!

I'd prefer a cable clutch. Last thing I need is one more pressurized liquid system that leaks and requires bleeding. :-\ Would prefer to just do the tranny. I guess I could do the rear diff but only if I was upgrading that with an LSD or better final drive ratio. By better I mean going to say a 4.11 LSD.

Been searching the forums but coming up with nothing specific. Wondering what transmission options I have to put in. Which models of Subarus should I be looking for as donors? What are the major obstacles; things like which crossmember to use, wiring, TCU, which axle DOJs to use, etc. Tips and tricks would be nice. Like how to lower the old one and raise the new one safely. I'm not strong enough to just muscle it in there. Thanks!

Fired up my '97 Impreza OBS last night to leave work. Let it high idle for a few minutes. Put it in gear, gave it a little throttle, it goes forward for about 2 seconds then starts bogging down and wants to stall. I let off the throttle, idles fine, even idles in gear and will roll. Gave it a little more gas, again it went for a couple seconds then bogs way down, almost dies, I let off and it idles fine. This goes on for about a half mile and even stalls once. I can barely get any momentum. Finally I just park it in a parking lot and get a ride home. I was thinking the tranny was finally gone. It's had some erratic shifting issues since I bought it a few months ago but nothing this bad. So this morning I buy a bottle of ATF and a bottle of Lucas transmission repair. Fired it up, let it warm up to temp, put in half a bottle of the Lucas as it says, and it idles like a champ the whole time. Now I'm sitting in park, hold it at 1,000 RPMs and in less than 10 seconds the RPMs drop, it bogs down, and I let off the throttle so it comes back to idle. Then I hold it at 2,000 RPMs with the same result. Now I rev it to 3,000 and it's fine; holds 3,000 + RPMs with no bogging or anything. After farting around for a half hour I just put it in gear and go; drives as normal as it always has. I've only driven it about a half mile though. Best guesses? I have a few of my own but would like to hear yours! =)

The "drop for traction" sounds good but praticaly pointless. The reason is because it's just dropping and not being forced down hard enough. So yeah, the tire touches ground, but it just spins and hops because there's not enough traction. It's not like on a solid axle vehicle where the upward force of one side has an equal and opposite force applied to the otherside. I always take my sway bars off of my offroad vehicles but it's really not that big of a deal on a Subaru. This mod falls in to the 'every little bit helps' category.

"Hold my beer and watch this!"

If you want any sort of acceptable gearing you're going to have to get a real transfercase. The samurai is a good canidate because it's a divorced transfer case, it's relitively small, and you can get 4:1 and even 6:1 lo range upgrades right off the shelf or even second hand now. I was actually impressed with how well McBrat's red BRAT worked with 27" swampers and a locked rear end. Might want to go that route if you want to retain your gearing and still be capable. Keep the bottom real flat so you can just slide over everything

So maybe axles shouldn't be your "breaking point" but you certainly don't want it to be the tranny. How about U joints? I'd rather break a driveshaft U joint and repair that on the trail. With that STi rear end and axles you are just moving the breaking point somewhere else... it's going to break somewhere! You've offroaded enough to know that =)

With that size tire and stock gears you'll be using 1st Gear + Lo Range about 90% of the time. You'll still need momentum to make most things; it wont be a "crawler".

Sounds like it's more trouble than it's worth.

A GREAT place to go in the midwest. Drove 6 hours one way to get there and it was more than worth it. I highly recomend going to this event.

Hah that Samurai lifted two front tires on High Voltage; good form!

1997 Impreza OBS AWD with Auto Tranny Whenever the car sits for a few hours and I go drive it then it acts up for a while. For example in the morning, when I go on lunch break, or even as short as a 2 hour movie when it's not fully cooled off yet but not at operating temp either. After a few stop and goes the thing behaves its self for the most part untill I park it for a few hours again. Like a couple of stop signs or stop lights she will act up then after that it behaves itself. Fire it up, sit a miniute or two to warm up, and start driving. At 1/4 throttle she starts bogging down. Let off the gas or put it in N and it idles fine. While it's bogging down if I give it 1/2 to 3/4 throttle it "kicks down" and takes off just fine. Sometimes it will be fine in off the line, shift, bog down, then I have to give it 1/2 to 3/4 throttle, "kick down" and it takes off. Am I basically looking at a tranny swap in my near future? Guy I bought it from said it's been like that for the last 2 years or about 30k miles. Is there a tune up I can do on the tranny to help this problem? I've heard pros and cons for a "power flush" of an AT; some say it's great and to do it while others say they had it done and then their AT crapped out a month or week later. Please advise =)

Yeah I'll find my rear diff's drive ratio easy enough. What about drive shaft from tranny to rear diff. Need to be lengthend, shortened, or is it compatible? Basically a friend may be parting out an XT6 and it would be prime time to buy some cheap parts.... if only they swapped in.

Not much is coming up in my searching for finding out what XT6 parts swap into a 1997 Impreza OBS. I'd like to know if the manual tranny from the XT6 will mate to my EJ22 bellhousing, if the final drive ratios are compatible, if the drive shaft from tranny to rear diff is compatible, and if the front axle's DOJs to tranny are compatible. Also wondering if the suspension + running gear will swap over. The XT6 has some nice struts and disc brakes. Ideally I'd like to swap the rear struts + hubs + spindles + everything else into the Impreza so I have rear discs. Are the stub shafts out of the XT6 hubs compatible with the rear axle's outer DOJs? At least want to swap over the spindles + backing plate + caliper + whatever else so I can have rear disc brakes. Maybe there's already info out there but I couldn't find it. Please advise !_!

Hey thanks Tim; I agree that the car you described was a rip off! EVOthis: It was covering up the ABS light. One of the sensors at the wheel is broke. The CEL didn't come on until I was half way home :-p

Now we're talk'n! Thanks for the input; everyone =D

Nice build up of a Legacy to be sure. Glad you are enjoying it on and off the road. Am I the only one that thinks you shouldn't strengthen the axles but rather adjust your on-pavment driving? The stock axles are strong enough for you to off road (You've only mentioned breaking axles and driveshafts ON road!), cheap to replace, easy to replace... where's the down side here? Lets say you beef up the axles and they stop breaking. Now where are you going to break? Ring and pinions... harder to change, more expensive, and you won't just throw it in FWD to get home. Transmission... fun. Output shaft on tranny to engine. I'd rather change 10 axles than 1 tranny =) Keep 2 front and 2 rear axles with you every time you go out; it's not like they take up much room. Heck most Jeepers already do that plus a few U joints and hubs. Consider where you want it to break; because it's going to break. Instead of thinking that everything can be upgraded to the point of not breaking because you're just moving the breaking point around to the next weakest link.

From what you describe I'd only choose a Samurai if you wanted that open cab Jeep feeling but don't want to buy a Jeep. Would not buy it for milage or dependability. They are getting so old that you will have a zipper on it and be constantly maintaining it and they aren't exactly the pinacle of milage. What about something like a 2000 Chevy Tracker 2door? Much newer, I bet it's better MPG, still a sporty look, and more room to boot. You've driven a Sami right? They are VERY tiny inside. Maybe something else like the Suzuki x90 ? Love them or hate them; I think they are a fun little vehicle. Again much newer, better MPG, still fun and sporty. I love my Samurai but not for it's MPG or dependability. For all practical purposes it's a 4wd, gutless, matchbox, with lackluster MPG for it's size. I over look all of that because I love the bodystyle, solid axles, solid frame, OK low range for a stock vehicle, and 31" MTs fit with out a lift

Lots of suggestions but what are your rationales? Thanks for the link to the genuine subie parts.

I'm giong to be doing a full tune up. Debaiting with myself on going to the dealership (thus paying twice as much or more) or going to my favorite local parts shop and getting the the cheap stuff. What say you? Which do you buy and why? Perhaps there's a third option; getting genuine Subaru parts but not going through the stealership? Not sure where such a place is.

I would think the easiest way would be to only swap in the long block. Thus negating a vast majority of the wireing compatibility issues.

Funny you should mention the ski wagon! I was showing a friend my OBS and she mentioned "yeah Subaru was like the ski team official vehicle for a while." I then told her about how you had one of those. That is one sweet wagon; love that ski team edition! :cool:

Don't mess around; even "running hot" is bad and a sign something is wrong if not broken. Look at the radiator from inside the enginbay between the fan blades (not from the front through the grill; usually you only see the AC condenser then) Any fins missing? Are the fins rusted or turning green? When did you last replace the radiator cap? How about the thermostat? How many miles are on the water pump?