Gnuman

As for the minivan, what do you think the Tribeca actually is?

Could you be more clear, please? Are you saying that your Daytime Running Lights are wasting gas? In what way are they doing that? Have you checked other reasons that you may be getting poorer milage than you expect? I cannot see DRLs impacting milage significantly under any conditions, but I do know that they add significantly to the safety of the car by making you more visable.

Now much was the press? How large is it?

I also say not to worry about the camshaft holding tool, but once you have the cam cover off, use a 25mm open ended wrench to turn the cam so it turns a bit freely. At that point, the valves will be all the way closed, and are not in danger. This will have to be done anyway, as you will have to remove the cams in order to access the head bolts. take things slow, and go step by step, and you will be fine. Remember: 14ft-lbs on the rear cam caps, and only 7ft-lbs on the front ones that also hold the cam seals.

OK, is this a 96, or a 98? if it is a 96: you have hydraulic lash adjusters and should have no clearance on any of the valves. If it is a 98: you have the same type of shims as the 97. Both: take your time, put everything back where you got it. mark the tops of the shims with a sharpie indicating which cyl, intake or exaust, front or rear (there are two of each valve on each cyl). The cam caps are already marked, but be sure they go in correctly (right side up). Yes, you need to loosen the bolts 180 degrees using the tighterning sequence, then annother 180. By this time it should be finger tight or less, and you can take them out at that time. I recomend taking the oil pump off and tightening the screws on the backing plate, as they work thier way out over time. The front seal should be replaced at this time, along with O-ring, and the 4 cam seals.

Is it only on right turns, or in both directions? Is this an automatic, or a manual? How many miles on the car?

that metal trim piece is bolted from the inside of the car. You need to remove the trim around the headliner (and perhaps the headliner itself) to get access. They are 8mm nuts on the inside, with studs as part of the trim piece.

OK, T-Bird, you need to walk away from the car for a bit. Have a few beers , calm down, and attack it fresh and rested. Damn but I wish I were in an area close to you right now. How about it guys? Anyone in NC close to this guy? If not, go on down to the Sears store, get a 12mm 6pt box wrench, and thake this and a hammer to the driveshaft nuts. The bolts hold in place against keepers in the front, the nuts are to the rear. Some penetrating oil will help to loosten them as well.

OK, that's cool, then. Be sure to have a lot of fun in the process!! Your request for advice on how to make your car go faster sounded to me like you were going for a win, which is why I was worried about the cornering capabilities of a lifted car. I'm with Carl: take out anything that might fly about or add extra weight (spare, jack, tools, etc) and boost the tire pressure a bit. Above all, be safe and have fun!

32mm impact socket (Craftsman is recomended), 3 ft breaker bar, and three more feet of cheater bar. Soak it in penetrating oil and bang on it for a bit to get the oil down in the threads, then pull up on the cheater bar (keep your head out of the way of the bar in case it lets loose "suddenly"). Also keep your back as straight as possable, and make sure your hands will not hit anything when the nut lets loose.

OK, is it just me that has a pproblem with autocrossing a lifted car? When you raise the height of a car, the center of gravity goes up, and your cornering ability goes down. This, it seems to me, would be a big hit on you at the track. . . Please tell me if and how and why I'm wrong?

Congratulations on the new baby. I'll have to chime in here as well, saying that an early 90's Legacy wagon would probably be a very good deal for you. Airbags were an option on LS models in 92 as well as standard from 93 on. That is drivers side only. My 92 2.2L engine has close to 200K miles on it and still performs as well as most cars on the road today, unless you want to go racing. 'course, I'm betting that this is not a problem considering you are having a kid, and are not one yourself. As for creature comforts, AC, cruise, power windows, power locks, power brakes and steering, good seats. . . Yeah, I'm comfortable in my Subaru. Now a word about safety. Airbags are nice, but if you do not couple them with the handling to be able to avoid the accident in the first place, then they are not really all that much of an advantage. Subarus have that kind of handling. The brakes are also real good (many of them have ABS), giving you more options in getting out of an accident. The savety on the 240 was because that car is built like a tank. Subarus are similarly sturdy, making them at least as safe as the Volvos. As for ease of maintainance/repair, these engines are very simple to work on, and maintain (just about the easiest engine I have ever worked on, in fact), and are designed to go 400K miles without major problems. Now, 2.5 vs 2.2: the EJ22 (2.2L) is IMO the best engine Subaru ever produced. The EJ25 (2.5L) has (had?) several problems with the headgasket, with at least two designs having problems. The phase I EJ25 (DOHC) had a problem with headgaskets blowing between the compression chamber and the coolant jacket. This was addressed with a redesigned headgasket that is more sturdy, and will stand up to the rigors this engine dishes out. The later ones had a headgasket leak problem between the cooland jacket and the outside world. Subaru addresed this problem (badly) with a "stop leak" type product. This "solution" has caused as many problems as the headgasket itself. in 97, all Subaru engines were redesigned for a few more HP, resulting in all of them becoming interference engines, while the 90-96 engines were not of the interference type. what that means is that if the timing belt were to break while you were driving down the road, along with the engine loosing power and stopping, on later engines you would have valves impacting the pistons, and each other. The resultant damage would make replacing the engine cheaper than repairing the old one. Final analasys: get a 93-96 Legacy wagon. Look at both, and get the one that has the instrument layout that you prefer (they mirror each other)

Cobalt, you may be wondering that, but I'm wondering if PacMan is actually TJ, or someone with a similar problem.

Damnit Trog! you beat me to it.

Ummm, there was no Legacy Outback in 91. The "Outback" version of the Legacy was introduced in 96 (or 95?). In 95 they changed body styles, to the one the original Outbacks were based on.

Now you know why Subarus have a reputation for reliability and Saturns do not. That is about the lamest bulls**t excuse I have ever heard for a component failure. You should also refill the blinker fluid from time to time. . . Sheeesh. . .

Glad your Imp is all fixed up! Best wishes for your neck and shoulder. I'm begining to think that people should have to pass an IQ test to get a license to drive. The test should be heavy on math and physics (inertia, traction, stuff like that) . . .

Does it count that I work in a shop where they retrofit Subaru engines into Vanagons? As for not sleeping comfortably in a Subaru, I happen to live in my Legacy wagon. Granted, I'm 5'7", which is just about the limit for height to be able to sleep comfortably.

The small ones are the ones that hold the cam seal in as well. The large ones are the ones that only hold the camshaft. You thought that they were all 14ft-lbs because the manual originally said that. a later correction gave the lower torque spec on the two at the front of each camshaft. Yes, it is confusing. Yes it was a mistake in the factory manual. Yes, you have good reason to be pissed off about it.

Cam bolts are available at the stealership. Order a new HeadGasket. Once they have been torqued, they cannot be reused. The ones that hold the cam seals (and the forwardmost cam bearing) get torqued to 7ft-lbs, the larger rear ones get 14ft-lbs. At those torques they should not break. Subaru repair manuals are (unfortunately) infamous for inaccuracies in these areas, due (IMHO) to poor proofreading.

What bothers me is all these people that have decent jobs, homes, and food on the table, and they still let thier cars fall to crap. I am homeless, I live in my Subaru, and I would bet that my Emily would pass (easily) any safety inspection she was put to. (well, she would pass easier after I put the AGX struts in. . .). I don't let my car go to pieces, as I depend on her too much. If someone looses it in front of me, I want to know that I can avoid them.

I guess they really don't build them like they used to. . . my 92 Legacy has 200,000 miles on it (or will soon), and of the cash I have spent on the car less than 500 has been for actual repairs (A clutch, brake pads, balljoints, a taillight, a thermostat, and a radiator cap. Oh, and a battery.). The only whine I hear when driving is from the Honda drivers behind me. . .

What is in the head set for 145? When I do heads on a DOHC Subaru engine, I use all subaru OEM (1stsubaruparts) parts from an online store. Costs me 250 for both headgaskets, both valve cover gaskets, all 12 valve cover gasket grommets, timing belt, Metal Oil seperator, Spark plug O-rings, 4 Cam seals, Front oil seal, O-ring for the oil pump, both intake manifold gaskets, and both exaust gaskets. Shipped from WA to CA. I reuse the headbolts, as they are torqued to just short of yield, and are intended to be reused.

OK, the first gen Legacy, it seems, did not have the fuel cut, as I have been faster than where it would be, and the fuel did not (from your descriptions) cut. This would tend to mean that the top end is a good solid 115 (if my speedo is 5MPH high) on this 14 year old NA 4 cyl wagon. At the very worst, this is still pretty damn good. The car was rock stable at the top end as well, and that was with worn struts. With the planned addition of rear swaybar, and new AGX struts, this should only improve. Just in case you get some impression that I'm particularly pleased with the mechanical condition of my car. . . You are exactly right!

Power windows? I'm pretty sure that Brighten has been upgraded along the way, or features added to the base package. I expect to get lots more than that in my 92 L wagon, just as you should probably expect to get from your Brighton. Granted, I am upgrading mine to have a few of the niceties that the higher trim models have. Say, do you have disks in the rear or drums (brakes)?