CRogge

Thats a huge help. Thank you so much. Thank your parts guy too! -Chris:D

I used to have the best parts guy ever at my dealership, but hey left a couple of months ago. The new guy has no humor and doesn't know his parts well or even try to help find out unknown information. It's like, if he doesn't have a VIN he can't tell me anything and my VIN doesn't specify that part. I know their database probably looks things up that way but there must be some other way for them to look parts up. Thanks for the reply! -Chris

Hey, I've got the same broken part! What was the part # of the cable that you ordered? -Chris

So about a month ago, I slid my '97 Impreza L wagon sideways, into a curb, bending both left wheels and some suspension parts. I have done all of the repair work myself, except the alignment and tire mounting of course. In getting this thing back on the road, I replaced all 4 wheels as a set, the right outer tie-rod end, and the right rear strut and knuckle. Then I took it to get aligned. They said the back was fine, but I needed to replace the right front knuckle and install a camber kit in the front and then bring it back for another alignment. I replaced the right front knuckle and in doing so, found that it already had an eccentric bolt (same thing as camber kit) in the strut to knuckle joint. I took it back and had it aligned again, they said that all was well except the front right wheel toe was only barely within spec. and it was the best he could get it. This time, it drove straight, mostly, but the steering wheel was off center and it tracked a little strangely. In the snow, it was almost scary though. It seemed that the front wheels were fighting eachother for direction as their traction levels varied. Can anybody think of anything else that might have gotten bent? Could the steering rack be shifted to the side or something? Thanks for any help that you can give. -Chris

I went the junkyard route because I couldn't find the OE kit anywhere. That, and I'm too cheap also.-Chris

I agree. Search DEEPER. Use terms like EJ20t, EJ20g, 2.0 Turbo, swap, WRX, half-cut. If you change your tranny, keep in mind that you will need the rear differential as well so that your gear ratios match. You will probably need the entire front half of the WRX wiring harness, including the ECU, among many other things. -Chris

Easy guys, This is not hard to do, I just did it to my '97 Impreza with about $30 worth of parts from the parts yard and about two hours of working time. Asking what parts are needed is a completly legit question. No, you should not need a separate speed sensor or magnets or wiring or relays or things like that. If car companies wired all of their cars differently for all different dealer options, it would cost them a fortune! The connectors are all there. They are normally just taped up to their harness. The plug for the main cruise switch is even held in a dummy connector on the back of the place keeper in the far right hole on the dash. Just pop it out and there's your wire! Here is a list of what I needed for my 1997 Impreza L wagon, 2.2, with a manual tranny. The parts are from a 1993 Impreza 1.8 FWD Auto sedan. -Main cruise switch (right side of dash) -Cruise set/resume switch (On steering wheel) (you may need a tamper resistant torx bit for the airbag, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY! and wait 30min. The ground connector was different on mine so I just cut it off and grounded it to where the horn switch ground was.) -Cruise computer (up under the driver's foot well on the left) (My harness was taped up near the radio console) -Cruise actuator (get the cable, actuator, vac hose w/manifold nipple, and ALL related support brackets) -Pedal switches (this is where mine was weird. You are supposed to have a four wire switch for the brake pedal and a 2 wire switch for the clutch. My parts car was an auto and I didn't take it's switches. I took another two wire brake switch like the one in my car and installed it on my clutch bracket and adapted the connectors to fit. Then, I made a jumper on the four wire brake plug hanging from my dash going between the two wires that were not the same color as the two wires going to my brake switch. Somehow, this way my cruise still cancels if I tap the clutch or the brake, even though there is no dedicated switch on the brake for the cruise.) All of these connectors branched out from one bundled bunch) notes: -My actuator cable was a tad short, so I maxed out its adjustment and had to bend the bracket at the throttle slightly and readjust the throttle cable. -GRAB ALL OF THE NUTS AND BOLTS REMOVED FROM THE DONER CAR! -GET THE LITTLE WHITE BUTTON CLIPPED INTO THE CLUTCH PEDAL! (I've heard this breaks/wears out commonly, mine was gone) You can tape a couple of pennies on there if all else fails. -The steering wheel switch may not look like the holes will line up. They will! Good luck! I hope this helps! To the naysayers, most things are only impossible if you don't try. This was a fun and extremely rewarding project for me. This is much higher qulaity than some P.O.S. DIY kit from JC Whittney! Peace -Chris

Thanks for the advice guys. Yesterday it was slow at the bike shop, so I took the day off to work on the car. The right rear strut was the only obviously bent part, so I replaced it with an O'reilly part. Those spring compressors are sketchy! Two of the wheels (16" Sport Edition Fox 5's) are FUBARed. I have had a loose outer right tie rod end for the last 6 months so I replaced that too. I found a guy close by in KC with a full set of '02 WRX 16" wheels for $200. So far it was looking to cost me around $400 with an alignment. Problem is, the Right rear is still /, only less so. I will probably pull the rest of the RR suspension and compare the parts to new ones and replace the ones that don't line up. Has anybody bent the subframe on their wagon in an accident like this? I've got some good photos. I'll post them later, I promise! -Chris

Hey everybody. I've been on this great board for a while now and I haven't posted until now because I haven't needed to. This car has been incredibly reliable, even with 160k plus on the clock. I may need some help now. I'll post some pics tomorrow, but the general attitude of the right rear wheel is something like this /. I was taking a left and hit a patch of black ice. Luckily nobody got seriously injured, I just gained a project for the winter break. The front wheel has a nice wobble too. It's a '97. Thanks for all of the informative reading up until now. I hope I'm not going to need too much help with this. Anybody know any good junkyards in the Lawrence or Kansas City area for Suby parts? thanks again! Chris