RonP

Fairtax, Thanks; that's what I suspected: worn bushings. The car is in a remote part of Baja Calif where Subaru parts are hard to find. I forgot to ask: what happens if I don't replace the bushings? Is there any risk of the linkage ceasing to function?

I have a '98 Outback at our vacation home in Baja Calif. The manual transmission lever is sloppy in the left-right direction. Example: If it's in any gear (not neutral), the top of the lever will go maybe five inches left to right. Fore and aft feels fine, an inch or so. I have no trouble driving it like this, but my concern is whether something is about to fall apart. The car has 200K miles; if it's simply a work bushing, i'm OK with that, as long as the linkage doesn't wind up on the roadway. What's the fix, if i decide to do it? Ron

I'm pretty sure it's part of the emission reduction; closing the throttle slowly reduces emission. The numbers on emission for this engine are near zero. Someone in an earlier p[ost reminded me that the old solution was to have a dashpot, to retard the throttle butterfly closure.

It seems that a revised CPU chip could solve this. Are there any aftermarket chip guys?

We just bought a 2006 Outback with 5-speed box. I learned that it has an "electronic throttle" or "drive-by-wire" motor. I'm a performance driver, and find the lag in revving up or settling down very annoying. The lag in settling down makes it hard to do a quick shift. Does anyone have a solution to this? Please pmail me at terrano1@earthlink.net Ignore the message you'll get from my SPAM blocker; I'll clear it quickly. Thanks, Ron

Dear SETRIGHT... My bumper has a different opening than yours. Where your light is mounted, there is a plastic plate moulded into the bumper that looks like it's designed to be cut out and make room for a fog lamp. Your opening gets larger (the bottom of the opening drops a bit); mine is the same width all the way across. I've had this car only a short time, so I have not gotten into the body parts - yet. I suspect the bolt you refer to is in back of the plastic plate. If you have the interest to look at mine and offer a comment, I'd appreciate it. I can take a picture and send to you as an attachment. You can pmail me your email address at: terrano1@earthlink.net Ron - California

Thanks very much; this looks like an easy solution. Do you have a light you'd recommend which fits there? I'd like a long-range driving lamp rather than a wide-beam fog lamp. Long-range lamps are typically larger and are circular.

I have a similar need for my 93 Legacy Wagon. The original lights are plastic, largely scratched and more dim that I'd like for night driving here in the country. I'd like to add a pair 100 watt driving lamps, but it's not obvious that there's an easy way to do so. The front bumper is plastic, so it's not a great mounting place. Any one done something similar to this? Or is there a good replacement for the original lights? Ron - Northern Calif 93 Legacy Wagon, 235K, going great 86 VW Vanagon with EJ22 motor; why didn't the VW factory do this?