HondaH8er

I don't know, seems kind of fishy that all 4 plugs would go bad at the same time. But they are a cheap and easy fix, although I'd say the coil pack is more likely. Do you have any mods on the car?

Actually, rain and snow geting in the scoop and onto the intercooler would be a good thing, as they should help the intercooler cool off easier. But like ferret said, that's just the IC, not the intake, so beer or something in there will mostly just make a sticky mess, but won't really hurt anything. I have a 2000 2.5RS with a turbo kit, and I have my hoodscoop open for the IC, and the worst I've gotten was a bee, no worries.

Maybe you just needed to puch the injectors in a little more? Just a shot in the dark, I've never removed/reinstalled my injectors, so I don't know how it is to do it.

Have you considered a new engine? That engine has a lot of miles (400k km = 248k miles) on it, and it might just be tired out to the point of no return. I'd say get that $75 gas tank, put that in, and drop an EJ22 (2.2L) in there; you'll get a little more power, they should be able to be had for pretty cheap, and it should be a direct plug-and-play swap, very straight forward.

Shouldn't be any kind of problem finding someplace to work on a Subaru, they are very straight-forward and easy to work on. Plus, Subaru of America is located in NJ, and I would think there should be a decent number of Subaru dealerships available. I also take my car in for all that stuff, mostly because I live in an apartment complex, and don't have anywhere to do my own work...and I'm lazy:-p But for ski trips, a Subaru is great for that, a buddy of mine got a Legacy GT and took it up to the mountainseveral times for snowboarding. All in all, why settle for "good-enough" AWD, which is mostly just FWD with the ability to send some to the rears, when you can get the real thing?

Agreed; with a trip like that, it's better safe than sorry, especially since your tires are already pretty worn. Try to find the funds if you can, it will at least give you peace of mind.

Sure, if you compare it to old Subaru engines, it's good. But there are more powerful out now, and that's the important thing.

Ah, got it, that makes more sense. I don't know that I would go with the XT6 engine, it's not that powerful, but I get the point.

Wouldn't this just make an XT6 FWD if you put a VW transmission in it? What would be the benefits of this swap?

I don't know, it doesn't seem like the powerband of a turbo engine is right for a rock crawler. Seems to me that you'd want plenty of grunt down low in the RPM range, not a big boost in power up higher when the turbo spools up.

When you hit the gas hard, especially in 1st or 2nd gear, does the car go, or do the revs build up without the car accelerating? Since you have driven a manual for a while, I'm sure you would have noticed this, and you said you didn't notice any problems. So I'm guessing the sevice tech said something along the lines of "Oh, check it out, a chick! I'll betcha I can get her to buy a new clutch!" as you where driving in. When my wife takes her car to Oil Can Henry's for an oil change (I have no place to do it myself), I can't belive the extra crap they try to sell her that they've never tried on me. It pisses me off.

I seriously doubt it. You could drive it on the street, sure, but you'll get a nice visit from Officer Friendly if he sees you.

Sounds more like a bad themostat to me. If it's sticking, and gets stuck closed, it won't matter how much air is going through your radiator, since the coolant won't be going through your radiator. And the point where it dropped back down to normal range, that would be when the thermostat finally opened, and allowed the hot water to flow through the radiator. If you haven't already, try a new themostat before taking it in to the dealership, and see if the problem persists or not. They're pretty cheap, and something that you can do easily. hope this helps.

I agree, you could do it yourself, but it wouldn't be worth it. I used to deliver auto glass from a main warehouse (PPG Auto Glass) to all the glass shops in the Portland metro area, and I've seen my fair share of windshield replaced, including one of my own. With the tools and adheasives you would need to remove the glass, prep the hole, and put the new glass in, you maight as well have paid a glass shop to do it. Plus, with a glass shop, you'll get brand new glass, not a junkyard windshied. Besides, you wouldn't really know what you where doing, and probably end up breaking the windshield either while moving it around, or during the install. I've seen the pros do it, and I broke my fair share of glass transporting it from warehouse to glass shop. Do yourself a favor, call a pro, and have them do. Most of them can even come to you, you could get it done in the parking lot at work while you're working, even!

I went and ran in a rally-cross today, one of the guys brought his new STi out to run it (don't worry, 2500 miles, it was broken in correctly). Very nice machine!