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By the way John, i just noticed your mileage and one tow listed. That's not bad for that mileage! I should cross my fingers at 130,000 and no tows becuse the hard years are coming up!

I've used cheap auto parts ones from Kmart on a 90s legacy. They looked better than three marked up stockers. The only problem I had with them was that I cracked one by wacking it hard with my hand. It was a while back but I think they were under $20 for four of them so you can't go too far wrong. The funny part is when you wash and polish an old car and install new wheel covers you feel pretty good about it!

Boy Gary, I hope those are going to be in your checked bags as I'm not sure prisoners are allowed to use the internet. My wife still reminds me that when I took my torque wrench from Austrialia to New Zealand that I conked another passenger with it. People just don't understand car guys. Last year the security folks in Boston were actually cranky that I had a couple antique car carbs in my carry on luggage. Next time I guess they have to go in checked baggage.

Have you checked on Nasioc? I bet someone has already done this and might be able to help with the pitfalls.

There's hope for you yet. Lots of jobs in Vegas and little rust out there. Good luck.

If you would just consider moving to CA this stuff can actually be dissasembled. Good luck!

Truly the worst of both worlds. Timing belt? I would not be surprised if someone has done this though.

The only four wheel drive car we could afford when I was a kid in Maine was a Subaru.

Off the top of my head I think some guys have had to cut that bolt off with a Dremal and drill it out. I bet some of the other folks who have done a lot of these have some good ideas for you.

did you use a pipe or are you just a tough guy?

On the way see if you can find a piece of pipe. About six feet ought to do pretty well.

Last time I went to the parts store and took off my blade. I walkeed in and matched it up on thier Bosch wiper rack. Sorry I forget the size but it sure is easy to take off.

I am sure I could do mine in San Mateo as Jamal did. We just don't get much for corrosion here in CA. When I changed my struts a couple of years ago I didn't even have penetrating oil out. Nothing was hard at all. When my friends show up with east coast beaters we have to patch up for the return trip it is a different story. Good thing I have a torch.

If it is a lifter tick it will go on forever. It just has too much clearance it won't burn a valve like being too tight. Drives mechanics nuts though. MMO has given a lot of folks good results and it sure is easy to try. Gnuman removed his lifters and dissasembled and cleaned them. That works sometimes too. I don't have that kind of time myself and I go for a new part if I remove one. Some Subaru parts are silly prices though. I bet you can get a cam and lifters for about $100 for a Chevy V8.

Sounds like a miserable rusty job. Good luck!

You also want to use an impact socket. Your average Craftsman type is not that studly when you put some power on it. Gary has worked out what works for him with a good big pipe. Up in Maine when I was a kid my Dad and I used to break the lug nuts on our trucks with a good 3/4 incher, an impact socket, and a big piece of pipe like Gary uses. Nothing like a salt rusted old truck lug nut for a good workout. Sometimes the torch had to come out if they were tight enough. Later in my career as a truck and bus mechanic I became very thankful for 3/4 and 1 inch air tools. A few folks here have gotten on my case b3ecuse the only two times I have changed axles I just drove over to the local tire place and had them break the nuts for me. I tighten them up to drive back home but they come off pretty easy in the back yard. I know it's better not to use air impact and torches but sometimes it is a lot easier on rusty stuff.

A mechanic would use his 3/4 drive on that nut. I bet a twelve pack would get the average truck place to break it loose for you.

If time is not an issue you can always deal with it after running it a bit. You should have room to remove the heads in there quite well.

Why don't some of you young computer literate folks do a search and settle the question? you could see how many Subarus they sold in say, 184. Then you could se how many they sell now. I admit I am not likely to buy one of Subaru's current offerings next myself. I think they need to get into a hybrid soon becuse fuel is starting to go the way it is in other parts of the world. My next car will be a hybrid I'm sure. My current forester is seven years old. I kept my last car 17 years. So Subaru probably has only about 10 years left to retain my business!

You wold do better by adding a limited slip additive I believe. It is designed to help clutchs like this work smoothly and most auto dealers have something similar. Some folks change the oil several times over the course of a few months to get it all out, or at least enough to get oil with decent additves in it. There are a ton of threads on this you might want to read. One of the more logical and readable threads on this was posted in the last couple of weeks by a newby.

If you can isolate the ticking lifter the best cure is replacement. Sometimes the additives will work and they sure are a lot easier. We used to replace the enitire set when they ticked and you never saw the engine for that again. This is expensive to do to an old engine.

or if you already have an Ipod you can always adapt that. I have been playing with one I bought broken as everything to fix them is easily available on the web. A battery is only $15 for the 20 gig I have. An Itrip came with it which does not seem to offer as much quality as I like but sure was an easy install. I plan to hardwire an Ipod into my other car next week to see how that works out. You can buy adapters from Crutchfield for most models. With 20 gigs of music it is almost like having my own radio station on shuffle, with no commercials too.

first thought is a wheel bearing but it could be brakes or tires. Foresters commonly lose the small stock bearings and the fix is a set of bearings for the Legacy. Get it up in the air and check first because those are expensive.

A head gasket problem would only show on a leakdown if very bad. They seal back up when they cool down. Do yourself a favor and pull the heads and do the valves and look at cyl walls. It sure would be a lot easier to fix out of the car.

I had a repair shop mix up a couple of hose ona $12,000 bus engine. Thier insurance paid the bill except for a deduction for the mileage the engine had done before the error. I am sure most shops have professional liability because mistakes are always going to happen.