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a few tricks. 1 use a tape measure to square top to bottom and side to side. 2 try extra long bolts to pull it in. 3 turn the crakshaft once you have it as close as possible to catch the spline. 4 If you have one you can set up to depress the clutch while pulling in do that while tunring the engine by the crank nut. 5 If all that fails you may not have the clutch aligned properly. I know you used the tool but you can still be off. I have also seen the wrong clutch being installed and the disc backwards. Did you test fit everything before installation?

You cand detail a lot of them out with touch up paint and Langka. Look it up on the web if you have not heard of Langka. Autotopia has a good detail section. Chips you have to fill and smooth and some stuff you can polish out. If it is bad enough a repaint is easier. Scratch and swirl remover helps on light stuff.

trade cars. There is so much work to develop an engine for a turbo you won't believe it. You could get a clip and engine from a turbo model and install it in yours but you need all the electricals and a fair amount of knowledge or money to pay someone. My guess is a reasonable price for a JDM turbo swap would be five grand around here.

Most 2.5s and many new cars have cold piston slap anyway. I would see how much you have to hone it before it cleans up. If I had to go too far I'd talk to a good machineist. The finish on the bore is critical to being happy with an engine when you finish. I've rebuilt a number of engines and the ones I was happiest with were ones where a good machineist (not me) did the bore work. When I was a kid I had to hone and knurl pistons myself as I did not have the bucks to do it the way I wanted. You can get by with a lot by toleraqting slap and oil burning, but some good advice from a machineist who is the with mikes could make you much happier later.

And expect a bit of piston slap.

I think 1998 is the only year of phase 1 engines for the forester. I have a 1999 I bought becuse it is the first year of phase 2 in this platform. With 15% stiffer shocks and a WRX rear swaybar this does a perfectly balanced four wheel drift in a tight corner.

Gret mike, but leave it on. The knock sensor detects engine damaging pinging before you can. If money is no consideration go ahead and disconnect it.

When you work on a country Subie do you have to check for mousetraps first?

Just for interest, when I used to race it was considered that a water pump took about 10 hp to drive, a power steering pump about the same. If you disconnected the field on your alternator you were supposed to be able to save 35 hp. This was on big American V8s so I imagine the Subaru stuff is smaller and more efficient.

No codes is good codes. Good luck!

I was changing the thermostat in a corolla and the aibox was so full of insulation from mice nesting I'm surprised it ran. He says the power is better now.

I understand the dealer only stocks one normal compression 2.5 block. The later one replaces the earlier one. At one point I was considering buying a 98 Forester with a bad engine, that's what the dealer told me at the time.

I trust you mean 2.5? The later DOHC 2.5s had the same block as the SOHCs and replacement of the early ones is with the later.

did you ever hear a serpentine belt squeak right after you install it? That is because the first few seconds of running align the belt. Same with TBs.

Congrats on a job well done!

My fire extinguisher is behind the passenger's seat where I can reach it. I think it is also good to have a tool large enough to pop a few door snaps in the glovebox.

Cleaning the knock sensor is not likely to help. They fail internally.

You just poured a barely combustable mixture though your engine. Should you really be surprised it caused a misfire? You would have to use a tiny trickle to avoid that. Odds are if you clear the code you'll be fine, but sometimes you can get a bit of carbon on a plug that needs to be cleaned off. Most times it will just burn off.

I think you have to make sure it is compatible. Some of the guys have laptop software, perhaps they will chime in.

Oil made a pretty big change in mine, but the 15-50 Mobil 1 I'm running is pretty thick. It really depends on a few things, just how much wear you have, the temp, and the oil you are using. With 10-30 Pennzoil dino my car slapped until it reached full temp in the am and every start after that till full temp. With Mobil 1 10-30 about the same. With the heavy Mobil 1 it slaps for about a minute or until the temp guage gets halfway up, then not for the rest of the day. If I leave the car for a week it slaps longer on startup becuse the oil has drained away and is not taking up the clearance. If the day is very cold it slaps a bit more, if it's really warm no slap at all on startup.

That's where it is on my 2.5.

I don't know anybody who kept running one. If it is just pinging and poor mileage it doesn't seem like it would hurt. It would seem like you have not tangled the valves and that is the scarey part. I'm sure you made sure you got all the vac lines back on? The only one I have heard of folks leaving off is the big one to the air cleaner and the car usually won't keep running.

Let us know what happens as you may warn someone else not to do the same thing.

That's a really good point about remembering to set the push rod. Also this is the time to inspect the hose that goes from booster to intake if you have one, and connection to the manifold.

Over here any auto shop would have them, but I am not sure what it's like in your area. Give your local parts store a call.