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Hey Mt did you find that problem with your car?

it would be good to file this where it can be found. Sounds like a clever fix.

I am sure some of the folks will have the price of a reseal in your area. There is more that should be done at the same time. I think your current car would have a 2.5 phase 1 engine. If this is correct the following applies, otherwise never mind. You will find several opinions here I am sure but I think the Outback has a phase 2 engine. If it were up to me I would go for the Outback as with a phase 2 you get much less chance of head gasket failure. The other thing you could do is change all the seals on your current engine and just budget for head gasket failure if you had it. The good part is that a good gasket job fixes the problem on a phase 1 so it would probably be good untill you sell the car. At this point I have had too many friends have head gasket problems on phase 1 engines to be a big fan of them.

I used to have great luck with Sonys on cross country busses that played heck out of them. I did it a couple of years ago so my stuff is history now. I was just messing with Ipods a bit and if you can afford it they are the way to go. There are several devices available to play them through an existing stereo wirelessly. I am pretty sure there are also Ipod ready stereos. We were just having a problem over Xmas as we were trying to adapt the new video Ipod to work wirelessly in an after market stereo in a Toyota. It turns out here are several Ipod models (all you young folks knew that right?) and you have to be very sure that the adapter and Ipod will work together. In our case they didn't work so there is more to come on this story. The good part is the Sony in my car does not skip, only cost about $150,a only takes half the space. It has an OK FM too, but as I say there are much better units on the market now.

I've done it on a Mercedes. I made a special key that fit the crank groove and narrowed it to fit a new harmonic balancer. The crank was mucked up so I turned it smooth by running the engine for a few minutes at a time with the radiator out. I started with a file and brought it down to emory paper. I had to even the slot in the crank a bit with the Dremel tool if I recall. Fit tight and worked fine and was much cheaper than a new crank and engine rebuild for a Mercedes. I think the larger key was less than a buck from the local hardware store and I got a used damper on the Internet for about $70. This lasted a year in my use and three years later the guy is still running the car with that engine. If somebody has it apart later and loses that key they are in for a surprise though.

and preferably change the fluids first. Brakes are easy to change at home but a drag on the road. I also would reccomend a full size spare that will match your other tires. If possible a gallon of mixed antifreeze, tape, and any tool you bring you won't need. If you bring enough tools and spare parts nothing can break. Make sure you have the Subaru goop officially added at the dealer before you trip to warrrant your head gaskets. Check your insurance to see if you have towing and if not add it for the trip. (or join AAA).

for Subaru experts. Here in the Bay Area we have a few good independents but it seems a lot of the experts are in the Pacific Northwest, a few in New England, and then scattered haphazardly around. Any place with lots of snow is a good bet. I have no idea how Josh got into Subarus in Texas.

From your description they should know what they are doing. The odd thing about engine swaps is that after you have done it once with one model it is pretty easy. If they do nothing but Subarus they should know what fits what and will be able to inspect your engine to be sure it is a good repair. lots of luck and it sounds like you have made the right choice for you.

Porsche is in a different class. First they have to have the butler shovel it out and warm it up. By then you will be there.

My Forester can make 60 in under a minute downhill. But when it gets there look out.... Best description would be peppy for a small wagon with a 2.5, sort of like Rools Royce used to say "adaquate" for horespower. But yesterday at the end of the road where the party was the only vehicles that made it down and back up the hill were two Jeeps, a 4wd Ford and my Forester. Offer to run 0-60 with them in a snow covered field.

I agree that the swap is somewhat of a can of worms. I looked at the idea too and decided instead to buy a Forester that already had a phase 2. On the other side the block is a drop in. I would have a great temptation to buy a brand new block as I have been told they are about $1800. If you can find someone familiar with the swap to help you and you had all the parts from the other car it could be fine. I think you would have to change all the wiring, computers, and probaly several things you have not thought about like speedometer and sensors. I have done a number of engine swaps and some of them in the same auto family required a lot of changes. This is one of those situations that gets complicated fast.

If its not the gas cap it often seems to be PO420 for the code. I just got it again on my Forester for the third time in just short of a year. It means reduced catalytic converter efficiency on bank one if I recall. Basically it might mean the cat is not hot enough to burn off exhaust gasses which could mean the cat is slowly wearing out of an oxy sensor is lazy. I just changed the fornt sensor on mine as I am tired of resetting the code. Since I bought my sensors from Jamie they it fit perfectly and took 10 minutes to change. Naturally it seems to be about 22 mm and I seem to have all the metric sizes around it, but not it. I used a 7/8" from my old SAE kit and it worked fine. On a Forester you can just open the hood and lean over and do it without jacking up the car. I now have the battery disconnected to make it relearn about the new sensor. The reason I changed the front oxy sensor is that it is much cheaper than a cat and should be changed at about 100,000 miles anyway. You could have other codes, be sure and check, but if it's PO420 its not a panic.

Unfortunately the wrong part is all too common. I try to carefully compare parts before installation but I have still been fooled. I bolted up a set of drums that looked fine on my Forester. When I tightend the wheels the drums locked up. It turned out the groove for the backing plate was about a sixteenth of an inch off.

Personally I think a lot of the four wheel alignment stuff that gets pushed on folks is crap. There really is not much to align on the back wheels of most cars, its straight or its bent or worn, and if bent or worn fix it. A couple of places have insisted to me that my BMW needs a four wheel alignment. There are no adjustments at all on the rear of that car. On the front all you can adjust is toe. At least on my Forester you can actually adjust a couple of things on the front. I don't recall see much to adjust on the rear when I changed the struts. I really don't think you can hold alignment against a car or tire rotation. Heck I wish I could rotate my BMW tires but they are different sizes and offset front to rear. My Forester has had one alignment and is on its second set of Michellins at over 120,000 miles. I think I'll get next summer out of these tires too the way they are holding up. I think I have not needed wheel bearings becuase the roads don't have frost heaves here in CA.

My 99 is always around 25 in my mixed city and freeway driving. Some do a bit better and some do a bit worse. You can do a search here as I am sure there are several threads on this.

Mine did the same thing also. I gave it away and bought an after market one. Folks on the board told me I could get a pocket for the other space and the pocket is quite handy.

I guess we have to add non driing habits too. Happy holidays folks.

or drive on the beach or something it does seem like a four wheel drive is a bit of overkill. I don't think a Forester is ever going to be a big winner on gas mileage. With the boxy body and four wheel drive I get an avearage of about 25 mpg. For me it replaced a Jeep that got 15 mpg so it is a big win here. So far it has done everything I used the Jeep for from trips in the north country like I will do tomorrow. If we get the expected snow I will be very pleased to pay the extra gas over over a Prius.

I wish I had bought the one with heated seats and rear discs. Next time I guess. We live in the city of San Mateo and much of my driving is in San Francisco. the Forester has a few advantages for city diring as Gnu says. Boy is it easy to park and peppy on the hills. It will also turn around in the shortest space I have ever seen a four wheel drive do.(My yard). The Jeep it replaced took about four shots, a Legacy has to back and fill twice and the Forester doe it in one. We haul a lot of high boxy stuff and the thing fits most stuff without using the roof rack. My car is only in snow a couple times a year so I'll let someone back east comment here, but I see mud frequently and it has been a champ for me. There have been a couple of days when the Forester was the only thing handy that could get through. The big four wheel drive trucks broke though the surface of the mud and this car is light enough to stay on top. The longer I have it the more I like it. The funny part is it was a second choice because I was really looking for an excellent mid nineties 2.2 wagon.

I would look up under the dash on the left. Sorry no more info on what it looks like because my car does not have it. It sounds like the vestigal alarm battery disconnect probem. If you have a dealer or Subie place nearby they might be able to help, otherwise do a search on this board since I think I have seen it here a couple of times.

The only thing I wish I had is low range on my 5 speed but the other day the torquey little 2.5 made up for it sliding though a mud hole. I still would have had more confidence with low range... I used to take 4 speed overdrives and wire the solenoid to kick the clutches in direct. I did this on a Volvo which gave me an eight speed, a Jag XK140, and a TR3. They all used a similar overdrive system which had clutches controlled by a solenoid. It did cause the clutches to wear a bit early but I was using the heck out of it, especially on the Volvo (P1800 overdrive trans fitted to a 68 122S wagon for those who know Volvos). I used to use Ford truck two speed switches which mount to the shifter and this is finally the point of the story. This would only give you on and off but man are those two speed switches easy and convenient to use. like Blitz I think this is a simple system and an on off switch would be neat. It would probably cause premature wear because you would have so much fun using it.

Now that is a Merry Christmas!

I would be tempted to look for a 2.2. I think the 95 is a bolt in but you might do a search here.

that can click or flash the lights when the battery is disconnected. Good luck. The other thought is a wire shorting from the work making a relay click.

Although I have met a few folks with them I have heard of no problems. It does not look as though there is any more room there but the seats are nicer.