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for you on the trip home.

because this is a good learning experience any way it turns out. These two guys have done this swap and so know a lot more than you or I. My suggestion would be to buy an absolute junker with a manual tranny, and before you do check with Josh and THAWA that it will give you the bits you need. I think this would actually be cheaper in the long run. When doing this sort of job I always liked to rebuild all componants on the way if possible so I got reliable service when I finished. I could also tell you about the Volvo motor I bought from a wreck and never found a car for. Four cyl Volvos just don't blow up much and I had hoped to find a blown one to fit it in...Oh well, another learning experience. Now I am an old fart who does not like to change much to affect reliability and would just buy what I want. I do miss the feeling when you finally start that project up though.

1 .put a length of nylon cord down a pulg hole at the start of the compression stroke and bring it up toward TDC until it stops. Don't froget to leave soem cord sticking out of the hole. 2 Bring it to a truck or bus place with a 3/4 to 1 inch impact. Trust me this works.This is also one of the best ways. 3 Put the new fly wheel on first. I know you want to do everything on the front before you remove the engine, but you have to fit this sometime.

discussion of how to check the oil?

And I would change the tranny oil and filter as soon as I had a chance. If possible I would do it there, and if I could not I would try to cruise a bit easier on the trip back.

I learned a few years ago. First go to the post where Josh (legacy777) details his saga of swapping a manual for an automatic. He did a good job of explaining what is involved in this type of swap. Second I 'll tell you about something dumb I did. I bought a Ford 289 at a swap meet for my Datsun Z. I ended up chaseing everywhere for the parts I needed to complete a four speed swap on the engine, and near went nuts finding water pump, pulleys etc. to complete it. It was harder to complete the engine than it was to swap it into the Z. The next couple of swaps I did I bought a whole junk car with the engine. Note this is just what Josh did. There are so many things you need to have to do a swap from the junker that you can spend your remaining years in a junkyard. You are going to need to start..Clutch linkage, flywheel, throwout bearing, clutch, pilot bearing, pedal cluster, maybe driveshaft, maybe computer and wiring, and several things you don't expect.

I wonder if there is a ratio tag on it like the rear end would have. Can you check the tag on the rear of the car it was pulled from? Or is that car elsewhere?

Forester had one. Last night I was on a couple of steep hills coming back from a party and the hill holder would have been great. My brother in law has one on his Legacy in Kiwi and it works very well.

last year. They really hit the spot on my Forester. The car is not too stiff for the street, and with heavier sway bar is very well balanced for a phone booth.

in Maine and New Hampshire that a bumper will come your way cheaply if you have a bit of time. Do they still have Uncle Henry's ?

you might be able to reattach the cover so it does not look bad until you get up close. This would do until you could find an inexpensive bumper or cover.

and if you are smart enough to be a lawyer you should be able to pull about 8 bolts. Do you have a friend who is a bit handy to help you? The only pain might be a rusty bolt.If you have the other one in front of you how to install it should be apparent. You are right if you think that the cheerful Maine state police will frown on your driving it like that, not to mention having to face inspection as frequesntly as you do. It is much better to have the other guy have a noticeable car.

Here in the Bay area our mechanics are fighting incredible shop rents, tough business rules, EPA, and the cost of housing is sky high. If a guy knew he needed major surgery it would probably pay to drive up your way, have a vacation, and come back with an overhauled car.

a head gasket just isn't that tough. The guy who quoted $1200 isn't that far off. The Subaru dealer in Redwood City did mine and it was about $2500. If the $1200 guy has a good reputation and backs his work it looks like half price to me.

then it is pretty easy to see what you have. Good chance its only the gaskets. Keep fingers crossed.

the solenoid contacts. It is pretty quick and easy so I hear.

As Josh says no worries.

If you change the radiator it may get better for a while by being cooler. It sounds like harvest time is not over in Marin. The goop is only for phase two engines with an external weep, not a phase 1 with an internal, which is waht you have. There really is no excuse for a dealer not knowing that.

the least expensive would be tires with slightly different sizes. The painful bit would be internal tanny problems.

This really took me back to some of the swaps I did when I was your age.It is a good feeling when all that works finally pays off after all the trials and tribulations.

at least six of them. I had a Dodge Durango a couple of years ago off road in Maine. My opinion is that under certain conditions different vehicles will do better. There is no great one for all conditions that I have seen. If you were rock climbing, or nasty mud off roading it is hard to beat a lifted Jeep or Toyota with lockers. On the other hand if you keep a Subie going with enough speed it just might get furthur under some conditions than the Jeep. The Subie is very light and if lightness counts, like on snow where you don't want to break though the crust, the Subie might surprise you. As for the Durango note that I am on this board not the Durango board.

a lot of folks on this board would try everything else first, sometimes in relation to how much money you wish to spend. These cars have a know head gasket problem that manifests in several ways, and your car sounds like the first stages of the problem where it is easy to fix. Do a search on theotherskip who did his own gasket job. Again if it were my car at that age it would also get hoses, belts, a radiator, and new seals while it was apart. But keep in mind I am a fussy old fart.

circuit from that fuse in turn. I would start with the most likely components on the circuit like, say the trunk light or tail light, and fuse them with a temporary fuse. First try the old wiggle everything and look for bare wires, and if that does not work drive the car with individual circuits fused. When one of the individual fuses blow you know it is either a shorted device or the wire to it. I usually look at any wire that bends, runs under something that may move, or has a device on it that takes a heavy load.

I have a Sony xplode in my Forester and it was a plug in.

all you have to do is go downtown and there will be several people talking to God. You can pull the heads with the engine in the car without much trouble.